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As always, huge thanks go to my pre-reader/cheerleader team. Gredelina1, Verseseven, IamTheAlleyCat and Mary-Alice-Brandon-Cullen. Also to Snarkymuch for beta'ing this chapter and listening to all my bitching when the words wouldn't flow. I love you all.

~ Chapter Twelve — Found ~

Jasper POV

I watched Alice like a hawk throughout our long journey south. She had barely shown the depth of her feelings regarding all that had happened, and I wanted to be ready for the moment she finally broke. I thought her restraint thus far was because of Esme. She had broken down completely at the news, and Alice had supported her instead of allowing her own feelings to take over.

As for my own feelings… I didn't know how to feel.

Bella was alive. Unlike Alice, Esme, and Carlisle, I didn't have any moment of denial. I knew as soon as Garrett told us that it was true. If anyone could come back from the dead to us, it was Bella; the girl was extraordinary. But it was if my reactions were frozen. Alice took priority, closely followed by the rest of my family. Perhaps when I saw Bella again, I would feel something.

I had no great bond with the newest member of my family. I had always kept my distance for her safety. The moment I grew overconfident with my strength—her damn birthday party—was the moment I almost killed her. It wasn't that I didn't care; it was that I was scared to. I had relied on her change to allow me the chance to get to know her properly, but all that went to shit the day she was stolen away. Now she was a vampire, and I had my chance at last, but it was complicated by what Garrett had told us. She was crazy.

This situation wasn't new to me. I had once encountered an insane vampire when I was in Maria's coven. A girl had been bitten by a newborn, but the feeding was interrupted by a brawl. The girl suffered a much longer change than usual, and somehow during that her mind had been broken. She too believed she was human; though in her case, it was different. She didn't exhibit the same signs Garrett mentioned of Bella, but she lived in terror of the other vampires around her. She saw herself as a human captured by monsters and begged constantly to be allowed home to her family. Peter made a good case for her recovery—he believed if she could be forced to accept that she was a vampire her mind would be healed—but he never got the chance to try. In Maria's coven newborns were for fighting, nothing else. The insane girl was destroyed within her first week as a vampire.

While Alice packed up our bags to take south, Peter and I had spoken briefly.

"You know what this reminds me of," he said.

I frowned but nodded. I didn't like to think of Bella in comparison to that poor girl that had shrieked and sobbed, begging for release. "You think it will work?"

"I'm sure of it, Jasper. We never got a chance before, but if, God forbid, your Bella is like that girl, we can fix it."

I drew comfort from his confidence. Peter was not gifted, but he seemed to have an innate understanding of people. It was that understanding that led him to befriend me in the first place. He later told me it was because he saw the darkness beginning to settle over me and knew he could help. He was right; he did help me and not just by showing me the peaceful life.

The final leg of our journey was made by a small charter plane to the Alta Floresta Airport. From there we had to go on foot to the mountains. Personally, I was looking forward to the chance to stretch my legs. Two days of airports, planes, and humans had done their work on me, and I needed to hunt to ease the low burn in my throat. Luckily, the Amazon was the perfect place for hunting. There was a wealth of suitable wildlife for us.

It was twilight when we landed, which was fortunate, as the airport was small and there was nowhere we could feasibly lurk as we waited for the sun to set. Shouldering our backpacks, we headed out into the city. Soon we were within the cover of the forest, and we could leave the human pace behind and allow ourselves a little speed.

It was good to run together. Alice and I hadn't had a chance to really run free since we left the Cullens. Though Peter and Charlotte accommodated us by staying within range of forests for us to hunt, it was not the same as running in the Alaskan tundra. With our hands intertwined, we ran together.

Garrett led the way. I knew when we were reaching our destination as he slowed his pace. Coming to a stop, he crossed his arms over his chest. "We're almost there. I need one of you to hunt and bring back the carcass."

"Whatever for?" Carlisle asked.

"Because the last time I saw her, I brought her food and that was the only thing that got her out of her cave to talk. Given the way our last meeting ended, I am going to need to stack the odds in my favor."

I didn't know how they had parted last time, but I imagined it was not a friendly goodbye. Bella had just told him Esme was dead and that she had killed her. Had I been him, I would have struggled not to kill her.

We all needed to hunt, so we separated and headed in opposing directions. We tended to go alone for the actual hunt, the only exception being mates. Alice and I liked to hunt close to each other, only leaving enough distance to allow the other dominance over their own kill.

I caught the scent trail of a jaguar, and my mouth flooded with venom. It would not be nearly as satisfying as human blood, but it would sate the burn better than the deer that was all I had been able to hunt recently.

When I was done with my hunt, and my throat was back to a low burn, I shouldered the carcass of the jaguar and searched for Alice's scent. I found her sitting on the forest floor curled into a ball with her chin resting on her knees. I dropped the jaguar and sat down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"What's wrong?" I cursed the words as soon as they left my lips.

She raised her head slowly and gazed at me. "Everything."

I kissed her hair and pulled her a little closer to me. "I'm sorry, darlin'."

"I just keep thinking of all the things we missed and wondering what happened to her."

None of us had spoken about how Bella came to be the way she was. I had my suspicions, but I was not going to raise them until we were all ready to talk about it. With my gift I had added insight into how we were all coping and no one was ready for that conversation.

I heard the sounds of the others talking and knew they were done with their hunts. As unprepared as I was, I knew it was time to see Bella.

I picked up my jaguar and Alice's ocelot, and we walked together back to meet with the others.

Garrett was standing with a drained deer and tapir at his feet: Esme's and Carlisle's kills. I dropped ours down in front of them.

He considered and the picked up the deer. "This'll do for her. You can get rid of these."

"I always wondered about that." Peter grinned mischievously. "Do you hold a funeral for them?"

I rolled my eyes. "Very funny, Pete."

Carlisle demonstrated our means of disposing with our meals by lifting a tree from the ground and kicking the carcasses down into the hollow. With a crashing sound, he planted the tree back into its root bed.

I waited for Garrett to set out as our guide once again, but he didn't move. He clasped his hands together and stared at us each in turn.

"Before we go the rest of the way, we need to talk about some things. I know you are all eager to see her again, but you have to let me lead. If you go barreling up to her, like I know you want to, you are going to scare her. If you scare her, it will take that much longer for her to come out again."

"Of course," Carlisle said. "We will follow your lead."

We each nodded our agreement, and Garrett set out again. We had gone a few miles when a new scent crossed our path. I inhaled deeply. It was a vampire scent, sweet and inviting, with a definite floral undertone, a lot like I imagined Bella's scent would be.

I felt a pang of sadness from my side. I looked down to see Alice biting her lip. She caught my eye and forced a smile. I squeezed her hand a little tighter.

Suddenly, Garrett came to an abrupt halt. "We're here."

We were standing at the edge of a small break in the trees. The canopy overhead stretched out to block the sky from our view. It could once have been a human's campsite, or perhaps Bella had created it for herself. There was a circle of logs acting as benches surrounding a dying campfire. Lying over a boulder were clothes so tattered and darkened by dirt that there was no knowing what color they had originally been. So far everything I saw supported Garrett's story.

The tension from Esme, Carlisle, Garrett, and Alice was immense, and it made me uncomfortable. Peter was radiating his signature calm, and so I latched onto his emotional climate to ease my discomfort.

"We need to move back a bit," Garrett said when we had all got a good look at the camp. "She doesn't seem as attuned to her senses as you would expect, but even a human would be able to see us here." He led us back through the trees to a place we could still see the clearing.

The canopy of the trees successfully blocked light from the sun, but looking up I saw the slight lightening at the very tops of the trees. It was morning.

As if the sun's arrival had beckoned her, I heard movement inside the cave, and out stepped a vampire.

A wave of mingled sadness and shock rolled over me.

It was Bella. There was no question.

She looked almost exactly as she had done the last time I had seen her, with only the slightest enhancements from the venom. Her skin was paler than before, but only slightly—she didn't have much color to begin with. Her features had been smoothed and perfected, giving her the trademark beauty of our kind.

"Oh my." Carlisle's voice was barely audible. He stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed at Bella. Esme's face was covered by her hands, but her eyes were shining with joy.

I heard a stifled sob from Alice, and I hurried to comfort her. She was poised on the tips of her toes with her hands clasped in front of her. It looked like was fighting the urge to run to Bella.

The shock and sadness faded quickly and was replaced by wonder and happiness. She was really here; we had found her.

All this I cataloged in seconds as Bella stepped out of the cave. I knew what to expect, Garrett had told us it all in detail as we travelled south, but nothing could have prepared me fully for what I was seeing.

She extended her arms over her head and stretched as if easing aching muscles. She rinsed her mouth with water and then stoked her fire into a roaring blaze. Then she looked around the small camp as if searching for something.

"That's my cue," Garrett whispered.

He picked up the deer and made his noisy path toward Bella's camp. At the sound of his footsteps, she squeaked in alarm and disappeared into her cave.

"It's okay, beautiful," Garrett called. "It's only me."

Beautiful? Edward was not going to like that.

He dropped the deer down on the floor beside Bella's fire and sank down onto a log. "I brought breakfast."

There were quiet sounds of movement from inside the cave, but Bella did not show herself again.

"I'm sorry for how I acted last time," Garrett said. "You caught me off guard. I have good news, though."

There was a gasp from inside the cave and all sounds of movement cut off. "W-w-w-what?"

The voice was as smooth and clear as any vampire voice, but it was still Bella's. I focused my gift on her and felt her stress. She was waiting on tenterhooks for Garrett to speak again.

"If you come out, we can talk properly," he said.

I felt Bella's indecision. Then slowly, ever so slowly, she emerged to the mouth of the cave again.

"There you are," Garrett said in a jovial tone. "I brought you something to eat." He nudged the drained deer with his toe.

"Thank you." Her words seemed automatic.

Garrett settled back on the log looking completely at ease. I knew better; he was actually very tense. "Do you want to hear my news?"

Bella's eyes slowly rose to meet his, and she shrugged. I could feel how uncomfortable she was having him so close, but she was fighting it. I wished I knew why. I could feel another's emotions, but the reasoning behind it was sometimes a mystery.

"Beautiful, I need you to know you can trust me," Garrett said apropos of nothing.

"I know," she said with complete indifference in her tone. "You didn't kill me."

"Of course, I didn't. Why would I kill you?"

"Because I made you angry." She hugged her arms around her chest. "You wanted to kill me. I could see it in your eyes."

"Yes, but I didn't, and now I am back again, and I brought you food."

Bella nodded and pulled the deer towards her cautiously, as if expecting Garrett to snatch it away from her at any moment. She disappeared into the cave for a moment and then reappeared holding a shard of stone. With practiced movements, she skinned a hind leg of the deer and began removing meat from the flank.

"Why are you back?" Though she asked the question, there was no real curiosity in her. She could have been delivering lines from a script.

"Because I have good news, and I thought you should hear it. I went to see some old friends."

"That's nice," she said with a vague smile.

"It was nice. I got a pleasant surprise when I saw Carlisle."

She gasped. "Carlisle!" She skittered back into the cave again, lurking just out of sight in the darkness.

"Hey now, there is no need to be scared. I promise I won't hurt you."

She laughed without humor. "Is he coming now, or do I go to him?"

I heard a low moan from Carlisle. I had been so absorbed in watching Bella and Garrett that I had almost forgotten that I had company. Alice had a hand held to her mouth as if blocking the words that wanted to pour forth. Esme was curled against Carlisle, taking comfort in his touch.

Garrett considered for a long moment. I thought he was weighing the cost of telling the truth over lying to her. He decided on redirection.

"You think Esme is dead?"

There was a long silence. I had almost decided she wasn't going to talk again when she answered him. "They told me so."

I wondered who they were. Whoever it was had to be the ones that had done this to her.

"They lied," Garrett said simply.

Bella looked at him with a curious expression. It was almost pitying. "Esme was your friend?"

Garrett nodded. "Esme is a very dear friend."

Esme smiled. I had yet to meet someone that Esme knew that didn't think of her as a dear friend; there was something about her that drew you in.

"I didn't want to believe it either," she said. "I didn't want to know I had killed her."

"You didn't kill her." Garrett was growing impatient. "I saw Esme and she is fine. Well, maybe not fine, but she is definitely alive."

"That's nice."

Bella didn't believe him, I could tell, but she seemed to have decided to humor him for now. It was maddening. There was so much we needed to know, but unless we could convince her that Esme was still alive, there was no way we would be able to get close enough to question her.

Garrett sighed heavily. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

"There is something that I need to show you," he said.

He got to his feet and came to our hiding place. Shrugging in a defeated manner, he raised his hands. "Well, I tried, but as you can see, there is no convincing her."

"Perhaps if she saw me," Esme suggested.

"We risk losing her altogether," I warned. "I can feel her emotions, and there is nothing stable there. If we scare her, we may break her altogether."

"What do you suggest?" Garrett said.

"I think we should start with someone else," Peter said. "No offence, Garrett, but she doesn't know you. If we get someone else, like Alice, to tell her the truth she may believe us."

"Are you willing to try?" Carlisle asked Alice.

She was more than willing; she was desperate to go to Bella now.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely."

I had an uneasy sense of foreboding. Something in this didn't feel right. I couldn't help but think we were missing something.

"You will need to go slow with her," Garrett said. "Just let her see you at first."

"And be prepared for her to run," Peter said.

"And keep your distance," I advised. "She may not believe it, but she is a vampire now. She could hurt you."

"Okay, okay, I got it!" Alice said with an impatient huff. "I know what I am doing."

I was not happy about this, but I knew that there was no talking Alice out of it. She was determined to get to her friend. Even if Peter hadn't suggested this plan, she would have found another excuse to approach Bella.

I embraced her, taking deep lungfuls of her scent to comfort me. She wriggled out of my grasp and pecked me on the cheek.

"I'll be fine, Jazz. It's Bella."

She turned and started towards the camp where Bella was spearing chunks of deer meat onto a piece of wood. She was almost at the edge of the camp when Bella looked up and smiled.

"Hello, Alice. I've missed you."

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