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The hallway leading to the parking lot narrowed with every step. Not physically, but that's how Edward felt. As if the walls of the school, the students' voices, the thoughts floating in the air were closing in on him like a web of silver thread, thin and deadly. Every second there was a provocation, a poisonous whisper that said: do it.
He had to get out. Now. The wind outside wasn't fresh, but the feeling of open space was almost a physical relief. The afternoon light fell slantingly on the cars, and its reflection on the metal burned his eyes. Everything burned. The whole world.
—Edward!
Her name cut through him like a sharp blade. He stopped dead in his tracks, still not turning around. He knew that voice: light as a sigh, but laden with gravity when it was needed.
Alice caught up with him in three steps, her arms crossed over her chest. Emmett followed behind, slow but solid as a wall.
"Where do you think you're going like this?" Emmett asked, the hint of a tight smile on his face.
"I can't stay," Edward replied, without looking at them. "Not another hour. Not another minute. If you force me, I'll break."
"Brea...? Edward, what are you saying?" Alice leaned closer, her voice tinged with real concern.
He finally turned. His eyes, golden but cloudy, had an almost terrifying intensity.
—If I stay, Bella Swan is going to die.
Emmett opened his mouth to speak, but Alice firmly lifted his hand. Then, without further ado, she pulled out her cell phone.
"Call Carlisle." His tone was dry, urgent. "Have everyone home in half an hour. This is serious."
The Cullen family home's spacious, bright main hall now resembled an interrogation room. The stillness of the surroundings contrasted with the turmoil stirring Edward from within. He paced, his muscles tense, his face twisted in a grimace of restraint. You didn't have to read his mind to know he was on edge.
Carlisle and Esme had sat on one of the couches, close together as always. Jasper stood near the fireplace, his hands clasped behind his back, alert. Rosalie, immaculate, stood with her arms crossed, clearly annoyed at being interrupted. Emmett leaned against the doorframe. And Alice, the only one who seemed to have any real connection to Edward's inner turmoil, sat cross-legged, watching her brother's every nervous twitch like a compass pointing toward an invisible north.
"It's Bella," Edward began, staring down at the floor as if his words might set the house on fire. "I can't... be near her. It's torture. It's like every cell in my body reacts to her presence. Like the whole world loses shape and only she remains."
"Is it the blood?" Rosalie asked with a hint of impatience.
Edward laughed, a short, bitter sound.
—The blood is just the beginning. The smell of it drives me crazy, yes. But there's more. Something about the way you move, the way you speak. How your silence weighs more than anyone else's words. I feel like if I don't walk away, I'm going to do something... irreversible. And I don't trust myself enough to bet against it.
"Has he talked to you?" Esme asked cautiously. "Has he noticed anything?"
—No. Just a small conversation. But I… I hear her breathing from across campus. I can hear the echo of her voice even after she's gone. And if I get one inch closer… I know I won't be able to stop.
A tense silence fell over everyone.
"I've had two visions of her," Alice chimed in gently. "In one, she's with you. She's one of us, she's… part of your life. And you seem different. More… controlled. In the other, you kill her. But not by accident. You do it decisively. As if a part of you gives up completely."
Edward closed his eyes. His body seemed about to collapse from emotional exhaustion.
"Both are horrible." His voice cracked slightly. "Don't you see? In one, I drag her into this hell. I tear out her soul so she can fit into this theater of lies. In the other, I tear out her life. Where is the dignified way out?"
"There isn't," Rosalie murmured, her eyes fixed on him. "That's the point. There never was for us."
Jasper looked at her sideways but didn't contradict her.
Edward started talking about Nate as if there was barely any transition between the two topics. But to him, everything was connected.
—And then there's him. Nate. His mind doesn't work like others. There's no noise. No doubt. There's structure. Calculation. Distance. He reminds me of... us. Too much.
Carlisle frowned.
—What exactly did you see?
—Enough to know he can't be fooled. He heard me lie today and knew before I finished my sentence. His mind processes information in patterns. He's as cold as a scalpel. He's human, but barely.
Alice tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, thoughtful.
"I had a class with him this afternoon. He didn't seem so terrible to me. Actually... he seemed a little dazzled by me," she said, with an almost shy smile. "Like a puppy watching fireworks. I even thought he was sweet."
Edward's outburst was sudden.
"YOU SAY THAT BECAUSE YOU CAN'T READ HIS MIND!" he shouted, and everyone tensed. "HE'S ALMOST AS MONSTROUS AS WE ARE."
The silence that followed was total as if the world had stopped.
Esme looked down. Rosalie let out a sigh of annoyance. Jasper closed his eyes for a moment as if he were holding back emotions that weren't his own.
"Alice..." Carlisle said firmly. "Have you seen him in your visions?"
Alice was slow to respond. Finally, she shook her head.
—I've tried. But every time I see him, he changes. As if he's adapting while I'm watching him. As if... he's rewriting his decisions in real-time. I've never seen anything like it.
Edward sank into an armchair as if his body could no longer support itself. For the first time in a long time, he looked tired.
"I can't handle all of this," he whispered. "Not with her. Not with him. And especially not with what's inside me."
Carlisle leaned forward slightly.
"Then go away for a few days," Carlisle said, his tone firm but compassionate. "Go to Alaska. Stay with your Denali cousins. Think. Breathe. You need space to calm down before you make decisions that can't be undone."
"And leave Nate here alone? Unsupervised?" Edward protested. "If he finds out anything, we'll have no room to maneuver. We won't know how to contain him."
"You can't protect anyone if you're not okay," Carlisle countered. "And in this state... you're not okay. The rest of us will watch the surroundings. We'll watch Nate. We'll try to get close. Get him to let his guard down."
Edward snorted bitterly.
—Good luck with that.
And he disappeared upstairs.
Carlisle stared at the empty spot where Edward had been.
"No one should approach him head-on," he said then, lowering his voice. "If Nate is what Edward thinks he is, we'll need to gain his trust. Distract him. Lower his guard. Don't provoke him."
"What if he doesn't let his guard down?" Jasper asked.
Carlisle looked at his family. His children. His redeemed monsters.
—Then I think we'll find out who the predator is.