It had been a usual evening spent at the Cullen residence, nearing midnight now, and as expected, Renesmee slumbered soundly, unbothered by the multitudinous activities around her. Edward and Carlisle were deep in discussion, and Alice paid more attention to what their decisions held for the future, rather than focusing on the words they said now. She had spent the preceding short amount of time stuck somewhere in limbo, one foot here in the now, the other in the faraway dreamland of the future. She was constantly searching for the results of Irina's decisions, though so far, four days out, she had made no plans. And more than that, for the results of what her family would find in their search for answers about Renesmee's rapid-growth.
The blind spots that Jacob and Renesmee provided didn't make it easy, but she tried anyway, knowing it would undoubtedly give her a headache. Jasper had urged her multiple times to stop trying so hard, but Alice felt as if her family were depending on her. In fact, she knew they were. Her ability to see the future had always been a major catalyst through which the entire Cullen clan had acted in the past. And here, now, her ability to give them answers-somewhat dim, hindered answers-was more important than ever.
While she searched in vain for anything viable, she moved around the room, just for something to do, something to keep her grounded, distracted from the lack of quantifiable visions.
The space wasn't in need of tidying whatsoever, but it was Alice's last attempt at finding something to do. She focused on straightening the already undefiled garlands, and then moved on to re-centering the already perfectly-spaced crystal vases on the TV console.
As she spun the vase furthest to the left a sixteenth of an inch to the right, her focus shifted to that of Irina's decisions again. It had bothered all of them, but especially Carlisle, that she had been upset by the sight of Bella and Jacob together. They had known she would be sensitive about the werewolf situation, seeing as Jacob had been one of the wolves who had aided in the demise of her freshly-bloomed mate-hood with Laurent. Carlisle had expressed hope that it wouldn't alter their relationship permanently. The two families had always been close, like family, and Carlisle wanted to keep it that way.
So Alice had been keeping tabs on her, as well, and as she came into the forefront of Alice's searchings once more, it was apparent that no obvious decision had been made yet. All Alice could see was the incessant planes of snow-tipped mountains, and white-swathed planes. And then the snow gave way to dry land, an incomprehensible blur of lush, green trees, gritty, spice brown sand… Irina was moving, and she'd been traveling since she'd left the perch where she'd witnessed the event which had caused her to flee. Alice focused harder, straining to sense any inkling of decision, a pin-prick of an idea on where she was headed.
"Let it go, Alice," Jasper's voice broke through her faraway reverie, "she's not our concern."
She felt the wave of serenity Jasper sent out, washing over the room like a flood, steadily pushing away her worry and, coincidentally, her concentration. The vision shimmered out of focus, and then faded altogether.
She stuck her tongue out at Jasper, and then took another of the vases, whose flowers were just beginning to show the first signs of wilt, and carried it toward the kitchen.
The vision hit her like a metaphorical brick wall, out of left field, completely unexpected. It took her by such severe shock that-as she stared with wide-eyed terror into the face of the horrible vision-she barely felt the crystal vase slip from formerly sure fingers. Nothing was sure about her now.
They advanced on them, across a frozen field of snow, Aro, Marcus, Caius, the guard, the wives. All of them. Not one member of the Volturi had been spared, left behind. They had all come for the Cullens, their hands curled into bone-claws at their black-cloaked sides. They were not asking questions. She could only watch in horror as, without hesitating, they were upon the group of them.
Edward's gasp brought her back, and the vision cut off short, smashing into blackness, the blackness all of their lives had suddenly been plunged into. She could feel the terror on her face, how her eyes must look huge in her face. Alice had turned to face her family, having not even been conscious of the movement. She heard the crunch of crystal under feet as Jasper flitted to her side.
"What?"
She barely felt him grip her shoulders, or roughly shake her. She was somewhere else, not entirely here, the image frozen in her head.
Carlisle… Leah… Esme… Rosalie… Renesmee.
"What, Alice? What is it?"
"They're coming for us," she finally answered, her voice numb, devoid of any emotion, and vaguely, she heard Edward speaking with her, "All of them."
No one said anything for a very long moment; no one understood.
"The Volturi," she continued in explanation, though the sound that exited her throat sounded like an agonized moan.
"All of them," Edward groaned in synchronization, his voice equally as agonized.
And it should be agonized, because everything about this was agonizing. For whatever reason, by whoever's decision, they had been given a death-sentence. Alice knew with certainty that there would be no discussion, there would be no fight, there would be no battle, because their numbers and gifts severely out-did that of their own. There was no avoiding it. But…
"Why?" she whispered to herself, "How?"
"When?" Edward breathed.
"Why?" Esme repeated.
"When?" Jasper snapped.
As much as she didn't want to, she forced herself back, back into the vision, searching for a landmark to pin-point the timing of their coming. The snow. On the trees, on the town. It was the sticky, icy snow of mid-winter. Maybe early January or late December.
"Not long," she and Edward murmured together. Because he was watching with her, of course.
"There's snow on the forest, snow on the town," she continued, speaking alone now, "Little more than a month."
"Why?" This time, it was Carlisle who spoke, and the sound of his confusion nearly broke Alice, even more than she was already broken. She felt shattered, decimated, like the crystal vase on the floor, and suddenly, she would have liked to curl up next to it, to make herself as small as possible, to wait for the impending end.
"They must have a reason," Esme murmured, "Maybe to see…"
"This isn't about Bella," Alice said. The follow-up with a situation such as Bella's would not, could not ever warrant the entire guard's presence. The wives. The wives had never left the tower, as far as Alice knew. Again, the hollow, resounding question entered her mind, though she didn't speak it aloud: Why? "They're all coming," she continued, "Aro, Caius, Marcus, every member of the guard, even the wives."
"The wives never leave the tower," Jasper argued, his voice numb as well, and Alice's dead heart twisted. To imagine her own death was one thing; to imagine Jasper's existence ceasing was wholly, entirely, another… "Never. Not during the southern rebellion. Not when the Romanians tried to overthrow them. Not even when they were hunting the immortal children. Never."
"They're coming now," Edward insisted, his voice barely a whisper.
"But why?" Carlisle repeated, "We've done nothing! And if we had, what could we possibly do that would bring this down on us?"
Alice didn't have an answer for that, so she willingly listened to Edward as he offered his.
"There are so many of us. They must want to make sure that…" But he trailed off, unable to say the words: To make sure there was no chance of their survival.
How many times had they faced the Volturi? In the last two years alone? Why was this time so different?
"That doesn't answer the crucial question!" Carlisle pushed, "Why?"
"Go back, Alice," Jasper begged, "Look for the trigger. Please."
Slowly, Alice turned her head from side to side, and the unrelenting weight of the entire situation caused her shoulders to droop. "It came out of nowhere, Jazz. I wasn't looking for them, or even for us. I was just looking for Irina. She wasn't where I expected her to be…"
Alice refocused on Irina's course of travel, employing all of her mental strength to see where she was headed… And then, through the enigma of sand and trees and snow, stone. Ancient stone tunnels, and dark, black capes, swishing along the ground… And then she was in the large grotto, standing in front of Aro, offering her hand.
The vision fizzled out, another part of the equation unresolved, and Alice jerked her face up, heated anger swirling inside her. Edward gasped.
"She decided to go to them," she explained, "Irina decided to go to the Volturi. And then they will decide… It's as if they're waiting for her. Like their decision was already made, and just waiting on her…"
There was another moment of insurmountable silence as the family processed this latest development.
"Can we stop her?" This was Jasper.
"There's no way. She's almost there."
"What is she doing?" Carlisle demanded, "What did she see that would cause her to turn on us like this?"
"I don't understand…" Esme murmured, wringing her hands together, and Carlisle stepped toward her, draping an arm over her shoulders protectively. "Maybe if we just spoke with them…"
"There is no reasoning," Alice reiterated, "They won't wait for us to speak. They know we'll try to talk our way out of this."
"There has to be-" Emmett was beginning to say, but abruptly, from where Bella had draped herself over her daughter's sleeping body, mahogany hair obscuring Renesmee's face, she spoke, interrupting.
"Think of what she saw that afternoon. To someone who'd lost a mother because of the immortal children, what would Renesmee look like?"
It was very quiet for another long moment, as the rest of them struggled to catch on.
"An immortal child," Carlisle finally uttered.
Alice watched as Edward dropped to his knees next to his family, draping his body, his arms, over both of theirs. She felt Jasper step closer, folding his arms around her. She didn't tell him his protective instincts were all for naught. She didn't tell him there was nothing he could do to save her now, nothing anyone could do to save any of them.
"But she's wrong," Bella argued, "Renesmee isn't like those other children. They were frozen, but she grows so much every day. They were out of control, but she never hurts Charlie or Sue or even shows them things that would upset them. She can control herself. She's already smarter than most adults. There would be no reason…"
This would make sense, the reasoning, and though she knew it was in vain, Alice threw her mind into subsequent days, straining for something, a loophole of some sort, which could possibly result in their living. There had to be something, something…
The other piece of the puzzle clicked into place then, as another vision drifted into sight.
Now, in the stone chambers, Irina placed her hand in Aro's, and as she did, the procession of memories and thoughts were suddenly clear.
From where Irina had been perched on the cliff, watching what Alice had formerly thought to be the friendship between murderer wolf and trusted vampire, was Renesmee, far off, but still in focus. Irina saw the curl of her hair, the pallor of her skin, her sure, undeniable beauty. The flush in her cheeks she had thought to be artifice, and she'd been too faraway to hear the rhythm of her heart…
"But they're wrong," Bella's voice said now.
"They won't wait for us to show them that," Edward murmured.
"What can we do?"
"We fight," was Emmett's obvious answer. Of course it would be. Emmett was incapable of surrendering, possibly obscuring his ability to see how dark the situation really was. She was seeing things the only way he could.
Jasper retaliated with a growl: "We can't win."
"Well, we can't run," Emmett protested, "Not with Demetri around." He snorted, a low, disgusted sound in the back of his throat, and in Alice's mind, Emmett's decision to do away with the tracker first-if that were even in the realm of possibility-came to fruition. "And I don't know that we can't win," he went on, "There are a few options to consider. We don't have to fight alone."
Bella's voice whipped out, harsh and angry: "We don't have to sentence the Quileutes to death, either, Emmett!"
"Chill, Bella," Emmett said, unhindered by her anger. He was in his zone, comfortable thinking up tactic and strategy, rising to the occasion. His body unconsciously curled slightly forward, thrilled by the idea of a battle, "I didn't mean the pack," he continued, "Be realistic, though-do you think Jacob or Sam is going to ignore an invasion? Even if it wasn't about Nessie? Not to mention that, thanks to Irina, Aro knows about our alliance with the pack now, too. But I was thinking of our other friends."
Alice sunk into herself again, finding what snippets of the future she could. Would their friends fight with them? She went through multiple scenarios of Emmett's approach, and then Carlisle's, as his decision to approach his friends was solidified as well. Most of their requests would be turned down, Alice could see that, and then the image morphed, warbled, as the discussion between the family changed. Their words were only a dim hum in her ears, but she didn't need the words, only their decisions, as she watched for what they would mean.
Renesmee's small, pink hand pressed against an alabaster cheek.
"We'll have to ask them just right. They'll have to be shown very carefully."
"Shown?" Jasper queried.
In synchronization, having seen the image in Alice's mind, she and Edward glanced down at Renesmee's hidden, sleeping face.
Then Alice pulled back into herself, focusing again.
She went through different members of her own family, each of them trying their hand at explaining the situation to various covens, seeing Carlisle, Edward, Bella… And then members from the various covens, recipients of her family's requests and explanations. She relayed the visions to her family as they came into focus, some of them crystal clear, confident, some of them blurred, out of focus, the choice not made yet.
"Tanya's family. Siobhan and hers, Amun's. Some of the nomads-Garrett and Mary for certain. Maybe Alistair." There was the potential for him to cause trouble.
"What about Peter and Charlotte?" Jasper inquired, and Alice could hear the hesitant, half-hope in his voice. She knew, that in a place deep down, where he would never tell her, he hoped they would say no, that they would be spared from the coming doom.
They decision was blurred, too. Peter's decision was more concrete, Charlotte's more fluid, making the image irresolute. "Maybe."
"The Amazons? Kachiri, Zafrina, and Senna?" Carlisle asked.
Alice only half-heard his request, deep inside herself, opening her mind to all possible avenues, wanting as much information as possible, as many solutions as she could find.
At first, everything was just an indivisible blur of faces, possible witnesses, and then she and Jasper were running through an unfamiliar forest, not the Amazon, no. It was different from anything she'd seen, somewhere she'd never been. Somewhere deep in Brazil, maybe? From the glimpse she got, before she realized this information might need to be hidden, knowing Edward was watching, it was only her and Jasper. They had gone to this place alone. And then everything got spotty, indistinct, just like when she tried to see past Jacob or Renesmee.
It was coming together now, as she looked back on the past visions. She hadn't seen herself or Jasper in any of them, in any of the conversations with the other covens. They weren't there at all.
So they were leaving, for some reason.
Alice shuddered, trying to quell the myriad of emotions that came up when she was faced with this prospect, suppressing them and quashing out the visions. She couldn't let on to anyone what she was seeing, she knew that much.
She found purchase on Carlisle's face, and pain flashed through her. Because she knew now. She knew that they were leaving the family who had welcomed them with open arms. In their great time of need, no doubt, and she hadn't the faintest idea why.
"I can't see," she murmured, averting her gaze.
"What was that?" Edward demanded, and she cursed herself, even though she'd known he would be watching along with her, "That part in the jungle. Are we going to look for them?"
"I can't see," she pressed, avoiding the probing gaze she could feel on her down-turned face. She couldn't possibly look up at her brother. For one, because her eyes would betray her, and he would know she was lying to him. It wasn't often she got away with hiding the truth from Edward. And for another, it would hurt too much, knowing she and Jasper were about to leave him and his family, now. She changed the subject, hoping he'd drop it. "We'll have to split up and hurry-before the snow sticks to the ground. We have to round up whomever we can and get them here to show them." It hurt to use the word 'we' when she knew it would be 'them'. She let herself zone out again, focusing carefully on the Denali coven's decisions. Eleazar had been part of the Volturi guard, long ago. He would have more information.
"Ask Eleazar," she coached, "There is more to this than just an immortal child."
And then, helpless to stop them, they came again, the visions of her and Jasper alone, running away from the house, talking to Sam, swimming the channel, another glimpse of the forest, nameless faces who she knew would be invaluable to their quest… So there was a purpose. She had to put her hope in this, that there was a definite purpose for their departure, even if she didn't know what it was at the moment. As she tried to see more, the visions got spotty again, parts of them wholly unidentifiable.
She hurried through the images, trying to process them and then move on the next before Edward would be able to make sense of them.
"There is so much," she murmured to herself, "We have to hurry."
"Alice? That was too fast-I didn't understand," Edward said, "What was-?"
"I can't see!" she snapped, every muscle, tendon, cord in her body stretched tight, tense, beyond stressed, and beyond pained. "Jacob's almost here!" And for now, she was thankful for that, for the blind spot the dog provided. It was becoming easier to see around Renesmee, but the dog was still one big black hole.
Rosalie made as if to move toward the front door. "I'll deal with-" she began.
"No," Alice interrupted, her voice hard, strained, again, "Let him come."
It was clear that they needed to leave now, before anything else slipped, before Edward picked up anymore. She weaved her fingers through Jasper's, and urgently dragged him toward the back door.
"I'll see better away from Nessie, too," she insisted, hating the half lie, hating the way she wouldn't be able to tell any of them what was going on, hating the way they wouldn't be able to say goodbye, hating the way this might be the last time she ever saw any of them, hating the way this would look-like a betrayal, though she knew-or she suspected-that deep down, this was anything but that. "I need to go. I need to really concentrate. I need to see everything I can. I have to go. Come on, Jasper, there's no time to waste!"
Jasper didn't move for a moment, and Alice yanked on his hand again, impatient. He relented, following her to the back door, and she could see the confusion in his eyes. But she knew him well enough that he would trust her judgement without question.
She pulled Jasper out into the dark, starless night.
"Hurry!" she urged over her shoulder, unable to even think the goodbyes she wanted to call, knowing Edward would hear them, knowing he would try and stop her, "You have to find them all!"
And then she took off, pushing her legs as hard as she could, focusing only on the feeling of the night air against her skin, the grass under her feet, as she dragged Jasper east across the lawn, then turned north and leaped over the river, melting into the dark forest.
Jasper followed Alice without question as she arced through the night like an arrow, focused solely on the task at hand, praying with all her might, as her mind revealed tiny slips, thoughts, shimmering visions, that Edward wouldn't be watching, that he would be too distracted at home.
They made a long arc through the forest, visions flashing into her mind with more speed, more intensity, and she tried to focus on all of them, but they came and went too quickly.
When the smell of werewolf became nearly unberable, they stopped, Alice's toes skimming the boundary line between that of Cullen territory, and Quileute territory.
Another vision came them, swimming in slower, more languidly than the few preceding, and Alice gratefully focused on it.
Bella, sitting with Mr. Jenks, taking the thick envelope he passed across his desk. Pulling out the contents. Passports, identification, for Renesmee and for Jacob.
"Wait here," she whispered to Jasper, who still had no clue what was going on. He hadn't asked any questions up until now, and she promised, that when she got back, she would explain to him. He had been immensely-albeit uncharacteristically-patient in these last few moments. She stretched up on her tiptoes, and knowing what she wanted, he bent down to kiss her.
She headed back the way they'd come, making sure to stay in line with the trail they'd left, and then branched off, making another arcing, roundabout path to confuse her family-though it hurt her to do it.
When she came upon the cottage, she paused, listening to make sure there was no one inside. When she was sure that it was empty, and that Edward and Bella had stayed at the main house with Renesmee and the rest of the family, she darted into the cottage.
She flitted over to the bookshelf, crouching to pluck the book she'd been thinking off, Bella's worn, tattered copy of The Merchant of Venice.
Bella would know, she would catch on to the imagery it served. Or at least, Alice hoped she would. The metaphor would serve a huge purpose in Bella discovering what was to happen, the way it was supposed to go.
Alice found a pen and scrawled her first message on the back of the copyright page:
Don't look for us. There isn't time to waste. Remember: Tanya, Siobhan, Amun, Alistair, all the nomads you can find. We'll seek out Peter and Charlotte on our way. We're so sorry that we have to leave you this way, with no goodbyes or explanations.
It's the only way for us.
We love you.
Alice tore the page from the binding, and in her frenzied hurry, left a bit of the page intact, its edges feathered and frayed.
She folded the note in half and then wrote the second note, the one meant only for Bella, because only Bella's mind would be safe.
On the next page, underneath the title (The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare) Alice scrawled,
J. Jenks, Seatle - destroy this.
She slid the book back into place, between Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer's Night Dream. Then she set a fire in the small wood-burning stove in the corner, replaced the pen, and took the first note back to Jasper. The note her family would be allowed to read.
As she darted back toward Jasper, she hoped with all of her might, that Bella would realize her telepathic message, that it would get through to her.
The visions weren't concrete enough to guarantee Renesmee's safety, let alone that of the rest of her family. Alice could only hope this small snippet of premonition would be able to come to life.
Because no one could bear the thought of Renemsee being destroyed for a lie.
When she got back to Jasper, she explained it all, how they had to leave, how she was sure it was for a purpose, that they were supposed to find something, an answer, but that she hadn't been able to see farther than the forest, that her vision kept blacking out, and she didn't know why.
Jasper took it all in stride, trusting in what Alice thought best.
There was sound in the foliage, the thumping of a huge heart, and a low, warning growl. The enormous black wolf stepped out from between the trees, and they could sense more of Sam's pack lingering behind him.
"We come in peace," Alice promised. Sam stared at her with suspicious yellow eyes, and she stepped forward to explain. "We would like permission to cross your land to the ocean."
Sam looked confused, but among the confusion in his eyes was worry, and concern. Alice knew that immediately, he would be thinking of Renesmee.
"Please," she pressed, "It's vital. I'll explain on the way."
Sam lowered and raised his huge head in the resemblance of a nod, and Alice and Jasper stepped over the boundary line.
As Sam escorted them to the coast, Alice explained their predicament, how it was of utmost importance that Sam say nothing of our disappearance, or even him seeing us, to Jacob until he spoke to the rest of the family. She requested he wait at the boundary line where they'd met, knowing the family would come looking, that they would stop there.
They had reached the cliff side now, and dark gray clouds were rolling in, obscuring the stars, and the faint sliver of a moon. The wind ruffled Alice's closely-cropped hair and she turned to Sam's wolf form.
"Please deliver this to my family when they come," she said, setting the folded note in front of Sam's large paws. "And please, please heed my words. Obey me as if all your lives depended on it."
Sam gave one more nod, and then Alice and Jasper turned, leaping off the cliff, slicing through the water with barely a splash.