Blasphemy

Disclaimer: See previous chapter

Part III

Bella's POV

The phone rang downstairs. My heart leapt. It had to be for me. Everyone in the town knew who Charlie was, but they all knew that he wouldn't be here on a Wednesday afternoon. The police chief did not take days off, so they wouldn't call here. I flew down the stairs and almost smacked into the wall in my haste to answer the phone.

"Hello?" I said into the receiver, breathless.

"Bella, good, you're there," replied a beautiful voice, the sound of wind chimes. Alice. But something in her tone told me this wasn't a social call.

"Alice, something wrong?" I asked her. Why else would she call if they were supposed to be back from hunting soon? Were they going to be gone longer? My stomach dropped at the thought.

"I'm coming back to Forks for you, Bell. I'm coming on the next flight, but it might be awhile. I need to get you to Brazil." She said all this quite quickly and in hushed tones. I suspected she wanted to keep this from her family. But wait -- did she say Brazil?

"Wait… Alice… Brazil?" I managed to choke out. Why would they lie to me? Unless they had gone to Denali and something forced them out. But South America?

"Yes, Brazil. I'll explain everything when I get there. I'll be at your house early tomorrow." She seemed a hurry to get off the phone and get going. But I wasn't about to hang up, I needed a few answers first.

"How long am I going to be gone? What am I going to tell Charlie?" I whined. He wouldn't be too happy if I disappeared suddenly.

"Tell him you're going to go visit some friends of ours, out of country. Tell him you might be gone for awhile, it'll be a long vacation," she mumbled bitterly. "Have your passport, bags, and anything else you need ready by seven o' clock sharp tomorrow morning. We don't have much time. You'll have to explain to him tonight where you're going. Let me see if it'll work."

She fell silent for a minute. I didn't dare to say anything, let alone breathe into the phone, afraid to interrupt her concentration. "He'll be difficult, but it will work out. He'll eventually agree. Especially if Carlisle and I will be here," she laughed a humorless laugh. "I have to go now Bella, I'll be there tomorrow." The line went dead.

I stood there for a few minutes, not sure what to think. What was wrong? Why would I be gone so long? Not that I had any objection to spending time with the Cullens. But they told me Denali. Denali! How did they end up in Brazil? Something was up, and I didn't like it. I tried not to think about it, and noticed Charlie would be home soon. I grabbed some leftovers out of the refrigerator for us and popped them in the microwave. I heard the door open just as the meatloaf was finished cooking. I set the table.

"Bells?" he called from the other room.

I gulped. I can do this, I told myself. Alice had said this would work. "I'm in here Dad, dinners ready." I called back. I would bring up my 'vacation' near the end of the meal. I prayed to god Alice was right.

Edward's POV

I heard a door close quietly. Too quietly. I got up and walked around the house. Alice wasn't in her room. Huh. How odd. Where had she gone?

I went to Carlisle and Esme. They looked up when I entered the room. I could tell without reading their thoughts that they were happy that I wasn't moping around, for the time being.

"Have either of you seen Alice?" I asked, in a light, conversational tone.

"No, isn't she in her room?" Carlisle matched my tone perfectly.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure where she went." Esme and Carlisle exchanged glances. Lucky me, I can hear their thoughts. Unfortunately, they're used to this, and before I could focus on either of their minds, they both thought of random things. This aggravated me to no end. "What?" I demanded.

Carlisle hesitated. "You'll find out soon, I'm sure. We're not quite positive, so it wouldn't help to search our minds either." It was amazing how well they were able to concentrate on something totally different. My power didn't usually help me with them much.

"Right," I said bitterly. "I'll be in my room." I slammed the door a little too hard, and went to sulk in a corner. I hated when they hid things like this from me. There were only three reasons she would be gone that I could think of. One would be she somehow got taken or killed by them. I shuddered at the thought. Maybe she went off to find Jasper; she was always worrying about him, which was something I could easily understand, because of how I felt about Bella. That led me to the third, highly unlikely reason she would be gone. She went to go get Bella. But surely she wouldn't dare. I soft growl escaped my lips. That would make her either very brave, or very, very stupid. Knowing her, it was probably both, mixed with a lot of determination.

I sighed, shaking my head. No reason to get worked up. She probably didn't go for Bella. She cared about her too, after all. She wouldn't want to put her in this danger. I did wish Bella was here with me, but I wasn't stupid enough to disagree with Carlisle. This was getting out of hand. How I wished I could sleep, just to pass the time. I ended up lying down on the floor, resting, though I couldn't block out Bella's laughter, the beauty of her blush, her kiss, her presence. I would never be the same until we were together again. I prayed that would be soon.