Inspiration came swiftly. "Angela and Ben," I decided at once. "At least that will get them out of town."

He touched my cheek. "You can't evacuate everyone," he said in a gentle voice. "Hiding you is just a precaution. I told you - we'll have no problem now. There won't be enough of them to keep us entertained."

"But what about keeping her in La Push?" Jacob interjected, impatient.

"She's been back and forth too much," Edward said. "She's left trails all over the place. Alice only sees very young vampires coming on the hunt, but obviously someone created them. There is someone more experienced behind this. Whoever he" - Edward paused to look at me - "or she is, this could all be a distraction. Alice will see if he decides to look himself, but we could be very busy at the time that decision is made. Maybe someone is counting on that. I can't leave her somewhere she's been frequently. She has to be hard to find, just in case. It's a very long shot, but I'm not taking chances."

"Hm..." Jasper said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"What?" Edward asked.

"Well, normally I would agree with you that this was a long shot," Jasper said, "but, that seems to be all that happens in these books. Long shots that come to fruition. And I have a bad feeling about this."

Edward groaned and lowered his head, "That's just what I wanted to hear."

I stared at Edward as he explained, my forehead creasing. He patted my arm.

"Just being overcautious," he promised.

Jacob gestured to the deep forest east of us, to the vast expanse of the Olympic Mountains.

"So hide her here," he suggested. "There's a million possibilities - places either one of us could be in just a few minutes if there's a need."

Edward shook his head. "Her scent is too strong and, combined with mine, especially distinct. Even if I carried her, it would leave a trail. Our trace is all over the range, but in conjunction with Bella's scent, it would catch their attention. We're not sure exactly which path they'll take, because they don't know yet. If they crossed her scent before they found us . . ."

Both of them grimaced at the same time, their eyebrows pulling together.

"You see the difficulties."

"There has to be a way to make it work," Jacob muttered. He glared toward the forest, pursing his lips.

I swayed on my feet. Edward put his arm around my waist, pulling me closer and supporting my weight.

"I need to get you home - you're exhausted. And Charlie will be waking up soon. . . ."

"Wait a sec," Jacob said, wheeling back to us, his eyes bright. "My scent disgusts you, right?"

"Yes!" Rosalie answered immediately. "Though by no means is it the only thing about you that disgusts me."

"Hmm, not bad." Edward was two steps ahead. "It's possible." He turned toward his family.

"What's possible?" Emmett asked impatiently.

"Using his scent to mask hers," Jasper said. "That might work. You say the wolves scent is... overwhelming."

"Yes, and something that you wouldn't want to look that closely into," Edward said.

"Jasper?" he called.

Jasper looked up curiously. He walked over with Alice a half step behind. Her face was frustrated again.

"Okay, Jacob." Edward nodded at him.

Jacob turned toward me with a strange mixture of emotion on his face. He was clearly excited by whatever this new plan of his was, but he was also still uneasy so close to his enemy allies. And then it was my turn to be wary as he held his arms out toward me.

"Argh," Edward groaned. "He's going to have to carry her."

"Forced to be together again," Emmett laughed. "I bet you love that."

Edward's answer was a growl.

Edward took a deep breath.

"We're going to see if I can confuse the scent enough to hide your trail," Jacob explained.

I stared at his open arms suspiciously.

"You're going to have to let him carry you, Bella," Edward told me. His voice was calm, but I could hear the subdued distaste.

I frowned.

Jacob rolled his eyes, impatient, and reached down to yank me up into his arms.

"Don't be such a baby," he muttered.

But his eyes flickered to Edward, just like mine did. Edward's face was composed and smooth. He spoke to Jasper.

"You know, I bet my book self wished that he could be the one to read minds at that moment," Emmett said. "I'm sure your thoughts would have been quite amusing."

"Bella's scent is so much more potent to me - I thought it would be a fairer test if someone else tried."

Jacob turned away from them and paced swiftly into the woods. I didn't say anything as the dark closed around us. I was pouting, uncomfortable in Jacob's arms. It felt too intimate to me

Edward tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile.

- surely he didn't need to hold me quite so tightly - and I couldn't help but wonder what it felt like to him. It reminded me of my last afternoon in La Push, and I didn't want to think about that. I folded my arms, annoyed when the brace on my hand intensified the memory.

We didn't go far; he made a wide arc and came back into the clearing from a different direction, maybe half a football field away from our original departure point. Edward was there alone and Jacob headed toward him.

"You can put me down now."

"I don't want to take a chance of messing up the experiment." His walk slowed and his arms tightened.

"You are so annoying," I muttered.

"Thanks."

Out of nowhere, Jasper and Alice stood beside Edward. Jacob took one more step, and then set me down a half dozen feet from Edward. Without looking back at Jacob, I walked to Edward's side and took his hand.

"Well?" I asked.

"As long as you don't touch anything, Bella, I can't imagine someone sticking their nose close enough to that trail to catch your scent," Jasper said, grimacing. "It was almost completely obscured."

"Almost?" Edward grumbled at that.

"It will be fine, Edward," Emmett said, rolling his eyes. "You know we're not going to let anyone past us anyway."

"A definite success," Alice agreed, wrinkling her nose.

"And it gave me an idea."

"Which will work," Alice added confidently.

"Clever," Edward agreed.

"How do you stand that?" Jacob muttered to me.

"You don't," Emmett said, very annoyed. "You might get used to it a little, but it doesn't make it any less annoying...especially when both the freaks are in the conversation."

"And you wonder why we always keep doing this," Edward laughed at his annoyed brother and Alice giggled along with him.

Edward ignored Jacob and looked at me while he explained. "We're - well, you're - going to leave a false trail to the clearing, Bella. The newborns are hunting, your scent will excite them, and they'll come exactly the way we want them to without being careful about it.

"That's perfect!" Jasper smiled. "I was wondering how we could lead them there."

"You didn't think of using her scent?" Emmett asked. "It seemed pretty obvious to me."

"Oh, he thought of it," Edward said, "but he couldn't use that way before because the trail would continue to lead them to wherever Bella was..."

"And there was no way that Edward would allow that," Jasper said.

Alice can already see that this will work. When they catch our scent, they'll split up and try to come at us from two sides. Half will go through the forest, where her vision suddenly disappears..."

"Hmm... I wonder what could be waiting there," Emmett laughed.

"Yes!" Jacob hissed.

Edward smiled at him, a smile of true comradeship.

I felt sick. How could they be so eager for this? How could I stand having both of them in danger? I couldn't.

"Poor Bella," Esme said, understanding her feelings more than anyone else.

I wouldn't.

"What could she do to stop that?" Emmett laughed.

"Knowing her...she'll think of something," Edward sighed, furrowing his eyebrows. "Though, of course, I have no idea what."

"Not a chance," Edward said suddenly, his voice disgusted. It made me jump, worrying that he'd somehow heard my resolve, but his eyes were on Jasper.

"I know, I know," Jasper said quickly. "I didn't even consider it, not really."

Alice stepped on his foot.

"If Bella was actually there in the clearing," Jasper explained to her, "it would drive them insane.

"You're the one who's insane!" Edward growled at him.

"What I said was true," Jasper said uncomfortably, "but I know it would never be an option."

They wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything but her. It would make picking them off truly easy. . . ."

"It's already too easy as it is," Emmett grumbled. "We don't need any more help."

Edward's glare had Jasper backtracking.

"Of course it's too dangerous for her. It was just an errant thought," he said quickly. But he looked at me from the corner of his eyes, and the look was wistful.

"No," Edward said. His voice rang with finality.

"You're right," Jasper said. He took Alice's hand and started back to the others. "Best two out of three?" I heard him ask her as they went to practice again.

Jacob stared after him in disgust.

"Jasper looks at things from a military perspective," Edward quietly defended his brother.

"He looks at all the options - it's thoroughness, not callousness." Jacob snorted.

Jasper narrowed his eyes at that. "If he thinks I don't care about Bella..."

"He doesn't know you at all," Alice interrupted, both finishing his sentence and agreeing with him.

He'd edged closer unconsciously, drawn by his absorption in the planning. He stood only three feet from Edward now, and, standing there between them, I could feel the physical tension in the air. It was like static, an uncomfortable charge.

Edward got back to business. "I'll bring her here Friday afternoon to lay the false trail. You can meet us afterward, and carry her to a place I know. Completely out of the way, and easily defensible, not that it will come to that. I'll take another route there."

"And then what? Leave her with a cell phone?" Jacob asked critically.

"You have a better idea?"

"I don't think that's a very good idea," Jasper said.

"Nor do I...especially after what you said about long shots," Edward said.

Jacob was suddenly smug. "Actually, I do."

"Oh. . . . Again, dog, not bad at all."

Jacob turned to me quickly, as if determined to play the good guy by keeping me in the conversation. "We tried to talk Seth

"So he is one of them now as well...and that's why he was at the meeting the other night," Carlisle sighed.

into staying behind with the younger two.

"Younger two?" Esme said sadly. "Isn't he already too young...those poor boys."

He's still too young, but he's stubborn and he's resisting. So I thought of a new assignment for him - cell phone."

"Ah," Jasper said. "I do like that."

"Yes, it would be nice to know that a wolf is protecting her," Edward said.

I tried to look like I got it. No one was fooled.

"As long as Seth Clearwater is in his wolf form, he'll be connected to the pack," Edward said. "Distance isn't a problem?" he added, turning to Jacob.

"Nope."

"Three hundred miles?" Edward asked. "That's impressive."

Jacob was the good guy again. "That's the farthest we've ever gone to experiment," he told me. "Still clear as a bell."

I nodded absently; I was reeling from the idea that little Seth Clearwater was already a werewolf, too, and that made it difficult to concentrate. I could see his bright smile, so much like a younger Jacob, in my head; he couldn't be more than fifteen, if he was that. His enthusiasm at the council meeting bonfire suddenly took on new meaning. . . .

"It's a good idea." Edward seemed reluctant to admit this. "I'll feel better with Seth there, even without the instantaneous communication. I don't know if I'd be able to leave Bella there alone. To think it's come to this, though! Trusting werewolves!"

Emmett laughed at that, and some of the others chuckled.

"It is a strange idea, isn't it?" Jasper smiled.

"Fighting with vampires instead of against them!" Jacob mirrored Edward's tone of disgust.

"Well, you still get to fight against some of them," Edward said.

Jacob smiled. "That's the reason we're here."

"That's the end of the chapter," Jasper said, giving the book to Carlisle.

Chapter Nineteen

Selfish

"Selfish," Carlisle read.

"I wonder who's going to be selfish here," Emmett said.

Edward carried me home in his arms, expecting that I wouldn't be able to hang on. I must have fallen asleep on the way.

When I woke up, I was in my bed and the dull light coming through my windows slanted in from a strange angle. Almost like it was afternoon.

"I'm guessing that's because it is afternoon," Emmett chuckled.

I yawned and stretched, my fingers searching for him and coming up empty.

"Edward?" I mumbled.

My seeking fingers encountered something cool and smooth. His hand.

"Are you really awake this time?" he murmured.

Edward chuckled at that. "It must be difficult to tell sometimes because she talks in her sleep."

"Mmm," I sighed in assent. "Have there been a lot of false alarms?"

"You've been very restless - talking all day."

"All day?" I blinked and looked at the windows again.

"You had a long night," he said reassuringly. "You'd earned a day in bed."

I sat up, and my head spun. The light was coming in my window from the west. "Wow."

"Hungry?" he guessed. "Do you want breakfast in bed?"

"I'll get it," I groaned, stretching again. "I need to get up and move around."

He held my hand on the way to the kitchen, eyeing me carefully, like I might fall over. Or maybe he thought I was sleepwalking.

"I don't think it's that one," Edward said. "I'm sure we would know by now if that was something she did."

I kept it simple, throwing a couple of Pop-Tarts in the toaster. I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflective chrome.

"Ugh, I'm a mess."

"It doesn't matter." Edward rolled his eyes.

"I suppose it doesn't... seeing how you always see her like that anyway," Alice said.

"It always matters," Rosalie countered.

"It was a long night," he said again. "You should have stayed here and slept."

"Right! And missed everything . You know, you need to start accepting the fact that I'm part of the family now."

Edward smiled broadly at that - along with the rest of his family, but his smile was the biggest.

He smiled. "I could probably get used to that idea."

I sat down with my breakfast, and he sat next to me. When I lifted the Pop-Tart to take the first bite, I noticed him staring at my hand. I looked down, and saw that I was still wearing the gift that Jacob had given me at the party.

At that thought, Edward frowned.

"May I?" he asked, reaching for the tiny wooden wolf.

I swallowed noisily. "Um, sure."

He moved his hand under the charm bracelet and balanced the little figurine in his snowy palm. For a fleeting moment, I was afraid. Just the slightest twist of his fingers could crush it into splinters.

"I would never do that," Edward said.

"Yeah, no matter how much he hates the pup and wished he could," Emmett laughed.

"Edward has better manners than that," Esme said.

"Which, I'm sure, is going to be Bella's next thought," Alice smiled.

But of course Edward wouldn't do that. I was embarrassed I'd even had the thought. He only weighed the wolf in his palm for a moment, and then let it fall. It swung lightly from my wrist.

I tried to read the expression in his eyes. All I could see was thoughtfulness; he kept everything else hidden, if there was anything else.

"What are you hiding?" Emmett asked, but looking at his brother's eyes seemed to answer that question for him. Edward looked worried, sad, and a little angry, all at once.

"Jacob Black can give you presents."

It wasn't a question, or an accusation. Just a statement of fact. But I knew he was referring to my last birthday and the fit I'd thrown over gifts; I hadn't wanted any. Especially not from Edward. It wasn't entirely logical, and, of course, everyone had ignored me anyway…

"You've given me presents," I reminded him. "You know I like the homemade kind."

"Yes, she really did seem to like that CD you made for her," Esme said, leaving out the part where he had taken it back from her a few days later in his need to leave no traces of himself behind when he left.

He pursed his lips for a second. "How about hand-me-downs? Are those acceptable?"

"Hand-me-downs?" Alice asked, raising her eyebrow. "So you're going to give her something of your mother's?"

"It seems like it," Edward smiled. "This might be a way around her strict 'no giving gifts' rule."

"Which seems like something you're dying to do," Alice laughed at him, but I'm not sure how long this will last when she finds out how nice your mom's stuff is.

"Whatever," Edward shrugged nonchalantly, like he was answering her last statement out loud, but in truth, it was her thoughts he was answering.

"What do you mean?"

"This bracelet." His finger traced a circle around my wrist. "You'll be wearing this a lot?"