I knew it was just because I was alone, missing Jacob's carefree whistle and the sound of another pair of feet squishing across the damp ground.

The sense of unease grew stronger the deeper I got into the trees. Breathing started to get more difficult–not because of exertion, but because I was having trouble with the stupid hole in my chest again. I kept my arms tight around my torso and tried to banish the ache from my thoughts. I almost turned around, but I hated to waste the effort I'd already expended.

The rhythm of my footsteps started to numb my mind and my pain as I trudged on. My breathing evened out eventually, and I was glad I hadn't quit. I was getting better at this bushwhacking thing; I could tell I was faster.

I didn't realize quite how much more efficiently I was moving. I thought I'd covered maybe four miles, and I wasn't even starting to look around for it yet. And then, with an abruptness that disoriented me, I stepped through a low arch made by two vine maples –pushing past the chest-high ferns – into the meadow.

Edward held his breath, not that he needed to, and his eyes seemed to silently plead with her not to react badly to this.

It was the same place, of that I was instantly sure. I'd never seen another clearing so symmetrical. It was as perfectly round as if someone had intentionally created the flawless circle, tearing out the trees but leaving no evidence of that violence in the waving grass. To the east, I could hear the stream bubbling quietly.

The place wasn't nearly so stunning without the sunlight, but it was still very beautiful and serene. It was the wrong season for wildflowers; the ground was thick with tall grass that swayed in the light breeze like ripples across a lake.

It was the same place… but it didn't hold what I had been searching for.

Edward didn't move. The hope was gone and he was pained again.

The disappointment was nearly as instantaneous as the recognition. I sank down right where I was, kneeling there at the edge of the clearing, beginning to gasp.

Esme gasped, placing her hand over her heart, and exchanged a worried glance with Alice.

What was the point of going any farther? Nothing lingered here. Nothing more than the memories that I could have called back whenever I wanted to, if I was ever willing to endure the corresponding pain–the pain that had me now, had me cold. There was nothing special about this place without him. I wasn't exactly sure what I'd hoped to feel here, but the meadow was empty of atmosphere, empty of everything, just like everywhere else. Just like my nightmares. My head swirled dizzily.

At least I'd come alone. I felt a rush of thankfulness as I realized that.

"Told you," Jasper said smugly albeit sadly.

If I'd discovered the meadow with Jacob…well, there was no way I could have disguised the abyss I was plunging into now. How could I have explained the way I was fracturing into pieces, the way I had to curl into a ball to keep the empty hole from tearing me apart? It was so much better that I didn't have an audience.

"And that's why I wish someone was there," Edward said, not wanting her to go through that at all.

And I wouldn't have to explain to anyone why I was in such a hurry to leave, either. Jacob would have assumed, after going to so much trouble to locate the stupid place, I would want to spend more than a few seconds here. But I was already trying to find the strength to get to my feet again, forcing myself out of the ball so that I could escape. There was too much pain in this empty place to bear – I would crawl away if I had to.

How lucky that I was alone!

Alone. I repeated the word with grim satisfaction as I wrenched myself to my feet despite the pain. At precisely that moment, a figure stepped out from the trees to the north, some thirty paces away.

Edward tensed at this... in fact, everyone tensed at this, thinking about the vampire that could have been in the area.

A dizzying array of emotions shot through me in a second. The first was surprise; I was far from any trail here, and I didn't expect company. Then, as my eyes focused on the motionless figure, seeing the utter stillness, the pallid skin, a rush of piercing hope rocked through me.

"Hope!" Edward hissed, utterly in pain.

"That it would be you," Alice said, looking pain too.

I suppressed it viciously, fighting against the equally sharp lash of agony as my eyes continued to the face beneath the black hair, the face that wasn't the one I wanted to see. Next was fear; this was not the face I grieved for, but it was close enough for me to know that the man facing me was no stray hiker.

"No," Esme sobbed.

And finally, in the end, recognition.

"Laurent!" I cried in surprised pleasure.

"Laurent!" several people exclaimed.

"Maybe... he did go to Tanya's..." Esme said hopefully, but the panic was still evident in her voice.

"Then why is he there?" Jasper asked, clearly not liking this at all.

"Just read…please," Alice pleaded. She was reaching her breaking point and needed to know what was going to happen, a feeling that she was not used to having – seeing as she always knew what was going to happen.

It was an irrational response. I probably should have stopped at fear.

"You think," Emmett agreed without his usual humor.

Laurent had been one of James's coven when we'd first met. He hadn't been involved with the hunt that followed – the hunt where I was the quarry – but that was only because he was afraid; I was protected by a bigger coven than his own. It would have been different if that wasn't the case – he'd had no compunctions, at the time, against making a meal of me. Of course, he must have changed, because he'd gone to Alaska

"That doesn't mean he's changed," Emmett said. "Keep your guard up."

"If he hasn't changed... that won't matter," Jasper pointed out darkly.

to live with the other civilized coven there, the other family that refused to drink human blood for ethical reasons. The other family like…but I couldn't let myself think the name.

Yes, fear would have made more sense, but all I felt was an overwhelming satisfaction.

Edward made a groaning sound at that.

The meadow was a magic place again. A darker magic than I'd expected, to be sure, but magic all the same. Here was the connection I'd sought. The proof, however remote, that –somewhere in the same world where I lived – he did exist.

It was impossible how exactly the same Laurent looked. I suppose it was very silly and human to expect some kind of change in the last year. But there was something…I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"His eyes would have turned golden by now," Carlisle said, aloud what everyone else was thinking.

"Bella?" he asked, looking more astonished than I felt.

"You remember." I smiled. It was ridiculous that I should be so elated because a vampire knew my name.

He grinned. "I didn't expect to see you here." He strolled toward me, his expression bemused.

"Isn't it the other way around? I do live here. I thought you'd gone to Alaska."

He stopped about ten paces away, cocking his head to the side. His face was the most beautiful face I'd seen in what felt like an eternity. I studied his features with a strangely greedy sense of release. Here was someone I didn't have to pretend for – someone who already knew everything I could never say.

"You're right," he agreed. "I did go to Alaska. Still, I didn't expect…When I found the Cullen place empty, I thought they'd moved on."

"Was he looking for us?" Esme asked, hopeful again...even more than before. "Maybe that's why he's there and..."

"I don't think it's like that," Jasper said, looking thoughtful – his mind going over every detail like it always did in situations like this.

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"No..." Edward disagreed, looking at Jasper in shock. "It can't be that."

"We'll see," Jasper sighed. "I hope I'm wrong too."

"What is it?" Alice asked again, but Jasper just shook his head – he didn't want to say it out loud.

"Oh." I bit my lip as the name set the raw edges of my wound throbbing. It took me a second to compose myself. Laurent waited with curious eyes.

"They did move on," I finally managed to tell him.

"Don't tell him that," Edward hissed, but his voice sounded distant. He looking like he was fighting with another emotion as he worried about Bella.

"Hmm," he murmured. "I'm surprised they left you behind. Weren't you sort of a pet of theirs?"

Edward growled and Emmett's mouth almost twitched at that, but he couldn't find it in himself to find anything about this amusing.

His eyes were innocent of any intended offense.

I smiled wryly. "Something like that."

"Hmm," he said, thoughtful again.

At that precise moment, I realized why he looked the same – too much the same. After Carlisle told us that Laurent had stayed with Tanya's family, I'd begun to picture him, on the rare occasions that I thought of him at all, with the same golden eyes that the…Cullens – I forced the name out, wincing – had. That all good vampires had.

I took an involuntary step back, and his curious, dark red eyes followed the movement.

"Damn," Emmett said.

"Do they visit often?" he asked, still casual, but his weight shifted toward me.

"Lie," the beautiful velvet voice whispered anxiously from my memory.

"I don't think that will help," Jasper said gravely. "I don't know of a lie that will work here."

I started at the sound of his voice, but it should not have surprised me. Was I not in the worst danger imaginable? The motorcycle was safe as kittens next to this.

I did what the voice said to do.

"Now and again." I tried to make my voice light, relaxed. "The time seems longer to me, I imagine. You know how they get distracted…" I was beginning to babble. I had to work to shut myself up.

"Hmm," he said again. "The house smelled like it had been vacant for a while…"

"You have to lie better than that," Edward said.

"You must lie better than that, Bella," the voice urged.

I tried. "I'll have to mention to Carlisle that you stopped by. He'll be sorry they missed your visit." I pretended to deliberate for a second. "But I probably shouldn't mention it to… Edward, I suppose –"

"Good... that has the best chance of working with," Jasper said. "If anything would work it would be that..."

I barely managed to say his name, and it twisted my expression on the way out, ruining my bluff " – he has such a temper…well, I'm sure you remember. He's still touchy about the whole James thing." I rolled my eyes and waved one hand dismissively, like it was all ancient history, but there was an edge of hysteria to my voice. I wondered if he would recognize what it was.

"Is he really?" Laurent asked pleasantly…skeptically.

"Damn," Emmett repeated.

I kept my reply short, so that my voice wouldn't betray my panic. "Mm-hmm."

Laurent took a casual step to the side, gazing around at the little meadow. I didn't miss that the step brought him closer to me. In my head, the voice responded with a low snarl.

"So how are things working out in Denali? Carlisle said you were staying with Tanya?" My voice was too high.

The question made him pause. "I like Tanya very much," he mused. "And her sister Irina even more…I've never stayed in one place for so long before, and I enjoy the advantages, the novelty of it. But, the restrictions are difficult…I'm surprised that any of them can keep it up for long." He smiled at me conspiratorially. "Sometimes I cheat."

Everyone hissed at that – everyone except for Edward, who was frozen in his statue of pain again.