I picked up the attendance list when I came into the shelter. After scanning it, I joined the group gathered around the television. It was off and books were coming out.

"Hey, Jasper," several voices greeted me. Then one by one the homework questions came. They knew I didn't have any patience when it came to math and science and would simply recite answers if they asked. After those subjects were exhausted, someone would inevitably ask a history question that would get me ranting about how little was included in their books.

"I swear there is nothing you don't know about the Civil War," Andrew commented, writing furiously. "You should teach this class, then it wouldn't suck!"

"Yeah, and you wouldn't drop-out!" Lisa yelled from the next couch over, chucking her eraser at him.

"Say, do any of you know where Ariel and Mitch went? Did they go home?" I was hopeful.

"Not home," Lisa told me. "Ariel wouldn't go there if her parents were dying." She clicked her tongue-ring on her teeth. "They were hitch-hiking to Seattle. Hoping for work. Probably found something."

I nodded. "Were they planning to hit the shelter there?" I was going to call and give Seattle their names regardless.

Lisa shrugged.

"So, you want me to write it for you, too?" I asked, nodding to the books. There were several chuckles. I left the group to use the phone.

"Hello. This is Jasper Cullen in Port Angeles. I heard some of our kids are headed your way. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Ariel Germaine and Mitchell Smith."

"Ariel and Mitchell," the woman mused. "I think I saw those names yesterday."

"They're there," I said with relief.

"Not today. I can check the lists for you."

"Would you, please?" I waited for her to return.

"Yep. They were here Sunday, but didn't come in last night."

"Okay, thank you."

"I'm sorry, Jasper. We've had a drop in numbers lately. I'm hoping they're finding each other out there, but we haven't had any sign of them after they leave."

Homeless teenagers, people who aren't tracked. The handset let out a small crack, and I eased my grip before I broke it.

"How many?" I asked.

"Pardon?"

"How many empty beds." I was almost growling.

"Ten. But, sadly, there are always more kids to fill them."

I nodded. "Right. Thank you." I pressed the end button gently, setting the phone on the desk. They had ten. And two were kids of mine. I heard wood complain and pulled my hands from the desk I had just pressed my palms into. I punched it to hide the precise finger prints.

"Fuck you!" I heard in the other room, followed by a crash. I half-ran into the scuffle. A ring of spectators surrounded Andrew, who was sitting on Lisa with one hand balled in a fist. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him off. She would have a black eye, but it didn't look like he'd gotten in more than the one blow.

I focused on calming myself and them.

"Lisa," I said quietly, "go see Mae." The psychologist would get her an ice pack. "Just the two of you?" I asked Andrew, who had stilled in my grip. I let him go.

"Yeah," he murmured. "It was weird. She just threw her eraser at me again. I don't know why I did that."

I knew. "Yeah, come fill out the report with me."

At the end of the shift, I snagged Mae. "That family business is starting to blow up. I'm going at the end of the week." I met her eyes, brooking no argument, but not wanting to be hard either.

She nodded. "Okay. Do you think you'll be back after? We'll replace you, of course, but we'd love to have you back. They'd love to have you back." She indicated the teens in the other room.

"I know. I'll try." The greatest help I could give them now was to remove the threat to their lives.

I pulled Alice aside at the practice session that night. "They have ten?" I asked her.

She hung her head. "Fourteen. Mostly kids. I should have known some of them would be from the shelter. I'm sorry, Jasper." She hugged me around the waist.

"Have they settled on when, or how many?" I asked, clutching her. The crash of vampire colliding with vampire rung through the forest.

"No. They are closer, but no. You aren't going back to the shelter?" she asked.

I stroked her cheekbone. "I have a greater job to do for them, a more important way to make them safe."

She nodded. "I understand. They're aiming for twenty-eight, twice what they have now. They aren't having trouble with in-fighting yet, but it will come soon after they have twenty. They're also 'harvesting' more quickly. It makes me think they're settling on the sooner date. They still haven't nailed it down, but it ranges from January to March now, instead of June. It will be before the weather warms, before the leaves really come out."

I nodded. "Any more idea what they're after? Simple revenge? Territory?"

She shrugged. "I see the future, Jasper, not motivations. I know they're going to aim their attacks at you and me. Whether that's because they see us as the greatest threats or because we are the ones they blame, I don't know."

"Maria doesn't blame us. Well, not you anyway." She might have some personal vendetta on me, but she didn't even know about Alice. Victoria, on the other hand, knew Alice was responsible for her mate's capture and demise.

"Like I said, I can't understand their reasoning. Maria is coming for me though." My grip on her tightened. That was a change. They had been after Bella before. "I can handle myself, Jasper. I'll be fine. I can't say for the wolves, but from what I've seen, we all will be."

"Good. Do you see us attacking them? Do you see where they're holed up?" I was making plans without knowledge. Maria would have chosen the outskirts of town, probably light industrial, an old warehouse. Some place large enough for space and with empty streets to chase prey down. She would herd food to her new soldiers and they could feed without risk, the bodies either kept with them, or disposed of by herself and Victoria. It would also be secluded enough for the sounds of screaming, day and night, to go unheard or unnoticed, such as amidst the grind of machinery.

We would attack at night, when the least public interference could be expected. A cold night, the most bitter Alice could find prior to their chosen date. Unless they had their own precog, they shouldn't know we were coming.

"I can," she said almost stunned. "Get me further from the mutt," she indicated Seth, one of the newest wolves. There were seven now, with Leah, Seth's sister, and Brady in the pack. Jacob expected Collin to join any day now. The new wolves weren't quite as volatile as new vampires, but not far short. I was glad Jacob kept them away from Bella. He also kept them away from us for the first week, sending them to patrol instead.

I led Alice into the trees. "How's this?"

"Better." Her eyes were unfocused. "They've been hiding in a warehouse. I don't know where, but smell alone would solve that problem."

"No one goes near them. We go together or not at all. I don't want them knowing how many we are either." It had been a long time since I'd snapped at Alice. She didn't appreciate it.

"I didn't suggest that! I'm not a fool. I can probably locate it by following someone who is going there." She tapped her temple, indicating she didn't mean on foot. "And yes, I do see your attack, our attack. You want a cold night? You're sure? Just cold or snowy too? It'll be bitter cold on the twelfth of January but there's a blizzard coming on the fifteenth. It'll be cold too, just not as cold."

"How much snow?" A blizzard would be great, especially if it shut down traffic.

She smiled. "Sixteen inches. And it'll start in the afternoon, so by sundown there will be a full foot on the ground. You've already chosen it," she said with a giggle.

I grinned back at her. "I have. January fifteenth. We'll have Collin by then. I wonder if we can coax out another wolf."

Alice shook her head. "You know I can't tell you that. And you also know Bella hopes not. She's still mad at you for Seth and Brady."

She wasn't happy that Leah was a wolf but couldn't argue that she was old enough to choose to fight; Leah was a year older than Bella. But Seth was barely fifteen and Brady wouldn't be that for a few months yet. Both had big puppy feet on their wolves, Seth's a sandy yellow and Brady's a light grey. It reminded me every time I saw them how young they were, as young as Ariel and Mitch. I clenched my jaw.

"I felt that, Jasper. That's the real reason you're leaving the shelter, isn't it? Not that you can do more here, but because you're letting it slip there." Her amber eyes bored into mine. "You can control it, Jasper. I know it's hard, but trust that you are going to beat them. I've seen it. Trust me. Be angry, but don't lose control."

"I'm trying, Alice." I sighed and looked down at our joined hands. "I have to stop them, Victoria and Maria. Those kids are angry so much of the time already; it doesn't take much to push them over. It's better that I quit the shelter until this is done. Mae already said I'd be welcome back."

"You will. With a bigger welcome than you know." She smiled as she said it, and I knew she'd just seen it. Nothing and everything was a surprise with Alice around. "I think you need a night off. You need to hunt." She stroked my cheek. "You didn't notice today?"

It was only as she said it that I realized I hadn't hunted on the weekend. It had been nine days. And I had touched Andrew, pulling him off Lisa. The burn in my throat had been nothing next to my rage at the enemy. "No," I murmured. "You're right. I'll tell the others."

"No, you go start. I'll let them know."

I nodded and started to turn.

"And Jasper," she called. I stopped, turning but not returning. "I'll be waiting for you outside Bella's."

I pressed forward, planning to drain the first thing I found. There was too much to do, too little time. I was going to make time for Alice, though; she deserved more, but it was what I could give her.