37.

"What's wrong?" I heard Alice say as she glanced to where I was staring. "What is it, Lisa?"

My vision began to fade at the edges and I wondered if I was going to faint.

"Don't you see…" I started to say when Aro disappeared right before my eyes. I blinked. "What the…" I whispered to myself.

"What did you see?" Alice asked me worriedly.

"Aro. He was here."

I focused in on Alice's face as I tried to process what had just happened. She was shaking her head.

It hit me like a runaway train. Edward's voice filled my head as I replayed the conversation I had with him in my mind at the villa. I gasped softly. I had seen one of Alice's visions.

I looked back down the hall and then back at Alice's round face. "I saw what you saw," I said in disbelief. "I have no idea how…"

Her face went blank. "You had a vision?"

"Yes, but it was one of yours."

Alice began shaking her head again. "You saw Aro? I never had that…" A look of shock crossed her face as she went quiet. Like a movie being replayed, I could see what she was seeing. Her mind went black when it ended and she grabbed my arm. "We have to go."

We spilled into the elevator and back out at the first floor, running to the exit and through the garage. "What happened?" I asked her as we made our way to the cars.

"Aro is coming here to find you." She glanced at me and realized that was not what I had been asking about. She looked back to the front before answering me. "I don't know how; you had one of my visions before I did. I didn't even see you having the vision…" she said, slightly frustrated.

"I can hear thoughts, too," I said after a short pause.

She glanced at me again, slightly surprised. "You can use Edward's gift without touching him?"

I nodded slowly. I could see the cars ahead. Everyone was already inside, Edward waving us forward as Carlisle pulled out of the parking space. Alice dove into the car, pulling me in after her.

I saw Edward glance at me through the mirror and I knew he had heard Alice and I's whole conversation.

"Step on it, Edward," Alice said as she straightened up.

During the short drive to the airport, no one said a word; even the thoughts were quiet.

We pulled into the parking lot next to the rows of plane hangars. Everyone grabbed his or her bag; I helped Alice carry one of the two she'd brought. Edward went to go return to keys from the car rental shop as the rest of us made our way to the plane hangar the Cullens were using.

"Sit next to me, will you," whispered Alice to me as she walked past to board the plane.

I glanced at John and nodded towards the plane, telling him to follow me.

I choose the last row of chairs to sit in, Alice taking the one closest to the aisle and John shuffling through the aisle to sit in the window seat.

The moment I sat down, Alice leaned over to me and whispered, "What do you think it means?"

I glanced at her before looking forward again, counting the threads in the seat cover as I thought. "I don't know," I finally whispered back.

"Do you think you can like… gain someone's ability?" She turned to me. "Do you think you have Jane's?"

I looked down at my hands, spread open on my lap. "I don't think I want them," I said, more to myself.

Alice nodded. "I wonder if Carlisle will be able to tell us what's happening."

"You think this has happened before?" I asked as I looked into her eyes. "Someone having the ability to gain other people's ability… if that's what it is that's happening to me." I glanced around slowly. "Maybe I'm going crazy," I whispered to her as slowly, I heard everyone's voice become clearer inside my head.

"I don't know." She was watching me thoughtfully. "Can you turn it off?"

I turned my head to look at her again. "Yeah, it just sort of disappears if I don't think about it."

She sat back in her chair, staring down the aisle. "I just don't understand why you saw the vision before I did."

I was silent for a long time. John had picked up my hand and interlaced his fingers with mine, his thumb absentmindedly rubbing my hand. Finally I glanced back at Alice to answer her question.

"Maybe it was because I was looking for it."

Sometime during the long flight, John's hand went slack in mine and his head bobbed about as he slept peacefully. Alice and I had grown quiet, though I knew she was still thinking about the addition to my gift.

I still wasn't sure how I felt about the whole thing. Being kidnapped and tortured had messed a little with the flow of my thoughts and I was finding it hard to concentrate sometimes. My mind kept wondering back to that little cell, a bleeding girl dying in the corner while a half-crazy vampire screamed over me. I blocked it out of my mind for the hundredth time and focused on what the others were doing. Bella was absorbed in a worn out copy of Wuthering Heights, while Emmett was reading sports news on his laptop. I saw Jasper walk over, nod at me, and squat down next to Alice. They started whispering together. Rose sat next to Emmett, her feet propped up on his lap. Her eyes were closed, her head bobbing slowly to whatever was playing on her mp3 player. Edward and Carlisle were behind the closed door, piloting the plane. Esme sat alone in the row next to ours, looking like a college student studying for an exam. She had a book on gardening opened up in front of her, a note pad on her lap, where she jotted down her notes as she scanned over the pages.

It was really quite amazing how close this family was, considering their personalities were all so unique. The Cullens were like a puzzle to me; one with no piece alike, but somehow they all fit together perfectly. I had them to thank a million times over for everything they had done for me, especially bringing John and I into their little family and finding a place to fit us into their puzzle. I wondered what John though of all this. The Cullens showed no signs of the kidnapping affecting them, while I knew it was the exact opposite for John. He internalized everything, and I knew he was blaming all this on himself. He would get it in his head that he somehow had to repay the Cullens for what they had done for me in Italy. Would he think giving up his life was a good payback? I had carefully avoided listening to his thoughts. Whatever he was thinking was private, and if he wanted to share it with me, he would. I had seen too many relationships destroyed because the girl had to know too much, never trusting the man. I had promised myself I would never allow myself to invade John's privacy like that.

Or perhaps he was reconsidering this whole vampire thing. Seeing me in the state I was in had maybe made him realize that we weren't as tough as we put out. Sure, no human would stand a chance, but there were other vampires who could do us damage. It seemed like the life of the Cullens revolved around confrontations and other vampires trying to kill them. John was probably beginning to realize that now; would he willingly plunge himself into that kind of life?

Being apart from him these last few days had made me realize I could never live without him. Though I had been strongly opposed to him becoming like me, now I was beginning to realize that maybe I did want it as well. To have him be with me forever would be like a fairytale come true in a way. Whatever forever brought for me, I would want him to be there by my side the whole way.