Thank God for Canada's flat land.

It made running as fast as I was even easier. Without the hills and valleys I had to endure on my way out of New York, I felt like a bullet flying across the flat land.

After a day, my hunger was almost too much to endure. I had just crossed over Winnipeg, and human scent was almost overpowering. I ran north for a short while, getting lost in the thicker, luscious wildlife. Canada's wildlife proved more than satisfactory, as always. The large elk I caught satisfied my appetite.

I stopped at a small creek to rinse off my hands when I caught a look at myself in the blue waters reflection. My hair was a wild tangled mess of leaves and twigs. My face was clean except for a small smudge of the elk's blood on my cheek. My shirt was ripped to the point I marveled how it had stayed on at all! But there, I caught the first real look at the damage the clan of vampires had caused. Moon shaped scars criss-crossed across my arms like paint strokes. A few bites appeared on my side along my hip, and then the bites on my legs were innumerable. I was a monster. A disfigured monster.

I ripped out the twigs from my hair and tore off the remnants of the shredded clothing. I rinsed off the mud caked on my feet and hands and rubbed uselessly at the marks on my arms.

He wouldn't want me. I would disgust him.

Not waiting to get dry, I pulled on another pair of skinny jeans and my familiar blue blouse. I hadn't worn it since the last time I had seen him. Not since the night he had left me alone in the woods. The sleeves were long and covered up the scars on my arms. At least I could hide them.

As I started to zip my bag back up, I saw the binder and the marker.

What is she hadn't seen? Worse yet, what if she chose not to come?

I pulled them out and opened to a blank page.

'PLEASE, ALICE, PLEASE

MEET IN DENALI'

I wrote it repeatedly, filling the remainder of the binder. If she didn't see this, her powers must not be as strong as I thought.

If Alice chose to not come, I wondered about the vampires in Denali. Surely they would have a way to get in touch with the Cullens. Whether they would be willing to help me was another story. They had never met me, and I wasn't sure how they would react.

If all vampires reacted with the same hostility as Julian's clan had, I would need to be prepared. If there was a possibility that this could turn into a fight, I would need to make sure I was as strong as possible. I would hunt before-

Stop! What was I doing? Getting prepared to fight the friends of my family?

I could see now what the short time in New York had done to me. It had turned me wild. It had made me aggressive and hostile.

I couldn't allow them to see me like this: a wild vampire; unstable, untrusting. I was Bella, their Bella. His Bella. He would see me and see that underneath the stone skin, the gold eyes, I was still his Bella.

I zipped up my bag and started west again. It was probably only another day and a half until I reached Denali. It was only then could I know if Alice would be there. It was only then could I see if they could still want me.