I've always been the fastest.

I'm moving even before Jane can issue her first instruction, ignoring her irritated little voice as I start to sprint toward the direction of Forks as quickly as I can. Turns out, I'm not nearly fast enough. The flames of pain surge across my skin, melting my bones and I'm collapsing hard against the ground in cries of agony. Jane takes her time catching up to me before she releases me from her invisible talons.

"I don't know what you think you're playing at, Edward," she says, her voice petulant. "I am still in charge here. We will rendezvous with Aro, and take instructions from him."

Do as she says, for God's sake. Sarah stares at me with concern, not wanting to break rank to kneel at my side to see if I am okay. Every minute you defy her is one we are not headed toward your family.

Sarah's right, of course. But sprawled on the ground propped up on weak elbows in the sharp gravel I feel pathetic, powerless. I look up at Demetri, who is looking at Jane in confusion, his mind desperately trying to process the rapid changes in this mission; trying to grasp the pieces of information he's missing. Demetri's an investigator; he prides himself on his methodical approach. He feels uncomfortable here, and he's deeply suspicious of Jane for the first time, which unnerves him further.

I struggle up to my feet, trying to school my features to neutral. I give Jane a small nod, hoping it looks as though I am prepared to do what she commands again, and I almost let out a sob of relief when she turns and heads in the same direction. If she'd run north again I would have been forced to rip her head off and take my chances, but both she and Demetri are thinking about the Olympic National Forest. This must have been what Gianna told them on the phone. I fill my lungs with unnecessary, slow breaths as we run. I have to be as calm as I can; I'm no help to Bella if I'm out of control.

I hear the noisy crowd of thoughts before I detect their scents. We run up through a craggy ravine, finding them waiting on a rocky plateau above the tree line, keeping watch on a stretch of forest below. More than twenty of them. Dark-cloaked and foreboding; wholly out of place in this lush, natural environment. Stunning, certainly, but entirely predatory. Sulpicia and Athenadora stand toward the back, pale and disinterested. Marcus is at Athenadora's side. He looks impossibly frail, staring up the night sky and paying no attention to what is going on around him.

Aro's smile broadens as he turns to greet us, leaning down to take Jane's hands in his and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Welcome, friends. Isn't this an unexpected surprise?" He makes it sound as though we have bumped into each other at a cocktail party, and not at all as though the ruling class of the vampires have just taken the unprecedented step of leaving Italy for the first time in centuries.

Demetri takes a half-step forward, intending to explain himself. "Master, I …"

"Calm yourself, old friend," Aro says, raising a hand to wave him away. "Your work in this matter is beyond reproach. We are not here because we are displeased with you. Certain information has come to light since your departure that meant we needed to intercede ourselves."

Aro steps to the side, revealing a familiar face standing behind him. I stare in shock. Irina.

Aro is delighted by my reaction, like a carnival ringmaster unveiling his latest attraction. "It seems that, in addition to a continuing association with the human who knows of our kind, Carlisle and his coven have formed an unholy alliance with our natural enemies. Shapeshifting wolves. Enemies who have taken the life of dear Irina's mate."

My mouth falls open. The thought of the Quileutes transforming into wolves again, after so long, is troubling. And what would Laurent have been doing anywhere near them? Irina's eyes are dull, and her thoughts a mix of agony and uncertainty. Images of Laurent, happy and laughing. Her sisters consoling her at the news of his death. She seems to be trying to remember her pain in order to steel herself, because being here, among these vampires, is terrifying and not at all what she had imagined.

"So, you see, in addition to the army of newborns who swim across the Sound, we seem to have a broader problem to deal with. A much more serious transgression."

"This is some sort of misunderstanding," I spit, unable to contain myself any further, my fists clenching and unclenching at my side. "The treaty with the wolves is about territory. We...they...respect the Quileute reservation for hunting. Nothing more."

Caius raises a disbelieving eyebrow at me. "A treaty? So you admit this? That these abominations know who and what Carlisle's coven are? That they...have reached agreement?" His voice drips with disgust and accusation.

My mind is racing. I can't think what to say that won't condemn the family further. The rocky ground beneath me feels like it's shifting, like I might lose my balance at any second. This is insane. Aro has never raised the issue of the wolves before now, and he will have known all about them. He will have seen Ephraim and the others in my memories. I think about confronting him with this information, but it seems too dangerous. I can't work out what game he's playing.

I try to minimize the damage.

"It was a boundary dispute, generations ago," my tone is dismissive. "Nothing more."

"It seems like quite a lot more," Caius retorts. "You moved back to this region, knowing that the native people would identify you. And now it seems that the coven is not only allied with these killer animals, but sides with them even after the murder of Irina's mate."

I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts. The clamor of disapproval from all of those around me is deafening.

"Let us speak to Carlisle, then," I suggest, trying to keep the note of desperation out of my voice. I know for a fact that the Volturi are uninterested in explanations. The chances of them waiting to hear Carlisle's side of this story are slim.

"There!" Renata calls from an outcrop below us, where she has been keeping watch. Several miles away, but the noise is unmistakable. The newborns are moving at speed and without stealth, crashing through the undergrowth.

"Very well," Aro nods, turning to the assembled group before him. "Let us go this way."

I stare in disbelief as he indicates a mountainous track that will take us parallel to the racing hoard below us.

"We need to cut them off!" I yell, stalking toward him. Jane is at his side in a heartbeat, daring me to take another step, to give her a reason to hurt me again.

"Edward, Edward," Aro tuts at me, like a child. "The Cullens are more than capable of dealing with a handful of newborn vampires. Particularly in tandem with their new friends."

"What are you talking about? It is our role to enforce the law! We came all this way to make sure those newborns were destroyed!"

"And they will be. And when the Cullens demonstrate their commitment by doing so, we can then discuss their slightly fluidapproach to the law with them."

I swivel around wildly, looking at Caius, Marcus and the others. No one makes a move.

"You would put their lives at risk, for the sake of proving a point? Those newborns are vicious, out of control, and probably out number them!"

Aro straightens his robe and turns away from me, moving silently into the night. The others move into formation behind him, studiously ignoring me. I look desperately for Sarah, pleading with her with my eyes to do something, anything.

She shrugs imperceptibly, stalking along the path ahead of me after Felix. Don't be insane, Edward. We don't know what's going on here, and there are too many of them to risk it. If any single one of them is immune to me in some way and we're dead.

I want to wring her neck. I want to run. I need to get to my family. I need to get to Bella. I need to tear down this hillside like a maniac and rip those newborns limb from limb.

Sarah pauses, as if sensing my growing panic.

LISTEN TO ME, EDWARD. You cannot help your family if you're dead. We go along with this as long as we can. As long as we can: to keep us safe, and keep your family alive. I promise you, I SWEAR, I will do what I can. If it looks like this is turning against them I will tell Aro something. I have no idea what, but I will. But we cannot tip our hand. Not up here in the dark with no idea what's going. I won't risk it. They'll destroy us.

I keep putting one foot in front of the other, still out of my mind with worry, trying to piece together a way to make this work. Every muscle is tensed and ready to spring. I listen for the newborns running below us, single-minded in their purpose. Intent on destroying my love. And as much as it sickens me, Sarah seems to be right. If I break from the Volturi now, even assuming Jane and Alec let me go, the newborns will tear me apart. If I run for my family, I've nailed my colors to the mast and there will be nothing for it but to fight the oldest vampires in existence to the death. Probably mine.

I run my hands through the undergrowth as we run, feeling the frost on the leaves, damp and cold. I try to find any kind of center within myself. I think of Bella, lying in the meadow surrounded by wildflowers. Of feeling safe with her in the warm glow of the sun; of feeling for the first time like I could unfurl.

My breathing comes back under control, and the tension in my limbs becomes purposeful. I'm going to find a way to save her. There is no other option.

I drop lightly down a series of boulders to join the mass of vampires below me where they have fanned out along a crevice, the ancient forest canopy below us opening out into a broad clearing. To the east, the newborns continue their advance. To the west, my family steps out from the trees in a straight line, shoulder to shoulder, oblivious to the crowd of spectators far above them. Carlisle stands in the middle, with Esme at his side. Aro steeples his fingers against his chin, staring down at them with a considered expression, his mind schooled and empty. I realize that Carmen, Eleazar and Garrett are with them. As Jasper steps from the shadows, Peter and Charlotte are at his side. My heart clenches tightly. My place is down there. I feel like the worst kind of traitor in standing my ground.

And then, Caius lets out a low exclamation of wonder. "Would you look at that?"

The dark shapes break from the forest on either side of Emmett and Jasper, who are at each end of the line. The wolves fan out to flank the vampires, their powerful forms and flashing eyes intimidating even at this distance. Ten of them; more than even I had expected.

I stare down at their formation, straining to the very edges of my supernatural vision to make out each of them in the dark. Their determined faces; poised for battle. There is only one thought in my mind. Bella. Where is Bella? They will have tried to keep her safe. No one will have risked having her in the clearing. But where, and who is protecting her? I try to imagine what Jasper would have done. It would be too dangerous to leave her with Charlie. Is she on the reservation? Are there other wolves with her? Or is she nearby, where Esme or Alice could get to her quickly. I resist the urge to start looking, taking deep lungfuls of air to see if I can detect her unmistakable scent. There is nothing nearby.

Aro nods finally, announcing for the benefit of his retinue, "It is as we had feared. You see before you a coven almost as large as our own. And you see for yourselves the treacherous alliance they have forged."

I'm about to protest when a long howl erupts from one of the wolves. The newborns scatter down through the trees and run full tilt into the clearing, coming to an abrupt and startled halt.