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Animal Crackers
Chapter 21:
The silence in the air was almost static, as if it was a physical thing, swirling around them and tickling their faces. The air had an almost metallic taste to it, as nobody spoke.
Alice, still weak and shaking, had her golden eyes closed, though of course, not sleeping. She hadn't wanted Edward to know about it, but of course, this was inevitable, with the mind reading and the simple fact that he had a right to know.
Edward finally seemed to understand the pained look on Alice's face, and immediately his eyes were heavy with concern for his sister, the feud forgotten, if only for the moment. He placed a gentle hand on her knee, and she opened her eyes in response. Their eyes bored into each other, Edward daring her silently to not tell him the truth.
"Alice, did Jane hurt you?" He said softly, cautiously, but a river of anger ran under his voice as well.
Alice shook her head. "It's okay, really."
"No, its not okay." The sole emotion in his voice was anger now. "How did she even do that?"
Finally seeming to realize that she was going to have to tell, in a still weak voice, Alice said, "The first time she tried to hurt Bella –" Edward's face darkened. "But of course it didn't work. I could kinda feel that. It was really weird. It was the strongest vision that I've ever had, in the sense that I could feel everything that Bella felt – or would have felt, in Jane's case. I could smell everything; hear everything perfectly, as if I was there." She closed her eyes again, shuddering. "And then she realized that I might be watching in. So she left me with a parting present."
"That wasn't right of her." Edward's voice was constricted.
"Jane doesn't have any boundaries." Alice answered.
"Jane." Esme said, speaking for the first time in awhile. The one word was soft, as if she was trying it out, and then it became angrier, harsher. "Jane. Jane has my daughter." Her hand flew to her mouth, surely she would have been crying if she was able. Carlisle's hand wrapped around her lovingly, soothing her.
"Jane took Bella." Rosalie said, her voice curious, as if still unsure.
Alice and Edward met each other's eyes, sadness blooming in them. Finally, Edward shook his head. "No," Edward's voice barely contained the emotion it held. "Bella went with her. Willingly."
"She would never …" Esme began, but Carlisle cut her off. "She's not the same Bella we knew."
"Maybe this is what she wants." Edward was teetering on the rocky face of the emotional cliff.
Six pairs of disbelieving eyes turned on Edward, and Carlisle was the first to speak. "Son, she doesn't know what she's doing. Emmett, Jasper, you said that you believed she may have found a singer?" His question was barely a question at all.
Emmett nodded.
"She hasn't been around many humans recently, so with a scent that strong, she snapped." Jasper explained.
"Why wouldn't she stop at the first?" Rosalie asked, perplexed.
Alice explained this time, her voice weak but stronger than previously. "The guilt. She didn't want to feel it."
Edward finally snapped, his eyes ablaze. "I should have known better! To leave her with the two of you was to leave her with bumbling idiots! You were protecting her. Where does leaving her fit into that equation? Answer me that one!" Growls and snarls ripped from his throat, as he crouched forward in a fighting stance.
"Edward, don't." Rosalie pleaded, but Emmett had already advanced, crouching and snarling as well.
Both vampires sprang, but Carlisle was there before their feet had even left the ground.
"Boys," he said, calm as ever, "cool down. I won't have us being torn apart by this, despite how terrible it may be." He turned to Edward. "And don't worry, Edward. We're not letting her go without a fight."
There was a terrible ripping sound, and Edward turned to see Cynthia do something that she had not done for eight years: cry. Tears streamed down her face, as she sobbed uncontrollably, as if eight years worth of tears had broken over a weakened floodwall.
"No, honey, shh. I'm sorry." Edward's strong arms wrapped around her in a matter of mere seconds, and she buried her face and sobbed into his shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry. That wasn't like me, and I didn't mean to frighten you."
Muffled against his shoulder, Cynthia shook her head. "You didn't scare me." She mumbled, barely composing herself. "Why would that scare me? Lizzie and I have had worse fights than that." Lizzie's mouth twitched into a smile.
"Then why are you crying?" He soothed her.
"I don't know." She said, unsure. "Maybe I just want to save Mom from … who was she?"
"Jane." Edward answered, his voice tight. "One of the Volturi."
"Yea. Maybe I just want to save Mom from Jane, and the bad things she does. She already hurt Alice …"
Alice shook her head. "I'm fine, Cyn. Really. Look, see?" She wiggled her arms. "sticks and stones may break my bones, but an illusion of pain cant hurt me."
"Actually," Edward said. "Sticks and stones cant break her bones, so Alice is completely safe."
"But its still our fault." Lizzie said, and Cynthia nodded. "Elizabeth Dylan and Cynthia Marie Swan." Edward said, his voice tense. "If you truly believe that … how could any of this possibly be your fault?"
"Well …" Cynthia stuttered, "you wouldn't have left Mom if it wasn't for us."
"Do you sincerely believe that one more person could have held her back?"
"I…we…"
"The answer would be no." He said, his voice firm. "We would have needed a thousand vampires to hold her back. Your mother was always very … stubborn."
"But what if Jane hurts Mom?" Lizzie asked, worried.
"She can't, not alone." Carlisle assured them. "But we will need to get to Italy as soon as we can." He spoke fast now, so that the twins were incapable of hearing. "If Alice saw her wild in Italy, and she still does," Alice nodded to confirm it. "Then it wont please the Volturi in the least." Carlisle turned to his son now, who was holding a sniffling Cynthia. "It's your decision, about the girls. We would do our best to protect them, but there are no guarantees. They're strong, though." He smiled at them, before his voice became serious. "Without them, though, there is little chance that Bella will make it back."
Author's Note:
Hey guys! Thanks for reading through this… this is the only place I could have cut it off, otherwise it would have run another twelve pages on word. (eek!) but that only means that you will get the next chapter faster.
Just a few things:
This chapter is dedicated to Saph.
Has everybody checked out the trailers for this? To find them, just type in my username, and it will pop up …