-MAISIE-


March—and the spring break trip to the Amazon Rainforest—came so, so quickly. Before I knew it, we were on a plane, and I was once again soaking up the compliments about what a good baby Jett was. I liked to smile and tell them that Jett was a seasoned traveler, much to Jasper's chagrin. It was hardly a lie, though.

Thankfully, as more of Jett's personality developed, it became increasingly clear that he was going to be shy. He liked to smile and wave at people, but he was very known to bury his face in our shoulders and hide when a stranger talked to him. Considering that Jett was learning more and more words, this worked in our favor. Seven months was young—very young—for a baby to be speaking as clearly as Jett did.

So far, Jett had graduated to saying Mama, Dada, yes, no, Bluey (because, of course), Eddy for Edward, Min for Jasmine, and cat, because—again to Jasper's chagrin—I had befriended a stray that now ate in our yard. Sometimes he said other words, like 'bottle' when he was hungry or an approximation of a word when he asked for a certain toy. The only two-word phrases he used so far were 'what that?' and 'no bath', which proved to be a nightly request because he knew bath time heralded the beginning of the bedtime routine. 'What that?' was asked at least a thousand times a day, his natural curiosity knowing no bounds.

We landed in Leticia, Colombia at night, of course. Alice had been able to help us plan our arrival and when we would be able to explore the rainforest during the day and when Jasper would need to do so at night. Given that Jett was a baby, and I was strong, but not strong enough to fight off wild animals, we wouldn't be joining any of the night searches.

After landing, we took a taxi to Hotel Decameron and began his dreaded nighttime routine. Jett did have a new part to the bedtime routine that nearly rivaled Bluey: teething gel, of all things. He liked the flavor of it. Maybe a little too much. Wrapped up like a burrito in his bath towel, I plopped Jett down with me on the floor.

"Go 'aaah'," I prompted him, so that Jett opened his mouth dramatically wide. He was cutting teeth in clusters, first four molars at once and now two front top teeth at the same time. The days of Jett sleeping through the night were gone; he woke often, now, searching for comfort. The numbing gel worked best for him. Interestingly, baby pain relief medicine didn't last long with Jett. Carlisle theorized that his body metabolized it too quickly for it to be effective, and I didn't dare give him anything stronger.

Jett always sat still as could be for me as I swiped the berry-flavored numbing gel on his gums each night. Once his mouth was sufficiently slathered in the stuff, I got him dressed and brushed his hair. It had begun to curl as it grew, leaving him with a messy halo of fat, blond ringlets when it dried. "Ready to go read with Daddy?"

"Yes!" He likely would have crawled there himself had I not scooped him up to carry him to Jasper. Jett still dozed off after a story and an episode of Bluey, but he only slept for a few hours at a time due to his teething. Jasper laid him carefully in the hotel crib once he was deeply asleep, his movements so gentle that he might have been placing an explosive rather than a baby.

We both gave a sigh of relief when Jett rolled himself into his blanket and fell deeper into sleep instead of waking again. "Sweet success," I said, lifting my hand for a high-five. Jasper obliged me, catching my hand in his and pulling me toward him, giggling, so he could plant a kiss on my lips. He pulled away too soon for my liking, because there was a knock at the door.

"You're just gonna open the door after a random knock in the middle of the night? While we're in a foreign country and don't know anyone?" I chided. "Jasper, you learned nothing from your vampire origin story."

"Dramatics, mi amor," he murmured, striding toward the door. When it swung open, it revealed a pair I hadn't seen in quite some time: Peter and Charlotte. Jasper sent me a teasing smirk over his shoulder at my surprise.

"And what, exactly, was our Jasper supposed to learn from his 'vampire origin story'?" Peter asked, strolling into the room confident as you please. He and Charlotte had both let their eyes go black, likely to blend more easily with humans. The red was much harder to hide. I hugged each of them in turn.

"Not to talk to strangers," I explained to their laughter. Thankfully, our talk and humor didn't disturb Jett.

"How would he have met you had he not talked to a stranger?" Charlotte inquired, but I waved her concern away.

"We were neighbors, not strangers." I earned myself more laughter for that quip. "What are y'all doing here, anyway?"

I had an idea, but I wanted to see if Jasper would say it outright. I caught his eye and he merely smiled innocently at my suspicion. "Peter is an excellent tracker. It will be easier to find Nahuel with his help."

"I am simply here as a bonus," Charlotte declared. "And to satiate my own curiosity. We were, understandably, quite shocked by Jasper's most recent correspondence."

They already knew about Jett, then. "You'll have to wait a few hours," I told her, "but he'll be up at some point during the night."

Peter pulled a folded map from his back pocket before sitting on the floor next to the coffee table. He spread it out with his hands, nodding for the rest of us to take a seat. "We have time to go over the plan for the morning, then. Maisie, do you still require sleep yourself?"

"I'll be okay for now." He gave me a curt nod before turning to his map, outlining a trail with his finger. I was only half-listening to Peter's itinerary—leave before dawn, get well under the heavy canopy of the forest before the sun was fully risen. We would be seeing Alec and Jane at some point during this trip, and I had no doubt that Peter and Charlotte's presence wasn't merely based in the former's tracking skills.

If Felix served as a warning and reminder to Jasper during our last visit with the Volturi, I had no doubt he intended the same with the presence of Peter and Charlotte. Peter and Jasper's plan was to scour the entirety of the rainforest, if necessary, which is why we landed in Colombia, so they could start at the top of the continent and work their way downward.

Loathe to be left out, though, I had insisted on getting to hike at least the first few days. We intended to camp after hiking all day tomorrow, and then Charlotte would see Jett and I back to the hotel the next day. This only strengthened my hunch that Jasper had ulterior motives to having his longtime friends here. I would not be alone with Jett while Jasper was searching for Nahuel, but instead guarded by Charlotte.

What a clever man I have, I thought, looking at him across the coffee table. From the bedroom came a rustling of sheets. Jett had recently learned how to push himself up and stand in his crib, which both scared me a little and made me sad. Who gave him the right? I dreaded the fact that he likely wasn't long off from walking.

"Mamaaaaaa!" He called out. Jett still wasn't one for crying, especially now that he was learning words. He preferred to just shout until someone came and got him instead. I pushed away from the coffee table to go retrieve him. Jett opened his mouth in the approximation of a smile, more a grimace, showing me his burgeoning teeth.

"I know," I told him. "Let's get you the medicine Grandpa Carlisle gave you, huh?"

He also liked the liquid pain relief medicine, which smelled sickly sweet to me. I guess the manufacturers really nailed the bumble gum flavor it was supposed to be. Jett was all too happy to receive a dose of it from a syringe. Usually, I would have taken Jett into bed with me after giving him medicine, but he had new people to meet tonight.

Clinging sleepily to my shoulder, Jett buried his little face in my hair when I carried him from the dim bedroom to the brighter living room area of the hotel room. Charlotte rose in a blur of movement, a hand raising to cover her mouth. "Peter, look!"

"I can see, my dear," Peter said, smirking. "Unusual, in our experiences, for the Volturi to bring forth life rather than death, isn't it?"

I cringed a little inwardly at his wording, though I knew Peter meant it in jest. Pushing away thoughts of Jennifer and her sisters, I passed Jett's warm, soft weight to Charlotte. Though sleepy, Jett was pleased to have someone fuss over him, as always. Her was immediately enraptured with Charlotte's curls, just as he was with Jasmine's.

"He is a gift," Jasper said, the pride evident on his face. "But the Volturi do not give freely, as we all know. We are indebted to share our child, to an extent. I must warn you both, do not be surprised to see Alec and Jane while we are here. They are meant to be… checking in."

Peter cut his dark eyes at Jasper at that. There was a silent conversation going on as the two exchanged looks. The raise of a brow asked a question; the shake of Jasper's head answered. Peter didn't look entirely convinced, but he shrugged after a beat. Have it your way.

"Mind accompanying me on an errand?" Jasper asked, nodding toward the door. Peter rose in the next instant. I knew the errand. We could hardly fly with mine and Jett's needed blood. For one thing, it would have exceeded the liquid content allowed on an airplane. Even if you were allowed to bring that volume of liquid, the fact that it was blood would surely cause suspicion among airport security officials.

Carlisle, bless him, had called in a favor with a local hospital. I didn't know—and didn't need to know—how exactly Carlisle had managed it, but I did know Jasper and Peter were going together to cash that favor in. Charlotte sat on the couch with Jett, rocking him gently in her arms.

"I cannot say if I have ever held a child. Surely not in my vampiric life; they are forbidden, you know."

"So I've heard." I watched Jett there in Charlotte's arms, eyelids fluttering as he drifted off to sleep. Had Jasper revealed the heavy price we had paid for Jett's life? "They're… kind of intense, huh?"

A shiver shook Charlotte's shoulders. "Has Jasper ever told you about when the Volturi would send the guard to 'thin the ranks'?" I watched her run a finger along Jett's profile as he slept.

"No," I admitted. "He really hasn't told me much about his time in Maria's army other than meeting y'all and how unhappy it made him."

"Alec, Jane, Felix and whatever disposable forces they had would be dispatched out. Older vampires like Jasper knew to stay out of their way, but foolhardy newborns drunk on their own power were hard to sway. Peter and I both might have fallen to their routine massacres—of course, the armies never disbanded as they were supposed to—had Jasper not warned us to stay back and filled us both with enough fear to keep us deeply rooted in the shadows with him."

She smiled up at me, though sadness further darkened her black eyes. "Our year was almost up. That culling of the herd was the first time Jasper saved our lives. Not long after, he smuggled us out of the army one night while Maria was preoccupied."

I tried to return Charlotte's smile, but it was interrupted by a yawn. We would be leaving in a few hours to begin hiking, and I had meant to stay up through the night, but the combination of all the midterms I had taken last week and the jetlag from traveling was catching up to me. Charlotte stood, pressing Jett into my hands. "You two should rest while you can. I'll be fine alone until the boys return."

She shooed us off into the bedroom. I tucked Jett into the bed and rummaged through my suitcase for pajamas. Sometimes the improved eyesight really came in handy. Curling myself around Jett, it didn't take me long to drift off at all.


Somehow, Jett slept through my changing him from his pajamas to one of the light, linen outfits Esme had sent him for his jungle excursion. He likewise slept through Jasper strapping him into the baby carrier I wore on my back. Jett slumped within it, his cheek resting between my shoulder blades and his sleepy breathes tickling across my skin.

I was thankful, now, that there were four of us to take turns carrying Jett.

"Are you even allowed to camp in the rainforest?"

"Yes, actually." Jasper carried the pack with the tent and everything else we would need—namely, the blood Jett and I would both need to drink at some point today in a cooler bag. "Though most people do it at a resort or facility, not on their own."

"Yeah, but most people aren't tracking half-vampire, half-human hybrids, either."

Jasper had planned this trip well. It was a short walk from the hotel to the rainforest's edge. All my knowledge of what the rainforest was supposed to look like came from movies, and all of it proved to be wrong. Yes, it was very green, but only if you looked up—most of the vegetation hung heavy over our heads in the canopy, swallowing up all the coming morning light so that it seemed to still be nighttime beneath the trees. Ground vegetation was scarcer than I expected. I had thought Jasper was crazy for not bringing a machete, as I had always seen in the movies, but now I realized we likely wouldn't need it.

I followed directly behind Jasper and Peter, with Charlotte beside me. Not one of them so much as glimmered, and Charlotte had dressed similar to me in shorts and a sleeveless top. The ground felt spongy below my hiking boots, all my steps cushioned by a deep layer of decomposing leaves. Almost like Forks, I thought, thinking of the wet, earthy smell of the forests there.

Jett woke about an hour into the hike, stirring at my back. Rubbing his eyes, no doubt, and yawning. "Hey, Jetty," I said, reaching a hand back to touch his head, "you wanna get out of there?"

"Yeah," he grumbled, making Charlotte laugh. The hike was stilled for a moment as Jasper pulled Jett from the carrier. He took over the task of carrying Jett, giving me a break and flaunting that it was nothing for him to lug the weight of the heavy pack and Jett at once.

"I can hear the Vaupés," Peter said, canting his head to the side as if listening. "Do you want to follow it down the Negro to the Amazon?"

"That will take us into Brazil and deep into the rainforest," Jasper mused. He looked back at me over the top of Jett's head. "We might have to run a bit to make it there in a reasonable timeframe to make camp."

I waved away his concern with my hand. "Edward's run with Jett before and he's been fine," I reminded him. By far, Edward was the fastest, and the only response elicited from Jett during their run was wild, high-pitched laughter. I was faster than I had been but still nowhere near the speed of a vampire, unfortunately. Charlotte had no problem giving me a piggyback ride so we could zip over to the Amazon River after another hour of regular hiking, though.

"Have you caught a scent of this Nahuel?" Peter asked. I had Jett now, walking along the banks of the river. Part of my excitement over coming to the forest was showing animals to Jett, but by and large we hadn't seen any other life forms besides insects. I could hear animals above us, in the canopy layers, but animals were always wary of vampires. Even more so when they were in a group, it seemed.

"Look," I told Jett, crouching down and pointing across the water. Tiny eyes dotted the surface like beads. "Caiman. Itty bitty animals like crocodiles and alligators."

"Not yet," I was only vaguely listening to Jasper, Peter, and Charlotte. "But I know who has been through here recently."

A splash in the water caught my attention. The silvery belly of some kind of fish flashed through the muddy water, but it was soon gobbled up by the only animal I didn't want to see. Standing and backing away, I clutched Jett to me. "See that, Jetty? We do not like those. River dolphins are sketchy. Those are bad."

"Bad?" Jett echoed, looking up at me and then out into the water.

"Yes, bad." I glared at the dolphins still sluicing through the water before us. Damn them for being social animals. Shape-shifting, women drowning kind of bad.

"Jasper." A voice I did not recognize spoke his name, deep and throaty. Turning on my heel, I saw that three women had joined Jasper, Charlotte, and Peter. They were tall, one looming over even Jasper. As tall as Emmett, maybe? Lean and muscular, it was clear with the ease of their stances that, firstly, they didn't consider us a threat. Secondly, it was obvious they had lived in the forest for a long, long time.

Unlike any vampires I had met, even the Volturi, these women didn't hide the fact that they came from a different time, a different world. Their long, dark hair was worn loose, floating around their bare shoulders. They didn't wear much clothing, honestly, and what they did was simple and made of natural fibers or animal skins. None of the three wore shoes, but all wore elaborate beaded jewelry and face paint.

"Hello, Kachiri," he greeted her. "We missed you the last time we traveled this way." Jasper embraced each of the women in turn before introducing the rest of us. Kachiri's sisters were named Senna and Zafrini, I learned.

"This is your mate, then?" Kachiri asked, motioning to me. "But this child…"

"He's in our care, but not biologically ours, no."

The one Jasper had introduced as Zafrina stepped forward, taking an unabashed sniff of Jett and I. "She has venom in her, but the child is natural born." Zafrina smiled at me, changing her entire demeanor from intimidating to charming. I found myself smiling back. "And you are right to be leery of the river dolphins. It has been some centuries since we have seen them walk the land, but caution is never a bad thing. The ancient humans hunted them, but I cannot say they eliminated all the land-walkers."

I felt my mouth drop open in shock. Though I knew of the Quileute tribe, and though the memories of Catalina—the mountain-lion shape-shifter who aided Maria—would never fade from my mind, I hadn't expected my irrational fear to be validated.

"Zafrina," Jasper called her attention away from my surprise. I have to call Gunner and Emmett. "You know of the hybrids, then?"

"We know much of the happenings of the human world," Zafrina answered. "Just because we do not choose to live in it does not mean we do not watch. Yes, we know of vampires and humans joining and creating children. However, just like the land-walkers, many have been hunted down over the centuries. It is not nearly so common as it once was before the Volturi took power from the Romans."

This coven was old, then. Jasper explained our situation for the trio of women. None of the three had ever met either Nahuel or Huilen, but Zafrina and Senna nodded their agreement when Kachiri said they would join the search efforts. They settled in to camp with us for the night, helping with the tent and such. I had foregone packing any food; Jett had started sampling baby food, but he wasn't a huge fan of most of it and I didn't technically need it.

Drinking the blood cold is far from ideal, but I didn't want to risk a fire in the rainforest. I absolutely hated the idea of causing any damage here in a place that was so fragile in its balance. There, in the little camp not far off from the Amazon River, Zafrina showed me, Peter, and Charlotte her special power.

"Zafrina used to be the best storyteller of our tribe, even when we were girls," Senna explained to us. "The way she would describe things made it so you could see the whole story in your head."

Smirking, Zafrina refused to tell us, exactly, what her power entailed. "It is easier to show," she coyly explained. I looked over to Jasper for a clue, but he merely smiled at me. "Who would like to go first?"

"I will." Was I surprised that Peter, afflicted with the same Southern gentleman manners as Jasper, would volunteer to inspect this new thing before Charlotte and I had our turns? Not at all. I turned toward Peter, eyes flicking between him and Zafrina. She didn't make any moves from what I could see, but Peter's face first contorted in confusion before his eyes began to rove around and his mouth open slightly in surprise. "How?"

One hand reached blindly to his left side, searching for Charlotte. He clutched her hand once he found it. "That is you, yes, my dear Charlotte? That is who's hand I hold? I can see no one."

A chill ran down my spine, remembering Alec and his ability to essentially put one in a senseless fog. But Peter didn't seem scared, his eyes continuing to dart around at sights unseen by the rest of us. "What do you see?" Jasper asked, clearly amused.

"Not the rainforest, not any longer. If I could not feel Charlotte beside me, I would swear I was on a beach, with bright sunshine and white sands. I can hear the waves, even."

During Charlotte's turn, she described a nighttime desert to us, complete with scorpions and tarantulas scuttling along the cracked earth beneath her feet. Zafrina sent me deep in the ocean. Above me, I could see the rays of sunlight cutting through the several feet of water above my head. It even felt cold, no longer the muggy warmth of the rainforest. A shark, so clearly detailed that I could see the deep scar running along its side, swam idly past me. Only Jett's weight in my lap kept me grounded, a smaller part of my mind knowing I truly sat on the forest floor with the others despite the vision Zafrina had projected into my mind.

"Quite extraordinary, no, mi armor?" Jasper asked once Zafrina released me. My shoulders shook as the vision retracted from my mind.

"That's so cool!" I told her, making Zafrina laugh. Again, her mirth transformed her features, softening them considerably.

"It was a great help to Zafrina and Senna both when I turned them," Kachiri told us.

"Yes, Zafrina spoke the entire time, weaving for us a story of a land of ice and snow to distract us both from the flames." Senna enthused. "When we work to our second life, her storytelling had evolved into what you experienced this night."

Though I very much wanted to stay up and listen to the stories the three women had, I knew that Jett and I would have to return to the hotel tomorrow. Charlotte and Zafrina were coming with us; Zafrina to help us get closer to the forest's edge before returning to the others. She and her sisters had decided to help Jasper and Peter find Nahuel and Hulien.

Knowing that Alec and Jane would be showing up sometime during the trip, but not knowing when, had been my biggest anxiety. I was endlessly thankful to Charlotte that she would be in Leticia with us. Aro had sworn the creepy twins would only be there to learn about our more concrete plans for faking my death, but that whatever fragile trust I had in Aro certainly did not exist in Alec and Jane.

We parted in the morning, Jasper, Peter, Kachiri, and Senna intending to split ways to cover more ground and then meet back together to decide their next move. I gave a still-sleeping Jett to Charlotte and allowed Zafrina to lift me, so she might carry me most of the way back. "You are fully in the state between human and vampire," she commented. "Not quite either, reaping the benefits of both. Your kind used to much more common. Many humans named such beings gods."

"Did the land-walkers really drown women?" I asked, changing the subject. I was still uncomfortable with discussing my own almost-vampire state.

"I think, perhaps, 'drown' is not the right word." Zafrina corrected. "Some of their lovers were taken to Encante—may I show you?" I nodded, and as Zafrina continued to speak, the images came to life in my mind. "It is said some of the male boto can transform from their animal state to handsome young men, dressed in all white, wearing head coverings of some sort to hide the breathing hole atop their heads."

Indeed, I watched one such man climb up the banks of the Amazon River, inexplicably dry as he left the water. He traveled from the river to a nearby village. A lovely young woman waited at the edge, her face illuminating in a smile as the man came to her under the moonlight. "Some boto prefer to keep their lovers on land, where the enchanted young women bear them children. Others are greedy, unable to live without their lovers. Boto can only move under the moonlight; by day, they are confined to the river."

The couple walked hand-in-hand back to the river, standing on the bank as they each undressed for a night swim. Side by side, the stepped into the current. They swam together for a while, splashing each other playfully. The man dove deep into the murky water, swimming beneath the woman and grabbing her by the ankle. Her laugh was cut short as the man pulled her beneath the water. Swimming faster than any human had the right to, he pulled her along behind him. Deeper, deeper, until the muddy river bottom came into view, and then deeper still through a hole that led to a massive underwater cavern.

Here, the water was clearer, revealing sparkling rock formations, benevolent fish, and brightly colored vegetation. The woman seemed to have no issue 'breathing' in this place that must be the Encante Zafrina had mentioned. In fact, she joined other women here, some still young and fair, others aged and white-haired. I shivered again as Zafrina ended the vision.

"I have not been to Encante myself," she admitted. "What you saw is based on legends from my youth. But I have seen boto leave the river."

"Thank you for showing me," I told her. On the inside, I was still freaking out and thinking about how I would rub it in Gunner and Emmett's faces as soon as we were back in Alaska. Zafrina brought me right up to the edge of the forest before leaving me with Charlotte and Jett. I took him back from her; he was beginning to wake. The dawn was revealing a heavily overcast day to us, which meant we need not cloister ourselves away in the hotel.

"Are you… good?" I asked Charlotte quietly, trying to phrase it so that no one around us on the street might be suspicious. There was no way to know who spoke English as well as the predominant Spanish floating around in conversation.

Charlotte smiled at me. "We were not so long in that place, remember? Bless Jasper for that. We have long had a good handle on our thirst."

With that reassurance, after cleaning up and changing clothes at the hotel, Charlotte and I took Jett out to explore the city. We walked the malecón turístico where I bought gulupa—a fruit akin to passionfruit—and guayaba, which looked like a pear until the vendor broke one open to reveal a bright pink inside that was sweet on the tongue. Charlotte even good naturedly accepted the piece of guayaba offered to her, though she asserted to me in private that it tasted like 'sawdust', as did all human food.

We also took Jett to the Parque Ecológico Mundo Amazonico, where he delighted over bright flowers and all the fish swimming through the aquarium. Jett didn't care for baby food, but he very much liked fresh fruit. I was feeding him guayaba by the spoonful while Charlotte recounted tales of her and Peter's most recent travels in Iceland when Jasper and Peter returned to the hotel that evening.

"Find this mystery man so soon, boys?" Charlotte asked, rising to kiss Peter hello.

"The Amazon Rainforest is no match for five vampires scouting at once, three of which were very familiar with the terrain and the scent of hybrids both." Peter gloated. "Yes, we found this Nahuel."

Immediately, I was filled with nervous energy at that proclamation. I looked up at Jasper, but he seemed at ease enough as he strode across the room to kiss both me and Jett. I searched his face for any clues, but he only said, "Do not worry, mi amor. We will meet with him tomorrow."

"Where?" I asked. I did not think Jasper would willingly reveal where Jett and I were staying, even if Hulien would be able to find us by scent. He caressed my cheek, running his thumb over my lips.

"In the forest," Jasper explained. "At their own home. They are closer than we thought, in Peru."

I nodded, though my stomach was twisting itself in knots.


There was another hike through the rainforest to reach Nahuel and Hulien. I was infinitely thankful that Peter and Jasper were the ones heading this adventure; in the forest, it was impossible—at least to me—to know when we went from Colombia to Peru. But 'the boys', as Charlotte called them, led us right to a small, claim shanty-esque hut nestled within the trees.

We were still some yards from it when Jasper reached back to grab my arm, giving me pause. In the next moment, a blur of black appeared, Alec and Jane coming into view as the twins stilled. They gave me a start, jostling Jett in his midday nap.

"Hello, Jasper," Jane greeted before her deep red eyes cut to me. "Maisie." She ignored Peter and Charlotte entirely, and I doubted they minded much.

"Aro thought it best we be in attendance when Nahuel is informed," Alec explained their sudden presence. "We will discuss the other business after."

I tried my best not to glare at the diminutive twins. They were hardly more than children themselves, yet they carried themselves with much the same authority of their 'masters'. I realized each of them were slightly damp. They must have recently arrived in South America, likely having trailed our scent from the hotel. Unfortunately, Aro had requested that information, and we were hardly in a position to deny the Volturi leader any of his whims.

"Very well," Jasper bit out. "Follow us, then."

Hulien opened the door before Jasper could knock. He led the way inside the quaint, clean space. A few possessions dotted the shelves on the walls but it was obvious this was mostly just a place for Nahuel to sleep at night. He stood from where he sat at a tiny table to shake Jasper's hand.

I trailed behind the others, nervous to reveal Jett slumped sleeping on my shoulder. The cover of Jasper, Peter, and Charlotte ahead of me was comforting, even as the presence of Alec and Jane behind was unsettling.

"You've brought quite the entourage," Nahuel said, his nervous tone sounding like he was trying for a joke. Alec pushed forward, dragging Jane behind him by the hand. They took an unobtrusive position along the wall, intent on being supervisors of this whole affair. No doubt they would each be giving Aro a rundown of what happened here through his gift once they returned to Italy.

"Unintentionally," Jasper soothed. "Peter and Charlotte are old friends. I required some help with tracking you and Hulien down."

"We are here to preserve our masters' wishes, should the need arise." Alec intoned in that insufferably serious voice of his. Nahuel looked from Jasper to the Terror Twins before raking his gaze over the rest of us. His eyes alighted upon me and Jett, body going rigid.

With Jett sleeping as he was, his face was snuggled into the crook of my neck, effectively hiding all the features so similar to the sister Nahuel did not yet know he lost. From his perspective, I knew all he could see was a child with blonde hair—a shade truly not so dissimilar from Jasper's own honey-toned locks. I swallowed, watching Nahuel's dark eyes grow wide.

"You didn't…" he forced out, voice hardly carrying any weight. I shook my head, rearranging Jett's weight and stirring him awake. He yawned, rubbed at his face, and then peered out sleepily to take in his surroundings.

"No," I confirmed, watching Nahuel's deep olive skin leech to an ashy pallor. "We didn't."

He made a move to step forward, only stopped by Hulien's sudden tight grip on his arm. Unlike her nephew, any shock she might have felt was hidden away by a hard mask, red eyes sharp as rubies. "Where did you come by that child?"

Jasper moved closer to me, protective at Hulien's acidic tone. Peter and Charlotte did the same, flanking me on the other side. Nahuel and Hulien now had a clear view of Jett, of his blonde curls and hazel eyes, of the nose and pointed chin and olive skin that were so very similar to his mother's own traits.

"The Volturi has put him in our care," I led with, as Jasper and I had discussed endlessly before making the trip. "But I know you can see he is not our child—not by birth, anyway. His mother was—"

Here, Nahuel cut me off. "Jennifer," he said softly, brokenly. His eyes dropped to the floor. I wondered if he was thinking of his own birth, how it had killed his human mother, and assuming that Jennifer had met the same fate. Swallowing hard, I nodded.

"Yes. Jennifer. Joham finally found success with having her seek out a human man. Jett—that's the baby's name, the one Jennifer gave him—is only one-fourth vampiric. He isn't developing in quite the same way you and your sisters did, but he is ahead of typical human development."

In my arms, Jett was nibbling idly on his finger, a habit he had developed during his teething. He smiled, revealing the patchwork pattern of pearly whites. Hulien was still glaring, but Nahuel smiled back at him.

"Your sisters and your father broke our masters' laws," Jane snarled in the lapse we had fallen into. Jasper glared at her.

"Jane," he chided.

"Jasper," she mocked.

I would have smacked her if I didn't know it would mean certain death for all of us. Holding her eye for another beat, Jasper shook his head at Jane before turning back to Nahuel. "Jane and Alec," he continued for the tiny vampire guard, "are here on behalf of the Volturi. Yes, according to the laws the Volturi hold for our kind, Joham, Serena, Maysun, and Jennifer were found guilty of exposing our kind to humans and jeopardizing revealing the existence of vampires."

He let that sink in for a moment. "Joham was also found guilty of attempting to create the vampire-human hybrid race he actively bragged about. It was determined this was a threat to vampirekind as a whole and specifically the Volturi. I am sorry to say that your father was executed on these grounds."

This was the lightest of blows, and we both knew it. A tiny, satisfied smile tugged at Hulien's lips. "No wonder we have not heard from that incorrigible man in quite some time."

Nahuel was likewise not greatly affected by this news. "We always knew his antics would catch up to him eventually."

Jasper turned to me, nodding that I could continue. Sighing, I settled Jett more comfortably on my hip. "Joham was not the only one executed," I admitted, forcing my voice to hold strong. "Serena, Maysun, and Jennifer were all found guilty of his crimes as well."

This revelation sucked all the air out of the room. Nahuel went statue-still, though a range of emotions flicked through his dark eyes. More shock, anger, sadness, confusion.

"Are you saying the child did not kill Jennifer at birth?" Hulien asked, recovering from the news of her nephew's sisters dying much quicker than her nephew himself.

"No, from what Aro has described, Jett was born as any human child naturally would be." I dropped my gaze to Jett, still nibbling his finger and now looking at Jane and Alec. "I can't say how much time she had with Jett before her own execution, but she consented to having him placed in our care to spare his own life."

"They… this Volturi, they would have killed Jennifer's baby?" Nahuel asked. Another snarl cut through the air.

"Our masters do what is necessary to protect all vampires, including you, half-breed."

I shook my head at Jane's ire, thankful only that she had not been so agitated as to use her horrible, painful gift yet. "Yes," I told Nahuel. "If we hadn't agreed to take him and care for him, he would have been killed along with Jennifer and y'all's sisters on the grounds of being a potential threat."

A warm wave of calm swept over me. Either Jane was closer to an outburst than I thought or Nahuel was exceptionally skilled at hiding his feelings outwardly. Hulien had listened to all this information with the same hard mask, but I couldn't see her being very upset over the man she despised meeting his end, nor her being much concerned for Joham's other children.

"Nahuel," Jasper said, in that smooth, honeyed voice he used when he wanted someone to do as he said, "I know the news we have brought is upsetting, however, we wanted to be the ones to break said news. We hoped that introducing you to Jett may soften the blow somewhat."

There was a tense silence for several beats before Nahuel softly asked, "Did they suffer?"

"No," Jasper, Jane, Alec, and I all spoke at once. The rest of us dropped off, though, letting Jasper finish. "I will not lie and say their deaths were painless, but they were quick. No lingering, no suffering."

All the fight went out of Nahuel at that, his shoulders sagging in resignation and acceptance. I only hoped that this was his true reaction and not Jasper's influence. Eventually, he raised his eyes from the floor and tentatively asked, "Can… can I hold him, then? Jennifer's child?"

I gladly stepped forward, letting Nahuel take Jett from me. "This is your uncle, Jett," I told him. Then I tipped my head back, looking at Nahuel. "His middle name is Nathaniel. Jennifer wanted to make sure he was named after you in some way."

I hated that Jane and Alec were there. Had it been a more private meeting, I would have dared to say what I wanted to, knowing Aro would likely let it slide where Jane certainly would not. She was fiercely protective of her 'masters' and I refused to give her cause to hurt anyone here, imaginary pain or not.

Jasper, however, was not so forgiving. His anger was clear on his face as he regarded the twins across the room. I made plans with Nahuel to meet with him and Hulien again so they could spend more time with Jett before we went home. Jett was content in Nahuel's arms, with Hulien hovering close by.

"Mind them?" Jasper all but breathed to Peter. Our friend nodded gravely, watching over Jett along with Charlotte. Nodding toward the door, Jasper took my hand and led Jane and Alec outside.

"Late May," he told them, not wasting time with anything other than the details they had come for. "We don't have a specific day as of yet. "I'll stage a boating accident on our honeymoon and disappear without a trace. Iceland is lovely in the summer, or so I have heard."

So that was why Peter and Charlotte had traveled there recently, and why she thought to tell me about it.

"And not so terribly far from Italy," Alec nodded. "We will inform Master Aro. Thank you for your cooperation." The Terror Twins blurred out of view in the next instant.

As if we had a choice.


A/N: I couldn't help myself with the Amazon river dolphins... truly! Thank y'all for the reviews as always, it continues to amaze me how much people love Maisie, and now Jett.

If any of you use AO3 as well, I have recently begun posting Preciosa there under the pen-name JohnGreenGirlAO3. I wanted to try that site out as well (but I have no intentions of leaving this one!), and I thought using an already completed fic would be the best way to get used to it. Just wanted to erase any confusion if anyone comes across it there, as well!