Chapter Three

Author's Note: I know the chapters are really short, but they'll be lots of them and you'll get new bits of the story very frequently (hopefully!) 

"Why is everyone being a pessimist?" Alice wanted to know later on the next day while she and I were talking. Her question took me by surprise- we weren't talking about people being pessimists, we were talking about the Volturi and who was the most dangerous if they decided to attack.

"What do you mean Alice?" I asked and I was surprised to see Alice was looking hurt.

"I've told everyone over and over again, that, for now, we have nothing to fear from the Volturi. Yet still we talk about it. There's no point!" I could see what Alice was mad at. Yesterday I had been confused about why everyone spoke of the Volturi like it was a thing happening that you couldn't stop.

"I agree with you Alice" I said, before my favourite sister-in-law could really start to get angry. "But we do want to be prepared. This is just a precaution, right?"

"We don't need a precaution!" exploded Alice. "Last time it took them a month to get here. A month, Bella. We'll have plenty of time for action in a month."

"But will they bring everyone again, Alice? It took them so long last time because they were bringing everyone. They might not the next time- if there is a next time" I added hastily, catching the expression on Alice's face.

"They'll want all the vampires they can get if they are going to come" Alice said confidently. "Can we talk about something else? The Volturi subject is making me feel depressed."

"What will Tanya and Kate do about Irina?" I whispered in Alice's ear, and she glared at me.

"Bella, I just said the subject of the Volturi makes me feel depressed. I don't want to talk about what we'll do with one of my dead friends."She looked titchy, quite un-Alice. "Tanya and Kate have already Freed the ashes." So in a way I was right. It was like cremating humans. "Oh, sorry Bella, I forgot!" said Alice, suddenly, and I stared at her, confused. What had Alice forgotten? "You don't know anything about vampire ashes being Freed. It's when two vampires who were the closest to the dead take an even amount of the ashes each and run all over the country that the vampire died in, while letting little bits of the ashes fly as they run. So wherever Tanya and Kate go, as long as it's in this county, they'll have a tiny bit of their sister with them." In a way this made sense. Humans, of course, couldn't do this, because they couldn't run fast enough. They'd have to take a car and it would take them days.

"Please change the subject Bella" Alice begged.

"OK, what do you want to talk about?" I asked. Alice shrugged.

"Nothing. I want to talk to Tanya and Kate."

"You said talking about them and Irina made you feel depressed."

"Yeah, but I'm not going to talk to them about Irina, am I?" replied Alice and she hurried away. Personally I thought she was deserting me. So I went off to ask Edward how Kate and Tanya were. I wasn't able to though. I bumped into Tanya, Kate and Alice as they walked out the doorway I was about to go through.

"Hello Bella" said Tanya, and her voice sounded dead. Before Irina died her voice had been full of adrenaline, but whether that was because of the Volturi or whether it was the way her voice always sounded I didn't know. Now it was hollow and empty and with a jolt I realised it was probably how my voice sounded when Edward left me. I supposed losing a sister was like having your vampire boyfriend desert you for what you thought was forever.

"Hi Tanya. What are you guys doing?"

"Alice was talking to us about Carmen and Eleazar and when we would be going back to Denali" said Kate, and her voice sounded dead too, quite different to the way her voice sounded when we had been discussing the Volturi yesterday. I guessed different subjects made Kate and Tanya feel different.

"So when are you going back to them?" I asked. "Garrett's leaving tomorrow. Are you going to go with him?" Garrett had gotten sick of just sitting around here where nobody wanted to do anything much and had decided to go to his new home in Denali, with or without Kate.

"Alice was trying to persuade us to go with Garrett" said Tanya. "But we don't want to. We are not ready to move on yet."

"You haven't let me finish yet" grumbled Alice. "You should go with Garrett, back to Denali, even if only for a short period of time. You should still go."

"Do you know something we don't, Alice?" asked Kate. "Have you foreseen something and that is why you are trying to make us leave?"

"No" said Alice, "I just think it would be a good idea for you to try to start living without Irina. The longer you wait the harder it will be." I glared at her. Why was she upsetting Kate and Tanya now? Why was she talking to them about Irina when she knew it would upset them, when the subject depressed her? I thought Kate was right. I was pretty sure Alice knew something she was not sharing. Something big and dangerous. Grrr.