DISCLAIMER: SM owns all Twilight characters and settings. No copyright infringement intended.

Carlisle's POV

I tried to stifle the annoyance I felt over Edward's abrupt departure but when I saw the forlorn look on Esme's face as she came through the door fresh from hunting with her other sons, it burst forth with renewed vigor.

"He's gone?"

"I'm sorry sweetheart; Rosalie said he left a couple of hours ago." I took her in my arms, kissing the top of her head. Edward, for all his sensitivities, could be impervious to the feelings of others. I attributed that to the frozen state of his youth and tried not to fault him too much for it. I was not pleased that he refused to answer his phone, but it would be just like Edward, to do something reprehensible than ignore my attempts to reprimand him for it.

"That boy, he's going to be the death of me yet." Esme wasn't the first mother whose son had disappointed them, but I didn't think it would help to remind her of that now. She extracted herself from my arms and smoothed her messy hair down as best she could. "I suppose it's for the best. He'll be in Denali that much faster. I hope Eleazar can do something with him."

We settled into our morning routine. Every day I brought the newspaper home from the hospital where I had it delivered and read it as Esme pulled the blue prints together and painstakingly went over them one last time before she sent them off to the architect in Minnesota. She was working on Edward's surprise and now that he was out of the house she could think about it clearly and solicit opinions from the others, particularly Alice and Rosalie who'd joined her at the table. Emmett and Jasper settled down to play an elaborate game of online chess with unseen opponents. Advances in technology had opened up a whole new world for us over the last decade. They now had human friends that they regularly conversed and played games with online. I still couldn't wrap my mind around that notion.

The Victorian manor house we were moving to had once been the summer residence of a wealthy shipping tycoon and was excessive and opulent even by our standards. Esme had found the home through a local real estate agent when we determined it was no longer viable for us to remain in Forks. Initially our move was to be the catalyst for Bella's change, but after her death with so many memories, our infrequent run-ins with the wolves and Charlie's suggestion that we leave for the sake of everyone, the date had been pushed up.

The house, located in Silver Bay, fifty miles North of Duluth on Lake Superior, offered us one hundred acres of privacy and access to hunting grounds rich with black bear and white tail deer. We would not need to drive anywhere to feed. Game was plentiful particularly northwest of our new home in the sparsely populated arrowhead region of the state.

One of the unique and eccentric features of the house was an outbuilding that had acted as a carriage house and servant's quarters in the latter half of the nineteenth century. It had been converted to a garage some decades ago but the upper floor over the garage had gone largely unused. When Esme first saw it she anticipated that it would be the perfect home for the newlyweds but as that future would now never come to fruition, she considered turning it into Edward's own private space.

Initially I was skeptical of such a plan and surprised that Esme would want Edward sequestered from the rest of the family given his mental deterioration after Bella's death. But as she explained it, Edward often complained about the constant noise of our thoughts and how he could better block us when he was alone even if we were still within his range of hearing. She concluded that giving him his own space might alleviate his need to run off seeking solitude in the woods as he had in past decades away from civilization and us and the endless chatter that he found impossible to escape from.

I could not argue with my wife, especially not when I saw her enthusiasm for the project. Designing a space for Edward that would be exclusively his, with his books, his piano, his music and hopefully new memories, still near us, but not amongst us, the three perfectly match pairs, an Edwardism that made me wince every time he said it, sounded idyllic for him.

"Does he really need another piano?" Rosalie, injected as Esme described the interior of the room to the girls. I suspected she was annoyed that Edward would be getting the privacy when she felt it was due her and Emmett and on the surface she had a valid argument. But I could understand Esme's logic. As mating couples we weren't always discreet in our couplings, our needs, our lust often responsible for indiscriminate acts of passion regardless of who was within earshot. Edward felt uncomfortable in our presence. Not only could he hear and smell our love, he could read our most intimate thoughts. In Esme's assumption, his need for privacy was much bigger than the rest of us and again, I couldn't disagree with her reasoning.

"No he doesn't need another piano, but I want him to play for me in the house too. Esme appeared amused and pursued the trivial line of questioning. "What do you think, should we put the new one in the house or his space?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Does it matter?" ..

"No I suppose not, my Edward Junior." Esme teased at her insolence.

I tried calling Edward again some hours later, as did Esme and Alice, but he'd obviously decided to forgo any admonishment from us and as far as Alice's visions were concerned, he was on track and expected to make Denali in just under seven hours.

Leaving for the hospital, I touched my wife's cheek reassuringly. "Eleazar is going to call us the moment he gets there. He won't refuse to take our calls in front of them, so no worries love; you'll be able to scold him to your heart's content very soon."

"It's not that Carlisle, I'm just so worried about him. Do you think we can go up and visit him in the next few weeks? I miss him already." Her arms were around me, pulling me tightly to her, wrapping her body around mine. I reluctantly pulled away from her before she enticed me to stay a bit longer.

"Esme, he hasn't even been gone twenty-four hours yet." My teasing drew her ire and she pushed me out the door slapping me on my backside, a punishment I might enjoy exploring further after my shift was over.

It wasn't until Alice's number popped up on my display a couple of hours later, that I noticed I'd missed a call from Edward.

"Carlisle…CARLISLE." Her voice was breathless.

"Alice, what is it?"

"He's not there, Carlisle. He's not going to Denali." Jasper's voice was in the background trying to calm her.

"What are you talking about? Edward? What do you mean?"

"Edward's not in Denali, he's not going to Denali. I see him somewhere else, South, desert, not Denali and he's not answering his phone." Panic, I felt it, both hers and mine.

"Where is Esme, does she know?"

My question was answered by a sniffling sob I could clearly pick up through the phone.

"Carlisle," it was Jasper's voice, calmer. "Do you want us to try and track him?"

"I'm coming home, wait until I get there." I hung up abruptly. What had just happened? Where was Edward? What had he done now?"

Family emergency or no, I still had to get someone to cover my shift so it was a full two hours before I was in my car driving home. Additional calls to Edward went on answered. Eleazar upon hearing of Edward's last minute change of plans offered to come down to Forks, but I wasn't ready for that just yet. It could be that there was a very reasonable, however foolish explanation for Edward's deviation from his original destination. A phone call from him could be forthcoming at any time.

The family was gathered around the dining room table when I walked through the door. I took my place next to Esme and pulled her to me kissing her hands as they wrapped tightly with mine. She tried to smile through her anguish.

"What are we going to do with that boy?" she said in a shaky voice leaning her head against my shoulder.

I didn't think it prudent for me to voice what I'd like to do to him. My irritation over Edward's lack of consideration was testing the limits of even my patience. It would not due to focus on that now. I had to analyze the circumstances of this unexpected divergence to rationally determine if we had something to worry about.

"Alice, anything?" My voice was calm despite my agitation. "Do you have any idea where he may have gone?"

Alice shook her head; she was focusing hard on whatever vague images were flittering through her mind, looking for anything that might offer us an inkling of Edward's current location.

"No, I didn't see anything at all until a few hours ago; just Edward driving to Denali. But I don't think he ever was really going there. I think he was recalling past trips." Her eyes met mine. "He was deliberately blocking me from the moment he made the decision to leave for Denali; otherwise I would have been able to see his true intentions from the start. Why would he do that?"

I sighed, running the fingers of my free hand though my hair, as Esme squeezed the other painfully. "With Edward, who knows? He never wanted to go in the first place. We cannot always assume the worst. It's possible he overreacted to our request and only when he was alone did he rebel against it. That might also explain why you didn't see this coming. His decision to turn around was completely spontaneous."

I looked thoughtfully at Jasper. "Alice if I we tried to track him, would we find him?"

Alice's face went blank and I concentrated on making that decision. His scent would linger, drift with the breezes but it might be trackable; even the Volvo had a distinctive odor.

Her concentration broke. Her face told me everything I needed to know.

"No, Carlisle, we can't track him, other than his general direction which I already know, we'd lose him eventually."

"Where do you see him Alice? Tell me about it." I leaned forward willing her to give me a piece of information I could use.

"It's a desert, red rock, cactus, single lane highway, nothing specific. The sun is just starting to rise."

"Where is the sun as it pertains to Edward?" I needed more.

She scrunched up her forehead and thought a moment. "It's on his left, he's heading south."

"Phoenix?" Jasper said softly. The pained look on his face suggested he was recalling his last trip to Phoenix more than a year ago.

"I don't know. There is no city; I don't see anything but the road." Alice frowned a bit.

"But he could be headed towards Phoenix," I replied hopefully though I couldn't fathom why Edward would want to revisit that particularly memory.

"Yes, I suppose. But Carlisle, I really don't think so." Alice was still searching the random images. I could almost see her mind filtering through those that she could use and those that she could not. It was more difficult to decipher them without Edward here to explain what she actually saw. Alice's attention was diverted. She was less focused on transcribing her visions to the rest of us.

Esme had released my hand and was pressing her fingers to her lips. I could tell she had something to say, but was afraid to verbalize it, lest she be correct.

"What is it sweetheart?" I nuzzled her face with my nose, my arm sliding over her shoulders. Had Edward alluded to something in her confidence, something that she had dismissed as irrelevant?

"I have an idea," she said softly. "But it doesn't make any sense."

"When has Edward ever made any sense?" Rosalie's apathetic response brought a admonishing look of disapproval from me. She had no patience for another Edward crisis. But I had to admit, she was right. Edward could be capricious at times.

"Didn't Nicholas say he was from the South." Esme's voice was so soft, I barely heard it, but every head in the room snapped up to look at her.

"Why would Edward follow him?" Alice's voice came out as a squeak. She was searching her visions again, staring at her clenched hands.

"Why does Edward do anything?"

"Rosalie, please." I rubbed my fingers through my hair. Could Esme have touched on something? It made sense, sort of. Nicholas mysteriously appears, leaves just as quickly and just hours later, Edward decides to take us up on our pleas and agrees to go to Denali. But now he's not in Denali. "Alice can you see Edward with Nicholas?"

I'm searching for it now. I see imagines of Nicholas, but Edward's not with him. There's a girl, a black haired girl, but not Edward."

"Carlisle, he said he was going home to his coven…..in Mexico City." Jasper emphasized the last words. His face was drawn. He was recalling his own memories.

"I must be wrong. Edward wouldn't go there. He knows from Jasper's thoughts…" Esme's voice trailed off. She had the same distant look on her face as Alice, but her imagination was breathing life into her images and they were much more alarming than Alice's glimpses of the future.

"We don't know that this has anything to do with Nicholas," I said firmly. I didn't need Jasper's gift to feel the notable downward spiral of emotions in the room. "We can't focus on one thing and assume we are correct or we'll miss something."

"We have to consider it, Carlisle." Jasper stood and paced around the table. He was tense uneasy, I could not see what he endured but I'd heard about it many times over the years. Jasper's past life was unfathomable to me. The horror of it depressed me; validated so many things that Edward believed we were; soulless monsters, demons, the devil's spawn. Edward had seen it, seen the memories, begged Jasper on occasion to think about something else so he could escape them. Edward wouldn't venture anywhere near the southern covens, he wouldn't, he couldn't. Not knowing what he did about them. It was ridiculous to even consider it.

"You know Edward. Maybe he saw something in Nicholas' thoughts; some big adventure that he didn't want to share with me." Emmett's slight smile, showed that he was only half serious.

Still, the why might be as simple as that. Edward needed a distraction.

"Nicholas was hiding something. I've never heard of a coven living in the south that doesn't fight….doesn't have to fight. It's absurd to think that there would be anything that Nicholas could offer that would make Edward follow him." Jasper's distrust of the nomadic vampire wasn't a secret.

"Edward would know that. He would be able to see if Nicholas was being truthful." Of course there was always the possibility that Edward wasn't listening, too engrossed in a Bella memory. I paused, pondering my next words my eyes riveted on my fingers tightly intertwined with Esme's. "Given that Alice see's Edward heading south and he left the same day as Nicholas arrived we have to assume that this has something to do with Nicholas. Perhaps this is just simple curiosity. We need to let Alice's visions play out a little before we decide what to do."

Edward….Edward. What were you thinking, son. The anger I was feeling had dissipated. Please son, be safe and come back to me.

It was second nature for me to communicate with Edward through my thoughts and I fell into it so randomly I was scarcely aware I was doing it until I looked up and saw five pairs of eyes staring at me. They were waiting for me to continue.

"But I do know that if we're patient, things will work out, Alice will see or more likely Edward will call us. We can speculate all we want but there really isn't anything we can do for Edward, except wait to hear from him. So let's try and be reasonable about this and just show some patience."

Three weeks later we were still trying to be patient.

"Eleazar," I greeted my friend warmly, shaking his hand as he pulled me firmly to him in an unexpected hug.

"Carlisle, how are you managing?" His voice was meant for my ears only but I saw Esme's head cock in our direction as she greeted his mate, Carmen, in a similar embrace.

I shrugged. There would be plenty of time to discuss my despondency, helplessness and general numbness in the hours ahead.

When a phone call from Edward failed to materialize and hours passed into days, days into weeks, I finally acquiesced and invited Eleazar and Carmen to our home in Forks, now almost completely empty of personal effects, the house containing only the furniture that would not accompany us on our move.

We needed a change, a new perspective, a different insight. The six of us rehashing over and over again, where Edward was, how he was faring, why he hadn't gotten in touch with us, was taking a huge toll on everyone especially Esme. Our discussions needed to start producing results.

My devastated wife would sit for hours on the porch huddling in a wrap she didn't need as the chilly wind whistled in from the north calling attention to the change in seasons. She put on a brave front, interacting with her children, continuing her supervision of the renovations of Edward's living space, trying not to fall into a deep melancholy that had settled over all of us even as Jasper tried in a futile attempt to lift our spirits. The weight of our desolation was even too much for his gift.

Company would do us good. Esme was too polite to ignore guests and she was clearly fond of both Eleazar and Carmen. It would force her from Edward's room where she retreated whenever too many of us joined her on the porch.

After a bit of small talk, questions turned to Edward. There would be no tiptoeing around his absence. Eleazar and Carmen brought with them a new perspective to the situation and perhaps could suggest something that the rest of us hadn't considered. I directed them to the dining room table, big enough to accommodate all of us. The beleaguered look in the faces of my family suggested that they were only to ready to have this nonsensical adventure by Edward brought to an end,. The toll of his disappearance was weighing on everyone's mind, even Rosalie's who no longer sounded irritated, her annoyance dimmed by her concern as she mulled over her brother's absence.

"So tell me again Carlisle, what do you know of this Nicholas and where he's from? You said he came and left the same day that Edward did?" Eleazar, with centuries of experience dealing with troubled vampires and ageless wisdom would want to know all the specifics before offering his opinion.

I quickly recanted our brief chat with Nicholas and Jasper's suspicion that he was not from a peaceful southern coven as he claimed. I elucidated how Edward had stayed tucked away in his room during the entire visit and no interaction had occurred between the two other than Edward presumably reading his mind.

Alice's vision had firmed up somewhat, and she could picture a lush green tropical paradise not usually associated with Mexico. When Jasper brought forth a book of Mexican landscapes, she quickly pointed to several that mimicked her visions. Unfortunately those pictures were located in various parts of the country so pinpointing a location had proved impossible.

Searching for Edward in her images, she could get bits and pieces of him, but nothing concrete suggesting a location or even who he was with. With some prodding she confessed that he looked forlorn, distant, and depressed, causing little whimpers to escape Esme's lips as she thought of her son in distress, even the self inflicted kind. I could only take in a measure of relief that he was not physically harmed and still had enough cognizance in his situation to feel these emotions. The blank catatonic stare from my memories, was far worse than feelings of dejection and I had to remind myself and everyone else that Alice's visions were of the future, things could always change.

She did not see any visions of Nicholas and Edward together. That was odd but not alarming in itself. There were many scenarios that could explain it, including Edward's impatience and Nicholas' nomadic ways, leading Edward to find Nicholas' coven before he returned. Until he called us or Alice's visions became more specific, it was hard to speculate.

"Carlisle I think you have to assume that Nicholas' appearance and Edward's disappearance are related," Eleazar said slowly as he absorbed the information. He glanced at me only briefly before continuing. "Perhaps Edward saw something in his thoughts that made him curious or suspicious and decided to investigate on his own. That would be something he would do, wouldn't it? Eleazar chuckled as half the vampires at the table nodded.

"But where is he, why can't Alice see the consequences of the decisions he makes?" Eleazar wasn't telling me anything I hadn't already concluded.

This endless cycle of hypothesizing always brought us back to the same place and it was starting to wear on my patience. Eleazar saw my frustration. I realized I was being unreasonable in my expectations of his acuity to see the situation differently. He had only just joined us; he wouldn't know the hours and hours of debate about Edward's fate that I and the others had already struggled with.

"Perhaps he isn't making the decisions."

"What do you mean?" I could see Esme's hands clench in fists next to me. The comment inconspicuous as it seemed, had ominous undertones to it.

"I mean maybe someone is deciding Edward's fate." Eleazar did not understand tact. The time really didn't call for it, but Carmen's fingers tightened on his forearms as she saw the look on Esme's face.

"Are you suggesting that Edward is being held against his will." The possibility seemed ludicrous but I felt the tightening in my abdomen.

"It would make sense wouldn't it? Alice can't see him clearly because he hasn't been making decisions. He hasn't tried to contact you because he is being controlled by someone or something. Even Edward would not leave you in limbo for this length of time, unless he had no choice. "

Esme was squirming next to me, a little whimper escaping her lips. Eleazar's words were said with enthusiasm, identifying the mystery, a puzzle solved, but the idea that her son was being held against his will was pure torture for her.

"How would that be possible? How can a vampire be held against his will?" The idea sounded farfetched. Had we gotten to the point where we could only grasp for straws?

"Carlisle, need I tell you? How does the Volturi do it? Threats of death can be quite a deterrent. It would take more than one I grant you. So if we are to assume that Edward has found himself in a less than friendly coven, it is possible."

Edward would not comply with their wishes because of a threat of death," Rosalie spoke up; the conviction in her voice causing all of us to look at her. "Edward courts death as if it were a long lost love. Especially now."

"Rosalie," Esme gasped.

"It's true, we all know it. Dying isn't a problem for Edward. It's living that he has trouble with." She at least had the courtesy of sounding distraught, but it was too much for Esme. I could feel her start to crumble next to me an involuntary shudder rippling through her body. I gripped her hand.

"Well than," Eleazar continued, undeterred by Rosalie's comments. "What if the threat was directed at you? What if this coven threatened his family? Nicholas would know how to find you. Would Edward risk your safety, any one of you, with his disobedience?

We all knew the answer to that question. Edward, my martyr. He would view his death as a honorable contribution to the safety of his family.

"Everything you say sounds reasonable, Eleazar but I still don't understand why. Why would Edward follow Nicholas, why would a coven fight to keep him, what am I missing?"

"Perhaps they value his gift. If he truly is in the south, a mind reader would offer a distinct advantage to any coven." Jasper had been listening quietly, but I could see that he was mulling something over.

"His gift?" My voice had risen an octave. "How would they possibly know about that?"

"Carlisle, you know that there are numerous ways they could have found out. Speculating about the how's won't change anything or discredit the suggestion." Eleazar stroked his chin thoughtfully an eyebrow raised in my direction.

He knew me too well. I didn't like the way this conversation was going so I was going to take a stance against it. "I'm not…." But was stopped by his raised hand.

"If you need a more viable theory I can give you one. From my experience with the Volturi, I can tell you that scouting for gifted vampires or potentially gifted humans was a priority. During my time with them I was sent out on numerous scouting missions searching for vampires that might be able to add something to the guard with their special talents. I found the twins that way, and please don't blame me for those demon children. I only saw their potential, not their evil." Eleazar took an unneeded breath as Carmen shifted uncomfortably next to him.

"What if this coven that Nicholas claimed to be from sent him out searching for gifted vampires? What if he has a gift as I do? Was it really an accident that he just happened to show up here and only stayed for minutes? He saw Edward's gift, you confirmed that Edward was suffering the loss of his mate. He would have been able to communicate with Edward by simply using his thoughts. Who knows what that conversation entailed; what promises were made or lies told."

The entire table was completely still. Even Esme did not react. I thought back, remembering how I assumed I was protecting Edward by keeping him apart from us, remembered his intake of breath and snort at someone's thoughts. Was he communicating with Nicholas the entire time? What had the stranger said to convince him to follow? Could Eleazar be right? I looked around the table and saw that my family was seriously considering it.

"Carlisle, it's just a theory, please let's not focus only on that and forget that there could be other explanations." Eleazar could feel the intensity of my entire family's gaze. He relished explaining his premise until he found us embracing it wholeheartedly.

"It's the best theory that we've heard so far," I said softly. Could it be true? Could Edward be held hostage by a coven of vampires? I felt my insides curl in on each other, a pain in my chest. My son was in danger.

"If Edward is being held against his will, he's resourceful. If he can't call, he will find a way to get his location back to you. He can use Alice's visions for that. He just needs to decide to do something, no matter how small. If he decides to hunt and catches a landmark in his sights, she would see that, would she not?"

Alice was nodding her head absentmindedly.

"No, that won't happen. Edward would never ask us to rescue him. He couldn't live with the shame of it." Emmett's attempts at levity fell flat, his voice held none of his usual enthusiasm.

"Emmett's right. Edward would never seek our help," Rosalie agreed.

My hand was firmly locked with Esme's, but I wanted to pull it away and curl up inside myself. I was at a loss. If we were close to the truth, how could we ever hope to rescue him? Did he even want us to?

"Nicholas said he was heading back to Mexico City. We need to go there, go and get my son," Esme mumbled; she was barely holding back her sobs.

"Yes of course we do, we will, darling." We were united in our sorrow.

"No." It was Jasper. He looked at me sadly and shook his head. "You can't. It's too dangerous. Even if Nicholas was speaking the truth and his coven was located near Mexico City, there is no way we could help Edward. Unknown vampires are viewed as spies. With no local ties, we would be the enemy of all the covens. It's impossible."

It would not do to ignore Jasper's wisdom. He had decade's worth of experience. His body held the scars of all the evidence I needed. Jasper was the expert. He was not exaggerating. I felt Esme's eyes on me and I turned and met her gaze. They were oddly peaceful and they told me everything I needed to know.

"Jasper, you know I respect your opinion, value it and I have no doubt that you speak the truth. Of course none of you are obligated to go with us, but Esme and I have to try. We would do it for any of you; we have to protect our children." I spoke calmly, now that I had a mission, a goal, my apprehension eased somewhat.

The look on Jasper's face was one of shock. "Are you insane Carlisle? Do you honestly think that you and Esme would survive a battle with a dozen newborns? That's what you would be facing. Are you willing to kill yourselves over some absurd rescue mission that is doomed to fail?"

I blinked. His passion, his absolute conviction startled me. "Jasper, I understand your concern, but we have no choice."

"Are you willing to kill Esme over this? I'm sorry but I won't let you do it," He shouted. He was furious, glaring at me.

I was rendered speechless; not only at his bluntness, but his out and out defiant attitude. Jasper had always been conciliatory towards my decisions; he seldom questioned them, Alice always the more vocal of the two.

"Jasper, sweetheart, I know this is upsetting for you, but we must help Edward, we must. I couldn't bear it if something happened to him. I couldn't live with myself if we did nothing." Esme reached her hand across the table and covered his with hers. He held her pleading gaze, a tender look cut through the harshness reserved for me.

"But if you die what will it matter and if you're wrong and Edward isn't being held against his will, how would he live with the guilt."

"I'm onboard with whatever the group decides. I wouldn't mind kicking some newborn butt again." Emmett enthusiasm wasn't forced. He furtively avoided the glare of his mate.

I was watching the exchange between Jasper and Esme when I felt Eleazar's hand on my arm. "Are you going to let this go on Carlisle?"

There was a moment when I didn't understand what he meant, but his kind old eyes full of astuteness and understanding finally lifted the cloud of denial. I nodded my head, not in response to Eleazar's rhetorical question, but in understanding of his insinuation.

"No one is going to Mexico City. It was a bad Idea, I'm sorry I considered it. Jasper is right, we have no idea if Edward is even there or if he is, that he is being held against his will; the risk is too great." I didn't look at my wife as she pulled her hand from Jasper's and leaned away from me but I felt her disillusionment with me.

There was a resounding sigh from the others, all except for Emmett, who was clearly disappointed. He'd looked forward to another battle with the newborns.

My momentary lapse of judgment was exceedingly irresponsible. My need to protect my son was strong, but did I actually contemplate sacrificing my entire family, including my mate, to do it? I didn't need anyone to validate it; I knew I had.

"Then the only answer now is to wait and hope that Alice sees something, anything that we can use to help him." I sounded defeated. Was it all I could do?

"Alice?" It was Carmen's voice, puzzled. I turned to her, saw her confusion, then followed her line of sight to Alice who was staring intently at the floral center piece

as if it were her next meal.

"Alice?" Jasper repeated, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

Finally she looked up, her gaze met mine. She appeared only perplexed so it didn't instantly trigger in me alarm. It wasn't until she elaborated…..

"I see Edward. He's...he's…afraid."

"Of what Alice, what is he afraid of?" I whispered, leaning forward. The pain in my chest was crushing.

"I don't know. But Carlisle...wait...there's fire...smoke...he's...he's in it...in the fire... and he's…he's terrified...Edward is terrified.

There was a brief silence as her horrifying premonition was absorbed, but it didn't last. Esme's screams were like a distant backdrop to the agonizing sounds that spewed from my mouth in wave after wave of pure anguish. I was barely aware of the hands on me shaking me, shouts from my children and the ongoing wails of my mate. That was it than. All this patience and we'd finally gotten our answer.

Author Notes:

Not really a cliffhanger. You should know that Alice's premonition isn't what it appears.