Bella's Little Sister

Chapter 16

I watched as Jasper placed a blank sheet of paper on the coffee table before us and a pencil in Alice's hand, her eyes unfocused as she became lost in her vision.

"Mirrors," Alice started slowly. "A room full of mirrors." Alice began sketching what she was seeing, the pencil streaking wildly across the page, though she never once glanced at it. Within seconds, I could see the focus of her vision etched deeply into the paper.

"Edward said the visions weren't always certain," I spoke the words quietly as I locked my gaze onto the drawing, studying the image.

Jasper glanced up at me, taking in my blank expression. "She sees the course people are on while they're on it. If they change their minds, the vision changes."

My mask crumbled away as I leaned forward, a sense of recognition flickering through me as I narrowed my eyes in confusion at the nearly completed drawing. "So... the course he's on will lead him to a ballet studio?"

Alice's hand was now abruptly still as both she and Jasper slowly raised their eyes to meet mine, both of them watching me very closely. "You've been here?" Alice questioned after a second.

"No," I shook my head slowly, still fixated on the drawing. "But Bella has," I informed them. "She used to take lessons there as a kid. It's just around the corner from my mom's house."

"Was Bella's school here in Phoenix?" Jasper questioned. Alice turned her gaze on him before looking back at me.

It took me a minute to register the full extent of his question. "Phoenix," I frowned slightly as I repeated the word. "Is that where we are?" The question was really more rhetorical than anything else, so neither of them answered.

My phone-which was resting on the coffee table-began buzzing loudly. Jasper kept his gaze on me as he picked it up from the surface of the table, placing it into my waiting hand. Edward began speaking as soon as I had the line opened.

"Jess, we've lost the tracker."

I bit my lip as a wave of nausea and anxiety swept through me, though it didn't last long. I kept my eyes away from Jasper's face as I remained silent, listening to Edward's next words.

"The woman is still in the area," he continued. "Rosalie and Esme are going back to Forks to protect your father and Bella." Edward then claimed he was coming to get me, and that we would be going somewhere alone, someplace safe. "The others will keep hunting." There was a very strong note of promise and resolve in the next words he spoke to me. "But I will do whatever it takes to make you safe again."

Alice and Jasper had decided it would be best to check out of the hotel and head to the airport, where we would wait for the others to arrive. All I could do now was wait... and pace. If they lost the tracker, where is he now? I felt a small sense of comfort and relief in knowing that Bella and my father would at least be safe from anything Victoria may try to do, thanks to being under the watchful eye of Rosalie and Esme.

My thoughts then turned to Laurent, and I wondered where he may have gone, now that he was no longer a part of what I assumed James considered 'fun'. Though I supposed it didn't matter either way, as long as he was out of the picture.

I knew my sister would want to know about everything that had happened thus far since my sudden departure from Forks. But I was also aware that telling her James was now missing would set her off. Bella would insist that I tell her exactly where I was, probably throwing in a comment about how she would feel better if she were with me. And as much as I wanted to have my sister by my side, I knew the safest place she could be was at home, as far away from me as she could possibly get. Not to mention my sister would definitely not like what I was about to do.