I could feel it was too early again when I woke, and I knew I was gettingthe schedule of my days and nights slowly reversed. I lay in my bed andlistened to the quiet voices of Alice and Jasper in the other room. Thatthey were loud enough for me to hear at all was strange. I rolled till myfeet touched the floor and then staggered to the living room.
The clock on the TV said it was just after two in the morning. Alice andJasper were sitting together on the sofa, Alice sketching again whileJasper looked over her shoulder. They didn't look up when I entered, tooengrossed in Alice's work.
I crept to Jasper's side to peek.
"Did she see something more?" I asked him quietly.
"Yes. Something's brought him back to the room with the VCR, but it'slight now."I watched as Alice drew a square room with dark beams across its lowceiling. The walls were paneled in wood, a little too dark, out of date.
The floor had a dark carpet with a pattern in it. There was a largewindow against the south wall, and an opening through the west wall ledto the living room. One side of that entrance was stone — a large tanstone fireplace that was open to both rooms. The focus of the room fromthis perspective, the TV and VCR, balanced on a too-small wooden stand,were in the southwest corner of the room. An aged sectional sofa curvedaround in front of the TV, a round coffee table in front of it.
"The phone goes there," I whispered, pointing.
Two pairs of eternal eyes stared at me.
"That's my mother's house."Alice was already off the couch, phone in hand, dialing. I stared at theprecise rendering of my mother's family room. Uncharacteristically,Jasper slid closer to me. He lightly touched his hand to my shoulder, andthe physical contact seemed to make his calming influence stronger. Thepanic stayed dull, unfocused.
Alice's lips were trembling with the speed of her words, the low buzzingimpossible to decipher. I couldn't concentrate.
"Bella," Alice said. I looked at her numbly.
"Bella, Edward is coming to get you. He and Emmett and Carlisle are goingto take you somewhere, to hide you for a while.""Edward is coming?" The words were like a life vest, holding my headabove the flood.
"Yes, he's catching the first flight out of Seattle. We'll meet him atthe airport, and you'll leave with him.""But, my mother… he came here for my mother, Alice!" Despite Jasper, thehysteria bubbled up in my voice.
"Jasper and I will stay till she's safe.""I can't win, Alice. You can't guard everyone I know forever. Don't yousee what he's doing? He's not tracking me at all. He'll find someone,he'll hurt someone I love… Alice, I can't —""We'll catch him, Bella," she assured me.
"And what if you get hurt, Alice? Do you think that's okay with me? Doyou think it's only my human family he can hurt me with?"Alice looked meaningfully at Jasper. A deep, heavy fog of lethargy washedover me, and my eyes closed without my permission. My mind struggledagainst the fog, realizing what was happening. I forced my eyes open andstood up, stepping away from Jasper's hand.
"I don't want to go back to sleep," I snapped.
I walked to my room and shut the door, slammed it really, so I could befree to go to pieces privately. This time Alice didn't follow me. Forthree and a half hours I stared at the wall, curled in a ball, rocking.
My mind went around in circles, trying to come up with some way out ofthis nightmare. There was no escape, no reprieve. I could see only onepossible end looming darkly in my future. The only question was how manyother people would be hurt before I reached it.
The only solace, the only hope I had left, was knowing that I would seeEdward soon. Maybe, if I could just see his face again, I would also beable to see the solution that eluded me now.
When the phone rang, I returned to the front room, a little ashamed of mybehavior. I hoped I hadn't offended either of them, that they would knowhow grateful I was for the sacrifices they were making on my account.
Alice was talking as rapidly as ever, but what caught my attention wasthat, for the first time, Jasper was not in the room. I looked at theclock — it was five-thirty in the morning.
"They're just boarding their plane," Alice told me. "They'll land atnine-forty-five." Just a few more hours to keep breathing till he washere.
"Where's Jasper?""He went to check out.""You aren't staying here?""No, we're relocating closer to your mother's house."My stomach twisted uneasily at her words.
But the phone rang again, distracting me. She looked surprised, but I wasalready walking forward, reaching hopefully for the phone.
"Hello?" Alice asked. "No, she's right here." She held the phone out tome. Your mother, she mouthed.
"Hello?" "Bella? Bella?" It was my mother's voice, in a familiar tone I had hearda thousand times in my childhood, anytime I'd gotten too close to theedge of the sidewalk or strayed out of her sight in a crowded place. Itwas the sound of panic.
I sighed. I'd been expecting this, though I'd tried to make my message asunalarming as possible without lessening the urgency of it.
"Calm down, Mom," I said in my most soothing voice, walking slowly awayfrom Alice. I wasn't sure if I could lie as convincingly with her eyes onme. "Everything is fine, okay? Just give me a minute and I'll explaineverything, I promise."I paused, surprised that she hadn't interrupted me yet.
"Mom?""Be very careful not to say anything until I tell you to." The voice Iheard now was as unfamiliar as it was unexpected. It was a man's tenorvoice, a very pleasant, generic voice — the kind of voice that you heardin the background of luxury car commercials. He spoke very quickly.
"Now, I don't need to hurt your mother, so please do exactly as I say,and she'll be fine." He paused for a minute while I listened in mutehorror. "That's very good," he congratulated. "Now repeat after me, anddo try to sound natural. Please say, 'No, Mom, stay where you are.'""No, Mom, stay where you are." My voice was barely more than a whisper.
"I can see this is going to be difficult." The voice was amused, stilllight and friendly. "Why don't you walk into another room now ............