Chapter 20: Rio

As soon as Alice left, I began throwing things into a large suitcase for Paul and I. I packed the bare necessities but it was extremely difficult to pack for a trip that I had no idea where we going and how long we'd be there for.

I rubbed at my temples and decided on bringing enough clothing for at least a week and a mixture of light and heavier clothing for us. I knew that Paul wouldn't need heavy clothing—even after he'd giving up phasing his temperature still ran higher than the average human—but for all I knew, Alice was sending us to the Arctic. I wasn't going to open the envelope she'd left me until I got her message telling us to leave so that there would be no way for her to see any part of my plans.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't even hear the apartment door open and Paul enter the bedroom.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded. My head whipped around and I realized how I must have looked; sitting on the bed with a bunch of clothes shoved into a suitcase and other clothes strewn about around me. He looked angry and completely bewildered at me. "Are you leaving?!"

"No!" I said quickly. "This isn't just my stuff—it's yours too. We both have to go away for…for…I don't know how long.

"What?" he asked. I took a deep breath and explained everything that Alice had told me. He was quiet for a few minutes after I finished before finally asking, "And she couldn't tell you when we have to leave?"

I shook my head. "She doesn't even know but I'm sure that it could be any day now."

"And you don't know where we're going?"

I shook my head again. "The envelope she gave me is on the kitchen table but I haven't opened it. I don't want to risk her seeing anything before we're actually on our way."

"Are you okay?" he asked gently.

"Not really," I admitted. "I'm scared."

"I will protect you," he promised. "They won't get past me if they find us."

"What if something happens to you?" I whispered.

"Nothing will happen to me."

"Last time you said that, my mother snapped your neck."

"And I'm still here," he said. "I can still heal on my own, even without phasing, it just takes a bit longer now. We will be okay."

"What if something happens to the Cullens while we're God knows where?" I asked, lip trembling.

"You can't think about that," he said gently. "I know how difficult it will be, but it'll just be worse for you if you're thinking about them. Right now, you need to worry about yourself and our baby, okay? Alice did all of this so we could be safe and she gave us a way out of it if it comes to that. Hopefully it won't and we'll be able to come back here, but at least we have somewhere safe to stay for the time being."

"Yeah you're right," I mumbled. "I'm sorry that you're being dragged into this mess."

"I'm not being dragged into anything, Mel," he said, caressing my cheek. "My priority is keeping you and the baby safe and that's what I'm going to do. No matter what."

I grasped his hands. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I am giving you the option to walk away."

"I am not leaving you," he said firmly. "I'll stick with you till the end."

"I just…I don't want you to feel obligated."

"I don't feel obligated," he said, taking one of his hands out of mine and pressing it gently against my little baby bump. "Yes, it's my duty to protect you—both of you—but I do it willingly."

Tears welled up in my eyes. "Thank you, Paul."

"You don't need to thank me," he said.

He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly before helping me finish packing. We kept the suitcase by the door so we could leave as soon as Alice's message came through. Paul told his job that he may need to take a leave of absence and they'd luckily been understanding. Apparently, his boss was close friends with the Clearwaters and knew about the wolves, so it was almost expected that Paul would be absent from work sometimes.

We spent Christmas and my birthday at Emily's place with the pack. I tried to enjoy the festivities as much as I could, but I couldn't bring myself to truly have a good time. The hole that Alice had left in her departure was difficult to fill and majority of the Cullens had left Forks to gather their witnesses. The only Cullens who had stayed behind were Edward and Bella, and I couldn't go see them out of fear that Edward would read my mind and find out that Alice had told me that she was leaving.

It was also more uncomfortable than I was willing to admit to spend time with Jared and Kim. I wasn't sure if Jared had told her about the double imprint yet but the small amount of interaction she and I'd had, she'd been incredibly tense with me, making me believe he'd told her at least some part of my history with him. The upside to seeing the two of them together was getting to see how happy Jared looked—there was a light in his eyes that I hadn't seen in a long time every time he looked at her and it made my heart swell happily.

I couldn't dwell on my somewhat rocky relationship with Kim, though. I was incredibly anxious about the upcoming visit from the Volturi. Paul could sense how tense I was and we ended up leaving Emily's place before anyone else. Sue was especially sad to see us go—I was sure that after Paul had left La Push back in June, she'd wanted all of her boys together for the holidays and I felt guilt stab at me for taking that from her.

"Sorry we had to leave early," I mumbled once we were in the car and he was driving us home.

"Don't be sorry, baby," he said, grasping my hand. "Sue knows what's happening and she completely understands. And besides…it's your birthday too. We should spend it however you like."

My heart just about swelled out of my chest at his words and I leaned over, pressing a soft kiss against his cheek. He and I went up to the apartment and curled in bed together and for a little bit, I was able to forget about all the shitty things that were happening around us.

About a week after my birthday, Alice's text came. Paul and I were curled on the couch together and watching a movie with my phone on the coffee table in front of us. My eyes kept flickering towards it every few moments, unable to focus on the film.

When my phone vibrated, I stiffened and lurched towards it. When I opened the message, there was just one word: Now.

"Time to go?" Paul asked.

I nodded. "Time to go."

I began to gather any last minute things that Paul and I might need while Paul called his boss to let him know that he was leaving and then he called a cab to take us to the airport. I grabbed the envelope that Alice had left for me and put it on top of the suitcase.

I waited until we were in the taxi to open the envelope. Inside, were plane tickets to Rio De Janeiro and two tickets for a boat ride to an island called Isle Esme. Alice had written the name of the island on another slip of paper and provided directions to the docks that would get us to the boats.

"Isle Esme?" I mumbled, turning the paper over in my hands, hoping for more information to somehow form on the slips of paper. I glanced at Paul. "Have you ever heard of it?"

"Never," he said. "Isn't the Doc's wife named Esme?"

"Yeah, but do you really think that Carlisle bought Esme an island?" I asked. "Actually—never mind. Sometimes I forget just how loaded the Cullens actually are."

The journey through the airport was completely anxiety inducing. There were people everywhere and it took us ages to get through security. Even though I knew that the Volturi weren't close to Forks yet, I still found myself anxiously looking around us to make sure no one was watching or following us.

Once we were through security and sitting by our gate, I couldn't help but bounce my leg nervously as we sat. Paul put his hand on my leg gently, stopping me from bouncing and spreading a calmness through me entire body. I sent him a sheepish smile and leaned against him.

I was glad he didn't say anything to me to try and verbally calm me down. He knew better than to try to do that.

On the actual plane ride, I leaned against him and tried to fall asleep, but I couldn't make my brain shut off. Paul held me tight against him and I knew that he wouldn't be able to catch sleep either. By the time we got to Rio, I felt like I was dead on my feet, but not even the gentle rocking of the boat to Isle Esme could lull me to sleep.

It was well past midnight when we arrived on the island and we were led to a small house a few yards away from the shore. We walked across the white sand and I felt the heat in the air swirling around my body, comforting me like a hug.

The house was huge and had glass windows taking up majority of the space on the exterior. I noticed that the colour scheme was very similar to their house in Forks and it made my heart constrict painfully, wondering if I'd ever see that house again.

I wandered into the main living area and curled into a ball on the sofa, hugging my knees to my chest.

"Mel, you should get some rest," Paul said, approaching me.

"I don't think I'll be able to."

"You need to take care of yourself," he said sternly.

"I'm too on edge," I said. "If the Volturi finds out what happened…"

"I will stay up and keep watch," he said. "Nothing will get through me."

I pulled myself off the couch. "I guess you're right."

I went to walk away from him and into a bedroom, but he grasped my hand and held me tight against his chest. "It's going to be okay."

"Thank you," I whispered, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. He let go of me and I wandered through the house and into a bedroom with a massive white bed and crawled under the covers. As I lay down, exhaustion washed over me but everything that happened seemed to all be rushing into my brain at once, which nearly sent my head spinning.

I closed my eyes and buried my head against the soft pillow, and forced myself to fall asleep in the comfort of the house on Isle Esme.

The next morning when I woke up, I nearly forgot where I was. The sun was streaming through the window and I could smell the salty ocean air. I rubbed the grogginess out of my eyes and stretched my arms above my head.

But then, everything came rushing back to me and I sat up straight in bed. I flung the blankets off of me and rushed out to the living room where I'd left Paul the night before. As I approached the couch, I immediately knew that something was wrong.

His head had lolled to the side, as if he'd fallen asleep, but it wasn't the fact that he'd fallen asleep that made me think something was wrong—it was the weird angle that his head was at. He was still sitting upright with only his neck bent to the side. It reminded me of when my mother had snapped his neck during the newborn battle.

"Paul?" I asked nervously. He didn't even stir. I walked around to the front of the couch and gasped in horror. His eyes were wide open but they weren't seeing anything and he wasn't breathing. "Paul!" I shrieked, sinking to my knees in front of him and grasping his hands. "No, no, no, no." Tears formed in my eyes and I had no idea how I could help him—how I could save him.

"Hello, Melanie," said a cool voice from behind me. My head whipped around to see Jane, the tiny but menacing member of the Volturi, standing in the doorway of the house with a wicked grin lighting her angelic face.

And then, with my heart racing and a cold sweat coursing through my body, I actually woke up.