La Push
"Charlie? It's Jacob." Jacob stood, not feeling the strong wind hitting his skin. On Alice's command, he had found the spot on the cliff where Bella had jumped. Somehow, a thin brown sweatshirt and a braided bracelet made everything real.
"I'm still looking for Bella. I don't have time for this." Charlie had aged immeasurably since he had returned from making funeral arrangements to find his daughter went missing.
"I'm in La Push, on the cliffs across from Paul's house. You need to see this." Jacob hung up quickly, before Charlie could ask any questions, and sat on the hard rocks.
He stared at Bella's things, but couldn't bring himself to touch them. It had to be Charlie who gathered them. Waves crashed, and Jacob shuddered and forced the image of Bella in the water out of his head.
As he sat there alone, a memory came back to him.
Cliff diving. He was going to take Bella cliff diving; somehow, in the midst of Bella's disappearance, he had forgotten the conversation they had had. What if she had been cliff jumping… The thought was overwhelming. He had introduced her to the sport; what if she had accidentally killed herself because of him? Jacob winced, shoving the thought forcefully away.
He jumped up when Charlie skidded to a stop behind him, "What is it, Jake?"
Before he could answer, Jacob saw Charlie's eyes lock onto the sweatshirt crumpled on the ground behind him. Charlie pushed past him and picked it up, his hand clutching the material in a death grip.
"I found them," Jacob whispered. Charlie looked over the edge. Dense, black waves of ocean water slammed themselves against the rock.
"What am I going to do?" Charlie choked out, the words catching in his throat. He sank down, laying a hand on the ground for support.
Guilt overwhelmed Jacob, as the grown man fell apart.
New York
Rosalie was relieved when she saw Alice's number come up on the caller ID. She answered quickly, "Hello?"
"I don't know what to do, Rose," Alice admitted in a rush, "I think coming to Forks was a mistake. I was too late and I'm complicating an already awful situation."
"Then just come back." Rosalie advised, watching Emmett wash the grease off his hands, "Edward might be coming home soon."
Emmett turned around to look at her, "He is?"
Alice was silent on the other end.
"Alice?" Rosalie asked, ignoring Emmett.
"What do you mean he might be coming home? Did you talk to him?" Alice's voice was accusing, and worried. Rosalie grew defensive, "Of course I talked to him! Edward deserves to know what happened. He's cutting himself off from the world just to stay away from her, now he can move on."
"Rose!" Alice cried, desperately searching for Edward's future. It was hard to find, brief flickering images only stayed in place for a split second before his mind changed. All Alice could see were the marble walls and three dark hooded figures.
"He's going to the Volturi." Alice gasped.
Arizona
A small white house with yellow trim muffled the cries coming from within. Inside, Phil was on the computer, frantically looking for plane tickets to Washington. The screen blurred through his tears but he was composed enough to make the purchase. Renee pressed an old stuffed bear of Bella's to her chest, sobbing into the telephone.
Charlie had called.
New York
Jasper sat in the lecture hall, listening to the professor and ignoring the whispered conversations. The complicated analysis of Dante's Inferno was lulling the class into a sleepwalking state. Half the students were zoned out, while the others were emanating boredom so strongly it was putting him to sleep.
He felt his cell phone vibrate and pulled it out of his pocket, Alice was calling. Jasper got up, receiving a dark look from the professor, and soundlessly made his way out into the courtyard.
"Edward's going to Volterra," Alice said the second he answered.
"Hold up, what are you talking about?" Jasper asked, already deciding to skip out on classes and making his way to his car. Alice was stressed, "Rosalie told him why I went to Forks-"
"You did what?" Jasper asked incredulously, throwing his bag inside the car and getting in, "I thought you were visiting Tanya in Denali!"
"Oh, right. You didn't know." Alice remembered. She sighed, and then explained sadly, "Bella killed herself, Rosalie told Edward, and he went to the Volturi. Jasper, I have no idea what he's doing there! He's not making any decisions-"
"Where are you now?" Jasper asked, cutting off her rambling and pressing the accelerator farther.
"Still in Washington, but I'm headed for the airport."
"Good, get on the first flight back to New York." Jasper screeched to a stop in front of the Cullen's house. He could hear Rosalie and Emmett arguing inside. Alice agreed, "What will we do then?"
"I think we should go to Italy."
South America
The stewardess smiled brightly at him, but Edward was not there. He let his body move instinctively, going through the necessary motions to board the plane that would get him to Italy. His mind had all but shut off, because he could not cope any other way.
Finally, the Volturi could really make themselves useful.
He had not made a decision yet on what he would say to them; he only knew that he would never return to the life he had created in the last hundred years. By death or transformation, Edward Cullen would cease to exist.
As the woman bent down, quietly asking if he needed anything, Edward could feel her breath on his face.
He could smell the blood.