Chapter Two

Alice

I knew of all the family that Rose was the one who would notice things were wrong, Edward was easy to keep out of my head, I'd perfected that skill very quickly. I didn't like my dear brother delving around in my thoughts, they were none of his business, but Rose saw things, she had an uncanny knack of feeling when situations weren't as they seemed. It wasn't quite a gift but it did make her the most dangerous to me. I couldn't hide from her and I knew sooner or later she would be confronting me much as I'd tried to act as normally as possible.

"Rose if I told you I couldn't explain would you stop asking questions?"

"Not when it's upsetting my brother, no"

"He isn't really your brother Rose"

"He is in every way that matters, so give."

I sighed heavily and sat in the chair looking round the motel room as if an answer might be written on one of the cream walls.

"Something is coming that will affect us all Rose and I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for Jasper."

"What something?"

"A fundamental change in the Cullen family, an outsider who joins us but isn't one of us. Lots of things will change Rose but as long as you hold on to Emmett your love will pull you through it all."

"Is it the Volturi? Shouldn't you tell Carlisle? Warn him? Maybe we can change the future"

I shook my head,

"It's not that simple Rose and every way I look at it nothing changes, you can't fight fate and I have to go with the flow."

"It's not like you to give up Alice."

"Maybe I'm not, perhaps this is the best thing for me"

"What about the rest of us?"

"As the saying goes we are going to live through "interesting times"

"What's that supposed to mean Alice?"

"What it says Rose, we will all be changed by the times we live through."

Rose

I didn't understand what Alice was trying to tell me...or was she trying to tell me? It was all too cryptic but I got the general idea, we were entering choppy waters as a family. I just hoped we would still be together at the end of it all. However much I questioned her further she wouldn't say any more and asked me not to tell the others what she'd told me yet.

"It will all become clear eventually Rose and everyone looking for it to begin will only make things far worse. I want to ask you something though Rose"

"OK"

"Watch out for Jasper, just until he finds himself."

"Are you saying you're going to leave him?"

"The future has many roads and I have no idea which we will take, yet. Sometimes seeing what is to come, or what might be coming, is a curse Rose especially when it's so unpredictable. Anyway, let's do what we came here to do, shop!"

When we got home I didn't speak to anyone except Emmett and bless him he didn't have the faintest idea what Alice was talking about, no more than I, except we were both worried enough about Jasper to keep an eye on him. He felt our concern although he had no idea why we were worried about him. I overhead him asking Alice but she made light of it and he accepted her words as he had always done, Alice was his guide, his love, and he followed where she led trusting she would see him safe. I wasn't so sure that was still true but what could I tell him? The next couple of months Alice became more her old self although I thought she was still pulling away from Jasper so slowly and gently that he didn't even see it. I felt anticipation and I think it came from Alice, whatever was going to happen was getting closer by the day, would it happen in Forks? Nothing ever happened in Forks but as far as I was aware the family had no plans to move or go anywhere other than Denali for Christmas and that was a long-standing ritual. It was better than staying in Forks with all the lights and glitter and the children. It was the sight of the young children, their eyes lit up in wonder at the thought of Santa and his flying reindeer that hurt the most. I would never hold my own child and read them 'A Night Before Christmas' or take them to visit Santa and tuck them up all excited on Christmas Eve then see the joy on their faces on Christmas morning when they found the toys Santa had left them. Emmett loved Christmas but he knew it upset me so he tried to rein in his enthusiasm and for that I loved him even more.

When Bella Swan, Chief Swan's daughter arrived there was almost mass hysteria in the town. The Chief's daughter was coming back to live with him. We heard the story of the flighty wife who had upped and left with the little girl when she was still a baby and how she hadn't been to visit him in Forks for years. Personally I didn't see anything so great in her, she was a mousey little thing but a novelty, so all the boys were acting like idiots to get her attention. The first day in the cafeteria I watched in amusement as she sat cringing under all the attention then looked at Emmett. He was grinning like a fool and I punched his arm

"Ouch what?"

"Wipe that stupid grin off your face. What's so special about her? She's just a human, like all the rest."

"I don't think Edward would agree"

I followed his gaze and frowned. Our brother was sitting mesmerised by the new girl. What was the matter with him? I rolled my eyes as Alice grinned. Only Jasper seemed immune to her pull, he sat with his back to her and never turned round once but he did look concerned, what had he felt? We found out that evening when Edward called a family council.

"The new girl Bella Swan. I want to drink her blood, so badly it hurts. I'm not sure I can cope in Forks with her here."

I groaned

"I'm not moving again Edward, just control yourself"

"I'm not sure he can Rose, I think Bella is his singer"

Trust Alice to make it worse!

"Wow, you're in big trouble bro,"

I remembered the two occasions when human blood had sung to Emmett, both died very quickly, he just couldn't resist the allure. Carlisle sent Edward to Denali to get himself sorted out and the next week was very peaceful as long as you ignored the looks everyone kept giving Bella. Personally I wish Edward had just snatched her at the end of school the first day and killed her discreetly, she annoyed me immensely.

At the end of the week Edward was back promising he had himself under control which relieved all of us but he started acting very strangely, following the girl and spending nights in her room watching her sleep. Totally weird behaviour but there was nothing we could do about it. Then he stopped her from getting crushed by Tyler's truck. The idiot put us all at risk with that stunt and I laid into him big time. His actions could have been seen by the whole school. Luckily only Bella had seen him do anything out of the ordinary and she was keeping her big mouth shut which was a relief but from there things went down hill rapidly.