I realize this might not be totally coherent. In my defense, it was written while I was slightly inebriated, and I get crazy anxiety rereading and revising stuff I've written.

Red Death at 6:14- The White Stripes

WTF Do I Know- Miley Cyrus

Charlie was in danger.

It made total sense. Even if the history wasn't there, from what Laurent described, James liked to play games. If he had chosen Alice as his target, he could easily track her back to Charlie's house, and could hold him or hurt him to get to Alice. He might use him to draw her out, or just kill him to make Alice feel guilty or responsible if he didn't have the control for kidnapping.

And more likely than anything, he might be lying in wait for Alice to come back.

I knew how trackers worked. I had spent a century with Demetri- the most powerful tracker in existence- and come into contact with a few others in the more transient positions in the Guard. I didn't know if the ability influenced their personality, or vice versa, but they were relentless and ruthless. And they stopped at nothing to acquire their target.

We could theoretically wait them out. With Laurent gone, it was only James and Victoria out there, just two young vampires with limited experience. They were no match for us, no match for even just me.

The issue wasn't taking them on. The issue was waiting them out.

If there was one thing a tracker could do, it was strategize the absolute best way to acquire the object of their tracking. So while we could stay at home and just protect Charlie, Edward, and Alice, it wouldn't be a functional plan. We would have to be with them at all times, twenty four-seven and constantly vigilant. Personal time, hunting, work- we would have to abstain from it all while we hoped for some kind of opening to get to them. And then there was the aspect of somehow dealing with the human complications in Edward's and Alice's lives- school, social services, the psychiatrist and therapist, Charlie and the police.

We needed to get out of there. We needed to draw them away from Forks and from Charlie, and we needed to maybe even split them up. Because as smart and as calculating as they may be, I was betting that we were going to be a step ahead.

"Emmett, I need you," I called out. I darted up to my room to stuff clothes in a duffel bag.

"Is it safe to come in?"

I surveyed the smells in the house. Humans were generally tantalizing even without blood exposure, but there was nothing especially potent anymore. Carlisle had burned everything we had used to address Alice's wounds, and they were now sewn and covered and not bleeding. Besides the smell of antiseptic, there were no traces of anything to tempt and I told Emmett such.

"What do you need?" he asked, appearing in the doorway.

I tossed the duffel bags to him. "Pack two cars," I said softly so that only Emmett could hear. Carlisle, Rose, and Esme were all out there, but I was going to operate on the extreme side of caution and make sure no one else who might be out there could overhear.

"Why?"

I ignored his questioning. We needed to be as fast as possible. "Get toiletries, too. Pack them in each car. Mine and Rose's, for the fastest options. Actually, as long as it's ready to use, pack both of Rose's. Once that's done, go get Carlisle and Esme and bring them to me."

Emmett was still standing in the doorway, clutching at the bags and staring at me as I pulled sweaters and hats from the drawer of winter clothes in my closet.

"Quickly," I hissed, over-harsh but not taking the time to apologize. Niceties could wait.

Emmett ran down to the garages with the bags and got to work. I heard engines purring and a cover whipping off the sleek sports car that went mostly unused. It was up to Emmett now, and his instructions were simple enough to follow.

I was moving too quickly to be particularly gentle. I whispered apologies to Edward as I changed his clothes for him, raising his arms over his head and tossing his shirt aside slipped a sweater on, then unbuckling his jeans and changing them out for matching sweatpants. He was still unresponsive, and kept his eyes closed as I worked.

I took a moment. Only one, but I needed it. I kissed him gently, pressing my lips softly to his. They were warm and full, and I fit his top lip between mine so I could feel the curve of his Cupid's bow burning an imprint on my skin.

"I love you," I murmured into him.

But I couldn't take any more time. Emmett had finished his work preparing the cars and ran off, fetching Carlisle and Esme for me. I ran downstairs and carefully peeled the ripped and muddied clothes off of Alice, layering sweats on her so she was completely covered and engulfed in clothes that swallowed her much slighter form.

Emmett hung around outside but Carlisle and Esme were in the living room immediately, expressions grave with concern. Esme reached out to pull me into a hug, but I stepped back and shook my head. We didn't have time.

I handed Carlisle Edward's discarded clothes. "Hold onto this," I instructed, then started removing the bandages from Alice's wounds. "Esme, I need you to put these on, if you can."

She glanced at the padding. There were small drops of blood absorbed into the gauze, and Esme's nose flared before she stopped breathing, and she swallowed back the venom and nodded tightly.

"Put these on, too," I directed, handing them both plain grey sweatsuits that were purposefully loose and ill-fitting. "And the hats," I added, tossing them matching beanies.

Carlisle helped her apply the bandages neatly so it would adhere to her smooth skin. I ran upstairs and picked Edward up, hoisting him over my shoulder roughly and ungracefully. I knew how much he would despise this. He didn't even particularly like me carrying him on my back, which was objectively more dignified, but this was the only way I could carry both him and Alice at the same time, and she was in a far more physically delicate state.

Carlisle and Esme followed me out, racing across the lawn to one of the outer unattached garages where Emmett had the foresight to move both cars into.

I deposited Edward and Alice in the backseat of the M3, reclining the seats as far back as they could go so they could both lay back and relax as much as possible. Edward's head rolled to the side, his neck bent so his cheek was pressed into his shoulder. I combed his hair back out of his face and tilted his chin up. He would wake up, and when he did I didn't want it to be with a headache or a stiff neck.

"I need to go, right now," I said, looking from Carlisle to Esme. "Stay here. Don't leave the garage, don't move, just stay here with them."

Esme nodded and bent down on the other side of the car, crouching beside Alice and holding her hand. "Of course," she promised.

I popped the trunk open and rifled through one of the duffel bags Emmett packed. "Here," I said, turning to Carlisle, "Banana bag Alice, it might help her come to. And please," I started, swallowing back the venom trickling down the back of my throat and trying to blink back the burn in my eyes, "Please try to wake Edward up."

Carlisle took the bag from me, the yellow liquid sloshing in his hand. His mouth was pulled in a tight line, his brows knitted together. He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead just nodded once.

I bit down on my bottom lip, biting back the desire to say and do so many things. But above all things, I needed to bring Edward back to me. Even with all the complications, the terror swirling and all of the possibilities for death and carnage as daunting as the edge of the executioner's blade.

But there was no time because, as much as I wanted Edward, I needed to make sure Charlie was safe first.

I turned carefully slipped out of the side door of the garage, locking the door behind me though the action was pointless. The only creatures out there we needed to be worried about wouldn't be bothered by a lock, wouldn't even view it as a hindrance.

I scanned the forest around us, spotting the familiar glimmer of Rose's hair from the height of one of the spruces that towered over the river to the east. She must have seen me as well, because a moment later she landed gracefully on the grass in front of me, the only evidence of any distress being the tear in her sleeve that must have ripped while running after James as he chased me.

"Stay close?" I asked, more wary of her answer than I ever would be with anyone else in our family. Rose's expression was blank but for the tightness in her eyes, but in actuality that was better than the alternative. Her lack of a reaction was response enough- if she was going to object, she would be yelling and screaming and letting her rage lash out with no care for the collateral damage.

"Emmett?" I called out, searching for my brother. Rose only sighed, the first sound she had made since I saw her last in the baseball clearing, then jumped up to perch on a large tree that lined our yard.

Emmett appeared in front of me, emerging from the west where he had stationed himself. The worry was clear on his face, and he glanced up to Rose and then to the garage where Esme was quietly speaking to Edward while Carlisle slipped another needle in Alice's arm.

"What can I do?" he asked, setting his jaw and squaring his shoulder in determination.

"Follow me?"

"Anywhere," he swore in absolute sincerity.

"Take my car and drive to Charlie's," I directed. Before he could ask, I continued, "I'll meet you there."

Rose snorted from her vantage point on the tree but Emmett ignored her, running to the attached garage on the side of our house where I could hear him loop the keys from the ring on the wall and start the ignition.

I wasn't going to wait for Emmett. That was why I wasn't driving with him. If timing could come down to seconds, I couldn't risk it.

I sprinted. I was even faster than I had been earlier, when Alice's delicate weight in my arms had forced me to be more careful and measured. I tore through the forest, straight through trees, and my feet ripped up the pavement as my toes curled into it for grip, launching me even further with each step.

I had risked the exposure in running alone, and had lucked out that those disgusting abominations didn't try to ambush me. Or perhaps they had lucked out in not meeting me, because I was as sure that I was going to rip them apart and burn each piece individually as I was sure that the sky was blue. Maybe I wasn't a soothsayer or a clairvoyant, and maybe I didn't know as much as Alice seemed to, but their destruction was the one truth holding me to this world rather than imploding in rage.

I was on the front steps just a few minutes after leaving, brushing my windblown hair quickly and righting my clothing so I didn't look like I had been stuck in a wind tunnel before showing up. Charlie was inside, sitting at the kitchen table in complete silence with the television off, and I figured he had been told that Alice had gone missing and he might be waiting for news.

But he was inside, and he was safe. I didn't smell anyone unfamiliar outside, and I didn't feel like I was being watched by anything but the buzzing cicadas and the hawk that had chosen the neighbor's tree to nest in. I inhaled deeply and tried to focus, then pounded at the door with as much force as I could without splintering the wood.

Charlie sprung up and ripped the door open, the hinges groaning with the force. He looked more haggard than he had in the morning, the circles under his eyes a baggy purple and the lines around his mouth and on his forehead deep with worry.

"Bella?" he asked in surprise.

"Is Edward here?" I pushed past Charlie, jogging over to his room to look into the empty space where Edward would normally be lounging in bed, me at his side as we talked, or kissed, or a combination of the two.

Charlie's heartrate was picking up to a thundering pace. "What?"

"Edward. We… we got in a stupid fight, and he took off. He said he needed to help Alice, but I've checked everywhere and I can't find him." I didn't really have to fake the franticness, it was just a different, lying expression of my panic.

"So he's not with you?"

"No, no, I'm sorry I didn't call. I'm so sorry. I've just been so consumed with trying to find him. I haven't even spoken with Esme or Carlisle yet, and then the thought of telling you and how disappointed you'd be…"

"How did he take off?" Charlie asked, wringing his hands together.

"What?"

"Did he take a car? Something I can put out a BOLO on?"

I reviewed all possible details and carefully selected a narration that would fit into the timeline I needed it to. Edward and I had gone to breakfast after I picked him up. We argued- I kept it abstract but the implication that it was about Alice was there. Charlie could read into that what he wanted. Edward stormed off, walking down the street alone like he had all those months ago when I had angered him.

I told Charlie that I hadn't thought much of it at the time. We both just needed time to cool off, and I was upset as well. I went home, figuring Edward could walk wherever he needed to from the diner. When the afternoon crept forward and I still hadn't heard from Edward, I grew worried and went to look for him.

Charlie asked about the locations I checked, and if there was anywhere else we frequented together where Edward might be. I just let the lies grow, listing off a few spots where the teenagers in town often hung out. Emmett had pulled up outside, parking along the grass and waiting in the car, I imagined until I told him what else to do.

"They must be together, then," Charlie sighed, leading me into the kitchen and collapsing onto one of the metal chairs at the small table.

"What do you mean?" I asked, playing oblivious.

"Alice is gone, too."

"Isn't she supposed to be?"

Charlie smiled grimly. "Not like that. Just before the social worker got here this morning, Alice jumped out of the window. She took the truck and took off, and we haven't been able to find her since."

I feigned shock, clapping a hand over my mouth and widening my eyes. "Where could she have gone?"

Charlie shrugged and rubbed his thumb into his temple. "I've got guys looking for them. I thought I'd stay here, just in case they come back."

"I have to go," I said, standing up abruptly.

"What?"

"In case Edward comes to my house. I have to be there, just in case." I mirrored his speech, and the desperation that crept into my voice wasn't difficult to act through.

Charlie nodded incessantly, as if he couldn't get himself to stop. "Are your parents home? I called them earlier, when Alice… disappeared, but no one picked up."

"They're playing baseball with Emmett and Rosalie," I fibbed. "No one's been home at all today."

"Well go," he urged, ushering me into the foyer. "Call and let me know if he's there. If he's not, I need to file a report. And I need to call the social worker again anyways, I guess."

Charlie sounded so defeated, and he looked even more lost. He turned the knob to let me out, his face dazed. I couldn't lose any more time trying to comfort him. Every second passing put Charlie in more danger. I would bring Alice and Edward back to him, and that would have to be my reparations for lying to Charlie, for creating this hurt in the first place.

I slinked out of the house and trudged down to my car on the street. The night was dark and quiet, calm after the days of storming and not at all matching the swirling of terror coursing through me. Emmett was waiting for me inside, flicking through radio stations rapidly to pass the time.

"Stay here," I told him, opening the driver's side door. Emmett slid over to the passenger's seat smoothly to make room for me.

"With Charlie?" Emmett clarified.

I nodded. "Watch over him. Keep him safe. And if James or Victoria come back," I gave him a pointed look, "destroy them."

Emmett grinned, his smile piercing the serious morbidity of the day as his dimples deepened. "You think they'll come back here?" he asked, almost excited at the prospect.

"I think they'll stop at nothing to get to Alice, and Edward. And maybe even me."

"Charlie is safe with me," he vowed.

"Don't go looking for danger," I warned him. "They're not newborns anymore, but they're still young. If they're together, you'll be outnumbered." Emmett scoffed and flexed his bicep at me, which under other circumstances would have been funny. "Remember everything we've practiced. Don't let them wrap their arms around you. Don't let them bait you. Stay quick, move constantly and never still."

"What are you going to do?" he asked, hand on the door to get out.

I looked out the window, into the twilight forest that kept infinite mysteries secret and maybe even prying eyes. "We're going to keep everyone safe."

Emmett jumped out of the car and circled Charlie's house, but I was already peeling down the street and whipping the car around the block.

I was alone again. I heard a rustling to my left, and I glanced out and saw just a momentary flash of white skin through the dark trees. I didn't know who it was- James or Victoria- but we had drawn them away from Charlie's.

Somehow, I was always finding myself alone and exposed, and this time there were humans, driving around completely oblivious to the creeping threat of death. I wove through the evening traffic, punching down on the clutch so hard that the metal bent under my foot. I didn't even slow down pulling into our driveway, narrowly missing one of the trees that lined the gravel path and kicking up rocks and a swirling cloud of dust behind me.

"Rose," I called out, slamming the car door behind me and slipping back into the garage. Rose followed behind me, the tree rustling in her wake from her launch off the branch.

The world seemed to tilt and fade away, consumed by the vibrant emerald of Edward's eyes as he stared at me. I froze in the door, pushed inside by Rose. I only snapped back when Edward blinked, the thick lashes fanning over the apples of his cheekbones before fluttering upward again.

"You're awake," I said dumbly.

He held his arms open and I raced into his inviting hold, wrapping my arms around his waist and crushing my face to his chest so I could feel the quickened pace of his heart on my skin and absorb his warmth into me.

"I'm s-s-sorry," he whispered into my hair, pressing his lips to the crown of my head.

"You have nothing to apologize for," I promised, squeezing him tighter until he wheezed a bit in gasping for breath, and I carefully released him before I cracked a rib or something much worse.

"They were…" he trailed off, hiccupping on a tearless sob.

"I know. I know, Edward. But they will never, ever touch you again," I vowed. I had told a lot of lies before, and had done so smoothly and easily. But this wasn't a lie. It wasn't even an empty promise. I knew, with every ounce of venom that ran through my body and with every fiber of my being, that those two monsters would never hurt Edward ever again.

Maybe they had escaped human justice, and maybe they had been existing on instinct and following every whim since they had been turned. But they had never met me before. I had centuries of experience on them, and I had learned from and fought alongside the most feared vampires to ever exist.

"What's g-going to happen?" Edward asked, weaving our fingers together and brushing his thumb along my knuckles.

"I have the same question," Rose said dryly.

I ignored her, looking up at Edward. I loved the way the sharp curve of his jaw cast a shadow down his neck, splitting the light just down the pulsating point of his jugular. "Edward, I need you to just trust me. Can you do that?"

He nodded immediately, his free hand cupping my cheek. "Absolutely."

I stood up on the balls of my feet and leaned into him, pressing my lips to his briefly. We were still pressed for time, but I needed to quench the burning need to be close to him that was blistering in my chest, if just for a moment.

I turned to my family. Carlisle was standing behind Esme, who was still crouched beside Alice, the car door open and Alice reclining but still asleep in the backseat. Rose was standing in front of the door to the garage, arms crossed and expression blank but for the harsh glint in her dark gold eyes.

"Are you with me?" I asked quietly, pitching my voice so low so that no one but the vampires in this one room could hear. Esme and Carlisle nodded like it was a natural assurance, but I wasn't looking at them. I was looking to my sister.

She stared right back, her jaw clenching and unclenching as she digested my request. She closed her eyes and inhaled, then opened them and looked at me, nodding tightly just once.

"Can you all turn around? We can't leave, but we need some privacy," I requested, and everyone acquiesced immediately. I didn't want to speak loud enough for Edward to hear in case anyone was silently laying in wait outside. I bunched the fabric of his sweater in my hand and pulled up, and Edward got the message. He pulled the sweater off, his bare chest exposed in the cool garage. But I couldn't get distracted, and much as I wanted to. I touched the elastic band at his waist, indicating he needed to take his pants off as well. He looked at me, then glanced at my family behind me who were all facing the wall and doing their best to ignore us.

But as he promised, he trusted me. Absolutely. He pulled his pants off and handed them to me, standing in the middle of the garage in nothing but a pair of underwear. I flashed around to the other side of the car, handing the clothes to Carlisle.

"Switch?" he asked, seemingly understanding where my train of thought was heading. I nodded, and Carlisle quickly slipped the sweats he was dressed in off and changed them out for the identical pair Edward had been wearing. I gave Edward Carlisle's set and got to work doing the same for Alice, changing out her clothes and switching them for the sweater and sweatpants Esme had been dressed in.

We all looked rather ridiculous by the end of it. We were all dressed the same, all with our hair tucked under identical grey caps. I moved Alice from the M3 into the glossy red Ferrari that Rose had kept under a tarp for months, but both hers and Edward's scents were imprinted in the BMW. Rose had my shirt on under her sweater, and I had rolled up the waistband on her jeans to stuff them inside my own sweatpants.

"We look like we're going to rob a bank," Carlisle whispered, trying to lighten the mood since we didn't have Emmett to break the silence.

"We look like we're going to prison," Rose corrected, glaring at me with a harshness I hadn't seen directed towards me in a long time.

"Okay, so everyone's clear on what to do?" I asked, looking around at my family.

"Esme and I will duck down in the backseat," Carlisle promised, slouching his shoulders a bit to mimic the posture Edward was prone to holding.

"I'm driving," Rose added, tossing her hair over her shoulder one last time before twisting it up to cover it all with the cap. "But I think you're forgetting something, Bella."

"What?" I asked, surveying the room. I thought I had covered all of my bases. Esme and Carlisle smelled sufficiently like Edward and Alice, and dressed in the same thing and hidden in the back seat I didn't think anyone would be able to tell it wasn't Edward and Alice. And while Rose certainly couldn't pull off looking like me- her obvious beauty was too unrestrained pale into my more plain appearance- she at least smelled a bit like me. I would take Edward and Alice, also hiding them in the backseat and covering them in Esme's and Carlisle's scents, and we would drive south. I would hold my shield over them and if James realized that they were in my car he would be forced to track us the old fashioned way. All the while, Rose would drive north as a decoy, hopefully leading our pursuers away and drawing them into a confrontation.

"Even if their scents are covered, I can hear their hearts beat from a mile away. It's going to be obvious that you have humans in the car and we don't."

I bit down on my bottom lip, accepting Rose's criticism as one hundred percent correct. I hadn't thought of it.

"Should we switch?" Esme asked. "We take Alice and you take Edward?"

"We need to be together for me to shield them," I argued. I could feel it vibrating at the surface of my skin, invisible and intangible to everyone outside of my own mind.

"Then the other way around?," Carlisle suggested. "James seems focused on Alice, not Edward."

"I'm not leaving Edward," I growled, my mouth curling up into a snarl. "And Edward was just as much a target of his disgusting fixation for years. Who's to say he's not after both of them?"

"Music?" Esme offered meekly, adjusting the skull cap to tuck in an errant wave of her caramel hair that would be a dead giveaway exposing her as someone who was decidedly not Alice. "If the radio is on loud enough, from a distance no one would be able to hear a heartbeat, or a lack thereof."

Rose nodded reluctantly, admitting that that would work. There was no way to fake a heartbeat that wouldn't be plainly obvious, and at least this would give us a chance.

I knew it wouldn't have worked on Demetri. He would have been able to sense the lack of tracking tone- or whatever it was he sensed that isolated one individual from another- and known that the car with no mental presence was the one we were in. I was betting that James wasn't as sensitive, or if so hadn't reached that potential yet. Demetri had spent decades training under Amun, and then even longer with the Volturi to finely hone his ability. James was a little over a year into this existence, and the first several months had been spent in a blind thirst. Two identical physical scents driving in opposite directions, no detectable heartbeats, not being able to see into the cars and immediately tell who was in there- I was definitely going to bet that that would be enough to confuse James.

I rifled through the work bench and pulled out two pairs of ear plugs that came in mechanics kits that Rose ordered, though she had no use for hearing protection.

I handed them to Edward, who put them in without question despite not hearing any of our conversation. I led him by the hand to the backseat and motioned for him to stay low, and he slunk down beside Alice, looking up at me with his brows pulled together and his heart thundering in his chest. Carlisle tucked the buds into Alice's ears so they were completely covered and cradled her back so she was laying down on her side, her head resting on Edward's lap. Carlisle squeezed Alice's shoulder, and Esme bent down to wrap Edward in a hug that he clung into.

Rose huffed again but grabbed me by my shoulders and crushed me into an embrace. "Don't fuck this up," she murmured into my hair just above my ear, then pushed me away.

We said our goodbyes quickly and without pomp, the promise that we would all be together again soon clear and true. There were only two of them against our entire family. Unless Victoria had some supernatural fighting ability that Laurent had failed to mention, Emmett and I could both match up individually against two young and inexperienced fighters, and Rose, Carlisle, and Esme outnumbered them.

I slid into the driver's seat of the Ferrari and readjusted the seat, sliding it up and shifting the steering wheel down from Rose's settings. I flicked the mirrors in place and turned all of the lights off, though it wouldn't really matter with the natural sharpness of a vampire's sight. Rose followed my lead and, at the same time, we flipped the radio on and turned it up so the speakers were shaking with the pounding bass. Edward jumped in surprise, but the volume didn't seem to bother him with the earplugs in. Sound systems were always the first thing Rose installed in a new car, at Emmett's insistence, and these were top-of-the-line and powerful.

We nodded at each other and Rose clicked the button to open the automated garage doors, and the second it was up far enough for our cars to slip through, we were peeling down the driveway.

I punched down on the gas and swung the car left out of the driveway, speeding south to town while Rose turned in the opposite direction. I caught her eye in the rearview mirror, the ochre of her iris marred with an uncharacteristic fear.

I was driving recklessly, and Edward was clutching the leather of the seat to hold himself in place while his heart pounded, clearly audible in our small and enclosed space despite the blaring music. I kept the pedal all the way down all through Forks, drifting through lanes and running straight through red lights and stop signs without a care for the laws of the human roads. Charlie would have to forgive me for disturbing the peace in his town as we left horns honking in the distance behind us and shot down the one-oh-one.

I wasn't bothering with any pedestrian human traffic laws all down the Washington coast. I swung the car left to head east, zipping through Hoquiam and then Aberdeen passing by us in a blur. I watched Edward through the rearview mirror, noticing how he rested his forehead against the very bottom of the window and peeked out to see the town we had spent a wonderful day together in our own little bubble of books and frantic kisses.

This was the right choice. I was trying to assure myself as we sped through Olympia and finally turned south to the Oregon border. There were no other options but to run, and to split up while doing so. The only member of my family James had any meaningful exposure to was Emmett while he gave chase, and now Emmett's mental tenor was heading in a different direction. Maybe he had some kind of sick imprint on Edward and Alice, but they were completely protected in the cocoon of my shield now.

It felt a little disconcerting, having humans in here with me. The shine of their presence burned brighter, and I could inexplicably feel their heat in my own mind. I so rarely had any reason to use my shield anymore at all. Other than our skirmish with those newborns in Seattle, I stretched it out only every few years, just to reassure myself that I still could. We were a large enough coven that no one sought to threaten us, and no one really posed a threat anyways.

The last time we lived in Alaska, Emmett used to beg me to shield him while he wrestled with Kate, but it was too funny watching him bend his knees to shock to resist snapping it back after a few minutes.

This was sustained, but I knew I could keep it up for however long I needed. We were in such close quarters together in a car that it was no burden to keep the rubbery shield pushed off of me.

Edward had slumped even further down in the backseat to join Alice in the unconscious, his neck arched at what looked to be an uncomfortable angle with his chin pressed into his chest. His brow was furrowed, even in sleep, but all I could do was look at him through the mirror and press on the gas even harder, forcing the sleek and fine Italian sportscar to an even faster speed. But I just wanted to curl up next to him on the dark leather backseat and let someone else take care of all of this. Maybe they would be even more capable than me, and this faceless leader could have figured out how to keep my family together and destroy James and Victoria.

My decision was spur-of-the-moment. We had been on I-5 for less than an hour, jumping over the rolling hills that passed through the mountainous terrain of southern Washington and along the rushing banks of the Columbia River, which was bloated and flowing from the storm in the north. There was a fork in the highway just before Vancouver at the border with Oregon.

I could take I-5 as far south as south went, down to the border with Mexico. The highway went all the way through Oregon and straight down the California coast. There were any number of sunny cities to hide out in, and an infinite number of variables in anything that could happen between each minute of driving.

I'd have to stop soon. Rose had customized the car to maximum efficiency, and we could go maybe another two hours without having to stop for gas, leaving us at a station in rural Oregon. And even outside of the gas, Edward and Alice needed to be human, they needed to eat and drink and use the bathroom. Food and water were things I foolishly hadn't been thinking about in my frantic packing, and of course it was something Emmett had paid no mind.

I reached over and popped the glovebox open, sliding out an accordion folder of paperwork along with the small black cellphone. I flipped it open and stared at the blank screen, absent of any notification or missed call. It was a good sign. Or, at least, I was trying to convince myself it was a good sign.

I wasn't worth any of this. That I had to put my family through this, that I had to put Edward through a wild and dangerous chase, it was unconscionably selfish of me. Laurent had said that James and Victoria were lethal, so what if I was underestimating them. Everyone was relying on me to keep them safe, to plan, to understand all of our enemies, and if I was letting them down, the price was going to be more than a cracked rib and a sore side.

I swerved around an idiot driver going just five miles an hour over the speed limit in the left hand lane and then left again, onto the empty on-ramp to the I-5 bypass route that circled the east side of Vancouver and Portland.

We never made it into Portland, though. Not very far, at least, because as soon as we made it to over the bridge to the other side of the Columbia River I was turning off the highway and into the airport.

Edward's eyes fluttered open at the sudden loss in speed as I slowed the car, driving into the parking lot closest to the terminal. I turned the radio off, and he plucked the plugs from his ears. "Are we f-flying s-s-somewhere?" he asked, groggy and trying to blink the sleep from his eyes.

I pulled into the first spot I found with at least one space open on each side. It was a small thing I could do for Rose, keeping her favorite car safe and unscathed in the chaos of an airport parking lot. I parked at an angle so that someone parking on either side would be hesitant to do so, then pulled the emergency brake up just in case.

"We're getting out of here," I promised, smiling and trying to seem optimistic. Edward looked down at Alice, whose head was resting on his leg and eyes still firmly shut. I glanced around at the parking garage, almost empty at the late hour. I didn't hear anyone, didn't smell them, but I was sure there was someone following us. Either Victoria or James, but one of them was out there, and I wanted to get us into the relative safety inside.

I got out and flashed around to the other side of the car, sliding Alice out and into my arms. With the keys twirled around my fingers, I popped the trunk open and slung the duffel bags of clothes over my shoulder before Edward even unbuckled his seatbelt, which he always insisted on wearing despite the lack of necessity.

"L-let me take the b-bags," he said, holding his hand out and kicking the door closed behind him, leaving the scuff of his sneaker on the cherry red paint that I knew Rose would be raging about if she could see it.

"It's faster if I carry everything," I said, reaching out to grab his hand and walk into the airport.

"You know, m-most t-teenage girls can't c-carry an elephant on their p-pinky without a s-s-second thought."

I turned to look at him, his hand still outstretched insistently. I sighed and capitulated, sliding the bags off my shoulder and letting him take them from me. I wasn't thinking straight, my thoughts still hazy and twisted up in the living nightmares that had been racing through my mind the entire, solitary drive. I flipped Alice around so she was on my back, holding her wrists around my neck with one of my hands and circling her ankles with the other around my waist. It could feasibly look like someone very tired in a piggyback ride, which wasn't the most outrageous sight for an airport in the dead of night.

We strode in, and I realized just how out of place we looked, dressed in all matching sweat suits, and especially with the way my skin shone a stark white under the harsh fluorescent lighting. The attendant behind the airline desk nearest the entrance looked at us skeptically, her lips pursed and the unmatched concealer under her eyes doing a poor job of hiding the sleep deprived circles.

"Can I help you?" she asked dryly.

I leaned down so I could let go of my grip on Alice's wrists, her arms limply hanging over my shoulder. I flicked through the folder I had stashed in the glovebox before we left and pulled out the passports that I had forged when I first realized what Edward was to me.

"We need the first flight out of here, preferably to somewhere sunny," I requested politely, sliding the passports across the counter to her. She picked each one up and looked at it speculatively, from the photo to each of us. Her gaze lingered on Alice, whose face was tucked into the hollow at the base of my neck. "She's a nervous flier and took the anti-anxiety medication a little early," I explained, feigning laughter to dampen her suspicion.

The attendant hummed in understanding and her fingers flew across the keyboard. She pulled up a list of results and swung the screen around so we could see it. "There are seats on all of these flights."

I looked at the list appraisingly, then turned to Edward. "Where do you think?" I asked. Edward looked to me, then back at the screen and shrugged as if he didn't care. But then he wordlessly pointed. "Excellent," I grinned, drawing the ghost of a smile from him. I turned back to the attendant, who was waiting for an answer. "Three tickets to Jacksonville, please."