As the cold winter day began to come to an end the Cullens found themselves in the library surrounded by nothing but silence. Searching for the right books Poppy was able to gather three with a decent amount of information on specific legends. "Why do we need these anyway?" Carlisle had yet to explain the misfortune of events that took place before Poppy's arrival.
"Irina came by the other day, but left without saying anything to us. We assumed it was the mere presence of Jacob that might have scared her off." He pauses to look around at Edward and Alice, "Then when you were gone Alice had a vision."
"A vision of what?" Poppy asks turning to Alice, who looked incredibly troubled. Her eyes were bugged and unfocused as she kept playing her vision in her head. Jasper hugged her close to calm her down, but there was a sense of panic that oozed off her being.
"The Volturi they're coming for us; Aro, Caius, Marcus, the Guard, their wives… and Irina." Alice answers. "Apparently Irina mistook Reneesme for an immortal child."
"Immortal child?" Seth queried stepping in from the hallway. He made his way to Poppy and put his arm around her reassuringly. The young couple still hadn't talked about the incident early in the day, but Poppy had put that on the back burner for now. She wanted to focus on her family's problem in order to help her keep pushing the 'I still drink human blood' discussion.
"During, what you humans call, the plague was when the outbreak of immortal children happened. Since most vampire women wanted a chance to have a baby they'd grow attached to a mortal one and eventually changes them." Poppy says flipping through one of the books.
"She's right." Carlisle continues, "The immortal children were enchanting; just to be near them was to love them, but their development was frozen at the age they were turned. They couldn't be taught or restrained. A single tantrum could destroy an entire village. Sasha, Irina's mother, had crossed that line long before even I was born." He points to a picture of an old drawing. A boy with curly hair, small and joyful; Poppy couldn't help, but feel odd looking at it.
"So the Denali's mother made an immortal child?" Bella asked.
"Yes and she paid the price. The Volturi were forced to intervene when rumors began to spread." Carlisle finishes.
"Think of what Irina saw that afternoon." Poppy says suddenly, "To a girl who lost her mother because of an immortal child… of course she thinks Nessi is one of them. Has she already gone to the Volturi?" Alice shakes her head.
"No, but she's already decided. And then they will decide to come for us… it's as if they're waiting for her." Alice picks at her nails nervously making the whole room concerned. They had never seen Alice so distressed about a vision. She was always calm and optimistic, but now it felt like she had reached a wall she didn't know how to overcome. "It's like their decision was already made, but they needed a solid reason to come for us." She whispers.
"So what does this mean?" Bella asks the room, "Do we go to trial or something?" Edwards places his hand on her shoulder.
"This isn't the type of crime you go to trial over, love. Aro has enough proof in Irina's thoughts to come and destroy us."
"But Reneesme is nothing like those children. She was born not bitten; she grows every single minute." Bella retorts.
"So can't you explain that to the Volteri or whatever?" Jacobs probes.
"It's over." Poppy replies, "We might as well be sentenced to death already."
"So we fight right?" Jasper shakes head at Jacob.
"Their offensive weapons are too powerful no one can stand against them. Why do you think they've been in charge so long?"
Bella runs a hand through her hair before looking back at Jasper, "So why don't we try to convince them?"
"They're coming to kill, not reason with us." Emmet says.
"No wait…" Edward utters suddenly. "They won't listen to us, but… maybe-maybe others can try to convince them. Carlisle you have friends all around the world."
"I won't ask them to fight." He says.
"Not fight; witness." Edward leans forward and closes the book in front of Bella, "if enough people knew the truth the Volturi would have to listen."
"It could work. If we ask this of our friends the Volturi would have to stop for a second to hear us out." Esme says rubbing circles on Carlisle hands. As Carlisle nods in agreement Poppy leaves the room with her head down. She was so worried about this whole mess that her stomach was doing flips. Slowly she walks out onto the balcony overlooking their yard. Taking in the still full moon she feels some relief, but her mind is still bundled.
"Are you okay Pops?" Seth's voice comes from behind her. She looks back at him and notices how uncheerful he looks. Pained by the fact that she's causing him to lose his smile she sighs and looks back out onto the horizon.
"Why does every one of our conversations starts with you asking that?" Poppy asks with a not so enthusiastic chuckle. He moves to stand next to her and leans on the ledge for support, "I'm sorry." She suddenly says.
"For what crazy; you haven't done anything." Seth brings his hand up to poke her cheek cutely. He hoped it would earn him a smile, but all it does is make her turn to face him with an aggrieved look.
"You know the only time I see you smile anymore is when you're asleep." Poppy admits. "I feel like you're never gonna be happy if you stay with me."
"Pops," he sighs, "I'm always happy when I'm with you, you just don't see it cause you're always worried about something. Although I do admit I've been just as intensely worried, but I'm just worried about you."
"Well stop worrying. I'm fine!" Poppy exclaims.
"No you're not and I can tell!" Seth suddenly grasps her arms and shakes her gently, "Wake up Poppy please! You don't have to carry all the weight by yourself… just talk to me." His voice wavers as Seth lets his emotions loose. All the emotion he had built up suddenly came crashing down as he finally bared his thoughts to her. "I'm always gonna worry about you, but you have to tell what's going on with you. That way we can think of a solution and worry together." She exhales before leaning forward to place her head on his shoulder.
"I'm scared." Poppy whispers as her vision becomes red with her tears. He moves his arms to wrap around her neck and brings her closer to him. He hugs her close while patting her head trying to sooth her as she also bares her emotions. "With the Volturi coming for us it feels like everything is crashing down. I was supposed to be dead to them, but now that they know I'm here these allegations get thrown in. You know I keep thinking that if Irina hadn't jumped to conclusions how would they have come for me; would they have come for me at all?" Seth pushes her away and gets down at her eye level. Shushing her he wipes the red tears coming from her eyes. Seth had only heard a brief summary about Poppy's life with the Volturi, but never pried on the subject.
"I'm never going to let them hurt you Poppy." He says looking deep into her eyes. "You don't have to be afraid… because I'll protect you. So no more of this holding your feelings back okay?" He smiles sweetly making Poppy's heart melt. No one had ever told her anything like that before, not even her father. It was like the boulder that weighed on her heart was being lifted slowly. It was still gonna take some time for Poppy to get used to this sharing of her thoughts , but with Seth she felt a sort of support that lets her know everything would be okay.
The next morning the Cullens were all set to leave when Poppy and Seth walked into the kitchen without their bags. "You haven't packed yet?" Carlisle asked as he handed Esme their passports.
"We're not going; I think it would be best for me to stay here." Poppy says. Carlisle and Esme frowned at the new information. They hadn't had a trip with Poppy ever since she turned and were really looking forward to going to Paris with her. Seeing their faces Poppy smiles, "It's fine I just don't want to cause trouble and most of your friends are already scared of me." She slowly entwines her fingers to Seth's that were right next to her, "Besides I won't be alone, so you don't have to worry."
"I guess its fine." Esme says shooting a persuading look towards Carlisle, who was still processing everything the fatherly way. Suddenly a knock at the door was heard making the family turn toward it. Poppy opened the door to see Sam, "Yes." Esme says behind her.
"I have a note from Alice and Jasper." He states quickly. Poppy lets him in before taking the not in his hand, "They crossed our land last night to the Pacific." In Alice's delicate hand writing it read;
'Gather as many witnesses as you can before the snow sticks to the ground, that's when they'll come. We're sorry to leave you this way with no goodbyes or explanations. It's the only way for us.'
"What does it say?" Rosalie asks. Handing the note to Carlisle Poppy rereads it again in her head. She felt like someone had punched her in the heart, it hurt to see that they had them in the one moment the family needed them the most.
"They've left us. She didn't say why." Esme whimpered as her eyes glossed over with the urge to cry. Silence followed by more silence until there was the sound of a scoff from Rosalie and without another word she grabbed her bag.
"We're leaving." She says with hardly any emotion which Poppy knew meant she was trying her hardest not to show emotion. Emmett followed behind with his duffle bag over his shoulder and his head down.
"See you guys when we come back from New Orleans." It was a shock for everyone that Alice left so suddenly without any notice. The feeling of ignorance with the complexity of the situation began to settle in the room. An uncomfortable atmosphere that didn't go away even as the family trickled out of the house; as each search party left Poppy couldn't help, but still feel strange. The one person that usually kept the family happy was gone.
"So…" Seth said as he sat next to Poppy on the couch. It hadn't set in that they would be alone for a couple weeks until Poppy heard the silence in the house. She was relieved that she had fed before this drama went down, but was still scared that her 'mojo' would act up again. As she looked at his cute face she prepared herself mentally to hold back… on anything.