"Newborns? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure, Bella. It's very clear."
Bella wrung her hands anxiously, picturing what Alice was describing. Jamie was in Seattle, and planning on sticking with what had worked for him in the past: creating a newborn army.
"It makes sense. He saw you with Esme, almost certainly smelled Jasper; in fact, depending on how long he was tracking you, he may have evenseenJasper. Whoever was at the boundary line probably caught a couple of our scents, too. Which means he knows you're with a coven. A large one," Alice explained, her eyes still slightly out of focus, keeping one metaphorical eye on the future.
"Can you see when they'll come?" Edward asked, his own eyes unfocused, as well, following along with Alice.
"No, his plans are still forming, changing little details."
"He'll need time. He's meticulous when it comes to building his army. He doesn't take too many people from one area. He controls their hunting. He discards anyone that draws attention. He knows what he's doing, but it'll take time," Bella said.
"Would the other two even follow him all the way up here on a revenge mission? Are their loyalties that strong?" Jasper asked.
"Leanne is a toss-up, but I don't know how he would've found me without her help, so I'm guessing she's with him. Xavi would follow, if he knew the goal was to kill me."
Edward growled low at that.
"There is another possible scenario we need to consider. Even with how careful Jamie is, there is likely to be collateral damage in Seattle. Depending on how much, the Volturi may become involved," Carlisle said, his voice solemn.
Bella had been so conditioned by Jamie to fear Volturi involvement, she couldn't help but freeze in panic at his words.
"That might not be a bad thing," Jasper said. "Depending on how large the newborn army is, we may need help."
"We certainly don't want to draw their attention here unnecessarily. Besides, we have another option if we need backup," Carlisle said, and whatever he was thinking caused Edward to hiss.
"Carlisle, you can't be serious," Edward said.
"What?" Bella asked, looking from one to the other.
"If we explain the situation to the Quileutes, the risk that will be posed to everyone if a newborn army were to come to Forks, they may be willing to help," Carlisle said.
"The wolves? I think they'd be more likely to kill us than help us," Rosalie huffed.
"Not if they knew the repercussions. Their purpose is to defend life; working with us would accomplish that," Carlisle countered.
"I think it's worth asking, at the very least," Esme murmured, her hand on Carlisle's shoulder.
"We should wait to see what kind of force Jamie plans on bringing first," Jasper said.
"Trust me, it will be more than he thinks necessary. Jamie likes to make sure the odds are stacked in his favor," Bella said.
"The more the merrier," Emmett said, smiling widely, apparently the only one pumped up to hear that a psychopath set on revenge was bringing an army to kill them.
"We should wait until his plans take clearer shape," said a still-dazed looking Alice.
"More waiting," Bella growled, her fists clenching.
"Easy, Bella. There's plenty to do in the meantime," Carlisle said.
"Why don't we just track him down before he creates his army?" Bella asked, more out of a desire to do somethingnowthan from thinking it would actually work.
"He's expecting that," Alice answered. "It would end up as a wild goose chase, and we'd fail. He'll end up delaying and we'll be back where we started."
"There has to be a better option than just sitting around while he builds an army a couple hundred miles away," Rosalie chimed in.
"Maybe there is," Jasper said. "He might be able to hide right now when it's just him and one or two other mature vampires. But building a newborn army is hard to hide, no matter how careful you are, and he doesn't know that we know his plans. What if we take the fight to him as soon as he can't hide as easily?"
"That would mean fighting in Seattle," Edward said.
Carlisle sighed. "Jasper? Bella? What would that look like?"
They looked at each other, each with grim expressions on their scarred faces. A fight in Forks meant possible innocent casualties. A fight in Seattle meant more risk to themselves in terms of exposure. Plus the innocent casualties.
"Messy. And would draw attention," Jasper answered.
Bella nodded, adding, "The newborns won't have the capability to care about exposure. But we would have to, which would set us at a disadvantage."
"How would Jamie respond?" Carlisle asked.
Bella pictured it, tried to imagine Jamie, taken by surprise in the middle of Seattle, up against a coven he had vastly underestimated.
"He'd bail, leave us to deal with the mess. Especially with the threat of Volturi involvement."
"So we need to take Jamie by surprise, but not in the city. We need to wait until he's built enough of a force that he can't hide, but not enough that they pose a threat. Then we need to have a contingency plan for when he tries to bail on the fight. And we need to do all of this while trying not to draw attention from the Volturi." Rosalie's voice was heavy with annoyance.
"There's a solution to this, we just haven't thought of it," Carlisle said, ever the voice of reason. "The good news is we have a little time, so for now we just—"
"Wait," Bella said between clenched teeth.
"For now, we prepare," Carlisle finished.
Over the course of the next couple weeks, Bella found that "preparing" took many different forms. They analyzed everything from the most strategic location, to how many newborns was too many, to what clothing choices would be optimal in a fight.
Alice was really the only one who bothered herself with the last question.
With every decision they made, they checked how Alice's visions shifted, which meant they had now considered about fifty or so possible futures. All of them were too close for comfort.
One morning, Bella found herself sitting next to Edward on the piano bench as he played softly. It was technically his and Alice's graduation day, and their carefully hung polyester robes were by the door. Bella realized, with a small pang, thatsheshould be graduating high school about now. But she couldn't dwell on missed milestones, and, according to Edward, she'd get her chance to graduate. Several times over, in fact.
Bella was pleased that he wouldn't need to keep up the school façade any longer. It had become increasingly difficult for her to be away from him for any stretch of time. She could almost laugh at how pathetic she had become, just like those silly classmates in Arizona who fancied themselves in love at 16.
But graduation day meant that the whole family was going, for appearance's sake. Even Rosalie and Emmett, who had supposedly just returned from their first year at UCLA. And Bella would be left at the house alone.
"We won't be long at all," Esme said as she came down the stairs in a pale wrap dress. She looked beautiful, her hair in a simple twist.
"And Alice sees that Jamie is all the way in Seattle, so you'll be safe," Carlisle said. "If he decides to head up this way, we'll be back here before he's even left the city."
Bella felt a flood of affection for Esme as she came to stand in front of her, a small crease of worry between her brows.
"It's okay," Bella reassured her. "I'll be fine. Maybe I'll learn to play the piano."
Emmett snorted, still in the process of rolling up the sleeves of the button down Alice had picked for him.
"Edward may like you, Bella, but if you break his piano, I don't think there's anything the rest of us will be able to do to protect you." Emmett put on a teasing smile then and said, "But hey! On the bright side, all of us will already be dressed up for your funeral. Two birds, one Ralph Lauren stone."
Bella managed a small smile as they began heading out and it grew as Edward approached her.
"You can play the piano, if you want," he whispered against her hair before placing a kiss on the side of her head. "Just be gentle."
He grazed his fingers across the back of her hand as he walked away, and she was certain at that moment that vampires could get goosebumps.
Despite the jokes, Bella had zero interest in playing the piano. Instead, she spent her time browsing through the extensive book collection again, feeling an unexplainable comfort in their quiet company.
She let her fingers slide over the ancient binding of Carlisle's first editions, unsure if she would ever trust herself enough to handle them. She flipped through the much-less-valuable novels in the opposite corner, not in the mood to get lost in the story of any particular book. She completely ignored the reference books closest to the desk, most of them filled with medical jargon she wouldn't understand.
When she heard the nearly silent approach and caught the familiar scent, she didn't panic. She surprised herself by keeping still, only moving from the room when she realized she didn't want to be near such a lovely book collection if things turned violent.
She clenched her jaw as she descended the stairs, following the twined aromas of peonies and whiskey.