Disclaimer: I do not own twilight or any of its characters.

(A/N: Thanks to Laura Elizabeth Cullen, Miss Alice-15, My Over-protective Fool and Soi Fon1 for favourite-ing! Thanks to Carolina Grey, dolphingrl38, jilly611 and jalicelove for reviewing. And thanks to Twilighter Tabitha and TeamCullen Carlme for sticking by me for three stories! Hope you enjoy this chapter! Ellie xx)

The Smokescreen

I hated holding my breath.

It was always so… uncomfortable. I couldn't smell anything; I couldn't hear anything… not to mention what spending fourteen straight hours underwater did to my clothes!

I had seen a lot whilst we were swimming. My family running together in an attempt to track us, running into a cloud of darkness as they followed the trail to Sam and Bella succeeding in the secret task I left her. Her future over the next few weeks was clear now. She would get the documents she needed in a few weeks. I couldn't deny that I was proud of her for doing it so well. I could see Edward would be aware that she was up to something, but he wouldn't have a clue what.

We were about five minutes away from the coast of Santa Rosa when I signalled Jasper to go to the surface. I had seen that there were no human eyes in the area so we would be safe if we left the water here.

"I've missed you." Jasper whispered in my ear as soon as our heads breached the surface.

I looked at him and smiled. He beautiful face was glistening with a thousand diamonds which then bounced of the water, making him positively glow.

We were almost at the beach when our future changed slightly…

We could hear them before we could see them – a group of giggling and screeching human youths. They were around the corner having only just decided to come towards the silent cove that fallen rocks and boulders had created.

Jasper grabbed my hand and we both ran towards the coast line. There was nowhere to hide ourselves. Some tiny pine filled trees would not suffice in shadowing our bodies. I needed to find somewhere for us to hide… and quickly.

I looked into every possible future. Running east as fast as we could until we found somewhere shady… too many humans, we wouldn't make it unseen. Running north east, trees getting bigger, thicker… still not good enough! Jasper, pulling trees out from the dirt, making a huge pile… hiding, for a while…

Jasper was already carrying out his plan as I opened my eyes. His near-century as an immortal living in the hot, sun filled New Mexico was coming in handy.

The space was awkward to get into, but it did the job. Any human would have been incredibly uncomfortable in this spot.

"How long will we have to stay here for?" Jasper asked in a low voice.

"Until a path clears for us." I said blatantly.

"Any idea when that might be?"

I just shook my head; it would be a couple of hours at least.

"Are two more numbers really going to make that much difference?"

"We need as much help as we can get!" I replied fiercely.

I sighed and let my head fall on to the branch beneath it. If truth be told, I didn't know if it would make a difference – but I saw Peter and Charlotte in the clearing! And in my opinion that meant that we needed them. Perhaps their experience with battling would prove beneficial to our side.

We sat there in silence for an hour and fifty eight minutes. It was natural for our kind – silence, stillness. But there was nothing easy about it… not at the moment. My mind and body ached to run… to continue with our mission. It was torture – waiting for a vision to hit me that would tell us where to go next… how to get out. We didn't have enough time to wait until sun down.

I closed my eyes tight, seeing a hundred possibilities flashing every few seconds. None of them would work.

I was oblivious to the conversations humming between the small group of teenagers. Apparently all they were interested in was continually jumping into the cold winter ocean, laughing and making out. It was maddening! Their petty lives were getting in the way of everything we needed to do.

Apparently Jasper's thoughts were in kin to mine, as I saw a vision of him bursting out of our hiding place and snapping the necks of the four humans beside us.

"Jasper!" I gasped.

His intense eyes looked at me quickly and relaxed. "Sorry, Alice… It was just a thought…" He grinned crookedly. "I wouldn't have done it…"

"Only because I wouldn't have let you!"

He laughed once. "You probably would have beaten me to it! I can feel how annoyed you are Alice…"

I flung the back of my hand into his stomach.

"I wouldn't have done anything…"

"Liar!" He smirked.

"Ok… well they might have deserved to be punted into the ocean, but nothing more!"

We both laughed lightly. It was nice to relax for those few seconds, to forget about our troubles. It was almost as if we were back to normal.

Until suddenly… Jasper's body tensed at some words that I had only just heard.

"Hayley, how do you feel about calling a few friends? Turning this into a party? It's the perfect spot!"

I probably should have been more worried, just as Jasper was. There would just be more eyes to catch us, less chance of us getting away. But with their words came the answer to our escape. The arrival of more people to this reclusive spot would lead to the arrival of cars!

I could already see that a young male with too much of daddy's money would pull up beside us in a black Lexus with blacked out windows. It would be easy. It wouldn't take us anymore than a second to get into the car and kick start the engine. We would have to abandon it before we got out of California, but we would be able to do so safely and on our terms.

"Alice! If you want to leave before nightfall, we're going to have to leave now." Jasper rushed.

I held onto his hand gently and smiled. "It's fine Jasper… In fifteen minutes the perfect car is going to pull up right beside us. We'll get in it and drive away without anyone seeing us! Eight hours until we find Peter!"

Jasper's face was set deep in concentration. Finally he nodded. "Just tell me when."

The time passed slowly. We listened intently for every sound, to every word. Fourteen minutes and thirty four seconds later the sound of four wheels crunching against the sandy path resounded in my ears. Jasper's body twitched, so I stretched out my hand, holding him down.

"Not yet." Was all I said.

The car came to a stop only a couple of yards away. I could see the front left wheel through our make shift hut.

There was an audible gush of air as the driver's door opened bringing a strong scent of blood along with it. It seemed to intensify in the tight space around us. Jasper's hands were clenched tight, as were his eyes.

"Just a few more seconds." I whispered reassuringly. I could tell he wasn't breathing.

We both listened as the anonymous boy's footsteps slowly began to fade. "Hey! I brought us some beers!"

"Now!" I hissed.

We escaped from the small mountain of torn up trees without moving anything or making a single sound. Jasper jumped straight over the car, getting in the passenger side while I had already opened the door and made my way inside. I pulled off the necessary part of the dashboard and Jasper dove in, hotwiring the car.

Two seconds was all it took before the car was moving, leaving nothing but dust and the screaming teenagers in its wake.

We skidded on to the tarmac road at about fifty miles an hour. It didn't take us long to get the speed up to a hundred.

I sighed in relief. Finally we were travelling at a decent speed! But for some reason I could still feel the tension in my body. In my peripheral vision I saw that Jasper's head was pressed against the head rest, his eyes were squeezed together tightly and his hands were clutching onto either side of his seat.

"Jasper?" I said calmly, looking at him instead of the road. I had already taken a good look at it, noted every slight turn and bump. I wouldn't need to look at it again until we turned the corner. "Jasper, it's ok, you can stop holding your breath now."

He didn't reply, he just closed his eyes even tighter. The knuckles on his hand looked as though they might pop right through his marble skin. The car positively reeked with the human's scent so it couldn't have been at all comfortable for Jasper.

I looked behind me. I had noticed a set of clothes on the back seat and was hoping to coerce Jasper into them later, but it looked as though he was struggling with his thirst. Now I was hoping to find something else instead, something humans with spare clothes tended to carry with them. I found the tin can as I rummaged through the various random items behind me and began spraying it all over the car.

After a while Jasper's face relaxed and he finally opened his eyes, which seemed a much darker colour than a few minutes ago.

"Do we have designated hunting times on this trip?" He smiled ironically.

"Sorry, Jasper. We'll hunt on the way to Peter and Charlotte. It's only a few hours." I replied.

He nodded slowly and finally released his tight grip on the seat. He sat quietly for a few moments. He was toying with idea of asking me something, though his intended question was already revealed in his future.

"Just ask me Jasper!" I laughed.

He smiled crookedly. "What are we going to tell them, Alice?" He sighed. "Can we even tell them anything at all?"

I had time to think about this as we were swimming. The short answer was 'no, we can't tell them anything'. That would be the easiest thing to do, but also the hardest. Not being able to prepare them for what was waiting for them at ours, not being able to tell them that by do as we asked they would have to stand against the Volturi, not being able to promise them that we would actually see them again…

"Very little. For everyone's sake."

"You better tell me everything Alice… I really don't want to say anything that could mess this up."

I nodded understandably. "Ok… We don't tell them about Nessie, otherwise they won't go…" I began.

"What will stop them from leaving ours when they do find out?" He interrupted.

"Ah, that's different. Tanya and her family will already be there, and be fully accepting of Ness. Peter and Charlotte will be fine with them there for moral support."

Jasper nodded coldly, just taking on board the information. "What else?"

"We don't mention anything about where we're going, or even let them get a hint of which direction we'll be heading in. And we can't let them even think that we might see them again."

"Why not?" He asked. "Wouldn't we only be bestowing a bit of hope in them?"

"If they believe we'll see them again then it will only put them in danger."

Jasper just looked confused. "Sorry Alice, I don't see how…"

"I can't see them fighting, Jasper. They've got too much respect for the Volturi to stand against them… too much fear. They won't fight, which means they won't die. If Aro gets hold of their thoughts and believes that there's even the slightest chance that they will see us again then he will use them to get to us." To get to me… "The less they both know, the less Edward knows…"

"And the less Aro knows." Jasper finished my words.

I smiled dryly. "I'm sorry Jasper… for everything!"

His whole body rocked towards me in no time at all. "Alice! Don't ever think such a thing! None of this is your fault!" He leant back into the car seat. "It is no one's fault. Nessie is a wonderful, beautiful and incredibly special being who has given our family so much joy and happiness… more than we ever deserved. Nothing will ever make us regret her… even this. She's worth it." He smiled genuinely, thinking about his only niece. "And I would do this a million times over if it meant that there would be even a chance of saving her life."

I of course agreed with him fully. "It's just… implausible! Completely unbelievable that it's come to this! That one of our own has destroyed our content little world."

"From the sounds of things, this was bound to happen eventually…"

I nodded in reply. "You're right there. They were just waiting for any excuse to do this… I just think they were surprised that it came this soon." I groaned heavily. "Ergh, if only we could have had a few more years… Nessie would be pretty much mature and none of this would have happened."

My sight was taken away from me as I spoke the words. Back to the rainforest, back to the miraculous blind spot that our journey was leading to… running… we were all running… I turned my head to the left… Jasper, and Kachiri were there running by my side… to my right… someone I didn't know… her blood red eyes were determined, but scared, she kept looking over her shoulder… to who ever was behind me… to my blind spot…

But what did that have to do with Nessie's age?

"… I think that's probably one of the reasons that you still see them attacking even after they realise that Renesmee is not an immortal child…" Jasper was continuing saying something that I hadn't heard. "…They don't know what she will turn into… or if she'll even ever change? They are threatened by her – threatened by the unknown. All excuses, of course. You said it yourself… there are so many layers, they'll keep on digging until they find something."

My body tensed immediately at Jasper's proposal. It was as though someone had tied a lasso around my waist and was pulling me against my will to the vision of the battle.

"You're reaching Aro…" Carlisle's voice rang in his future. I had missed something important though, why did he say this? I tried hard to rewind the conversation, so Aro had only just spoken.

"This amazing child… if we could but know her potential… know with absolute certainty that she could always remain shrouded within the obscurity that protects us… But we know nothing of what she'll become… We cannot know what she will grow to be…

Only the known is safe…

Only the known is tolerable...

The unknown is a … vulnerability…

I can assure you the child is not what we feared… Do we take the risk and let the child live?... Do we put our world in jeopardy to preserve their family intact?"

The words scared me… scared me because they felt so definite, as if someone was standing next to me speaking them. But at the same time I felt complete hope, because now I knew the argument that we were ultimately going to fight… and therefore I now knew how we were going to win…

"Alice! Is everything alright?" Jasper's voice whispered tenderly.

I opened my eyes and saw that Jasper's hands had reached over to the wheel, steering it while my hands were slacked by my side.

"Oh, Jasper! You are so right!" I squealed. "They are threatened by the unknown! But she won't be the unknown if we find someone who is like her! Aro is going to argue that she shouldn't be kept alive because we have no idea what she will become, that she may be a threat – perhaps not now – but later in her life… for all they know she might mutate into some green goblin with purple spots! Of course they are using it as an excuse – to provoke an attack with that as their justification… but what if it can't be justified? What if we were to show them proof that that will not be the case?"

Jasper's eyes widened. "The… hybrid… in the rainforest!"

"Exactly! All we need to do is show him or her to Aro!"

Jasper's elated face began to fall. "We can't get ahead of ourselves Alice, love. They would have to be old enough to make our case viable. It would mean nothing if they were at a similar age to Nessie…and besides… we still need to find them…"

And as Jasper's hope fell, so did mine. After all, the Amazon rainforest covered over two million square miles. It would take centuries to find them… if we were lucky! By which time our entire family would be nothing but a distant memory.

"And even if we did, why would they agree to come with us… to trust someone they don't even know?"

I felt my face turn suddenly very fierce as it snapped sharply towards Jasper. "Oh believe me Jasper… If we find this hybrid then I will make sure that Aro sees him… even if I have to drag him back myself."

The route we took to South Central Utah was infuriatingly bendy, not forming a direct route. We would have got there twice as quick if we could run as fast I was driving! We wouldn't have to stick to the roads then.

It didn't help that I kept having to change speed or direction every now and again to avoid any unwanted attention from police cars.

We pulled over before we hit the baron outskirts of the Nevada Desert. It took some effort to find a suitable car with blacked out windows and a decent engine, but we managed it eventually.

We hit the Fishlake National Forest just as the sun was setting, meaning we could safely run to the secluded house that was unreachable by car. We hunted on the way, making use of the plentiful amount of moose in the area. They held so much blood within them which meant that we should be fine for a while now – we would be able to focus on our impossible mission.

It took a while to catch on to Peter and Charlotte's scent. We ran through the forest for ages. It didn't help that I kept stopping us every few seconds, trying to track the immediate future. But I kept getting muddled up between the forest and the Amazon – my mind kept chopping and changing. I started following the direction of the hybrid rather than finding Peter's scent. It was only by chance that we came across it in the end. I felt ashamed. There I was, unable to find someone I could see, while asking Jasper to trust my idea of finding someone that I couldn't!

We followed the trail to an abandoned house, probably a former lodge that hadn't been used in years. They appeared from the old, rotten door just as we emerged from the trees.

"Alice! Jasper!" Charlotte called, smiling widely. She ran towards us both, embracing us quickly, but lovingly. "I knew it was you! What on earth are you two doing here?"

Peter joined her casually, at a much slower pace. "Is something the matter? You both look rather… worried?"

Charlotte's tiny face suddenly fell as she reluctantly came to the same conclusion.

Jasper and I were still silent. After all the preparation, we were both still hesitant to say anything.

"Jasper? I know that look…" Peter said, stepping forwards. "… What's happened?"

I looked at Jasper's stern face. He had no intention of asking them to do anything for him. He cared for them both too much. That left it to me…

"Peter… Charlotte…" My voice was shaky, and lower than normal. Two things they both realised. Their eyes grew wide and they eyebrows lowered a couple of centimetres on their forehead. "I need you to do something for me. Something very important. I can't tell you much about it, other than it's a matter of life and death."

They didn't nod, they didn't even move, they just listened intently. Jasper's emotions had us all trapped in a prison of worry.

"Our family… needs your help. And I need you to go to them… now."

It was completely silent for a few seconds, though it seemed longer.

"This is bad isn't it?" Peter assumed. "Can we not even know what it is you need us for?"

I shook my head. "You will just have to trust us, Peter."

"Of course we trust you, Alice!" Charlotte almost squealed. "There is no other being in this world that we could trust more." She looked at Peter determinedly. "We'll do anything you ask of us."

"We are leaving now?" Peter asked bluntly.

"Yes." Jasper replied in exactly the same tone, speaking to them for the first time. "We don't have a lot of time."

Charlotte nodded quickly, as though she was sykeing herself up. "Ok let's go then. Would you like to take some clothes before we leave? We have quite a good stock here and you both look rather conspicuous in those dirty things." She laughed harshly once. "I should have guessed something was up as soon as I saw you in those really, shouldn't I Alice?" She even managed a wink.

I smiled wryly.

"A change of clothes would be great, Charlotte." Jasper said for me.

"There just inside on the right. We'll wait out here for you before we leave."

I paused. "Actually… It would be a good idea if you left now. We really don't have a lot of time…" And then I saw what she was going to say, and realised I hadn't done a good job at explaining anything.

"You're not coming with us?" She gasped.

I shook my head slowly.

"Alice and Jasper are probably going to call on a few more friends, Charlotte – I wouldn't worry." Peter's calming voice rang. Though he and Jasper exchanged a look I didn't quite understand.

"Ok then, we'll see you soon." Charlotte sighed.

I turned my head to Jasper, hoping to gain some strength from him.

Charlotte's eyes focused on us both, examining us. "What's going on Alice? What aren't you telling us?" She wasn't angry, just upset.

Jasper stepped forward, placing both hands on her shoulders gently. I wondered if he was calming her down, or just comforting her. "We can't promise you anything Charlotte, not even that we will see you again. Please, just understand that everything we say is the truth and of dire importance, and that anything we don't say we neglect for an honest reason."

She paused for a moment and then wrapped her tiny arms around him. "I'll miss you Jasper." She stepped over to me repeating the action, kissing me on the side of my head. "Take care, Alice." She smiled sadly and ran off in a north-westerly direction.

Peter nodded once to Jasper, no happy emotion on his face, and swiftly followed her.

We waited until we could no longer hear the faint footsteps of our oldest friends.

"Is that really going to be the last time we see them?" Jasper whispered.

I shook my head, staring off into nowhere. "I really don't know Jasper. All I know is that if this doesn't work out, then it will be safer if we didn't… for all of us."

He sighed heavily. "But it will work." He said unwaveringly, squeezing my hand.

I smiled at his attitude – his determination was exactly what I needed because I would be able to drink it in, and it would fuel my own. "Not if we just stand here feeling sorry for ourselves. Now grab me some clothes – some sturdy ones! We don't have time to waste now. Let's go find us a hybrid."