She was leaning casually beside the open window as if she'd been there the whole time.
"Knock, knock," she added with a grin.
"Is it really so hard to wait for me to get the door?"
She threw a flat, white box onto my bed. "I'm just passing through. I thought you might need something to wear."
I looked at the big package lying on top of my unsatisfying wardrobe and grimaced.
"Admit it," Alice said. "I'm a lifesaver."
"You're a lifesaver," I muttered. "Thanks."
"Well, it's nice to get something right for a change. You don't know how irritating it is - missing things the way I have been. I feel so useless. So . . . normal." She cringed in horror of the word.
"I can't imagine how awful that must feel. Being normal? Ugh."
She laughed. "Well, at least this makes up for missing your annoying thief - now I just have to figure out what I'm not seeing in Seattle."
When she said the words that way - putting the two situations together in one sentence - right then it clicked. The elusive something that had been bothering me for days, the important connection that I couldn't quite put together, suddenly became clear. I stared at her, my face frozen with whatever expression was already in place.
"Aren't you going to open it?" she asked. She sighed when I didn't move immediately, and tugged the top of the box off herself. She pulled something out and held it up, but I couldn't concentrate on what it was.
"Pretty, don't you think? I picked blue, because I know it's Edward's favorite on you."
I wasn't listening.
"It's the same," I whispered.
"What is?" she demanded. "You don't have anything like this. For crying out loud, you only own one skirt!"
"No, Alice! Forget the clothes, listen!"
"You don't like it?" Alice's face clouded with disappointment.
"Listen, Alice, don't you see? It's the same! The one who broke in and stole my things, and the new vampires in Seattle. They're together!"
The clothes slipped from her fingers and fell back into the box.
Alice focused now, her voice suddenly sharp. "Why do you think that?"
"Remember what Edward said? About someone using the holes in your vision to keep you from seeing the newborns? And then what you said before, about the timing being too perfect - how careful my thief was to make no contact, as if he knew you would see that. I think you were right, Alice, I think he did know. I think he was using those holes, too. And what are the odds that two different people not only know enough about you to do that, but also decided to do it at exactly the same time? No way. It's one person. The same one. The one who is making the army is the one who stole my scent."
Alice wasn't accustomed to being taking by surprise. She froze, and was still for so long that I started counting in my head as I waited. She didn't move for two minutes straight. Then her eyes refocused on me.
"You're right," she said in a hollow tone. "Of course you're right. And when you put it that way. . . ."
"Edward had it wrong," I whispered. "It was a test . . . to see if it would work. If he could get in and out safely as long as he didn't do anything you would be watching out for. Like trying to kill me. . . . And he didn't take my things to prove he'd found me. He stole my scent . . . so that others could find me."
Her eyes were wide with shock. I was right, and I could see that she knew it, too.
"Oh, no," she mouthed.
I was through expecting my emotions to make sense anymore. As I processed the fact that someone had created an army of vampires - the army that had gruesomely murdered dozens of people in Seattle - for the express purpose of destroying me, I felt a spasm of relief.
Part of it was finally solving that irritating feeling that I was missing something vital.
But the larger part was something else entirely.
"Well," I whispered, "everyone can relax. Nobody's trying to exterminate the Cullens after all."
"If you think that one thing has changed, you're absolutely wrong," Alice said through her teeth. "If someone wants one of us, they're going to have to go through the rest of us to get to her."
"Thanks, Alice. But at least we know what they're really after. That has to help."
"Maybe," she muttered. She started pacing back and forth across my room.
Thud, thud - a fist hammered against my door.
I jumped. Alice didn't seem to notice.
"Aren't you ready yet? We're gonna be late!" Charlie complained, sounding edgy. Charlie hated occasions about as much as I did. In his case, a lot of the problem was having to dress up.
"Almost. Give me a minute," I said hoarsely.
He was quiet for half a second. "Are you crying?"
"No. I'm nervous. Go away."
I heard him clump down the stairs.
"I have to go," Alice whispered.
"Why?"
"Edward is coming. If he hears this . . ."
"Go, go!" I urged immediately. Edward would go berserk when he knew. I couldn't keep it from him for long, but maybe the graduation ceremony wasn't the best time for his reaction.
"Put it on," Alice commanded as she flitted out the window.
I did what she said, dressing in a daze.
I'd been planning to do something more sophisticated with my hair, but time was up, so it hung straight and boring as on any other day. It didn't matter. I didn't bother to look in the mirror, so I had no idea how Alice's sweater and skirt ensemble worked. That didn't matter, either. I threw the ugly yellow polyester graduation robe over my arm and hurried down the stairs.