Bella looked out the window. Snow was dripping down and a small figure was drowning in it with joy. Beside the small figure, a tall one with red velvet hair who was helping the other figure make a small untidy snow building. Then it looked at her, froze with a blurry smile and then waved. Bella paused. She smiled and waved back. Alice was much calm now than she was a year ago. Her stressful visions had gone down, and she had plenty of time to look after the newborn and spend time with Jasper. Suddenly, a blood curdling scream was faintly heard from inside the house, sparking a sudden instinct in her skin. She gasped and abruptly leaned back away from the window sill, turning around.
"Whoa—" She suddenly cried out as she lost her balance, her hands wearily clinging onto the ledge. She cried out again as her fingers burnt in pain when the ledge fell down onto them, shutting the window close. She craned her head around and saw the little figure grinning at her with all white teeth, one small gap in the middle as an exception.
Her little pale hand was clutched onto Bella's boots with a grip so strong that it tore a hole right through it. Bella breathed out in pain and clutched her eyes shut. "Renesmee, don't do that—okay? Please don't." She couldn't reprimand her child. She couldn't even scold her or lay a hand on her in anger. The Volturi had come back and put off the war, the Council stating that the child was to be sent away to join them once old enough. Until then, she was to be treated with care. One small misstep towards the child, and the Cullens would have to face the consequences.
Of course they weren't afraid of the Volturi. But a pact was a pact. They couldn't let them take away Renesmee. Their family was one in a million among the vampires. They had a human born and they couldn't risk letting the imbeciles take her away.
"Renesmee—don't do that, please." Bella grunted and pulled herself up, leaning against the wallpaper, breathing. Her red eyes focused on the grinning girl in front. She reached forward for her boot and rubbed it until it felt better.
"I'm sorry." Renesmee's smile broke and she flopped onto the carpet beside her mother. "Alice was teaching me how to sneak up! She said that all of you could do it, so why not me?" She flashed another toothless grin. Now that was possible since she was not a typical human anymore. Edward had orders. He didn't want Renesmee to be not able to defend herself from any incoming person or object that could pose a threat to his daughter, so he had things discussed and travelled abroad to find Zafrina and Senna, who claimed that they had the right amount of items and herbs to make that special ''potion'' that would allegedly help Renesmee retain vampire behaviour and abilities. And in the end, so it did as it said it would.
"What? No—no, you could fall down or something," Bella widened her eyes. How can Alice be so sure that her daughter was strong enough to go at full speed and sneak around high altitudes without being injured? Ridiculous, it was. "Come here— are you injured?,' she pulled Renesmee into a curled hug and looked up at her. "No, mom. I'm not." She had grown a lot from the last time the relatives had seen her. She had grown about by four feet at least. But it was expected. Her child's high growth rate was the least of Bella's problems anyway.
"Where's Alice, sweetheart?" Her eyes gazed upon Renesmee's blood-flushed cheeks. They were warm, and cold at the same time. The perfect feeling.
Renesmee thrusted her head back to push back a strand of wavy brown hair that hung loose to her snow-wet face. "Alice went inside. She told me to come to you and then she ran in suddenly."
"Why did she go in?"
"We heard a scream, so she asked me to run up to you and not let me go." Renesmee giggled.
Bella loosened her grip on her daughter and her face turned white, not pale, but the color of ivory. She'd forgotten about that terrifying sound.
The door flew open. Renesmee jumped and quickly turned around, followed by a startled gasp from Bella. She looked at Alice, who was wearing a frightful and tired expression on her face.
"What—what happened?" Bella frowned and slowly rose up from the ground, clutching onto her daughter's cold shoulders.
"Mom." A small word sobbed through Alice's pale quivering lips.
"Esme?" Bella frowned. "What about her? What happened?"
"She's—" She paused and looked at Renesmee and then at Bella, motioning her to prevent her daughter from hearing the next words. Bella got the sign and placed her hands over Renesmee's ears in a hurry, tight but not tight enough to hurt her. "Mom!—" A stifled cry protested. Bella looked back at Alice. "What about her?"
"She's—she's dead on the kitchen floor."