"Not Seattle," Charlie interjected, his eyebrows pulling together.
"Of course not," Alice agreed at once, though we both knew Seattle would be plenty safe on Saturday. "I was thinking Olympia, maybe. . . ."
"You'll like that, Bella." Charlie was cheerful with relief. "Go get your fill of the city."
"Yeah, Dad. It'll be great."
With one easy conversation, Alice had cleared my schedule for the battle.
Edward returned not much later. He accepted Charlie's wishes for a nice trip without surprise. He claimed they were leaving early in the morning, and said goodnight before the usual time. Alice left with him.
I excused myself soon after they left.
"You can't be tired," Charlie protested.
"A little," I lied.
"No wonder you like to skip the parties," he muttered. "It takes you so long to recover."
Upstairs, Edward was lying across my bed.
"What time are we meeting with the wolves?" I murmured as I went to join him.
"In an hour."
"That's good. Jake and his friends need to get some sleep."
"They don't need as much as you do," he pointed out.
I moved to another topic, assuming he was about to try to talk me into staying home. "Did Alice tell you that she's kidnapping me again?"
He grinned. "Actually, she's not."
I stared at him, confused, and he laughed quietly at my expression.
"I'm the only one who has permission to hold you hostage, remember?" he said. "Alice is going hunting with the rest of them." He sighed. "I guess I don't need to do that now."
"You're kidnapping me?"
He nodded.
I thought about that briefly. No Charlie listening downstairs, checking on me every so often. And no houseful of wide-awake vampires with their intrusively sensitive hearing. . . . Just him and me - really alone.
"Is that all right?" he asked, concerned by my silence.
"Well . . . sure, except for one thing."
"What thing?" His eyes were anxious. It was mind-boggling, but, somehow, he still seemed unsure of his hold on me. Maybe I needed to make myself more clear.
"Why didn't Alice tell Charlie you were leaving tonight?" I asked.
He laughed, relieved.
I enjoyed the trip to the clearing more than I had last night. I still felt guilty, still afraid, but I wasn't terrified anymore. I could function. I could see past what was coming, and almost believe that maybe it would be okay. Edward was apparently fine with the idea of missing the fight . . . and that made it very hard not to believe him when he said this would be easy. He wouldn't leave his family if he didn't believe it himself. Maybe Alice was right, and I did worry too much.
We got to the clearing last.
Jasper and Emmett were already wrestling - just warming up from the sounds of their laughter. Alice and Rosalie lounged on the hard ground, watching. Esme and Carlisle were talking a few yards away, heads close together, fingers linked, not paying attention.
It was much brighter tonight, the moon shining through the thin clouds, and I could easily see the three wolves that sat around the edge of the practice ring, spaced far apart to watch from different angles.
It was also easy to recognize Jacob; I would have known him at once, even if he hadn't looked up and stared at the sound of our approach.
"Where are the rest of the wolves?" I wondered.
"They don't all need to be here. One would do the job, but Sam didn't trust us enough to just send Jacob, though Jacob was willing. Quil and Embry are his usual . . . I guess you could call them his wingmen."
"Jacob trusts you."
Edward nodded. "He trusts us not to try to kill him. That's about it, though."
"Are you participating tonight?" I asked, hesitant. I knew this was going to be almost as hard for him as being left behind would have been for me. Maybe harder.
"I'll help Jasper when he needs it. He wants to try some unequal groupings, teach them how to deal with multiple attackers."
He shrugged.
And a fresh wave of panic shattered my brief sense of confidence.
They were still outnumbered. I was making that worse.
I stared at the field, trying to hide my reaction.
It was the wrong place to look, struggling as I was to lie to myself, to convince myself that everything would work out as I needed it to. Because when I forced my eyes away from the Cullens - away from the image of their playfighting that would be real and deadly in just a few days - Jacob caught my eyes and smiled.
It was the same wolfy grin as before, his eyes scrunching the way they did when he was human.
It was hard to believe that, not so long ago, I'd found the werewolves frightening - lost sleep to nightmares about them.
I knew, without asking, which of the others was Embry and which was Quil. Because Embry was clearly the thinner gray wolf with the dark spots on his back, who sat so patiently watching, while Quil - deep chocolate brown, lighter over his face - twitched constantly, looking like he was dying to join in the mock fight. They weren't monsters, even like this. They were friends.
Friends who didn't look nearly as indestructible as Emmett and Jasper did, moving faster than cobra strikes while the moonlight glinted off their granite-hard skin. Friends who didn't seem to understand the danger involved here. Friends who were still somewhat mortal, friends who could bleed, friends who could die. . . .
Edward's confidence was reassuring, because it was plain that he wasn't truly worried about his family. But would it hurt him if something happened to the wolves? Was there any reason for him to be anxious, if that possibility didn't bother him? Edward's confidence only applied to one set of my fears.