The door opened and the teacher poked his head out the little opening. "Yes?" he asked impatiently.

"I need to talk to my sister immediately," I said, the urgency in my voice toned down just a little so I wouldn't scare him.

"You can talk to her after class," the teacher said, and started to close the door. I caught the door and held it open. I think my strength startled the teacher, but he wouldn't be phased.

"I need to talk to her now," I insisted, trying not to just rip the door open as I heard a low growl coming from Victoria. "There has been a family emergency."

"Then the office should have called," the teacher said. I saw Victoria starting to stand up, slightly crouching in a hunting position.

"Just let me talk to her," I snapped, pulling the door open. I brushed past the shocked teacher and grabbed Victoria. As soon as my hands were on her arm, she started to snap out of hunter mode, but she still glared at me for getting in between her and her prey.

"I need to talk to you outside," I told her. A low growl was my answer.

"Now," I emphasized. I started to drag her out the door.

"Now, Miss Swan," the teacher said, addressing me, "I don't think-"

"Give me a detention, for all I care," I told him as I led Victoria out. "I need to talk to my sister now, and I'm very sorry for interrupting your class, but this is urgent."

As soon as I had Victoria out in the hall and a little further away from the classroom she, finally, completely snapped out of hunter mode. She looked horrified.

"I didn't do anything, did I?" she asked worriedly.

"No," I assured her, "I got there in time."

"What happened?" she asked, still trying to get her bearings.

"Your friends opened a vial of human blood outside the window," I told her. "They checked in a week early."

"I was doing so well," Victoria moaned.

"It's not your fault," I assured her.

"I can't go back in there," she said. "The smell is overwhelming even out here."

"Let's go back to the house," I told her after a hesitation. "Call Carlisle and tell him to call us in. I'll go text Edward to tell him what's happening. Alice will know too, so nobody will wonder where we went."

"Should everybody come?" Victoria asked as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

"No, we can say it's something with our parents," I answered. "I mean, we're supposed to be sisters, aren't we? So Carlisle can say it's something about our parents that doesn't concern the others."

"Got it," Victoria said. She flipped open her cell phone and pushed a few buttons. I pulled out mine and sent Edward a text message.

Got 2 her n time. Taking her home. C u there. B careful. Bella

"Such a loving message for your husband," Victoria commented sarcastically over my shoulder as I hit send.

"I didn't have that many characters," I grumbled.

"Carlisle's calling now," Victoria told me. "We're supposed to go to the office and they'll let us go. If they ask, I'm driving."

"But we're really running," I finished.

"You're quick," Victoria teased me.

"Do you need to get your stuff?" I asked hesitantly.

"I should," she said.

"Don't breathe," I suggested. She nodded and went back in the room.

"You can go back to your own class now, Miss Swan," the teacher said with a glare at me.

"Victoria and I are leaving," I told him. "There's been an emergency with our parents. Our guardian, Dr. Cullen, is calling us in right now. You can call the office, if you want to, but they'll just confirm what I just told you. I'm sorry, sir, but we do need to go. Victoria will probably see you tomorrow."

"I'm sorry," Victoria added as we left.

"I need to go get my stuff," I told her. "My teacher thinks I went to the bathroom."

"Hurry," Victoria urged me.

"Come with me," I told her.

"I was planning on it," she scoffed. "Lead the way, little sister."

When I reached my class I walked back in to see everyone working on a drawing project.

"How nice of you to come back, Bella," my teacher said sarcastically.

"I ran into my sister," I told him, motioning to Victoria, who was standing in the doorway, staring at Edward. I saw Edward's lips moving and assumed that they were talking softly. "I need to go home. There are some problems with our parents, and our guardian, Dr. Cullen, has called the office, and we're going home right now to take care of it. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," he told me. "I hope the situation gets better soon."

"Me too," I told him sincerely. "Thank you."

"Have a good day," he told me. I went over to Edward and grabbed my things.

"Why the text message?" he asked.

"I forgot I had to come get my things," I admitted. "But I figured you would want to know what was happening."

"I read Victoria's mind," he told me. "I knew what was going on."

"Well, I was just being safe," I told him. "I'll see you at home."

"Be safe," he told me.

"You too," I said. I leaned faster than anyone could see and gave him a quick kiss. "See you later."

I left then and Victoria and I went to the office. The secretary wished us luck and signed us out.

As soon as we were out of sight of the school and in the woods, we were running. We made it home in a few minutes.

"We're home!" I called as we stepped in the door.

"Are you okay?" Esme worriedly asked Victoria.

"I'm fine now," Victoria said. "It was hard at school, though."

"Perhaps we should not have sent you to school so soon," Esme mused.

"We'll talk about it tonight, I'm sure," I said.

"I'm sure we will," Esme agreed. "Why don't you girls go hunt?"

"I'd like to stick close to home, if you don't mind," I said. "The club checked in a week early."

If it could have, the blood would have drained from Esme's face. "They're here already?"

"They're the reason why we had to leave," I told her. "They opened a vial of human blood outside the open window of one of Victoria's classes."

"But you didn't do anything?" Esme asked, alarmed.

"I got to her in time," I assured her quickly. "We're all okay, as are the students. But I'd like to play it safe and stay home until we know for sure that it's safe to go out there in small groups."

"Esme?" Victoria asked suddenly.

"Yes?" Esme asked kindly.

"Did you stop anywhere to put gas in one of the cars today?"

"No," Esme answered, confused. "Why?"

"Do either of you smell gas?" Victoria asked, sniffing the air.

Esme and I sniffed, and we gave each other confused looks.

"A little, yes," I said. "Maybe it's from when we burned Luella…" but Victoria shook her head.

"We didn't use gasoline," she reminded me.

"I'm just trying to come up with a good reason to be smelling gasoline," I told her. "Maybe there's some on a car."

"It's coming from this direction," Victoria said. She dropped her backpack next to the door and started walking towards the center of the house.

I dropped my backpack next to hers and followed her. "Why would there be gasoline in the middle of the house?" I questioned. "That makes no sense."

"Maybe it's a heater, or something," she answered dubiously.

"That would be natural gas," Esme disagreed as she followed us, "but we don't have a heater anyway. We don't need one."

"Then what are we smelling?" Victoria asked as she stepped into the very center room in the house.

As soon as we were all inside the room the door slammed shut, and I heard something slam into place outside the door.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed. I went and tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"They're here," Victoria announced.

"Thank You, Captain Obvious," I said sarcastically. "Come help me try to move this door."

"Let's just break through the wall," Victoria suggested as she came over to try to help me.

"We reinforced the walls in this room with steel so that they wouldn't break in case anyone got rowdy," Esme said, obviously regretting that decision. "We probably won't be able to break through."

"What's that noise?" Victoria asked. I listened carefully.

"Fire," I said, and I turned to stare wide eyed at my fellow prisoners. "The house is on fire."

Esme started wringing her hands. "What do we do? We can't be inside when it's on fire. Oh, what do we do? No one else is home!"

"Will it kill us?" I asked. I knew that the only way to finish a vampire included burning it…

"I'm not sure," Esme said. Victoria shrugged.

"Cell phones!" I exclaimed. I reached in my pocket…

And remembered that I had put my cell phone in my backpack while we were running, and so had Victoria. Esme didn't have one either.

"Call the family to you," Victoria suggested.

"Oh yeah," I said, feeling stupid. Suddenly, the fire came under the door and I backed up, but not fast enough. The entire room had been soaked in gasoline, and the floor, walls, and ceiling all caught fire almost immediately. Our clothes all caught on fire too.

"Hurry!" Victoria shrieked.

"I'm trying!!!!" I yelled back over the roar of the fire. I tried to concentrate, and I tried to call the family to me, but the flames kept distracting me. They were hot, hotter than anything I'd ever felt before.

"Did you call them?" Esme shouted.

"I don't know!" I called back. "The fire keeps distracting me!"

"You'd better hope they got it!" Victoria yelled, "Or we may not be anything but ashes by the time they arrive!"