I gasped violently. "Alice?" I whispered. "Alice?!?" I was shrieking now, clutching the phone as if it would fly out of my hands at any moment. "Alice?!"

"Bella, please," her voice was sobbing. "You can't do this…you can't go through with this crazy plan to stop Victoria. Don't put yourself in harm's way. Bella, I promised him I wouldn't watch for you, but I couldn't help it…"

Tears were cascading from my eyes as I incoherently babbled, "Alice, Alice, oh my God…," not hearing a word of what she was saying. I continued for a moment before I realized that she had quieted. Silence filled my ear as I tried to calm my erratic breathing and rid my eyes of the stars that had begun to swirl. After another minute, I took a deep, steeling breath. "I miss you so much," I cried softly, hiccupping.

"Bella," her voice was sad. "So do I…we all do. I wish I was there…it's harder than I ever imagined. But we promised Edward, and I had no idea Victoria would still…" Her voice changed. "Bella, you have to tell me everything that's going on! There are huge moments where I can't see you, and it's terrifying."

I wondered how much I should tell her, but then cursed myself for questioning Alice's intentions, even for a second. She was my friend, even after all of this time and pain.

"Well, it was really bad, Alice, for a long time," I admitted. "I was going through the motions, but it was so hard to try to do everything as if nothing had happened. But I'm trying, and it's getting a bit better. Lately I've been spending a lot of time with a friend of mine down in La Push — Jacob Black. He's really helped me since Edw— Umm…since your brother left. You might not believe this, but he and some of his friends in La Push are…well, they're werewolves."

I heard a sharp hiss on the other end.

"Werewolves?" Alice sounded furious. "You've been hanging out with werewolves?" Bella! Don't you understand how dangerous they are?"

I immediately became defensive as I thought of my sweet wolf-man. Jacob wasn't dangerous. "Alice, you don't understand. They're protecting me. I have this under control. Jacob would never hurt me."

"No, not deliberately, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen," she said. A flash of Emily's mangled face appeared in my head as Alice continued. "No wonder I couldn't see you…you were with werewolves." A soft chuckle sounded. "Only you, Bella…I swear. You attract danger like no one I've ever seen."

"Can you tell me what you did see, Alice?" I whispered. "With Victoria, I mean."

She sighed loudly. "I don't see a lot, and that's what scares me. Anytime you're with your new friends (she sneered at the word) or even planning to be with them, I can't see what's happening. You must be alone right now, because I can see your future. If any of those dogs get near you, you'll disappear again. But right now it's pretty clear. I see you preparing to go to La Push to meet Victoria."

She paused for a moment, and I imagined her face, with her eyes slightly out-of-focus as she searched the future. "Now that I know you're planning that, I can see her more clearly too. I'm able to read her because of how closely I watched for her after the baseball game last year. It's bad, Bella — she's created newborn vampires. Newborns, Bella! Erratic, incredibly strong newborns. I can see her leading them to La Push to find you. Your futures are inexplicably entwined now. It's a solid vision."

"When?" I asked quietly.

"I can't tell the day. It's afternoon though, and it's very sunny. There's a parade going on in Seattle when they leave…something with flowers. That's all I can see right now." She sighed, sounding exhausted. "It's your turn…you need to tell me what you're planning."

I launched back into what had been happening since they had left. I told her about Laurent, about Jacob first catching Victoria's scent and of the developments since then. I told her pieces of the plan we had hashed that night, making my part sound minimal. She sighed in frustration as I finished.

"This is not good," she said firmly. "It's so frustrating being all the way…if we had any idea…"

"Are you coming back?" I asked with hope. I was answered by silence. "Alice? Just because he's gone doesn't mean you all have to go."

"Bella…" she started before I interrupted her.

"I needed you so much when he left. I may have lost my boyfriend, but I lost my best friend during this whole mess too. I don't think I can handle talking to you now and then having everything be gone again." I pleaded with her. "Alice? Please say something."

"I don't think I can," her voice was strained. "I want to, Bella…believe me. But, I promised…we promised him…"

"He promised me something too, Alice," I said, my voice tinged with bitterness, but then my toughness melted and I fought back the rapidly rising panic. "Can you do me one favor? At least call me…can't we talk every once in a while? That's not too much, right? It's so good to hear your voice. If that's all I can have, I'll take it."

"I…I don't know," Alice said quietly. "Maybe…if you do me a favor. Please don't bait Victoria. I can't see the outcome and it scares me. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

"I can't do that," I said simply. "I have to help them — it's my fault that they're in danger. The pack is my family now — just as much as you and your family used to be. As much as you still are," I admitted softly, my lip trembling slightly. "I'd do the same for you if you needed me."

"Oh, Bella," Alice said sadly, her voice echoing in my ear before a soft click told me she had ended the call.

**

I cried for two hours after Alice hung up, until my body shook but no tears came from my eyes. I was emotionally and physically exhausted, and finally crawled under my blankets. Between the terror of finding out Victoria's plan, the elation of finally realizing my love for Jacob and the shock of hearing Alice's voice, I had gone through every emotion known to man in mere hours. I fell quickly asleep, not waking until morning.

**

I was in a semi-catatonic state for the rest of the week from lack of sleep — going to school during the day, working in the evenings and sneaking out with Jacob after dark to rendezvous with the pack to continue our planning. I couldn't fathom how the wolves managed with such little rest. I was certainly struggling with it. Tyler had to nudge me awake in English and later at lunch I had nearly nodded off into my yogurt.

Jacob had promised us both an entire night's sleep that Saturday. He planned to spend the day with me before leaving to get a full eight hours in his own bed. I was looking forward to some time with him, almost as much as I was anticipating sleep.

Even with the fatigue and stress, it had been a good week because of Jacob.

I was unabashedly affectionate with him now. If he sensed a change in my enthusiasm, he didn't say anything, but it was hard to catch a moment where he wasn't smiling when I was around. Even during the stressful strategy sessions, his face held a resigned smile as his eyes communicated his concern.

Alice's information had helped immensely. Jacob's jaw had clenched fiercely when I told him she called, but when I explained what I learned, he calmed down and admitted it was helpful. We learned that Seattle was hosting an annual daffodil parade the following Saturday, and the 10-day forecast was showing a possible break from the rain that weekend. It all fit. Billy and Old Quil had no problems organizing a tribal event with the Makahs for that day, and all seemed to be going to plan.

Our strategy sessions were going so well, in fact, that when Jacob and I arrived after midnight on Thursday, planning had been cancelled for the evening. Instead, we were surprised to see only a few people in Sam's yard. Sam, Emily, Jared and Kim looked up from their intense conversation and welcomed us. Jacob stiffened next to me when he saw them and I glanced at him curiously before skipping to Emily's side. She squeezed me warmly.

"We're not interrupting anything, are we?" I asked, giving Jacob a quizzical look — he was visibly uncomfortable. He didn't meet my eye, and instead glared at Sam.

"Oh no, you're not," Kim said shyly. "We were just talking about Quil. He imprinted today!" The group looked at me expectantly, but I just smiled back, slightly confused. Kim seemed like she wanted me to share in her excitement, but I didn't understand what she had just said. My confusion must have been apparent because the small circle went silent. Jacob exhaled loudly and Kim's expression was horrified, her ears getting red.

I looked from face to face. "What?"

"You haven't told her?" Sam sounded angry, and Emily's arm around me tightened.

"No, I haven't…not yet," Jacob said bitterly. "It didn't seem like the right time, with all of the preparations for next week. I'm going to talk to her about it, I promise."

"Jacob?" I was a bit worried. "What's going on? Tell me what?"

He was at my side in a flash, pulling me to my feet. "Nothing that we can't talk about later. Don't worry, it's something I was planning to talk to you about when I'm at your house this weekend." I must have looked concerned, because he took my hand and held it against his cheek, seeking my eyes imploringly. "It's okay, Bella."

"O…kay," I said uncertainly, knowing that I would have to trust him to explain this whole "imprint" thing when he was ready. The atmosphere around the campfire had quickly become awkward, and we immediately stood to leave. He murmured a quick, uncomfortable farewell to our quiet friends and pulled me back to his car, while I threw confused glances behind my shoulder at the group of four, huddled together in hushed whispers.

Somehow, I knew they were talking about me.

**

Jacob took me immediately back home, saying little on the way. I would have preferred to spend a few hours with him, but he insisted that I try to catch up on my sleep while he phased and slept in the woods near my house in his wolf form. He kissed me quickly but intensely when we arrived at Charlie's house, and I snuck back to my room as he parked his car down the street and loped off into the brush.

I brushed aside the rising panic at his behavior, deciding to be patient and to trust him, but I couldn't help grabbing my dictionary as soon as I got to my room, looking up the verb "imprint."

im-print — transitive verb — to mark by or as by pressing or stamping; impress to imprint a paper with a seal; to make (a mark or impression) by pressing; to press or apply to imprint a kiss on the forehead; to implant firmly in the mind or fix in the memory: with on a sight imprinted forever on her memory

I was confused. Had Quil been marked in some way? Maybe this was some pack tradition I didn't know about yet…a tattoo or something. Why, then, were they so worried about Jacob telling me about this "imprint" thing? Were they afraid I wouldn't approve of Jacob getting a similar mark? How bad could it be?

I stretched out on my bed, fully intending to think about it more, but I must have been more tired than I realized, because I drifted off within minutes. My dreams were filled with visions of random and elaborate tattoos covering Jacob's arms, legs, stomach and face, as Alice's distorted voice echoed through my head.