All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer

Dollybigmomma is my beta master.

Chapter 17 – Emmett

BELLA

I was not afraid of storms, or rain for that matter. I'd lived a large portion of my life in Washington State, which was a very rainy place, but this wasn't normal rain. It was only after Edward had pulled us farther back into the black cave and set the large trunks in front of us, that I realized this was serious. The first few minutes of the storm had been really bad. The wind was so violent we had to move into a back side pocket of the dank, dark cave.

It amazed me how much wind was making it into the cave and how wildly it whipped the dirt and debris around. I was glad that I'd decided to collect the chickens and bring them into the cave with us. They weren't pleased about getting tucked into a sheet with the sides sewn up, but I was sure they were happy to stay with me now that the storm had started.

I watched as a few trees were ripped right out of the ground and thrown past the cave entrance. Several branches and other debris were thrown into the entrance, blocking our way out. It didn't seem to bother Edward. He almost seemed pleased with it, because it blocked smaller pieces of debris from flying in and hitting us. As it was, we were ducked down behind the trunks waiting things out.

EMMETT

My brother had been dead for three months now, almost four. It was hard to believe he was gone, but when my quarterly portfolio came in, I couldn't help but think of him. He had called me not long after had he taken the fall for me. Neither of us was guilty, and I couldn't believe the shitty luck we'd had, when we'd gotten the judge we had.

It wasn't long after they'd taken him away that he'd called me and told me to take his last fifty dollars and invest it in some weird little company whose penny stock was worth more as toilet paper than an investment commodity. He told me I should do the same. At first, I'd thought he was insane to listen to the ramblings of a crazy person, thinking they could predict the stock market, but I'd done as he asked and threw in fifty dollars of my own just for good measure.

It was only a week later when that stock went crazy and ended up splitting three times, making us a ton of dough. I called him and told him what had happened, and after that, he kept me up on tips from his "reliable source." Of course, those tips hadn't been coming in for the past three months, and even though I wasn't hurting for money, it wasn't growing the way it used to.

I tried to remember the name of the friend he had made and decided to visit with her. I pulled up to the place I despised and did my best to think of a way to ask to see Edward's friend.

When I walked through the door, a little dark-haired girl jumped up smiling. "Told you I had a visitor coming," she said as she danced over to me and wrapped her arm around mine. The front attendant looked at me suspiciously. "Do you know Ms. Brandon?" she asked.

"Of course he does!" the little girl answered. "This is Emmett Cullen, Edward's brother."

Well, she seemed to know who I was, so I went with it. She led me over to the sign-in desk, and now that I had a name, I was able to write down with whom I was visiting. I showed my ID, and the receptionist seemed to grimace. "Fine, you may go in," she said with a snotty flourish, and the little Brandon girl giggled again excitedly as she pulled me along to what I guessed was her room. She hopped on her little bed and motioned for me to sit at her desk.

"So, um, how did you know who I was?" I asked testing to see how really crazy this chick was.

She rolled her eyes and tapped the side of her head. "I saw you coming, took you long enough."

I cleared my throat nervously. I didn't think she could hurt me. She was pretty tiny. "So, you knew Edward?" I asked.

"I know Edward," she clarified, and I felt bad that she didn't seem to know that he had passed away. I would've thought she would've seen something like that, if she was really psychic.

"He's still alive, Emmett. He, a young woman and a baby made it out of the plane and onto what native tribes in the area consider a cursed island that is too far from the wreckage to gain the rescuer's attention. The're doing alright for themselves. A major storm is hitting them today, though," she pouted and shook her head. "They should be okay, but it'll be more difficult to track them once we get to the island."

"What?"

"You do plan on rescuing your brother, don't you?" she said in a duh voice.

"I…um…Ms. Brandon…"

"Alice," she said cutting me off. "Look, I know it's a lot to take in, but you need to get a map of the path the current hurricane is taking. That's where we need to start looking for them. I know they're in its path. I see it hitting the island, but I can't see exactly where the island is until we start looking. You have to make the decision to help me find your brother, before I can see it."

I looked at her dumbfounded for a minute.

"So, decide to believe me and help me find Edward already. I'm waiting," she said impatiently, sounding a little annoyed.

I guessed it wouldn't hurt to look up a storm track for her. I mean, what was the big deal?

She closed her eyes. "Excellent." She was quiet for a moment. "Okay, they're stuck on an island where the storm stalled. You'll be able to find it. Of course, no one else will go out there to look for them."

"They will if I ask them to," I insisted. I couldn't believe I was considering going on this wild goose chase.

She shook her head no. "The island is in the Bermuda Triangle, no one goes there, at least not on purpose. This is going to be harder than I thought." She got up and started pacing. "I knew it would take a while to save them, but I was really hoping with your help that we could do it sooner," she said with a huff and flopped down on the bed. "Maybe if we involve Rosalie," she said and then was quiet for a moment. She looked up at me and grinned, letting out a soft chuckle.

"Who's Rosalie?" I asked confused.

"She's my sister, or stepsister, actually. Anyway, she isn't half bad, and you'll like her," she said with a smile and muttered, "A lot," under her breath.

"So, this Rosalie is going to help us find Edward sooner?" I asked.

She pouted and shook her head no. "Everything hinges on the ship captain, and he doesn't get drunk and go crazy until February, unfortunately."

"You want to hire a crazy drunk ship captain?" I knew she was nuts for sure.

She shrugged. "He's the only one who says yes, because he has a bit of a death wish. He gets us to the island safely, though."

"What about going home?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Don't know, it hasn't been decided yet."

"Look, Alice, I don't know what you're playing at, but..."

She cut me off when she jumped up and handed me a little piece of paper. "Just call Rose. She can explain things better than me." At that, she just turned and walked out, leaving me looking down at the paper in my hand.

I let out a sigh. Really, what did I have to lose? I might as well call her. Alice seemed normal, mostly, except for the freaky fortunetelling crystal ball shit. You definitely didn't see that every day outside the loony bin.

But if there was a chance of finding my brother alive, then I had to try.

A/N: Thanks for reading and please review!