Questions
"Renesmee, why did they come?" Alice inquired 10 minutes later, when we were out of their hearing range.
"They came to acquire," I began. "Catherine, the small girl you saw with them, does speak English. Perfectly, I might add. It is Italian that she doesn't speak very well. She is special, like she said. She has the power to control one's thoughts and actions. When Momma let her shield down, she was able to make Alice tell us that all was fine so that you would keep it down for a while longer. She just needed a brief moment of Momma's doubt in her previous assumptions to get through to Alice."
"But Renesmee, I never, once, let my shield down during that whole encounter. It didn't make sense to me when you told me to put it back up around us."
"But then why couldn't she get through it again a mere 10 seconds later when she tried? It doesn't seem right that it would falter at just the perfect time for Alice to dismiss your fear, and then work again 10 seconds later."
We all hunted, hoping to divert our thoughts, or at least stuff the Volturi to the back of our minds. We were--or at least I was--tense without the Volturi around. Hunting calmed us, a bit. But when we had gotten our fill for the day week—which Auntie Alice and my mother did long before me—the closest thing our kind had to serenity wore off. We were all anxious heading home. Had the Volturi left? Had they convinced—or rather manipulated—our family to follow them to Italy? Was it too late for my mother's shiled to do the trick? I was sure we all had the same questions flowing through our minds, simply wishing to be answered, soon.
We arrived home only 10 minutes after I had departed. Hunting had not taken long. We were all worried and wanted to get back. Although it had only been a short time, it had felt like forever—and that was saying something when you were 150 years old. When we came through the door, Jane was seated comfortably on the white leather couch in the living room. Carlisle seemed very at ease, as if nothing was wrong. I touched my mother.
Put your shield up around our family.
It was easy to tell when she did. Carlisle automatically had a tensed and worried expression. However, he composed it quickly. He figured that Jane would need to believe he was still in whatever trance that she had put him in when they had gotten there.
"Alice, Bella, Nessie!" She greeted us. She sounded too much like Aro to make us feel reassured. It was just weird.
"Jane," we said back simultaneously. "How was your takeover of our family?" Alice continued sarcastically.
"And where's Catherine?" I completed.
"Oh. The takeover went just fine. And Catherine, is well, Catherine. She runs off and hides a lot. Much like Alistair, if I remember correctly. Too bad that he couldn't keep the secret. I would have liked to meet him on a more friendly basis. But then again, he would have run away. Did Carlisle even know him well?"
"Which secret did he reveal, exactly? The one about our existence…or the one about how The Volturi are just power-hungry and are doing our kind absolutely no good?"
"Oh Bella. Do you really believe that? I truly do wish we could be good friends for once. That was one of the reasons Aro sent me. I begged him to let me go and befriend you. Please, accept my apology." She looked over her shoulder, and there was Catherine. She looked frustrated. I figured she--like Jane had so many times--was trying to get through my mother's shield.
"Jane, I don't believe you. I'm sorry. If there was any way I could, I would accept you and your apology, but the timing of your arrival seems too perfect. And I can't help but wonder if Aro really sent Catherine, Alec, and yourself, to acquire us for your coven, as you did with the excuse of Renesmee 150 years ago."
Jane crouched. Alec and Catherine quickly reacted and followed her lead. "Well then, I guess we'll have to be doing this the hard way," she snarled…and then sprung at Rosalie.