Chapter 14: Alice

"Jake, what is this?" Billy Black hissed as I followed Jacob into the living room.

"This is Alice Cullen, one of Bella's friends. I ran into her at the store and offered her a ride." Billy Black was red-faced and wild eyed. It could not be more obvious that he did not want me anywhere near. Thankfully, it wasn't his decision. I stepped towards Charlie.

"Hey Charlie, I was in town visiting friends for spring break. Jacob told me what happened to Bella. I'm so sorry." Charlie was pale-faced and slack-jawed. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. I suppose for all intents and purposes, he had. Finally, he seemed to recover himself.

"It's good to see you, Alice," he said. "I'm sorry Bella isn't here. She would have loved to see you too."

"Jacob mentioned that you think she might be trying to find my family," I said gently. "I've already called Mom so they can keep an eye out. And she'll call our cousins in Alaska in case Bella tries there." Both Jacob and I knew Bella was nowhere near Alaska, but I couldn't help but remember that Charlie had been thinking of heading up north himself.

"You called her 'mom'." Charlie lifted his head up and looked at me with tear-filled eyes. "You used to call her Esme. I'm sure she loves that." His eyes returned to the table. "I'm not dumb, I know Bella calls me 'Charlie' behind my back. Do you think maybe...if she and I were closer...?"

"Charlie, no!" I cried, crossing the room to wrap my arms around his shoulders. At the other side of the table, Billy hissed softly and rolled backward. "Don't say that. Bella loves you so much. I'm sure that whatever drove her to leave, you were the thing that made her consider staying."

"She's right, Charlie." Billy looked miffed to be agreeing with me. Charlie wiped his eyes and tried to smile - first at Billy then at me.

"You can let Esme know that she's not headed to Alaska. She's in Texas." Jacob and I glanced at each other quickly.

"Texas?" Jacob asked eagerly. Charlie chuckled.

"If you can believe it kid, that's where Leah ended up. She sent Bella an email with an address this morning. Apparently, Bella has been checking her emails after all. With the way she's been ignoring them up 'till now I figured she wouldn't have been," Charlie grumbled. "Sounds like she and Bella talked on the phone at some point too. I didn't even know she and Leah were close enough to be talking on the phone." Charlie suddenly fixed Jacob with a hard stare. "Did she call you too, son?"

Leaving Jacob to handle Charlie's interrogation, I surreptitiously pulled out my phone and sent a text to Jasper. There's an email from Leah Clearwater in Bella's inbox. It has an address in Texas where Charlie thinks they'll be meeting. The reply came almost immediately.

K. Jasper never took very long to respond and for that, I was exceptionally grateful. Jasper would already be hacking into Bella's emails and we'd have the information soon. Jacob was watching me when I looked up. I gave him a subtle nod.

"Hey, I'm so sorry to cut this visit short Charlie. Apparently, Jasper is having car trouble. He was going to pick me up here but I don't think he'll be able to. Jake, could I beg you for a ride back?"

"Do you mind, Dad?" Jacob's eyes bored into Billy's. Billy swallowed nervously, his eyes flickering from me to his son. Finally, he nodded.

"No problem Jake, I'll just hang out here a little longer. Swing by and pick me up when you're coming back through town."

Charlie surprised me by reaching out to hug me again – like his daughter, Charlie had never been one to initiate physical contact – and I kissed him on the cheek. "It was good to see you, Chief. Are you going to go after Bella?"

"Nah." He grinned at my surprised expression. "I know last time Bella went off on her own, it didn't end well. But I feel better now that Leah's with her. She's a bit older than Bella and has a good head on her shoulders. Maybe Leah will be able to convince her to come home and then you'll have to come back to visit again."

"Of course I will Charlie."


"You lied to Charlie," Jacob accused as soon as we got back into the car.

"Well what was I supposed to say?" I asked, exasperated. "'Sorry Charlie, I'm only here because Bella's missing and it's my family's fault. After we fix this you'll never see me again.' Really, Jacob?" I was still quite sure of my plan to talk to Bella when we found her. Even if it was to leave her in a better way than we did before. After that, I had no idea. It would be up to Bella.

"I just hate lying," Jacob said sourly. "When all this is over I'm going to find a way to tell Bella everything. Screw the Alpha order." His declaration brought up something else I'd been thinking about for the last few days.

"When Carlisle told me about their first encounter with your tribe, he mentioned that the alpha of that pack was your ancestor. I'm curious, what decides who a pack's alpha is?" Jacob's face darkened but he kept his eyes trained on the road.

"It's by birthright, so technically I should be alpha now..." He trailed off. I could sense he wasn't finished so I waited with little patience. It was rare that I couldn't know what someone was going to say before they said it and I had little practice waiting. "I didn't want to be alpha," he finished.

"Why not?"

"I was angry when I phased. My whole life trajectory changed and I effectively lost my best friend and the girl I was hoping to date. I didn't want to be any more involved in this life than I had to be."

"Believe it or not, I can understand that. It wasn't my experience coming into this life, but it was some of my family's." Suddenly I had the mental image of Jacob and Rosalie sitting on her bed painting their toenails and sharing their grievances about their supernatural lives. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hold back a wholly inappropriate giggle.

"Honestly there have been some situations that would have been easier if I was the Alpha though."

"Why not become the Alpha now?"

"I'm not sure if it works like that. Besides, I don't really want to do it. It would just make it easier to find Bella if I was the one making up the rules." I flashed him a sympathetic smile, but he gave no indication that he had seen it.

"You're a strong person, Jake. You'll make the right choice. Now, I sent Jasper looking for the email Charlie told us about," I said, changing the subject. "By the time we get back to the house, he'll have made a solid plan. I suspect we'll be leaving for Texas right away."

"If we know where she is, why don't I just come now?"

"We still don't know whether she's staying at the address for a bit or whether she's just picking up Leah and they'll head off together," I explained. "Unless you want to follow all of us around the South looking for her, it makes sense for us to have eyes on her first." Jacob pulled to a stop in front of the house. I could hear my family inside, making preparations for our trip.

"Should I...?" Jacob gestured towards the house. I chuckled.

"Of course. Why do you think I asked you to give me a ride back? We're in this together, partner." I mimicked Jasper's southern drawl and was rewarded with a small chuckle. We both got out of the car and headed up the stairs.

"Alright, talk to us Jazz," I said as I opened the front door.

"Charlie's right. The address is for a motel in San Antonio. Bella replied by the time we got into her emails and she should be arriving soon." I couldn't stop the grin from spreading across my face. I could have kissed Charlie. This was it! We found her! With any luck by tomorrow night, she would be safe under our protection. Jasper monitored my jubilation with a huge smile on his face.

"Who's going to get her?" Jacob asked.

"Everyone," Jasper said.

"Texas is a little more complicated. Southern covens can be very territorial and Jasper has...history there," Carlisle explained, coming up behind Jasper. "It's safer for all of us if we stick closer together."

Jacob nodded. "It's a good thing you're not planning on actually interacting with Bella if she's met up with Leah," he said. "Leah can be a bit of a handful."

"Oh I think we can handle her," Emmett announced his presence with a booming laugh. "We've all had enough practice with Rose." He ducked out of the way as his wife's hand came flying towards his head.

"I'll just head home then," Jacob said awkwardly. It was clear that he didn't feel very comfortable with so many boisterous vampires funneling into the entryway. "You'll give me a call when you want me to join you?"

"Oh, wait just a minute," I said quickly. Spinning on my toes I dashed upstairs into Jasper's study.

In addition to containing all of Jasper's research, Jasper's office also served as a sort of base of operations. All the equipment that made our frequent identity changes easier – specialty printers, backup identities, information backups that could be incriminating – were stored in here. Rummaging around in the closet, I finally found the box I was looking at. I pulled it out and grabbed one of the grey rectangles off the top and ran back downstairs.

"Here," I said, pressing the cell phone into Jacob's hand. "It's one of our spares. You would not believe how often Emmett smashes his accidentally. It's already set up with all our numbers. I just figured it would be easier than trying to play phone tag on your landline."

"Wow, thanks Alice. That's a great idea." Jacob said, slipping the phone into his pocket.

Thanks to my family's preparations, we were ready to leave just a few minutes after Jacob left. In addition to bags for each of us, Esme had packed a bag for Bella with spare clothes, bottled water, and snacks. Carlisle had also stowed a fully stocked medical bag in each trunk. Just because we weren't planning on revealing ourselves to her didn't mean we didn't want to be ready for every possible outcome.

Esme and I were the last ones out the door. I had stopped to grab a couple of books for Bella (just in case) and Esme was making notes on a piece of stationary. I glanced over her shoulder with curiosity.

Dear Edward,

We've been here, but we're going away for a few days. Please give us a call and don't leave again. We love you.

Esme

She glanced up and met my eyes. "Do I even need to do this?" She whispered. She had left a similar note in Ithaca and asked me the same question. I shook my head. My visions of Edward had remained annoyingly consistent. He was still holed up in that dirty attic in Brazil, starving himself. My throat closed and I fought to keep misery from twisting my expression. If it was painful for me to see how far my brother had deteriorated, it would kill Esme if she knew.

Plucking the pen from her grasp, I scrawled my own note beneath Esme's plea.

Seriously. If you make Esme cry by leaving again, I'll hunt you down and remove your arms and make you carry all my shopping bags for the rest of the year. Love you! ~Alice

"He doesn't have to read the note for it to be helpful for you to leave it," I said firmly. Esme nodded and straightened the note on the corner of the counter. Wordlessly she walked over to our wall of pictures and touched the images of first Bella's face, then Edward's. I let her have her silent goodbye then followed her out the door.

A lump rose in my throat as Carlisle pulled away from our home and I watched it disappear behind the trees.

"We'll be back someday, Darlin'," Jasper murmured.

"I'm not sure that's such a wise idea," Carlisle said softly. I met his eyes in the rearview mirror. "I believe the Quileute wolves may have begun phasing again because we were in the area," he explained. "It would be kinder to the young men if we were to keep our distance from now on."

He was right, of course, and my spirits lowered even more. Whether or not things with Bella went well, the Olympic Peninsula was where I felt most at home and the thought of never returning again was depressing.

"Alice, can you check on Bella and see if she's on track to meet us in San Antonio?" I reached into Bella's future only to find nothing. It was the same kind of nothing that was caused by the wolves but with a very important difference. When Jacob was planning on visiting Eleazar, I could see Eleazar until the moment Jacob arrived and he disappeared. Now no matter where I looked, Bella was just missing. Vaguely I became aware of Jasper shouting in my ear.

"Alice, come back to me. What's wrong?" I wrenched myself back to the present and looked up to meet Jasper's dark, frantic eyes.

"Jasper, Bella's gone."

A/N – Special thanks to my beta, oihdsfx!

We only have two more chapters until the end of Part One! Once those are posted, I'll be taking a short break until the new year to give myself time to get Part Two refined. During that break, I'll be posting a short interlude (not a real chapter). If there's interest in a Q&A about the fic/me I would be open to that as well. So if anyone has questions about the story or about me, feel free to drop them in a review or send me a DM.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Until next week!