A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I was at camp and I didn't have access to a computer! I don't know if I'll be able to finish this story for a long time :( On one hand, I want to, but I also have a novel I'm writing. It's petty of me, but not enough people review or message me, and it's hard to stay excited about a story when I'm the only one that is. I wouldn't resort to saying "I'll only write if I get this many reviews" so who knows. Anyway, here's the fourth chapter, I hope you enjoy it.

Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight.

The water passed over my body in a torrent. I didn't turn the cold water faucet at all, so my skin was a light shade of pink. I let the water wash the dirt from my hair and face. I didn't bother trying to process the previous day, I knew no good could come of thinking about it more. Instead, I just enjoyed my shower.

I finally got out of the shower, once I realized that I had been in there for roughly forty minutes. I toweled myself with my fluffiest white towel and wrapped by hair up. When I came into my bed room, I was quite shocked to see Sulpicia sitting on my bed. I didn't scream or anything, I just jumped a little.

"Hey… Mom." I had a hard time choking out that last word. Sulpicia understood and gave a serene nod.

"If you want to call me Sulpicia, I'd understand. Meeting Domitilla must have thrown things a bit off balance. Is that why you slept in the woods last night?" I had gone into my walk-in closet, so my first reaction of Oh dear wasn't seen.

I chirped back, "I just needed to be outside, it was hard to say goodbye to everyone. Seeing the stars… uhh… made me feel closer to them." I slipped on a black vintage Chanel dress and a pair of black pumps. I didn't actually like getting dressed up like this, but Sulpicia expected it of me. I left my closet and she smiled at my ensemble. She also didn't push my response. I knew that she knew that I was lying, but she never pried. I had to give her credit for that; she wasn't interested in butting into my life. Well usually she didn't. I decided not to bring up the wedding.

I blow-dried my hair and Sulpicia looked through my jewelry for matching earrings and a necklace. She picked out my first emerald pendant; she insisted on putting it on me when my hair was dry. Sulpicia still treated me like a doll at every chance. She was plugging in my straightener before I knew it. I let her pull on my locks until they were shiny and straight. I preferred my curls, but Sulpicia seemed to not know that, no matter how many times I told her. With her gift, there was no use arguing anyway, she always got what she wanted.

"There, you look perfect." She kissed my cheek and left the room quickly. I watched myself in the mirror as I plastered on my fake smile. Being without Felix was hard already. And being without Domitilla was hard, too, much to my surprise. I thought about her ashes on the ground in the clearing, and my eyes started to prickle again. I quickly pushed my fingertips onto my eyelids. The tears stopped.

My stomach growled annoyingly, so I went down the basement to get some blood. I heated it up in the small incubator we had and poured it into a wine glass. The smell of it was heavenly and I drank it quickly. I was super excited for the day that Aro would finally let me join him in the tower when the tourists came. But, for now, wine glasses of blood were good enough.

After I finished my breakfast, I went up to the tower to join Sulpicia and Athenadora. The two were talking happily, chatting about wedding details. In front of them was spread hundreds of bridal magazines, swatches of color, flower arrangements, anything you could think of for a wedding. There was even a whole catalogue devoted to honeymoon lingerie, causing a blush to spread on my cheeks. The women looked up when I came in, and Sulpicia smiled happily.

"Oh Maia, we've found so many great options for wedding dresses, come see!" I begrudgingly went to sit next to her. She showed me over a hundred of her options in the next hour, not bothering to ask my approval. It hit me that this was something mothers and daughters were supposed to do together. I thought about Domitilla, the person I really wanted to look at wedding catalogues with.

And more than anything, I just wanted to talk about. I would have preferred Felix to pour my heart to, but I had to settle with Sulpicia. "Sulpicia," I said quietly, "can we just talk for a minute?"

"Of course, sweetheart," she replied, setting down her magazine. She turned her full attention to me, which was a bit daunting.

"I know what really happened to Domitilla." I blurted that out without any thought to her reaction. Athenadora looked at me, shocked, and abruptly glided from the room. Sulpicia narrowed her crimson eyes slightly, but that was all.

She said lightly, "Maia, Domitilla is the past, forget about her!" She gave my hands a squeeze and started to turn back to her magazine. I grabbed her hand before she could reach for it though.

"I can't just forget about her! Why did Aro kill her?"

"She was a liar!" Sulpicia shouted. I was taken aback by her shouting, she was usually calm. I must have hit a nerve though, because she started to rant. "She used poor Savio, manipulating him and she was his downfall! She tried to coerce your father into taking you with her, to 'see the world'. All she wanted to do was get revenge, I know! She was a horrible human, and an even worse vampire! She deserved it!" I gave a shout of outrage, but I had nothing to say in reply.

Sulpicia realized that her words hurt me, so she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blow up on you like that, Maia. I'll just… I'll just leave you be." She stood up and left the room gracefully.

I sunk to the ground and started to cry. I let myself sob for awhile, taking in Sulpicia's hateful words and letting my anger grow. Then I thought about Aro, and how he lied to me. How Felix told me not to worry about Savio. How my whole life everyone had coddled me, watched me, waiting for me to fit into their perfect lifestyle neatly and quietly. How I was just a commodity to all of them.

I didn't feel like crying anymore. I felt like punching a hole in the wall. Or someone's face, I wasn't really worried about what I punched. I tore up a whole catalogue into tiny little pieces and walked over to the window. I was about to toss them down when I saw two people below. It was a young woman, probably around twenty, with her mother. Their conversation drifted up to me and I listened intensely.

"You promise you'll be careful, Lena?" The older woman handed her daughter her bags, checking to make sure they were zipped and snapped. I recognized them as our neighbors, a family who lived just next door to the castle, who I had never actually met.

"Of course, Mama! I'll take lots of pictures," replied Lena, as she pulled on her jacket. I saw the shuttle that took people to the airport pull in front our castle.

"Especially in Paris!" Mrs. Vitti kissed her daughter goodbye and stood waving as the bus departed.

I found it unfair that Lena Vitti, breakable mortal Lena got to travel the world, and I was stuck in Volturi.

Well I wasn't stuck. It's not like there was a security system or watch dogs. In theory, we could come and go as we pleased. Aro would never just let me leave though. But he's not here, I thought. The only people still in the castle were Sulpicia and Athenodora. Two, elderly vampires who had no way of tracking me if I left. Demetri would have a hard time trying to find someone when the trail was two days old. I could travel the world, like Lena. And nobody could stop me.

I was instantly energized by the idea and I tore to my room. I felt like a character in a novel, trying to run away from a bad life, though mine wasn't all that bad. Still, I quickly packed, throwing random my clothes into a bag, until I realized that wasn't very practical. Packing for running away was a lot harder task than I had thought. I picked a few outfits, outfits I gardened in, tough, durable outfits. Once I had those folded in my bag, I made my way to my jewelry shelf.

That was a lot harder than clothes. I may not care how my body was clothed, but jewelry was one of my favorite things. I had nine beautiful emerald pendants, plus tons of other jewelry that the Volturi had given me over the years. I had over two hundred rings to choose from. I looked at the engagement ring on my left hand, knowing I had to take that. I decided that three necklaces, ten rings, five bracelets, and six hair clips was reasonable. Oh, and ten pairs of earrings. Maybe twelve.

"No, you have to choose!" I whispered to myself. I carefully unclasped the pendant I was wearing, and packed an emerald and diamond necklace Felix had given me for Christmas the year before and a ruby necklace with the Volturi crest on it. It took me two hours to decide what to take, but I finally put it all in one of the jewelry bags I had, and snapped a lock onto it.

I also needed money. I knew that we as the Volturi were filthy rich. The only problem was finding actual bills to take. I knew I couldn't use credit cards or checks because those could be traced back, and I couldn't remove any from our accounts because everyone would know. I had to get money from somewhere, in different currencies, too. I didn't ask Sulpicia, she would be suspicious. I quickly ran through the whole castle, avoiding Sulpicia and Athenadora, hoping to find a safe.

No such luck. I had never actually handled money in my life; I just asked Aro if I needed to buy something. So I had no idea if we even had money lying around "just in case". So I had to make a choice between asking Sulpicia where the money was and leaving without it. It didn't seem very practical to run away without a little bit of money, but I didn't really have another option. I decided to go without it, against my common sense. I can do this without money, I said to myself, and ran back to my room.

I looked at my bag, stuffed full with clothes and jewelry. The sun was beginning to set; I had to leave as soon as possible. I looked out the window in my bedroom, checking to see if there was anyone below. The coast was clear; I dropped my bag straight down so I could get it when I left. I ran into my bathroom and packed an old backpack with the essentials. I wanted to grab my hair supplies too, but I couldn't afford to be picky. I dropped that bag down quickly, too and I changed into my gardening clothes, making sure that I placed my dress back neatly and the jewelry back as well. I threw my hair into a ponytail, knowing it would be easier to run if it was out of the way.

I realized that I had to write a note. I settled at my desk and took about a piece of my personal stationary. I wasn't sure who to write to. For some reason, I didn't want to write to everyone, or even to most of them. Aro was the only person I wanted to say goodbye to.

It was hard to find the words to write. How was I supposed to say goodbye to the man who raised me, who I never doubted until now? My eyes welled up again and I wiped them away angrily. I wrote the first thoughts that came to mind, before I broke down again.

Dear Dad,

I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry that I'm not here. I just couldn't stay any longer, not after everything that happened. After you… lied to me. I'm sorry, but I'm not coming back. Don't look for me, even I don't know where I'm going. I can't live here anymore. I'll take care of myself, I promise. Tell Felix that I love him, and I'm sorry. I can't be your little girl anymore.

Love,

Maia

With black ink on white paper, it seemed so severe. But I didn't have time to waste. The Volturi were supposed to come back the next day, and I wanted to be as far as possible before they did. I left the letter on my desk, trusting that Aro would find it. As I made my way from the room, I caught my reflection in the mirror.

My eyes were red from all of the crying, but I looked regular besides. Pieces of my hair had fallen out of my ponytail and framed my face. My clothes were a little big for me, and worn, but I preferred them that way. For a second, I looked like a regular girl, like I was Lena Vitti, leaving her family to see the world, but planning on coming back. I knew I couldn't come back, not after everything that had happened in the past few days.

I went into Sulpicia's office, knocking lightly on the door as I entered. She was sitting on her couch, reading a romance novel. I took a deep breath and lied, "Hey Mom, I'm going to garden for awhile. I might sleep in there; it's supposed to be a gorgeous night." Sulpicia nodded and smiled, then returned to her book. Lying was so easy, I almost felt bad. My family never had any reason to distrust me, so any little lie I told went unnoticed. I made my way down to the doors of the castle.

My bags sat by the door, and I picked them up as quietly as possible. I pulled the backpack on and held the bag tightly in my hand. With a final look back, I started to run to the edge of the grounds, about a mile away. It only took me a minute and a half to reach it. Once I was there, I looked at the road that ran by it. If I followed it, I could get to the train station and somehow get myself on a train.

I had a moment of hesitation then. Could I really leave behind everything and everyone that I knew? I had no knowledge of the outside world except for in the stories Caius made me read. I didn't know if I was ready to leave it all behind and find my own path.

But I was sure going to try. I didn't look back before I ran down the road to the station.

A/N: Reviews? Please please please?