I didn't realize Alice had come to stand behind me again.

"And you ducked your head, like a good Southern gentleman, and said, 'I'm sorry, ma'am.'"

Alice laughed at the memory.

Jasper smiled down at her. "You held out your hand, and I took it without stopping to make sense of what I was doing. For the first time in almost a century, I felt hope."

Jasper took Alice's hand as he spoke.

They were holding hands and smiling in this reality too.

Alice grinned. "I was just relieved. I thought you were never going to show up."

They smiled at each other for a long moment, and then Jasper looked back to me, the soft expression lingering.

"Alice told me what she'd seen of Carlisle and his family. I could hardly believe that such an existence was possible. But Alice made me optimistic. So we went to find them."

"Why did you see us though?" Emmett asked. "Why did you see Jasper?"

"I saw Jasper because I had made up my mind that I wanted to find someone...that I didn't want to be alone, and he's the one that I saw because he was always my future," Alice said, smiling at Jasper before turning her gaze back to Emmett. "You know that, Em."

"Right...but what about us?" Emmett pressed.

"It's what I saw us doing next," Alice said, looking at him confused.

"But why?" Emmett asked impatiently.

"Oh," Edward said. "That is interesting."

"What?" Alice asked. "I never really thought of the reason behind this before...I'm just glad that I followed it."

"He thinks you saw us because you saw what Jasper's decision was leading him to," Edward said. "That he had decided to try to not kill humans...at least as much as he can, and so you saw us..."

"That does make sense," Carlisle agreed. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"But I saw you before I even met Jasper," Alice replied, furrowing her eyebrows.

"But you saw Jasper first, right?" Edward asked.

"Yes," Alice said. "And I was waiting there a while before I even saw you..." Maybe he's right. The vision hit me very suddenly. I didn't even realize it at the time, but it did feel similar to when someone had made up their mind about something... "I think you might be right."

"Scared the hell out of them, too," Edward said, rolling his eyes at Jasper before turning to me to explain. "Emmett and I were away hunting. Jasper shows up, covered in battle scars, towing this little freak" - he nudged Alice playfully - "who greets them all by name, knows everything about them, and wants to know which room she can move into."

"It's how I deal with things," Alice shrugged. "You were already family to me."

Alice and Jasper laughed in harmony, soprano and bass.

"When I got home, all my things were in the garage," Edward continued.

Alice shrugged. "Your room had the best view."

They all laughed together now.

"That's a nice story," I said.

"Er...what?" Emmett raised his eyebrow. "I wouldn't really call it nice."

"She must be talking about the ending," Esme said, rolling her eyes as if it was obvious.

Three pairs of eyes questioned my sanity.

"I mean the last part," I defended myself. "The happy ending with Alice."

"Alice has made all the difference," Jasper agreed. "This is a climate I enjoy."

But the momentary pause in the stress couldn't last.

"An army," Alice whispered. "Why didn't you tell me?"

The others were intent again, their eyes locked on Jasper's face.

"I thought I must be interpreting the signs incorrectly. Because where is the motive? Why would someone create an army in Seattle? There is no history there, no vendetta. It makes no sense from a conquest standpoint, either; no one claims it. Nomads pass through, but there's no one to fight for it. No one to defend it from.

"That is true, but the facts are still there to indicate that this is an army," Jasper said.

"But I've seen this before, and there's no other explanation. There is an army of newborn vampires in Seattle. Fewer than twenty, I'd guess. The difficult part is that they are totally untrained. Whoever made them just set them loose. It will only get worse, and it won't be much longer till the Volturi step in. Actually, I'm surprised they've let this go on so long."

"What can we do?" Carlisle asked.

"If we want to avoid the Volturi's involvement, we will have to destroy the newborns, and we will have to do it very soon." Jasper's face was hard. Knowing his story now, I could guess how this evaluation must disturb him.

"Yes, it does," Jasper frowned. "I don't really like having to go back to that frame of mind."

"You won't have to," Alice said convincingly. "This won't happen."

"Right," Jasper smiled.

"I can teach you how. It won't be easy in the city. The young ones aren't concerned about secrecy, but we will have to be. It will limit us in ways that they are not. Maybe we can lure them out."

"Maybe we won't have to." Edward's voice was bleak. "Does it occur to anyone else that the only possible threat in the area that would call for the creation of an army is . . . us?"

"Yes, I did think of that," Carlisle sighed. "But I hope that it's not so."

"But knowing these books, it probably is," Edward frowned, looking like he had come to the same conclusion as his book self.

Jasper's eyes narrowed; Carlisle's widened, shocked.

"Tanya's family is also near," Esme said slowly, unwilling to accept Edward's words.

"Not close enough," Edward shook his head.

"I know," Esme agreed, looking sad. "I just don't like this. Though, I don't like the idea of them being after Tanya's family either."

"The newborns aren't ravaging Anchorage, Esme. I think we have to consider the idea that we are the targets."

"They're not coming after us," Alice insisted, and then paused. "Or . . . they don't know that they are. Not yet."

"What is that?" Edward asked, curious and tense. "What are you remembering?"

"Flickers," Alice said. "I can't see a clear picture when I try to see what's going on, nothing concrete. But I've been getting these strange flashes. Not enough to make sense of. It's as if someone's changing their mind, moving from one course of action to another so quickly that I can't get a good view. . . ."

"Indecision?" Jasper asked in disbelief.

"No," Alice said, shaking her head. "Again, it can't be with the threat that is in these books."

"I don't know. . . ."

"Not indecision," Edward growled. "Knowledge. Someone who knows you can't see anything until the decision is made. Someone who is hiding from us. Playing with the holes in your vision."

"Who would know that?" Alice whispered.

Edward's eyes were hard as ice. "Aro knows you as well as you know yourself."

"But I would see if they'd decided to come. . . ."

"Unless they didn't want to get their hands dirty."

"A favor," Rosalie suggested, speaking for the first time. "Someone in the South . . . someone who already had trouble with the rules. Someone who should have been destroyed is offered a second chance - if they take care of this one small problem. . . . That would explain the Volturi's sluggish response."

"Why?" Carlisle asked, still shocked. "There's no reason for the Volturi -"

"Oh, they have a reason," Edward said. "We saw that they were very interested in convincing some of us to join them."

"But they wouldn't have done that," Carlisle argued. "They would not set up a newborn army just so they could destroy our family. It goes against everything they stand for."

"I'm not sure they're exactly who you think they are," Edward frowned.

"Perhaps not," Carlisle agreed, "but I still don't see them doing this. I must admit, though, that they are probably waiting to see what this army is going to do to us..." he added, sounding bitter and harsh, "but that's very different than setting this up..."

"Maybe," Edward said thoughtfully.

"It was there," Edward disagreed quietly. "I'm surprised it's come to this so soon, because the other thoughts were stronger. In Aro's head he saw me at his one side and Alice at his other. The present and the future, virtual omniscience. The power of the idea intoxicated him. I would have thought it would take him much longer to give up on that plan - he wanted it too much. But there was also the thought of you, Carlisle, of our family, growing stronger and larger. The jealousy and the fear: you having . . . not more than he had, but still, things that he wanted. He tried not to think about it, but he couldn't hide it completely. The idea of rooting out the competition was there; besides their own, ours is the largest coven they've ever found. . . ."

"What about that Carlisle?" Edward asked.

"It still doesn't fit," Carlisle said in an even voice, and though his face didn't really change; everyone could tell that he was saddened by this revelation.

I stared at his face in horror. He'd never told me this, but I guessed I knew why. I could see it in my head now, Aro's dream. Edward and Alice in black, flowing robes, drifting along at Aro's side with their eyes cold and blood-red. . . . Carlisle interrupted my waking nightmare. "They're too committed to their mission. They would never break the rules themselves. It goes against everything they've worked for."

"They'll clean up afterward. A double betrayal," Edward said in a grim voice. "No harm done."

Jasper leaned forward, shaking his head. "No, Carlisle is right. The Volturi do not break rules. Besides, it's much too sloppy. This . . . person, this threat - they have no idea what they're doing. A first-timer, I'd swear to it. I cannot believe the Volturi are involved. But they will be."

"Hm..." Edward said thoughtfully.

"You're more convinced by that, aren't you?" Carlisle almost smiled at his son. "By what Jasper said."

"Yes," Edward nodded. "I'm sorry, but I don't really think the Volturi are above anything...add to it what my book self just said..."

They all stared at each other, frozen with stress.

"Then let's go, " Emmett almost roared. "What are we waiting for?"

Carlisle and Edward exchanged a long glance. Edward nodded once.

"We'll need you to teach us, Jasper," Carlisle finally said. "How to destroy them." Carlisle's jaw was hard, but I could see the pain in his eyes as he said the words. No one hated violence more than Carlisle.

"True," several people said and Carlisle smiled.

There was something bothering me, and I couldn't put my finger on it. I was numb, horrified, deathly afraid. And yet, under that, I could feel that I was missing something important.

Something that would make some sense out of the chaos. That would explain it.

"What?" Emmett asked.

"I don't know," Edward said. "I can't think of anything that puts all this together."

"We're going to need help," Jasper said. "Do you think Tanya's family would be willing . . . ? Another five mature vampires would make an enormous difference. And then Kate and Eleazar would be especially advantageous on our side. It would be almost easy, with their aid."

"We'll ask," Carlisle answered.

Jasper held out a cell phone. "We need to hurry."

I'd never seen Carlisle's innate calm so shaken. He took the phone, and paced toward the windows. He dialed a number, held the phone to his ear, and laid the other hand against the glass. He stared out into the foggy morning with a pained and ambivalent expression.

Edward took my hand and pulled me to the white loveseat. I sat beside him, staring at his face while he stared at Carlisle.

Carlisle's voice was low and quick, difficult to hear. I heard him greet Tanya, and then he raced through the situation too fast for me to understand much, though I could tell that the Alaskan vampires were not ignorant of what was going on in Seattle.

"No they wouldn't be... they wouldn't want a visit from the Volturi any more than we would," Carlisle said.

Then something changed in Carlisle's voice.

"Oh," he said, his voice sharper in surprise. "We didn't realize . . . that Irina felt that way."

Edward groaned at my side and closed his eyes. "Damn it. Damn Laurent to the deepest pit of hell where he belongs."

"They're not going to help us," Edward said incredulously. "Because of Laurent..."

"It sounds like Irina may have had feeling for him," Esme said sadly.

"But why would that stop them from helping us?" Emmett asked. "He had nothing to do with this fight..."

Rosalie decided to keep reading to get the answer.

"Laurent?" I whispered, the blood emptying from my face, but Edward didn't respond, focused on Carlisle's thoughts.

My short encounter with Laurent early this spring was not something that had faded or dimmed in my mind. I still remembered every word he'd said before Jacob and his pack had interrupted.

I actually came here as a favor to her. . . .

"Victoria...do you think that she could be the one behind this?" Edward asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes," Jasper said looking at him. "She has the motive and she would know by now that she would need an army to get what she wants..."

Edward growled loudly at that.

Victoria. Laurent had been her first maneuver - she'd sent him to observe, to see how hard it might be to get to me. He hadn't survived the wolves to report back.

Though he'd kept up his old ties with Victoria after James's death, he'd also formed new ties and new relationships. He'd gone to live with Tanya's family in Alaska - Tanya the strawberry blonde - the closest friends the Cullens had in the vampire world, practically extended family. Laurent had been with them for almost a year previous to his death.

Alice sat in silence, deep in thought. I wonder if they talked about me...about my powers. If they did, that might explain how I can't see what's coming. She might have learned how to get around my visions.

Edward's head snapped up to look at her, his eyes wide, and he seem to be saying 'do you really think that's it?'