Page 60 of Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined (The Twilight Saga)

“How long do you think it will take her to cross Beau’s scent in town? Her plan was already set before the words were out of Lauren’s mouth.”

It was like a punch to the gut. I couldn’t breathe for a second as what she was saying finally made concrete sense. Up till now, it had all felt like something abstract, like a word problem in Math. It didn’t seem to connect to me in any real way.

I knew where my scent would lead.

“Charlie,” I gasped. And then I yelled. “Charlie! We have to go back. We have to get Charlie!”

I started ripping at the buckles that held me in place, until Eleanor grabbed my wrists. Trying to yank them back was like trying to pull out of handcuffs that were bolted into concrete.

“Edythe! Turn around!” I shouted.

“He’s right,” Archie said.

The car slowed a tiny bit.

“Let’s just look at our options for a minute,” Archie coaxed.

The car slowed again, more noticeably, and then suddenly we screeched to a stop on the shoulder of the highway. I flew against the harness and then slammed back into the seat.

“There are no options,” Edythe snarled.

“We’re not leaving Charlie!” I yelled.

She ignored me completely.

Eleanor finally spoke. “We have to take him back.”

“No.”

“She’s no match for us, Edy. She won’t be able to touch him.”

“She’ll wait.”

Eleanor smiled a cold, strangely eager smile. “I can wait, too.”

Edythe huffed out a breath, exasperated. “You didn’t see! You don’t understand! Once she commits to a hunt, she’s unshakable. We can’t reason with her. We can’t scare her off. We’d have to kill her.”

This didn’t bother Eleanor. “Yes.”

“And the male. He’s with her. If it turns into a fight, Lauren will side with them, too.”

“There are enough of us.”

“There’s another option,” Archie said quietly.

Edythe turned on him, furious, her voice a blistering snarl. “There—is—no—other—option!”

Eleanor and I both stared at her in shock, but Archie didn’t seem surprised. The silence lasted for a long minute as Edythe and Archie stared each other down.

“Does anyone want to hear my idea?” I asked.

“No,” Edythe snapped. Archie glared at her.

“Listen,” I said. “You take me back.”

“No!”

“Yes! You take me back. I tell my dad I want to go home to Phoenix. I pack my bags. We wait till this tracker is watching, and then we run. She’ll follow us and leave Charlie alone. Then you can take me any damned place you want.”

They stared at me with wide eyes.

“It’s not a bad idea, really.” Eleanor sounded so surprised, it was an insult.

“It might work—and we can’t just leave his father unprotected,” Archie said. “You know that, Edythe.”

Everyone looked at Edythe.

“It’s too dangerous—I don’t want her within a hundred miles of Beau.”

“She’s not getting through us.” Eleanor was very confident.

Archie closed his eyes for a second. “I don’t see her attacking. She’s the kind that goes around, not through. She’ll wait for us to leave him unprotected.”

“It won’t take long for her to realize that’s not going to happen,” Edythe said.

“I have to go home, Edythe.”

She pressed her fingers to her temples and squeezed her eyes shut for a second. Then she was glaring at me.

“Your plan takes too long. We’ve got no time for the packing charade.”

“If I don’t give him some kind of excuse, he’ll make trouble for your family. Maybe call the FBI or something if he thinks you’ve . . . I don’t know, kidnapped me.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Yes. It does. There’s a way to keep everyone safe, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The Jeep rumbled to life, and she spun us around, the tires squealing. The needle on the speedometer started to race up the dial.

“You’re leaving tonight,” Edythe said, and her voice sounded worn.

“Whether the tracker sees or not. Tell Charlie whatever you want—as long as it’s quick.

Pack the first things your hands touch, then get in your truck.

I don’t care what Charlie says. You have fifteen minutes.

Fifteen minutes from the time you cross the doorstep or I carry you out. ”

A few minutes passed in silence, other than the roar of the engine.

“Eleanor?” I asked, looking at my hands.

“Oh, sorry.” She let me loose.

“This is how it’s going to happen,” Edythe said.

“When we get to the house, if the tracker is not there, I will walk Beau to the door. Then he has fifteen minutes.” She glared at me in the rearview mirror.

“Eleanor, you take the outside of the house. Archie, you get the truck. I’ll be inside as long as he is.

After he’s out, you two can take the Jeep home and tell Carine. ”

“No way,” Eleanor broke in. “I’m with you.”

“Think it through, El. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”

“Until we know how far this is going to go, I’m with you.”

Edythe sighed. “If the tracker is there,” she continued grimly, “we keep driving.”

“We’re going to make it there before him,” Archie said confidently.

Edythe seemed to accept that. Whatever her problem with Archie was, she didn’t doubt him now.

“What are we going to do with the Jeep?” he asked.

Edythe’s voice had a hard edge. “You’re driving it home.”

“No, I’m not,” he said calmly.

The unintelligible stream of profanities started again.

“We can’t all fit in my truck,” I mumbled.

Edythe didn’t seem to hear me.

“I think you should let me go alone,” I said even more quietly.

She heard that.

“Beau, don’t be stupid,” she said between clenched teeth.

“Listen, Charlie’s not an imbecile,” I argued. “If you’re not in town tomorrow, he’s going to get suspicious.”

“That’s irrelevant. We’ll make sure he’s safe, and that’s all that matters.”

“Then what about this tracker? She saw how you acted tonight. She’s going to think you’re with me, wherever you are.”

Eleanor looked at me, insultingly surprised again. “Edythe, listen to him,” she urged. “I think he’s right.”

“He is,” Archie agreed.

“I can’t do that.” Edythe’s voice was icy.

“Eleanor should stay, too,” I continued. “She definitely got an eyeful of Eleanor.”

“What?” Eleanor turned on me, looking betrayed.

“You’ll get a better crack at her if you stay,” Archie agreed.

Edythe stared at him incredulously. “You think I should let him go alone?”

“Of course not,” Archie said. “Jess and I will take him.”

“I can’t do that,” Edythe repeated, but this time she sounded defeated. The logic was working on her.

I tried to be persuasive. “Hang out here for a week”—I saw her expression in the mirror and amended—“a few days. Let Charlie see you, and lead this hunter on a wild-goose chase. Make sure she’s completely off the trail.

Then come and meet me. Take a roundabout route, of course, and then Jessamine and Archie can go home. ”

She was beginning to consider it.

“Meet you where?”

“Phoenix.”

“No,” she said impatiently. “She’ll hear that’s where you’re going.”

“And you’ll make it look like that’s a trick, obviously. She’ll know that you’ll know that she’s listening. She’ll never believe I’m actually going where I say I am going.”

“He’s diabolical,” Eleanor laughed.

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“There are several million people in Phoenix,” I informed her.

“It’s not that hard to find a phone book.”

“It’s called a hotel, Edythe.”

“Edythe, we’ll be with him,” Archie reminded her.

“What are you going to do in Phoenix ?” she asked Archie scathingly.

“Stay indoors.”

“I kind of like it.” Eleanor was thinking about cornering Joss, no doubt.

“Shut up, El.”

“Look, if we try to take her down while Beau’s still around, there’s a much better chance that someone will get hurt—he’ll get hurt, or you will, trying to protect him. Now, if we get her alone . . .” She trailed off with a slow smile. I was right.

The Jeep was crawling slowly along now as we drove into town. I could feel the hairs on my arms standing up. I thought about Charlie, alone in the house, and my knee was bouncing with impatience.

“Beau,” Edythe said in a very soft voice. Archie and Eleanor looked out their windows. “If you let anything happen to yourself—anything at all—I’m holding you personally responsible. Do you understand that?”

I stared at her eyes in the mirror. “Ditto, Edythe.”

She turned to Archie.

“Can Jessamine handle this?”

“Give her some credit, Edythe. She’s been doing very, very well, all things considered.”

“Can you handle this?”

Archie pulled his lips back in a horrific grimace and let loose a guttural snarl that had me wincing into the seat.

Edythe smiled at him. “But keep your opinions to yourself,” she muttered suddenly.