The screech of the alarm clock came too soon this morning.

I groaned and slapped it silent. If only I was like Renee. My mom had a keen ability to wake up when she needed to. Rarely did she oversleep, if ever.

I rolled over and reached for my robe. Edward fortunately hadn't destroyed the clock this time. He seemed to buy a new one for me every week.

Yawning, I tied the belt of my robe closed and made my way downstairs. My head was pounding; I needed a gigantic cup of coffee. Esme was the only one in the family who could brew it just right.

"Bella!"

My mom came running out of the kitchen. I watched, bewildered, as she threw her arms around my neck. How the hell did she get to 1955?

The knowledge came crashing over me like a tidal wave. I was back in 2005 again. In my sleepy state this morning, I hadn't noticed anything different. Now I saw everything that I missed—the digital rather than analog alarm clock, my cotton rather than silk robe, and most importantly, the absence of Edward.

I squeezed my eyes shut, recalling the night before. The six of us gathered in the living room to celebrate Carlisle's birthday. Since they couldn't drink the champagne, the Cullens had given their glasses to me after the toast. I remembered Rosalie giggling at my flushed face. Finally, Edward, chuckling to himself, carried me upstairs. I fell asleep next to him after swearing never to drink again.

I must have traveled back when I was sleeping.

I took a deep breath as the two heartaches collided. I was without him again. But perhaps even more painfully, it had been six months in my timeline since I last saw Renee.

Tears stung behind my eyes. I returned the hug, squeezing her as tightly as I could. "Mom, how long have I been gone?"

"Three days," she sniffled, drawing back to look at me. "Oh, Bella, I was so worried. Pam said she saw you in the park, but when you didn't come home . . . well, I knew you were gone again."

Three days—that meant it was January 14th. On January 11th, I was using the swings with Bobby in the park. In 1955, I had been with the Cullens from May to November.

I struggled to wrap my mind around that. The disparity between then and now was overwhelming.

"I thought you'd be used to it by now," I said with a laugh. A feeble attempt to raise our low spirits.

Renee didn't smile back. "I'll never be used to it. I missed you, baby. I'm never sure if you've gone back, or forward, or . . . or if something happened to you."

My blood felt icy in my veins. I never liked to think about that, but it was always a real possibility. There were dangers associated with my time travel, but catastrophes happened in the present, too. If someone ever kidnapped or killed me, there would be no way for Renee to know that I wasn't in the past. She might just assume I was coming back eventually. It was terrifying how easily I could slip through the cracks. I shivered at the thought.

"Don't worry," I said after a moment, more to myself than to Renee. "I'm fine."

"If Charlie gave you anything, it was his stubbornness."

"Strength," I corrected her. "And I think you gave me some of that, too."

Renee flashed me a wide smile. "How about we play hooky today, just you and me?"

"You want me to skip more school? Is that against the teacher code of honor or something?"

"Well, it is Friday. I know you hate it there . . . and we haven't had much girl time lately. Plus I need a break from the old ball and chain."

I snickered. "That's enough for me."

Renee kissed my cheek and darted upstairs to change. I pressed a hand to my forehead when she was gone. Only a few tears fell. I brushed them away quickly.

I was stuck in a cosmic tug-of-war. Not only was my body being pulled in all directions, but so was my heart.

I missed Renee so much. The happiness I found in the past was never complete without her. When I was growing up, it was me and her against the world.

Nevertheless, I felt like our relationship was changing. My travels were happening more and more frequently. They coincided with a new chapter in her life, one in which she was making her own decisions. Renee was finally coming into her own as a woman and a parent. She and Phil were engaged, she had enough money to pay the bills, and she found a school she really enjoyed working for. The connections she was making here would have been impossible in our previous nomadic lifestyle.

I was glad she found happiness. She had someone to take care of her now. My move would give her some peace of mind.

"Ready to go?"

"Where should we start?" I asked as we backed out of the driveway. "Did you have anything in mind?"

"Do I," she laughed, then pulled a hefty list from her purse. I took it so she could focus on the road and began to read.

First we stopped at a cafe for breakfast. Next we got manicures and pedicures at a little shop nearby. I fought back a smile as I landed on a red shade. Red as blood.

A sudden image of Rosalie holding one of my hands in hers, carefully applying red nail polish, flashed through my mind. I tried to focus on what Renee was telling me, nodding my head at all the right parts.

I treated Renee to a nice lunch downtown. After that we went shopping. My mom ignored my pleas to pay and handed over a credit card every time. I knew she loved to spoil me, but with Christmas and the new house in the very recent past, I worried about money.

I shook my head. Renee was a big girl. There were two incomes in the house now. If I wanted to hang out and enjoy our girl time, I'd have to learn to separate the daughter Bella from the parent Bella.

We sat inside the car for a few minutes to take a break. After she helped me adjust my new earrings, she sighed.

"So, Bella. Tell me."

"Tell you what?" I asked, letting my hair fall down to my shoulders again. The studs in my ears sparkled in the sun. I caught myself hoping he was nearby, but I knew it wasn't true. My eyes flickered to the rearview mirror and away. No one was there.

"Where your head is, Bella," she smiled, leaning back against the headrest. "You've been quiet."

"Not really," I argued. "We've been on the move all day."

"Come on. What's up?"

I shrugged. "Just worried about the move, I guess."

"Are you worried about moving in Charlie?"

"Kind of," I confessed, voicing a fear I had not yet confronted. It seemed easier than talking about what was really upsetting me. "He has a busy job. He can't be worrying about me all the time."

"Bella, your dad isn't a worrier."

"I know that. But it will be the first time in I don't know how long that I'll be living under his roof permanently. And I'm not just any normal kid!"

"He may not live with you yet, but he knows," she insisted, in a rare moment of parental authority. "Any other guy would have ran at the first thought of a kid like you. But he tried to make your life as normal as he could."

"Yeah," I murmured, thinking of our trips in the summer. "I suppose you're right."

She studied me for a moment. "But that's not at all you're worrying about, is it?"

"No," I admitted, cursing her powers of perception. She may have been flighty, but when she found a target, her aim was true.

"Tell me."

"My trips to the past . . . " I hesitated. "They're a lot longer than they used to be."

"How long? Where do you go?"

"All over," I sighed. "It's kind of like when we moved around a lot—all over the United States. I met a few interesting people there."

"Really? Anyone famous?"

"No," I laughed. "But I did end up near Aberdeen."

"Kurt Cobain," she said dreamily. Then she shook her head. "No. Focus. Go on, Bella."

I studied the dashboard. "My time there was longer than the three days here. To me, six months went by."

Her eyes were huge. I cleared my throat and continued, "I met someone there. A boy."

"And you fell in love with him," Renee surmised, her eyes locked on my face. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head. She was imagining me in the past. Me creating a new life for myself. Me meeting someone who could love me for who I am.

It was more or less what happened.

But I wasn't with him now.

"I did," I whispered, clenching my fists tight so I wouldn't cry. "And it hurts because I know it can never work."

"Who says it can't?"

I let out a strangled laugh. "Mom, I'm a time traveler. It can never work. Trust me."

"Oh honey," she murmured. Renee unbuckled her seatbelt and moved to sling an arm around my shoulders. I laid my head on her shoulder and let myself be the kid.

It felt wonderful to be at least somewhat open with her. Fears I didn't know I had were coming to the surface.

Edward was going to live forever, but who could say the same for me? What if I did disappear, leaving so many people behind? And what if I didn't travel back soon?

I imagined growing old waiting for him and shuddered. I knew there was no one else for me. But there were no guarantees of anything. It was a situation I could not control.

Renee drove home and insisted I go in and make myself a cup of tea. She carried all the bags in herself, picked up the phone, and ordered us a ton of Chinese food for dinner. I heard her talking to Phil too, asking if he could give us the evening alone.

"Yeah, babe, she really needs the girl time. Well, she's moving. Uh-huh. All right, see you later. Love you."

I pretended to be flipping through the channels when she came back.

"Food will be here soon," she said cheerfully, joining me under the blanket. I smiled.

"Thanks so much, Mom. Today was great."

"No problem, baby. Don't ever be afraid to come to me with this stuff."

She was right, of course. I always got so in my head about caring for her that I never let her take care of me. Renee didn't ask for a whole lot of information about Edward, either. I gave her the simple facts and she rose to the occasion. And I loved her all the more for it.

I spent the next few days attending school and packing. It was an odd sensation, knowing that Renee wasn't doing the same. For the first time, I would be moving on without her.

My nights were lonely. I had grown used to Edward by my side in the evening. We talked and laughed; he drew in his sketchbooks while I read my books. Sometimes we'd push all of it out of the way and kiss until he couldn't anymore. It was as close to perfect as I could imagine.

I toyed with my necklace again. It was always cold against my skin, just like his hands. I was glad to have this token to remind myself of him.

It pained me to know he was alone. He had his family and I had mine, but I knew that time passed faster there. Days to me were weeks, months, even years to him.

"I'm going to register you for classes," Charlie told me over the phone one night. I hadn't talked to him for some time, and decided give him a call. "But I'm leaning on them to keep it quiet. No need to draw attention to yourself."

"Sounds like a good idea," I said as I zipped up a duffel bag. "I'll see you next week?"

"You bet," he promised. "And Bell?"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Your mom told me you were feeling down. I know we're not the chattiest of people, but if you ever need to talk to me, you can. I'm still your dad."

"Thanks," I told him sincerely. "I love you, Dad."

"Love you, too. See you soon."

I tossed the phone into the bed and followed close behind it, sighing. Forks was going to be just like any other school. I was a pro at it. Even in the past, it was all the same. Show up, go to class, and leave. But in the past, I had friends. A boyfriend, too.

I sat on the floor of my closet one afternoon, searching for my winter coat. In the busy days of the move, it had gotten lost in the shuffle.

"Shit," I grumbled as the box in my arms split open. Renee's photo albums spilled and scattered onto the floor. Sighing, I dropped to my knees to sort them out.

I had seen most of these albums already. We moved around a lot, providing many opportunities for photo ops. I smiled at one of us on the beach in Florida. Phil had taken it of my mom and I over a long weekend. We were both as red as lobsters in the photo. I set it aside. That one was going right in my carry on bag. I'd need the reminder of sunshine in Forks.

I kept looking through the albums until I found one I hadn't seen before. I smoothed my hand over the title—The Ward Family.

My grandma's maiden name had been Ward, before she married my grandfather and was saddled with the unfortunate Higginbotham. Renee always joked that meeting Charlie was the best thing that ever happened to her, for two reasons—she got me out of the deal, and she got rid of her awful name.

The pages were old and sometimes stuck together. A few of the pictures were torn and still more were faded. I studied the resemblance between my mother and her parents, neither of which she got along with very much. My grandma died several years ago, and Renee never spoke about her dad much. He left them when she was ten and never came back.

One picture in particular caught my eye. Grandma Marie and a boy stood on the front steps of a house, scowling at the person behind the camera. But it wasn't their expressions that captured my attention—it was the development of the photo. The sun seemed to be shining directly on the boy, blurring him from the frame . . .

"Mom!"

She was in the living room going over her lesson plans. "Yes?"

"Did Grandma Marie have a brother?"

Renee frowned. "My mother? Oh . . . she did, actually. He was her younger brother. His name was Elliot."

My eyes fell to the caption: Marie and Elliot, aged seventeen and fifteen. 1956.

I had never heard of Elliot until now. My mom never mentioned an uncle and as far as I could remember, neither had my grandmother.

I could not look away from the picture. A casual viewer of the photo might have assumed it was developed improperly. Exposed to light before it was finished being treated. But to someone with my condition, I was positive Elliot had been captured time traveling on film. I took the photo from the book and folded it in my pocket.

"I've thought for some time that your condition is hereditary. Maybe we can expand our research in Washington."

Edward asked me once if Charlie had any relatives who shared my condition. I told him he did not and that was the end of the conversation. But in my wildest dreams, I never thought to study Renee's side of the family. I clearly knew so little about it.

I set the album aside and leaned against the doorway. I stood there, watching her work, and puzzling over what I learned.

Was the time travel gene something that ran in her family? Had I been overlooking it all along? Could I find Elliot in the past? Grill him for answers?

"What happened to him?"

Renee looked up again and pulled a marker from her mouth. "Who, Elliot?"

"Yeah."

She shrugged. "He died before I was born, I think."

I excused myself and hurried to the bathroom. The water was cool on my face, but did little to calm my nerves.

My mother was born in 1968. If Elliot was fifteen in 1956, that meant he was under thirty when he died. But what was his cause of death?

I pulled the photo from my pocket and studied it again. Carlisle and Edward researched my condition to the best of their ability, but there was only so much they could do without solid facts. Perhaps this photo held the answer. I vowed to carry it with me all the time. The next time I went back, I was going to be prepared.

Perhaps we could finally unravel the mystery of my travels through time. I hoped this knowledge could combat whatever disaster the Edward from 1962 warned me about. And if I found the answer, I could keep every one of them safe.