MAYLA ROLLED OVER and looked at Carlisle. "Am I going to die?"

Carlisle set the reading down. "What makes you ask that?"

Mayla smiled softly. "I'm going to die." She smiled widely at the ceiling.

"Mayla, no. You're not going to die," Carlisle said softly. He walked over to her and sat in the chair next to the bed.

"Then what's going to happen to me?" Mayla looked at the blonde man. Carlisle frowned. "I don't know, but I'm not going to let you die."

Mayla smiled softly. "Okay."

She shakily grabbed Carlisle's hand and put it on her forehead, sighing contentedly at the coolness.

Carlisle frowned and grabbed the small notebook and pen that was kept between the mattress and headboard. He quickly jotted down what he estimated her fever t be with his free hand before sliding the notebook and pen back into its place.

When he looked over at Mayla, she was already asleep.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

MAYLA JOLTED AWAKE, breathing heavily.

Esme rushed to Mayla's side. "Hey. Hey. It's okay."

Mayla's breathing slowed as she calmed herself down. "Sorry."

Esme smiled softly, "You don't need to apologize."

Mayla nodded and thought for a moment before she spoke again, "Do you know what happened to the Lailah you were talking about?"

Esme's smile turned into a sad, reminiscing one. "She disappeared after a while. I don't know where she went."

Mayla ignored the ringing in her ears as the spirits began yelling once more.

"Do you know why she left," Mayla asked, trying to sit up, causing the woman who was physically older than her to help her up.

"I don't know. She just left abruptly one day. I left a few days after her to get away from my first husband." Mayla nodded.

"So," Esme continued, "she could've come back and I just wasn't there."

Mayla grimaced as the spirits began screaming louder. Mayla flopped down to the bed and groaned as she held her head in her hands.

Mayla screamed in pain and the spirits ceased their noise. Mayla then began coughing violently, so Esme placed the trash can next to the dirty-blonde.

After a few minutes of the dirty-blonde dry-heaving, she pulled away and Esme sat the trash can back on the floor.

"Are you okay?" Esme asked. Mayla smiled sadly. "I sincerely hope so."

After a few minutes, Mayla had fallen back to sleep.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

"I WANT TO TRY it again," Mayla said softly. Carlisle sighed and looked at Esme. "Will you stay with her for a while?"

Esme nodded, so Carlisle left the room and came back a few minutes later with two glasses of blood in his hands — one animal, one human.

"Which do you want to try first?" Carlisle asked softly. Mayla sighed. "I guess the animal. Get it out of the way."

Carlisle nodded and handed her the glass with animal blood in it.

Mayla weakly held the cup in her grasp — Esme ready to catch it, should it fall — and took a sip. She took a few sips before she leaned back on her bed and waited. The entire group — Renesmee, Bella, Edward, Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Caius — sat waiting to see if her body would hold it down.

After a while, Mayla leaned over the bed to the small trash can. Esme held the trash can up before Mayla threw up the little bit of blood in her system.

Everyone's hopes deflated.

Mayla slowly sat up with the help of Esme and looked at Carlisle.

"Do you want to try the human, or do you want to call it a day?" the blonde doctor asked.

Mayla nodded softly. "No harm in trying human again."

"Except for the fact it makes you weaker each time it fails," Caius said.

Mayla smiled faintly. "I will be okay."

Carlisle begrudgingly handed Mayla the other glass. She took a few sips and waited, the entire room holding their breath in anticipation.

She once again moved her head over the trash can, Esme holding it up.

It was a few short moments of hoping it'd stay down before she threw up again.

Edward sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Bella placed her hand soothingly over Edward's and Renesmee placed her head on Bella's shoulder. Jasper held Alice, while Emmett sat alone since Rosalie refused to join the group. Caius stood and left the room.

Carlisle and Esme exchanged worried glances.

He went to walk out of the room to clean and put the glasses up, but Mayla called for him softly.

Esme stood and gently took the two glasses from the blonde. "Go. I'll take care of these."

Carlisle nodded and walked over to the sick vampire.

Mayla gently grabbed Carlisle's hand and he frowned, her grip was so weak.

Mayla tugged on his hand weakly.

"Lay with me," she requested softly. Carlisle nodded and complied.

She smiled. "I miss this."

"Miss what?"

"Us." Mayla yawned. "You and Esme are cute together."

Just as she was about to fall asleep she gasped.

"What?"

Her eyes started watering as she stared at the corner of the room. "No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No." She gently pulled Carlisle to herself.

"What's wrong?" Carlisle asked. Mayla shook her head quickly. "He found me. He's here." She hurried her head into Carlisle's chest, her body shaking in fear.

"Who?"

"Stephan." She pointed to the empty corner. Carlisle sighed softly and wrapped his arms around her.

Edward sighed deeply right as Esme walked in.

Esme looked at Carlisle and Mayla quizzically. Edward stood up and explained everything to the brunette while the rest of the group left the room.

Esme sat next to the dirty-blonde and stroked her hair gently.

Mayla's breathing slowed and she was asleep. Carlisle looked at Mayla in his arms, then Esme. Esme smiled sadly.

Mayla frowned in her sleep, her breathing speeding up again. Esme began rubbing her back and her breathing slowed.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

MAYLA ROLLED OVER slowly, wincing slightly in pain.

"Hey," Renesmee said softly. Mayla let out a trace of a smile. "Hey."

"You have to get better, you know," Renesmee smirked.

"And why is that?" Mayla asked, her voice no louder than a faint whisper.

"Because I still have to spar against you."

Mayla smiled, a true genuine smile — the closest thing to a laugh she could muster.

Mayla's smile vanished though, whenever the spirits began screaming in her ears.

"Mayla," Renesmee asked. "Are you okay?"

When Mayla didn't respond, Renesmee panicked. She pulled her small phone out of her pocket and quickly dialed a number.

"What's wrong?" Carlisle asked worriedly.

"It's Mayla. You need to come back."

There was shuffling on the other end before he spoke again, "We're on our way back now."

Renesmee sighed softly. "Thank you."

The call disconnected and a few minutes later, Carlisle ran into the room, straight to Mayla's side.

"Mayla," Carlisle said softly. Mayla didn't respond. Instead, she stayed in her fetal position.

A few short moments later, Mayla let out an ear-piercing scream that left the entire castle's ears ringing.

"Mayla?" Carlisle asked. Mayla looked up at him with teary eyes. Carlisle gently grabbed her hand. "Are you okay?" Mayla began crying softly.

Carlisle walked around the bed and lay beside her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I—" Mayla cut herself off as she had begun crying harder.

"Hey, hey, hey." Carlisle pulled her closer to him. "It's okay."

Mayla slowly rolled over to face him, still crying. Carlisle propped his head up with his right hand and ran his fingers through her hair soothingly.

Mayla smiled contentedly. "That feels nice." And before long, Mayla was asleep.

Hours later, Mayla woke up, her chest heaving as she panicked. Carlisle began stroking her hair and telling her it was going to be okay over and over again, while inside he knew that it might be a lie.

After a while, she calmed down.

She smiled sadly at Carlisle. "I'm sorry I'm such a burden."

Carlisle frowned. "You're not a burden."

Mayla rolled her eyes before her eyes lit up. "Can we go to the garden?"

Carlisle smiled. "Sure." He stood and walked around the bed before helping her up.

Carlisle was all but carrying Mayla as the two walked to the garden. Mayla smiled as she sat down on the bench. "It's beautiful isn't it?"

Carlisle nodded. "It is."

Mayla looked to the woods and gasped. "Do you see that?" Carlisle shook his head. Mayla gripped the black, oversized hoodie she was wearing in her hands, her breath speeding up.

"Mayla, what's wrong?" Carlisle asked. Mayla shook her head and tried to stand, but fell back onto the bench. She weakly grasped Carlisle's right hand in her left.

"Mayla, you need to talk to me, what's wrong?" Carlisle asked. Mayla shook her head again.

"Help me up," she commanded quietly. Carlisle helped her stand, her chest heaving as she felt that she couldn't fill her lungs with enough oxygen.

Carlisle had helped her take two steps before she fell into his arms.

"Mayla?"