Welcome to Sickle, the second book in a series of Twilight rewrites! If you missed the first one, check out Tenebrity. Just about every conversation I have about Twilight ends up with everyone agreeing that some parts of it were really great and some parts of it... were not. A few years ago I decided to see if I could take the good parts and surround them with more good parts. According to the reviews, I think I've succeeded.

Some of my favorite reviews include lines like:

- "So far, this is was Twilight could have been. My older self is happy with this, and my younger self wished they had this instead of the original (not that they didn't enjoy it with a passion lol)."

- "I have to admit that I was doubtful from the summary - there's a LOT of rewrites out there - but you've put a delightful spin on it. You've changed enough details to keep it interesting, while not changing random things unnecessarily. All in all it feels very true to the original while being more interesting and well-played than the original was. Well done!"

- "It's really really good and I gotta say the best twilight rewrite ever."

- "Okay I don't Think I'll ever get over how much I love what you've done with this. They feel like Real people"

- "Wow I love this so much. You deserve so much more reviews and reads. It's amazing normally I'm not into reading retellings of twilight at all, but this is amazingly written and all the characters feel real and the situations more realistic."

- "I just found this and DEVOURED it in one sitting. I've never liked rewrites of series i read but this one is INCREDIBLE. from the pacing to the styling of the writing, i'm obsessed, i can't wait to see what you do next!"

- "The characters are so much more likable, the plot makes good sense. It really feels like a teenage romance. I really love this. You've warmed the cockles of this old fan's heart."

- "This is the story that I wanted to read when I picked up 'Twilight' as a high school student.

Big thank yous to Kyilliki, Goldengirlschildhood, my mom, my husband, my girlfriend, and everyone else who's proofread, beta'd, rubber duckied, or otherwise put up with the stream of consciousness that I call my writing process.

I'm so fucked.

I had never broken a rule like this. I'd broken lots of little ones, like "tell the truth." It seemed like I was lying more and more—white lies, lies of omission, and lately a few of what Jacob would call enormous whoppers. Whoppers like "I was injured in a freak landslide, not kidnapped by an evil vampire who became obsessed with me, who I then attacked with a DIY blowtorch and almost escaped before being saved by my vampire boyfriend, who I had thought was dead, and the rest of his family."

But I had never broken the big ones, like "don't sneak out of the house after bedtime with your vampire boyfriend." Just because it wasn't written down didn't make it not a rule. I could imagine Charlie's reaction. Please don't let him find out.

I have good reasons, I rationalized to myself. I knew the truth about Alice. I had received a phone call from a mysterious woman. I was being investigated by the FBI, even if they didn't know it yet. And there was a vampire who might want me dead. Another vampire, that was. Also, there was a contact in my phone that I had not added, labeled only "Vampire Emergencies."

The eight of us—seven vampires and me, maybe the only human in the world to know who they really were—sat around the Cullens' kitchen table. I wondered if it had ever been used before.

"Start at the beginning," Carlisle said gently.

"I don't exactly know where the beginning is," I confessed. "Some things are a little… jumbled."

Out of the corner of my eye I caught Jasper and Edward trading glares. Esme leaned forward smoothly to intercede and they subsided.

"Can you start with the phone call while it's fresh in your mind?" Carlisle amended his first instruction.

I had taken a painkiller before dinner. As tempting as a shower with Edward had sounded, it had turned out to be exhausting and painful. Now I could feel its effects. Maybe this wasn't the greatest idea.

But it was too late to change course now. And it did seem really important. Edward wrapped an arm around my shoulders encouragingly as I fought through the thin layer of fog in my mind.

"I got a phone call from an unknown number. Someone—a woman, I think—said 'Hello, little bird,' and then…" I hesitated, trying to remember exactly what she had said. "It wasn't all in English. Spanish, maybe?"

"Do you remember what she said?" Edward asked, resting his free hand on mine. I appreciated the support. "It might be important."

"Something about… 'I've heard so much about you… you made such a kerfuffle…' and then 'I'm excited to see what happens next.'" I paused. "And then she said 'Give him my love.'" I remembered that part clearly.

"Him?" Emmett pressed, leaning forward. Jasper was also leaning in, looking alert and focused in spite of his earlier anger. "Who did she mean by that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. She just said… 'Him.'"

Emmett exchanged glances with Edward. Rosalie added a raised eyebrow.

"Was there anything else?" Edward asked, squeezing my hand. It was reassuring. I had gotten used to how cold his skin was and I rarely even noticed it anymore.

"Not really?" I tilted my head, like a new direction would manifest new information out of the air. "She said 'Ciao' and hung up."

The air went out of the room. All eyes went to Carlisle. If a vampire could look pale, he would have been white as a sheet. "Ciao," he said, with a wan smile. "I wonder if…"

"Are you sure it was a woman?" Jasper asked with a frown, turning his bright gaze back to me.

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. "I'm not really sure of anything," I said finally. "I thought it was a woman, but it could have been a man. It was hard to tell."

Carlisle folded his hands and placed them in his lap. I noticed finger-shaped indents in the table in front of him. Were those there before?

Esme rose and went to his side, putting a hand on his shoulder in wordless comfort. Rosalie and Emmett looked at each other darkly. Jasper's eyes were unfocused, staring into the distance as he turned over my story.

Carlisle raised a hand to touch Esme's, then seemed to recall himself. He shook his head. "Well, that's certainly something. Edward said you were ready to talk about your time with James, as well?"

Ready? I offered to talk about it days ago, I wondered, glancing up at Edward. He had braced his arm behind my shoulders in a protective way and was staring down Jasper, who was staring back. Jasper bared his fangs slightly and I felt Edward's answering snarl more than I heard it. It made me shiver.

"Boys!" Esme's sharp interjection clashed with Rosalie's equally demanding "Emmett." But it was Alice who defused the situation, placing on hand on Jasper's elbow.

"I waited this long," she said brightly. "A couple of weeks was nothing."

Jasper subsided, covering her small hand with one of his own. "It's your decision, darling."

Alice turned her gaze on me. "Will you tell me what James said?" she asked, sounding more serious than I had ever heard her. Around us, the rest of the family made themselves scarce.

I started to worry my lip. "How—how much do you already know?"

She shrugged, with a cheerful smile. "Nothing! I woke up one day, new as a baby, with no idea who I was or how I'd come to be. I mean, I had a lot of things in my head, but it took me a little while to realize they were about my future, not my past. Oh!" she added, her free hand going to a dainty gold chain around her neck," I have a locket that says 'To my little Alice,' but I don't even know if I am Alice."

"We've looked," Jasper broke in, sounding defensive. "Records were still scarce in those days."

"Alice is you," I said. "I mean, you are Alice. Mary Alice Brandon." I had written down everything I could remember as soon as I got home from the hospital, and added extra details to it as they came back to me. "He said you were the daughter of old money and your parents spoiled you. He said…" I blushed, then looked away as Jasper's gaze became even more intense. "He said you were touched in the head."

Alice giggled. "Has Edward ever told you that you look delicious?"

I blinked. Sometimes I forget what being a vampire means. Next to me, Edward was glaring again, but this time Jasper looked away, shame-faced. Alice flipped their hands so that she was holding and comforting him.

"Not quite like that," I said. "Um…"

"Sorry," she said, with a little shake of her head. "I'm not good at filtering. I just mean—you have such a nice blush."

"You remember I told you that Alice sees the future," Edward asked, finally looking away from Jasper.

"It's hard to forget," I said drily.

He chuckled. "Well, an ability like that often manifests in some lesser way in humans before they are transformed. Alice probably had visions of some kind, knew things she couldn't possibly know. In some times she'd be hailed as a priestess… or burned at the stake."

Alice shivered dramatically, but there was a smile in her eyes.

"Well, in her time—your time," I corrected myself, looking back at her, "you were committed to a mental hospital. I think James was… hunting you before then, though. He said you were very well-protected and he didn't want to draw any attention to himself."

"So he followed me to the looney bin," she mused, her head tilted to the side like a bird. "Persistent fucker, wasn't he?"

Hearing fucker in her chirpy little voice startled a giggle out of me. The two of us, fellow victims of his fixation, locked eyes with each other across the table. Some kind of kinship formed.

"Very," I said, caught halfway between a laugh and a sigh. "Anyway, it took him a while to figure out how to get to you even in the asylum. He said… by the time he'd gotten to you, someone else had already turned you. A groundskeeper."

Alice's chin tilted further and her hand went to the locket again. "A groundskeeper?"

"Yes. He didn't tell me anything else about him."

She turned to look at Jasper and, as if reading her mind, he slipped his fingers out of her hand and undid the clasp of the necklace. Hesitantly, she pried the locket open and passed it to me.

I held it as gently as she had. On one side was a small, grainy, black-and-white photo. Two figures posed side-by-side in front of a shrubbery. I couldn't make out many details, but it looked like they were having a good time. On the other, in tiny letters carved into the gold, was: "To my little Alice. Bloom." It looked like it had been done by an inexperienced hand.

"There used to be a flower," Alice sighed as I handed the locket back, "but a hundred years is a long time."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I can't imagine."

Jasper laid a comforting hand on Alice's shoulder. "Do you want to stop there?"

She laughed and shook her head. "Truth is power. Did James tell you what happened to the groundskeeper?"

"I'm sorry," I said again, feeling my stomach twist. "He… killed him." I decided not to mention the details about how.

Jasper leveled a cool look my way, like he could tell that I was leaving something out. I dared to stare back. After a second, he inclined his head just the slightest bit and then refocused his attention on Alice, who was nodding sadly.

"Of course," she said. The words were almost a sob.

"I think—" I stuttered, "I think the groundskeeper turned you to keep you safe from James. James seemed to take it personally."

"Yes," Alice said, sounding both sad and dreamy. "I can see it now. I think he must have loved me very much."

Edward stroked one hand soothingly down my neck and over my shoulder. I hummed appreciatively and leaned into his touch. Across from me, Jasper was taking Alice's hands gently.

"I'm sorry, darling," he said. "I know you woulda liked to meet your maker."

She smiled up at him. "But now I understand why I woke up alone. He must have stashed me in that little cabin to hide me from James. I'm sure he planned to come back for me."

"Can I ask," I started, a little timidly, "how you figured things out? I mean, waking up alone, with no memories, sounds like… a lot."

Alice's laugh was like a peal of bells. "You don't say! I think I got very lucky." She squeezed Jasper's hand. He smiled and dropped a kiss on her temple. "My creator, the groundskeeper… oh, I wish I knew his name," she interrupted herself. "I'll call him G. G for groundskeeper, for godfather, for guardian angel, good Samaritan, ghost, guide, giver of life, gone… well. G left me food. A deer, locked in the cabin with me." She laughed again. "I made such a mess of it."

I tried not to think about what it was.

"Otherwise," she continued, "I'm sure I would have walked off the mountain and eaten the first person I met. And partway through I had a vision, quite clearly, of hunting deer. And I knew I was with someone. I didn't know who, but I knew it was important. And I thought—well, maybe that someone would know who I was and why I was there." She smiled up at Jasper. "And he did! In all the ways that mattered."

"You saw Jasper in a vision?" I wish I knew what was going to happen. That seems like it would make everything a lot easier.

"Oh no," she said, shaking her head emphatically. "Not quite like that. I knew that someone was there, and as soon as I met Jazz I knew it had been him the whole time." She smiled up at him again and he returned it.

They look at each other like they're the only people in the world, I thought. Is that how Edward and I look at each other?

I looked up at him and he smiled down at me. I found myself smiling back, feeling more at ease just because he was there. When I look at him, it's like the world goes… still. All the noise dies down and it's just the two of us.

"Just like that," Alice laughed, and I blinked, looking back at her. "Jazz was a little rundown when I found him. He—well. Maybe that's for him to tell."

Jasper flicked another cool look my way. "Not tonight."

I resented his tone, but I could hardly disagree. My eyelids felt heavy. I leaned my head against Edward's shoulder, fighting the drowsiness.

"Not tonight," Edward agreed, stroking my hair. "I'll get you home," he murmured into my ear.

"Please," I murmured back, letting my eyes drift shut as he swept me into his arms. In other circumstances I might have complained that I needed more practice with the crutches, but I was tired enough to relax gratefully against his chest.

"I'll sneak you back in," he whispered to me. "Charlie will be none the wiser."

"I hope you're right," I murmured back. I sent up a silent prayer that my father hadn't realized that I was gone.

The sound of chairs scraping made me open my eyes again. Alice skipped around the table and paused in front of me, and I remembered the first time I'd seen her at the farmer's market. She'd been all manic energy and enthusiasm. I could still see it in her, but there was a lot more to the little vampire that met the eye. She reminds me of Jessica.

"I'm glad we got the chance to talk," she said brightly. "We're going to be good friends." She leaned in, like she was about to tell me a secret. "Don't worry, even Jazz will warm up to you soon." Then she sniffed. "You smell delicious, too! I'm surprised nobody has eaten you yet."

Edward's jaw flexed. He didn't say anything, but I could imagine the look he was giving her. She didn't seem to notice or care, just slipping away into the darkness gracefully.

I wonder what she's seen… what he's seen in her mind. I would have to remember to ask. For now, I just called after her to say "I look forward to it." I was sure she could still hear me.

Something niggled at me as Edward carried me out of the house. Something I was missing, or forgetting. But I was too tired to figure out what it was.

I fell asleep in the car, only waking up when Edward lifted me out of the passenger seat. I was only partly conscious as he let himself into the house and carried me up the stairs without making a sound.

He tucked me into bed very gently. But instead of lying down next to me, as he usually did, he sat down on the edge and leaned in to kiss me.

"I can't stay tonight," he whispered. "They need me at home." He dropped another kiss next to my sleepy pout. "I'll see you as soon as school gets out."

"I don't want to sleep by myself," I complained drowsily. I had barely finished the sentence before yawning.

His smile was just barely visible in the dark. "Trust me, love. I hate to leave at least as much as you hate to see me go."

I yawned again. "Hard to believe," I murmured, reaching for his hand.

Edward hesitated, looking toward the window. "I'll stay until you fall asleep," he said, lacing our fingers together.

"Thank you."

He began to croon a lullaby. My eyes drifted shut.

The space beside me was empty when I woke up. A bleary look at the clock told me that I had only been asleep for a couple of hours. I rolled over, hoping for a couple more before my alarm went off in the morning—I was trying to keep my schedule the same even if I wasn't currently attending classes. But I couldn't shake the feeling that I had forgotten something important.

What is it? I wondered. Something about the call? Something about Alice's story? I wasn't sure why, but I didn't want to share the "Vampire Emergencies" contact just yet. What else could it be?

I couldn't seem to remember.

Sleep started to pull me under again in spite of myself. It felt wrong to fall asleep without Edward's arms around me, but… I was so tired.

Just before darkness overwhelmed me, I remembered what it was that I had forgotten.

As Edward carried me out of his home, I heard something through the walls. It was so faint that, for a moment, I was sure I had imagined it. But no, I knew what I was hearing was real. And important.

It was the sound of deep, racking sobs. Somewhere in the house, someone was weeping.