Chapter 10: Alice
As promised, Jasper texted as they crossed the border into Washington state. Almost there. I'll let you know what I find. It wasn't much, but it was enough.
It's almost too easy to keep this from Esme, I mused as I followed her around the garden. My nerves were frayed from the weight of the situation but it was nothing compared to the stress I'd be feeling if I were trying to keep this from Jasper or Edward. This time as long as I kept my face relaxed, I could let my mind stew as much as I wanted.
"I'm surprised Emmett went hunting with Jasper again," Esme said lightly, glancing at me. "I thought he and Rose went two days ago."
"Oh, I think the two of them were just going to blow off some steam," I lied quickly. "Guy time you know." It wasn't an unreasonable claim. When Edward lived at home, the three of them would frequently leave for a day or two and come back with lighter spirits and hair full of forest debris.
Esme's thoughts must have been following the same trail because she suddenly asked, "Do you think Edward will ever live with us again?" I glanced over at her. She was staring at the ground with her brows knit together.
"You know that's not something I can see," I hedged and she shook her head.
"I'm not asking you as a seer, dear. I'm asking you as a sister who knows her brother like she knows her own mind." It wasn't funny, but I chuckled anyway. If I knew Edward that well, I would have been able to understand any of the insane things he's done in the past four months.
"If I knew my brother that well I'd have known that he'd leave his soulmate," I argued.
"You truly had no idea he would do this?"
"I always knew he was capable of leaving her," I clarified. "I just thought he was better than that." I sighed before continuing. "The Edward I thought I knew would come home. He's followed dumb ideas before but he's always come back. "Unbidden, my last vision of Edward rose into my mind. Remembering his dead black eyes, I shuddered. "If he can sort out his own head, I think he'll probably be back," I finished cryptically. Despite herself, Esme chuckled.
"Sometimes your answers leave even more questions," she said fondly. "Where did Jasper and Emmett say they were going?"
Out of habit, I looked into Jasper's future to check where he was. But instead of visions of him and Emmett running through the forest or walking the streets of Forks, I was met with the same horrifying blackness that had been plaguing my visions recently.
"I'm not sure," I admitted with forced lightness. "They didn't say, although Emmett was talking about wanting to go up to Canada."
"Could you not tell where they were when you looked just now?" Of course, she caught that. When I didn't answer she pressed harder. "Your visions have been having trouble with Forks recently. Is that where they are?"
"Please don't worry about it, Mom," I begged. "It's nothing to do with Bella. She's still down south. It's something to do with the old house. Jasper and Emmett are taking care of it."
"And he told you to keep it from me so I wouldn't worry?" Esme laughed at the guilty expression on my face. "He's such a gentleman," she said fondly. "I won't worry as long as you promise to let me know if it turns into something worth worrying about." She waited for my nod before continuing. "I'm surprised they left you here though. Did you not want to go to Forks yourself?"
"More than I should. I think Jasper was worried that if he took me back then I might not leave again." My tone was light but Esme could probably see the sincerity in my eyes. She squeezed my shoulder gently.
"Did Jasper say when he would call with news?" I shook my head.
"It all depends on how long it takes for him and Emmett to find what they're looking for."
We didn't have to wait too much longer for the call. Carlisle had just returned home from the hospital and had joined Esme and me in the living room when Jasper's twangy banjo ringtone interrupted the conversation.
"Jazz?" I answered anxiously. "What's going on?" Carlisle frowned at me from across the room. Oops. So much for staying casual.
"Well, it's better -and worse- than we thought."
"I like good news," I said, forcing calmness back into my voice. "Let me just run outside quickly."
"Don't bother," Jazz said. "As many people should hear this as possible-" In other words, the bad news was really bad. "-in fact, it should be a family meeting if at all possible." Carlisle was already calling Rosalie downstairs. I clicked the speakerphone on.
"I don't know if we'll be able to get Edward on the phone," Esme said.
"Not Eddie," Emmett's voice growled. "He doesn't get a say anymore."
"Well that's ominous, Em," said Rosalie, who had appeared in the living room. "Mind telling us what's going on?"
"The good news first," Jasper said firmly. "To catch everyone up, Emmett and I are in Forks because we had reason to believe there were items left there that, if found, would have had others identify us as vampires."
"Not now, Rosalie," Carlisle muttered as she opened her mouth angrily. "Let them finish."
"The good news is that it's not going to be a problem. The people who found what we left behind are Quileute and therefore bound by the treaty."
"Obviously we would prefer that they did not find it, but it's certainly better than the alternative," Carlisle agreed. "is there any possibility that someone else found it first?"
"I don't think so," Jasper said. "It was only found because they broke into our house looking for a way to contact us."
"I take it you were able to speak to them then? What did they need us for?"
Esme gaped in horror as Jasper launched into the story. Her grip on my hand tightened as Jasper described the danger Bella was facing until I was sure she would break my fingers.
"So to summarize, James' mate is seeking revenge by going after Bella. But somehow Bella caught wind of it and started running. The problem is that the people who would help – this generation's Pack – have no idea where she is and she thinks she is without help. Is that all?" Carlisle was shocked, and I couldn't blame him. I felt like I was about to fall over myself.
"Sounds about right," Emmett said at the same time as I finally spoke.
"I told you she was in trouble." As hard as I tried, I couldn't quite keep a note of bitterness out of my voice. It was hard not to be furious with my family and I was immensely grateful that Jasper was far out of range of his gift. Carlisle's eyes flashed guiltily at me, but he didn't say anything.
"The wolves are insisting on working with us to find her. It seems like Bella and the pack are...close." I was dying to ask Jasper what that meant, but I knew now wasn't the time.
"We should never have left her," Esme said firmly. "It was her exposure to our world that brought her this danger and we will help her out of it." Her declaration was met by nods around the room except for Rosalie who rolled her eyes.
"This is ridiculous. Why is this even a discussion? Tell the dogs what we know so they can look for her, but why should we get ourselves involved in this?" Esme and I shared a frustrated glance.
"No, we have to fix this. We can't just leave others to clean up our mess," Jasper pointed out. Rosalie groaned but said nothing else. She was clearly outnumbered in this.
"We will go back to Forks, at least temporarily," Carlisle said. "That will make it easier to pick up Victoria's trail. We don't know where Bella is but if we can find Victoria then we can keep her safe."
"Emmett and I will start looking for the trail," Jasper said.
"Not before we open some windows at the house," Emmett said. "It smells like wet dog right now." I wrinkled my nose. "Who's going to phone Eddie?" We traded glances around the room.
"I don't think we should call him yet," Carlisle said delicately. "Obviously if he's going to insist we just leave her again, it may be better for Bella if we did this subtly without either of their knowledge."
"You're kidding, right?" Rosalie said angrily. "This whole mess is his fault. He should be here to help clean it up."
"I'm just thinking of what's best for Bella," Carlisle said. "Alice, can you see anything about this?" I shook my head.
"No, Forks is still dark for me." I had seen Jasper decide to call me a split second before the call came through, but otherwise, I hadn't been able to see the boys all day, and the rest of us will disappear sometime tomorrow afternoon.
"Why can't we just hop on a plane and go straight to where Bella is? Why do we need to go to Forks at all?" Rosalie asked.
"If you want to get on a plane and fly South, be my guest," I said through gritted teeth. "But there's a lot of South and we don't know exactly where she is. Our best bet is to find Victoria first." Besides, I added privately. I want to go back to Forks.
"I think you're right," Jasper said. "Alice, can I talk to you privately before I hang up?" I pressed the button to end speakerphone and ran outside. When I was sure I was far enough away that the family wouldn't be able to hear Jasper, I brought the phone back to my ear.
"Jazz," I breathed.
"Alice, I am so sorry I didn't trust you when you tried to warn us about Bella." I smiled softly into the phone as he continued. "And I'm so so sorry about September. I know it's not you that I need to be apologizing to, but-"
"-Jasper stop," I interrupted. "You know no one blames you for what happened at the party."
"If I hadn't lost control, Bella wouldn't be on her own trying to fend off a vampire hell-bent on revenge."
"Or maybe our idiotic, melodramatic brother would have found something else to overreact to," I said gently. "We can't say, but when she cut her finger you weren't the only one who was thirsty." I could picture Jasper scuffing his feet the way he always did when he was upset.
"I miss you," he said finally. "I can't wait until you're here."
When I returned to the house, it was almost time to leave. The other three had closed the house in record time and all that was left for me was to pack bags for myself and Jasper. He and Emmett hadn't packed anything because they were only planning on staying for a couple of days and both knew they could use the clothes we had left behind in Forks. But if we were going to stay for any length of time, they would need more.
As annoying as it is to drive solo across the continent, we agreed that we should have at least three cars when we got there so groups of us could leave to follow up on leads. Rosalie, who never minded the solitude, immediately left with the BMW.
"If you're keeping an eye on Bella, you should probably ride with one of us," Esme pointed out. Carlisle nodded thoughtfully.
"You should ride with Esme," Carlisle agreed. That way if you run into trouble there are two of you." Esme frowned but didn't disagree.
I was already watching Bella of course, but there was nothing to see. She was just driving. But now that I had at least part of the story from Jasper, I could see the parts of the visions I had been missing. Part of my ability was the ability to search for the result of decisions, but far less controllable were the visions that came to me whenever I needed to see something. Until now, I was worried that my spontaneous visions of Bella were merely showing me a slow decline when in fact they were trying to reveal something much more sinister.
I could see the way the light disappeared in the deep shadows under her glassy eyes. The way she gripped the steering wheel with white-knuckled fists. The way she nearly jumped out of her seat when a car honked beside her. The hyper-vigilance in her eyes when she scanned the mirrors far too often for a regular human sitting in traffic. There were so many little signs that even I had not recognized the significance of before this. She was exhausted and terrified and she needed us.
Oh Bella, what have we done?
