"I said, leave me alone!" Bella screams.
"Bella, don't do this. Just think about it, please."
"Get out! It's over." Bella slams the door in Edward's face.
Astrid and Charlie look at each other. Charlie gets off the couch to check on Bella.
"Bella, what happened?"
"I have to get out of this place out of Forks. I'm leaving. Now."
Bella runs upstairs with Charlie following behind her. Astrid comes out of the living room to stand in the foyer. Now, Astrid knows Bella. She knows her very well, and Astrid could always tell when Bella was lying, and right now she's lying about something. Astrid can hear Charlie asking Bella if Edward hurt her and if he broke up with her. Bella tells Charlie that she broke up with Edward, and that's why she needs to go home.
Astrid leans against the door frame and watches as Bella comes charging down the stairs with Charlie following her, "Your mother's not even in Phoenix."
"She'll come home, I'll call her from the road."
"You can't drive home now. I'll take you to the airport in the morning."
"I want to drive. I need time to think. I'll pull into a motel in a few hours. I promise."
Bella is almost to the door, but Charlie blocks her, "Bells, I know I'm not around much, but I can change that. We can do more things together."
"Like watch more baseball on the flat screen? Or go to the diner. Same people, same steak, same berry cobbler every night? That's you and Astrid, Dad. Not me."
"Bella, I just got you back."
"And if I don't get out now, I'm going get stuck here as mom did."
Charlie is stunned by what Bella has just said. Bella takes the opportunity to leave the house. Astrid moves towards the door, "I'll talk to her, Dad."
Astrid leaves the house, she rushes after Bella and grabs her by the wrist, "What the fuck are you doing?"
"I'm leaving."
"Why, I know you're lying Bella. You can't lie to me."
Bella gives her sister a pleading look, "Astrid, please, let me go."
"Fine, I'm coming with you."
"NO!"
"If I don't come with you I'm going to tell Dad you're lying."
"Fine get in."
Astrid jumps in the passenger side of the truck then Bella takes off. After a while, Edward appears, He's shocked to see Astrid in the truck.
"What the hell is she doing here?"
"Astrid wouldn't let me leave unless she came along."
Edward sighs, he climbs into the cab and assures Bella that Charlie will forgive her. Astrid stares at Bella and Edward, "What the fuck is going on?"
Bella and Edward look at each other than tell Astrid everything that happened. Astrid reaches over Bella and punches Edward in the face. He swerves a little on the road.
"I knew something like this was going to happen if Bella went out with you! You son of a bitch."
Suddenly they hear a thud and Bella screams, "It's just Emmett and Alice is following behind us," Edward tells her.
They get to the Cullen house, and Astrid, Bella, and Edward jump out of the truck. Emmett is stunned to see his girlfriend there, "What are you doing here?"
"I knew Bella was lying about something, so I came with her."
"Babe, this is dangerous."
"I don't care, Bella may be a bitch, but she's still my sister."
Emmett sighs, "Okay, let's go inside."
Emmett takes Astrid's hand, and they go inside the house when they get there, they see Edward talking with Laurent. Emmett growls, he pushes Astrid behind him.
Laurent raises an eyebrow, "Who is this?"
"None of your fucking business," Emmett tells him.
Laurent raises his hands in surrender; the last thing he wanted was to upset the large vampire. Laurent walks past them and leaves the house.
The side door burst open as Edward and the Cullens enter, followed by Bella. The lights flip on to reveal a pristine garage; the Volvo, the red BMW, a black Mercedes sedan, an SUV. Everyone but Rosalie springs into action, opening cupboards for supplies - cell phones, extra batteries, maps, portable GPS units, changes of clothes, cans, of gasoline, etc. as they load up the vehicle.
"I've had to fight our kind before. We're hard to kill." Jasper tells Edward.
"But not impossible," Edward replies.
"We'll rip him apart and burn the pieces," Emmett tells them.
Astrid goes and stands next to Bella, who hugs her sister. Maybe Bella should have listened to Astrid after all. Carlisle tells his boys that he isn't looking forward to killing anyone, even someone as sadistic as James.
"If he doesn't get one of us first," Rosalie says as she shoots Bella a hateful look.
Bella gasps and tells them that she isn't worth the trouble. Astrid rolls her eyes, "Edward got you into this mess, the least he can do is get you out of it, Bella."
"Astrid!"
"No, Astrid is right, if I had never taken you to the game, James would never have found out about you."
Edward tells everyone that he'll take Bella south, but Carlisle tells him it's a bad idea. That James would know that he would never leave Bella. Alice then volunteers to take Bella south with Jasper.
"I'm going too," Astrid says.
"The hell you are," Emmett says.
"I wasn't asking for permission, Emmett, I'm not leaving my sister alone."
"She won't be alone, Astrid, Jasper and I will be with her."
"You think I'm going to trust her safety to you after you guys got her in this mess? You're more delusional than I thought. I'm going, and there's nothing you can say that will change my mind."
"What about Charlie?"
Astrid whips out her phone and calls Charlie, "Dad, I'm going with Bella, so she doesn't kill herself on the road. As soon as we get to Phoenix, I'll take a flight home."
They all wait to hear Charlie's answer, "Okay, Astrid, I trust you."
"Thanks, Dad, I love you."
"Love you too, Kiddo."
Astrid hangs up, "There, problem solved."
Emmett sighs, he knows he can't convince Astrid not to go. So, instead, Emmett hugs her. At the same time, Edward asks Esme and Rosalie to put on Bella's clothes. Rosalie looks at the clothes with disdain.
"Why should I, what is she to me?"
Carlisle takes the clothes from Edward, "Rosalie, Bella's with Edward, she's part of this family now, and we protect our family."
Rosalie reluctantly takes the clothes. After that, Alice, Jasper, and Bella get in Carlisle's Mercedes-Benz. While Bella and Edward are talking, Emmett leads Astrid out of the garage.
"You don't have to do this," Emmett tells Astrid
"Yes, I do. I don't trust anyone with Bella's safety, but me and you."
Emmett smiles down at Astrid, "Thank you, Sunshine, for trusting me."
"I'll always trust you, Emmett."
Emmett decides to take this opportunity to confess his feeling, "I love you, Astrid. I know you don't feel the same, but I had to tell you."
Astrid looks at Emmett surprised. She smiles up at him then hugs him, "I think I love you too, Emmett."
Emmett grins like a fool. He lifts Astrid into his arms, and she wraps her legs around his waist. He kisses her passionately then hugs Astrid, taking in her scent. She smells clean like after a storm. Emmett places his forehead against Astrid's, "Please be careful."
"Always."
Emmett carries Astrid back into the garage then puts her down next to the Mercedes. She gets into the car, kisses Emmett one last time, then Alice and Jasper take off.
It takes them 21 hours to get to Scottsdale. When they get there, Alice Jasper Astrid and Bella check into a hotel. They get a suite on the top floor with double beds. Jasper orders room service for the girls then turns on the TV so that there's some background noise. The girls eat then go to bed. But Bella can't sleep. She crawls into bed with Astrid.
Astrid hugs her sister, "Everything will be alright, Bella, I promise."
"Astrid, I'm sorry for being such a bitch to you this past couple of months. I was petty and jealous. I should never have treated you that way. You're my sister, and I love you."
"I love you too, Bella."
Bella hugs her sister back then goes to sleep. The next morning Edward calls and says they lost the tracker. That he's coming down to pick up Bella and together they were fleeing. Bella agrees.
A little while later, Bella gets ready and heads out to talk to Alice and Jasper giving Astrid a chance to take a shower. Alice had gone downstairs to one of the boutiques and bought Astrid some clothes. Once she was finished, Astrid comes out into the living room and sees that Alice is in some trance. Jasper hands Alice, a pencil, and Alice begins to draw what she sees.
"Mirrors a room of mirrors," Alice says in a faraway voice.
Astrid leans over, "That looks like a ballet studio."
"You guys have been there?" Alice asked.
"Yeah we used to take lessons there," Bella says.
"Was the school here in Phoenix?" Jasper asks.
"Yeah just around the corner from our house but we haven't been there in 10 years," Astrid informs them.
"Would you have any reason to go there now?"
"Hell no, I hated it, Astrid was good at it, but I sucked."
"Yeah, but it was taking too much time away from my martial arts, so I quit," Astrid tells Jasper.
Alice and Jasper share a look; they're both confused as to why Alice had that vision. Later that night, Alice goes downstairs to settle the bill while Jasper loads the car. At that moment Bella's phone rings and the caller ID reads home. Bella answers the phone and hears her mother asking frantically for her and Astrid.
"Mom, it's okay, Astrid and I are fine."
Then Bella hears rustling like Renee dropped the phone. Her blood runs cold when Bella hears James' voice on the line.
"Nice house you have here, not the best neighborhood but still it's comfortable. I was prepared to wait for you, but then Mom came home after receiving a frantic call from your dad. So it all worked out. I must say Forks High School doesn't protect its student's privacy very well. It was too easy for Victoria to get your previous address."
"Leave my mother out of this."
"You're very protective of her, that's good. Now what I need for you to do is get away from your friends and meet me at your old ballet studio. And don't forget to bring your baby sister. The pretty little blonde that I'm sure is with you."
Bella looks at Astrid. Astrid gives her a questioning look. Bella shakes her head, "What time should we meet you?"
"I'll give you an hour to get there. That should be plenty of time."
"Alright, we're on our way."
Bella hangs up, "What? What happened," Astrid asks.
"James has Mom; he wants us to meet him at our old ballet studio in an hour. We need to get past Alice and Jasper."
"That won't be easy. Alice and Jasper either smell Alice, or we will see us get away."
"We have to try," Bella says to Astrid.
Astrid and Bella make their way down to the lobby and see that Alice and Jasper are not around. They make for the door and call a cab. Bella gives the cab driver the address to the ballet studio, and they're off.
Astrid sits back, "Damn them."
"What?"
"Alice and Jasper let us get away. Alice should have seen us decide to leave. What's wrong with them?"
"You think so?"
"Yes, at the very least she should have seen you make the decision."
"Why would Alice and Jasper do that?"
"I don't know. Maybe Alice and Jasper don't care about you as much as you thought."
Bella slumps in the seat, 'Maybe they don't,' Bella thought.
Astrid and Bella get to the ballet studio, they get out of the cab and walk towards the door. Bella checks the can of pepper spray she has
"You do realize that isn't going to work, right?" Astrid tells Bella.
"It's worth a try."
Astrid and Bella hold hands and walk into the studio. The minute Bella hears her mom's voice, she takes off running, but Astrid stands there. Renee's voice sounds a little funny. Bella runs to the closet and pulls it open. She surprised to find that it's just a video of her mom, Astrid and Bella playing.
Bella turns around and sees the image of James in all the mirrors, "You were a stubborn little thing weren't you. But little Astrid was so cute in her tutu."
"She's not here," Bella says with relief in her voice.
"Sorry, you made too easy. So to make things more entertaining, I'm going to make a little film of our time together. Borrowed this from your house. I hope you don't mind."
Bella flings her purse at James and takes off running. She grabs Astrid by the Arm and tries to lead her out. But James catches Bella and throws her back.
"So this is your baby sister, Astrid. Wow, that picture didn't do you justice."
"That's right, fucker I'm Astrid."
"Ooh feisty, I'll get to you in a minute, but first I have a video to make."
James walks over to Bella, "And action."
Bella sprays James with the pepper spray and runs, but James catches her, "Excellent an escape attempt. It'll break poor little Edward's heart that he couldn't protect you."
"Edward has nothing to do with this!" Bella screams.
"He will. His rage will make for more interesting sport than his feeble attempt to protect you."
Just as James is about to attack Bella, Astrid Jumps on his back, "You think I'm going to let you hurt my sister, you got another thing coming, asshole."
James sighs, he reaches back and grabs Astrid, throwing her off his back Astrid flies through the air but does a flip and lands on her feet. Astrid stands up and gets into her fighting stance.
"Hey, you're a lot tougher than I thought, this could be fun. Look I'll give you a sporting chance, I won't use my full strength, how does that sound?"
"Bring it, you piece of shit."
James strolls over towards Astrid and takes a swing, Astrid dodges and punches him in the face. James' head snaps back, his eyes narrow and James swings again. Astrid ducks then kicks James in the gut causing him to double over. James starts getting mad, he kicks Astrid, but she catches his foot, twist and makes him fall to the floor. Astrid dances away from him. James keeps swing and missing, Astrid jabs and keeps punching James in the face until James has finally had enough.
Using his vampire speed, he punches Astrid in the face sending her flying back. When she crashes to the floor, he goes after Bella and breaks her leg. Bella screams in agony. But Astrid isn't out; she stands up and laughs. James whips around, his eyes widen.
"Is that all you got? I thought vampires were tougher than that."
James rushes Astrid using his vampire speed and picks her up by the throat he laughs as he watches Astrid struggle against his hold while she slowly starts turning blue, "What are you going to do now you little bitch."
Suddenly there's a rumble of thunder outside. Storm clouds are gathering over the studio. Lightning is flashing within the cloud; There's a booming thunder that shakes the building. James looks out the window as he sees flashes of lightning.
"What the fuck?"
He looks at Astrid whose eyes have started to spark like lightning then suddenly a bolt of lightning crashes through the roof of the studio and hits James. He screams, drops Astrid as another bolt of lightning hits him turning him into ash.
Astrid's eyes widen, she scrambles away from what was once James and looks around in terror. How did that happen? Where did the storm come from? Astrid looks through the hole in the ceiling and sees that the sky is clear now. Astrid starts freaking out but hears Bella whimper. She stands up and rushes over toward Bella.
By this time the vampires show up ready to fight. They look around confused when they don't see James. Edward and Emmett rush over to Astrid and Bella, "What happened," Edward asks.
"James broke her leg," Astrid tells him.
"Where's James," Emmett asks.
"Gone. James is dead."
"What? How?" Carlisle asks.
"He is okay? Can we go, please?"
Emmett wraps his arm around Astrid, "Sure, Sunshine, let's get out of here."
Emmett leads Astrid out of the ballet studio and into the car. Carlisle and Edward take Bella to the hospital in one car while Astrid, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper follow in the other.