Chapter Fifty Nine
Carlisle
Well this would be goodbye for all of us but in a way it was probably for the best, after all neither Esme nor I could continue without each other and the same was true for Rose and Emmett. I just wished the girls would leave now while they still could. I doubted Charlotte's name had come up and Alice, well she could give herself up and be safe. I knew Aro had insisted Alice Cullen be saved and sent back to Volterra.
Maybe she would find happiness there or if not then she would see where happiness waited for her. Having seen enough to help us track Bella had given her more confidence in her abilities and that was exactly what she needed, to feel she was useful, that her visions could be helpful. We continued up the mountain until we came upon an abandoned car and smelled Bella's scent. It was still quite strong so she wasn't far ahead of us although the heavy rain meant we couldn't track her by scent alone. Luckily Darius had pinpointed The Majors base and the rain would slow her down, we might just beat her to it.
"Some thing's wrong."
Alice stopped suddenly, her eyes going blank as she saw something the rest of us could only guess at.
"What Alice? What do you see? Are we too late?"
She shook her head her eyes opening wide,
"He's angry and confused, very volatile because he doesn't know what to do."
"Who Alice?"
She turned to me,
"The Major, he can't decide what to do and that's enraged him."
"Is Bella there? Will he kill her?"
"No, I don't know, maybe, nothing is decided yet but things aren't going exactly as he anticipated."
"Maybe the wolves decided to attack after all Carlisle."
Alice turned to Emmett,
"No, no wolves, something is confusing him though and he can't make up his mind what he's going to do."
"Right well if we can reach him before Bella does maybe we can stop him from killing Chief Swan."
We redoubled our pace until just ahead we saw a small figure hunched again the rain, we had found Bella before she reached The Major. I signaled to Emmett and he ran forward grabbing Bella with a hand over her mouth to stop her crying out in alarm and carried her back to us.
"It's OK Bella, don't be frightened its us."
She struggled in Emmett's arms until I motioned for him to set her free,
"I have to go or he'll kill Charlie."
"He's going to kill Charlie whether you go or not Bella. I'm sorry to be so blunt but it's the truth. I want you to stay here with Alice and Charlotte while the rest of us go on. If I can save Charlie I will but at least I'll save you for now. If we don't come back in ten minutes you go back to the truck and go, ring Darius and he'll arrange to get you out of here. Don't wait, don't stop, just go."
I didn't give them time to argue, once Charlotte had hold of Bella we set off once more knowing the base was only a mile ahead.
Alice
I waited with Bella and Charlotte but something told me what we were doing was wrong, we were changing the outcome, the future and I closed my eyes again straining to see when I heard Bella speak.
"You have to let me go. I need to save Charlie. I'm not afraid of The Major, I don't care if I die but I'm the only one who can save him I know."
She sounded desperate but Charlotte just spoke to her calmly and softly explaining that of anyone could change The Major's mind it was Carlisle.
"You don't have to die Bella. Charlie wouldn't want you to, he'd want you to live if there was any chance and Carlisle is giving you that chance. You only need to stay alive until The Major gets new orders, then you'll be safe, Carlisle spoke to Aro, he'll save you I'm sure, you never said anything about us. If not then go to Volterra with Alice, you can become a vampire like us, you'll be safe then."
Something she said rang a bell in my head, we could just have changed Bella, then she'd be safe but somehow it hadn't occurred to anyone and I didn't understand why. Was there something about Bella being a human that mattered?
The pressure increased and visions flashed through my mind one after another but this was different, I was being shown alternative futures, not ones that were but those that could be. In one we died, all of us, even Charlotte and I but one person survived, the last person you would have expected. In the other we all survived bar one and that was a tragic accident. The only constant was Bella, the differing futures all sprang from her according to her actions, though how that was possible I had no idea, but I had to make a decision quickly.
"Let her go Charlotte, we have to catch up with the others quickly, there's no time to explain."
Charlotte let go confused and I grabbed Bella slinging her over my shoulder and started to run as if my life depended on it...because not only my life but everyone else's depended on Bella getting to The Major's camp before it was too late.
We crashed through the undergrowth, the quickest route and I smelled blood, Bella's blood, she had cut herself on overhanging branches. I checked quickly, no it wouldn't change the outcome, or if it did most of us would still survive so I kept going followed by a bemused Charlotte. I saw a figure emerge from the trees and crashed straight through him, one of The Major's men not expecting me to keep going once I saw him. Ahead figures stood tense and expectant, on one side The Major and his other men, Chief Swan laying injured against a tree but still alive and on the other side Carlisle and the others. Everyone turned as I shouted and I skidded to a halt dropping Bella to the muddy ground then hauling her up.
"She's here. This is Bella Swan."
All eyes turned to the girl at my side and I waited, hoping and praying that my visions had been correct this one time.
Bella wiped mud from her hands and pulled herself upright staring at her dad who had also tried to stand but found it too painful. He croaked her name and she smiled at him,
"I'm sorry I couldn't get here any sooner dad."
The rest of us were surprised to see Charlie's arm in a sling, someone had tried to help him but who? It couldn't be The Major, he was infamous for his sadistic tendencies so...one of his men or had Charlie done it himself? There was a jacket around his shoulders with an arm ripped out and The Major was in his normal black sleeveless tee shirt but it couldn't be his jacket.
He stepped forward but he looked uncertain,
"So the Cullens come to save the day, how brave of you. Not so brave as the human though. She begged my help in getting here to save her father while you cowered in New York hiding behind the humans. She would make a better vampire than any of you ever did. What does Aro see in you Carlisle?"
"And you, I remember your question to me. Do you know me now Esme Cullen?"
She nodded eyes wide with terror but he had already turned his attention to Bella,
"So human, what do you have to bargain with? I take it you do want to bargain? To save your father."
"My life. It's me you want, my name on your list not my father's. Let him go and take me instead. I'm the guilty one, not the Cullens and I didn't give their secret away. Edwards the one you should be hunting, the traitor."
"Traitor? I suppose that's one way to look at it, although you didn't tell anyone did you? So, your life for his? Unfortunately I don't make bargains, especially not with humans. Or didn't your "friends" the Cullens tell you that?"