Gone

I walked up the tall staircase to see if Sam was better today. We all slept through the night as well as we could. Cassidy and I slept on the couches and I offered Edward the guest room. He took it gladly knowing he would need the sleep. We all needed the sleep. If everything went according to plan, we would be fighting off Peter today or tomorrow. I just wanted Riley back. I would do anything.

I walked down the upstairs hallway to my room. I passed Edward's room, leaving him some privacy. I stopped at my door and opened it. I walked inside and went over to Sam, who was sprawled out on my bed. He still had his jacket and shoes on and I could only imagine how uncomfortable that was to sleep in. As soon as I came to his side, he moaned and tried to lift his head. He opened his eyes and looked at me groggily. He quickly searched the room to try to figure out where he was. Sam looked back at me. I sat down on the bed with a small smile on my face. He propped himself up on his elbows.

"What happened?" Sam asked still wary with sleep.

I gave a little laugh. "I was kind of wondering the same thing for a moment."

He creased his forehead. I smiled. Sam looked very confused. "Bria?"

I frowned. "Sam, do you remember anything that happened last night?"

He gave me the same confused look. I sighed and retraced everything that had happened to me, to Edward, with Peter, and what he told me he did. Throughout the entire story he gave me a worried and thoughtful look. He looked like a little child willing to help his hero. I gave a small smile after I told him what time it was.

"It's only eight?" He asked.

I smiled more. "Well, yeah, but the question I am going to ask you is the question you need to really think about."

"Okay?" He said it as a question.

I shifted. "Sam, I need your help. I need you to get the location of Peter and the others. The others, including Bria. I can't do anything without my powers."

Sam propped himself completely up so that we were eye level. "That's not true, Alyssa. You can do anything without your powers. I have seen what you can do with them and I believe that you were just born for leadership. If you can lead us through this battle, you can beat Peter."

I gave a small thoughtful smile. Did I really mean that much to people like me? It sure seemed like it. I looked into Sam's eyes. "Thank you Sam." He nodded slightly. "But will you help me?"

He smiled. "I will help you if that means changing all of our lives and making them better."

I smiled. "I'm pretty sure that will be the result if it works."

Sam continued smiling his beautiful smile. My human smile wouldn't compare. He looked into my eyes. "Then I will help you."

I nodded. "Cassidy will go with you to the airport to get their location. I already told her specifically to do anything to get it. Just, don't start killing people to get through. Use your brain to get through. Save the blood bath for Peter."

His smile faded and he nodded. "What about you and Edward?"

I frowned. "Well, I'll wait for Eve to come through and I'll have her possibly round up more of us."

Sam smiled. "And you'll be needing me for that too, right?"

I smiled. "Sam, you are such a big help to me. Would you please?"

He nodded. "I did just agree to do anything for you."

"Well," I said, "I am going to go and make breakfast. Are you feeling better anyways?"

Sam nodded again. "Yes, and actually I smell breakfast cooking already."

I frowned. I couldn't smell anything. Stupid human nose. Sam stood up from the bed and brushed his clothes down. I stood up too and walked out of the room. Sam followed behind me. We both walked down the long hallway passing my variety of rooms. The guest room door was open half way, so I expected Edward to be the one downstairs making breakfast. We walked down the staircase and down the next hall to the kitchen.

Sam and I walked into the kitchen. I immediately looked at Edward and Cassidy who were both moving around quickly with food in their hands. They stopped doing whatever they were doing when they saw us. They both smiled. Edward smiled larger.

"Well, good morning," Edward said holding a spatula in his hand. I was surprised at what they were doing. For one, I hadn't heard either of them get up. For two, I have never seen or even thought of Cassidy making breakfast. Nothing besides Kellogg's cereal. I creased my forehead trying to figure this out. Both of them laughed at my expression.

Cassidy looked at me. "Lets be honest, Alyssa, the food you made as a human wasn't that great. We decided to make you something considering you are just a human now."

Edward looked at her. "You better watch yourself, Cassidy. If you have forgotten, I am a human now too."

I sighed. "Alright, so what are we having?"

"Pancakes," Cassidy said.

"Really Cass? Pancakes?" I looked at the stove that held a pancake pan. Next to it on the counter was a bottle of pancake batter. I looked back at Cassidy. "Do you honestly think that I can't make pancakes? Anybody could make pancakes."

She laughed. "Well, the last time I had your food was when I was six, so I guess you didn't know how to then."

I sighed. "Well, yeah, I know how to now. But thank you Edward and Cassidy for making this marvelous meal of pancakes."

"Come on, Alyssa," Sam said from behind me. "They're just giving you a break from all of the chaos."

Cassidy looked at him with a frown. "I take it you told him everything?"

I nodded. I walked slowly over to the kitchen table and sat down. Sam sat in the seat Riley always sat in. At least it didn't have to be an empty seat. It still felt extremely empty without Riley here. Even if I just had a big sleepover at my house, it felt so wrong without my husband by my side.

Edward placed the plate of pancakes in front of me. I realized there was already an empty plate directly in front of me. I grabbed the fork that was on the plate of pancakes and I stabbed a couple of blueberry pancakes and lifted them onto my plate. I placed the fork back on the pancakes and ushered the plate over to Sam. Edward and Cassidy both sighed and sat down in the two other chairs. Edward sat across from me. He had a smile on his face. I just continued frowning.

"We're going to get him back, Alyssa," Edward said. I looked up at him with confusion. "Social perceptive like you, I guess," he explained.

I sighed and grabbed the bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup and poured the thickness over my pancakes with a blank expression on my face. They all watched me carefully trying to understand me. I looked up at them.

"What?" I said. They all looked back at there food. "Am I not the only one that is worried about our friends and family?" They ignored me. "Jesus Christ, you guys. Sam," I said turning to him, "your girlfriend was taken. Cass," I looked at her, "our dad and brother was taken."

"Well," Cassidy said, "he's not really my brother."

I looked at her in shock. "It doesn't matter!" I looked at Edward. "Your brother and my husband was taken! My two best friends were taken! My dad and brother were taken!"

They all looked at me. Sam frowned and leaned back in his seat. "Wait a minute, Alyssa. Is it just me, or did you just completely figure out the entire reason Peter took all of them?"

We all stayed quiet. I thought for a moment. "That's it," I said. "Peter wants all of them because they are all connected to me, but yet they are all connected to all of you. He doesn't want their powers, he wants ours. He wants us to save the people we love so that he can steal our powers so that he can be more powerful." I looked at Sam. "Sam, you're a genius."

"Well," he shrugged. "You did all the thinking."

"Yeah, but you were the one that put it all together," Cassidy said.

I looked at Edward. He frowned. "So if he's planning on us to save them so he can steal our powers, what do we do?"

I thought again. "Well, considering you and I don't have powers anymore and since Peter already has my powers, we are definitely going to need more of us. We are going to have to outnumber him so that I can regain my powers by absorbing them back from Peter and then I can save the others."

Edward nodded. "So, he's not going to take the other's powers, he just wanted yours and he still wants Sam's and Cassidy's."

Cassidy looked at me. "Wait, why does he want mine?"

Sam looked at me. "And mine?"

I smiled. "Because he wants to hurt me more than he already has and he is going to do that by being more powerful than me and by most likely hurting the others."

Sam sighed. "Sometimes, I wish I never knew you, Alyssa."

I smiled. "You two," I looked at him and then at Cassidy, "are going to be the key to me getting my powers back. We'll start by having you get their location from the airport and then when Eve gets here, I'll have her help Sam to get more of us."

Cassidy sighed. "Now I know why you were chosen to be the Alpha." I looked at her. She looked at me. "You boss people around really well." Edward laughed. So did I. "What?" She asked.

I pointed at her plate. "Lets just eat right now."

Edward raised his glass of milk. "To leadership and victory."

Sam raised his glass. "To bravery."

Cassidy raised her's. "To family and friends."

I looked at my glass. I grabbed it and raised it to their's. "To the Alpha."

They all smiled. We all clinked our glasses. "To the Alpha," we all said in unison.