Chapter 54

"There are three of them," Alice said, "They're circling the area."

The Denali coven stood strong with the help of some of the Cullens. Everyone stood waiting to hear what Alice would say, but she seemed to be lost in her own mind. She focused hard, trying to conceive what the plan of action was from the attackers.

"Three?" Emmett asked confidently with a smile, "Unless they have some kind of paralyzing power that can be put over all of us at once-"

"Emmett!" Rosalie scolded him for the thought.

"They don't seem to have any powers," Alice said, shaking her head. She put her hands on her temples. Jasper stood close by in a comforting manner. "I really don't know what their plans could possible be. Maybe they're trying to throw us off somehow."

"There aren't more of them that we don't know about, are there?" Tanya asked.

Alice shook her head, "No. Just the three," she looked over at Emmett, "And no special powers."

"What do they look like?" Carmen asked.

"They're all in hoods, but I'm assuming one of them is the man I saw without one in my vision. He was well built with short hair with a military look about him."

Edward looked around at them all, "Something doesn't feel right about this."

"It could be an intimidation factor," Jasper said, "Sharks circle their pray sometimes."

"Yeah, before they eat it," Kate said dryly. Her voice remained calm and unworried.

"Should we go after them?" Bella asked.

"No," Alice said, "That's what I saw you doing in my vision before. We stay put. Let them come to us. We have the ground covered here as a group."

Edward looked around the hilly landscape. He wondering if the anonymous men had changed their plans somehow. If there was one thing that was for certain, it was that they were smart and knew what they were up against.

"Maybe they weren't prepared for all of you to be here," Garrett suggested, "They may have thought the plan they created was fool proof." He looked to Alice, "You said they spoke and wrote in code."

She thought optimistically for a moment, "I hadn't considered that." She looked at Edward, "Me and Carlisle figured out what their message back and forth meant. It was meant to be disguised so I wouldn't know what they were discussing from my visions. Maybe they didn't think we'd be here and now are trying to devise a new plan on the fly."

"Are you sure you and Carlisle solved their riddle correctly?" Edward asked.

Alice nodded with certainty, "At first I wasn't sure, but yes. I'm very confident that everything Carlisle pinpointed from the message was correct."

"Could it have been a ruse?"

"They men are here," she said with a shrug.

"How can you be sure it's them?" Edward asked, "Maybe that's why they wore the hoods."

...

Carlisle, Jacob and Masen made their way toward the front door of the house.

"Stay inside no matter what," Carlisle told Esme as she accompanied them toward the door. Leah and Renesme were just behind and Alexandra lingered in the hallway where the kitchen opened up. Nicole and Cassandra stopped what they were doing and joined her before their little group piled in where the rest of them stood.

"Okay," Esme said with a nod. She held Caleb.

"Call to us if you need us," Jacob added, "We'll just outside. No one will be able to get past us, but if they do," he turned to Leah, "I give you permission to go wolf on them." He gave her a lopsided grin, knowing she hated it when one of the boys called it 'permission'.

Leah saw the underlying light teasing in his voice and nodded with a smile, "Thanks chief."

Jacob laughed for a second, then looked back at Carlisle, "Ready?"

Carlisle nodded. He kissed Caleb's forehead, who was trying to talk to him and was at the brink of saying words fully. He then kissed Esme quickly and called Alexandra over for a quick hug. Jacob and Masen exchanged the same little displays of affection toward everyone before heading outside.

"Call out if you need me," Carlisle said, echoing Jacob's words from before.

Esme nodded and hugged Masen once more, "Be careful."

The three of them left and Leah locked the door, despite knowing it wouldn't do any good.

"What are we going to do?" Cassandra asked. She knew something wasn't right and looked out the window and the darkening sky that was occasionally illuminated by a menacing strike of lightening.

"First thunderstorm of the year," Renesme said, "It's an early one."

"Perfectly good waste of a baseball game day," Alexandra said, looking at Esme with a grin.

Esme smiled at her daughter with as much authenticity a she could manage, "It is the perfect afternoon for baseball."

"I want to play," Nicole said eagerly, "I've been wanting to try it. Mom and Dad told me all about it. I really want to play."

"We will soon," Esme told her, "All summer. There are a ton of storms in the summer here." She looked at Alexandra again with a smile, glad she could distract Nicole and Cassandra away from what was actually going on.

"Well, I'd suggest making everyone coffee or tea, but I guess that would be kind of useless," Leah said with a light laugh.

"Hey, not for me," Renesme said, raising her eyebrows with a smile.

"Or me," Cassandra said, teaming up with Renesme. She leaned up against her and crossed her hands in front of her chest.

"Yeah!" Renesme said again, striking the same pose to play along.

"You don't drink coffee or tea," Leah said to her daughter. She then switched on the Keurig machine, "Nessy, help yourself to whatever flavor is on the rack."

"Thanks," she said.

"How about hot chocolate?" Cassandra asked her mother.

Leah gave a jokingly loud sigh and put her hands on her hips, "Fine. Hot chocolate it is."

Esme grinned and went over to put an arm around Alexandra's shoulders.

"I love you, Mom," she said.

"I love you, too sweetie."

Their cheery moment together in the kitchen was brought to a quick halt when there was a loud banging at the front door.