Chapter 19

When Lacey woke up with the sun, she rolled over and smiled. There was an unspoken forgiveness between us. Everything was alright.

"Morning, sunshine," I whispered and kissed her forehead.

"Good morning," She rose from the bed, and made her way out into the living room. I saw her enter the bathroom and close the door. When she emerged, she purposefully avoided my eyes as she climbed back onto the bed.

"Today's the day." She said to the blanket.

"Oh." Was all I could muster out. I heard the still worried thoughts from my family, but I waved them away.

Tina and Lacey went about with their morning rituals. Once they both had finished. Everyone took deep breaths and waited for the return of the wolves.

"Esme, Rosalie, and Alice are going to take Tina to somewhere in the Northeast," Carlisle informed me. "They will stay there until we give them the okay to return."

I nodded and slid my arms around Lacey's shoulders. Everyone was saying goodbyes, though the wolves hadn't come yet.

Lacey wrapped her small arms around me and we stood in our embrace for what seemed like only seconds. I could have held her forever, but I knew soon we would have to leave. And when that time finally came, we both looked ahead and stared out at horizon as we drove back into Forks.

"Are you alright, Lacey?" Jacob asked from the front seat.

"Yes, I'm fine." Though I saw her shaking. I slid in closer next to her. She immediately began to sob.

"You don't have to do this," I offered her a way out.

"I miss my mom." Her muffled cry vibrated through my chest. I ran my fingers through her hair, trying to comfort her. I knew how she felt. I still missed my mother too. There was always a spot within me that was empty of a mother's love. I mean, I really did love Esme like a mother, but my birth mother was who I was always going to miss.

I began to hum my mother's old favorite tune.

Lacey lifted her head. "What is that?"

"It's an old tune my mother used to sing to me before I went to sleep," I smiled at the memories.

"It sounds familiar..." She sniffed, and moved in closer to me. I hummed to her the rest of the way. When we arrived in Forks, I realized she was sleeping. When the car was parked with a jolt, Lacey woke up. We had parked in a vacant lot near a patch of forest.

I helped her out of the van.

"Where are we?" She wiped sleep from her eyes.

"We heard some of the locals telling stories about a wild, red-haired woman running around near here in the rain." Jacob was immediately at Lacey's side.

"So, where do we go from here?" She asked.

"We begin to track," Jasper and the others appeared from the other side of the van.

I closed my eyes and tried to listen for voices. After many moments, I caught one.

It will only be a matter of time before they come.

That was Victoria, I was most sure of it.

"She's within mind-reading range." I reported.

"Good." Sam looked off into the woods. "Shall we?"

Everyone nodded and we began to walk towards the woods. I picked Lacey up.

"What are you doing?" She laughed playfully. I smiled, though I didn't pick her up for play.

My eyes wandered to the wolves walking into some bushes. The realization hit Lacey's face, and her smile grew wider.

"Running?" She asked me.

"Of course." I gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

As the wolves emerged, we began to run our way into the woods. Lacey held her arms tight around my neck. Her head buried in my shirt. I felt vibrations of her humming.

When we stopped, everyone turned to me, wondering if the mind I had been reading was any closer-sounding than before. Lacey jumped out of my arms though, and made a curious face as she held her hand out to silence everyone. She walked slowly to the right, past some trees, I followed. Then she began to run.

"Lacey!" I shouted after her. "Where are you going?"

I took off, it didn't take long before I was up to speed with her. I felt everyone rushing behind us. Then, she stopped, and we followed suit. I followed her gaze to the meadow that looked very much like the one I enjoyed spending sunny days in. Though, instead of looking bright and beautiful, the gray clouds made it look dead and lifeless.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from within the bushes.

"Mom!" Lacey breathed and ran towards Bella. But, I noticed something about Bella's expression.

"Lacey!" I quickly grabbed her by the arm. Bella looked frightened, Victoria was very close.

I felt Lacey shiver, and wrapped my arms around her. She broke free and continued her travel to her mother. She didn't want to believe she was in danger. She wanted her mother.

I was too slow. Victoria leaped out of the bushes and snatched Lacey. She held a strong grip around her throat.

"Nice to see you again," Victoria purred. "I see you followed my thoughts."

"Let her go!" I shouted.

"She's too powerful. With power like this, I could do so much." She flashed a wicked smile.

Lacey ripped Victoria's hand off her neck, with much surprise to Victoria.

"Strong, too..." She noted.

"You leave now, Victoria, and your life will be spared." Lacey said it like a true heroine out of a movie.

"Never!" She hissed and reached for Bella. Lacey snatched her and pushed her towards me.

Then I heard Lacey mumbling something, Victoria knew what was coming and moved out of Lacey's range of fire. Lacey didn't move, though. Victoria latched onto her and she continued mumbling.

Then the shrieks came.