9.

Emmett thundered down the stairs the minute the door was closed. "What in the blazes was that, Carlisle?"

"Emmett, calm down, please!" cried Esme.

"My little sister is up there muttering away about a sister she never knew and some fiancée that's dead and you want me to calm down?"

"Emmett!" warned Carlisle.

Jasper came out on the stairs and leaned down. "Carlisle, I think you need to come look at her."

With one last warning glance at Emmett, Carlisle raced up the stairs. "She won't respond to me and she thinks she's with her old family. She keeps asking to see a Cynthia," I heard Jasper say before they went into Alice's room

Emmett was still steaming, and Esme suggested he go outside if he was going to punch things. But he never made it before ear-piercing howls broke through the air.

"John!" was my first reaction as I ran after Emmett and Esme towards the cabin. Camila stood in front of three huge wolves, her fingers extended like claws and growling. "Let me through, wolves!" she shrieked, to which the one I guessed was Jacob snarled.

"Hey, you –"

Camila turned before Emmett could finish his sentence. Her eyes flew wide in surprise and then rage as she spotted Emmett and I barreling towards her. She took off into the woods.

"Emmett, let her go!" yelled Esme. "She's not worth it, Emmett!"

Emmett reluctantly stopped a few feet from the cabin. I rushed towards the door. I stood in the doorway, surveying the scene. She hadn't gotten through. I turned to thank Jacob and his friends. Seth came and stood near me, muzzling my hand softly with his big wet nose. I rubbed his head. "You did good, Seth. Thank you."

But there was no time to rest. A sharp cry came from inside the house and Edward came hurling out the house. "Emmett! Esme! We need you! You too, Lisa!"

We made it up the stairs before another cry chilled my bones. Carlisle and Jasper was holding Alice back on the bed while she lay, thrashing about wildly, trying to claw free. When her face turned towards us, I noticed the scratch marks on her face and the wild expression in her eyes. Jasper cold barely hold on to his wife's arm, so Emmett stepped in and he helped Carlisle hold her down. Still she shrieked and cried.

"What happened, Carlisle?" Esme ran to her husband side and began stroking Alice's head, who pulled away from under her touch.

"She just went wild and started screaming. Something besides what that Camila girl told is setting her off."

"I can't calm her down," said Jasper in a strained voice. "She won't let me in."

I was still standing in the doorway, absolutely still, staring at the scene before me with huge eyes. "Blind spot," I whispered, mostly to myself.

"What's that, Lisa?" said Bella, who was standing the closest to me.

"Blind spot," I said louder. "This girl is a ghost. Alice couldn't see her coming or anything about her in the future. She was Alice's blind spot."

"That could have frustrated her, plus everything the girl told her."

"Come to think of it, I couldn't read the girl's thoughts," spoke Edward.

I walked towards the bed rapidly and sat down next to Alice. "Her hand, please, Emmett," I asked quietly.

He grabbed her forearm, letting her hand dangle. I took it in mine. A million images floated before me, flying back and forth.

"Alice," I said to her. "Alice, I know you can hear me." Her mind was trying to do four things at once: find Camila in the future, her family in the past, figure out a way to get free from us, and listen to me. Everything I saw was fogged, as if Alice had formed a wall to protect her mind.

"Edward, please." I heard him move towards the bed and he put his hand on my shoulder. Now I could not only see what Alice was thinking but also hear her voice mentally trying to process all the information her brain was going through. She couldn't process where she was and who was in the room with her but I could tell she recognized my voice.

Edward's hand tensed on my arm. He was probably getting a headache from everything going through his head, while I felt surprisingly calm.

"Alice, baby, I need you to do something for me." No response. "Alice."

Her head jerked towards me.

"Alice, let me in."

"N-n-n-"

"Yes, Alice. It's just me. I won't harm you; I can help you figure this out. Let me in."

Slowly the images became clearer as she broke down her wall.

"Good. Okay, first you need to forget about Camila. There's a reason why you can't see her or Edward can't read her, but it's not for you to figure out alone." No change in her thoughts. Squeezing Alice's hand, I whispered her voice harshly. Slowly she stopped trying to find Camila. "Good."

The next one would be tricky. "Alice, you need to stop trying to find your family in your head. Your memories were wiped because of all the shock treatments."

She tried making up for not thinking about Camila by trying to search harder for anything about her parents and fiancée. "No, Alice! Stop that!"

Her head slammed from side to side in a defiant 'no'. "Alice! You need to calm yourself down. You'll drive yourself crazy."

The minute I said that, I knew it was absolutely the worst thing I could have said. Her mind started recalling what she could about her time at the mental hospital. Suddenly, all I saw was white: white walls, white floor. Screaming filled my ears. Alice was inside the mental hospital in her mind.

"Not good, " I groaned.

Questions flew at me from the people around the room but I ignored them, focusing everything I had on Alice. The fog was beginning to come back between Alice and I.

"No, Alice! Let me in!"

The fog pulsed in anger.

"Aliiiice! Don't give in to it, Alice!"

The fog stopped, hovering where it was.

"Alice, come on, baby. Don't shut yourself out. There are people here who love you, who need you. Think of Jasper."

Again the fog wavered as Jasper's face floated in front of my eyes. "Good, Alice. Think about Jasper."

A gasp escaped Alice's lips and the fog was gone. "Okay, good, baby."

White walls again. Now I saw Alice moving around, scratching at the walls and floor, screaming. I could tell she was beginning to think she was back in that hole.

"Alice, get out of the room. Get out, now."

"Can't…"

"It's not real, Alice. You're just remembering."

"N-n-n-"

"She thinks it's real, Lisa," whispered Edward. I nodded.

"Alice, honey. You're in your room, in the house where you live with Esme and Carlisle and Jasper. You're not in the white room anymore."

The image faltered slightly, before coming back full-strength.

I glanced at Jasper. "Talk to her, ask her to come back."

He sank down by his wife's head and whispered softly in her ear. "Alice, love, it's me." I shook my head and he expanded. "It's Jasper. Baby, I need you to come back to me."

It was working. I could feel her subconscious trying to pull her out of the room. "Keep going."

"Alice, you belong here with me. You're safe, you're not in that hospital anymore."

Her lips split apart slowly and a sob escaped.

"Come on, Alice. Jasper needs you."

In her mind, I saw her get up off the floor and suddenly a door appeared. "Go out the door, Alice."

A shaking hand reached for the knob, pulling it open. "Keep going. Don't look back, Alice."

And finally she was out, the door shut behind her. "Okay," I whispered. "Good, Alice."

A gasp that I recognized as Edward cam from behind me as all the flying images from before buzzed back to life.

I'm sorry, Edward.

Keep going. I'm fine.

"Okay, Alice. Forget about the family you had before. You have a new family now, a family that needs you."

Another sob erupted from her throat as images of all the Cullens flew past her. "Yes, Alice, they need you."

She clenched her eyes shut and went completely still.

"What's wrong?" asked Jasper.

I shook my head. Alice's mind had gone blank.

A gasp, and then Alice's eyes parted in a flash.