I found that I slept frequently - my body literally requiring the rest too greatly - but in short, sharp spells rather than anything restful. The plane ride disappeared for me in an instant, swept away by murky, confusing, and frightening dreams. In some ways I felt sorry for Ness, Alice, and Carlisle. They were forced to live every moment of the trip, wondering, watching, waiting. When we landed I was brutally awoken, and painfully jostled as we made our way out of the plane. Alice disappeared up ahead while Carlisle walked as quickly as I could manage - which was a lot faster than I probably should have been going. I was having to clench my hands with the pain. The car that awaited us was obnoxious, yellow, and sportsy, but I knew that from the extremely tinted windows it was perfect for us. We didn't need to draw any more attention by sparkling away. I eased into the back seat, Carlisle beside me, checking my vitals, and removing the IV from my hand. Apparently he'd left it in to make me look more sick. Like the deathly palid complexion, and wincing while breathing weren't doing a good enough job.
"You're very cool Bella. I wish I'd had time to give you another transfusion before we packed you off here." Carlisle said, his hand resting on my forehead. "How do you feel? Light-headed? Weak?"
"Mostly just sore, and painful." I rested my head back on the seat, and closed my eyes, hoping to get some more sleep, since fast car rides were terrifying, but unfortunately began to get jostled around soon enough with twists and turns on the roads of the Italian countryside. It probably wouldn't have been so bad, but Alice was driving fast, and the sharp turns were pulling me around on the seat quite severely. Carlisle didn't move an inch. I held onto him as best I could, to stay still, and he tried holding me in safe non-painful places - my shoulders and leg.
"I like the way she drives." Ness said from the apparently empty front seat.
"So Bella, while you were sleeping, we were able to figure out what we're going to try and do." Alice said. I heard her clear as though she were the one in my ear, so she must have yelled from the front row. "If we get too close - we being Carlisle and I - Edward might rush into things. He can hear us, he knows I see the future, and of course we'd go marching in there screaming 'Bella's not dead'. He won't believe us. He has to see you. You see, and I said this before, he has a flair for the dramatic. Today is St Marcus' day. St Marcus is celebrated for ridding Volterra of vampires hundreds of years ago. Edward seems to be planning on waiting until noon, and simply walking out into the sun, without a shirt, forcing their hands."
"For walking without a shirt?" I asked - momentarily dazed.
"Well yes, he'll be sparkling away in the sun. They'll have no choice but to act."
I looked out of the window, trying to shake the cobwebs from my brain. It occurred to me that I'd never been to Italy - aside from books, and video media like documentaries, or movies. Now that I was here I couldn't even appreciate the beauty. The view outside the window passed in a blurry haze of green, pinks and browns. I was high on pain meds, hazy with pain, short of breath, and terrified. Terrified of what would happen if today went wrong. It was one thing for Edward to not want to be near me. At least I knew he was safe, and happy, elsewhere. But this... to feel some sort of proxy guilt over failing to protect me... and to provoke his own murder. I couldn't bear it. I'd give Ness my body permanently. Drift away, give her a whole and full life with Jacob. Perhaps I'd swim to the bottom of the ocean. Just get lost in the depths for a while. A world without Edward was bound to be that dark anyway.
"And what am I to do?"
"Well... show yourself to him. That's it. Get his attention. Make him see you aren't dead. I'm afraid we're short on time, so it may involve you running." Carlisle said, looking truly devastated and concerned.
"I can take over for that part." Ness pitched in. "I've got more experience numbing pain."
"Ness. I'm going to need you alert, and keeping me alive, like you did before." I said, looking at her.
"Oh trust me love, we aren't going down without a fight." She smiled. She - unattached to Edward - saw only the worry of her friends, of her new family, and new she had to fix it. Had to keep me alive. "Besides, I need your body, remember?" she joked. I smiled weakly and let my head fall back onto Carlisle's shoulders. My mind was buzzing and active - if not clearly - and yet even my eyelids were tired. I just needed to sleep.
I was woken by an unfamiliar voice, speaking in Italian, and two familiar voices responding. When I looked around, I was more confused than ever. All the people I could see from my limited window view, were wearing red. The deep, bright, bloody red of fresh splatter in the snow - quite ominous under the imposing death sentence we faced. The car was moving much slower now - at almost a walking speed.
"Bella, you'll have to go from here alone. It's about 2 miles. Head for the clock tower in the Piazza. He'll be just underneath it." Carlisle brought out a pill of some kind, placing it in my mouth. "Chew this. It'll help." He looked doubtful, scared, and even nervous. I'm sure that whatever he had given me was usually prescribed in a safer manner, and under better conditions.
"I can direct you. Follow me." Ness said, as she rolled left. By the time I looked at her she was already outside the car. Carlisle forced the door open.
"We'll see you soon." He said. As I scrambled out of the car, I realised that Alice was arguing in Italian with someone, through the driver window. She was wrapped up in scarves and sunglasses, and hiding in the shade of the car.
"Come on Bella. This way! It's nearly noon!" Ness began running forward, and I blindly stumbled after her. At first I was able to keep up, running between people, and my lack of breath hadn't caught up with me yet. But as soon as I started having to push past people, the jostling, the pain, the heavier breathing increased and my vision started to blur. Suddenly I found myself looking back at myself, and seeing Ness inside me, straighten up and push forward. I ran with her, faster, uninhibited by people, and leading her forward to the clock tower. She was much stronger, or perhaps just less inhibited when it came to pushing people out of the way. I saw a break in the crowd ahead and ran forward, looking back. It wasn't until I was halfway through the fountain that I noticed the splashing water that I couldn't feel on my spirit legs. Ness tripped into the fountain, cursing, and coughing. As she coughed, red splattered into the water from her lips. She clasped a wet hand to her mouth to brush off the blood and stood straight. My body did look like walking death. I heard the first chime of the bell and panicked. Ness looked over to the clock tower, and swore. She looked back, behind us, at a set of gigantic school-bus-sized banners trailing from the rooftops of the nearby terraced stone buildings. She lifted her hand, pointing at them, and they burst into flame. Ness kept running forward, out of the fountain. I heard the screams begin to erupt behind us, and people began turning towards us, to watch - in horror - the carnage behind us. Because we were now facing people, more people moved out of our way. It sped up our progress dramatically.
I wasn't counting the chimes. God you think I would be. Part of me wondered if Ness could even hear them properly. She paused for a moment glancing around, trying to figure out where to go. I didn't. I could see Edward. My vision narrowed and I screamed his name, in the frenzy, unaware that I was still in spirit form and he was unlikely to hear me. He was stood, staring, shirtless, looking worn and thirsty. Ill even. He also looked confused - as if the fires now directing the attention from the crowd in front of him had stunned him temporarily. People were too busy watching the blaze, their backs to him, to see him now, even if he did step into the light. Ness and I pushed forward, and I experienced the dizzying sensation of being set back on myself by about 10 feet, and experienced the deja vu as I re-ran my path. I was back in my body. I wasn't feeling the pain, only the fear, the desperation, the focus. I couldn't scream. I couldn't breathe. But I could run. Even if it cost me my lung.
I ran straight for him, and my fucking body failed me at the last moment. I collapsed into a heap just in front of him. He instinctively bent to catch me, and then - undoubtedly due to his shock - he fell with me. We tumbled into a heap, in the shade of the clock tower, and my vision began to darken. I began to cough, painfully, and the last thing I recalled was seeing my beautiful Edward's face in a confused and scared posture, and my Native American guardian angel scowling as she dove her spirit hands into my chest.