XLVIII. Rook, Line, and Sinker

It was the aggravating buzzing of my cellphone which finally dragged me out of bed. It was spring break―I wasn't supposed to be awake before noon.

"Hello?" I mumbled into my cellphone, dropping my face against Pepto's pink fuzzy belly.

"Pop tart girl, you don't sound so good," a familiar voice giggled from the other line.

"Serena?" I said groggily, sitting up and wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. "Hey, what's up?"

"Ooh, is this a good time to call? I'm so glad! I've been volunteering at this blood drive on campus on top of class work and clinicals, so I haven't had much of a break."

"Sounds like you've been keeping yourself busy," I hummed sleepily, leaning back against the pillows piled across my headboard. "How's your wrist?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. It's all better now. Scouts honor!" she said, keeping her voice upbeat.

My face twisted in disbelief. I'd last spoken with her a little over a week ago. That was hardly enough time for a sprained wrist to heal up, as far as I knew. "Really?" I asked skeptically.

"Yep. There was hardly any damage. I promise, he didn't really mean to hurt me," she insisted, a hard edge to her voice.

"Alright…" I relented, taking a hint. Despite my vehement urge to argue, I didn't think I'd get anywhere with Serena. Instead, I asked, "Are you okay?"

"Well, that's actually what I was calling you about," she admitted, voice subdued. "There's no one else I can talk to about this, as you well know."

I frowned. "What's going on?"

"It's Angelo. He's been acting…strange."

"Strange how?"

"I'm not sure, it's more of a feeling than anything else," she said with a small sigh of frustration. "But I think he might be in trouble."

The warning bells were blaring in my head. "Serena, whatever the hell he's gotten involved in, you need to steer clear. His world is dangerous."

"I know, but…I worry about him."

"I promise you, Serena, he can take care of himself," I said firmly, determined to keep her from doing something foolish. "It's you, you need to watch out for, otherwise you could get seriously hurt."

"I know he would never intentionally hurt me, but I'm not stupid, Isabella," Serena said, sounding frustrated. "I know I'm in danger when I'm near him, but…I love him. How far would you go, for the vampire that you love?"

It was so difficult to even imagine that someone like Edward could face real, legitimate danger. But the idea caused a mixture of fear and dread to painfully knot up in my chest and tighten around my lungs.

"I would do anything in my power," I finally said, voice thick, fingers curled and fisted into the hem of my comforter. "But…do you think Angelo would do the same for you?"

"I'd like to think so," she said weakly. "And what about your vampire? Would he go so far for you? I forget…what was his name?"

"I never told you his name." Nor did I plan to. The less Serena knew, the better. With the way she had opened up to me so easily, I had little doubt she would do the same with Angelo.

Serena didn't sound bothered. "Oh. Well, all the same."

"He…he would do everything he could to protect me," I said. Of that, I was sure.

"I hope for both our sakes, that we're right," Serena huffed a tired sigh. "Sorry about all that. I'm a bit stressed out, but thank you. I know what I need to do now."

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I have to go. But…call me if you need anything."

"I will!" Serena chirped, upbeat once more. "Bye!"

Absentmindedly, I snapped my phone closed and got up to get ready for the day.

I went through the motions―showering, getting dressed, making lunch.

All the while, my thoughts were cagey, restless. I couldn't make sense of it. There was something wrong. The sickened feeling in the pit of my stomach would not leave me.

When I'd first met Serena, it had been strange. Vampires mating with humans was extremely uncommon; an anomaly. To meet another human similar to me was a bizarre coincidence. And in the face of Alice's vision and the mysterious chain of events which would lead to my transformation, Serena had become a blip in my concerns.

But…what if it hadn't been a coincidence at all? What if meeting Serena had been the key―the trigger. What if the blind spot was Angelo?

BEEEEP!

I gasped, dropping the ceramic bowl of half-eaten cereal into the sink with a sharp clang and splatter, as the deafening sound of a car horn blared from outside.

"Shit," I hissed, rinsing my hands of soggy cereal and rushing over to peek through the panels of the window shutters.

Emmett's Jeep was parked outside. Through his rolled-down windows, he waved at me with a face-splitting grin.

I stepped back and shook off the fear, the anxiety. I was spending the afternoon at the Cullen's house today. Surely, they would know what to do.

I walked over to the front hall and slid on my coat, trying to relax my expression into something more amiable. Today was supposed to be fun. Whether my theories turned out to be right or not, I wouldn't let them ruin my day. I was alive and breathing, with Emmett of all vampires waiting outside my door―nothing would go wrong. Not yet.

I took a deep, calming breath and left the house.

When I crossed the driveway and opened the passenger door to his enormous Jeep, Emmett leaned across the center console and peered down at me. "Need a hand?" he asked.

"Yes, please," I said, balancing one foot on the car doorstep and reaching up to grasp his hand.

With a single pull, Emmett hauled me inside the car.

I dropped into the seat and closed the door before shooting him a smile. "Thanks! Although I'm curious―how come you're picking me up?"

"What?" Emmett gasped with a look of righteous indignation. "Jasper gets to pick you up, but I can't?"

I laughed. "Sure you can. It was just unexpected, is all."

"Jasper may be your new BFF, but I'm your big brother, Iz," he winked at me. "And now, it's our turn to pull a bit of mischief."

I arched my eyebrows in surprise. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Bemused, I listened to Emmett's fairly simple scheme.

"Of course," he finished. "It all depends on whether you think you're up for it."

I tilted my head in thought. "I think I can do that. But I'm not sure for how long. You'll need to tell Jasper to be quick about it."

"Alright!" Emmett cheered, pumping his fist. "Let's do this!"

I laughed and then, with a startled yelp, shot my hands out, clutching the door panel and center console as Emmett swerved onto the road and took off.

"Cool it with the gas pedal, Emmett!" I snapped, fingers curling into a white-knuckled fist around the oh-shit handle.

Emmett snickered but slowed down the car. "You can trust me, Iz. No need to throw a fit."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," I grumbled, folding my arms and slumping back against the seat in relief.

Fortunately, we made it to the house without incident.

Inside, Emmett lead me over to the sitting area, where Jasper sat on the floor, setting up several wooden chessboards. It was a lineup of three by three, for a total of nine boards, amounting to a colossal version of the game. From what I could see, each side still maintained only one king and queen, but the rooks, bishops, and knights were multiplied on either side of them.

"Wow, you guys are real serious about your chess," I gaped.

"We're an intense lot," Emmett grinned, plopping down beside Jasper and giving the boards a critical once-over.

It was then that Edward abruptly emerged at the foot of the staircase. "What's going on?" he asked, eyes narrowed in the direction of Jasper and Emmett. I wondered how well they were hiding their thoughts from him.

"Emmett says that you and Jasper are playing chess," I piped up as I went to snatch up a cushion from one of the couches.

"Did he now?" Edward said, sharp gaze now focused on Emmett.

"Are you gonna let your lady down?" Emmett needled him.

Edward rolled his eyes and turned to me. "Do you really want to watch us play chess?"

I nodded enthusiastically as I dropped the cushion on Jasper's free side and settled down beside him. "Yes, please."

Edward relented, finally moving away from the staircase with long, fluid steps and dropping down to sit directly across from Jasper, the various boards laid out neatly between them.

"You always refuse to play against me," Edward accused Jasper, skeptical. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

Jasper lifted his gaze from the boards and ignored his question. "If I win," he began with a charming smile, "Emmett and I get to choose which activity we do in Seattle."

Edward frowned. "I'm staying with Isabella."

"You should do something fun," I cut in. It was the only reason I was going along with their scheme in the first place. "I'll be safe with Alice and Rosalie. Please?"

Edward looked torn.

"Besides," I added. "Do you really trust Emmett and Jasper to not do something stupid if you leave them to their own devices?"

Jasper gave me the stink eye, but didn't disagree.

"Yeah, do ya?" Emmett badgered him.

After a tense moment of silence, Edward finally rolled his eyes and bit out, "Very well."

Jasper peeked at me from the corner of his eyes and tilted his chin.

Recognizing this as my cue, I got to work. With a small frown of concentration, I pushed and expanded my shield around me, but for once, I didn't push myself to the limit.

Instead, I extended the barrier far enough for it to only encompass Jasper, who sat right beside me. I'd found that maintaining it was not as difficult when I kept the range small, but I hadn't yet tested for how long.

When I lifted my gaze, I locked eyes with Edward, who was gaping at me in shock.

"You're…shielding him," he said, eyes alight with wonder. "That's incredible!"

I beamed. "Thanks, I've been working on it."

"This is why you made the bet," Edward realized with a scoff, shooting Emmett and Jasper an annoyed glare.

"You already agreed!" Emmett grinned. "There's no backing out now."

"Ooh, I want to watch!" Alice suddenly appeared in the room then, dropping down to kneel beside Edward.

Emmett pointed an accusing finger across the boards. "No! No helping him. We're playing a nice, clean game in this house for once!"

"Alright, you don't need to be so rude," Alice grumbled and stuck her tongue out.

Emmett did the same, until they devolved into making faces at each other.

I took a look around and realized nobody else had popped by. "Where's everyone else at?"

"Rosalie accompanied Esme to Calgary for the day," Jasper said.

"And Carlisle's at work, which means I'm in charge," Edward added, critically eyeing his white men and finally moving one of his pawns.

"Oh, do not go there, little bro!" Emmett finally turned away from Alice and scowled at Edward. "You may have been with Carlisle the longest, but you're still the baby of this family!"

"What year were you born again, Emmett?" Edward deadpanned.

"You're both wrong," Jasper cut in while making his own move on the board. "Izzy is the new baby of the family."

"Excuse you?!" I squawked. "Before all this nonsense, I happened to be twenty-five. You hear that? I'm the only actual adult in this room!"

"Oh really?" Emmett snickered. "What year were you born in?"

I scowled and mumbled something unintelligible.

Alice tilted her head. "What was that, Isabella?"

I huffed an annoyed sigh and admitted, "I was born in 1995."

Everyone turned to me with varying expressions of horror.

"What the fuck," Emmett nearly shrieked. "You really are a baby! 'Only adult in the room' my ass!"

"Okay, I know it's a bit weird, but I also time traveled, remember?" I pointedly reminded them.

"But in your 2005, you were only ten," Edward said, looking a bit spooked.

"I don't know how you're only just realizing this now," I grumbled. "You knew I was from 2020 and you knew I was around twenty-five years old based on my brain scans alone. How did you not do the math?"

Edward dropped his gaze back to the boards. "I suppose, it never occurred to me to do so."

"Wait! Wait! Then when is like, your real birthday?" Emmett asked excitedly.

"It's August tenth."

"Oh, so you're not even ten yet! You're technically nine!" Emmett howled in laughter.

I glared at him. "That's why you wanted to know my birthday?"

"Well, let's look on the bright side," Alice chirped. "At least we've established who the youngest in the room really is."

Edward, Emmett, and Jasper looked thoughtful as they nodded in agreement.

"Unbelievable!" I muttered.

Edward and Jasper continued their game. They made moves faster than I could keep up with. Not that it mattered. I knew nil about chess, though my little brother had been a total nerd about it.

God, I miss that kid, I thought with a pang of remorse.

But, what surprised me the most was how…happy Edward looked. I knew he was excluded from many games between his siblings due to his telepathy, but I'd never given much thought to how it might affect him.

Seeing him bright-eyed and keen about playing chess with Jasper was nothing short of endearing.

"Hah! Look at that!" Emmett suddenly cheered and shot me a blinding grin. "Jasper actually has a chance!"

"Real encouraging, Em," Jasper grumbled as he glared at the boards in concentration.

"If you say so," I said to Emmett. "I don't really understand too much of what's going on."

Alice flashed me a startled look. "Isabella, you don't know how to play chess?"

I shrugged. "Nope."

"We can't have that," Emmett tsked disapprovingly. "It's real basic, trust me."

Between Emmett and Alice, I slowly picked up on how each piece was able to move over the spaces. They pointed out some of the strategies Edward and Jasper were utilizing, but at some point, I ceased to keep track. If anything, I did play a mean game of checkers.

Despite how quickly they moved, the game lasted over an hour. This was mostly ensured by the enormity of the game; they each had forty-eight individual pieces to move across numerous boards.

Throughout the course of the match, I could feel my control over the shield beginning to slip. It ceased to feel like a second nature and I was forced to be intentional in making sure it didn't dwindle in size.

Which is why, as soon as Jasper cheekily declared, "Checkmate," I jerked my shield back into place with a resounding snap.

I cringed, feeling as if, for a moment, a cord had wound itself around my mind and tightened into a crushing knot.

"Love, how are you feeling?"

I blinked quickly as the pain settled and vanished, leaving only the traces of a pulsing echo. "I think I'm good," I said, massaging the tips of my fingers against my temple, where a faint pressure remained. "Just a small headache."

"I'll get you some pain meds," Alice volunteered, flitting to her feet and vanishing from the room.

"Thank you," I called. "Honestly, I'm surprised I held it for as long as I did."

"You're pretty impressive for a human, Iz," Emmett said with a genuine grin.

"No. She's just impressive," Edward corrected him, smiling at me, eyes tender. Despite having lost the game, he didn't appear at all miffed.

I laughed. "Thanks."

"Sure, but imagine when she's one of us," Emmett said, lighting up with excitement. "It'll be way more fun playing games without Eddie here ruining the element of surprise!"

Edward rolled his eyes. "Don't call me that."

"Here," Alice said, reappearing at my side with a bottle of painkillers.

"Thank you!"

"Emmett has a point," Jasper said, eyeing me keenly. "If you're able to exert this amount of control over your shield already, I can only imagine it'll be many times more versatile once it's augmented by the venom."

"Yeah, probably," I agreed once I'd swallowed a few ibuprofen. "I should at least be able to expand it to a larger range without inducing a headache."

"It won't be the shield that'll cause the headache," Edward muttered.

"I sense an insult in there somewhere," Emmett said, narrowing his eyes at Edward, before turning back to me. "What are you going to call the other one anyway? The gift of being a know-it-all?" he snickered.

I winced. Emmett had hit a little too close to home.

There was a reason Hermione Granger had been one of my favorite fictional characters growing up. I liked being right and I liked knowing things. I could never have imagined that my obsession with Twilight as a teen would ever come in handy.

As I had grown older and matured, I'd also learned how to keep my thoughts in check. Most people didn't appreciate being corrected, and even less enjoyed listening to my endless rambles about Harry Potter, Twilight, or Marvel. (The subjects varied depending on which stage of life I was at, though the response tended to remain the same.)

But here I was, trying to act like my tendency to be a know-it-all would actually result in a cool superpower.

"Iz, what's with the self-reproach?" Jasper was quick to call me out.

"I'd rather not get into it," I said with a small huff. "But, there is something else I need to talk to you all about. I…I think I messed up."

"I saw that you wanted to talk with us," Alice said and tilted her head curiously. "Although you haven't actually decided what you're going to say."

"Isabella, what's wrong?" Edward asked.

I blew out a sharp sigh. "The thing is…back when I was in Portland, I met someone. And she was strange. She's involved with a vampire."

"And she just…told you this?" Jasper asked, skeptical.

I nodded. "She was sitting near me and got a whiff of me. Said I smelled like vampire."

Jasper and Edward exchanged a look.

"Why the hell did you let some freaky girl smell you?" Emmett demanded, looking thrown off.

"It just happened," I said with a helpless shrug. "And a lot more has happened since then, so I didn't really pay her any mind. I'm starting to think that was a mistake. What if the vampire she's involved with, is the one blocking out Alice's visions?"

Alice eagerly leaned forward. "Do you know their location?"

"Um, the girl, Serena―she's a student at OSU. I think she lives on campus."

Alice's eyes lost focus and glazed over. Jasper vanished from my side.

"Tell us everything you know," Edward said.

"It's not much," I sighed. "She got a hold of my number and has rang me up a few times since then. Most of the conversations were brief, as I didn't share anything with her. But she called this morning sounding worried. She says Angelo―the vampire she's involved with―has been acting strange and that he might be in some sort of trouble. I told her to stay away from him, but…"

Jasper reappeared at my side then, setting a laptop down in front of him, fingers flying across the keyboard.

"I don't recognize the name," Edward admitted, expression pensive. "Carlisle might. Do you have any more information on him?"

I shook my head. "All I know is, he's not all friendly. He hurt her."

Edward's expression was thunderous.

"There's a couple different Serena's that are registered as students at OSU," Jasper said, eyes scanning the bright screen of his laptop. "Did she give you a surname, or say what she was studying?"

I shook my head. "No. But she did mention that she's on clinical rotations. Could be a nursing major or a med technician."

After a few clicks, Jasper said, "I think I've got her, assuming she didn't lie about her first name. She's registered as a student under the name Serena Black and is majoring in biology, with a focus on genetics."

"Wait. Black? You don't think…?"

"It's difficult to say," Jasper muttered. "It's a common enough surname. But it is a strange coincidence."

"Nothing," Alice suddenly hissed. "No blind spots anywhere on the campus or even across Corvallis. If Angelo is the blind spot, he's long gone."

"Don't you have her number?" Emmett suddenly asked me.

I turned to him. "Yeah, I do."

"Then why don't you ring her up?" he suggested, sounding exasperated. "You guys are always so eager to kick off the cloak and dagger. Iz could probably just ask her."

"That's assuming she'll answer," Jasper said, voice low with unease.

Before I could ask him what was wrong, Edward picked the information straight out of his head. "It looks like she's taken a leave of absence, as of this morning," he said. "She's cited the recent death of her mother as grounds for it."

"Death of her mother?" I gaped. "She never said anything like that."

Jasper waved me off. "She could be lying. Her paper trail is rather scant. I'll have Jenks do a more thorough check. You were right to bring this to us. There's something strange going on here."

"Do as Emmett said," Edward suggested. "Call her."

"It's no use," Alice cut in with a shake of her head. "The number's already been disconnected."

"What? No. I just spoke with her this morning!" I dug out my phone and dialed Serena's number, disregarding Alice's warning.

"…We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check your number and try your call again."

"This is bad," I whispered, closing my phone with a sharp snap and tossing it aside. "She could be dead. Shit." I buried my face into my hands.

I seriously fucked this up. Why didn't I say anything sooner?!

How could so much have changed in so few hours?

"We don't know that," Edward said, cautious. "Maybe she took your advice and has decided to cut ties with this Angelo."

"Maybe." But I wasn't as hopeful.

When my cellphone abruptly rang, I scrambled to grab hold of it.

But the caller ID revealed that it was Charlie.

I took a deep breath, shoving aside my nerves, and answered the call.

"Hey, chief. What's up?"

"Bella," he said, sounding strangely apologetic. "Your mother is here."

I straightened up in alarm. "Wait, what? Why?"

"I think you need to come home. Renée is not happy."

A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed the update! Please be sure to drop a review on your way out! ;)