*BPOV*
In less than twelve hour's time, we raced east across the pristine wilderness of northern Canada. Alberta to Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan to Manitoba.
In Manitoba, after putting a bedraggled, emaciated polar bear out of his misery, we sent Emmett a gloating 'Wish you were here' selfie. To which Emmett responded with a text that said "Miss you, too!" along with a photo of one of my beloved books suspended in jello.
I gasped in outrage. "That better not be one of my Jane Austen first editions!" I scowled.
"Well, you did kind of ask for it, love," Edward chuckled.
Then Emmett sent a photo of one of Edward's old 45s similarly suspended in jello. I don't know what was more colorful, the rainbow-colored jello mold, or the torrent of expletives streaming out of Edward's mouth when he saw it.
I raised my eyebrows at him with a scandalized expression.
Edward ducked his head sheepishly."Ah, yeah, you wouldn't have been able to hear that before. Apologies, love."
I just shook my head and laughed. "Have you always had such a dirty mouth?" I teased.
"A gentleman never uses coarse language in the presence of a lady," he answered evasively. "Unless his incredibly sexy wife makes him forget his manners," he amended, turning the full devastating force of his smoldering ocher eyes on me.
There, in the rugged north Canadian wilderness, I stood as dazzled by him as I was that first time sitting at his table in the high school cafeteria as Edward pressed me for my superhero theories.
It was beyond me how he could stare at me like that like I was the most beautiful woman in the world even when I was covered in nine hundred miles worth of mud and muck.
"Nice recovery," I smirked when I regained the ability to form words.
From Manitoba, we swam clear across the Hudson Bay to the province of Quebec. What a relief to be clean again! Even if I was wet, I wasn't cold, which was usually the worst part about being wet.
"It really is too bad that we can't stop in Montreal for a visit," I sighed wistfully.
I didn't remotely have the control over my thirst to go nostalgia tripping through the large city where Edward and my siblings had taken me on my nineteenth birthday so I could experience getting drunk for the first and last time.
"We have eternity to go back there once you have a better handle on your control, love," Edward smiled. Then he added, "It's not even the people I worry about so much... It's all that glass," he smirked, referring to the peekaboo shower where we had one of the steamiest nights of my life, no pun intended.
I cringed at the damage I would cause if I went there in my newborn state. "I'll never tease Emmett again. Well, not about breaking stuff, anyway."
"It gets easier, love. Your body is still being fueled by your own blood which makes you so strong. It'll stabilize even more over the next several months as your body burns through it," Edward explained.
"Why do you sound so sad about that?" I asked a bit nettled. "It's because my breaking stuff reminds you of my clumsy human days, doesn't it?" I accused in a teasing voice.
"Well, yes, it does," he grinned fondly. "But that's not the reason I'm not looking forward to your strength stabilizing...It's just...and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll miss the way you smell."
"The way I smell?" I reiterated, clearly expecting a different response.
"Every day you smell less like human Bella and more like vampire Bella. Which isn't a bad thing. Not at all," he added hastily. "But that scent, that burn, well, I grew to love it because it meant you were near me. And safe. It was something I could rely on.
"And soon enough," Edward added wistfully, "that, too, will fade away to a mere memory," he sighed, stroking my pale cheek, never to blush scarlet again.
"Opportunity cost for getting to keep me," I shrugged offhandedly. "Having buyer's remorse?" I said all of this very casually, unwilling to let him know just how much the idea bothered me.
"Not on your life," Edward growled. "I much prefer the version of you that I don't have to worry about breaking," he smiled crookedly.
Finally, after running clear across Canada, we stood on the eastern coast of Newfoundland staring at the Labrador Sea that fed into the North Atlantic. It was a little staggering to think that when we got out of the water, we'd be in France.
"I wish there was a better option, love. If we took one of the freighter boats that go back and forth between Canada and Europe, it would take over a week to get there, and that's a long time to be stuck on a boat with humans without being able to hunt.
"And trust me, you don't want to have to resort to marine animals," he made a face like a child who was just offered a plate of lima beans. "Besides, we've already run farther than we'll have to swim. It won't be so bad."
"That's not why I was making that face," I explained. "I was just thinking that it's unfortunate that after the polar bear, I'm down to my last set of clothes. It would've been fun to go play with a great white shark," I pouted.
"You sound like Emmett," Edward chuckled. "Swim naked," he then suggested as if it were obvious
"Put your clothes in your bag," he tapped on the shoulder strap of the waterproof backpack I wore protecting the cash, phone, passport, and a few other essentials. "Then they'll be dry when we get there.
"But full disclosure," he warned, shrugging out of his shirt. "If we swim naked, it might end up being faster to take the freighter." Edward's smile was devilish as he raised his eyebrows at me suggestively.
"Look at that! There's room for your clothes in here, too," I said enthusiastically as I stuffed my clothes and shoes into the roll-top dry bag.
Edward slipped the bag out of my hands and quickly deposited his own neatly folded clothes into it before closing up the top and loosening the straps to accommodate his much broader shoulders.
"Last one to France is a rotten egg!" I shouted childishly before swan diving into the crashing waves at the bottom of the cliff just as the sun began to dip below the horizon.
I heard Edward's joyous laughter as he jumped right behind me. Executing one of his perfect, Olympic high dive routines, the show-off beat me to the water by less than a second.
The great thing about this mission was that we were not in a race against time. We could take our time exploring the depths.
We saw sunken caves and shipwrecks forgotten by time. I saw sea life that I felt certain had never been studied by marine biologists (from a distance, of course, as we repelled every living creature that we came across).
I even got to have my great white shark encounter! Edward looked on, trying not to laugh so that he didn't ingest water, but failing miserably.
Duuuunnnn duun... duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn dunnnn, I thought the Jaws theme as I stealthily swam up to the 3,000-lb superpredator who was hiding in the shadows of a coral reef.
Turns out, it is absolutely true that if you flip a shark upside down, he will fall asleep.
Yes, what a good sharky you are, I mentally cooed to the sea monster, giving him a belly rub as if he were no more threatening than a labradoodle. You're just a big misunderstood cuddle bug aren't you?
Edward laughed so hard over that he had to rocket up to the surface so that he didn't swallow half the ocean as he laughed.
As we made our way east, torpedoing through the paltry ocean currents, Edward was endlessly frustrated by the fact that while we were underwater I could easily communicate my thoughts to him while he remained mute. If he wanted to say something to me, I had to follow him up to the surface which really slowed us down.
So he opted to stick to yes or no responses, or stone-cold glares and growls as was the case when I started mentally sounding off on my most unpopular opinions about music and literature to my silent captive audience.
The Ramones were overrated. There, I said it. When he glowered at me, I thought, Hey, you're the one who always wants to know everything I'm thinking.
I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing as he made a show of exasperatedly sticking his fingers in his ears and quickening his pace so that I had to rush to keep up.
On a positive note, it was a magnificent view of his naked rear end flexing with every kick of his powerful legs.
I hate to see you go but I love to watch you leave, I mentally snickered.
And that's how our ocean crossing expedition went, with us taking a handful of short detours to explore areas of interest…and/or make love like merpeople in the crystal blue underwater grottos ...when I wasn't intentionally riling him with provocative thoughts that he couldn't respond to.
And when we finally got there, I doubted anybody had been so enthusiastic to see the shores of France since the Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy some sixty years earlier. Edward kissed the sand like Robin Hood returning home to England after escaping imprisonment during the Crusades.
"Oh, come on, I'm not that annoying," I laughed despite myself as he handed me my clothes out of the dry bag that stayed remarkably dry after our transatlantic journey.
Wiping the sand from his jaw he smiled crookedly as he stepped into his slacks. "Never annoying, love. Just tragically misinformed. I'm going to have to educate you on the greats when we get home," he chuckled.
"Chicago is better than Journey and I will die on that hill," I said once more, sticking my tongue out at him.
Edward just shook his head and sighed. "You think you know a person…" But then he flashed me a grin so I knew he wasn't serious.
By land, we straddled the southern border of France and Spain as we raced our way east along the foothills of the Pyrénées Mountains. The scenery was breathtaking and so different from the endless evergreen forests I was used to seeing in Alaska and Canada.
It was so peaceful and picturesque with its rolling meadows and green grassy knolls, alive with the vibrant colors of spring. Purple, yellow, and white wildflowers sprang up from the green hillsides, standing tall and proud above the blanket of mountain grass from which they grew.
A fortress of distant snow-capped mountain peaks seemed to hold up the azure sky decorated with thin, wispy clouds. I halfway expected Julie Andrews to come frolicking over the hill singing "The Sound of Music."
Strong, familiar arms snaked around my waist as I took it all in. Standing behind me, Edward rested his chin lightly on the top of my head. "I'm sorry that this is your first time to France and we won't be making it to Paris," Edward's apologetic voice broke into my reverie. "Soon. I promise," he added, kissing my hair.
Paris was entirely too touristy this time of year for a trip to the City of Love to be a good idea. It didn't matter. Paris would always be there.
There's nowhere else I'd rather be, I thought with a contented sigh, completely entranced by the sights, sounds, and smells of this magical mountain dreamscape.
"Human experiences are overrated," I thought out loud as I considered how much more about this place's majestic beauty I could appreciate thanks to my heightened vampire senses.
I could hear the warbling of songbirds for miles. Could see every individual blade of grass, in every shade of green. And, oh my, the scents! Wild lavender and honey and something sweet that I couldn't quite place.
Edward reached down and picked a star-shaped white flower and tucked it behind my ear, before folding me back into his arms.
"It's edelweiss," he answered my curiously sniffing nose rather than hearing my thoughts that time. "It's a native mountain flower used widely for its medicinal properties," Edward recited knowledgeably in his Wikipedia voice.
"Edelweiss!" I said in recognition. "Like the song from The Sound of Music!"
"One and the same," he murmured, then crooned softly in my ear in his velvety baritone that put Captain von Trapp to shame.
"Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Ev'ry morning you greet me
Small and White
Clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever..."
He ended on a high, sweet note that would have brought tears to my eyes if my tear ducts still worked. We stood like that for a long time, the only two people in the world and never wanting the moment to end.
But as with most good things, it had to come to an end eventually. Edward sighed. "I could spend the rest of my days on this mountain watching the sky change colors with you, but if you want to make it to Volterra tonight, we should get moving."
I nodded and plucked the edelweiss flower from my hair. Edward watched me curiously as I carefully flattened the petals between my palms. When I pulled my hands apart, I peeled the paper-thin blossom from my hand and tucked it between the pages of my passport (the only book I had with me) for safekeeping.
We followed the mountains east all the way to the coast. We swam straight through the French Riviera, keeping north of Corsica, the small French island west of Italy, until we arrived in the Marina di Pisa just as the sun was setting over the water.
Edward begrudgingly agreed to snap a single photo of me taking the stereotypical tourist pose where I appeared to be holding up the famous leaning tower of Pisa. I got an extra big kick out of that knowing that I actually could if I wanted to.
From Pisa, it was a short run to the walled mountaintop village of Volterra in the region of Tuscany. The belltower had just tolled a seventh time as we entered the city.
A shudder rippled down my spine. The low drone of the bells sounded so much louder and more foreboding in my nightmares when I used to dream that I hadn't made it in time.
This time, there were no festivals, no sea of blood-red robes crowding the plaza. If I didn't know what horrors lurked beneath the cobblestones we walked on, I'd think the village was almost quaint.
A handful of American tourists stood taking pictures in front of the stone fountain that I had once sprinted across in a mad dash to save Edward from himself.
"Surreal, isn't it? Being here together like this," Edward's hand pressed lightly against the small of my back as he guided me past the bell tower.
"You'll never know how grateful I am for what you did that day," he leaned over and kissed the top of my head.
"I think I have a pretty good idea," I smiled faintly. Lifting my shield, I remembered the jubilant look on his face when he finally realized I was alive. I'd only seen him look that blissfully happy one other time, the day we were wed.
"Bella," Edward said sternly as he lifted the familiar manhole cover that concealed the entrance to the underground palace. "I'm giving you one hour. One hour to get in and out," he jerked his chin toward the clock tower across the plaza.
"If you take one second longer, I will go in there after you, do you understand? And for God's sake, whatever you do, don't start anything with Jane!" Edward demanded in a razor-sharp voice.
I nodded. There was no mistaking the seriousness in his tone and written all over his face.
Taking his anguished angel face between my hands, I kissed him once on the lips. "Piece of cake," I chirped with more courage than I actually felt.
And before either of us could change our minds, I leapt into the dark hole in the ground, feeling just a bit like Super Mario entering the spooky ghost-infested castle at the end of the level to defeat the boss.
"One hour!" Edward's voice echoed behind me just before he slid the manhole cover closed, banishing any trace of light.
I remembered how endless that march had felt the first time I'd had to walk down the dark, dank underground tunnel. I'd been certain that I would face my death before I ever saw daylight again. Though it hadn't mattered because Edward was there, and feeling his arms around me one last time was better than anything the world could've held for me beyond these walls.
My eyes widened hearing footsteps approaching from around a blind corner. It was two people, men, I ascertained by their masculine scents and the heavier tread of their steps on the stone floor.
Two cloaked members of the guard, though ones I did not recognize, turned the corner. I walked tall, trying to look like I belonged there, but kept my eyes averted so that their strange amber color wouldn't attract notice.
"Buonasera," one of them said politely in passing. I nodded and stiffly returned the greeting then quickly rounded the corner, making sure to listen for the footsteps getting farther away as the two guardsmen strolled in the other direction.
When I finally made it to the end of the corridor, and the elevator doors dinged shut behind me, I finally let myself breathe.
When they opened again, I found myself standing in the brightly lit reception area that I remembered from before. I stepped up to the tall mahogany counter and looked into the bright green eyes of Gianna who stood on the other side of it. She wore a friendly smile, but I could tell she was trying to remember where she'd seen me before.
"Welcome to Volterra! How may I be of assistance?" Gianna asked cheerfully.
I wondered how she knew to greet me in English. My clothes, I decided, as I looked down at my skinny jeans and Converse sneakers.
"Hello. My name is Isabella Cullen." I cleared my throat nervously. "I would like an audience with your masters, Aro, Caius, and Marcus at their earliest convenience, please," I asked formally.
"Do you have an appointment?" Gianna asked, glancing at the calendar on her desk.
"Er, no. Is that a problem?" I frowned.
"One moment please," she held up a manicured finger. She then punched three buttons onto the number pad and then said something in rapid Italian to a voice on the other end.
After hanging up the phone, she said "They will see you shortly. Please have a seat," she gestured to the bank of chairs pushed up against the far wall.
I thanked Gianna for her assistance and took a seat in the waiting area.
The toe of my sneaker tapped anxiously to the beat of the second-hand ticking around the roman numerals on the large, round clock behind Gianna's desk. My toe had tapped its way all the way around the numbers fifteen times before my clenching jaw joined in on the percussion.
Another eighteen hundred toe taps later, the heavy double doors at the head of the room creaked open.
"They'll see you now," Gianna called over to me in a saccharine voice and gestured to the doors.
"Piece of cake," I whispered to myself as I woodenly walked through the doors which closed behind me with a loud thud. My steps were loud to my own ears as I strode across the shiny marble floors.
"Isn't this wonderful?" Aro sang from where he sat in his wooden throne convened with his brothers behind a large rectangular table that was more like an altar. Marcus looked just as bored as ever and Caius's smug smirk was somehow even more punchable.
"Isabella Cullen! Now this is a surprise!" Aro crooned as I approached the table where they sat. "Our most heartfelt congratulations on your recent nuptials! Our invitation must've gotten lost in the mail," he said, his musical voice oozing with charm.
My eyes widened in alarm, worried I'd somehow offended them with the snub and then Aro burst into giggles. "I'm only teasing, my dear. You are most welcome," he assured, flashing his teeth in a wide smile as he stood to greet me. But his reassurances did nothing to relax my rigid stance.
Aro's stride was fast and sure as he met me in the center of the large circular room.
The thin, papery skin of his hand extended out of the sleeve of his floor-length black cloak, poised to take my hand in his.
"Thank you, Aro," I said simply, finally finding my voice. I confidently offered him my hand.
He greedily took my hand between both of his and closed his eyes in concentration. A moment later he released me with a disappointed sigh. "Silent as ever. Wonderful!" but he didn't sound like he thought it was very wonderful at all.
"Speaking of nuptials, where is your young groom? Where is Edward? I had such a lovely time making his acquaintance the last time you visited."
Just then, the double doors I'd entered through had been thrown open again. Dainty high-heeled steps, most definitely female, echoed through the room. I turned to see who had joined us, but I could have guessed.
"You sent for me, Master?" Jane bowed slightly to the ancient vampire.
"Yes, dear one, look who has come to visit us? Isn't it wonderful?" Jane's eyes flashed to me in recognition.
"Quite," she said, snapping the 't'. She didn't sound like she thought it was very wonderful either.
"Now where were we? Ah yes, you were just about to tell me what has become of our young friend, Edward!" Aro turned back to me. "He seemed quite taken with you. I find it hard to believe he would let you out of his sight after our last encounter!" Milky eyes widened incredulously.
"He wanted to be here but…" Crap crap crap, what did I say? "Edward is still pretty bent out of shape about the Volturi's lack of a response when Victoria created a newborn army to kill me," I stated matter-of-factly. "So I told him if he couldn't be pleasant, he should just stay home," I said tartly as if I'd had a very recent spat with him.
Silence descended over the room for an endless moment and then Aro erupted into loud, uproarious laughter. Still laughing, he turned around to face his brothers to share in the hilarity. They also tittered with mirth. Jane was the only one who didn't laugh. She just glared at me. And sometimes it seemed like she was glaring harder.
"I have to admit, that does sound like Edward," Aro conceded, his voice still warmed by good humor. "Always so angry. I had hoped that your reunion would have remedied that, but alas…" he waved a despondent hand through the air.
"That's just his personality," I snarked, managing to somehow keep a straight face.
"Well, then, dear one, tell me, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Then before I could respond he let out an exasperated sigh. "My word, it's exhausting to have to ask you so many questions. How does our young talented, angry Edward have the patience?"
"It's not without effort," I repeated the words Edward had used when Aro had once asked him how he could stand to be so close to his la tua cantante. "I am merely here to convey to you that as you can plainly see, Edward has satisfied the terms of the agreement that was made the last time we were here."
Aro's eyes raked appraisingly over my body. "Yes, he most certainly has," he purred. "Immortality suits you, my dear!" Just as I knew it would. Tell me, do you possess any other abilities outside of your enigmatic mind? I have been most eager to learn about how you turned out," he asked with wide, eager eyes.
"Not that I'm aware of," I confidently feigned ignorance, remembering how Edward had once told me that the key to a successful lie was to deliver it with utter confidence.
"It's probably that unnatural diet your coven sticks to. It weakens the senses," Caius sneered with superiority.
I desperately wanted to avoid the topic of my dietary preferences. And by that point, I was keenly aware of the time. I had to get back to Edward before he came storming in here looking for me. I was so close to pulling this off.
"Um, Aro? Unless there's anything else, am I free to leave then? Edward will be anxious until I have returned to him...Well, you know how he gets," I laughed nervously.
Outside I could hear the distant first chime of bells muffled by the underground palace walls. I was out of time. I had to get out of there.
"Well we couldn't have that now could we?" Aro chuckled. "Of course, my dear. Do tell that husband of yours to lighten up. You are welcome back any time. Please give my old friend Carlisle my warmest regards!" Aro said graciously as the second bell chimed.
I ducked my head in a slight bow and hastened to the doors. Before I could march a Bella-shaped hole right through the heavy double doors, they opened allowing me passage.
The moment I was across the threshold, I threw off my shield to get a message to a hopefully listening Edward that I was on my way out.
Edward, don't come in after me. I'm-
And before I could think one more word I dropped first to my knees and then to the floor, writhing in utter agony from some unseen force that made my brain feel like it was going to explode right out of my skull.
And as quickly as the pain had enveloped me, it vanished completely as my shield snapped back into place. I laid on the floor for the moment, gasping in shock.
"Ha! Got her!" Jane's small voice crowed from somewhere behind me.
*EPOV*
When the bells started chiming at the top of the hour, I was anxiously pacing near the lobby exit about to burst through the doors in search of my wife. I sighed in relief when I first heard her thoughts, so much more familiar to me now, particularly after the long swim across the Atlantic.
Edward, don't come in after me. I'm-
And then I dropped to my knees, head in hands, from the sudden agonized scream of my wife. A scream I'd know anywhere and had hoped to never hear again. An icy stab of panic twisted in my gut. What had happened to Bella? What had she been about to say?
"BELLA!" I roared, exploding into the building through the plate glass door with one objective: Find Bella and get us the hell out of here.
*A/N If you aren't annoying the crap out of your husband, is it even a road trip? LOLOL
And In all fairness, you guys DID ask for more drama and cliffhangers, so I'm going to leave it right there and wish a belated Happy Canada Day to my Canadian readers, and a very happy Fourth of July to my fellow American readers! (Hubby hails from BC and I'm American, so we are celebrating both this week!)
As always, thank you SO much for reading and reviewing, and I can't wait to hear what you think!
