E.
It takes another thirty minutes before Emmett's heavy sighing interrupts the silence. 'Are we just gonna stand here?', he asks, turning around to face us.
Esme smiles. It's an attempt to comfort him. 'There's not a lot we can do right now', she whispers.
'There must be something', Emmett replies. 'Every second that we're not making a plan to get Alice and Bella out of there, they're being forced to do… something!'.
'It's not that simple', I say.
'He's right, though', Rosalie says. She steps forward, away from her hiding place in the shadowy corner of the room. 'We have to do something'.
Her stubbornness bothers me more than usual.
'Like what?', I argue. 'Don't you think I want to get them out?'. They have no idea, absolutely no clue, how it feels to lose your other half. She's still got Emmett, Carlisle and Esme still have each other - but for me, it feels like I'm missing a limb. I have no idea where Bella is, or how she is, or what indescribable things they're doing to her, and now -right now- she thinks it's a good idea to argue with me? 'They're the Volturi, Rose!'.
'And those are your wife and sister!', Rosalie yells. Anger radiates from her like the fire in the hearth. 'Are you really such a coward?'.
I jump to my feet. The wooden chair crashes onto the floor. I hear it splinter. My fingers instinctively ball into fists and a growl escapes from the depths of my throat. 'Don't-'.
'Rose'. Carlisle's voice is calm, but sharp. 'Don't do this. We've lost too much of our family already'.
'Well, I'm sorry', Rose scoffs, completely unimpressed by my outburst. 'I can't just sit here and hope for some solution to just magically appear!'.
'Rose!'. Esme glances over her shoulder to Rosalie, her eyes commanding silence. She then turns to Carlisle and softly squeezes his hand. 'What about our family up North? Surely they'd help if we asked'.
Carlisle nods. 'They would', he agrees. 'But we've already asked them for too much. This is too dangerous'.
I feel an emotion rising in me that I've only ever felt once before in my existence. I feel annoyed at Carlisle's goodness, at his reluctance to involve others in his problems, even when it is perfectly fair of him to do so. For once, I want him to be selfish – but I know selfishness isn't in him. It'd be like asking fire to freeze.
But I remember something, then.
'Alice', I say, suddenly struck by the memory.
Four faces turn to look at me, their eyes bidding me to continue.
'As I was running, she told me that we'd need her. The woman'.
'Laeticia', Emmett says.
'Yes, her. Alice said we'd need her, and when I listened to Laeticia's thoughts, she was thinking of someone named Eduardo'.
'Her partner, perhaps'.
'And she was thinking of something called Guadalajara', I add. 'I could only hear fragments, but-'.
'It's a city in Western Mexico'.
I frown and turn to Emmett.
'Saw it in a movie', he grins.
'So… what? She lives there?'. Rosalie raises her eyebrows.
'I don't know', I answer truthfully. 'But Alice must have seen something before she fled. There must be something there that we need'. I can't imagine what we'd need in Mexico, and I realize Laeticia would be hesitant to meet with us, let alone help us – but if this is how I get Bella back, I have no other choice. I have to trust Alice's vision.
Esme looks at Carlisle, her eyebrows raised, her eyes hopeful. He looks at her, and then to me, the frown still frozen on his face. But he nods, then, and Esme smiles. 'We'll go tomorrow'. Carlisle stands up from the couch and looks at each of us. 'We need to rest. Regain our strengths. Whatever's there, we'd be better off assuming that it's dangerous'.
Though I don't want to wait, I know he's right. None of us have hunted since Jasper attacked the family, and it's starting to take its toll. Our eyes are pitch black, but we're also more irritable, more easily provoked, and slower. If Demetri and his new companions are on our trail, and they probably are, we need to be as calm, collected and strong as we can be.
'We'll go together', I add. When they show up, I want us to be united.
'Wait', Rosalie says. She moves towards the window, gazing left and right before she turns back to us. Her eyes are wide. 'Where's Jazz?'.
My head turns left. The landing is abandoned. I make eye contact with Carlisle one second – Go -, and find myself outside the next, the snow whirling through the air as I sprint after Jasper. He's far. I can only hear fragments of his thoughts, but I know exactly what he's going to do. He won't wait. 'JASPER!'. My voice echoes through the forest, bouncing off the trees and coming back to me. I curse and pick up my pace. 'Jasper, STOP!'. He can't go alone. Carlisle's right. We have no idea what's in Guadalajara. For all we know, Laeticia is working for the Volturi. She hasn't exactly given us reasons to trust her. If he goes alone, he might die. Worse, he might ruin all of our chances of ever getting Alice and Bella back.
'JASPER!', I roar, forcing my legs to move faster.
Leave me.
'You know I can't do that!', I answer. 'We can't go now'.
I'm not asking you to.
The determination in his voice angers me. Does he not realize how he's endangering us? Does he not care? I pull all of my remaining strength together, propelling myself forward. Jasper's inner monologue grows louder every second. He might have had a head start, and I may not have hunted in a while, but he'll never be able to outrun me. He knows this.
Back off, Edward. I have to do this.
His voice sounds like a growl. He's warning me. In this moment, he's a soldier on a mission, and I'm standing in his way. I realize he'd take me down before he'd abandon his mission.
'Jasper-'.
Back. Off.
I catch a glimpse of his blonde hair shooting through the forest canopy before me. I'm close enough to catch him now - but I stop running. There's no use. I'm faster, but I'm not stronger. He'd take me out and go anyway, or wait until the next possible moment to go, and I don't exactly feel like babysitting him all night. Anger rises within me and I curse, kicking the nearest tree. Its bark snaps in two and slowly, groaning as it goes, it falls onto the forest floor. Powdered snow flies into the air.
Jasper's thoughts become fragments again. They disappear a few seconds later.
Carlisle and Esme come to an abrupt halt by the fallen tree. They look at it, at me, and then at the direction in which Jasper disappeared.
'Let him go', I say, defeated.
I can see how it hurts Esme. She's already lost two of her daughters, and now her troubled son has departed on a possible suicide mission. Carlisle, surely feeling his partner's pain, wraps his arm around her and sighs. He starts guiding her back towards the house, slowly.
I stare at the forest before me. It's dark, cold, and dead silent. There's not a trace of Jasper.
I wonder if Alice has foreseen this, too.