As we neared the Cullen house, I felt the same strange tingly feeling that Mason had given me in the forest. I stopped, and stared at Alec, frowning.

"Sis..." He started with a worried look in his eyes.

"No," I cut him off, shaking my head, "It's ok, I'm ok. There was just something weird about that Mason guy. It's fine though." I smiled, maybe a little too enthusiastically, took his hand, and together we entered the house. Our hands broke apart, and I slumped onto the white couch in front of me, while he hurried upstairs, without looking back at me or even acknowledging the fact that I was just running with him.

I was worried though. On our whole run back to the house, Alec just didn't seem like... himself. There was something wrong in the length of his strides, the weight of his steps. Even the way he grinned at me every 10 or so seconds. He just didn't seem like the same brother that I had grown up with my whole life. For one, he never left my side, and I mean never. Once, as newborn vampires, only 3 weeks in our existence, Alec kept pulling at my arm, whining about being thirsty and how his throat was so dry it stung. His eyes were pitch black then, the skin under his eyes were so purple and splotchy it looked like he had two black eyes, and his face looked so pale and sunken, he looked like a corpse. Even then, he didn't leave my side, and only went hunting when I finally agreed to go with him. So why did he leave me now, to go hunting? And he didn't even go suck up a deer, or a fox... he disobeyed our new set of rules and slayed a human! Alec... my little brother, disobeying? That was unheard of. Alec was known in our Volturi clan as "Jane's little dog", my personal dog who never left my side and never disobeyed my orders. Was he finally growing up into his own self?

"Jane!" A high pitched, mousy voice broke apart my thoughts.

"Hi Alice," I sighed. Alice was... nice. She was a little too enthusiastic for my liking, but I knew she had good intentions. She would attempt to befriend any soul she ever met.

"Wanna do something fun today? Like... shopping?" She asked with bright, hopeful eyes.

I looked at her for a few seconds before answering. "Ok Alice, I'll go... shopping with you."

She squealed with excitement. "Finally! I'll invite Bella and Rose, we can make it a whole girls night out!" With that, she scampered off, probably running to force Bella and Rosalie into our shopping trip.

Five seconds later, she re-entered the living room. This time, she had her two sisters behind her, looking just as enthusiastic as I felt. Rosalie didn't make eye contact with me, but Bella gave me an apologetic smile, as if to say, "Sorry about my sister, she can be a bit much." I smiled back. Bella had been weirdly accepting of me when Alec and I moved in. We even had a few personal girl-to-girl chats, which were awkward for me, but she seemed completely at ease. For a girl who's baby and family I tried to kill, she was strangely forgiving.

"So where to? The Forks Valley Mall?" Alex asked, looking at the three of us.

"Yeah, sure," Bella replied, and with that, the four of us walked out the door, preparing for a day of "pampering" and "girl time".