8.
Nobody moved. I could see the shock on everyone's face, including Alice's.
Finally Alice managed to say, "Do I know you?"
The girl began laughing softly. "No, I suppose not, Alice. But I know you."
Silence.
"Everything is a bit fuzzy before you became a vampire, isn't it?"
And it was like that line was the cue for everyone to start moving. Fred slipped out of the door unnoticed, probably running off into the night. Esme motioned to Edward, Bella, Emmett, and Rose to follow her and leave Alice alone. I went to leave with Jasper but Alice grabbed my hand, though I wasn't sure if it was because she wanted me to stay or because she needed support. As I was pulled into Alice's head, all I could see were images flying past at the speed of light. She was trying to see what was going to happen. I realized what scared her the most about this girl: she was a blind spot. Alice couldn't see her anywhere. I squeezed her small hand in between both of mine.
The girl made herself comfortable and I pulled Alice down softly into the couch. She glanced at me and then back at Alice, looking her up and down with a small smirk on her face. She pushed a strand of long black hair away from her tan face. "My name is Camila. I've been watching you for a long time, chica, from before you became a vampire. I heard people talking about you in that town you lived in and I had to come see for myself about the girl who could see the future."
Alice sat perfectly still. Her hand slowly became limp in my hand as she got over her shock.
"I'd been around for a long time, and I've found very few things in life eso me emociona – that excite me. People with gifts, ahh, now that is especial." Camila closed her eyes, that same smile on her lips. When she opened them again, all the friendliness was gone. "When they locked you up in that place, claiming you were crazy… I snuck in a few times and saw what they did to you. It made me so enojado." I could hear the anger in her voice.
"I spoke to a man I knew, a vampire. He was a doctor, and I begged him to go into that – prison and save you. He barely got to you in time."
James, I thought.
"Apparently I wasn't the only one interested in people with magia, special abilities. That man, James," she hissed, "he wanted to kill you or claim you as his own or something loco like that. I could smell him coming, so I told that doctor he had to get you out right away and save you." She looked away for a moment before continuing. "James killed him, but luckily the man thought to hide you away before James found him." She glanced at Alice. "You know the rest. I followed you everywhere you went. I never understood it, but you never saw me coming."
Alice's mouth began moving slowly. We both leaned in to hear what she was saying. She cleared her throat and said louder, "You're my blind spot."
Camila shook her head. "You cannot see me, can you, bella?"
Alice shook her head, and I again I felt her trying hard to find anything in the future about this girl, but nothing was coming.
"I don't know how that is either." Camila shrugged.
We sat in a silence for a long time. Alice gave up trying to see anything and felt her thoughts move towards her past, trying to see anything that had happened to her. She sat up suddenly and pulled her hand out of mine, clasping them together as she leaned forward towards Camila. "Please, tell me what you know about my family, my life before. Anything."
Camila watched her carefully. "Your familia was so beautiful. You and your sister got your looks from your mother. She looked a lot like you, actually. Here." Camila fished into the back pocket of her tattered jeans and pulled out a small crumpled photograph. She handed it to Alice, who carefully unfolded it. Five black and white faces were looking back at her. A woman sitting on a chair holding a little baby boy smiling softly caught my attention. It looked exactly like Alice might have looked had she grown to be 35.
Camila pointed to the woman I was looking at. "Your madre."
Two little girls stood side by side, holding hands. The oldest must have been Alice. Her finger moved towards her sister's face.
"Cynthia," Camila said softly in response to Alice's unspoken question. "She was a beautiful girl. She grew up and married your next-door neighbor. They had five beautiful babies." Alice looked up slowly. "She named one of them after you, chica. She missed you so much."
Folding the photograph, Alice stuck it into the pocket of her dress. "Thank you for this, Camila," she said softly.
The other girl's face softened. "Of course."
I was about to get up when Alice asked another question. "What happened to my mother and father?"
"Your mother went loco after they took you away. She refused to eat and lay in bed all day. She died of influenza a few years later. Your father was killed in a hunting accident when he was 49."
Alice nodded.
"A lot of people missed you when you left, despite that fact that so many thought you were crazy in the head. You were engaged to a man named Francis Dupont. He committed suicide when they told him you had died."
I knew this was becoming too much for Alice. I stood and grabbed her hand. "Alright, I think that's enough for now." But Alice would not budge. Movement behind me caught my attention and I saw Esme coming in, moving fast towards us. As we tried to get Alice up, she tried to shake us off. "I'm fine, Bella!" she shouted.
"Honey, it's me and Lisa. Bella's not here."
Alice was shaking her head furiously, but finally we managed to pull her off the couch. Jasper met me at the stairs and pulled Alice, who had now gone silent, into his arms and carried her upstairs. Esme was speaking softly to Camila. When I turned around, I noticed Carlisle had joined his wife.
Camila was apologizing, though she sounded like someone trying to soothe a child, not really meaning it. "She needed to know."
Carlisle spoke up. "Yes, but maybe not all at once."
"Okay, I will leave."
Esme looked like she was unsure whether she should protest or not. But Camila was out the door before anyone could say otherwise. When I got to the door to close it, she was already gone.