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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 toseemed to make it worse; even Emmett stood silent and still from then on

It wasn’t until the sun rose and I knew that Renes under my hands that I wondered for the first ti I’d hoped to know hter’s curiosity To have some answers Some tiny, tiny portion of hope so that I could s her, too

My face felt perht I wasn’t sure I had the ability to s in the corner, aanxiously in his sleep Sa the Not that this preparation would do anything but get theht broke through the back s, sparkling on Edward’s skin My eyes had not moved from his since Alice’s departure We’d stared at each other all night, staring at what neither of us could live through losing: the other I saw onized eyes as the sun touched my own skin

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?" E 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 Neorry splintered the ain, his eyes suddenly ith fresh fear, extra panic "Carlisle, you don’t think - so 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’sshe was capable of -

Eh that Jacob lurched to his feet with a growl In the yard, his groas echoed by his pack My family was already a blur of action

"Stay with Renesh the door

I was still stronger than the rest of theth to push myself forward I overtook Esme in a few bounds, and Rosalie in just a few strides ht behind Edward and Carlisle

"Would they have been able to surprise her?" Carlisle asked, his voice as even as if he were standingat 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 north on the other side of the river, and then back west again after a fewwithin 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 second tie 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 the from the east Edward and Carlisle slowed a little out of habit, and I could see their heads sweep fro for the trail to turn

Then the wolf ser, 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?"

Sa quickly toward us in his hu wolves - Paul and Jared It took Sam a while to reach us; his human pace made me impatient I didn’t want ti I wanted to be inI 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 Saht at Carlisle as he stopped walking and began to speak

"Right after ht, Alice and Jasper came to this place and asked perranted them that and escorted them to the coast myself They went immediately into the water and did not return As we journeyed, Alice toldto Jacob about seeing her until I spoke to you I was to wait here for you to coive you this note She told me to obey her as if all our lives depended on it"

Sarim as he held out a folded sheet of paper, printed all over with se out of a book; my sharp eyes read the printed words as Carlisle unfolded it to see the other side The side facing e from The Merchant of Venice A hint of my own scent blew off of it as Carlisle shook the paper flat I realized it was a page torn fros froe; a few sets of normal clothes, all the letters from my mother, and my favorite books My tattered collection of Shakespeare paperbacks had been on the bookshelf in the cottage’s little living roo

"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 nomads you can find We’ll seek out Peter and Charlotte on our way We’re so sorry that we have to leave you this ith 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 Their thoughts ain, speaking in response to what he heard in Sah that you would abandon your family?" Sam asked out loud, censure in his tone It was clear that he had not read the note before giving it to Carlisle He was upset now, looking as if he regretted listening to Alice

Edward’s expression was stiff - to Saant, but I could see the shape of pain in the hard planes of his face

"We don’t knohat she saw," Edward said "Alice is neither unfeeling nor a coward She just has an

"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," Edent on "This is not so you want to involve yourselves in

You can still avoid what Alice saw"

Sarimly "We don’t run away" Behind hihtered for pride," Carlisle interjected quietly

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

"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, ould be foolish not to follow her advice now Let’s go hoid with pain Behind me, I could hear Esme’s quiet, tearless sobs

I didn’t kno to cry in this body; I couldn’t do anything but stare There was no feeling yet Everything seeain after all these htmare

"Thank you, Sam," Carlisle said

"I’h"

"You did the right thing," Carlisle told him "Alice is free to do what she will I wouldn’t deny her that liberty"

I’d always thought of the Cullens as a whole, an indivisible unit Suddenly, I remembered that it had not always been so Carlisle had created Edward, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett; Edward had created me We were physically linked by blood and venoht of Alice and Jasper as separate - as adopted into the family But in truth, Alice had adopted the Cullens She had shown up with her unconnected past, bringing Jasper with his, and fit herself into the family that was already there Both she and Jasper had known another life outside the Cullen family Had she really chosen to lead another new life 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 ht have convinced Alice she had a chance at our side

The brightair seemed thicker suddenly, blacker, as if physically darkened by ht," Emmett snarled low under his breath "Alice told us what to do Let’s get it done"

The others nodded with deter on whatever chance 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 ould involve others, because Alice had said so before she’d left us How could we not follow Alice’s last warning? The wolves, too, would fight with us for Renesht, and we all would die

I didn’t feel the same resolve the others see us the only chance 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 head lifted

"There was that other trail It was fresh"

She nodded forward, tohere she had called Edward’s attention on the way here While ere racing to save Alice

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

Esht, falling a little behind I was sure Edas right, but at the same tie from my book?

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

"I want to follow the trail," I told hiht scent of Alice that led away froht path, i was new to this, but it smelled exactly the saolden eyes were empty "It probably just leads back to the house"

"Then I’ll o alone, but then, as I moved a few steps away, his blank eyes flickered 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 Edward questioningly

"I couldn’t let you walk away froine it"

I understood withoutdivided from him now and realized I would have felt the same pain, no matter how short the separation

There was so little tiether

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

"Let’s hurry," he said "Renesain

It was probably a silly thing, to waste the time away from Renesmee just for curiosity’s sake But the note bothered me Alice could have carved the note into a boulder or tree trunk if she lacked writing utensils She could have stolen a pad of Post-its frohway Why h, the trail led back to the cottage by a circuitous route that stayed far clear of the Cullens’ house and the wolves in the nearby woods Edward’s brows tightened in confusion as it became obvious where the trail led

He tried to reason it out "She left Jasper to wait for her and cae now, and I felt uneasy I was glad to have Edward’s hand inout the page and carrying it back to Jasper was such an odd thing for Alice to do It felt like there was a e in her action - one I didn’t understand at all But it wasshe wanted Edward to knoouldn’t she have pulled a page from one of his

books ?

"Give ot to the door