• After the fitting, Alice left swiftly (much to Charlie’s dismay), claiming she had last minute planning for the upcoming w...event. I am pretty sure that I was the only person who noticed the secretive smirk she had on her face as she disappeared gracefully through the door. But any doubts I was having about Alice were drowned out by the shrill ringing coming from my pocket in the next second. I quickly yanked the tiny silver cell phone out, ignoring Charlie’s surprised stares (Had Edward not told him about the gift?), and looked at the familiar caller ID, darting upstairs as I did so. As soon as I was out of earshot, I answered. “Seth?” I asked, surprised. He rarely called me, unless I forgot to check up with him. I had just called, hadn’t I?

    “Bella? Is that you?” he asked, a frantic edge to his voice.

    “Yes” I replied, worried now. His breathless tone had alerted me, something was wrong.

    “It’s...” He stopped short, but he didn’t need to finish the sentence. The crippling realisation hit me before the word was out of his mouth.

    “Jacob” I managed to choke out, though it felt like my lungs had been filled with cement, leaving me unable to breathe.

    Seth seemed to realise that I couldn’t speak, for he continued “We’ve lost contact with him...but it could just mean he’s phased” he added quickly, shying away from the other possibility. I didn’t want to think about that, so I asked

    “What will it mean if he has? Phased, I mean.” I tried to keep the hysteria from creeping into my voice; I didn’t want Seth thinking I was unstable.

    

    “We’ve got no leads, but Sam and Jared have gone to Canada to try and track him down, and they will report back to Quil if they find anything. Embry and Paul are staying phased in case he changes back, and then they will be able to get an idea of what happened to him. After this, I’m actually going to try and find Leah. She took off as soon as we lost contact with him, and she hasn’t phased yet, so the rest of us are going to see if we can find her trail.”

    The last bit confused me, and I was momentarily distracted from the burning pain in my chest. “But why would Leah...?” I trailed off.

    “Who knows? We think she’s feeling guilty, because she was the last person he was with, and she thinks she might have provoked him, but we can’t be sure.” Leah was with him before he left. She provoked him, no doubt with jaunts about Edward killing me. The inevitable anger welled up inside me, blurring my vision as the tears came quickly, intensified by the strength of my fury. I eventually realised that I was still on the phone with Seth, and that I hadn’t spoken for a few minutes.

    “Thanks for calling me, Seth. Let me know if I can do anything to help.” I said stiffly, wanting the conversation to be over quickly, so I could be free to give in to the pain and anger.

    “Anytime, Bella. I promise I’ll call you again as soon as there’s an update on the situation.” His voice was careful now, the edge of anger had been apparent in my voice, and he obviously didn’t want to startle me and set me off.

    “Bye, Seth” I said, my voice hoarse with the evidence of the first few sobs. I hit the end call button before he had a chance to reply.

    There was just enough time for a few more sobs to escape before Alice saw me and he arrived through my window. He pulled me into his arms, gently pushing me onto the bed and laying my duvet over me as I collapsed onto the mattress.

    

    “Jacob” He said, the remorse evident in his musical voice. It wasn’t a question, it was an acknowledgement. He didn’t even need to ask what had happened, because my anguish was enough information for him. I nodded weakly, relaxing into his arms and letting the waves of pain pull me down into a restless sleep with a sense of déjà vu.

    I woke the next morning in a haze, my face stiff with the tears that had flowed through the night. Edward was still beside me, his face careful as he contemplated whether it was safe to talk to me, or whether it would set me off again. He seemed to decide to go with his first instinct.

    “How bad is it?” He asked. I didn’t need an explanation, I knew what he meant.

    “They think Jake’s phased, because they’ve lost contact, but they have no idea why. His thoughts leading up to it gave no indication of a decision like that.” My voice was barely more than a whisper, but I knew he could hear me. I turned to gauge his reaction. His face was smooth and expressionless, but I could see in his eyes that he was blaming himself for what had happened. I didn’t get a chance to object to his gross misjudgement, though, because my shiny silver cell phone rang from the other side of the room just as I opened my mouth. Seth. I almost fell off the bed as I darted to the desk, but he was already there, holding the phone out to me with his pale fingers. I grabbed it from him, shot an apologetic glance his way, then flipped it open and answered.

    “Hello?” I said quickly, the impatience more that apparent in my voice.

    “Hi, Bella.” Seth’s voice rang out of the speaker I had pressed against my ear. He seemed relaxed enough, and I hoped that was a good sign.

    

    “Any news?” I asked, eager for him to cut to the chase and give up on the small talk.

    “Not much. We found Leah just outside Seattle, she had to phase eventually, and we caught her trail soon after that. It turns out that she didn’t really care about Jacob at all; she just didn’t want us to blame her for what had happened. Just like Leah, more concerned about her own well being than that of those around her.” His tone was disgusted, as it should be. How could Leah be so callous? Was she not even worried that Jacob could be...I stopped myself, but it was too late. I dropped the phone and sat on the bed in an attempt to steady myself. Edward had snagged the phone before it hit the ground, and he was saying his goodbyes to Seth as he came to sit next to me. He wrapped a protective arm around my waist as he dialled Jasper’s cell and asked him to come here with Alice, ASAP. My mind broke through the haze quickly enough to realize something important.

    “Charlie!” I hissed, jumping off the bed and relaxing as I got to the window and saw that his police cruiser was no longer in the driveway. I jumped back, startled as Alice’s face suddenly appeared behind the glass of my window, through which she then proceeded to climb. Jasper followed shortly afterwards, and my pain for Jacob was immediately much less potent. I knew it was due to Jasper’s talent, but I welcomed it, enjoying the ability to breathe properly. I slowly returned to the bed, trying to follow the conversation they were having with Edward. I gave up after a while, and sat patiently on the bed next to him, waiting until they came to a conclusion about whatever it was they were debating. Suddenly, their conversation came to an abrupt halt. I turned to see why, but I didn’t have to look any further than Alice’s face. She was having a vision and, by the strange expression she was wearing, it didn’t seem good. When she had slipped out of her trance-like state, she turned to look at me

    “Bella?” she asked reluctantly, studying my facial expression.

    

    “Yes?” I replied, her tone making me suspicious.

    “Can Jasper and I stay here, while you go for a walk with Edward? We have some things to sort out.” What were these “things”? What had Alice seen? I was becoming more suspicious every second, and I was sure that if I asked, they wouldn’t tell me.

    “Sure, Alice” I emphasised the questioning in my voice, attempting to show Edward that I wasn’t going to just let it go.

    Edward, as if he had read my mind, proceeded to drag me out of the room in that second, pulling me onto his back as he did so.

    “Where to?” He asked casually when we were in the driveway, next to my truck.

    “I don’t care,” I said stubbornly, feeling excluded. I didn’t have to look at him to know that he would be trying to hide the smirk on his face at that very moment. I knew him too well.

    “Why don’t we go to the meadow?” He asked, pretending he hadn’t heard my hostile remark, though I knew he had.

    “Whatever,” I said, my tone destroying his attempts at composure. He was still laughing as his speed ceased and we came to a halt at the entrance of our clearing.

    I normally enjoyed the exhilarating speed of Edward’s running, but today I was feeling stubborn, so I had closed my eyes deliberately, determined to be ruthless. Edward seemed to sense my stiffness; he set me on the ground and appraised my expression with amused eyes for a long minute,

    “You aren’t going to let this go, are you?” He said; I could hear in his voice that he really didn’t want to tell me what Alice had seen. I pressed on, regardless.

    

    “Please?” I asked, using my secret weapon against him. His face was touched with indecision for a second, before smoothing back to its usual state.

    “Remember, you asked to hear it.” he warned me, the raw pain etched into his voice.

    “I can handle it, just tell me.” I lied, terrified by his tone.

    My attempt at nonchalance had not fooled him; he took my hand and kissed me on my forehead before continuing

    “Alice had a vision of Jacob, don’t ask me why, and she saw him staying in Canada because he...he” He seemed reluctant to tell me something, and this made me more nervous.

    “He...imprinted.” Edward told me, watching for my outburst with wary eyes.