Solar Eclipse - Book 5

Chapter 11

When my mother and I returned back downstairs Alice and Jasper were there, along with the rest of the family. There was not one person who didn't have a grim expression on their face.

I walked into the living room and took a seat beside Nic. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him before burying his face in my hair.

"Have you seen anything Alice?" I heard my mother ask as her and my father took a seat across from us.

I glanced at Alice only to see her shake her head. "I can't, it's like whoever is doing this doesn't exist. Its like seeing a mirage, it keeps shifting shapes and colors. I just can't get a lock on-" Suddenly Alice froze, her eyes widening in shock.

Jasper's hands were on her shoulders, rubbing her soothingly. "What is it Alice?" he asked.

She started moving her head from right to left, craning her neck here and there as if she was trying to see something that wasn't in her direct line of vision. I looked over at my father for reassurance on what Alice was seeing, and watched as he slowly rose to his feet with a shocked expression on his face.

"This has to be connected with what is happening." he murmured.

"Edward, what is going on?" My mother asked. "Why is Alice doing that with her head."

"She is searching the details of her vision."

"What is she seeing?"

"She saw the party scene at the Lake House, where the kids invited their school friends." My father said.

Then Alice came back to our reality. "Only things were different. Not everyone who was there last time was present."

"And everyone had red eyes." my father added.

Suddenly Alice went rigid again. After five and a quarter seconds my father turned his head and looked right at the twins and then to me.

"NO!" He gasped.

"What is it?" My mother asked as she quickly joined his side.

Just as quickly as my mother asked Alice came out of her stupor and turned her head to look right at the twins and then me.

Rosalie got to her feet, her arms crossed and a stern look upon her face. "Alice, what did you see?"

"There was blood everywhere, the twins and Renesmee."

"WHAT ABOUT THEM!" Rosalie snapped.

"They are dead." she said in a barely audible voice.

"NO!" My mother shouted as she was quickly at my side with her arms spread outwards as if she was trying to shield me from danger.

"What the hell is going on? Who is out to get us this time?" Emmett said as he joined Rosalie who was cowering in Esme's arms. "Why can't we just live in peace."

"Well, it seems like we are all trying to cheat death again." Jasper said in a stiff voice. "Is this going to be our lives for the rest of eternity? Death looming constantly over our shoulders."

"I never said we were all dead, I just said the twins and Renesmee. Only it doesn't make sense. Who would want to do this?" Alice said

"Maybe it is all connected." I began. "The party, the note, the three of us dying. It has to be someone at that party, someone that the three of us had a falling out with."

"It's Rachel." Matthew said casually as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Wait a minute, Rachel is the girl who you were with?" I asked, completely dumbfounded. "I can't believe you would do that to me."

"I told you I wasn't thinking Renesmee." Matt said, taking a step towards me. "You have to understand."

I pursed my lips. "Oh I do Matty, you betrayed me for that girl who was out to use you!" A tear slid down my right cheek. I caught it and quickly wiped it away.

"Whoa, what the hell is going on?" Rosalie demanded. "You two are family and you should be loving one another not fighting."

"Rose, I hardly think that is important, we need to understand what is going on."

"Oh, if that's the case grandpa Carlisle, you need to hear every detail straight from Matthews mouth. His betrayal to me has everything to do with why we are in this mess."

Matthew went into deep detail about him and Rachel in the locker room. Her coming to him with the news of her being pregnant and her wanting money to get the problem fixed. He told about learning how to perform abortions so he could perform it himself to keep it a secret and talked about meeting her in the forest. But what was news to me was that she had come to him to give news that she wanted to keep the baby and that she expected him to marry her.

When she was injured and they all left her -seemingly dead body in the forest for the animals to naturally dispose of- Matthew had returned and found her writhing in pain. She wasn't dead but in the process of being changed.

He took her and hid her and waited for the transformation to be completed before he explained to her about her new life only to leave shortly after. For several days she followed him to try and persuade him to be with her for eternity but he declined because she was too dangerous for him.

"I can't believe you would be so irresponsible Matthew!" Rosalie chastised.

Emmett did nothing but stare blankly at his son, it was clear that he was very disappointed in him. Only it was obvious that he couldn't find the words to say it.

"So this girl, why can't I get a hold on her in my visions if it is her?" Alice said, bringing the conversation back to what was important. "If I could get her in front of my third eye I would be able to see her and her movements clearly."

"Could it be a gift?" I asked curiously.

"Possible," Carlisle began. "Any vampire that inherits a gift normally already has it in their human life. The change only amplifies it."

"So she is evading us?"

"It doesn't seem like it. I've tried tracking an evasive vampire before, I know they are so because I see glimpses here and there, normally though it is just a snip of their face. This case is different, its like she is rapidly changing who she is. Like she is a shape shifter." Alice finished

"She isn't a werewolf." I said plainly. "I know what they smell like and she smells nothing like-"

"-I know she isn't Ness. But it's like she is one. I can catch a blurred scene, its enough for me to see what it is but not where it is because the major details are obscured. But she, her person, keeps shifting. Hair color, eye color, height."

"Why don't we just dissect who she was as a human. Maybe those answers will give us a better guess at what her gift is." My father suggested. "Who knew her longest?"

"Ness did." Penelope said.

I shook my head. "No I didn't. Matthew was hanging out with that boy he met and you were with him so I am positive you met her first."

"Well I don't know much about her."

"Matthew?"

He shook his head silently, not bothering to glance up at us.

"Rachel Pegeus?" Jamie said as she entered the room.

"Jamie? What, how did you get here?"

"I ran." She said casually as she came closer.

"How did you know?"

"Our parents keep in touch." she added simply.

I looked over my shoulder at my parents before giving my attention back to Jamie who began talking.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I heard the last two minutes of your conversation from a mile out. I went to preschool, elementary school, middle school and high school with Rachel. She was very manipulative. She could make anyone see her the way she wanted to. Whenever she would wind up in a situation where she wanted something or needed to get out of trouble she always managed to manipulate her way into getting it done."

"So, she is a manipulator?" I questioned.

"Did you not hear her plans to get at your cousin? Did you not see how she went from being one person one moment to another the next. She does this to get what she wants."

"Is that her strongest characteristic?" Carlisle asked.

"I've known her longer than I would have personally wanted to sir, so yes I can say it is."

"You were right Alice." Jasper said.

"This all is beginning to make sense now. She is frequently changing because everyone see hers differently. Whatever you -for better words- subconsciously want to see is how she appears."

"How are you going to focus on her?" my mother asked.

Alice's lip quirked up as if she had a secret up her sleeve. "The only way to see her, I need to focus on what to see."

"How do you know though, if its a subconscious decision? I asked curiously.

"I'm a vampire, we don't have a subconscious. I can make her into whatever I want her to be and then focus on tracking her with my third eye."

"And I am half human, half vampire. What does that mean?"

"From the information I have gathered from Jamie's information on Rachel and Alice's realization, I believe you will be seeing two different people. One that your subconscious mind creates and a second that you yourself creates." Grandpa Carlisle hypothesized.

"But how do I know if she has crossed my path?"

"The easiest way is to recreate her image. In order to find out what your subconscious see's you need to center yourself. For the other image close your eyes and visualize the type of person that would attract you. The harder way is to compile a list of people who you have come into contact with in, lets say, the last month you've been to school. Then narrow it down by those that seemed to be too close and too curious about you." Carlisle suggested.

Then it was there in my mind. I saw two people, no, three people that stuck out immediately.