'Why would you say something like that?!'

Edward had been asking himself the same question for the past hour. As soon as Biology had ended, he had panicked and gone straight to his car. Now, he was still in the Volvo in the parking lot of the hospital trying to work up the courage to go and tell Carlisle what he had done.

'The Police Chief's daughter, I ask you?! Idiot, idiot, idiot.'

Edward didn't know what had come over him. From the moment he had seen the new girl, Bella as she liked to be called, he had been drawn to her; she was the second person in two days Edward had come across whose mind he could not read. Was this just a coincidence, or was he losing his gift? Was that even possible?

He had wondered if his inability to read her thoughts had indicated some sort of connection between her and Harry Potter, yet he had already dismissed that idea. There was no aura about her as there was with Harry, which could only mean that Bella's ability to block his gift was something entirely new and unrelated.

Great.

Carlisle was going to be furious when Edward told him what he had said. As his siblings had been quick to point out to him in their thoughts, all Bella would have to do is tell her father what Edward had said, and all the police's focus would be put on to their family. It would be because of Edward that they would need to leave, not Harry, and Edward wasn't sure if he could face being the cause of that.

Edward was certain that Carlisle would have figured out by now that his son was in the parking lot, but as usual he was showing him respect and allowing Edward to come and talk to him in his own time. Unless Alice had already phoned him and told him what had happened, but then, Edward thought, Carlisle would have come out to speak to him. There was nothing for him to do except go inside. He was here and had to take responsibility for what he had done.

Moving as slowly as humanly possible, Edward got out of his car and made his way to the entrance of the hospital. The receptionist looked up from her desk as he walked past, but didn't stop him, recognising him as one of Carlisle's children. As he got closer to his father's office, a conversation became clearer.

"– afraid that's what we'll have to do." Chief Swan was talking. Edward froze. Had his daughter already told him what Edward had said?

"Are you sure, Charlie? That seems a bit drastic, doesn't it?" Carlisle replied.

"That's how it's gotta be, Carlisle. Without any sign of him in almost forty-eight hours, in addition to the evidence we've already got, it's plausible. All that blood, the security footage being wiped. It's too suspicious to call it otherwise."

From what Edward could hear of his father's thoughts, this conversation didn't seem to be going the way Carlisle had hoped.

"I understand, Charlie. Let me know if there's anything I can do."

"Of course. Glad you understand, Carlisle. Have a good afternoon." The door opened revealing a very weary looking Chief Swan, who jumped at seeing someone just outside the door.

"Ah, Edward," came Carlisle's voice from inside, "you've met Chief Swan."

'Edward, you look like you've seen a ghost. Relax, please.'

Edward forced a smile onto his face.

"Of course, sir. Good to see you." He reached his hand out to the Chief, who had recovered from his brief surprise and returned the hand-shake firmly.

"Likewise," he murmured. "I'd better get back to the station. Carlisle." He lifted a hand in farewell to the Cullen men and strode down the hall. As soon as the Chief was around the corner, the smile dropped off Edward's face.

"Carlisle, what –?"

"Come inside, Edward." He moved, making way for his son to enter before him, and closed the door on them both. Edward watched as his father moved around to sit in his chair, while he stood in the middle of the room.

"Charlie's just informed me that Harry's disappearance is now going to be treated as suspected murder."

"Suspected –? But –," Edward spluttered. If the Chief were to learn what Edward had said now, they would be in serious trouble.

"I can't help but feel this is all my doing," Carlisle muttered to himself. "If I hadn't wiped the footage… why did I invest myself in Harry?" He closed his eyes and shook his head, defeated.

This time yesterday, Edward would have agreed wholeheartedly with Carlisle, but not anymore. He had promised.

"No, Carlisle, it isn't." Carlisle didn't raise his head. "If you hadn't found Harry by the road that day – well, either day – he would be dead, and you know it. And as for the security cameras, what do you think the Chief would have done when he saw what actually happened?" What would Charlie Swan have done? Would he have thought it was all a joke? Or would he start asking questions?

Carlisle sighed. "You're right, Edward. I just hope that Harry regained enough strength to help him on his way. I don't even know where he was headed, he wouldn't say – wouldn't let me ask," he began to shake his head again in sadness. Edward couldn't remember a time where Carlisle had looked more helpless. He knew without a doubt that Carlisle would not be happy once more until he knew Harry was safe and well.

"I'm sure he will be fine. Esme told us that the tent and everything you left out for him were gone, suggesting Harry found them and managed to leave. You've done all you can for him, Carlisle. He wants to be alone."

Why Harry wanted to be alone Edward couldn't quite understand. From what Carlisle had shared from their encounter in the forest, Harry had clearly been through something traumatic. Obviously he felt the best way for him to cope with that was to be on his own, but Edward knew what loneliness could do to a person. Despite Carlisle trying to hide it, Edward had seen enough of his father's two hundred years of roaming before he had begun to create his family. Edward wouldn't wish that upon anyone.

Carlisle didn't look convinced by Edward's words of comfort. Rather, he looked even more depressed as he was reminded of Harry's desire to be alone. It was only then that Edward remembered why he was in his father's office in the first place.

"Ah, Carlisle? There's something I should tell you… something that I've done," Edward looked down as his father raised his gaze to look at his son.

"What's happened?" Edward watched as images began swirling in Carlisle's head of all the possibilities.

"A new girl started at school today…" The images disappeared. This was not what Carlisle had been expecting. "I can't seem to read her mind." Carlisle's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

'Do you think she's –'

Edward shook his head. "No, she's not like Harry. From what any of us could tell she's one hundred percent human." Edward paused in worry. "Carlisle, what if my gift is disappearing? Is that possible?"

Sufficiently distracted from his previous mood, Carlisle's brow furrowed in thought.

"I shouldn't think so. I've never heard of such a thing occurring, and I don't believe Eleazar has either, however I can always ask him if you are that concerned. What is more likely is that this girl has some form of a mental block that she is almost certainly completely unaware of."

Edward had never heard of such a thing in a human, though he did feel better with Carlisle's reassurance. His gift hadn't lessened with anybody else; only the two newest people to Forks were able to evade his ability.

"That's not all that I need to tell you. I, um, may have said something to her that I shouldn't have."

"Edward, just tell me. I'm sure it isn't as bad as you're making it out to be," Carlisle comforted. Edward mentally disagreed.

"Her name is Isabella Swan. As in the daughter of Chief Swan, and she was made to sit beside me in Biology this afternoon as Harry sort of came up in conversation – no his name wasn't mentioned, Carlisle," Edward assured at the shocked expression that had appeared across his father's face. "But I may have suggested that her father should stop looking for Harry. I don't know why I said it, I was just sitting there and I started talking and I don't know what made me say it, Carlisle, I'm so sorry, all she has to do is tell her father –"

"Edward –"

"–and he'll start asking questions and then we'll all become suspects and –"

"Edward –"

"–we'll have to run and it's all my fault and –"

"Edward!"

Edward finally closed his mouth. If he were human, he would be bright red.

"Thank-you," Carlisle sighed as he got up and made his way around to stand in front of his son. "Edward, I understand that you're sorry and you weren't thinking, but we'll think of something. Do you believe that she will tell her father?"

"Why wouldn't she? She clearly knows about Harry being missing, we heard people asking her about it during break. I just handed her father a huge lead in what's now a suspected murder case!" Edward hissed, trying his best to keep his voice down.

Carlisle ran a hand through his blond hair, not even slightly disrupting its perfection, and let out a long breath.

"Look, if Isabella does tell Charlie, which we don't know that she will, I'm sure we can come up with something. For example, you obviously know more about what's happened because you're my son, so perhaps you've just taken the opinion that Harry is gone, as horribly sad as it may be. All is not lost, Edward," Carlisle said, grasping his son's shoulder.

Edward smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

"You are most welcome, son."

Riiing riiing

With a quick glance at the Caller ID, Carlisle held the phone to his ear.

"Alice? What is it?"

"Carlisle? The family's future is gone."


'What's the point of sugar-free cookies?'

Bella put the offending packet back on the shelf and continued her way around the Forks grocery store. After sitting in the school parking lot for a good half hour thinking about the Cullens, Bella had remembered that she had to buy something for dinner or else it would be another night of fish fry. She truly had no idea how Charlie had coped on his own for so long without starving to death; he was hardly gifted in the kitchen. But Bella was looking forward to the challenge of making meals that he would enjoy. It was the least she could do for him.

Today, though, Bella's heart wasn't in it, as she wandered down the aisles only half paying attention to what was on the shelves. Her mind was still back in her Biology class trying to make sense of Edward's words. What did he know about what her father had been doing? Sure just about everyone knew of the missing boy from the hospital, but this was a very odd thing to say. He sounded like he knew more than the average person did, which lead to one question; what should she tell Charlie?

Bella's first instinct had been to call him at work to talk about it, except she didn't want to say anything that would get Edward in trouble when she didn't know the reason behind his words. Charlie's reaction would be one of two things; either he would treat it as nothing, just something some pessimistic kid was saying, or he would overreact and spring the guy at his house for questioning. Not confident he wouldn't go for option two, Bella decided telling Charlie was not the way to go.

This decision had not allowed her the comfort of forgetting what happened. On the contrary, Bella knew that she would have to watch the Cullens closely at school for any other strange behaviour or words that could direct suspicion towards them. Only with enough evidence would she say anything to Charlie.

Still thinking heavily, Bella wasn't paying attention to where she was walking, and so gave a yelp of surprise when she collided with somebody.

"Oof!" Bella landed hard on her backside. That would hurt tomorrow.

"Argh, watch it!" Came the annoyed grunt of the boy on the receiving end. Was that a foreign accent? "Here."

Bella looked up to see a calloused hand held out to her. Grasping it, she was swiftly pulled to her feet and got her first proper look at the man – or perhaps boy was more accurate – she had crashed into. Despite the apparent age of his hands, he couldn't have been older than Bella. A mop of untidy black hair sat upon his head, plastered down over his forehead in an odd way. He wore round glasses over his bright green eyes, which were staring at her with annoyance and… something else.

Realising she hadn't said anything for almost a full minute, Bella blushed.

"Sorry. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going," she admitted shyly. Something about this boy was different; Bella felt oddly drawn to him, and yet staring into his eyes made her want to curl up and cry.

"Hmm, yes, clearly," he muttered coldly. "Maybe you should stop daydreaming and watch where you're going." He turned to walk away, and despite his clear desire to be left alone, Bella couldn't do that.

"I couldn't help noticing," she began to call out, "what's that accent of yours?" Without stopping or turning around, he kept walking. Bella followed. "Are you British, by any chance?" This made the boy stop.

"I'm an America citizen, if you must know," he turned around and glared at her. "Got a problem with that?"

Bella frowned.

"What? No? But you must have just recently moved here." Bella didn't know what had gotten into her. Since when did she actively try to continue a conversation with someone she didn't know? Watching as the boy's glare only darkened, she finally seemed to accept his attitude. "Alright, I'm sorry for bothering you," she said in a slightly hurt voice and turned to walk away.

From behind her came a frustrated sigh.

"No, wait. I'm being rude," the boy called out. "I've not had a very good time of late." Bella turned back, pleased to see that his expression had softened. The annoyance from before had gone, but that other look was still there that Bella was yet to place.

"I'm Bella," she offered. "Bella Swan."

He gave her a small smile, but didn't let it reach his eyes.

"Nice to meet you." Bella waited for him to give his own name, but it never came. "Do you go to school here?" What a strange question.

"Of course. I'm at Forks High, but I only just started today," she responded. "I just moved here from Arizona to come live with my Dad." Now she was giving out her life story? Why did this boy make her want to talk? He hadn't even told her his name.

"Right," he said simply. "Do you know how one would go about enrolling there?" So he was new here.

"Well, if you go with your parents to the school, they can sort everything out for you," she explained. This guy would draw all the 'new-kid' attention away from her. She hoped he enrolled soon.

"I'm legally responsible for myself, actually. Can I do all that on my own?" This kid didn't have parents? Not even a guardian? Poor guy, no wonder he didn't seem to want to talk to anyone.

"Um, I guess so? You can only try," she answered, having no idea what the procedure was for emancipated kids at school. Charlie would know. "I could always ask my dad, if you like. He's the Police Chief here, I'm sure he'd know." Suddenly, the boy's eyes darkened, the look from before increasing ten-fold. Bella could identify it now; it was wariness.

"Um, n-no that's alright, really. I'll, uh, work it out on my own, thanks," he stuttered. His face had gone very pale, making him look quite unwell.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good," Bella asked, concerned. "Do you need a lift home?"

"No!" He practically shouted. "I mean, n-no, thank-you. I'm fine, it's just the, uh, jet-lag still affecting me. I should really go, it was nice meeting you, bye!" He said all this in a rush and bolted around the corner.

"Hey! Wait! You left your –!" He was gone. "– groceries." Bella sighed, picked up the boy's basket and started to return the items to their shelves. What was it with people acting weirdly around her today?

Muttering to herself about crazy foreigners, Bella finished her shopping and headed out to her Chevy. Driving home she began to wonder if moving to Forks had really been the best idea after all.


This could not be happening. First a vampire, and now the Police Chief's daughter. When would Harry meet someone who wasn't connected to people who were after him? So much for moving to America for a peaceful life.

After learning that the girl, Bella, had a father who could – and very well might – arrest him, Harry had left as quickly as he could and apparated straight into his living room. Now, he was lying on the couch, berating himself.

"That was the worst performance I've ever seen," he scolded himself. "If she didn't think you were acting suspicious before, she certainly will now!" The only thing he felt he had done right was to not give his name, though all Bella had to tell her father was that an English boy about her age, matching his description, was in Forks and acting fishy when the police were mentioned.

"I'll be arrested in my sleep," he muttered darkly.

Could he really go to school here? What with the vampire doctor and now Bella knowing about him, was it safe for him here? Without meaning to, he had already started to love the house Kinglsey had gotten him, and exploring the town had actually made him happy which wasn't an easy feat these days. But if it meant his safety over his personal comforts… maybe it was best for him to go.

'Except…'

If he left now, after looking like he might wet his pants at the mention of the police, was it safe for him to run? Would he not be drawing more attention to himself if he were to leave now? If he disappeared, it would look very suspicious, especially to Bella. Which meant one thing:

He had to go to school. Here.

Sighing in defeat, Harry resigned himself to enrolling tomorrow. He should probably get new clothes first, and from the results of his exploring there wasn't anywhere very suitable in town. He'd have to get a taxi and ask them where the best place was. Then he would go to try and get himself into school.

"This is going to end so badly."