Chapter 29

Flashbacks hit Bella like a wave as she, Edward and Esme raced to the airport to make their way to Italy as quickly as possible. She felt bad leaving Sue in distress, and barely speaking to her father, though she knew she had the power to protect Edward, Esme and everyone else, at least from the powers of Jane and Alec. Throughout talks with their family, Emmett assured them that William, Maddy, Sam and a few of the other wolves would be there to protect Charlie's house.

Thoughts of the large clock tower crossed Bella's mind, then the angelic look of Edward in the sunlight. They all lead up to what she did not want to think about - the depths of the Italian underworld where The Volturi called home. The smell of their lair lingered in her thoughts, as well as the dimly lit corridors made of stone.

A loud beep made her return to the present time, where Edward was urging a slower driver to get out of the way. Esme sat next to him in the passenger seat, pointing in all directions as he continued to huff and puff at just about everyone else on the road.

When they finally arrived at the airport, Edward pulled the car up as close to the curb as possible to avoid the lingering sunlight of the late evening. Esme and Bella each ran into the shade as he found a parking garage to keep his Volvo in until the next time he needed it.

The two of them went through the process of purchasing tickets before Edward met back up with them.

"We got the earlier flight available," Esme said, "We can board soon." She began leading the way toward the gate they were assigned to and took out her cell phone to call Carlisle again, though seemed frustrated when he didn't answer and shoved it back in her pocket.

"Emmett and Rosalie are at the hospital," Edward told her, reading an incoming message from his phone.

"What did they say? Are they with Carlisle?"

He shook his head, "Not yet. He's still in surgery."

"What about Alice? Jasper?"

"They're meeting with Aro," Edward explained.

Esme's head snapped in his direction.

"It might be a good thing. He can contact the others, let them know that his daughter his planning a visit..."

She sighed and tried to remain as calm as possible on the surface.

Edward went over and hugged her, "Lucy's with them."

"I need to get to them," Esme said desperately, "I need to talk to them. I can't believe they went ahead and did this. I'm not even mad, I'm just... I don't know." She took in a deep breath.

"We'll get to them," Bella said, trying to sound reassuring, though she didn't know how much good it did, fading back again to when she was on the plane with Alice in a similar situation.

"Our phones probably won't even work once we're in the air," she said, "If one of them tries to call me, I won't even know it."

"We'll get there not long after them," Edward said, "They just left this morning."

"It's more than a half a day," Esme said, "That's a long time alone with Caius. And Jane..." The thought of Jane's wrath suddenly plagued her mind and the thought of Alexandra being put to the ground in pain almost made her wince, "Jane..." she said again.

"Try not to worry," he told her, "It won't be long."

The man in charge of the area called their section to board, and again Edward allowed Esme and Bella to go before him before he politely smiled at the man collecting tickets and followed them down the corridor.

Emmett tapped a pen he'd kept from the counter nervously as he sat in Carlisle's office across from Rosalie. The sound finally got to her and she looked at him, "Em... can you cool it with the pen?"

He sighed and stopped, then looked back to the clock, "How long do these things take?"

Rosalie looked at him helplessly, "It's heart surgery."

"We've been here awhile," he shook his head.

Carlisle's phone began buzzing from one of his desk drawers and Emmett stood up to trace it. Esme's name popped up on the screen and he picked it up, "Esme."

"Carlisle?" her voice was frantic, yet hopeful at the thought of her hearing his voice.

"No. It's Emmett," he said, "Sorry. I just picked up his phone."

Rosalie leaned in and listened harder.

"Where are you?" Esme's voice asked, "Is he there?"

"He's still doing the procedure. We're waiting in his office."

There was a brief moment of silence before she sighed, "Okay. Well, me, Edward and Bella just boarded the plane, so if you can't get ahold of us, it's because we're in the middle of the flight. Please be safe, all of you. I love you."

"We love you, too. I'll have him call on a chance that your phone might still be on when he gets out."

"Thanks Emmett," Esme said, "Please be careful."

"We will." He hung up the phone and scanned through all of Carlisle's recently missed calls and messages before looking at Rosalie, "This isn't gonna be good."

Rosalie sighed and stood up, looking at everything in the office as a distraction technique.

"You should stay," Emmett told her, "I don't want you to be in danger over there."

"I'm coming with you," Rosalie said firmly.

"Rose-"

"Emmett. It's not up for discussion."

He looked down, deciding it wasn't a battle he was about to win.

They sat in mostly silence for another half hour before Carlisle entered, almost shocked to see them, though their scents lingered in the hallways surrounding the immediate area.

Emmett and Rosalie both stood up quickly.

"What are you guys-"

"We need to go," Rosalie said, "Get a couple things together."

"What's wrong?" he asked, now looking physically distressed. His eyes moved from Rosalie to Emmett.

"We're going to Italy," Emmett said, "We'll explain it all in the car, but we need to go now."

"Italy? Tell me what's going on."

Rosalie grabbed his car keys and threw them to him, passing by him to get into the hallway. Emmett grabbed his phone.

"Guys!" Carlisle raised his voice, drawing a few looks in his direction from people passing by.

"In the car," Rosalie said, "We have to go."

Another doctor passed by and Carlisle took a second to speak with him.

"Hey, Dr. Cullen," the man began to smile, "You did a wonderful job on the-"

"Thank you," he said, cutting him off. It immediately registered to the man that something was off.

"What's wrong? Is everything alright?"

"Uh, um, no," he said, "I have a family emergency. I have to go right away. I'm sorry."

"Go, go," the man urged, seeming to empathize with his urgency, "I don't think anyone will be looking for you after the job you just did. Take a vacation or something."

Carlisle nodded, "Thank you. If anyone asks, just tell them I had a family emergency."

"O-okay," the man said, now looking a bit frazzled himself.

Carlisle nodded to him again and patted his shoulder before taking off after Rosalie and Emmett.

The sun had set so there were no issues getting to the car in the parking lot. Carlisle looked down at his phone on the run that was far slower of a pace than he would have liked, though it was on the faster end of the human scale.

"I have about twenty calls from Esme, almost as many from Edward, a few from Bella and Alice..." he clicked on Esme's name to call her, though it went right to voicemail.

Rosalie jumped in the back seat as Carlisle opened his car door and Emmett piled into the passenger seat.

"Alex and Michael went to The Volturi," Emmett said as the car went into drive.

Carlisle slammed the brakes and looked over at him, "What?"

"Drive!" Rosalie called from the back.

Carlisle put the car back in drive and made his way for the interstate.

"We have to get to the airport, get tickets and get on a plane," Emmett told him.

His head was spinning and he was trying to gather all of the information, "How do you know they went there?"

"Esme and Edward called. They were at Sue and Charlie's and somehow realized-"

"Lucy and Seth boarded a plane this morning. Esme called Carmen to see if they'd arrived in Denali but she said Alex called her and said they were sorry for not being able to make it, but they would visit in the near future."

"We dropped them off at the airport this morning," Carlisle said, then slammed his fist on the steering wheel, "They got on a plane to Italy. Not Denali." His foot pressed harder on the gas pedal as he cruised on the open back road until he found the sign for the interstate. He tried Esme's phone again, then shoved it roughly in the cup holder when she didn't pick up, "Call Edward," he instructed Emmett.

"I tried before. We can't reach them anymore."

Carlisle turned his head in Emmett's direction, "What do you mean? Why?"

"Esme, Edward and Bella boarded a plane earlier. They're already on their way there."

The expression and life drained out of his face. The thought of his family in the hands of The Volturi sparked every emotion in him and he floored the gas pedal, now weaving in and out of traffic.

"Alice and Jasper are meeting with Aro in Forks," Rosalie added, "He came down here to surprise Lucy. That was the vision that Alice had seen."

"So why are they on their way to Italy to see him?" Carlisle asked, trying to glance in the rearview mirror.

"We think it was a mix-up," Emmett said, "Neither of them told the other about their plans."

Carlisle arched his neck to look down the way at the breakdown lane and when no one was in the way for as far as he could see, he moved over, passing everyone in both lanes, topping out at well over one hundred miles per hour. He continued to shake his head and take deep breaths, "We can't let them be there alone with Caius and Jane."

They traveled for miles in their segregated lane, getting looks and beeps from other drivers, though no one really cared or even paid attention. For the first time in possibly ever, Carlisle went on a ten second cussing spree and somehow found it in him to compose himself before he could slam his hand down on the dashboard.

Emmett turned to Rosalie who looked sad in the back seat. He put a hand on her knee for a second before turning back around, wanting to comfort Carlisle, though thought it was best in the moment to give him a few minutes to calm down.