.:CHAPTER 1:.

~Edward's POV~

It had been a week, I realized, going through my mental calendar. It had been a Sunday evening when it happened, and it was Sunday again. Seven days we had spent wondering; one hundred and sixty-eight hours spend waiting; ten thousand and eighty minutes of wasted time, in counting. And nothing was different.

"Is there any change?"

Carlisle joined me by the doorway of Alice and Jasper's bedroom.

"What do you think?" He asked the same question every day, and every day I would give him the same answer. Why did he bother to hope anymore?

Still nothing, Carlisle thought, frowning. Why? What has happened to him?

That was the winning question on everyone's minds, a constant nagging. It mystified us. It terrified us. To vampires - to immortals - things like "passing out" did not happen.

Until now.

A week ago, Jasper, Emmett, and Alice had gone hunting. It was an ordinary Sunday - cloudy, quiet, soothing. My siblings had left around 2 o'clock that afternoon. They were bored and were planning to make things interesting with a little race. Thanks to Alice, I had seen exactly who was going to win. She had promised to go easy on them, but they should have known what a sly little liar she was when it came to games. Unless you could read her mind, as I could, you could never trust Alice when she wanted to win. And she always wanted to win.

However, their fun did not go as first predicted.

It had been near sunset when they returned. I had been finishing a piano duel with Renesmee when I slipped on the last note as Alice's panicked thoughts slammed into me like a wrecking ball. My attention was immediately fully into her mind, reading her memories, what she was trying to show me.

A vision had hit her as she was finished her meal. It was of Jasper. There was something wrong with him; or, at least, there would be. Alice had abandoned the carcass she devoured without burying it, and ran, screaming for her husband. She was bombarded, in various moments, with flickers of images. Jasper's future was there, but the man was not. Not mentally.

When Alice had finally reached her mate, he was unconscious. More than that. To a human's eyes, he could have been dead. Alice had screamed even louder.

That was when Emmett had caught up to her, ready for some sort of fight. In Emmett's mind, I had seen that, returning home, he didn't know any more than Alice did about what had happened to Jasper. One minute he was out hunting with his brother and sister, throwing punches and insults, all in good fun; then the next minutes Alice was screaming, and Jasper was lying facedown in his food, not breathing, not moving. There were only two reasons why a vampire breathes at all, neither because they need to, but Jasper's stillness had nothing to do with preference or choice. All attempts to wake Jasper had been ineffective, so Emmett had thrown him over his shoulder and followed a "freak out" Alice home.

When they had come into view of the house, Alice had yelled for Carlisle. Her desperation had been apparent to all who heard her, and nobody was used to such emotion coming from Alice.

Carlisle had immediately appeared from his study, front door opened. Renesmee stubbornly followed me to my father's side after I had told her to stay where she was. Both of their eyes widened when they noticed Jasper's limp body slung over Emmett's shoulder.

Alice hadn't given them time to question anything before she dove into her tale. In the meantime, I had suggested Emmett carefully lay Jasper on the living room couch, and Esme, Bella, and Rosalie began to set down their gardening tools and cleaning their hands by the greenhouse. The trio entered the room just as Alice finished her story.

"...and he's not waking up. He's not doing anything! I don't know what could be wrong with him, Carlisle." Alice had gripped both sides of her head, fingers pushing against her temple. Her visions were not helping her, and she had been getting frustrated. Afraid.

Carlisle had crouched beside Jasper and had tried to reach him through conversation, then through touch, but Jasper did truly appear gone.

That was about the time everyone had turned to me. I had expected it, of course. Jasper might not have been moving or breathing or indicating in any way that he was alive, but his mind had been plenty awake.

Sort of.

"Jasper's thoughts are there," I had assured everyone. "But he is... His thoughts are in the past."

"In the past?" Bella had questioned.

"He can't hear us right now. He's not with us. He's reliving a moment from his past. Really living it. Every feeling, every thought, everything. It's like he's stuck in some illusion."

"What?" Alice had demanded. "There has to be a way to snap him out of it."

I had given her a look. Obviously, we all wanted that, but I knew whatever we needed to do, none of us could possibly know.

It had been a long night, that night. Every one of us had tried to break through whatever spell had Jasper captive in his own mind, but there hadn't been even a sliver of hope that any of it worked. Even Renesmee had attempted to push her thoughts into his head to dispel the images he was seeing, but she, like everyone else, had been unsuccessful.

With a full week now past us, and with the luck my family and I seemed to carry when misfortune found us, I felt things were not about to get easier.

As if sensing my cynicism, I caught Alice's urge to check on Jasper (in person, rather than through visions alone) strengthen. She'd only been away from him for an hour and six minutes, but I supposed I couldn't hold it against her for feeling too separated from her mate already. She set down her iPad, still open to her tabs of vampire lore, and headed for the stairs.

Meanwhile, Carlisle's perplexed thoughts were intensifying with his worry. His eyes were on Jasper, who hadn't moved from his and Alice's bed since the day we placed him there.

How much longer can this go on? Carlisle was thinking. The body of a vampire is not apt to shut down like a human's, let alone the illusions of memories generating in Jasper's head. What strange trick is this? There are no myths about this kind of thing. No facts, no evidence that this could have happened to any of our kind before. Even the mystery behind Bella's pregnancy had all types of legends and folklore to back up the reality we were facing. Edward, I hate to believe this, but the situation is bound to get worse before it starts getting better.

"I don't disagree with you," I responded.

Carlisle sighed. "Honestly, I was hoping you did."

"Edward?"

"Alice."

My sister grabbed my arm as she peeked into the bedroom.

"Where is he now?" She asked this about Jasper, about where his mind was taking him, just as much as Carlisle questioned the lack of changes in his condition.

"Albuquerque, New Mexico. Maria sent him...recruiting." I grimaced, as did Carlisle.

Alice sighed miserably and perched herself on the edge of the bed, placing her hand against Jasper's cheek. Out of all the memories Jasper had gone through, his time in the south was least appreciated. Jasper himself didn't realize anything was wrong with what he was "living" through, but I hoped it didn't depress him when he woke up, if he remembered his flashbacks at all after this.

"We'll get you out of this, Jazz," Alice whispered. "No matter the cost."

There was an ache in my chest watching her. Her sadness was infectious. I missed my sister's smiles and laughter and annoying non-stop chatter and the sudden arrival of new clothes in my closet that I hadn't placed there. They were things that made her Alice; they were things that have not happened in days. Even her natural optimism was wavering.

"Maybe we should have a family meeting," Carlisle suggested, already heading downstairs to round everybody up. "We need to develop a more substantial plan for unearthing the answers we seek."

I opened my mouth to agree when Emmett's loud voice boomed from across the property. "Good idea, Carlisle! I have something to say."

I gave Alice a look, thinking, Doesn't he always? Though it didn't reach her eyes, Alice actually smiled. Then she shrugged lightly, kissed Jasper's forehead, and walked with me to the dining room.

It took only seconds for the whole family — minus the one we were having this family discussion about — to find their seats around the large, oval, mahogany table. With Alice occupying one side of me, Bella took her spot on the other. Renesmee sat across from us, next to Rosalie and Esme, who were sitting by their respective partners, with Carlisle at the head. Carlisle then addressed the issue, calm and forthright, expressing how urgently a solution was needed, not that he expected anyone was neglecting the problem when the life of one of our own was at stake. The thoughts circling the table were filled with worry and focused on what Carlisle was asking — to put our minds and ideas together, to come up with something we haven't thought of yet, no matter how outrageous it might end up sounding. Their thoughts were all I could hear when Carlisle finished what he was saying.

There has to be something out there we have yet to think of, Rosalie was pondering. If I could just figure it out...

Carlisle's calm is slipping a bit, isn't it? Esme had noticed. I have a bad feeling we're running out of time...

I promised Jasper I would wake him up! So...come on, future, show me something helpful. Alice began forcing visions. I watched with her, and both our hopes were being let down. According to Alice's visions, if things continued going the way they were, Jasper would still be unconscious weeks from now. We could not afford that. I wondered if whatever he was under strengthened over time. If it did, Esme's feeling was spot on.

Daddy, are you sure this has never happened before, ever? Renesmee thought directly at me. I nodded once.

"Can I say something now?" Emmett asked, raising his hand as if we were in a classroom.

"Of course, Emmett," Carlisle said.

"Let me just warn you that it's not that great. Now, you know how we were debating whether it was some vampire — because, really, what else could it be? — who had messed with Jasper's head? Well, I searched the area around where we were hunting again today, but—"

"Alone, Emmett?" Esme sighed. She had made a rule earlier this week about nobody leaving this house without a partner. She was nervous about what could happen out there to us if it actually was a vampire who had attacked Jasper.

"Nothing was going to happen to him," Alice interjected. "I was watching."

"But," Emmett continued hastily, "there is seriously nobody out there. No vampires, no humans, nothing. Unless a vampire just showed up, did something to Jazz, and then skipped off into the sunset, never planning to return, there is no evidence there was anybody out there to begin with."

"I could have told you that days ago," I said.

"Well, you didn't, so shut it," Rosalie remarked, rubbing my nerves the wrong way.

"At least I've been doing something. How do you spend your days, Rosalie?"

Esme held up her palms between us before Rosalie could say her excuse out loud, which was too bad, as it was a pretty sad one.

"Do not start. Either of you."

"Please," Renesmee added softly, staring harder at me than the other culprit. I supposed it was an aunt's privilege to get softer treatment than the father, but it hardly meant I had to like it. Renesmee hated when Rosalie and I argued. She couldn't understand why getting along was so hard for the two of us, not realizing it had never been easy between Rosalie and me.

"We've tried every angle," Bella said, bringing the topic back to what really mattered. "What else is left aside from a vampire's talent? A magic spell cast by a little old lady who lives in a shoe?"

"Oh yeah, now we're getting somewhere," Emmett joked, though not really finding it as funny as he might have if he wasn't so bummed out about Jasper.

Carlisle began thinking out loud. "I could make some phone calls. Perhaps those who have been around longer than I have might have seen something like this before."

Even as he said it, nobody was betting on it.

Alice exhaled sharply and bowed her head. Reading where her mind was, I knew there was nothing I could say to make her stay down here with us, so I didn't bother to try. Alice stood and sprinted back upstairs, to Jasper. "I need time to think," she said, just before her bedroom door clicked softly shut.

"Because the last seven days wasn't long enough?" Rosalie quietly muttered. I held back what I wanted to say to that because I didn't want to upset my mother or my daughter, but it amazed me how ignorant one must be to act so tactlessly. Granted, Rosalie wasn't...trying to be rude — she was gifted with it at birth, apparently.

Rosalie eyed me, knowing me long enough to sense when I had something to say. Sometimes it seemed like she could read the minds around here, at least when they were thinking about her.

The discussion of what to do continued without Alice. Unfortunately, it wasn't a productive meeting. What was left that we hadn't already tried, besides speaking with others of our kind?

When the conversation died out, and it was clear nobody had anything more to add to the discussion for now, Rosalie was the first to head off to do her own thing. She folded her arms and walked into the living room, taking Alice's spot on the sofa. She crossed her legs, then picked up the iPad that was left on the coffee table and resumed whatever search Alice had been in the middle of.

At least she was putting herself to some use.

Carlisle accepted it was time to stop talking and begin doing, and went up to his study to search his contacts. Esme and Renesmee followed him, curious. It was a long shot, but hopefully he discovered something. We needed anything at this point.

Only seconds later, Emmett slapped his hands against the table and pushed himself up, giving me and Bella a look that told us he was already tired of this, and then he wandered off, unsure of what to do next.

Neither Bella nor I moved for some time. Lost in our own thoughts, I presumed. I knew I was; I could never be sure about her.

"Poor Alice," Bella said after a minute had gone by.

"Poor Jasper," I said. "I don't know if we can bring him out of it or if it will wear off on its own... Whatever it is."

Bella rested her head on my shoulder. "It seems hopeless, doesn't it?"

"Don't say that." I turned to her, and made the mistake of looking directly into her eyes. For a second, I forgot what I was going to say. Her gaze had always been mesmerizing, even when they were a newborn's blood-red; yet, now that they had turned to gold, they glittered like they never had before. She swept me off my axis of comprehension with those eyes more times than I would admit to anybody.

Bella blinked curiously when I didn't go on. I shook my head slightly, not brining the power she held over me to her attention, for surely she would use it against me some time.

"Don's say that," I said again. Trying to make light of the situation, I added, "That is usually my area of expertise, remember?"

"Well, we know it's not a mind trick caused by another vampire, because my shield doesn't help him. And Emmett insists nobody could have possibly been near Jasper at the time of the hunt. Renesmee's gift can penetrate through anything, reach anyone, and yet, Jasper doesn't hear her. He can't hear us when we talk to him. He doesn't move. His senses are completely disabled. We don't feel his emotions transferring from him to us, even though you've told us he's manipulating feelings in his memories. Emmett and you have searched practically the entire state of Maine looking for clues, and we've all scoured the internet and the library for any hints at all. Still, we're left with absolutely nothing.

"When I say it seems hopeless, I'm just being realistic."

The silence after her analysis was heave. It hurt to accept her words as truth. It would mean admitting that all our efforts - as I had been thinking not even an hour earlier - have been futile.

"Do you think..." Bella trailed off, biting her lip, a human habit she had picked back up after her newborn years. "Do you think it could happen again?"

"That's not a pleasant thought," I murmured.

"But it could, couldn't it?"

"We can't know for sure."

"I think it could..." She looked me dead in the eyes. "I think it will."

"Bella," I pleaded. Imagining someone else being found face first in animal blood, paralyzed and unresponsive, was not the type of motivation we needed.

"I mean," my wife continued, persistent, "if we can't find out how Jasper got that way, who's to say we won't make the same mistake he did? What was he doing out there when he suddenly lost consciousness, anyway?"

"Feeding," I said automatically, though I knew that wasn't what she had meant. I was going to add a quip that might end her theory talks, but I paused.

Feeding...

Bella gasped. "The food. Was it in the food? Something in the animals? Alice and Emmett said he was only halfway through with the deer he had caught, so maybe..."

"It was in the blood," I finished.

"Is it possible?" Bella wondered.

"Love, just a few days ago, none of what we have encountered could have been defined as 'possible'. It's an idea, and it won't hurt to check up on it. Carlisle?"

Everyone in the house had been paying attention to Bella's theory. When I called him, Carlisle, Esme, and Renesmee had already re-joined us.

"It is an interesting presumption," Carlisle said. "I will need a blood sample of a few animals inhabiting these woods. If there are any irregularities at all, it could be our first lead."

"You don't have all your equipment here," Renesmee said. "Will you go to the university?"

Carlisle had taken up a teaching job at the university here in Maine, the state that had been our home for a little over a year now. It was mid-august, so the Fall classes weren't in session yet. But Carlisle still had access to the equipment.

"The lab at the university will be fine," Carlisle responded. "It should be a fairly quick process. Will you join me, Edward?"

"Of course."

"Do you mind if I come along?" Esme asked.

"I would love if you accompanied us," Carlisle assured, amused that she would even bother asking. Sometimes, I knew, Esme would be overly polite simply because she knew it made Carlisle laugh. I smirked as she winked at me. Carlisle disappeared upstairs. "Give me a moment to grab what we need."

"Oh, I was just about to start Renesmee's dinner," Esme remembered.

"I can make—"

"I'll make her dinner," Bella assured. "No problem at all."

Renesmee huffed. "I can make my own dinner."

"No, no. I'll make it, sweetie."

Renesmee had no choice in the matter, and she knew it. Bella wished me, Carlisle, and Esme luck, and then pecked me on the lips before heading into the kitchen.

Once her mother was out of sight, Renesmee pouted in my direction, frustrated, knowing her thoughts were mine to be heard anyway.

I can make my own dinner. I want to make my own food for once.

I smiled at her independent nature. "Sometimes it doesn't matter what you want. Sometimes you just have to give in to other people, because it's the right thing to do. Let her do something for you — she likes it."

"No," she said, just to be stubborn. I gave her an amused look, which in turn granted me a famous Renesmee Cullen eye roll.

Ah, the genes she inherited.

Esme gave me a look; she was thinking the exact same thing...and, as the grandmother, she was reveling in it.

"We'll be back soon," I promised Renesmee, kissing her on the cheek.

Esme and I met Carlisle by the front door, and then we were gone.

OoOoOoO

The white floors, walls, and lights of the lab room were somewhat blinding when they were all there was to look at. I kept my eyes on the clock that was hanging in the back of the room. I watched the thin black hands tick their way around the face of the clock, pointing at one number and then the next. Time never moved faster when you stared it in the face (pun fully intended), but a part of me was getting anxious for the results of the animal blood we had acquired.

"This took a little longer than expected," Carlisle said, pressing buttons on the machine in front of him.

Esme agreed. "The others are most likely getting impatient back home. I imagine the hope that we'll finally have something to work off of is taking its toll on them. I know I would want to know the results immediately."

"Which is why you offered to come with us, I take it," Carlisle teased lightly.

Esme smiled and gave Carlisle a small push. He caught her hand and pulled her closer to him. Closer than he was intending; so when Esme looked up, their faces were inches apart, catching them both off guard. Immediately, I let out a loud, emphasized sigh. Things would be escalating quickly if I didn't hurry and step in to remind my loving parents of my presence.

"Please," I said, when they turned simultaneously to look at me, "don't start anything if you can't handle the side effects."

They smiled, a little too brightly. The thought of what side effects I might be implying gave them too many ideas. For a moment, I was a bit stunned; they usually tried to be more reserved than this in front of me, their imaginations especially. Huh. Actually, I didn't think they have had a moment together, just the two of them, for any amount of time since Jasper's incident.

Carlisle's eyes went to Esme's lips, and that was the only sign I needed. I stood, throwing my hands up.

"I give up. I'll wait in the car." I headed for the door.

"Thank you, Edward," they said together, not bothering to look at me. At the same time, they both silently apologized to me as I left. I almost laughed at how closely the two thought.

As much as I detested having to experience their intimate moments with them, through imagination or memory, I was used to it, and I could never hold it against them. I have mated now myself — I finally understood firsthand that uncontrollable need to be with your partner.

The halls were empty at this hour. On a Sunday, no less. I took the stairs down to the first floor, and just as my foot hit the last step, my pocket buzzed. The vibration of my cell phone seemed louder in the silence. Checking the caller's ID, I saw it was Emmett. Maybe they were losing patience back home.

I accepted the call and put the phone to my ear. "We're finishing up here, Emmett. If you keep calling, it will take longer." That was a small lie, of course, as I was no longer working in the lab, but I didn't need him calling me every five minutes, something I wouldn't put it past him to do, if for no other reason than to get on my nerves.

"Uh, bro, we have a bigger problem than that."

By his serious tone, I was instantly wary. Emmett was hardly ever that serious.

"What problem?" I asked.

"Please try not to flip out, but...we have another...blackout."

I stopped walking.

"What are you talking about? You don't mean...? Did someone else...?"

"Yeah. Someone else."

Dammit.

"Who?"

There was silence on the other line, and then:

"Bella."