We have to be more careful than anyone else!”“We’ve left rumors behind us before,” I reminded her.“Just rumors and suspicions, Edward. Not eyewitnesses and evidence!”“Evidence!” I scoffed.But Jasper was nodding, his eyes hard.“Rose—” Carlisle began.“Let me finish, Carlisle. It doesn’t have to be any big production. The girl hit her head today. So maybe that injury turns out to be more serious than it looked.” Rosalie shrugged. “Every mortal goes to sleep with the chance of never waking up. The others would expect us to clean up after ourselves. Technically, that would make it Edward’s job, but this is obviously beyond him. You know I’m capable of control. I would leave no evidence behind me.”“Yes, Rosalie, we all know how proficient an assassin you are,” I snarled.She hissed at me, momentarily beyond words. If only that could last.“Edward, please,” Carlisle said. Then he turned to Rosalie. “Rosalie, I looked the other way in Rochester because I felt that you were owed your justice. The men you killed had wronged you monstrously. This is not the same situation. The Swan girl is entirely innocent.”“It’s not personal, Carlisle,” Rosalie said through her teeth. “It’s to protect us all.”There was a brief moment of silence while Carlisle thought through his answer. When he nodded, Rosalie’s eyes lit up. She should have known better. Even if I hadn’t been able to read his thoughts, I could have anticipated his next words. Carlisle never compromised.“I know you mean well, Rosalie, but… I’d like very much for our family to be worth protecting. The occasional… accident or lapse in control is a regrettable part of what we are.” It was very like him to include himself in the plural, though he had never had such a lapse himself. “To murder a blameless child in cold blood is another thing entirely. I believe the risk she presents, whether she speaks her suspicions or not, is nothing to the greater risk. If we make exceptions to protect ourselves, we risk something much more important. We risk losing the essence of who we are.”I controlled my expression very carefully. It wouldn’t do at all to grin. Or to applaud, as I wished I could.Rosalie scowled. “It’s just being responsible.”“It’s being callous,” Carlisle corrected gently. “Every life is precious.”Rosalie sighed heavily and her lower lip pouted out. Emmett patted her shoulder. “It’ll be fine, Rose,” he encouraged in a low voice.“The question,” Carlisle continued, “is whether we should move on.”“No,” Rosalie moaned. “We just got settled. I don’t want to start on my sophomore year in high school again!”“You could keep your present age, of course,” Carlisle said.“And have to move again that much sooner?” she countered.Carlisle shrugged.“I like it here! There’s so little sun, we get to be almost normal.”“Well, we certainly don’t have to decide now. We can wait and see if it becomes necessary. Edward seems certain of the Swan girl’s silence.”Rosalie snorted.But I was no longer worried about Rose. I could see that she would go along with Carlisle’s decision, no matter how infuriated she was with me. Their conversation had moved on to unimportant details.Jasper remained unmoved.I understood why. Before he and Alice had met, he’d lived in a combat zone, a relentless theater of war. He knew the consequences of flouting the rules—he’d seen the grisly aftermath with his own eyes.It said much that he had not tried to calm Rosalie down with his extra faculties, nor did he now try to rile her up. He was holding himself aloof from this discussion—above it.“Jasper,” I said.He met my gaze, his face expressionless.“She won’t pay for my mistake. I won’t allow that.”“She benefits from it, then? She should have died today, Edward. I would only set that right.”I repeated myself, emphasizing each word. “I will not allow it.”His eyebrows shot up. He wasn’t expecting this—he hadn’t imagined that I would act to stop him.He shook his head once. “And I will not let Alice live in danger, even a slight danger. You don’t feel about anyone the way I feel about her, Edward, and you haven’t lived through what I’ve lived through, whether you’ve seen my memories or not. You don’t understand.”“I’m not disputing that, Jasper. But I’m telling you now, I won’t allow you to hurt Isabella Swan.”We stared at each other—not glaring, but measuring the opposition. I felt him sample the mood around me, testing my determination.“Jazz,” Alice said, interrupting us.He held my gaze for a moment more, and then looked at her. “Don’t bother telling me you can protect yourself, Alice. I already know that. It doesn’t change—”“That’s not what I’m going say,” Alice interrupted. “I was going to ask you for a favor.”I saw what was on her mind, and my mouth fell open with an audible gasp. I stared at her, shocked, only vaguely aware that everyone besides Alice and Jasper was now eyeing me warily.“I know you love me. Thanks. But I would really appreciate it if you didn’t try to kill Bella. First of all, Edward’s quite serious and I don’t want you two fighting. Secondly, she’s my friend. At least, she’s going to be.”It was clear as glass in her head: Alice, smiling, with her icy white arm around the girl’s warm, fragile shoulders. And Bella was smiling, too, her arm around Alice’s waist.The vision was rock solid; only the timing of it was unsure.“But… Alice…,” Jasper gasped. I couldn’t manage to turn my head to see his expression. I couldn’t tear myself away from the image in Alice’s vision in order to hear his thoughts.“I’m going to love her someday, Jazz. I’ll be very put out with you if you don’t let her be.”I was still locked into Alice’s thoughts. I saw the future shimmer as Jasper’s resolve floundered in the face of her unexpected request.“Ah,” she sighed—his indecision had cleared a new future. “See? Bella’s not going to say anything. There’s nothing to worry about.”The way she said the girl’s name… like they were already close confidants.“Alice,” I choked. “What… does this…?”“I told you there was a change coming. I don’t know, Edward.” But she locked her jaw, and I could see that there was more. She was trying not to think about it. She was focusing very hard on Jasper suddenly, though he was too stunned to have progressed much in his decision-making.She did this sometimes when she was trying to keep something from me.“What, Alice? What are you hiding?”I heard Emmett grumble. He always got frustrated when Alice and I had these kinds of conversations.She shook her head, trying not to let me in.“Is it about the girl?” I demanded. “Is it about Bella?”She had her teeth gritted in concentration, but when I spoke Bella’s name, she slipped. Her slip only lasted the tiniest portion of a second, but that was long enough.“NO!” I shouted. I heard my chair hit the floor, and only then realized I was on my feet.“Edward!” Carlisle was on his feet, too, gripping my shoulder. I was barely aware of him.“It’s solidifying,” Alice whispered. “Every minute you’re more decided. There are really only two ways left for her. It’s one or the other, Edward.”I could see what she saw… but I could not accept it.“No,” I said again. There was no volume to my denial. My legs felt hollow, and I had to brace myself against the table. Carlisle’s hand fell away.“That is so annoying,” Emmett complained.“I have to leave,” I whispered to Alice, ignoring him.“Edward, we’ve already been over that,” Emmett said loudly. “That’s the best way to start the girl talking. Besides, if you take off, we won’t know for sure if she’s talking or not. You have to stay and deal with this.”“I don’t see you going anywhere, Edward,” Alice told me. “I don’t know if you can leave anymore.” Think about it, she added silently. Think about leaving.I understood what she meant. Yes, the idea of never seeing the girl again was… painful. I’d already felt that in the hospital hallway where I’d given her such a harsh farewell. But now leaving was even more necessary. I couldn’t sanction either future I’d apparently condemned her to.I’m not entirely sure of Jasper, Edward, Alice went on. If you leave, if he thinks she’s a danger to us…“I don’t hear that,” I contradicted her, still only halfway aware of our audience. Jasper was wavering. He would not do something that would hurt Alice.Not right this moment. Will you risk her life, leave her undefended?“Why are you doing this to me?” I groaned. My head fell into my hands.I was not Bella’s protector. I could not be that. Wasn’t Alice’s divided future enough proof of that?I love her, too. Or I will. It’s not the same, but I want her around for that.“Love her, too?” I whispered, incredulous.She sighed. You are so blind, Edward. Can’t you see where you’re headed? Can’t you see where you already are? It’s more inevitable than the sun rising tomorrow morning. See what I see.…I shook my head, horrified. “No.” I tried to shut out the visions she revealed to me. “I don’t have to follow that course. I’ll leave. I will change the future.”“You can try,” she said, her voice skeptical.“Oh, come on!” Emmett bellowed.“Pay attention,” Rose hissed at him. “Alice sees him falling for a human! How classically Edward!” She made a gagging sound.I scarcely heard her.“What?” Emmett said, startled. Then his booming laugh echoed through the room. “Is that what’s been going on?” He laughed again. “Tough break, Edward.”I felt his hand touch my arm, but I shook it off absently. I couldn’t pay attention to him.“Fall for a human?” Esme repeated in a stunned voice. “For the girl he saved today? Fall in love with her?”“What do you see, Alice? Exactly,” Jasper demanded.She turned toward him. I continued to stare numbly at the side of her face.“It all depends on whether he is strong enough. Either he’ll kill her himself”—she turned to meet my gaze again, glaring—“which would really irritate me, Edward, not to mention what it would do to you—” She faced Jasper again. “Or she’ll be one of us someday.”Someone gasped; I didn’t look to see who.“That’s not going to happen!” I was shouting again. “Either one!”Alice spoke as if she hadn’t heard me. “It all depends,” she repeated. “He may be just strong enough not to kill her—but it will be close. It will take an amazing amount of control,” she mused. “More, even, than Carlisle has. The only thing he’s not strong enough to do is stay away from her. That’s a lost cause.”I couldn’t find my voice. No one else seemed to be able to, either. The room was still.I stared at Alice, and everyone else stared at me. I could see my own horrified expression from five different viewpoints.After a long moment, Carlisle sighed. “Well, this… complicates things.”“I’ll say,” Emmett agreed. His voice was still close to laughter. Trust Emmett to find the joke in the destruction of my life.“I suppose the plans remain the same, though,” Carlisle said thoughtfully. “We’ll stay, and watch. Obviously, no one will… hurt the girl.”I stiffened.“No,” Jasper said quietly. “I can agree to that. If Alice sees only two ways—”“No!” My voice was not a shout or a growl or a cry of despair, but some combination of the three. “No!”I had to leave, to be away from the noise of their thoughts—Rosalie’s self-righteous disgust, Emmett’s humor, Carlisle’s never-ending patience.…Worse: Alice’s confidence. Jasper’s confidence in that confidence.Worst of all: Esme’s… joy.I stalked out of the room. Esme reached for my hand as I passed, but I didn’t acknowledge the gesture.I was running before I was out of the house. I cleared the lawn and river in one bound and raced into the forest. The rain was back again, falling so heavily that I was drenched in a few seconds. I liked the thick sheet of water—it made a wall between me and the rest of the world. It closed me in, let me be alone.I ran due east, over and through the mountains without breaking my straight course, until I could see a hazy hint of Seattle lights on the other side of the sound. I stopped before I touched the borders of human civilization.Shut in by the rain, all alone, I finally made myself look at what I had done—at the way I had mutilated the future.First, the vision of Alice and the girl with their arms around each other, walking together in the forest near the high school—the trust and friendship was so obvious it sang out from the image. Bella’s wide chocolate eyes were not confused in this vision, but still full of secrets—in this moment, they seemed to be happy secrets. She did not flinch away from Alice’s cold arm.What did it mean? How much did she know? In that still-life moment from the future, what did she think of me?Then the other image, so much the same, yet now colored by horror. Alice and Bella on the front porch of my house, their arms still wrapped around each other in trusting friendship. But now there was no difference between those arms—both were white, smooth as marble, hard as steel. Bella’s eyes were no longer the color of chocolate. The irises were a shocking, vivid crimson. The secrets in them were unfathomable—acceptance or desolation? It was impossible to tell. Her face was cold and immortal.I shuddered. I could not suppress the questions, similar, but different: What did it mean—how had this come about? And what did she think of me now?I could answer that last one. If I forced her into this empty half life through my weakness and selfishness, surely she would hate me.But there was one even more horrifying image—worse than any I’d ever held inside my head.My own eyes, deep crimson with human blood, the eyes of the monster. Bella’s broken body in my arms, ashy white, drained, lifeless. It was so concrete, so clear.I couldn’t stand to see this. Could not bear it. I tried to banish it from my mind, tried to see something, anything else. Tried to see again the expression on her living face that had obstructed my view for the last chapter of my existence. All to no avail.Alice’s bleak vision filled my head, and I writhed internally with the agony it caused. Meanwhile, the monster in me was overflowing with glee, jubilant at the likelihood of his success. It sickened me.This could not be allowed. There had to be a way to circumvent the future. I would not let Alice’s visions direct me. I could choose a different path. There was always a choice.There had to be.