I felt the blood empty from my face.

"Victoria?" I choked.

"I would recognize her too," Edward hissed.

"It's not a scent I recognize."

"One of the Volturi," I guessed.

Edward's head again snapped to his brother, but it was Carlisle who answered.

"I'm not so sure they would send someone like this," he said thoughtfully. "Especially since it has only been a few weeks since you were in Italy."

"But who else would be in Bella's room?" Edward asked. "Who would go there...?"

"I don't know," Carlisle frowned, looking puzzled and worried.

"Probably."

"When?"

"That's why I think it must have been them - it wasn't long ago, early this morning while Charlie was sleeping. And whoever it was didn't touch him, so there must have been another purpose."

"I really don't like this," Edward said, seeming even more worried because Charlie wasn't hurt, though it was obvious that he was relieved by that fact too.

"The Volturi are looking more likely now," Jasper said, looking like he agreed wholeheartedly with what the book Edward had just said.

"It does," Carlisle frowned, "but it still doesn't feel right that they would get involved this soon..."

"Looking for me."

He didn't answer. His body was frozen, a statue.

"What are you two hissing about in here?" Charlie asked suspiciously, rounding the corner with an empty popcorn bowl in his hands.

I felt green. A vampire had been in the house looking for me while Charlie slept. Panic overwhelmed me, closed my throat. I couldn't answer, I just stared at him in horror.

"Oh, dear," Esme said, looking worried for Charlie's safety.

Charlie's expression changed. Abruptly, he was grinning.

"There's nothing to be grinning about," Edward huffed, "especially if she's looking horrified."

"If you two are having a fight . . . well, don't let me interrupt."

"Sorry, that's not actually what's bothering them," Emmett chuckled.

Still grinning, he put his bowl in the sink and sauntered out of the room.

"Let's go," Edward said in a low hard voice.

"But Charlie!" The fear was squeezing my chest, making it hard to breathe.

"That's right, you can't just leave him alone now," Esme said, though she had looked disapproving at Charlie's behavior a second ago.

He deliberated for a short second, and then his phone was in his hand.

"Emmett," he muttered into the receiver. He began talking so fast that I couldn't understand the words. It was over in half a minute. He started pulling me toward the door.

"Emmett and Jasper are on their way," he whispered when he felt my resistance. "They'll sweep the woods. Charlie is fine."

I let him drag me along then, too panicked to think clearly. Charlie met my frightened eyes with a smug grin, which suddenly turned to confusion. Edward had me out the door before Charlie could say anything.

"Where are we going?" I couldn't stop whispering, even after we were in the car.

"We're going to talk to Alice," he told me, his volume normal but his voice bleak.

"I didn't see this!" Alice said suddenly, her eyes going wide. "How could I not see this?"

"Whoever it was must not have had any intention of hurting her," Jasper said, and that sentence seemed to make everyone relax just a little. "If he had, you definitely would have seen it, even if Bella wasn't there."

"True," Alice nodded her head. But still, a vampire was in Bella's house... I should have seen that, even without them having the intention of hurting her. They would have had to make the decision to go there...

"Then whoever it was must have known about you -," Edward said, narrowing his eyes "- known how to get around you."

"Who would know that?" Alice asked, her eyes going wide. "Besides our family... and Tanya's... no one knows that."

"Aro would know that," Carlisle frowned. "He would know everything about you and your power after he touched you."

Edward tensed again.

"You think maybe she saw something?"

He stared at the road through narrowed eyes. "Maybe."

They were waiting for us, on alert after Edward's call. It was like walking into a museum, everyone still as statues in various poses of stress.

"What happened?" Edward demanded as soon as we were through the door. I was shocked to see that he was glowering at Alice, his hands fisted in anger.

"It's not my fault!" Alice glared at Edward. "You know I can't see everything!"

"I know," Edward sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Alice stood with her arms folded tight across her chest. Only her lips moved. "I have no idea. I didn't see anything."

"How is that possible ?" he hissed.

"Edward," I said, a quiet reproof. I didn't like him talking to Alice this way.

Alice smiled at that, despite the situation.

Carlisle interrupted in a calming voice. "It's not an exact science, Edward."

"He was in her room, Alice. He could have still been there - waiting for her."

Everyone shivered at the thought.

"There's no way I would miss that," Alice said, shaking her head.

"I would have seen that."

Edward threw his hands up in exasperation. "Really? You're sure?"

Alice's voice was cold when she answered. "You've already got me watching the Volturi's decisions, watching for Victoria's return, watching Bella's every step. You want to add another? Do I just have to watch Charlie, or Bella's room, or the house, or the whole street, too? Edward, if I try to do too much, things are going to start slipping through the cracks."

"Yeah, Eddy, you can't overload Shorty here," Emmett laughed. "It seems like he has you working surveillance almost as much as he is."

"It looks like they already are," Edward snapped.

Alice narrowed her eyes and hissed at him.

"She was never in any danger. There was nothing to see."

"If you're watching Italy, why didn't you see them send -"

"I don't think it's them," Alice insisted. "I would have seen that."

"But who else would know how to get around me?" Alice frowned.

"Maybe the vampire just got lucky to get around you," Esme supplied hopefully.

"No, I see vampires even when they merely decide to come to Forks. I would have seen this," Alice said.

"But you were looking at all those others things... maybe it would stop you from seeing something like that," Esme argued.

"If that was true, then I don't think that Charlie would have been left alive," Edward said. "No one else would have the control not to kill him."

"If they had just fed..." Esme began and shuddered at what Edward said about Charlie.

"I still don't see it," Edward said.

"And add this to the preface... it just makes sense that it would be them," Jasper added and with that, everyone tensed again. "No one else could threaten our family like we seemed to be there..."

"Who else would leave Charlie alive?"