DISClaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer. I make no profit from this.

Hope you enjoy this.

-x-

My mouth must have fallen open and I stared at him.

"Jasper?" Edward said softly. "You can smell her that strong?" he inclined his head very slightly and looked away.

"In the water. It's weak… but… I can smell it."

-x-

Quil's POV

I looked down at the water's edge.

"You know," She said softly, "That wasn't there ten minutes ago."

"How do you know it was ten minutes?"

"I used the position of Jupiter and Mars." She muttered sarcastically, "Rough guesstimate, maybe?"

"Oh, yeah, well-"

"Look. If the water's rising… what do we do?"

"What is it they say? Sit down, put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye?" I smiled, looking up at the stream of sunlight beaming down from the ceiling. "I don't know." I conceded, tired of an argument nobody was going to win.

"You…" She was staring at me, a weak smile on her face. "You know how you could get out, don't you?"

"No?" She gestures back at the water. "But we wouldn't make it." I said, "You wouldn't last - you're only human."

"Which is why I said it was you that could get out." Yeah, that had thunked into place, thanks for saying it aloud. I felt sick as she said the words.

"I'm not leaving you." I set my jaw as best as I could and said it bravely. "There's no way I could get back for you." She seemed to be fixated on a point just above my shoulder, unfocused, not looking at me.

"I understand that." She said, her voice low, even, but with an undercurrent of terror as strong as the current under the water. "But you have to understand, that there is an eight year old girl out there, who needs you in her life far more than I do."

"What?" I had forgotten about Claire completely. I was supposed to be babysitting her tonight. I doubted that was going to happen now. "You can't say things like that!" I realised what she was saying as her words echoed around the cavern. "What about Seth? You've just met him! Your life would be perfect-"

"I," She swallowed and looked away, her eyes returning to the thin shaft of light from the top of the cavern. "I don't think so."

"What?"

"Life's never perfect, Quil." She stopped and looked at me, grabbing my shoulders as if she was going to shake me, "Exhibit A; Your current location and predicament."

"But Max-" I stopped and looked at her, sighed and put my head in my hands. "We will get out of here."

"Keep telling yourself that. Oh, and when the water's up to your neck, don't come crying to me."

"Let me rephrase: If we don't get out of here, I will have no faith in humanity."

"You'll be dead." She retorted, standing up and going over to the water's edge. It lapped gently at her knees as she crouched down on the tiny 'shoreline' and looked into the water, sighed and pulled her hair back from her face, as though she was looking at her reflection. She murmured something inaudible, and I heard a half-sob.

"Mackenzie?" She didn't reply, didn't look up at me. Her eyes stayed focussed on the ground as she rose to her feet, her stance suddenly defiant, she turned away so her back was to me, and she looked up at the gap in the ceiling of the cavern. It looked like there was some calculation going on in her head, her eyes flickered up the walls, her head inclined slightly, and she took four steps forward, so she was standing right up against the wall. "Max, what are you doing?"

She didn't turn to me, just looked away, at the floor and went back to the water, sat down, let her hair fall back into the blood on her cheek, sighed sadly, and looked away again.

"Nothing, Quil." I sat down beside her, closed my eyes and put my arm around her.

"You sure?" her fingers curled around my wrist, and she pulled my hand in front of her face.

"Quil…" She paused, looked to the water again, "I don't want to die." She murmured, tears in her eyes, "Not today."

"You won't." I said certainly, though in my head, the words came out with more conviction. She bit her bottom lip and sucked on it, the blood on her cheek having trickled down to pool against her lips.

I took a deep breath and pulled her against my chest; let her hair fall against my bare skin.

"How can you be so sure?" I heard her say a couple of seconds later. I looked down at the top of her head, closed my eyes and pressed my lips to her hair, hoping she wouldn't feel it.

"I can't." She choked mid-sob and looked up at me, "But the pack will do anything to save you. Seth would follow you to the ends of the earth…"

"I think," She smirked as she pulled away, shaking her head, "I think… we're stuck in the bowels of the Earth, Quil." She smiled, her sarcastic nature returning as she regained a little defiance, a little fight.

"And you don't think he'll follow you here too?"

"I just don't think there's space for three of us." She waved her arm around the cavern and laughed.

Seth's POV

Frantic probably wasn't the word. I was pacing up and down, listening to Jake's voice; he was trying to calm me down. Apparently the rest of the pack was searching further up and down the coastline, Brady and Collin were checking all the known caves in the area, but they'd come up with nothing.

Mom, Emily, Kim and Billy were our sort of headquarters, they had come up to the beach, had made up a campfire, started cooking for us.

I was more interested in Jasper and Edward. The latter couldn't hear anybody's thoughts, which worried me a lot, to be honest with you, because I think he could hear through pretty much anything - apart from maybe a hundred foot of solid rock. Jasper on the other hand, was arguing with Edward like a cat and a dog.

"Look, you're just gonna hold me back. You couldn't follow me - you know I'm faster in the water than you are." Jasper had a huge, defiant, smug smile on his face.

"Jasper, it's her blood in the water." Edward was talking as though he was a kindergarten teacher, "You know what you're like around blood."

I watched their exchange with a long face, watched how animated Jasper got, how frustrated Edward was in return. Jasper ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"You stay here." He said finally to Edward. "I'm gonna do this alone."

"You can't-"

"Eddie." He yelled, "For god's sake, we're running on borrowed time. If she is bleeding, I will cope. It's not like I'll have to… give her mouth to mouth - Quil's with her." He shot me a look that clearly screamed tell me I'm right! and nodded.

"Fine." Edward conceded like a little child. "Whatever."

"Idiot." Jasper muttered, and then looked up at me, a sheepish grin on his face. "You got any swimming trunks I can borrow?" I smirked and gestured silently to the pair I was wearing. "I'll take that as a no."

He threw his shirt to Edward and pulled off his shoes. He was wearing board shorts anyway - clearly one of Alice's obscure whims - so as he waded into the water and grinned at me, running a hand through his messy blonde hair, he looked simply as though he was going to go surf.

Hardly the most positive picture for a rescue mission.

Jasper's POV

I threw myself into the water, trying to quell the panic that had been fluctuating within me for the past few hours. I could smell the blood in the water, and was following it blindly - a few tendrils of blood led here, a few more there, as I dove deeper, following the thicker trail downwards.

I assumed it had been from the cliff - as I had swept past it I could smell the blood on the rock at the base of the platform, where all the Quileute kids dived. I'd tried it a couple of times - Jacob had invited me and I'd taken him up on it, interested in what I could do as a vampire - I'd never really been into extreme sports, but I had to admit this had been kind of fun.

The current had picked up since they had dived - the weather had worsened, and a storm had blown in above the surface. It was nice not to have to worry about breathing as I followed the blood deeper into the water, I felt all new and clear-headed again. It only took a few parts per million of blood in the water for a shark to track its victim. It took me even less, apparently, because as I neared a human-sized crack in the rock face, about half a mile along the base of the cliff, I was practically shaking with anticipation.

It hit me then that Edward had probably been right, and I hoped that Quil was in the mood to fight, because it might come to it. I didn't want to hurt her, of course - the last time I'd been tempted was by Bella, when she'd cut her hand, nearly six years ago, now, but I was kind of afraid that I'd be tempted into a frenzy if I smelled blood.

I was controlling myself pretty well now, though, as I kicked through the gap in the rock, the smell strengthened and I blew out a deep breath. Terrifying, really. There was enough space for two or three people to get through the gap, and as the swell of the current passed and the water cleared, the blood in the water seemed to dissipate.

Kicking up from the gravely sand on the bed of the sea, I coughed reflexively as my head broke the surface. I choked on the stench of stale blood - not as appetizing as a fresh wound, and froze as a wave of fear coursed over me, then settled into relief. Human emotions. I sucked in a convulsive breath and let out all of the water I'd breathed in tracking her.

Then I looked up at Quil and a huge wave of frustration bubbled up in my chest.

"You," I said as he reached forward and helped me out of the water, "Could have phased." The look on his face told me that he hadn't even thought of it. "Idiot."

-x-

A/N: Please review and let me know how I did... :P

Yay for Jasper's part in this... I love him so...

I hope you don't mind, because everyone is like "Why doesn't Quil Just PHASE!!" I'll explain in the next chapter...

I'm really glad you all like it... so i'd appreciate more feedback...

And i'm really, really happy that you keep reading :)

Small challenge for you: How will Jasper get them out? PM me and let me know (because if you're right, I don't want to ruin it for everyone...)

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