.:CHAPTER FIVE:.
~Edward's PoV~
There had been many bizarre things that I had seen in my lifetime. Bella and Renesmee were proof that I'd been involved firsthand in some of those oddities. Yet, the predicament my family and I have found ourselves in was something I never would have imagined.
"Our species is what?" Rosalie questioned, ever-demanding.
"Being targeted," I replied.
"By who?"
"Humans."
"This has to be some sort of joke. Are you trying to tell me humans are the reason half of our family are in vampire-comas right now?"
"I am not trying to tell you - I am telling you. Humans are behind this. At least, that's what Carlisle was implying with the information in this book." It sounded completely unprecedented, the primitive human species able to produce something of this magnitude.
"Humans." Emmett huffed out a chuckle, like the idea was crazy. Which it was. He quickly accepted it, though. "Just tell me how and why?"
Alice saw my answer before I said anything in the present reality. "Is that even possible?" she wondered. "I mean, I guess it must be. But..." What do we do? How do we fight that?
Sighing, I answered Emmett. "Supernatural Science - as you all have already guessed - is the study of the science behind what is deemed paranormal. Such a thing has been around for decades but it gained momentum in the 1970s. It was still a relatively hidden and disclosed topic, kept secluded in the science world and not many participated but... It was Dr. Dylan Marshall that Carlisle was focused on. The man claimed he caught a vampire. The book doesn't say how. Anyway, the more surprising thing is he was able to experiment on it." More surprising than a vampire being caught was a vampire being restrained. I saw no explanation as to how that possibly could have come about, and I doubted it was in the small number of pages dedicated to this scientist in this book.
"He discovered some interesting things about our species," I went on. "What strengthened us; what elicited certain emotions that might have otherwise been lost to us in our transformations; exact measurements of the intensity of our heightened senses. All very thorough and one-of-a-kind work."
"Why don't more people know about this?" Rosalie asked.
"After Dr. Marshall claimed he had actually caught a vampire, people called him crazy. They didn't believe him. He was shunned and such. None of his work was really published."
"Alright," Emmett said. "So how does this link back to what's happening now?"
It was a question I didn't have an exact answer for. "I suppose it's what Carlisle wanted to find out. However, the last paragraph about Dr. Marshall in here-" I held the book, pages open toward them, so they could see "-says he disappeared from the science community socially, yet vowed to continue his research 'against the vampiric species' for unknown purposes. He was never heard from again."
"Sounds sketchy," said Renesmee.
"This whole thing is sketchy," Emmett said. He dashed inside. "I'm Googling his ass."
Alice was nodding to herself. I watched with her as images of the future flickered through her brain. Research was exactly what we needed to do, and it was this family's specialty. Whatever purpose this Dr. Marshall had for experimenting on our kind, maybe he found what he was looking for. Maybe he created something unprecedented.
Yet, when Rosalie joined Emmett with her laptop, and Renesmee went with Alice to look through the books in the study, I found myself in Carlisle's and Esme's bedroom. I wasn't sure if I planned to end up in here. My feet wandered on their own accord, probably to check, to make sure this was really happening.
It was, of course.
My parents laid side-by-side, still as statues. Sleeping angels. I wished I could simply shake them awake. But he was gone. She was gone. Both lost to us now, their minds wrapped in the blanket of their memories. For Carlisle, it was just another day at the hospital, treating patients, blending in with the humans of the 1960s.
Esme had Alice as company in her thoughts; they were shopping in a mall during what looked to be the '90s. I did not know what memories they were limited to, but if human memories started making appearances, I hoped with every inch of my soul Esme would be spared that specific time period of her life.
Something beeped from Carlisle's bag next to the bed. When I heard it again, I reached my hand in one of the outside pockets and pulled out his phone, a Blackberry. A red light was blinking in the corner, alerting to a new message. Not a text message, I realized after turning the screen on, but an e-mail. Normally I would think twice before going through my father's personal or professional letters, but now I felt no hesitation to do so. If it was from the University, someone needed to respond to avoid future problems of suspicion or concern. When I clicked on the icon of an envelope, it brought me to Carlisle's inbox. There was only one e-mail that was unread. It was the most recent, at the top, highlighted. Its subject was simply Dr. Carlisle Cullen. All it stated under who sent it was Private.
I opened it.
~ Be careful about what you choose to get involved with.
Something churned inside me. Dropped like a cable-cut elevator into the pit of my stomach.
What was that supposed to mean? Who would send something like this to Carlisle - and why? Why now? There was no ending signature, no initials. Not even an introduction. Just the single sentence, straight to the point. Almost threatening.
This was no coincidence. It coincided with our investigation. Somehow this involved Carlisle's discovery at the library. That meant someone knew what Carlisle was doing. But how? Were they watching him? They had to be.
It seemed cruel for Fate to throw this new mystery my way, as if I didn't have enough to worry about. Like my family's life wasn't already in my hands. LIke it was pushing me to the brink of what I could stand, what I could overcome. Taking Bella. Taking Carlisle, and then Esme. They were the gravity that kept me centered and the lights that guided my path. Every other obstacle we faced I had had them by my side, and now I was afraid I would fail, that I would be able to do nothing for them the way they have done everything for me.
"What am I supposed to do?" I whispered. I didn't know if it was to myself or to Carlisle's sleeping form next to me. Either way, there was no answer.
OoOoOoO
"There is nothing in Grandpa Carlisle's books. Nothing!" Renesmee stomped down the stairs, ever dramatic. Alice followed her into the living room, brow crumpled in despair, in concentration, in the indignant way when she refused to accept a certain outcome.
Emmett looked up from his laptop and grinned. "Well come sit down next to Uncle E, little Ness, and listen to a story." He and Rosalie had apparently found some information on Dr. Marshall.
Renesmee did not look impressed, but she complied. I came and rested my hands on the back of the couch and leaned over them. Whatever information Emmett had to offer I hoped would help us.
"So, what Edward read in that book was mostly true. This Dylan Marshall guy did claim to catch a vampire. But not everybody shut him out. Most notably..."
"The U.S. government?" I asked, hearing the thoughts before the words. Their involvement spelled DANGER if anything did.
Emmett continued like I never interrupted. He was used to it. Talked right past me. "There's no reasoning I can find, but the government was not only curious about if he had proof, but they also funded a new lab for this guy. A lab that shows up on zero search results. Nada. Zip. Like it doesn't exist. But it has to. So with a little more digging, I found out why it was hidden. He isn't only being funded by the government, he's being protected. It's amazing I even found the articles that I did."
"Everything about Dr. Marshall and his family is restricted," Rosalie finished. "Only elite government officials can access their history or their whereabouts. It's like they don't even exist to the public."
To take that kind of action would mean Dr. Marshall wasn't lying when he said he discovered something. And whatever he found was something the government didn't want to be shared.
"Now, there are only two reasons why this man would be funded and protected by the government," Emmett said, talking straight to Renesmee. "The first reason is to keep the U.S. public from freaking out and panicking themselves into a frenzy. And the second reason is to keep other nations from freaking out and panicking themselves into a war."
Renesmee blinked, trying to grasp that. "So…which one is it?"
"Both, most likely," I said.
"There's more." Alice swung her hand through the air, as if her visions and the swarm of facts could be dispelled like flies. "There is a lot more. Something significant. Something they are trying to hide."
"Of course they're trying to hide something. Haven't you been listening?" Emmett said, his trademark lightheartedness shining through.
Alice lifted a finger at him. "You have to find those records."
"Me?"
"You and Edward. Remember the FBI Network building just outside of Vermont – when entering Massachusetts? They'll have what we're looking for. I think."
"What?" Renesmee was hit with confusion. My daughter wasn't as quick to accept that Alice was talking about breaking and entering into a government building, let alone one inhabited by the FBI. She was aware of everything illegal we had to do to live a human life, yet she never had to witness it firsthand. Part of me wanted to shelter her, the protective father side of me. But another part of me knew it was unrealistic and would fail to help her live this life in the long run. Too quick, but she was growing up. She had to learn, and I had to let her.
Alice continued, "Be careful with the security. We can't afford any mistakes."
"Does that mean no smashing cameras and breaking through walls?"
Alice glared. "That is exactly what that means, Emmett."
"Damn." My brother grinned, nudging Renesmee. He could sense her tension, wanted to ease it. It worked; she relaxed, laughed a little. Then she had an idea of her own.
"All you have to do is hack into their cameras and switch feeds around. Give them an empty room and put it on a loop. No problem."
No problem. Emmett thought, throwing an impish grin my way. Good job on the kid, bro. Fits right in around here. He actually sounded like a proud uncle.
Rosalie patted Renesmee on the head. All she saw was a little girl's imagination running wild. I supposed I would have, too, if mindreading wasn't my forte. Renesmee, however, was into technology, spent consecutive hours exploring them, could almost create her own software if she put her mind to it. My daughter knew what she was talking about. Too intelligent for her own good.
"A little bribing goes a long way, too," Rosalie said. "Humans are easy."
"Actually, from what I can tell Ness has the best plan…" Images sped through Alice's mind. Vibrations of color, a scatter of moving pictures, a blur of faces. I caught each one - Emmett rummaging through files; Rosalie tapping at a keyboard; Renesmee in the backseat of a car, talking into a headphone.
I groaned. "No, Alice."
Alice looked apologetically back at me, shrugging her shoulders. "I see what I see, Edward."
Renesmee moved in front of me, got on her tiptoes, put her hands on her hips, and eyed me knowingly. "I'm useful, aren't I?"
"Of course you are useful, love," I sighed. "It is just…hard for me to imagine you helping your aunt and uncle break into a building. What would Bella think?"
Rosalie caught the word 'aunt'. "I thought you were going with Emmett?" she asked me.
Alice gave me a curious look, too, wondering why I wasn't in her vision.
Be careful about what you choose to get involved with.
The ominous message was stuck at the forefront of my mind, playing on repeat. No matter how much I tried to suppress it so I could focus on this new information about reclusive Dr. Marshall and his supernatural experiments, it pushed its way back to the center of my attention. Calling. Screaming. Demanding to be heard.
"I have something else I want to check out," I said. "That I need to."
I explained the message Carlisle received and what I thought about it. Like me, they had stopped believing in coincidences long ago. If someone was giving Carlisle a warning, I wanted to find this person and get some answers. The guessing game was overplayed, and we were getting absolutely nowhere with it. I wasn't going to accept them trying to hide their identity, either; thus, I had managed a few technological tricks myself. Maybe I couldn't mask feeds on FBI-used cameras, but I knew how to virtually track people. And I discovered that the e-mail was sent from a computer in the next state - New Hampshire. At the Nashua Public Library.
"Whoever the messenger is, they're still there," I said. "And I'm going to find them."
We had better move out now, then, Emmett thought. Already he was strategizing. Not in the way Jasper always did - careful, quick, tricky, pawn and knight and King placed with perfect precision. Emmett had his own methods that were useful in their own right. Improvisation was his chess piece.
My sisters were thinking along the same lines.
Renesmee was waiting for directions from me. Wondering my final thoughts. Pleading with me to let her help. Promising she would be careful, that she would listen to Emmett and Rosalie. That she would do her best, and her best would work. I almost smiled at her determination. I also knew she didn't want to be left behind, left useless to help her mother, her grandparents, her uncle. Please, Dad.
Closing my eyes, I tried to tune out the thoughts of my family - conscious and unconscious alike. I held all my ideas, and all of theirs, and it was difficult to see the future of this tangled web of paths even with Alice in the room. Too many branches sprouted from this single tree we had begun to climb, and the top was nowhere in sight. The ending might never be clear, and if that was the case... How did one decide the right course when so many were involved? When so many lives hung on the line?
"Edward?" My gaze swept over to Alice. Are we going?
All eyes were on me now. I grasped at the first plan that came to my mind.
"Emmett, Rose, Ness, and I are going." Renesmee almost threw herself at me with excitement. To Alice I said, "Someone needs to keep watch around here."
At first, I thought she would argue. My constantly-in-motion, psychic sister was not the type to sit around and wait. Instead, however, she smiled, winked, and said, "I gladly volunteer." It wasn't her first choice of duty, but for now, she accepted it as her position. She would keep watch on us, call if she saw something that might be of help.
It was beyond words how happy I was to have her around. One person who still understood what I needed to hear.
After reminding them all to be careful, especially Renesmee, who I knew would be on my mind until we all made it back home, I grabbed my wallet and the keys to the Volvo. I'd never been to the Nashua Library in New Hampshire, but I memorized the map, an upload in my memory. It would take me 2.3 hours to get there if I drove the speed limit. It was a good thing I considered myself exempt from that limit.
As I put the car in drive, Alice's thoughts reached out to me.
Be careful, Edward. Don't blackout. They need you.
This family needed her far more than they needed me, but it was a fair warning nonetheless. Because, like Alice, I had a bad feeling our family hadn't seen its last blackout.