Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) - Stephenie Meyer Page 0,276

left it in the parking garage. Jasper kisses Alice and starts the long drive home.

Once the boys are gone, Alice empties the last unit of blood onto the backseat and floor of the rental car. She takes it to a do-it-yourself car wash outside a gas station. She doesn’t do nearly as good a job cleaning up as the detailers. She’ll get fined when she returns the car.

It will be raining when Emmett lands in Seattle, only a half hour till sunset. A taxi will take him to the ferry. It will be easy for him to slip into the Puget Sound, ditching the suitcase in the water, and then—swimming and running—it will be just thirty minutes until he gets to the house. He’ll take Bella’s truck and immediately head back to Phoenix.

Alice frowned in the present and shook her head. This plan would take too long. The truck was incredibly slow.

We were just four minutes from the hospital now. Bella was still breathing slowly and evenly in my arms, and we were all still covered in blood. Emmett and Jasper were both still holding their breath. I blinked and tried to reorient myself. When Alice’s visions were detailed like this, it was easy to lose track of what was happening in the moment. She was better at acclimatizing back and forth than I was.

Alice opened her phone again and dialed a number. She was swimming in Emmett’s sweatshirt, Jasper’s watch dangling from her wrist.

“Rose?”

In the tight, quiet space, we could all hear Rosalie’s panicked voice. “What’s happening? Emmett—”

“Emmett’s fine. I need—”

“Where’s the tracker?”

“The tracker is out of the picture.”

Rosalie gasped audibly.

“I need you to rent a flatbed tow truck,” Alice instructed. “Or buy one, whatever’s faster—something with some kick. Load Bella’s truck and meet Emmett in Seattle. His flight lands at five-thirty.”

“Emmett’s coming home? What happened? Why am I towing that ridiculous truck?”

For a brief moment, I wondered why Alice was sending Emmett home at all. Why not let Rosalie just bring the truck here? It was the obvious solution. And then I realized that Alice couldn’t see Rosalie helping us in that way, and I felt an ice-cold wave of bitterness at the reminder. Rosalie had made her choice.

Emmett wanted to reach for the phone, to calm Rose, but he was still unable to open his mouth.

It was amazing how well both he and Jasper were doing. I thought the extra stimulation of the fight was probably still affecting them, helping them ignore the blood.

“Don’t worry about it,” Alice said curtly. “I’m just cleaning up the loose ends. Emmett will give you all the details. Let Esme know it’s over, but we’ll be detained for a bit. She should stay near Bella’s father in case the redhead—”

Rosalie’s voice went flat. “She’s coming for Charlie?”

“No, I don’t see that,” Alice assured her. “But better safe, right? Carlisle will call her as soon as he can. Hurry up, Rose, you’ve got a deadline.”

“You’re such a brat.”

Alice disconnected the phone.

Well, Emmett will get to keep the clothes, at least. I’m glad. They’re going to look amazing on him.

Emmett was pleased with the call. Happy to know he would be with Rose in just hours, and she would get his side of the story. No reason at all to mention the ridiculous thing with Jasper. If Alice didn’t see any problems with the redhead, then Rose could make the ride back to Phoenix with him. Or maybe she wouldn’t want to.… He looked down at Bella’s wan face, her fractured leg. A deep swell of fraternal affection and concern washed over him.

She’s such a good kid. Rose is going to have to get over this, he thought to himself. Pronto.

Alice’s brow was furrowed. She thought through her chores and looked at the consequences of all the hundreds of choices she had made. She saw herself at the hospital, bringing us clothes from our suitcases so we could get out of our bloody things. Had she caught everything? Had any details slipped her mind?

Everything was fine. Or it would be.

“Well done, Alice,” I whispered approvingly.

She smiled.

Jasper pulled up to the emergency room, keeping his distance from the camera on this side of the entrance, looking for our shade.

I adjusted my grip on Bella and prepared to go through it all again for the first time.

28. THREE CONVERSATIONS

DR. SADARANGANI, CARLISLE’S FRIEND, DID MAKE THINGS SMOOTHER. Carlisle had him paged while they were still bringing a gurney for Bella. It only took minutes for Dr.