Chapter 11

BPOV:

Darkness surrounded me, pressing against me, a darkness so thick it felt difficult to breathe. I couldn't feel anything, no pain, no sadness, no fear. I was suspended in this darkness for what could have been just seconds, or days, time had escaped me completely. Then deep into the blackness a shimmer of light flickered. It was small at first, but as it got closer to me it grew. It took the shape of a woman, a woman surrounded in a bright silver light. My eyes narrowed, trying to adjust to her. She was beautiful, her skin was pale, almost luminescent, her clear blue eyes burned with the light that radiated from her, her hair was long and dark that flowed as if there was a wind, I wondered why until she got close enough for me to feel the wind too, the wind was coming from her. She walked closer to me and crouched down by my side and took my face in her hands. She sat there for a minute, looking at me before she finally spoke. "My child, you must find your way back to the surface, you will not survive if you stay here," she said.

"How?" I asked her. Her hands were so warm, so very warm. It wasn't until she touched me that I realized how cold I was.

"I will help you, I blessed you with my protection the night you were born along with the Earth Mother, you have the power to overcome this," she said. My eyes widened at what she said. She is the Goddess of the Moon, she has come yet again to help me.

"How do I find the power?" I asked again.

"You must reach deep into yourself child, the power you have is waiting for your call," she answered. I didn't understand. I sat there being cradled by the Goddess of the Moon, and yet I still couldn't figure out how to get out of this darkness. She let go of my face and I instantly missed the warmth of her hands. I thought she was leaving, instead she caught my hands in hers and helped me to my feet.

"Look into yourself child, ultimately you are the only one who can get you out of this, I will stay with you until you do, but you must be the one to do it," she said locking her eyes with mine. I didn't break her gaze, I kept my eyes locked onto hers. I felt her power breeze into me, fill me up to the brim and spill over. Then and only then did I feel the power she was talking about. I understood now, I was in the balance between life and death, I had the power to choose which path to take. Death would be so easy, it would be so easy to let go, but I couldn't. My people depended on me, and Edward, I wanted to be with Edward.

"I know how to get out," I said. She just nodded and stepped away from me, I turned away from her and pushed at the darkness. Just before I broke the surface she called to me. I turned to her, "this path will not be easy child, however, it is your destiny, know that this is what you were born to do." I nodded my head at her and turned back, finally breaking out of the pressing darkness.

The first thing I felt was a throbbing sharp pain to the back of my head. What happened? I thought to myself. Then the memories flooded back to me. My eyes snapped open, Aro, he caught me! I screamed in my head. I tried to move, to sit up, but I couldn't, not yet. I worked on taking in my surroundings. I was in a room of some sort, the walls were made of a dark brick. From what I could see there were no windows, the only light in the room was from a torch that was mounted on the wall furthest from me. There was a door just to the left of the torch. I tried yet again to move and was able to sit myself up. I propped myself up on the wall behind me. I needed to move, I needed to get out of here, but how? I kept myself alert for any signs of movement on the other side of the door.

Eventually I could feel my legs. I brought my knees to my chest and rocked myself back and forth. I stayed like that for so long. My throat burned with hunger and my stomach growled. I would take just a drop of blood or a piece of bread, either one. My eyes started to feel so heavy. I fought to keep awake, but I lost the fight and fell asleep.

I was sitting in the middle of a field of beautiful yellow flowers, my hair was flying loose around my face in the wind. I heard a faint voice being carried by the wind. It got louder and I was able to make out what the voice was saying. "Bella, we need you, where are you?" I stood and tried to find the owner to that voice, but no one was there. I tried to call back, but my voice wouldn't work. I pushed with everything I had, but nothing came out of my mouth. The voice started to get frantic, "Bella, are you alive? what is happening? please, answer me!" The voice shouted. I answered the only way I knew how. I reached into myself and pulled at my magic. I pulled it out of the pit of my being and thrust it with all of my power to the direction the voice was coming from. I put all of my emotions into that push, letting the owner know that I felt helpless. I strained to hear the voice again but instead I woke from my dream.

My eyes opened and I heard what had woken me. Someone was opening the door, I could hear the lock being turned, and the door opened slowly with a loud screech. I put my hands on the wall behind me and struggled to stand. My legs felt like jell-o, but I managed to pick myself up leaning on the wall for support. I felt a little better knowing that I wasn't sitting when Aro and his guard walked into the room.

"Princess, you have finally decided to wake up," Aro said walking closer to me. I pushed at the wall and stood on my own two feet without help from the wall. I stayed quiet, not wanting to talk to this monster.

"I apologize for taking you the way we did, but it was much easier to get you to Italy without you fighting," Aro said. I just looked at him. "So quiet," he said finally getting close enough to touch me. I stayed glued to my spot, unwilling to let him see my fear. He put his hand to my face, caressing a finger down my temple to my jaw. His eyes went from hopeful to surprise. "My power, Princess, is to see someone's entire life when I touch them, yet when I touch you I get absolutely nothing. You are silent to me in every way. Do you know why?" He asked me. I just shook my head. I was relieved that he couldn't see my entire life, all of my memories.

He turned away from me towards his guard, "leave us," he demanded them. They didn't question him, they just filed one by one out of the door. He turned back to me and smiled. "Now that we are alone Princess, I want to talk to you about us."

"There is no us," I blurted before I could stop myself. My head jerked to the side and my cheek burned before I realized that he had just slapped me. I slowly turned my face back towards his and looked at him in the eyes. I clenched my jaw and held back any sign of fear or pain from him. I could feel blood trickling down my cheek from where his ring had sliced through my skin.

"You will learn to respect me Isabella, the sooner you understand that, the better it is for you," he said to me in a low authoritative tone. Before I could say anything back the door opened again.

"Aro, you said you wouldn't say anything to her before I got here," I heard a female voice say from behind him. He turned and I saw who that voice belonged to. Jessica. "Ah, Jessica, how nice of you to join us, would you like a moment alone with the Princess," Aro asked her. She smiled and nodded. He turned back to me, "I will be back for you later Princess," and with that he left me alone with her.

I spoke first, "how could you do this to your own people?" I felt rage fill me. I wanted to kill her, to avenge my people.

"I was exiled, remember dear Princess," she spat the word 'princess' like it was something dirty. "You are still Sidhe, you let them slaughter your family, your mother and father," I screamed at her.

"They have been dead to me since the day they turned their backs on me, they stood there and let you exile me," she said back to me calmly.

"What do you get out of this?" I asked her.

"I went to Aro and we made a deal, if I led him to the portals, he would help me gain the crown and be Queen," she explained.

"The Queen of what, Jessica, the Queen of corpses? They are all dead," I yelled at her again. She paled for a second and tried to hide it. "Aro didn't kill everyone, I will rebuild our people," she said. "How do you know that for sure? Did you go with him? Did you watch him kill the men, women and children of our kind?" I asked. She looked confused for a moment before realization dawned on her face, " he wouldn't dare, we made a deal," she said trying to sound certain. "Who are you trying to convince, me or you?" I asked. She paled even more and turned to leave.

"It is no matter to you anymore Isabella, you and your family no longer rule," and with that she walked out of the door.

I was alone again. I needed a plan. I prayed silently to the Goddesses to help me. I felt burning on my arms and looked at them. The marks from the elements were burning again. I was agitated at first, but realized that it was a sign. My power over the elements was a weapon to use to get out of here. I looked around, trying to find something to work with when my eye caught the flame from the torch. Fire, I thought.

I straightened my shoulders and concentrated on the fire. I wanted to control it, to manipulate it. I stared at it, trying to force it to bend to my will. At first there was nothing, but, after a while of staring at the flames lick and bend to the wind, I started to feel a burn in my belly. It shot through me and outwards. I willed the flame to spread, circling me, and the fire flared from the torch and exploded around me, surrounding me in a ring of flames. I smiled satisfied. This wasn't going to be easy, and I was far from having complete control over the elements, but it was a start.