We sat there all night long, statues of horror and grief, and Alice never came back.

　　We were all at our limits—frenzied into absolute stillness. Carlisle had barely been able to move his lipsto explain it all to Jacob. The retelling seemed to make it worse; even Emmett stood silent and still fromthen on.

　　It wasn't until the sun rose and I knew that Renesmee would soon be stirring under my hands that Iwondered for the first time what could possibly be taking Alice so long. I'd hoped to know more before Iwas faced with my daughter's curiosity. To have some answers. Some tiny, tiny portion of hope so that Icould smile and keep the truth from terrifying her, too.

　　My face felt permanently set into the fixed mask it had worn all night. I wasn't sure I had the ability tosmile anymore.

　　Jacob was snoring in the corner, a mountain of fur on the floor, twitching anxiously in his sleep. Samknew everything—the wolves were readying themselves for what was coming. Not that this preparationwould do anything but get them killed with the rest of my family.

　　Thesunlight broke through the back windows, sparkling on Edward's skin. My eyes had not moved fromhis since Alice's departure. We'd stared at each other all night, staring at what neither of us could livethrough losing: the other. I saw my reflection glimmer in his agonized eyes as the sun touched my ownskin.

　　His eyebrows moved an infinitesimal bit, then his lips.

　　"Alice," he said.

　　Thesound of hisvoice was like ice cracking as it melted. All of us fractured a little, softened a little.

　　Moved again.

　　"She's been gone a long time,"Rosalie murmured, surprised.

　　"Where could she be?" Emmett wondered, taking a step toward the door.

　　Esme put a hand on her arm. "We don't want to disturb ...""She's never taken so long before," Edward said. New worry splintered the mask his face had become.

　　His features were alive again, his eyes suddenly wide with fresh fear, extra panic. "Carlisle, you don'tthink—something preemptive? Would Alice have had time to see if they sent someone for her?"Aro's translucent-skinned face filled my head. Aro, who had seen into all the corners of Alice's mind,who knew everything she was capable of—Emmett cussed loud enough that Jacob lurched to his feet with a growl. In the yard, his growl wasechoed by his pack. My family was already a blur of action.

　　"Stay with Renesmee!" I all but shrieked at Jacob as I sprinted through the door.

　　I was still stronger than the rest of them, and I used that strength to push myself forward. I overtookEsme in a few bounds, and Rosalie in just a few strides more. I raced through the thick forest until I wasright behind Edward and Carlisle.

　　"Would they have been able to surprise her?" Carlisle asked, his voice as even as if he were standingmotionless rather than running at full speed.

　　"I don't see how," Edward answered. "But Aro knows her better than anyone else. Better than I do.""Is this a trap?" Emmett called from behind us.

　　"Maybe," Edward said. "There's no scent but Alice and Jasper. Where were they going?"Alice and Jasper's trail was curling into a wide arc; it stretched first east of the house, but headed northon the other side of the river, and then back west again after a few miles. We recrossed the river, all sixjumping within a second of each other. Edward ran in the lead, his concentration total.

　　"Did you catch that scent?" Esme called ahead a few moments after we'd leaped the river for the secondtime. She was the farthest back, on the far left edge of our hunting party. She gestured to the southeast.

　　"Keep to the main trail—we're almost to the Quileute border," Edward ordered tersely. "Stay together.

　　See if they turned north or south."I was not as familiar with the treaty line as the rest of them, but I could smell the hint of wolf in the breezeblowing from the east. Edward and Carlisle slowed a little out of habit, and I could see their heads sweepfrom side to side, waiting for the trail to turn.

　　Then the wolf smell was suddenly stronger, and Edward's head snapped up. He came to a sudden stop.

　　The rest of us froze, too.

　　"Sam?" Edward asked in a flat voice. "What is this?"Sam came through the trees a few hundred yards away, walking quickly toward us in his human form,flanked by two big wolves—Paul and Jared. It took Sam a while to reach us; his human pace made meimpatient. I didn't want time to think about what was happening. I wanted to be in motion, to be doingsomething. I wanted to have my arms around Alice, to know beyond a doubt that she was safe.

　　I watched Edward's face go absolutely white as he read what Sam was thinking. Sam ignored him,lookingstraight at Carlisle as he stopped walking and began to speak.

　　"Right after midnight, Alice and Jasper came to this place and asked permission to cross our land to theocean. I granted them that and escorted them to the coast myself. They went immediately into the waterand did not return. As we journeyed, Alice told me it was of the utmost importance that I say nothing toJacob about seeing her until I spoke to you. I was to wait here for you to come looking for her and thengive you this note. She told me to obey her as if all our lives depended on it."Sam's face was grim as he held out a folded sheet of paper, printed all over with small black text. It wasa page out of a book; my sharp eyes read the printed words as Carlisle unfolded it to see the other side.

　　The side facing me was the copyright page from The Merchant of Venice. A hint of my own scent blewoff of it as Carlisle shook the paper flat. I realized it was a page torn from one of my books. I'd brought afew things from Charlie's house to the cottage; a few sets of normal clothes, all the letters from mymother, and my favorite books. My tattered collection of Shakespeare paperbacks had been on thebookshelf in the cottage's little living room yesterday morning....

　　"Alice has decided to leave us," Carlisle whispered.

　　"What?" Rosalie cried.

　　Carlisle turned the page around so that we all could read.

　　Don't look for us. There isn't time to waste. Remember; Tanya, Siobhan, Amun, Alistair, all the nomadsyou can find. We'll seek out Peter and Charlotte on our way. We're so sorry that we have to leave youthis way, with no goodbyes or explanations. It's the only way for us. We love you.

　　We stood frozen again, the silence total but for the sound of the wolves' heartbeats, their breathing. Theirthoughts must have been loud, too. Edward was first to move again, speaking in response to what heheard in Sam's head.

　　"Yes, things are that dangerous.""Enough that you would abandon your family?" Sam asked out loud, censure in his tone. It was clear thathe had not read the note before giving it to Carlisle. He was upset now, looking as if he regretted listeningto Alice.

　　Edward's expression was stiff—to Sam it probably looked angry or arrogant, but I could see the shapeof pain in the hard planes of his face.

　　"We don't know what she saw," Edward said. "Alice is neither unfeeling nor a coward. She just hasmore information than we do.""Wewould not—," Sam began.

　　"You are bound differently than we are," Edward snapped. "1/1/e each still have our free will."Sam's chin jerked up, and his eyes looked suddenly flat black.

　　"But you should heed the warning," Edward went on. "This is not something you want to involveyourselves in.

　　You can still avoid what Alice saw."Sam smiled grimly. "We don't run away." Behind him, Paul snorted.

　　"Don't get your family slaughtered for pride," Carlisle interjected quietly.

　　Sam looked at Carlisle with a softer expression. "As Edward pointed out, we don't have the same kindof freedom that you have. Renesmee is as much as part of our family now as she is yours. Jacob cannotabandon her, and we cannot abandon him." His eyes flickered to Alice's note, and his lips pressed into athinline.

　　"You don't know her," Edward said.

　　"Do you?" Sam asked bluntly.

　　Carlisle put a hand on Edward's shoulder. "We have much to do, son. Whatever Alice's decision, wewould be foolish not to follow her advice now. Let's go home and get to work."Edward nodded, his face still rigid with pain. Behind me, I could hear Esme's quiet, tearless sobs.

　　I didn't know how to cry in this body; I couldn't do anything but stare. There was no feeling yet.

　　Everything seemed unreal, like I was dreaming again after all these months. Having a nightmare.

　　"Thank you, Sam," Carlisle said.

　　"I'm sorry," Sam answered. "We shouldn't have let her through.""You did the right thing," Carlisle told him. "Alice is free to do what she will. I wouldn't deny her thatliberty."I'd always thought of the Cullens as a whole, an indivisible unit. Suddenly, I remembered that it had notalways been so. Carlisle had created Edward, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett; Edward had created me. Wewere physically linked by blood and venom. I never thought of Alice and Jasper as separate—asadopted into the family. But in truth, Alice had adopted the Cullens. She had shown up with herunconnected past, bringing Jasper with his, and fit herself into the family that was already there. Both sheand Jasper had known another life outside the Cullen family. Had she really chosen to lead another newlife after she'd seen that life with the Cullens was over?

　　We were doomed, then, weren't we? There was no hope at all. Not one ray, one flicker that might haveconvinced Alice she had a chance at our side.

　　The bright morning air seemed thicker suddenly, blacker, as if physically darkened by my despair.

　　"I'mnot going down without a fight," Emmett snarled low under his breath. "Alice told us what to do.

　　Let's get it done."The others nodded with determined expressions, and I realized that they were banking on whateverchance Alice had given us. That they were not going to give in to hopelessness and wait to die.

　　Yes, we all would fight. What else was there? And apparently we would involve others, because Alicehad said so before she'd left us. How could we not follow Alice's last warning? The wolves, too, wouldfight with us for Renesmee.

　　We would fight, they would fight, and we all would die.

　　I didn't feel the same resolve the others seemed to feel. Alice knew the odds. She was giving us the onlychance she could see, but the chance was too slim for her to bet on it.

　　I felt already beaten as I turned my back on Sam's critical face and followed Carlisle toward home.

　　We ran automatically now, not the same panicked hurry as before. As we neared the river, Esme's headlifted.

　　"There was that other trail. It was fresh."She nodded forward, toward where she had called Edward's attention on the way here. While we wereracing to save Alice...

　　"It has to be from earlier in the day. It was just Alice, without Jasper," Edward said lifelessly.

　　Esme's face puckered, and she nodded.

　　I drifted to the right, falling a little behind. I was sure Edward was right, but at the same time... After all,how had Alice's note ended up on a page from my book?

　　"Bella?" Edward asked in an emotionless voice as I hesitated.

　　"I want to follow the trail," I told him, smelling the light scent of Alice that led away from her earlier flightpath, i was new to this, but it smelled exactly the same to me, just minus the scent of Jasper.

　　Edward's golden eyes were empty. "It probably just leads back to the house.""Then I'll meet you there."At first I thought he would let me go alone, but then, as I moved a few steps away, his blank eyesflickered to life.

　　"I'll come with you," he said quietly. "Well meet you at home, Carlisle."Carlisle nodded, and the others left. I waited until they were out of sight, and then I looked at Edwardquestioningly.

　　"I couldn't let you walk away from me," he explained in a low voice. "It hurt just to imagine it."I understood without more explanation than that. I thought of being divided from him now and realized Iwould have felt the same pain, no matter how short the separation.

　　There was so little time left to be together.

　　I held my hand out to him, and he took it.

　　"Let's hurry," he said. "Renesmee will be awake."I nodded, and we were running again.

　　It was probably a silly thing, to waste the time away from Renesmee just for curiosity's sake. But thenote bothered me. Alice could have carved the note into a boulder or tree trunk if she lacked writingutensils. She could have stolen a pad of Post-its from any of the houses by the highway. Why my book?

　　When did she get it?

　　Sure enough, the trail led back to the cottage by a circuitous route that stayed far cl............