Le Temps De L'innocence (Twilight) {Edward Cullen}

Un Homme Est Mort

It had taken much less time than I'd thought, all the terror, the despair, the shattering of my heart. The minutes were ticking by more slowly than usual. Jasper still hadn't come back when I returned to Alice. I was afraid to be in the same room with her, afraid that she would guess and afraid to hide from her for the same reason.

I would have thought I was far beyond the ability to be surprised, my thoughts tortured and unstable, but I was surprised when I saw Alice bent over the desk, gripping the edge with two hands.

"Alice?"

She didn't react when I called her name, but her head was slowly rocking side to side, and I saw her face. Her eyes were blank, dazed. My thoughts flew to my mother. Was I already too late?

I hurried to her side, reaching out automatically to touch her hand.

"Alice!" Jasper's voice whipped, and then he was right behind her, his hands curling over hers, loosening them from their grip on the table. Across the room, the door swung shut with a low click.

"What is it?" he demanded.

She turned to me as Jasper whispered to her, a little fast but still quite clear, "Who made a decision?"

"Frankie." She whispered.

Jasper whipped his head to me and I frowned. 

"What?" I called, trying to sound as surprised as they were.

"What did you see?" I asked.

Jasper looked at me sharply. I kept my expression vacant and waited. His eyes were confused as they flickered swiftly between Alice's face and mine, feeling the chaos for I could guess what Alice had seen now.

I felt a tranquil atmosphere settle around me. I welcomed it, using it to keep my emotions disciplined, under control.

Alice, too, recovered herself.

"Nothing, really," she answered finally, her voice remarkably calm and convincing. "Just the same room as before."

She finally looked at me, her expression smooth and withdrawn. "Did you want breakfast?"

"No, I'll eat at the airport." I was very calm, too. I went to the bathroom to shower. Almost as if I were borrowing Jasper's strange extra sense, I could feel Alice's wild - though well-concealed - desperation to have me out of the room, to be alone with Jasper. So she could tell him that they were doing something wrong, that they were going to fail.

I got ready almost without any emotion behind it. I didn't think much about what I was wearing but I still managed to wear the blue sweater, the one Edward liked. I smoothed it, knowing it was much too warm for the Phoenix weather but I needed it.

I was anxious to get to the airport, and glad when we left by seven. I sat alone this time in the back of the dark car. Alice leaned against the door, her face toward Jasper but, behind her sunglasses, shooting glances in my direction every few seconds.

"Alice?" I asked indifferently.

She was wary. "Yes?"

"How does it work? The things that you see?" I stared out the side window, and my voice sounded bored. "Edward said it wasn't definite... that things change?" It was harder than I would have thought to say his name. That must have been what alerted Jasper, why a fresh wave of serenity filled the car.

"Yes, things change..." she murmured almost hopefully. "Some things are more certain than others, like the weather. People are harder. I only see the course they're on while they're on it. Once they change their minds - make a new decision, no matter how small, the whole future shifts."