11.

"Lisa, what's wrong?" Carlisle asked as he hurried down the stairs.

"John is gone. He's not in the cabin. I searched the woods but there's not even a trace of him. He's disappeared!"

Emmett jumped up out of his seat. "That girl did it! The ghost. I swear I will crush her!"

"Emmett! Watch yourself. Let's put all that energy into finding John."

The next few moments passed by in a blur. People were shouting back and forth.

"Alice, can you see anything?"

"Where's Bella?"

"Rosalie, help me pack the backpacks."

"Alice, are you alright to go?"

"No, mom, I'm coming with you!"

"This is all my fault. If only I'd stayed around the cabin."

And then we were all piling out the door. Embry ran ahead of us, Jacob and Seth behind, panting. I was moving without thinking as Alice pulled me along with her.

"Where are we going, Alice?" somebody shouted.

"I don't know. I can't see a thing. We're going to have to follow his scent trail."

A t-shirt that belonged to John was passed around. Bella pushed it into my hand and I slammed it into my face, taking in his scent and letting it penetrate the fog I was in. My mind began racing and soon I was back to normal as we raced along through the forest. Once in a while, one of us would stop to examine a broken twig or footprint, but there was nothing that told us where Camila could have taken John.

"Oh God, please let him not be dead," I whispered to myself. Alice took my hand and threw me a supportive look.

"We'll find him, Lisa, alive."

I didn't respond for a while. Finally, I asked her how she was feeling.

"You mean, about the whole thing that happened at the house?"

I nodded, glancing at her. She shrugged. "I just wish I could have known it was going to happen – all of it. I hate being blindsided by things." A pause. "I want to blame myself for what happened but I know I can't, which frustrates me."

"You want to blame yourself."

"Yeah, it would probably make me feel better. Not so helpless."

"You're feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks for being there and pulling me through." She smiled at me.

This time I shrugged. "I was just glad to help. You were the strong one."

She was silent for a while, growing somber as she thought. "Everything that she said about my family, it was all just too much at once, you know?"

I nodded. "And the fact that she was the one to tell you all this…" I added softly.

"Yeah," Alice agreed. "Now that I know everything, I'm not sure if I was better of not knowing."

"I know how you feel. But everything will turn out all right. You and Jasper will work through this."

Alice nodded slowly, lost in thought again. Bella had been watching us in a silence, and when I looked her way she smiled. "Edward told me what happened. He thinks you did an amazing job for Alice."

"I guess he's happy he saved my life."

Bella chuckled softly. "He's not the only one who's happy about that."

I smiled.

We traveled miles before the sun came up. Carlisle spoke as we stopped to let the wolves rest. "Do you think she'd be out in the day?"

"It depends," answered Edward. "If she stays hidden, she might, but if she had to go out in public, I doubt it. She won't want to risk any extra attention."

We were at a dead end. Nothing we had found gave us any clue to where he could be. We stood silently as Carlisle tried to figure out what to do. I saw Renesme wander off to the left.

Her voice broke through the air. "Hey guys?"

All eyes were on her. She was picking at a tree. From the bark, she pulled a tiny scrap of plaid fabric.

"What is it, Nessie?"

"I don't know, dad."

I moved closer and she dropped the piece in my hand. It looked ripped, not torn, as if someone had done this. There was no need to look at it any closer; I would have recognized it anywhere. "It's John's."

"So we're on the right track. We have to go this way," pointed Emmett.

"Not so fast," said Jacob. He was standing on the opposite side of where I was, holding up something in his hand. "Found this a little ways out."

"John's shirt," I whispered.

"What's the chance two little scraps like this get found so close to each other?"

"Could she be trying to lead us the wrong way?"

"The question is, did she really plant the scraps or is this the way they went."

Everyone looked from one person to the other as we waited for someone to speak.

"Let's split up," Carlisle suggested.

"Good idea. Jacob, you take Seth and Embry. Bella and I will go with you."

"What about me, daddy?"

"Nessie." Bella let out an exasperated sigh. "I think it would be best if you stayed with Carlisle and Esme. Better yet, you should just go home."

"Mom!"

"Nessie comes with me," Jacob butted in.

"That's not your choice to make, Jacob."

"No. But it's not yours either, Edward."

"Dad, let me go with you."

Edward glanced from Jacob's determined face to Renesme's, which was equally as set. Realizing he would loose this fight anyway, he let out an unneeded sigh and muttered, "Fine."

"Call us if you find anything, Carlisle," said Seth.

Carlisle nodded and we watched as the six of them moved off. "Let's go!" Emmett was bouncing around, unable to keep his anxiety under control.

We pulled our backpacks on and started traveling north, away from the others. Once in a while, a cell phone would ring.

"Still no progress," sighed Carlisle. We had been separated for a few hours now, and still there was no clue.

"She could be in Miami by now for all we know." I could tell Emmett was still angry with himself for letting this happen.

Alice sat down on a huge rock, dejected. I could tell how much it was hurting her that she was blind in all this.

Jasper was pacing in front of her. He was wringing his hands together, looking very nervous.

"What is it, Jasper," asked Esme quietly.

He glanced up at her, confusion across his face. Carlisle noticed it. "Tell us, son."

Jasper shook his head, but spoke anyways. "I'm not sure. A few miles back, it's like I walked into a wall. I haven't felt a single thing since then. I feel like I'm walking through a fog."

Alice looked up suddenly. "A fog? That's how I feel whenever I try to focus on Camila."

Everyone glanced at Alice. Carlisle started thinking out loud. "If Jasper feels like he's in a fog and you feel it when you think of Camila, we might be getting close to her. But it's strange that one vampire could emit such a shield."

"You think it's more than one?" asked Rose, looking around suspiciously.

Carlisle nodded slowly. "Definitely more than one."

Esme had pulled out her cell phone and was dialing before anyone else could move. "Edward. We've found something." He spoke a few words and then Esme hung up. "They're coming."

I was still thinking about what Carlisle had said. "How many do you think there are?"

His eyes moved to my face, but I could tell he was far away. "I would say two or three. No more than five, because we would have noticed their presence."

We would have heard about a lot of dead bodies, I filled in.

Alice was sitting with her head in her hands, eyes closed. "Can you get anything, Alice?" Jasper whispered, hoping not to distract her if she was concentrating. But she looked up at him with a slightly frustrated look in her eyes. "Nothing. Actually, it's more than nothing. It's like there's nothing in the future at all."

"Which means we'll confront them, right?" Emmett put out there, eager for a fight.

Or it's because we'll die. I thought it but I didn't say it out loud. "Do you think the shield they have works like Bella's, where she has to push it out to affect those around her, or does it come naturally like Fred's?"

Rose was examining her nails. "Does it matter?" Esme scolded her lightly and she looked up at me. "I'm sorry, Lisa, but I just don't see the point in mussing about this. We can't figure out anything."

"If we have options, we won't go in completely blind," Carlisle defended me. "It won't hurt us to think about it."

Rose shrugged and sat down on a rock with a humph. Emmett took Jasper's place and began pacing, while Jasper joined Alice on her rock. They were murmuring to each other softly. I glanced at the sun. I guessed it was around 4. Nobody spoke aloud as we all either sat or paced around. The sky grew darker above us. The sun was setting. I glanced around us. "How long until they get here?"