Alice's POV:
Another hundred years passed without any significant changes. The children were another hundred years older, passed a few more mile markers, and had all grown a few inches taller. Allison and Jackson were eight hundred, while Ashley and Scryan were now seven hundred, which meant that my babies were growing up and becoming more mature and independent and I was doing all right with that.
Jackson still moved from one extreme sport to the next and right now it was hang gliding that had him bouncing off the walls and begging for a camping trip every weekend. Allison still loved all things science related, but Masen and Eliza had gotten her hooked on the guitar. The three of them had a little band going and Allison was even the lead singer. Allison and Jackson were still the best of friends and they were hands down the most scholarly of the children, because they could pass entire days curled up together with their respective textbooks.
As for Ashley, she still loved practical jokes and lately she had been trying to catch Aiden off guard and jump down on him from the ceiling. Scryan would invariably assist in the latest prank and I began to think of him as her lackey. Ashley being the dominant member in their partnership was a bit comical given the two feet in height he had on her. It made him look so much older than her, even though he was in fact half an hour younger. But despite her short stature, Ashley was the leader and Scryan had learned to go with the flow.
Scryan was the only one who ever grew fast enough to see it, because he could grow up to a centimeter in a single year. In fact, he sprouted up a full twelve inches in only a fifty year time period. He was tied with me for height a hundred years ago, so now he was a foot taller than me and gaining on Jasper quickly. And although it looked incredibly odd for my husband to do so, he would still pick Scryan up, all five feet and nine inches of him, and carry him around like the young child he was.
Scryan had the emotional maturity of an eight year old, even though he had the body size of a teenager. Eight year old humans like to cuddle and my baby was no exception. In fact, he was a very sweet and cuddly little boy, who had recently taken to picking me up so that I could be at his level when he wanted a hug. Every night, while the others would paint or draw, he would climb into my chair with me and cuddle. It honestly felt like I had a giant for a son.
Tonight was no exception and Scryan was currently snuggled into my side, with his knees bent, his legs curled up, and his neck bent down to rest his head on my shoulder. And while Scryan cuddled, Allison, Jackson, and Ashley were sketching. Jasper was reading a book in the corner and enjoying the peace immeasurably. Jasper loved having the children more than I could have ever guessed and during moments like these, when all four of our children were behaving and sending out positive emotions, his joy, happiness, and contentment would just ooze from his pores.
It had not taken us long to learn that Scryan was the least artistic of the children, but he had still enjoyed playing with paints like all children do. It was only the last few years or so that he began to become self-conscious about his work and had taken to cuddling during art time instead. I still tried to encourage him to try and he knew that Jasper and I loved his work just as much as that of the others, but art was growing old for him and he was content to watch me as I worked on a sketch of my own. And when he was not cuddling by my side, he would crawl into Jasper's lap.
Ashley was extremely creative, maybe even the most creative of the bunch, and she had an eye for artistic composition. Where the others looked to their talents for inspiration, Ashley looked to the world around her. We had many gorgeous still-life paintings and family sketches done by her hanging up around the house. My favorite was a giant oil painting of Scryan curled up in Jasper's lap, while Allison looked over his shoulder at her brother. That painting was the focal point of our living room.
Allison's artwork tended to center on her knowledge of astronomy or archeology or ecology. The paintings and sketches were all breathtaking, looking like the cover of many a sci-fi novel, and they always had a story behind them. My favorite were a series of sketches, done one after the other in a sketch pad, that showed the evolutionary transition from vertebrate to tetrapod, to mammal, to primate, to ape, to vampire. If I thumbed through the pages quickly, the images would flip past fast enough to look like a motion picture. Needless to say, there were hundreds of sketches in that book and it had taken her over a year to complete.
Jackson's sketches were based solely on his visions. If he did not scry it, he did not draw it. He had made me an entire sketchpad full of drawings of my human life. He had already told me all the main details, but until he drew it, I had never seen my mother or the vampire who changed me before. Jackson's sketches were helping Jasper with his issues with his past as well. Our son had spent years filling a sketchpad with pictures of Jasper's human past, because although he did not have amnesia, he could remember almost none of it.
It was just another typical day and these were just our usual five am activities that we were all engaged in, but then I paused in my sketch work and held Scryan close to me as a vision hit. It may have been five in the morning our time but it was noon already in Egypt and Amun had just discovered a human that he was sure had a talent. And this was not just any talent, but a shield. After seeing Bella's shield in action against the Volturi over nine hundred years ago, he wanted a shield of his own. And after all these years of keeping his eyes out for a shield, he had finally found one.
The human Amun had found was a young teenager named Sonja. She was from Cairo, where she lived with her parents and extended family. With the addition of Sonja, Amun's coven would comprise five vampires, with two of the five being talented. Numbers like that were not enough to cause trouble for a peace-loving coven, like our own, but they were more than enough to draw attention to Amun, with his past. He was already skating on thin ice with four and he knew it, which was why he was so nervous about witnessing for our family back when Renesmee was little.
Amun was the single oldest vampire any of us had ever met, because there were not many of us around that were well over five thousand years old. And although I had heard of a pair of nomads who were at least six thousand, they had not had the past history of clashes with the Volturi Amun had had. He was one of a handful of vampires still alive that lived before the Volturi came to power, back in a time when we were free to roam the Earth as Gods amongst our flock. It was hard conforming to the new rules when one had spent the majority of their existence without them.
Amun had been part of the Egyptian coven back when they interacted with the human pharaohs, demanding human sacrifice and temple construction in their honor. The evidence of their reign could still be seen in natural landmarks that had been preserved through the years. Amun even still occupied his ancient underground temple, although he had long ago been forced to abandon his main temple at Karnak. Karnak was a major tourist destination now and a place of exploration for archeologists, but Amun's smaller temple just outside of Thebes had long ago been buried in the sand and built over as Luxor expanded. His temple was currently located fifty meters underneath the major city, which was a prime location for any vampire.
Amun and his wife Kebi, who was originally known as Mut, had been the only two original members of the Egyptian coven to succumb to the Volturi and their new laws voluntarily. Thusly they were the only two to survive, which was why Egyptian religion tended to become more Amun-centric over time. But tensions with the Volturi continued to run high, despite the cessation of hostilities. Aro had only let Amun live as an example of his magnanimity to show the other vampires that all one had to do to survive was comply with the rules. And although Amun complied and never plotted against the ruling coven, his deepest desire was always to create a coven strong enough to stand against them.
Aro knew all of this and so kept a close eye on his friend to the south. He even went so far as to steal Demetri away from Amun, as Amun was Demetri's creator. And if Amun had disliked the Volturi before said theft, he had despised them after. He had even gone to great lengths to hide Benjamin from Aro, which was why Benjamin was already two hundred years old at the gathering in Forks, and yet no one had ever met or heard of him before.
Amun's past was one of the more popular bedtime stories to tell the children. Of course our children did not ever sleep or even own beds, but we still sat around in the evening telling stories. And with my Jackson's gift, those stories came to life like never before. I knew all of these details either because Jackson had seen them or because Edward had heard them. And frequently the children would ask me for an update, so I would look for Amun's future and enthrall them with tales of what our ally was up to.
Scryan too would look for Amun, although the humans surrounding him made him blurry. My son could not scry humans, so all of our allies who were located in the midst of human cities and surrounded by humans were blurry and would disappear from his view altogether if they interacted with humans. And since Sonja was a human, Scryan had missed this vision of Amun.
I was certain that adding Sonja was a mistake. Not only would she not be the type of shield Amun was looking for, but the new addition would mean even more vigilance in their effort to hide from the Volturi. Sonja was a shield, just as he had predicted, but she was not a mental shield like Bella, or even a physical shield like Renata. Sonja was an empathic shield. Sure she would be immune to Jasper, Ashley, Chelsea, and Corin, but what good would that do against Alec, Jane, and Demetri? None. Amun was potentially sacrificing his coven over a practically useless talent. And since Amun was already constantly on the back of Aro's mind, another vampire would surely call attention to the group. Five Egyptians were not likely to be tolerated, especially given his known desire for independence.
So all and all, adding Sonja was clearly a bad move on Amun's part. He had already chosen to abduct her from her home tonight, but was forced to wait for the sun to die down to act, so there would still be time to intervene. As soon as I came out of the vision, I put Scryan down and ran straight to Carlisle. I did not wait to explain what I had seen to my family or even bother to tell Jasper where I was going; I just left him with the four children and ran. Scryan would see what I would say and would tell them and they would follow behind me in a few minutes.
I called out Carlisle's name and my request for him to meet me in his office as soon as I was within his hearing range. He was already waiting for me when I arrived, so I quickly set about explaining to him what needed to happen as I wrote down some of the lines I had heard him speak. While I ran, I had been searching the future for how best to handle this conversation with Amun, so I knew several things that should be said and several more than should not.
Carlisle nodded in understanding and just asked one question as he picked up his phone and prepared to dial, "What's our story pertaining to why we're hiding?"
I had seen that this was the most important piece of information he would need to convince his friend to see things his way, so I had left it to last so I could impress upon my father figure its importance.
"Jackson. I was searching for my human relations when I found the boy. He's my great great nephew and he can see the past. He saw who killed Marcus' wife, which is dangerous information to possess, so the entire family's hiding. The secret would tear apart the Volturi and shake them to their core," I answered.
We had all been shocked when Jackson had first had the vision of Didyme's death. She was both Aro's sister and Marcus' mate, so who had killed her was one of the great mysteries of our world. And like all of the mysteries and legends of old, her death was subject to Jackson's prying eyes. Carlisle had told the children the story, Jackson became curious, and next thing we knew our family was sitting on top of a secret worthy of all our executions, because Aro had murdered his own sister.
"But if I tell Amun Aro did it, won't he be in danger for knowing?" Carlisle asked in response.
"You mustn't tell him who. Simply that we know and Aro knows, but Marcus doesn't. Now call before it's too late," I instructed, going over to the computer and plugging my earphones in so that I could listen in on the conversation. Not only did Allison have this place protected by a firewall, but all of our phone calls went through the internet. This allowed others on our side to listen in without being heard, as well as the redirection of the calls through other locales, throwing off any attempted trace.
He nodded again and pressed send on the phone, dialing Amun's private cell phone number. It only took one ring for him to pick up. "Carlisle? Is it really you?" Amun asked on the other end of the line.
"Yes it's me, old friend. Listen closely, because my daughter sees that you're about to make a terrible mistake," Carlisle replied.
"Where have you been? No one has heard from you in over eight hundred years! We thought your entire coven was destroyed without report of the incident!"
"We fled into hiding, which you'll have to do too if you go through with your plans to change Sonja. Her shield won't turn out to be valuable to you in the end, so you're doing yourself a disservice with this one, my friend."
"You're only saying that because you already have a shield. What's wrong with me wanting to protect my coven?"
"Nothing's wrong with that, but Sonja won't help you in that endeavor. She's an emphatic shield, not a mental or physical shield. She will only be useful against Chelsea and Corin. She'll be useless in a fight."
"Chelsea is the glue that holds the Volturi together," Amun replied.
"But her influence fades only slowly over time. Sonja would have to block her for years to cause dissolution of the Volturi. Do you really think that'd be tolerated or sustained for that length of time?" Carlisle countered.
"Probably not, but she is the most talented human I have come across in a thousand years. You wouldn't have me walk away from that, would you?"
"I would. Our family isn't prepared to jump to your aid right now if this turns ugly."
"After I risked my coven to provide witness on behalf of yours, this is how you repay the favor?"
"I greatly appreciate your sacrifice. We all do. But we can't come out of hiding right now," Carlisle insisted.
"And why not?"
"We found another talent. Someone much more useful than Sonja," he replied cryptically, not wanting to give his hand away all at once.
"Another one? Surely it's you, not me, who is plotting to over through Aro and his minions!"
"My daughter Alice found him. He was a distant human relation of hers and she couldn't bear to leave him."
"Alice, the psychic?" he gasped. "Don't tell me you found another fortune teller."
"No, this boy can't see the future. He sees the past. Have you any idea of what secrets are buried in the past Amun?"
"Many. But how can the past be used to usurp the Volturi?"
"The truth about the past will cause them to crumble from the inside. We know their secrets; all of their secrets, including the answer to the greatest mystery of all."
"Marcus' wife?"
"Yes, I know who did it."
"How will that help anything? Aro will just send his guard out after his sister's killer when he knows, if the killer is even still alive."
"Aro already knows. He's known all along and is hiding the truth from Marcus. And worst of all, the killer's still alive and in Aro's good graces."
"How could he ever forgive the murder of his own sister?"
"He's just that greedy for power. Not telling advances his goals, while revealing the truth would lead to Marcus' death in an all-out battle to the death for vengeance."
"Surely Aro and Caius would take his side and help him."
"I think not. But I've already said too much, because you're in danger just from knowing that Aro knows. Just think how quickly Aro would destroy my family if he knew we knew the name."
"I see your point. This is a sensitive subject indeed. But am I to wait and cower forever?"
"No, we won't hide forever. We'll come out of our shell when Alice sees that the time is right. The rest of the world must be ready for the change and you must build yourself a strong coven at just the opportune moment."
"That is what I'm trying to do now!"
"But it's too soon and Sonja isn't the talent you think she is. Alice told me that she sees greater skills in your coven; talents far greater than the members of my coven possess, but it's too far in the future for her to see. Many talents will come to you within a very short period of time, so that your coven will go from being four strong to twelve, within only two hundred years. But nothing until that time comes and that time won't come this millennia. You've waited almost six thousand years my friend, but if you wait just a little over a thousand more, you'll have more than you ever dreamed of."
"Your promise sounds false. How could I possibly grow my coven that quickly with talented vampires?" he asked skeptically, although I could already see his will to turn Sonja decrease.
"I don't know the details, because Alice can't see that far ahead with the clarity she sees the near future, but that's what she sees if only you wait to act," Carlisle warned.
"How do I know that you're not using the time to secretly grow your own coven? You already admitted to having yet another new recruit."
"We have no desire to rule. We only desire to live freely. Besides, my coven fractured years ago, didn't you hear?"
"I heard nothing but that you had gone crazy and your psychic ran away."
"The insanity was a ruse, but my daughter did leave with her mate. They came back with their new find and we went into hiding. But we had already started living separately as four closely allied pairs, because it seemed that was the only way to avoid Volturi scrutiny. And you know teenagers: once you give them an ounce of freedom, they never give it back. They all liked living on their own so much they haven't lived under my roof in hundreds of years."
"I really will be better off if I wait?" Amun asked, finally conceding, as the future shifted to one where Sonja would be allowed to remain human.
"Yes. I absolutely promise you that good things are coming your way. Alice sees them, so how could they not?"
"You may be right. I will wait, but make sure to keep in touch with me and let me know what I must do and where I must go to ensure the correct future."
"Will do. Farewell my friend, I'll be in touch," Carlisle said fondly.
And so their conversation ended and Amun stuck to his word, for the most part. I could still see him spending his days and nights watching that human, but I did not see him changing her.