Chapter 2

Hopeless

It has been a few days since I sent my letter to the Volturi. I was still nervously waiting for their reply. It felt like my whole life depended on whether Demetri agreed to help me in the search for my father.

Just like Carlisle promised, my siblings and I went to Seattle the day after the family meeting, all of us picked our preferred cars as well as the two less noticeable ones for when we had to go to school or run errands. By the draw of the shortest straw, it was decided that the designated drivers for our school trips were going to be Edward because of his sheer luck and Rosalie since nobody would ever even think of not letting Rose drive. My husband would be driving a fairly new grey Volvo, Rose's car was less inconspicuous but still within the budget, a bright red BMW Convertible that would definitely attract some stares. It was a sexy car, and nobody could deny it. Carlisle just shook his head after congratulating Rosalie on picking an inconspicuously priced car but failing in getting it to be as unnoticeable as possible.

The cars that each one of us actually wanted were now safely parked in the garage, waiting for Rosalie to tune them. My deep blue Ferrari 360 convertible was one of them. I absolutely adored my new vehicle not only because of the pretty color but also because of the speed it could get to. My husband's Vanquish was pretty nice and suited him especially when he started the engine, and it produced a sound very similar to the roar of a mountain lion. Alice shocked us by choosing the weirdest car we've ever seen, it was still a Porsche, but it was yellow. Yellow as in someone barfed an omelet on it and soaked it in lemonade - yellow, but Alice seemed to love it, so we all let it go. Emmett's choice in cars did not surprise anyone as he picked the largest and – quoting him – coolest one at the Chrysler dealership. The bright red Jeep was very close to reaching the garage ceiling in height and took nearly two spaces in width. Jasper decided against the cars and instead went with a dark green Ducati motorcycle, we all joked about him choosing this means of transportation because he could feel his long-ish hair blowing in the wind. Emmett kept calling him Barbie's Ken for a couple of days now. Rose's new car, a white Lamborghini Murcielago, made her look like a supermodel, especially when she stepped out of it in her v-line short black dress.

"There are eight cars, and a motorcycle already, why would I need to get myself a vehicle?" Was Esme's reason to stay home and think of some more modern features that she could implement into the house.

After I called Tanya earlier that morning, I found myself getting ready for her visit, still not sure how she managed to trick me into inviting her over. Alice already started planning another shopping trip since most of our clothes were either out of fashion or still in Great Britain. She seemed to think that Seattle shopping malls weren't enough and that we would all need a complete change in our wardrobes anyway, which could only be done by going to the largest shopping mall in entire North America. Naturally, she decided to make it an all-girls trip. To be fair we haven't had one of those in a while, so I couldn't say that I was too against it. So, as soon as Tanya arrived, we all had to jump on a plane to go to Edmonton for the weekend. Alice has booked us a hotel room right next to the shopping mall since it would be either for us to run back and forth when the shopping bags become too much to handle.

When Tanya arrived, she was definitely surprised by our impromptu shopping trip but jumped on board without any hesitation. Although hearing everything that she thought about Irina's new mate, and I mean everything… was a little too much at times, I've missed indulging myself in drama and girl talk.

"We've got to go to that water park!" Tanya exclaimed, pointing at the sign with all the mall's attractions. I looked at Alice, wondering if she would let us take a break from the important business that we were attending to in Edmonton.

"I suppose we can stay one more night and go to the waterpark on Monday," Alice spoke. "I can see that the boys will not be happy with us though."

"We aren't going to make this girls' trip into another family vacation, are we?" Rose pouted, I looked at her questioningly. "Don't get me wrong, I adore my stupid husband, but can't we just spend time together for once? Think about it, Bella. No cannonballs while we are enjoying the wave pool, no husbands to growl at every single man who gives us a hungry look, just us girls having fun on the slides!"

"Well, I'm with Rosalie." Tanya nodded and I rolled my eyes. She wouldn't have to come home to her disappointed male counterpart.

Esme and I shared a look between us but gave up eventually. Rose's words were true in a sense, and I felt like I have not been paying much attention to my sisters, Esme and definitely not Tanya, which made me slightly guilty.

With the new plan coming into motion, we soon found ourselves in a definitely overpriced boutique, looking at all sorts of bikinis. Honestly, some of them were so revealing, that I wondered how women could walk without all of their private parts showing…But hey apparently Tanya was going to make a special demonstration of how exactly that was happening since she picked the one that I was particularly curious about. Some could call me old-fashioned; God knows Alice repeated it a few times while we were in the shop, but I liked my clothes covering my private parts, those were only for me, and if I was in a good mood, my husband to see.

"I bet it's because you're a mom now, look at what Esme picked, you guys are going to be twinning." Tanya laughed, noticing the similarities between my one piece and Esme's.

"You're just not being practical, we are going to a waterpark, not a private beach. Your bikini is going to fly off before you get through the first slide." I smirked.

"Maybe that's what I'm going for?" Tanya raised an eyebrow.

"Children aren't banned from that waterpark, you know that, right?" I asked seriously.

"Fine, I'll get another one, but this one is definitely joining my collection." She spoke, grabbing a one-piece from the shelf and retrieving into the changing room.

While we still shopped for most of Sunday, Alice let us get away with doing something else when the sky went dark. We all made a night trip to Grizzly Ridge Wildland National Park, a few hours north of Edmonton. The name sounded promising, and it was one more thing that we could rub in Emmett's face when we came back home. What was that thing that people always said? Go big or go home?

I met up with Tanya after I got myself a grizzly bear, my adrenalin from the hunt made me feel like the blood was once again pumping through my body. From the looks on Tanya's face, she didn't find it as enjoyable.

"This is exactly why we chose to live in towns and cities. Going away like that and actually getting to fight our prey once in a while makes life much less boring." I smirked, pushing her on her shoulder slightly. She smiled at me.

"Maybe you're right. I'm pretty used to being able to find a bear or even a moose whenever I want." She sighed a moment later. "And the thing with Irina…We barely get any visitors being so far north, maybe that's why I'm still alone. I've seen more people in the past two days than I've seen in decades!"

"That must be rough…" I looked at her, trying to be sympathetic. "…repeating the same day over and over again, nothing changing around you."

"Yeah, well a semester of high school once every six decades usually helps, but I've just experienced that distraction three years ago." She chuckled sadly.

"Stay with us for a few months," I suggested out of the blue.

"Go to High School with you?" She asked.

"Why not? I'm sure Eleazar or Kate wouldn't mind taking over as coven leaders for a short period of time." I spoke, creating a plan in my head while I spoke. "Besides, we have a few guest rooms in the house already and the school doesn't start for another couple of weeks, so you have time to move some of your belongings to Forks…I don't think you'll need to do it seeing as the clothes that we bought in the past two days would probably last for another decade." I laughed, shaking my head when I remembered all the bags that would still need to be sorted out into dozens of large suitcases that we also had to purchase.

"Do you think Carlisle would mind?" Tanya asked hopefully.

"Nah, the old man doesn't know how to say no." I joked but made a mental reminder to still ask Carlisle when I was alone later tonight.

"It would be great to get used to deer and feel the excitement of fighting a grizzly again." Tanya smiled. "And maybe by the time I come back, Irina and Laurent will be able to get out of each other's throats for longer than twelve and a half minutes. I timed them, Bella, I'm not joking, they lasted 12 minutes and 42 seconds before they were back at it." She put two fingers to her mouth in a vomiting gesture.

After a short phone call with Carlisle a few hours later, it was settled, Tanya would stay with us for a few months, enrolling in Forks High School as a new Cullen foster child. Six adopted siblings enrolling in the new school in a small town was already going to draw much more attention than we wanted, so adding one more to our group couldn't possibly make it worse.

Bright and early in the morning, we all made our way back into the mall and followed directions and signs on how to get to the waterpark. I used to love waterparks when I was human, my dad would take me to the human cities, and we would enjoy the slides together. I thought I would never be able to experience this again, seeing as most of the waterparks were outdoors, therefore it was too risky for us in case the sun would come out. I was glad someone thought about building one indoors. Tanya was in a much better mood today, which I was glad about. The rides were fun, although I wished humans would come up with a way to make them faster.

"I just got off the phone with Carlisle." Esme spoke when I joined her in the wave pool. "A letter with the Volturi crest came for you today."

"Please tell me he read it and told you what it contained." I pouted. I was hoping my old man would know I wanted to hear Volturi's response as soon as possible.

"He said it would be a breach of your privacy." Esme smiled apologetically and I growled under my breath. "Do you want to apparate there instead of flying?"

I nodded, feeling slightly guilty for leaving the girls to deal with airport security and luggage claims for themselves, but I needed to read that letter.

"We'll be fine." Esme patted my shoulder, I gave her the most grateful hug I could and stepped out of the pool, drying myself with a towel as I made my way to the changing rooms. Hopefully, Esme would tell the others what happened because I was planning to apparate as soon as I changed into my normal clothes.

I looked around the changing room, making sure I was alone. I pulled out my wand and gave it a complicated little wave so that hot air streamed out of the tip; I then pointed at my hair, which began to fly around drying off completely. I looked like I was just pushed off the plane, my hair all tangled and wild, so I did my best to brush it thoroughly and made it look somewhat presentable before I apparated back home.

The boys rushed into the living room when they heard the loud pop and I was met with curious looks, except for my husband who was just shaking his head with a knowing smile making its way onto his face.

"You're so impatient." He murmured, striding towards me. He wrapped me in his arms and the emergency of me coming home floated to the back of my mind for a minute. I missed him terribly for the last three days.

"Here." Carlisle got my attention back, he was offering me an envelope with a big twirly V printed on it. I basically ripped it out of his hands, tearing off the seal.

"Dear Isabella,
We are very glad you decided to reach out in the moment of need specifically to us, as you know we are always happy to help you and the rest of your family in your affairs. We were all very delighted to receive a letter from your little bird, it was rather interesting trying to understand this little creature's mind and how it knew where to find us. We spoke to Demetri on your behalf and unfortunately, he doesn't think he would be able to help you with your search unless you acquire something with your father's new smell. Based on what you have told us before, it appears that you weren't able to do such a thing just yet. However, if you manage to stumble on something, we would be more than happy to let Demetri help you with the search.
Kindest regards to the Cullens,
Aro Volturi."

My heart dropped. Aro was right, of course, and I didn't even think about how Demetri's ability worked when I wrote the letter, I was just too excited that Carlisle had a new idea. Even with Demetri's ability being loosely related to what Edward or Aro did, he had to catch the tenor of someone's mind, and only then he could follow.

Of course, finding my father would be an impossible thing to do. When could I ever get things to work my way?

"We'll figure something out, love," Edward spoke from behind me, he must have read Aro's letter too. I felt his hands rubbing my shoulders in a soothing motion.

I let myself feel the sadness of the situation, finally coming to terms that even the fact that I was a very powerful vampire-witch hybrid, with immense knowledge of the world and battle-fighting experience, I was still not powerful enough to track down my own father. My shield, magic, vampirism, and ability to turn into a large wolf just weren't enough. But…what would be? Even the best tracker in the world couldn't track him without his scent or a glimpse of his mind…

"We'll do whatever we can. We will find him, love." Edward kept repeating.

I knew he wanted me to be hopeful, to not give up…But our list of failures was the only thing I could think about. Seven years of searching, all magic spells, and books that I've tried…It all lead to nothing, I was no closer to finding him than I was before.

There was no more hope, even my determination died down. If fate…god…the universe…whoever was in charge of that mess decided to get my father back to me, I would be eternally grateful, but before that, the universe and fate and god could go screw themselves. I was done failing, done feeling miserable every time my attempts lead to another dead end, and I was done making my family feel pity for me. I was ready to go back to the normal life that I thought I would have before Harry dropped that information on me.

I was ready to go with the flow and see where it takes me.

The Cullens are going back to high school in the next chapter. Any ideas who they meet there? Spoiler: It won't be Sirius, that would be too easy lol. Feel free to guess in your reviews!