Chapter 20
Naturally, I passed all of my exams, and my teachers were impressed with my determination to graduate on time. Edward whispered to me once that all of them praised themselves on their excellent teaching abilities at the same time of showing me compassion due from my wretched ordeal.
It only took one whole month for the conversation at Forks High to return to normal, and most importantly away from me. A line was clearly drawn by my former human friends against myself, Edward, Alice, and now Angela and Ben; though no one seemed to mind. I was going through the last few moments of high school in a blur, not really caring what happened, I just wanted to get so many things done already, and none of them involved high school.
The Volturi were always at the forefront of my priorities.
I was going through the plan in my head, there was only one month left before graduation and Alice had seen that they would be preparing to arrive shortly after that. Soon the events of my plan would be set in motion and I wanted to make sure that there were no flaws. One flaw could mean the life of someone I loved and no matter how much I wanted Aro dead, I couldn't risk losing any of my family.
The hallway seemed unusually quiet as I made my way to lunch alone. My math class was held after late so I mentally told Edward I would meet him there. I was completely absentminded when an awful stench invaded my nose. It was nowhere near appetizing but it smelled green and woodsy. It was faint, and as soon as I walked outside I no longer smelled it.
I sat in the chair next to Edward and slipped my head on his shoulder. Today we were pretending that we were eating fruit. Edward handed me an apple, and I glanced at Alice, who was starting to panic. I kicked her in the leg because Angela was starting to notice.
"Alice, I told you about daydreaming haven't I?" Alice pulled out of her vision and looked at Edward confused for a moment and quickly looked at me.
"I'm sorry, Bella. We have a project due in fashion and I was thinking of what dress I was going to design. I was thinking of doing it in a deep royal blue, would you like to be my model?" I silently prayed that this was her cover and she didn't actually have such a project. Regardless, I nodded my head. Alice was pleased and Ben pulled Angela's attention to some catalog he was looking at.
'Edward what's wrong? What did she see?' I looked incredulously at the both of them. Edward was pinching his nose at whatever he picked from her mind.
"Nothing." He said it so low that I barely caught it.
'What do you mean nothing?'
"I meant just that. It faded to black before either of us could gleam what it was."
Now it was my turn to go into panic mode. I flipped through every memory that I had of every conversation I had with anyone from the Volturi, not once did I remember telling them of Alice's visions. Did they already know about them? Why else were her visions now failing us? Was this something that Aro had in place already?
I focused on letting my breathing calm me down. Deep breaths in and out. I closed my eyes and allowed the darkness to take over.
I was standing in the forest, I could see Charlie's house from where I was. Oh God! Anyplace but here. I was in the same that Edward dumped me. I tried to fight the urge to feel the pain that threatened to cripple me just like that day. The hurt was returning and I started to fall down to the ground. But instead of going to the ground, I was in a defensive crouch. I whipped around to find the source of the sniffing that I was hearing and came face to face with a huge black wolf.
"Wolves?" I said, slightly confused.
"Excuse me?" Angela said as she was rising from her seat. I looked around and just about everyone else was doing the same thing. I hadn't even heard the bell.
"Well wolf fur really. I was thinking of Alice's project. I think I want to try something with fur. Imitation fur of course." I looked at Alice and pleaded with her to play along.
"I can work in some fur with my design, yes." I rolled my eyes because I could hear the confusion behind her words, but Angela bought it and walked off with Ben towards their next class.
"What was that about wolves love?" Edward pulled me close and walked with me. I had no clue where Alice had danced off to.
"My vision, it was about wolves. I was in the forest and there was a huge wolf staring back at me." Edward tensed up for a split second before matching my stride again. "What was that about?"
"Nothing."
'Edward Anthony Mason Cullen, after all that we've been through, you're going to tell me, "nothing?"'
"Not here." His jaw was set and I knew that I wasn't going to get any answers from him anytime soon. We spent the rest of the day in silence, and as soon we were in the car, I pressed for more answers.
"Edward, why did you become a statue when I explained my dream?"
"What dream?" Alice asked from the backseat. Edward was racing the wind down the street towards the manor. Charlie was working late and he asked Edward if he could watch me at home. Since it was Friday, Alice pushed Charlie for the whole weekend. Since Charlie was mush around Alice, he caved. Forks was nothing but a blur, though the way Edward drove, we'd be arriving at the manor soon.
"Bella had a dream had lunch about the wolves."
"The wolves?" Her words were barely a whisper.
Edward kept silent, his jaw tensed up again as we pulled into the driveway. As soon as I opened the door, the same horrific scent that I smelled earlier was all around the house. "What is that?" I asked.
Edward growled and tore his way into the house, not even bothering with closing the door to his car. Me and Alice followed him and I stopped just behind him. Alice hurried alongside her husband, and held onto him tightly.
In the middle of the living room were three boys that I recognized from La Push, though I would hardly call them boys. My mind processed that the three massive figures were Sam, Jacob, and Embry, but their face were too wrong. It was like they grew up too fast.
"So it's true? This means you've violated the treaty Cullen!" Sam yelled at Carlisle.
"No! It wasn't any of my family who turned her. And from what we gathered the one who bit her did it overseas. It wasn't even in our territory." Edward yelled and resumed his growling in Sam's direction. I looked to Sam and realized it wasn't very smart of him to declare war in house full of vampires.
I put my hand on Edward's shoulder to calm him down. He straightened up partly, only just ready to attack should someone make a wrong move. However, when I stepped out in front of him, I heard him growl in protest, but his composure returned to normal.
"Sam, I know nothing of this treaty that you speak of, but I can assure you that none of the Cullen's were the ones who bit me."
"You're one of them now, a cold one, you could be lying to protect them," Jacob spoke up. I looked at the boy I once knew, the friend I could have had, and was strangely hurt that he thought I was the type to lie.
"Jacob, I died protecting them, you and Charlie." A few dry sobs escaped my throat, and I recounted my story to them. Obviously they had no reason to believe me but I hoped that knowing who I used to be, they would know I was telling the truth.
"I honestly believed that the only way to save everyone was to leave with Aro for Italy. And now, the vampire who I know has my maker and vampire father, will die by my hands. And that is truly the only way to save everyone."
"We need to talk to the elders about this."
"Well when you speak to your elders, tell them that there is a greater danger than me being a vampire. Aro and his guards are making their way here, and accordingly I have a plan. One that I'm assuming involves you?" I didn't mean for my statement to come out in the form of a question, but I thought of Alice, which only made me think of the events of the entire day. I was putting everything together, the wolves, my dream, the scent. The boys that were standing in front of me were werewolves.
I couldn't believe I hadn't pieced everything together any earlier. Edward nor Alice held back their disdain when I mentioned the dream. The day at First Beach, Jacob himself told me that the tribe had descended from wolves. My mind had subconsciously told me that he was a wolf that night. But I was all too focused back then on Edward.
"Wait, were you at the high school today? Or anyone from the reservation?"
"No, but Jackson goes there. He's new to La Push, but his mother insisted that he go to the high school." Sam said. He was the new kid that stole my schedule. I'd seen him from time to time, but we never shared the same class. He had beautiful features, nowhere near as exotic as Jacob's. His skin was a light caramel complexion, but he had the long jet-black hair that Jacob once had. His eyes were a russet brown and he had a deep velvet voice, though he hardly ever used it.
"Why doesn't he just go to school on the res?"
"His father is Quileute, but his mother is a pale face, that's the only reason why he lives on the reservation. But his mother, thinks he would have a better education outside of the res."
"Well if I think you should follow up with him because I think he can change into a wolf, like you. I smelled him earlier today at the school, but I'd never come across anything like it before, so I didn't think anything of it." I had to add that because Alice looked at me like she was sad there was potential danger and she didn't know about it. I was pretty sure Edward was mad for the very same reason, but I didn't dare look up at him.
"I will look into it. And what is this plan that you started to speak of?" Sam commanded.
"Well, I have a theory of something and I can't explain it to you yet, that will have to come later. But regardless, my plan is I think you're meant to fight with us, against Aro and the rest of the Volturi."
Sam let out a huge laugh, more like a guffaw. "And what makes you think I will allow my pack to fight alongside some vampires against another brood of vampires. I should just let the two factions finish each other off and kill the survivors."
'Sam Uley! You know good and well that you're meant to protect the residents of Forks and La Push. And that includes the Cullens. We want the same thing! Now listen to me.'
Somewhere along the chain of events, either Sam or I had moved closer together and we were standing inches apart. I felt Jasper's calming breeze form around me but I shook it off, I needed my rage. Sam was taken aback at how I was suddenly in his head.
"We protect the people of Forks, not the residents that will turn them into meals."
'And you know good and well that the residents that we're speaking of, the very ones in this room do not feed on humans. Forks is one of the safest places in the world from human feeding and it's not due to your pack. We don't feed on humans, only the animals of the forest. And even then, we stay away from feeding too much in one area that might disturb the food chain cycle.'
"I didn't know that." Sam looked around in admiration at my family, as if this was the first time he saw them for what they weren't.
"Okay, for the non mentally inclined, can someone tell the rest of us what the hell just happened?" Rosalie demanded by stomping her foot.
"I'll get to that, but first, Sam will you take that back to your elders? It's something that we may need your help on, and if I'm right, it may be the only way to make sure this entire area and my families are safe." I looked at Jacob when I said 'families,' I wanted him to know that I included him in my decision to leave Forks, and not just the Cullen's.
I could see in Jacob and Embry's eyes the confusion about why he agreed to think about fighting alongside us, their enemies.
"Before you go, I need you guys to think back a couple of hours. When you came to the house, what were you thinking?"
Sam and Embry both said not much of anything, but Jacob confirmed my suspicion.
"I was thinking I was going to kill whoever turned you into what you are." Though his sentiment was misguided, I appreciated it, despite that he'd be putting himself in harm's way by going after Aro.
"Thank you, Jacob. But Aro is mine." I hoped he would listen to me as they turned to leave.
"Okay spill, and spill now!" Was all I heard from Rosalie when the three were out of the house and from hearing range.
"It's quite simple really, Alice lost her vision today. She had been constantly looking into Volterra, watching for any new developments, but as soon as Jacob had made the decision to kill my maker, not knowing it was Aro, he inserted himself in her vision."
"But why would she lose her vision because of that? She's seen other humans before." Emmett was confused, and I hoped I was explaining this right. But then again it was only a theory that I had.
"Well, I remember Edward once explained that Alice can see vampires exceptionally well, humans are clear, but nowhere near as clear as vampires. What if her visions are limited to just the beings that's she's been. I would think that it makes sense. And when that being isn't human nor vampire, she can't see them at all."
"So when Jacob decided on killing your maker, it cut off her visions?" Carlisle was thinking of my theory, thinking it was the most plausible answer.
"Well, I don't like it." Alice was pouting and Jasper did his best to comfort her, but we all knew Alice hated being blind.
"I know honey, but I really think fighting alongside the wolves is the only way to ensure our safety and victory." We only needed another three weeks time for everything to be set. The extra numbers that the wolves would provide us, had to mean that everything would go in our favor.
"Okay but I still don't have to like it."