Bella

"Bella, get up."

I looked up and saw Claudiena. "Excuse me?"

"Get up. Jennifer wants you in the sitting room." When I didn't move, she held her hand in front of her. "That was an order. You do it now or you'll end up in the middle of a tracker attack." Even though I had my shield to protect me, I remembered Claudiena's counter shield and slowly slid off the bed.

Holding her hand to my back, Claudiena pushed me into the sitting room and onto a chair. Claudiena sat back on the couch next to Tomas. A minute passed and Jesse suddenly appeared on the arm of Jennifer's chair. He bended down and kissed her on her forehead. I bit my lip.

"How is he?" I mumbled.

"Going a little crazy and hallucinating here and there, but altogether fine," Jesse replied cheerfully.

"Bella," Jennifer said loudly, causing me to look at her, "It has come to our attention that we still need to take down that immortal child. Since you are the only…living representative, you will take us to the child and we will kill them in person."

I jerked from my seat. "Are you insane? Why would I lead you to my daughter so you can kill her?"

Jesse chuckled from the arm of the chair. "You don't get it, Bella? As we speak, your mate weakens in his state of mind. The longer he stays, the weaker he grows. You will also notice his skin tone will begin to fade and in time, so will his hair, his eyes…and in time, memory will fade in him and he will forget you. Eternal suffering, Bella? You will help us and perhaps, I will revive your husband in exchange…"

"You're blackmailing me?" I asked in disbelief.

"Not necessarily. Just think of it as a way to test your relationship with your husband. Your coven and the immortal child for your husband's life."

I found myself walking up to the front desk of the hotel with Edward next to me. Claudiena, who sat in the lobby reading a magazine, was controlling the illusion to perfection. Just looking at it made me want to cry. The real Edward had been taken out to the waiting limo by Tomas and Jesse only moments before; covered by Claudiena's illusions, which made it appear like Edward was a large suitcase.

Illusion Edward cleared his throat and the desk manager looked up. Her heartbeat increased immediately. "Good morning, Mr. Cullen…Mrs. Cullen," she said, as if reminding herself that Mr. Cullen was taken.

"Good afternoon," I replied. Illusion Edward nodded in return. Claudiena could, unfortunately, not make her illusion speak so I would have to do all the talking.

"My husband has recently gotten sick from something he ate here in the city, so I'm taking him home. Would it be a hassle if we left today instead of tomorrow?" I made my voice quiet and as nice as I could manage. Jennifer had dictated the words to me before I had left the hotel room.

"It's no problem at all, Mrs. Cullen," the desk manager said with another fake smile. She turned and began to type on the computer keyboard behind her, buttons clanking away somewhat cheerfully.

Then it happened. Illusion Edward's image disappeared then reappeared. The disappearance happened so fast I thought I might have blinked. Then illusion Edward's image began to waver, like a television that had lost its signal. Illusion Edward began to flash wildly, his image flashing colors wildly.

Panic began to come over me. I looked around the room and stepped slightly over Illusion Edward so my body covered him. I twisted my head a four-degree angle to see Jennifer and Claudiena across the room. "What do you mean you left the cooler upstairs?!" Jennifer hissed.

Illusion Edward flared with emotion as Claudiena replied hotly, "I'm not in charge of it. It's Tomas's job today."

"Yes, but Tomas was bringing Edward down to the car, you imbecile!" Jennifer paused for breath and caught my eye. She raised a threatening eyebrow and I moved over to show the illusion. Illusion Edward was shrinking, and rapidly too. Her eyes narrowed and she hissed angrily at Claudiena, jerking her head towards my direction.

Claudiena widened her eyes in panic and began to extend her hands in front of her. The energy from the illusion sucked back to her with a slight breeze and quickly, Claudiena reopened her hands and another Edward appeared, in the exact position that the other had been. A small spark of leftover energy lit under his foot and I stamped it gingerly to get it out. I stepped to my left, maintaining my original position.

The desk manager turned, oblivious to the fact of the dilemma that had just occurred. "There you go. Now if Mr. Cullen could fill up this form…" She pointed to the bottom of a printed form. Commanded by Claudiena, illusion Edward picked up the pen and proceeded to scribble answers onto the form.

"Did you find your room satisfactory, Mr. Cullen?"

Illusion Edward looked up towards me briefly, nodded, then returned to his work. The desk manager blinked at his somewhat rudeness and it occurred to me that she might be insulted because he hadn't responded in the way she had hoped for.

I felt Jennifer's glare at the back of my head, ordering me to respond for my suddenly mute husband. "I apologize, ma'am, but my husband lost his voice coughing all night. I'm hoping to get him home before it worsens…"

"Of course," the manager replied, sounding doubtful.

Illusion Edward signed the form and handed it wordlessly to me. I signed my name, Bella Cullen, in the little signature box and handed the form back to the manager. She took it. "Thank you. Have a nice day, Mrs. Cullen." As we started to walk away, she also called out, "Feel better, Mr. Cullen!" in one last desperate attempt to get him to respond.

I walked with the illusion to the apparently stolen limo and the waiting chauffer, Tomas with a cap pulled over his eyes, opened the door for us. I stifled a sob when I saw the real Edward lying on one bench of seats. I climbed into the car and slipped under Edward's head, and began to play with his hair. Just as Jesse said, his hair was somewhat lighter. Or was that my imagination?

We drove for a couple blocks and stopped at a traffic light. In a heartbeat, the car door swung open and Jennifer appeared on the seat across from me. Claudiena climbed in after her, carrying the nearly forgotten cooler, and slammed the door shut. Noticing that the illusion sitting in the only available seat, Claudiena waved her fist and illusion Edward disappeared.

Just watching Claudiena reminded me of what I had witnessed in the lobby. Just by watching Claudiena's emotions effect the illusion, I suddenly realized that I had found a hidden weakness in the Liberty offense. And maybe, just maybe, I could use that to my advantage.

It was only after we spent twenty minutes in the car that I noticed that Jesse was missing. "Where is Jesse?" I asked Claudiena.

Claudiena, who had been forming random illusions with her hands, looked up from her work. "Jesse is with Edward right now," she replied bluntly.

"But I saw him take Edward to the car…"

"Jesse can visit Edward whenever he wants. Well, the world where he keeps everybody after Jennifer kills them. But hey, it's a free country. After all, it's part of his gift, Bella."

"Part of his gift? Isn't that his entire gift?"

Claudiena's eyes widened in sudden realization. But before she could explain herself, I heard a slight rap on the window and I jumped. I turned to look out the tinted window and saw a tubby man standing in a little tollbooth. Tomas rolled down the front window. "Good morning, sir."

The man grunted rudely in response. He looked briefly through the little window that separated Tomas from us. He examined each person sitting in the seats. Claudiena was acting as a spoiled teen and sat chomping loudly on gum and reading a tabloid. Jennifer was all business and motherly, looking at the man with slight interest. I probably looked the most interesting, with Edward "sleeping" on my lap. The man shrugged to himself and grunted again to Tomas.

Tomas could probably hear him but acted as many humans would. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't quite hear you. Could you repeat that?"

"I said," the tubby man said louder, "How long will your damn car be parked here?"

"Hmm…I'm thinking maybe a year or two."

"A year?!" The man snorted and spat nastily on the floor.

Tomas smiled charmingly to the guard. Very quietly, he lifted his hand. The man stopped laughing and a horrible noise sounded from his throat. The man began to wheeze uncontrollably and it took me a moment to realize that Tomas was slowly stopping his heart. Tomas's hand was slowly closing into a fist and the tighter his fist got, the harder the man began to wheeze. "My damn car will be here forever," Tomas whispered softly before closing his fist all the way. The man fell flat to the ground with a soft crunch. Claudiena raised her hand and the man's body disappeared

Tomas parked the car and quickly got out to open the door. As I got out, I noticed the large JFK sign across the street. I turned and saw Jesse and Tomas lowering him onto a luggage cart. Just watching them made me realize something. "How is Edward going to travel?"

Jesse smirked. "Baggage claim anyone?"