Bella's POV
We barely caught Aro before he leaped from the car. It took Jacob and I both to hold him. The black car swerved past us and sped through the red light ahead. Jacob followed them but they were driving dangerously and we couldn't risk the same speeds with Renesmee in the car. Finally I told him to stop and go find the hotel, Aro and I would follow them on foot.
Aro was more than ready and had jumped from the car and was almost out of sight before we'd even stopped. I caught up to him and we changed course into the trees on the side of the road to stay out of sight of other cars but they had slowed to normal speed when our car stopped following and we kept up easily. We followed them out of town and through the woods for ten minutes before they slowed and turned into a long drive. We dashed ahead, hoping we could hide and get them when they stopped. What we found was so surprising though that we halted in the trees just staring. It was a massive rock wall but it looked man-made. It was just smooth rock, almost as high as some of the taller trees around. The SUV approached and stopped and then a second later and, like the London entrance to Diagon Alley, the wall opened into a crumbling, shifting hole and they drove through it. The road continued on the other side without a break and at the end of it was a massive mansion with large, golden creatures prowling its vast lawn. Were those lions?
A person stepped into the road, a petite boy with dark skin and hair. He had his hands up in front of him like he was making a peace gesture to a person holding a gun on him and the wall closed smoothly blocking out the house and the car and sweet little Egyptian Benjamin, somehow caught up with Falstaff and, hopefully unwittingly, one of Charlie's captors.
"Wha—?"
Aro speechless. An occurrence almost as shocking as what we'd just seen. We could have jumped the wall easily but it was pretty obviously the stupidest idea ever. If those were regular lions we could have taken them easily but that seemed extremely unlikely.
"We'd better go find Jacob and Renesmee . . ."
He nodded but didn't speak. He just stood there, staring at the wall where the SUV had vanished. I pulled on him and he didn't move. I wondered if I would have to physically remove him but after another minute of pulling and finally coaxing gently, he turned and followed me.
I didn't know Seattle well but it didn't take us long to find the hotel with Aro's GPS and we called Jacob's cell phone once we were outside to make sure they were there. They gave us a room number and we went up, taking the stairs to reach the fourth floor faster.
They were quiet when they let us in, our faces no doubt giving away the dire nature of our experience. Aro was still silent and I was forced to recount what we'd seen alone. Renesmee immediately hugged Aro who stood limply without responding. She made him sit and he stayed there, staring out the window for hours while we futilely attempted to plan against something with so many unknown factors it seemed laughable to even consider a plan. Any plan we could come up with was probably as useful as just busting through the wall and storming their dumb little castle.
It was full light out now and a blaringly sunny day so we would be forced to hide until nightfall anyway. I insisted that Aro and I should go alone because it would be insane to take even Jacob and Renesmee even moreso but Aro spoke for the first time and said that Renesmee would probably be more useful than we could foresee right then.
"Sure, Aro, just as long as the mega-lions don't eat her, she'll be fine!"
"You're such a Cullen, Isabella, I don't intend to stroll across their lawn and knock on the front door. A place that big is bound to have many weak spots and we'll be able to find them tonight when just you and I go back to look for them."
"And then what?"
"Then we wait another day and go back tomorrow night to put whatever foolhardy plan we have into action."
I was surprised that he wanted to wait that long to get to Charlie. If it had been Edward, I would have been there already. But he was known for his patience. And since it had so far paid off in three thousand years of life, I was content to let him take the lead for now.
We kept the TV on to news stations all day, not even sure what we could possibly be looking for but hoping for something useful.
I was still insanely pissed that Aro had kept the fact that Charlie could become a bird secret and the only reason I wasn't still screaming at him was because he's fallen into that creepy state of near catatonia only speaking to add or disagree with some plan or another ocassionally. Otherwise he only stared out the window unmoving, not even blinking for hours. I felt bad for him and thankfully the bitterness I had felt before about my sympathy was mostly gone so it wasn't as painful anymore.
As it started to shade toward evening, I went and sat across from him.
"Aro."
His face regained a flicker of life but he didn't turn.
"We should go as soon as the sun sets so we have more time."
"Yes, I think that's wise . . ."
"Okay. Do you want to change or anything? Probably a good idea to wear dark clothes . . ."
"Yes. Yes, of course. That's a good thought."
He got up and found dark pants and a shirt in his suitcase and changed quickly.
I was watching the progress of the sun against the buildings. I thought we could probably leave earlier. The city would block the sun directly and late-day sun didn't affect our skin as brilliantly anyway. I hugged both Jacob and Renesmee. Aro did the same only patting Jacob on the shoulder rather than giving a hug.
"Good luck guys. You're kind of my favorite leeches and all so don't let her do anything too dumb, Aro."
Aro smiled a little bit but it looked dull.
We took the stairs again and then stood in the alcove in front of the door of the hotel, charting a course up the street that would allow us to avoid the few remaining patches of deep yellow sunlight splashing through the spaces between the skyscrapers. I was about to step out when he caught my arm.
"Isabella?"
He'd been calling me that all day but it didn't sound rude, it sounded like a title.
"Yeah?"
"I'm very sorry for what happened with Edward. I can't—"
And then I did something I probably wouldn't have believed I would ever do seven months ago: I hugged him. And in that moment, if not yet an adopted parent, Aro became my family.
"Let's go make sure we can save our Charlie then."
His demeanor became less mechanical and we stepped into the street together.
It took twenty minutes to get back. We followed the driveway to the wall and then got into the trees so we could see over as we circled the estate, accessing the situation. Those lion-things were prowling the whole front of the property. Around the back we found a huge terrace with opulent topiary trees and fountains everywhere. It looked like the home of a Colombian drug dealer in an action movie.
"Stupid," Aro said as we observed all of it. "This kind of showiness always leads to trouble. What? Do they think humans don't have airplanes? Idiocy. Guess they think secrecy was just some silly little game we invented to stop everyone from having fun . . ."
I laughed a little.
We couldn't see any guards in back or any other deadly creatures but that didn't mean there weren't any number of other defenses. I didn't like the idea of bringing Renesmee into a situation with so much unknown danger but if she was close, at least we could protect her personally. If these people had this, they probably had control of the city in innumerable ways as well and leaving them in a hotel with no real defenses was maybe just as dangerous.
"I wish we could get closer . . ."
"Do you think we should go over the wall for a second?"
He shook his head.
"I think one of us should stay out here and watch today though. Maybe get a sense of their movements. More information for tomorrow night."
"Okay. That sounds like a good idea. As long as you're not planning to go over alone . . ."
"The best chance I'll have to rescue him will be with your help, Isabella, I won't go over without you unless I see somewhere to directly intervene . . . in a case where I'm sure you would do the same."
"Okay, well, I guess we'll watch tonight and see what we see . . ."
He took out his phone and started taking pictures as we spent the night scouting around the perimeter. Aro took many photos and emailed them to Renesmee without explanation to me. She sent replies, displaying her always astonishing memory and impressive researching skills about the various images.
"She thinks those 'lions' might be chimeras. I don't know why I didn't think of that. I certainly hope that she is wrong . . ."
"What's that?"
"It's a fire-breathing goat-lion-snake creature."
Then we shared a moment of stress-crazed laughter at how ridiculous that sounded.
"Well it just looks like a lion to me . . ."
"Let's get closer . . ."
We leapt to the top of the wall and laid flat, waiting for one of them to get a little closer. It took a few minutes but one finally wandered into view. Once you looked closer you could see that although it had a lion's mane, the face it surrounded was not a lion's but a large, slightly flattened goat's. It turned and I saw that the end of its tail had two glittering red eyes hidden among the tuft of fur. A long, forked tongue slipped out for a second before retracting into a barely visible mouth. It was a far less hilarious creature in person.
"Are they immortal?"
"No. I think they're just like a regular animal . . ."
"Then it's no big deal . . . right?"
He turned to me with the kind of look you give to people you love when they've said something obviously stupid.
"Isabella, they breathe fire. And in case you've forgotten, we're a little bit—"
"Flammable. Shit. Sorry, I'm kind of dumb right now."
He patted my arm.
"No, you're just your father's daughter . . ."
END NOTES: The positioning of a chimera's goat head is traditionally rising from its back but for story purposes I needed them to think they were just lions at first because . . . um, drama! Also, it's a much scarier image. *shudder*
I'm a little emotionally unstable right now and that Aro and Bella hug gave me a lot of achy feels while editing it. I love my little weirdo family. *sniff*