We reach the house and put away the baseball gear just as the sun is setting. I look at my arm in the fading light and smile to myself; the subtle sparkling of our skin is beautiful. I walk back into the house and sit down at the piano to play some more, but almost as soon as I sit down I hear Alice's light footsteps against the polished wood floor. I spin on the stool to face her, and see the massive grin she has plastered on her face. Rosalie appears behind her a moment later, with the same grin on her face too.
"Come on, we have something to show you," Alice says brightly.
I think Rosalie can tell by my expression that I'm a little worried. "Don't worry," she says almost interrupting Alice she's so fast, "you'll like it."
I stand up and they take this as a yes, so they flit up the stairs and I chase after them, coming to a standstill outside my bedroom door. They gesture for me to open the door, and I do so, and gasp as I take in my new room. The first thing that's blatantly obvious is that there's no bed; that's understandable though; vampires don't sleep. There is a small couch though, and it's made of gorgeous rich, tan coloured leather. There's a small glass-topped desk in the corner with a swivel chair behind it, a stereo sitting on top of another table, and some posters hanging on the walls, which have all been painted a relaxing cream colour, with a dark purple feature wall. I go to the new wardrobe to find that it's now full of my own clothes, presumably all picked out by Alice. I hear Edward's soft laugh from downstairs and hear a quiet 'yes' from him.
"Do you like it?" Alice says quickly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Oh, come off it Alice," Rosalie laughs. "You already saw what she thought of it."
Alice looks a little sneaky, and she lets out a giggle. "I guess I did," she says in between laughs.
"I love it!" I squeal, darting to hug them both.
They pick me up as they hug me, holding me in the air as we all start giggling. They put me down when Esme rounds the corner, eyebrows raised in confusion.
"I hope this isn't a serious case of sibling rivalry here," she says lightly.
"They redecorated my room," I explain.
"This is teenage excitement," Rosalie adds with a cheeky grin on her face.
"Rose, I'm not even a teenager," I point out.
"Violet, how old are you?" Alice asks, the concern evident in her voice.
"I was ten when you changed me," I answer. "Why do you ask?"
Alice's face falls. "Rose, the immortal children. What if they find out?"
Rosalie suddenly looks shocked, too. "We can't exactly keep it a secret, but they'll kill her if they find her. She looks younger, too. They're not going to think she's as old as she is. This is a serious problem."
"We need to talk to Carlisle," Alice says softly. "This has gotten out of our control."
"What did you need to talk to me about?" Carlisle says calmly, suddenly appearing in the room.
"Carlisle, did you ever think of the Volturi's law against immortal children?" Alice says, and I can tell she's fighting to keep her voice even. "She was only ten, and I'm not sure if they'll let it go."
"We can't just ignore it," Rosalie inputs. "If they find out that we've been keeping it from them, then we'll all suffer."
"I quite see your point there," Carlisle says thoughtfully. "It's too serious for us to ignore, and I'm afraid I'll have to consult with Aro. If she's mature enough, then maybe it'll work out, but it might not. I'm sorry Violet, but this is out of our hands now."
"Nothing's ever been in my hands," I say gently. "Don't worry; I'm used to it now."
Carlisle lays his hand on my shoulder, squeezing tightly for a moment. "We'll do whatever we can to keep you here," he says. He claps me on the back before he leaves.
"Rose," I hear Emmett call from somewhere in the house. "Can you give me a hand with my Jeep?"
"Coming," she calls, flitting effortlessly out of the room.
"Alice, what are immortal children?" I ask cautiously once Rosalie is gone.
"I was waiting for you to ask that," she replies, settling down on the couch and patting the seat next to her, in which I promptly sit. "Immortal children," she begins, "have been changed while they are still very young, sometimes even as young as small toddlers. The immortal children are such a danger to our existence because they are stuck at whatever level of development they were changed at, if that makes any sense."
"So they can't learn any more than what they already know?" I ask, still a bit unsure as to what she means exactly.
"No, they can keep learning, just however well their human age lets them. If they can't learn because they were too young, then they risk the exposure of our kind. If they can't learn our laws, then they just end up breaking them. If they're thirsty, then they feed, destroying everything in a temper tantrum. The Volturi deal with them, their creator, and anyone that stands in their way."
"Who are the Volturi?" I ask quickly, but I can tell by the way she said it that they aren't anything good.
"The Volturi," she begins, slowly wringing her hands somewhat nervously, "are the equivalent of royalty in our world. If anybody breaks any of the laws laid out by them, they deal with them." I can tell what she means by her tone; even though I'm sure she won't actually tell me. "Most of the laws deal with hiding our existence from the humans, and immortal children are an incredible threat to our secrecy. We aren't sure about what they'll think of you, though."
"What do you mean?"
"You're old enough to make your own decisions, but you're still very young, and extremely volatile, we don't know how well you'll learn. As a newborn, you are incredibly dangerous. If they think you can control yourself, and learn the laws, then they'll let it go, hopefully. But if they think you're a threat, then you'll be eliminated." Her last sentence is flat, her face a blank mask.
I don't know what to say, and it seems that she doesn't either, when she stands and leaves the room in a single, fluid movement. I sit for a while longer, before returning downstairs to sit at the piano. I don't play; I just sit, staring at the keys, waiting for something to come. I'm not sure what I'm waiting for, and nothing happens for hours. Nobody comes to speak with me, nobody comes into the room with me, and nothing comes into my mind. I hear footsteps outside the door and slowly turn my head to look, and see Esme standing in the doorway, an almost imperceptible trace of worry on her face.
"I take it you heard?" I ask her. She nods sadly, and I give her a small smile. "Don't worry about me. I'll take care of myself, just don't try and stop them. Please."
She smiles softly at me. "The older ones are still like my children, even Edward, though he's older than I in some ways. You, so young when you were changed and still a newborn, I feel so incredibly responsible for you."
"I know you do. I just don't want them to hurt you when you did nothing. Don't get me wrong, I don't want Alice and Rose hurt, but you had nothing to do with this."
"I'll be guilty by association," she points out. "They have no tolerance for lawbreakers, and they don't give second chances."
"I'll go to them on my own. Anything to keep them from hurting any of you."
At that moment, Carlisle walks slowly into the room, his face looking slightly paler than usual, and he's clearly worried.
"What's the verdict?" I ask, worried in some ways, and relieved in others.
"You have one week," he says, his voice sounding a little strained, or maybe upset. "One week to prepare, and then you go to Italy, to Volterra to be tested by them. We're all coming with you."
"No you're not," I say, forcing my voice to be stronger than my emotions. "I'm not going to let you protect me from them, from their decisions. Alice told me the laws. If I can't do it, and you fight for me, they'll kill you."
He seems shocked by my knowledge of the matter, and Esme silently leaves the room.
"Aro has requested that we all be in attendance."
"More of you to kill if there's a fight," I mutter to myself. "Carlisle, your family has helped me in ways I never would have thought possible, and I don't want any of you to get hurt because of me."
"Aro's word is law," Carlisle says firmly, though it sounds like he doesn't agree. "He says we must all go, so we're all going. I know you don't want us all to go, but we have to. I need to go and tell the others what's happening."
"Don't think I don't have respect for them, and for you," I say calmly but darkly to his retreating back, making him hesitate for a moment. "But I can't go through the pain of watching another family die."
He turns back to me, standing in the doorway. "I know you can't. But what you don't know, is how much respect my entire family has for you." He leaves then, and I sit back down at the piano. I don't sit there for long, though, because Alice dances into the room and sits cross-legged on the couch. I spin on the piano stool to face her and she looks a little depressed, but also intrigued.
"You are the second strangest newborn I have even seen," she remarks after a few minutes.
"Who's the strangest?" I ask, a trace of a smile playing on my lips.
Alice grins. "Bella. She didn't go crazy, or try to hurt anyone that upset her. She managed to control her emotions. She even smelled a human when she went hunting the first time and she just turned around and ran back."
"I'm not that good," I say. "Do you think I can pass their tests?"
"They haven't decided what they're going to do to you, and you haven't decided what you're going to do. The decisions haven't been made, so I can't see the outcome. But I have faith in you."
"What do I need to do?" I ask, desperate for something that could help me.
"You need to be able to resist," she says, her face becoming serious. "That's the most important thing. You'll need to be able to blend in and be able to stay inconspicuous as well. You have to be able to control whatever animal instincts come out in you, and not let the animals take over."
"How can I do that?"
"We have friends in Alaska that might help us. In fact, we're so close we view each other as cousins. They're the Denali clan, and they follow the same sort of principles as us, only feeding on the blood of animals. They might not help us though, since their mother was killed for creating an immortal child, and their sister was killed for thinking Renesmee was an immortal child and alerting the Volturi with a false claim."
"I don't want to die," I say softly, looking into her golden eyes. "Not again."
"None of us do. That's why we told the Volturi before they found out for themselves."
"Will it hurt?" I ask timidly.
"Have faith in yourself," Alice insists, dragging me over to the couch. I rest my head on her shoulder and she slowly strokes my hair. "They are formidable, but if we all go, including the whole Denali clan, there's going to be fifteen of us. And we can all help you."
"I don't want anyone to be hurt because of me."
"We can look after ourselves. You're still young and learning. Nobody thinks any less of you," she says, tilting her head to look at me.
"I want to start," I say, looking up at her.
She flashes me a grin. "I'll go call our cousins then."
She flits out of the room and I'm alone with my thoughts.
But I know I'm never really going to be alone.