We made our flight with seconds to spare.
The plane sat idle on the tarmac while the flight attendants strolled up and down the aisle, patting the bags in the overhead compartments to make sure everything fit. The pilots leaned out of the cockpit, chatting with them as they passed.
My hand was hard on Bella's shoulder, holding her in her seat while she bounced anxiously up and down.
"It's faster than running," Alice reminded in a low voice.
Bella just nodded in time with her bouncing.
Soon the plane rolled lazily from the gate, building speed with a gradual steadiness.
I expected for Bella to feel some sort of relief when we achieved liftoff, but her frenzied impatience didn't lessen. Alice lifted the phone on the back of the seat in front of her before we'd stopped climbing, turning her back on the stewardess who eyed her with disapproval.
Alice was murmuring to Jasper, "I can't be sure, I keep seeing him do different things, he keeps changing his mind....A killing spree through the city, attacking the guard, lifting a car over his head in the main square...mostly things that would expose them—he knows that's the fastest way to force a reaction....
"No, you can't." Alice's voice dropped till it was nearly inaudible, though I was sitting inches from her. Contrarily, I listened harder. "Tell Emmett no....Well, go after Emmett and Rosalie and bring them back....Think about it, Jasper. If he sees any of us, what do you think he will do?" She nodded. "Exactly. I think Bella is the only chance—if there is a chance....I'll do everything that can be done, but prepare Carlisle; the odds aren't good." She laughed then, and there was a catch in her voice. "I've thought of that....Yes, I promise." Her voice became pleading. "Don't follow me. I promise, Jasper. One way or another, I'll get out....And I love you."
She hung up, and leaned back in her seat with her eyes closed. "I hate lying to him."
"Tell me everything, Alice," Bella begged. "I don't understand. Why did you tell Jasper to stop Emmett, why can't they come help us?"
"Two reasons," she whispered, her eyes still closed. "The first I told him. We could try to stop Edward ourselves—if Emmett could get his hands on him, we might be able to stop him long enough to convince him you're alive. But we can't sneak up on Edward. And if he sees us coming for him, he'll just act that much faster. He'll throw a Buick through a wall or something, and the Volturi will take him down.
"That's the second reason of course, the reason I couldn't say to Jasper. Because if they're there and the Volturi kill Edward, they'll fight them. Bella." She opened her eyes and stared at Bella, beseeching. "If there were any chance we could win...if there were a way that the four of us could save my brother by fighting for him, maybe it would be different. But we can't, and, Bella, I can't lose Jasper like that."
I realized why her eyes begged for Bella's understanding. She was protecting Jasper, at our expense, and maybe at Edward's, too. I understood, and I did not think badly of her. I nodded, and Bella did the same.
"Couldn't Edward hear you, though?" I asked. "Wouldn't he know, as soon as he heard your thoughts, that Bella was alive, that there was no point to this?"
Not that there was any justification, either way. I still couldn't believe that he was capable of reacting like this—how dramatic could someone be?
This only fueled what I felt for him. If somehow, because of him, something happened to Bella in Italy. . .
I would bring him back from the dead and kill him myself.
"If he were listening," Alice was explaining. "But believe it or not, it's possible to lie with your thoughts. Bella, if you had died, I would still try to stop him. And I would be thinking 'she's alive, she's alive' as hard as I could. He knows that."
Bella was quiet.
"Tell me what you meant," she finally said. "About hating to lie to Jasper."
She smiled a grim smile. "I promised him I would get out before they killed me, too. It's not something I can guarantee—not by a long shot."
I shook my head in disbelief. "Who are these Volturi?" I asked, making sure to keep my voice down. "What makes them so much more dangerous than Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, and you?"
She took a deep breath. "I was surprised that you recognized the name, Bella," she said. "That you understood so immediately what it meant—when I said he was going to Italy. I thought I would have to explain. How much did Edward tell you?"
"He just said they were an old, powerful family—like royalty. That you didn't antagonize them unless you wanted to...die," Bella whispered.
"You have to understand," Alice said, her voice slower, more measured now. "We Cullens are unique in more ways than you know. It's...abnormal for so many of us to live together in peace. It's the same for Tanya's family in the north, and Carlisle speculates that abstaining makes it easier for us to be civilized, to form bonds based on love rather than survival or convenience. Even James's little coven of three was unusually large—and you saw how easily Laurent left them. Our kind travel alone, or in pairs, as a general rule. Carlisle's family is the biggest in existence, as far as I know, with the one exception. The Volturi.
"There were three of them originally, Aro, Caius, and Marcus. Two females joined them over time, and the five of them make up the family. I'm not sure, but I suspect that their age is what gives them the ability to live peacefully together. They are well over three thousand years old. Or maybe it's their gifts that give them extra tolerance. Like Edward and I, Aro and Marcus are . . .talented." She continued before I could ask. "Or maybe it's just their love of power that binds them together. Royalty is an apt description."
My brow knit. "But if there are only five—"
"Five that make up the family," she corrected. "That doesn't include their guard."
I took a deep breath. "That sounds...serious."
"Oh, it is," she assured me. "There were nine members of the guard that were permanent, the last time we heard. Others are more...transitory. It changes. And many of them are gifted as well—with formidable gifts, gifts that make what I can do look like a parlor trick. The Volturi chose them for their abilities, physical or otherwise."
I opened my mouth, and then closed it. I didn't think I wanted to know how bad the odds were. Alice nodded again, as if she understood exactly what I was thinking.
"They don't get into too many confrontations. No one is stupid enough to mess with them. They stay in their city, leaving only as duty calls."
"Duty?" Bella wondered.
"Didn't Edward tell you what they do?"
"No."
"There's a reason he called them royalty...the ruling class. Over the millennia, they have assumed the position of enforcing our rules—which actually translates to punishing transgressors. They fulfill that duty decisively."
"There are rules?" I asked.
"There's only one core restriction—we just have to keep our existence a secret. It makes sense, and most of us don't need policing," she explained. "But, after a few centuries, sometimes one of us gets bored. Or crazy. I don't know. And then the Volturi step in before it can compromise them, or the rest of us."
"So Edward . . ." Bella started.
"Is planning to flout that in their own city—the city they've secretly held for three thousand years, since the time of the Etruscans. They are so protective of their city that they don't allow hunting within its walls. Volterra is probably the safest city in the world—from vampire attack at the very least."
"But you said they didn't leave," I pointed out. "How do they eat?"
"They don't leave. They bring in their food from the outside, from quite far away sometimes. It gives their guard something to do when they're not out annihilating mavericks. Or protecting Volterra from exposure . . ."
"From situations like this one, like Edward," Bella finished her sentence.
"I doubt they've ever had a situation quite like this," Alice muttered, disgusted. "You don't get a lot of suicidal vampires."
The sound that escaped out of Bella's mouth was very quiet, but Alice and I understood it was a cry of pain. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and Alice leaned over me to put her hand on Bella's knee.
"We'll do what we can, Bella," Alice said. "It's not over yet."
"Not yet," Bella said. "And the Volturi will get us if we mess up."
Alice stiffened. "You say that like it's a good thing."
Bella shrugged.
I scowled. "Knock it off, Bella, or we're turning around in New York and going back to Forks."
"What?"
"You know what," Alice said, and I was glad she was on my side for this. "If we're too late for Edward, I'm going to do my damnedest to get you back to Charlie, and I don't want any trouble from you. Do you understand that?"
"Sure, Alice."
Alice glared at Bella. "No trouble."
"Scout's honor," Bella muttered.
Alice rolled her yellow eyes. "Let me concentrate, now. I'm trying to see what he's planning." She let her head fall back against the seat and closed her eyes. She pressed her free hand to the side of her face, rubbing her fingertips against her temple.
I watched her in fascination for a long time. Eventually, she became utterly motionless, her face like a stone sculpture. The minutes passed, and if I didn't know better, I would have thought she'd fallen asleep. I didn't dare interrupt her to ask what was going on.
I wished there was something safe for me to think about. I couldn't allow myself to consider the horrors we were headed toward, or, more horrific yet, the chance of something happening to Bella.
They showed a movie, and Bella got headphones, in an effort to distract herself, I think. Sometimes I watched the figures moving across the little screen, but I was zoning out most of the time.
After an eternity, the plane began to descend toward New York City. Alice remained in her trance. I dithered, reaching out to touch her, only to pull my hand back again. This happened a dozen times before the plane touched town with a jarring impact. "Alice," I finally said. "Alice, we have to go." I touched her arm.
Her eyes came open very slowly. She shook her head from side to side for a moment.
"Anything new?" Bella asked in a low voice.
"Not exactly," she breathed in a voice I could barely catch. "He's getting closer. He's deciding how he's going to ask."
We had to run for our connection. As soon as the plane was in the air, Alice closed her eyes and slid back into the same stupor as before. I could tell Bella was waiting as patiently as she could. Soon I felt my eyes drift shut. . .
"Y/n," Alice hissed, her voice a little too loud in the darkened cabin full of sleeping people.
I wasn't disoriented—I hadn't been out long enough for that.
"What's wrong?" Bella asked.
Alice's eyes gleamed in the dim light of a reading lamp in the row behind us. "It's not wrong." She smiled fiercely. "It's right. They're deliberating, but they've decided to tell him no. I can see what they're going to say."
"Tell me," Bella whispered.
An attendant tiptoed down the aisle to us. "Can I get you ladies a pillow?" His hushed whisper was a rebuke to our comparatively loud conversation.
"No, thank you." Alice beamed at up at him, her smile shockingly lovely. The attendant's expression was dazed as he turned and stumbled his way back.
"Tell me," Bella repeated, her voice softer.
"They're interested in him—they think his talent could be useful. They're going to offer him a place with them."
"What will he say?"
"I can't see that yet, but I'll bet it's colorful." She grinned again. "This is the first good news—the first break. They're intrigued; they truly don't want to destroy him—'wasteful,' that's the word Aro will use—and that may be enough to force him to get creative. The longer he spends on his plans, the better for us."
I could see the hope in Bella's eyes, but I was a little skeptical.
"Alice?" I asked.
"What?"
"How are you seeing this so clearly?"
"It's clear because it's immediate and close, and I'm really concentrating. The faraway things that come on their own—those are just glimpses, faint maybes. Plus, I see my kind more easily than yours. Edward is even easier because I'm so attuned to him."
"Huh," was all I said.
"Go back to sleep," she encouraged me. "I'll wake you up when there's something new."
"Right," I grumbled, certain that sleep was a lost cause now. Alice pulled her legs up on the seat, wrapping her arms around them and leaning her forehead against her knees. She rocked back and forth as she concentrated. I rested my head against the seat, watching her, and the next thing I knew, she was snapping the shade closed against the faint brightening in the eastern sky.
"What's happening?" I mumbled.
"They've told him no," she said quietly. I noticed at once that her enthusiasm was gone.
Bella's voice choked. "What's he going to do?"
"It was chaotic at first. I was only getting flickers, he was changing plans so quickly."
"What kinds of plans?" Bella pressed.
"There was a bad hour," she whispered. "He'd decided to go hunting in the city. It got very close. He changed his mind at the last minute."
"He wouldn't want to disappoint Carlisle," Bella mumbled.
"Probably," Alice agreed.
"Will there be enough time?" As Bella spoke, there was a shift in the cabin pressure. I could feel the plane angling downward.
"I'm hoping so—if he sticks to his latest decision, maybe."
"What is that?"
"He's going to keep it simple. He's just going to walk out into the sun."
It would be enough. I remembered seeing Edward in the kitchen with Bella that morning—shimmering like his skin was made of a million diamonds. It had freaked me out. Immediately I'd known he wasn't human.
"We'll be too late," Bella whispered.
Alice shook her head. "Right now, he's leaning toward the melodramatic. He wants the biggest audience possible, so he'll choose the main plaza, under the clock tower. The walls are high there. He'll wait till the sun is exactly overhead."
"So we have till noon?"
"If we're lucky. If he sticks with this decision."
The pilot came on over the intercom, announcing, first in French and then in English, our imminent landing. The seat belt lights dinged and flashed.
"How far is it from Florence to Volterra?" I asked.
"That depends on how fast you drive....Guys?"
"Yes?" I said.
She eyed me speculatively. "How strongly are you two opposed to grand theft auto?"
***
A bright yellow Porsche screamed to a stop a few feet in front of where Bella and I waited, the word TURBO scrawled in silver cursive across its back. Everyone beside us on the crowded airport sidewalk stared.
"Hurry!" Alice shouted impatiently through the open passenger window. I ran to the door and threw myself into the passenger side while Bella slid into the backseat.
"Sheesh, Alice," I complained. "Could you pick a more conspicuous car to steal?"
Alice was already weaving, too fast, through the thick airport traffic— sliding through tiny spaces between the cars.
"The important question," she corrected, "is whether I could have stolen a faster car, and I don't think so. I got lucky."
"I'm sure that will be very comforting at the roadblock," Bella said.
Alice trilled a laugh. "Trust me, Bella. If anyone sets up a roadblock, it will be behind us." She hit the gas then, as if to prove her point.
I probably should have watched out the window as first the city of Florence and then the Tuscan landscape flashed past with blurring speed. This was my first trip anywhere, and maybe my last, too. But Alice's driving made me anxious, despite the fact that I knew I could trust her behind the wheel. And I was too tortured with anxiety to really see the hills or the walled towns that looked like castles in the distance.
"Do you see anything more?" Bella asked.
"There's something going on," Alice muttered. "Some kind of festival. The streets are full of people and red flags. What's the date today?"
I wasn't entirely sure. "The nineteenth, maybe?"
"Well, that's ironic. It's Saint Marcus Day."
"Which means?"
She chuckled darkly. "The city holds a celebration every year. As the legend goes, a Christian missionary, a Father Marcus—Marcus of the Volturi, in fact—drove all the vampires from Volterra fifteen hundred years ago. The story claims he was martyred in Romania, still trying to drive away the vampire scourge. Of course that's nonsense—he's never left the city. But that's where some of the superstitions about things like crosses and garlic come from. Father Marcus used them so successfully. And vampires don't trouble Volterra, so they must work." Her smile was sardonic. "It's become more of a celebration of the city, and recognition for the police force—after all, Volterra is an amazingly safe city. The police get the credit."
I was realizing what she meant when she'd said ironic. "They're not going to be very happy if Edward messes things up for them on St. Marcus Day, are they?"
She shook her head, her expression grim. "No. They'll act very quickly."
Bella chewed on her lower lip when she saw how high the sun was in the sky. "He's still planning on noon?"
"Yes. He's decided to wait. And they're waiting for him."
"Tell me what I have to do."
Alice kept her eyes on the winding road—the needle on the speedometer was touching the far right on the dial. "You don't have to do anything. He just has to see you before he moves into the light. And he has to see you before he sees me or Y/n."
"How are we going to work that?"
A small red car seemed to be racing backward as Alice zoomed around it. "I'm going to get you as close as possible, and then you're going to run in the direction I point you."
Bella nodded.
"Try not to trip," she added. "We don't have time for a concussion today."
The sun continued to climb in the sky while Alice raced against it.
"There," Alice said abruptly, pointing to the castle city atop the closest hill. I stared at the ancient sienna walls and towers crowning the peak of the steep hill.
"Volterra," Alice announced in a flat, icy voice.