The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (20 page)

Even unguided by visions, Alice was bright. Careless, offhand comments by her new stepmother and evidence of longer preparations for this marriage than should have been possible made Alice suspicious. She took her suspicions to her father, who raged at her for suggesting ill of his new wife.

The night after her confrontation with her father, Alice had a vision of him and the stranger who had killed her mother. Her father was giving the man money. Then Alice had a vision of the man standing over her with a knife. Too late, she realized that she’d confided in exactly the wrong person. Alice rushed out into the night and ran five miles to the home of her aunt and uncle, her only living relatives. Alice beat on the door until they answered, then gasped out her story: Her father had arranged to have her mother murdered and was sending the killer after her next. The aunt—who still blamed Alice for her son’s death—shoved Alice off the porch and told her husband to get the dogs and drive Alice away.

Both her aunt and her father were already there, and the marshal had been
informed that Alice had gone mad.

Alice hurried ten more miles back to town and arrived at the town marshal’s house to find it lit and busy. Both her aunt and her father were already there, and the marshal had been informed that Alice had gone mad. Alice accused her father of his crimes and her stepmother of complicity, but no one listened. Most people already thought Alice was crazy—or possessed by the devil. The marshal was paid well to have Alice put quietly into an asylum two counties away. Few people knew what had actually happened, and everyone who did know the truth was very understanding about the Brandons’ desire to pretend that Alice had died.

In the mental asylum, Alice’s head was shaved during the threat of a typhoid outbreak. She also endured electroshock therapy. The treatment caused her to lose her memory, but it also allowed her naturally cheerful and humorous disposition to return, since she no longer remembered the sadness and horror of her recent life.

Unknown to Alice, a vampire was working as a grounds-keeper at the asylum where she was incarcerated. This vampire, who was taking advantage of this pool of humans who could die without much notice being taken, formed an attachment to Alice. He kept her from the shock treatments and other horrors whenever he could. He learned of Alice’s abilities; she always knew when he was coming to visit her. He would bring hidden objects with him, to see if she could guess what he had. She always got it right.

Then Alice had a vision of James.

Then Alice had a vision of James. It occurred the moment he caught her scent, old and faded, in her hometown two counties away. She saw James find her. She told her only friend, the vampire, and he knew that what she was seeing was fact. He planned to escape with her, but Alice saw James catching up to her anyway. He offered other options, but every choice ended with James. Then the groundskeeper decided to change
her. Alice saw that this would be very close. There might not be time for her blood to transform sufficiently for James to gain nothing in killing her. The vampire had heard enough. He bit Alice immediately and took her away to hide her. Knowing this would barely slow James, he put himself in James’s path to delay him. From Alice’s vision, he knew James was a strong hunter, and that it was a fight he would not win.

She was able to see the best future for herself.

After her transformation, Alice awoke alone. The pain of the transformation had the same effect on Alice as the shocks; she remembered nothing of her life in the asylum, or of the vampire who had transformed her. She was unaware of James as the reason for her change. Fortunately, Alice’s psychic gifts were now greatly enhanced and strengthened. She was able to see the best future for herself.

Alice’s first clear vision as a vampire was of Jasper Whitlock. She knew that Jasper was her future mate, but she also knew that he wasn’t ready for her yet. Instead of going to look for him, she waited for him to find her. In the meantime, she practiced—with sporadic success—living a “vegetarian” lifestyle, knowing that in time she and Jasper would end up with the Cullen family.

In 1948, Alice went to the small diner in Philadelphia where she knew she and Jasper were destined to meet. Though her greeting was characteristically cryptic, Jasper’s ability to feel the emotions of those around him allowed him to appreciate the magnitude of the occasion. Alice was already in love; Jasper quickly learned to reciprocate.

To please Alice, Jasper began practicing a “vegetarian” lifestyle as well. By 1950, when they joined the Cullens, Alice was able to control her thirst as well as the rest of the family did. Jasper continues to have more difficulty with self-restraint
than the others. Alice and Jasper were married sometime after joining the Cullen family.

Alice loves all of her adopted family, but has a special bond with Edward. Thanks to his mind-reading abilities, he is the only one who truly understands what it is like to live with constant visions of the future.

“S
HE WAS THERE
—
EXPECTING ME
,
NATURALLY
…. ‘Y
OU’VE KEPT ME WAITING A LONG TIME
,’
SHE SAID
.”

—Jasper, on Alice (
Eclipse
, Chapter 13)

Jasper Whitlock grew up in Houston, Texas. When he was almost seventeen, he lied about his age and volunteered to join the Confederate Army. He rose quickly through the
ranks, being promoted over older, more experienced men. People thought of Jasper as charismatic. This was likely due in part to early traces of the psychic ability Jasper would develop after his transformation. Even as a human, Jasper had a gift for empathizing with and influencing the emotions of those around him.

By the time the Battle of Galveston began, Jasper was the youngest major in the Confederate army. After leading a group of refugees from Galveston to Houston, he encountered three extraordinarily beautiful women—Maria, Nettie, and Lucy. Maria—a vampire and head of her coven—decided to transform Jasper into a vampire for the newborn army she was creating.

“I
WAS ALMOST SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD WHEN
I
JOINED THE
C
ONFEDERATE
A
RMY IN
1861.”

—Jasper (
Eclipse
, Chapter 13)