EPOV
Once we had gotten past the unpleasantness of calling Jacob, our day at the Lake continued as planned. Everyone had packed their own lunches, and I had brought a thermos of "Esme's homemade chicken soup" and a can of soda- both opaque containers, which made my charade quite easy. In fact, I found myself wondering why my siblings and I had never thought of it before. I sipped at the soda can now and then, and kept the thermos close to my mouth as I used the spoon. Of course, Mike was thinking what a loser I was to let my mom pack me a hot lunch, but even his idiotic mental ramblings couldn't take away my cheerful mood. Bella was having a great time, and I basked in her happiness.
After the final little burst of sunshine, I was able to relax completely into spending a human day with Bella and her friends. After lunch, Tyler suggested a game of beach volleyball, and Bella and I exchanged a smile, thinking of Emmett's latest invention. This volleyball was real, however, and Bella got hurt more than once. Her leg was still a bit weak from its time in the cast, and she stumbled and fell not long after we started. I tried to get her to sit out for a while, but as usual, my protectiveness only made her more stubborn, and she refused to rest. Later on, when it was Mike's turn to serve, he sent the ball straight toward Bella, thinking she would like to be singled out. But she completely missed the hit, and the ball went straight into her face. The air was suddenly filled with the fragrance of Bella's delectable blood, and I exhaled quickly, holding my breath as I ran to help her. Venom filled my mouth even as I ran toward the scent, but my body wasn't reacting at all. I wasn't going to take any chances by breathing, but I knew I wouldn't hurt her. Bella had had a few minor injuries around me in the past two months, and it was easier every time.
"I'b fide" she muttered as she pushed me away, earning a laugh from everyone except me. The nosebleed was actually quite minor, and I was able to breathe again after just two minutes. But after I had assured myself that she was all right, I turned to Mike with a growl rumbling in my throat. Why had he deliberately thrown the ball at her face? He knew what a terrible athlete she was. I knew he hadn't intended to hurt her, but the monster was still clamoring inside my brain, having smelled Bella's spilled blood. He was determined to have some kind of satisfaction. I took just one step toward Mike, my right hand a ready fist.
"Edward!" Bella whispered loudly, when she saw what I was about to do. "Stop it!"
I grinned sheepishly and returned to where she was sitting on the beach, still holding a tissue to her face. The sight of Bella's smile was a soothing drug. I was calming down now, and Mike was safe again. Bella just leaned into my shoulder, laughing around her tissue. "Can't I just make him bleed a little?" I teased.
"Seriously, are you okay? With the blood?" she whispered.
"I'm fine. It doesn't affect me like it used to," I answered, wrapping my right arm around her. "It's been easier, ever since Phoenix."
She frowned, leaning back to look at me. "I would have thought the opposite," she said.
"No. I came so close to losing you that day, and even though I… did what I did to save you, it made the possibility of ever hurting you even more unthinkable. I can't even conceive of it anymore."
She just smiled and leaned back onto my shoulder.
"Do you have any idea how precious you are to me, Bella?" I whispered in her ear. Instead of answering, she dug deeper into my shoulder, and we sat silently for as the others began swimming.
We joined them after a while, and we spent the next three hours having good, old-fashioned fun. By mid-afternoon, every human was exhausted, and I was careful to start drooping, as well. We all said goodbye and I drove Bella back to her house.
"I'm going to get a shower," she slurred as we reached the second floor. She had fallen asleep in the car and I had already had to catch her once on the stairs.
"And then you're taking a nap," I insisted. From her silent nod, I knew she was truly worn out. "I'll head back home for my own shower. I have a little work to do, anyway, while you take your nap."
"What?"
"I have to fix the front door. I accidentally broke it… again."
She giggled drunkenly, and I kissed her on the forehead. "I'll tell you the story sometime," I promised.
.
.
.
Emmett decided to make a nuisance of himself, and stood over me the entire time as I repaired the door frame.
"Missed a spot, Eddie," he said for the thirteenth time. I glared up at him, and flicked paint onto his smirking face. He snarled with mock anger, and crouched to attack.
"Emmett Cullen, don't you dare!" Esme called from across the room. Emmett caught himself in mid-pounce and sighed in disappointment.
"Backyard, after I'm done," I mouthed to him as soon as Esme turned her back. He nodded slightly, cracking his knuckles. I grinned in anticipation as I turned back to my painting. I was looking forward to repaying him for his victory on Monday.
Our family were all gathered in the living room, engaged in various pastimes. Esme was looking through an architectural journal, taking notes while Carlisle read beside her. He occasionally read some passage aloud to Jasper- it was a book on sixteenth century Buddhist philosophy- and they would debate for a while, eventually returning to silence. Rosalie was giving herself some sort of manicure, and Alice was stretched out on the rug, Jasper's feet massaging her back while she sketched some of her latest ideas for a new clothing line. She was playing with the visions in her head, dancing around to various people's futures to see if anything interesting was going to happen today.
She was still on her schedule of checking Charlie's future every half hour, but in her last check twenty minutes ago, she had found his future missing. For one horrible moment, I wondered if Bella had been faking her fatigue, getting her father to drive her to Billy's house after I had left. What would I say to her this time? But Alice was one step ahead of me, and I saw Bella sleeping soundly on her own bed. Charlie must have gone to the reservation alone.
But now, twenty minutes after we had lost Charlie, she let out a little gasp, and I kicked over the can of paint as I leapt to my feet. I stood still in transfixed horror as I shared her vision: several police cars arriving at our house tomorrow at 9:13 am.
"What is it?" Esme asked, frowning.
"Charlie's future just reappeared, along with something else," Alice moaned, scrambling to her feet. "The police are coming here tomorrow morning, and Charlie's with them."
"Can you tell why they're coming?" Jasper asked through his teeth.
Alice pulled at her hair with her hands, squinting in concentration. "I can't tell yet. Give me a minute."
"They're State Police," I growled, seeing their uniforms in her mind. The room was spinning before my eyes as my anger grew. How could this possibly have happened?
Jasper was just as angry as I was, but he finally managed to send a wave of calm over everyone. "What happens after that?" he asked Alice.
She scrunched her eyes shut. "It's bad," she sighed. "I see us leaving tonight."
"What if we don't?" asked Carlisle tightly. "What if we try to stay and diffuse the situation?" He forced himself to decide to stay, no matter what. It was the only way for Alice to see what our options were. I felt the paintbrush snap in my hand as I saw the results play out in her mind. More police, and a helicopter. Jasper killing several men in uniform. Carlisle and I running, alone.
Alice sank back into Jasper's arms, defeated. She quickly explained the new vision to everyone, and Carlisle quickly changed his decision back to leaving tonight. Now we were all standing in a tight circle, Jasper wincing as our anxiety continued to build.
"What could have possibly happened to cause this?" I asked Alice. "What did Charlie do?"
"How should I know?" she snapped back at me. "He was obviously near a werewolf for the last twenty minutes."
I drew in my breath sharply. "They betrayed us. The wolves," I whispered.
Carlisle frowned. "But we just negotiated a new treaty. Why would they betray us now?"
"Oh, come on, Carlisle!" I spat. "Charlie spends twenty minutes around a werewolf, and now the State Police are magically appearing tomorrow morning? I don't see what else we're supposed to think!"
"We've got to start packing," Rosalie said stiffly as she headed for the stairs.
Emmett followed her without speaking. At least it's not my fault this time.
Carlisle was already on the phone, dialing Billy's number. He slammed the phone down in frustration when there was no answer. I can't believe they betrayed us. I thought we had an understanding.
"That understanding was only forged after I overhead Billy's plans to double-cross us," I muttered. "Those mutts are completely without honor."
Alice was checking on Charlie again, watching his every move two milliseconds ahead of real time. "He's just arriving back home," she announced. We both watched as Charlie peeked in on Bella, and headed towards the bathroom. Alice and I waited impatiently as he reached for a bottle of pills. We both gasped aloud as he found the makeup bottles that Alice had prepared.
"Oh!" Alice said suddenly, her eyes widening.
"What?" Carlisle asked.
"The vision of tomorrow morning just changed," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. "There are two more policemen now."
"And this time their guns are drawn," Alice added quietly.
I quickly explained what we had just seen Charlie do, while I kept watching Alice's visions of Charlie along with her. After he called the State Police again, he just sat at the kitchen table, his head in his hands.
"I'm afraid we have no choice," Carlisle said tiredly. "We need to be long gone by morning. Esme, would you find my-"
I didn't hear the rest of Carlisle's sentence, or anything my family was saying. I just stood, a frozen statue in the living room as they began to move around me. What did this mean for Bella and me? I had no doubt that she would willingly come with us – just last week she had begged me to take her if this were to happen. I hated that I would have to suddenly place such a burden on her. It was so infernally unfair! Things hadn't exactly been easy the last couple of weeks, but the love that Bella and I shared had only grown stronger in the face of adversity; it always had. I had foolishly thought that things couldn't get much worse- werewolves, Bella's father accusing me of domestic abuse, the dilemma regarding Bella's mortality and the ensuing troubles within my family… but this! This was too much. I couldn't ask her to give up her father and her home- and certainly not overnight! It was clear that delaying our departure was not an option. I would stay behind, then. It would hurt to be parted from my family, but they would understand. Perhaps after Bella left for college we could all be reunited.
I looked up at Carlisle sadly, and he returned my gaze. "I can't go with you," I said quietly. "I can't leave her behind, and I won't ask her to come with us. It's too much, too soon."
He frowned back at me. "But Edward, you'll be as much of a fugitive as we will." I sighed in frustration, seeing his point. I would be unable to have any sort of contact with anyone except Bella. No school, no contact with Charlie, nothing. I would have to live in the woods behind Bella's house. Worse, Bella would need to lie constantly now. She wouldn't be able to confide in anyone about my continued presence in her life. It was going to be difficult to go anywhere with her- she would have to come up with a new excuse every time she went out.
"I'll manage," I said grimly. "I'll keep to the woods behind her house."
"And what about Bella herself?" he asked. "Everyone is going to be asking her a lot of questions about us. Do you really want to put her in that position?"
"Of course not, but I don't have a choice. And she can handle it," I added confidently. "I'll have her pretend that I broke up with her, or something like that. We can make it work to minimize any repercussions for the family's disappearance as a whole."
Carlisle glanced up the stairs, where Esme was already getting out their suitcases. Edward, just think what Esme will say. You know she can't stand to be parted from you.
"But you understand, don't you? I can't be parted from Bella. I can't."
"Yes, I understand." I'm going to miss you, son. Perhaps we can be reunited before long.
"Wait, wait," Alice moaned. "This isn't going to work. Your future just disappeared, Edward. I see nothing after tomorrow morning."
"Well, that doesn't mean much," I said impatiently. "Maybe Jacob is going to sneak over to see Bella tomorrow. After he gets far enough away, I'll reappear in your visions again."
Alice looked doubtful. "I suppose so." She returned to watching the new future that was solidifying for the rest of them: traveling light through Northern Canada, Jasper sparkling under the cold Siberian sun, Carlisle working in a dusty clinic, writing in Russian on a medical chart. "Dr. Masen" appeared on his lab coat in the vision.
"Masen?" she asked aloud.
Carlisle smiled sadly. "I think it's best if we leave the Cullen name behind for a while, don't you?"
Alice nodded her agreement, and she continued watching while Jasper headed upstairs to begin his own version of packing- erasing all electronic records of our existence from the computer systems at the hospital, DMV, and the school. It looked like he and Alice wouldn't be joining everyone else for a week or so; they would make a detour to Seattle to obtain the paperwork for everyone's new identities. Another vision: Esme crying, holding a picture of me. Everyone standing outside in a circle on the Siberian tundra, the same picture still clutched in Esme's trembling hand.
I frowned at the last image. That didn't bode well.
The phone rang and Carlisle answered it; it was Billy.
"Dr. Cullen," he began gruffly. "I assume your group have used their talents, and you have realized what is going on."
"My daughter has seen a vision of the State Police arriving here tomorrow morning. We are leaving tonight," Carlisle informed him. "Although we still aren't sure what caused this sudden change."
"I'm not sure of all the details myself," Billy admitted. "But I do know Charlie has found some damning evidence related to your false identities."
"I certainly hope that you had nothing to do with this," Carlisle said carefully.
"That's why I'm calling. I wanted to make it clear that I was not involved, and neither were any of my people. In fact, Charlie tried to get information out of me, but I told him nothing. I don't know what Charlie came across online, but he did this on his own. We are blameless in this, and I want to make sure you understand that."
"Very well," Carlisle sighed. "It doesn't matter, anyway. We will honor our promise to stay away."
"See that you do. And that's the other reason I called. Since you are leaving anyway, the elders have agreed that the treaty will be void as of midnight tonight."
I hissed and inched closer to Carlisle. He held his hand up to silence me. "I don't understand. We haven't done anything wrong here. We're only leaving now because there is a new threat of exposure. I hardly think that's a reason to nullify a treaty that has stood for seventy years!"
"Like you said yourself, it doesn't matter," Billy countered. "You're leaving anyway, and you won't be returning. Why do you even need the treaty?"
Carlisle looked toward me again. He was debating whether to tell Billy about my intention to stay. I nodded. "Because my son Edward would like to remain behind for a short time," he admitted finally. "He will still leave by June of next year, as per our agreement."
"Stay behind? You mean because of Charlie's daughter?"
"Yes. For a short time only."
There was a pause as Billy held his hand over the phone, discussing my problem with the other elders and Sam, presumably. I held my breath, cursing my inability to hear thoughts over the phone. Billy came back to speak after just a few moments. "No," he said firmly. "The treaty ends tonight. If the pack encounters any member of your family after that time, they are going to attack without question."
"That is completely unacceptable," Carlisle argued, struggling to keep his composure. "Edward will continue to honor the boundaries, and he will be gone by June. You have no right to dissolve the treaty simply because you don't want him here!"
"We have every right! This is our land, and we allotted a portion to your group for seventy years, agreeing to nonaggression and mutual nondisclosure. You have been exposed, and now you are leaving. We are simply reclaiming what has always been ours. We will not artificially extend the treaty simply because your creation wants to be near his human companion. We have been more than patient in allowing him to be in Bella's life at all! If we allow him to stay, you won't be there to guarantee his behavior. And as for boundaries, there won't be any treaty line after midnight tonight. The pack will have unlimited access, and they will destroy any vampire they find."
Carlisle closed his eyes in defeat, then opened them to look at me apologetically. I'm sorry, Edward. The only way out of this is a full-on battle, and you know I will not allow that. I nodded, understanding all too well. The only reason the Quileutes had ever agreed to the treaty in the first place was because of our superior numbers. Now that my family would be gone, they really had no reason to tolerate my presence.
"Look, Dr. Cullen," Billy continued in a calmer voice. "I won't say I'm sorry to see you go, but I am sorry that your 'family' was placed in this difficult situation. I wish you all the best. But my first duty is to my people, and we want this land to be free of vampires. We finally have that chance, and though we didn't act dishonorably to bring this chance about, we are going to take it."
"I understand," Carlisle said coldly. "Good day."
"Good luck," Billy finished lamely, and he hung up. Alice sighed loudly.
"That's why your future disappears, Edward," she said with confidence. "The wolves will consider you fair game after we're gone, and even you can't fight off three of them alone."
"Soon to be four," I said miserably. She was right; I really had no hope of staying alive anywhere near Forks with those odds.
"Well, it looks like you are coming with us, after all," Carlisle said, trying to hide his relief. "The question is, what do we do about Bella?"
"She has already said that she wants to come with us if this were to happen," I told him reluctantly. "But I don't see how we can take her. We're planning on traveling through the Arctic. Alice tried other routes, but they all had too many complications."
"The two of you could take a different route," Esme suggested as she reentered the room.
"And what about Jasper?" I asked quietly, glancing upstairs. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the idea of Bella being so close to him all the time."
"Edward, I think you need to consider the hardships and dangers that Bella will be facing if she travels with us," Carlisle said firmly. "The best time to change her may be sooner rather than later."
"No!" I growled. Not like this!
"We've already had this conversation, son. Bella wants to be changed, and by delaying it further, you will only be adding to her burden. If she is agreeable, we should take her into the Canadian wilderness and change her there. We will continue our journey after her transformation is complete."
"No, NO!" Alice moaned, holding her head. "Listen to me, both of you! It doesn't matter whether you change her or not! It doesn't matter if we split up! We can't take Bella with us!"
I turned on her angrily. "Why not?"
"Just look!" she wailed. I watched in horror at the new future Carlisle's decision had created. The policemen tomorrow, now joined by the FBI. The kidnapping case, hitting national news. The Cullen name appearing on various lists in different languages, including Italian. Newspaper headlines about immortality, witchcraft- and our name in the articles. Dark cloaks, and a vampire I had never met, his arm wrapped around Bella's neck. Her red eyes vacant as she burned…
I fell to my knees, gasping for the air I didn't need. Somewhere far away Alice's voice was explaining the vision to our parents, and Carlisle was trying to figure out how the media was going to make the jump from kidnapping to immortality.
"He must have found something else besides just the identity fraud," Alice was saying.
Then the pain grew so loud I couldn't understand the words anymore. My chest felt like it had torn open, and the image of Bella dying pulsed repeatedly before my eyes in rapid fire. Carlisle must have changed his mind about something, because after a moment the image shifted to a human Bella dying at the hands of the same vampire. Her eyes were brown, but just as dead.
"Stop," I choked out in anguish. "Stop it, please!"
Carlisle sighed in frustration and the visions disappeared into an empty blackness. Now Bella had no future- neither life nor death.
Alice was biting her lip, looking hesitant. "I don't think she will die if we leave her behind. I think that's just werewolves."
"But we'll have no way of knowing, other that calling to check on her," Carlisle said grimly.
I finally sat up, finding my voice. "What are you talking about?" I asked dumbly. "Leaving Bella behind is not an option." I felt the ceiling and walls begin to shrink toward me as my mind grasped at all the plans we had been trying to make, watching as they all broke off in my hands like dry straw. Or was it the crumbling edges of a cliff? I was falling…
Jasper appeared beside me on the floor, and he grimaced as he began pulling at my anxiety.
Carlisle and Esme sat down beside me as well, and through the haze I felt my mother's hand rubbing my back. "Sweetheart, I think it's the only option we have left," she said quietly. "But it doesn't have to be forever. She'll turn eighteen soon, and then she can go wherever she wants. We'll just have her meet us wherever we are."
"It might have to be longer than that," Carlisle said carefully, watching me as he spoke. "Charlie will be watching Bella like a hawk for a while after this, especially considering our disappearance. If she were to suddenly disappear at any time, he will assume we've taken her."
"And then we're back to the future where the Volturi find us," Alice finished. "Just because she'll be eighteen doesn't mean he won't raise Hell over the kidnapping, no matter what kind of explanation she gives him."
"You've seen this?" Carlisle asked.
"No, I'm guessing," she admitted. "No matter what, Bella's future disappears soon after we leave. But I know Charlie. You should have seen him tonight, Carlisle. He was like a different man. He will stop at nothing to keep Bella from us." I just nodded my silent agreement, staring ahead at nothing.
"College, then," Carlisle tried. "We wait a year, and when Bella leaves for college- which will be across the country- she'll join us instead. We can set it up so that Charlie won't learn of the changes to her travel plan. Bella could call him eventually, and calm him down before he does anything."
"A year?" I echoed stupidly. A year. Without Bella. I still was hanging off the edge of the cliff, but some sinister force was sucking Bella backwards from the edge, away from me.
"Well, Alice?" Carlisle asked.
Alice just shrugged, rubbing her forehead. "I don't know. I just don't know."
"Now just a minute," Jasper interrupted. "Maybe we can prevent any of this from happening. What if I go kill Charlie tonight? Maybe we can stop the Police from coming at all. Maybe nobody has to leave, and we can reinstate the treaty. I can make it look like an accident, and the case against us will never have begun."
"No, Jasper! That is not how we handle this kind of thing," Carlisle said, looking to me for support. But I stared back at him dully, unable to agree with him. As ashamed as I was to admit it, I was willing to sacrifice Charlie if it meant I could stay with Bella. Somewhere in the fog in my brain, there was something wrong with this option – something about Bella's happiness- but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it was. All I could see was Bella standing over me, at the edge of the cliff, and my hands finding this one piece of solid ground…
"Let's try it," I said quietly, ignoring Carlisle's stare.
Thank you, Edward, Jasper thought. I'm glad you're finally starting to think realistically. Didn't I tell you this might have to be done? He closed his eyes, deciding on his course: Charlie would die tonight. Having made the decision, he opened his eyes and waited for Alice's visions to register the change.
But my brain was immediately assaulted with exactly the same image as before: Bella dying at the hands of the Volturi.
"STOP!" I roared, flying at Alice. I couldn't even see my sister; all I could see was the horror as it returned, and all I felt was the need to destroy the image.
The next thing I knew, I was face down on the floor, with Jasper and Carlisle on my back, holding my arms behind me. Jasper reversed his decision about killing Charlie, and I wept in relief as Bella's death disappeared again. Emmett's feet appeared in front of my face. "I'm done," I said, turning my face to Jasper as I coughed. "I'm sorry. I'm all right now."
They slowly released me, and I stood shakily to my feet. I looked around at my family, and every mind, even Rosalie's, was shrouded with pity. "I'm sorry," I repeated, to Alice this time. "I just can't- I can't see that again. Ever." She just nodded sadly.
"What happened?" Carlisle demanded.
"The Volturi again," Alice said quietly. "Charlie has already called the State Police twice, and I guess he gave them enough to pick up the case without him. The murder would only speed things along- we die four days sooner this way."
The room was silent as everyone watched me, waiting to see what I would do. "I'm going to tell Bella now," I said lifelessly. What else was there to do?
Carlisle just nodded. I hate to say it, but we only have so much time. I need you back here by nightfall.
Jasper stepped forward and handed me his phone. "Give her this," he offered. "Charlie will probably be watching his phone line. This way you'll be able to keep in touch and make your plans for… for later." If there is a later. If I had just killed him before- even last week- it would have worked. I should have done it. I'm sorry.
I looked down at the phone, tiny and silver in my hand. I dug into my pocket and took out my own, holding the two together. After tonight, and for the foreseeable future, this was all I would have of her. All the love I had for her, and all the agony that even the thought of the separation was already causing me- it all had to fit inside a tiny, silver rectangle.
This was wrong- so very wrong. But what else could I do?
I stumbled out the door, blinking as the evening sun set my skin to glowing. I wanted to walk, to trudge as slowly as possible to drag it out, but that would mean less time with Bella. My feet stirred themselves into a run, and as the woods began to fly past me, I clutched my phone as tightly as I dared.
Very soon, it would be all I had.