Only Human Twilight

4

The candles went out, and suddenly Bella was no longer in her chair.

The panic came instantly. There was no way I simply didn't see her – darkness was no obstacle for my eyes. Only the ghost of her scent lingered in the air, and the silence pressed in abruptly without her heartbeat.

"What happened?" I croaked, looking around at the faces of my bewildered family. "Where is she?"

Alice shook her head. "I can't see her."

My eyes darted around the room as if I would find her in a corner. "Bella?" I cried out, as if it would make her return. "Bella!"

"How could this happen?" Alice asked softly, turning to Carlisle. "No one could have taken her – we would smell them. And Bella obviously couldn't sneak away..."

I looked dumbly to Carlisle as well, praying for answers. How could my wife just...disappear?

"I don't know," he said helplessly. "The Volturi, perhaps...maybe they have a power we don't know of..."

I gaped. "The power to make someone disappear into thin air? No, it can't be the Volturi..."

"Then who else?" Rosalie said, but I shook my head, clinging to denial. If the Volturi had her...

"I'll make some calls," Carlisle said, heading for his study. "Don't panic."

"Don't panic, he says," I muttered to myself. "My wife disappeared into thin air and I'm not supposed to panic?"

Jasper placed a hand on my shoulder, gripping hard enough that I couldn't shake him off, and he sent a wave of calm through me. "You won't get her back in that state. You have to keep a clear head," he argued as I glared at him.

I turned to Alice to ask if she could see anything yet, but I stopped abruptly as a vision flashed before my eyes...

She was impossible to miss. Her bright blouse and strange trousers stood out amongst the drab, conventional dresses of the other women on the street. What caught my attention, however, was the look on her face. I had never seen anyone look so lost, or so alive. The contradiction piqued my curiosity. I wanted to know her.

"Excuse me, miss," I found myself saying, approaching. She looked up, full of surprise. Frozen with surprise, actually. She looked as if she'd seen a ghost.

"Miss? Are you all right?"

She blinked as if coming out of a daze. "Actually, I'm a bit lost."

"Edward? Edward, what's wrong?" Alice asked, waving her hand in front of my face to get my attention. I blinked.

"I think I just had a vision," I said, wondering why the hell I would see that in my mind.

"Of the future?" Alice asked, full of skepticism.

"No," I shook my head. "Of the past. I saw...it was like a memory. Meeting Bella...in 1918. But she was wearing the same clothes she wore tonight..."

"Well, maybe that's where she is," Alice shrugged, suddenly calm.

"No," I said immediately, trying to get my mind around the idea. "She can't be in 1918. How could she even get there?"

Alice shrugged again. "Beats me. But it would explain why I can't see her. Her entire future is in the past right now."

"It can't be," I said again, less forcefully. "She can't be in the past."

"Where else could she be, then? Given the circumstances, I think it's the only logical answer. Even if it defies the laws of physics."

Okay. I could handle this. Maybe it wasn't even remotely within the realm of reality, but I ought to be used to defying the laws of nature. I did it every day. But ever since Bella had come into my life, I'd felt more and more human, and now...now I wasn't equipped to deal with anything like this. Much as I tried to compose myself, the panic kept creeping back in.