When I awoke I was no longer on the cold plane. I was in a car. A very familiar car. A shiny silver Volvo with black leather seats.
I quickly realized I was siting on Jacob's lap. He snored loudly and had his arms unconsciously wrapped around my stomach.
I looked over my shoulder to examine my surroundings. Behind me a mercedes followed us. Threw the windows I could see almost all of it was covered in luggage. Carlisle and Esme saw me staring at the car and they waved back at me enthusiastically. Behind them were Emmett and Jasper. I waved back with equal exuberance.
My aunts were to either side of Jake, squishing us tightly in the backseat that was meant for only three people. My eyes widened. How long have I been asleep? Or was I still dreaming? Rosalie smiled hugely and kissed my forehead, but said nothing. Her yellow eyes- glowing brightly even in the darkness- refocused on the road ahead. Alice was looking forward unseeingly. I smiled automatically at her expression when she felt my eyes on her perfect face. She grinned as brilliantly as Rosalie and her eyes widened. She hugged me awkwardly as I was still on Jacob's lap.
"I missed my shopping partner," she whispered in my ear before releasing me from her embrace. I giggled to myself.
Mom was in the passenger seat and Dad was driving. I leaned forward to touch mom's cheek. My thought played back the road signs that flew down the highway in my peripheral vision a second ago. I hadn't recognized a single one. Why were we driving anyways? Why not fly?
"We're in Kelowna, Canada," she smiled sadly. I furrowed my eyebrows together. We must already be headed for Denali. I knew Kelowna was in the British Columbia. If it's eight hours from Portland to Kelowna by car... and then the flight from Volterra and New York was roughly ten hour long and I'd slept threw most of that...
I pressed my palm to my mom's shoulder again to ask her if the rest of the family had met us at the airport she nodded once.
I went back to trying to calculate how long I'd been asleep. Eventually, dad seemed to hear what I was trying to do. He glanced at me through the rearview mirror. A smile touched his eyes.
"You've been asleep for just under twenty hours, my Nessie," he said softly.
I sighed loudly.
"You've had a busy couple of days," mom assured me.
I shrugged. I pressed my cheek against Jacob's shoulder. Hi black tee shirt was feather soft against my face. Many very random thoughts ran through my head from than on. I thought about the locket around my neck and how it had stayed with me threw all of my troubles, the tiny mp3 that had thousands of my father and I's favorite songs, the life I found normal even though most people would put me in a mental hospital if I told them the truth.
I mulled that last thought over a bit. Who would I be if I weren't surrounded by the supernatural. Well, that was a stupid question considering I'd only existed because my dad was a vampire and my mother a human. If it weren't so they would've never met. But what if my mom and dad had met both human? There'd be no Jacob with no supernatural. Not the same Jacob. I frowned at myself when I imagined that; me without Jacob. I wouldn't be me. It was that simple.
I watched the ocean and the road fly past me. We sat in silence for hours. After a while Mom, Alice, Rose, and Dad got into an avid discussion about whether the Volturi would expect to find us with Tanya and her coven.
"Aro knows each of our alliances. He would be stupid not to think of Tanya first. He has seen the bond between our families in our thoughts," dad said with concentration.
"Yes, but what would he want Renesmee for anyway?" Rosalie said, not rudely, but it still annoyed me a little. "Her gift isn't useful to him," she continued.
"Maybe-" Mom said then bit her lip. "What if it was all a plan. To take Renesmee and then try to get us to join them every time we attempted to get her back? Including the wolves. Aro did say..."
I shuddered. I knew what she meant we all did. Aro and his guard dogs. That particular memory had stayed with me.
Aro likes the idea of... guard dogs, Dad had said.
"Huh. I hadn't thought about it that way," Alice said absently.
"How do we even know they'll come after me again?" I asked. All this worrying was beginning to really irritate me.
"Because it's just as it was seven years ago," Dad said coldly.
Oh! Oh! Allistar had been right! He had always been right! The Volturi are trying to gain more talented vampires from every confrontation. It's just that this time we've done no wrong.
What is Aro's ulterior motive though? Why would he want so many talented vampires for? To merely showcase them?
"Not likely," Dad muttered in answer to my musing.
Rosalie ignored the silent question. "We've been through this a thousand times! The Volturi are not the center of all evil as you all seem to think!"
"Rose, the Volturi have changed. I've seen it, what they've done to less powerful covens. They pick they're own fights to gain gifted vampires. Innocent gifted vampires," Alice said in a strange whispery voice.
Jacob opened his eyes drowsily. "'Morning Ness. Morning leeches!" he said playfully. We all turned to glare at him. Apparently he hadn't realized the tense conversation we'd been having previous to his waking. pressed my palm to his arm to get him caught up. I played the whole conversation back to him.
"Who did the Volturi get yet? Anyone I know?" Jacob asked.
I shook my head solemnly. I had not seen any of our witnesses in the Volturi's castle during my visit.
"Oh no," Alice mouthed as she stared blankly in the future. Dad cursed under his breath and the car sped even faster.
"What? What is it?" Mom asked anxiously.
"The Volturi are going to go against ever thing they stand for. They are going to try to aqquire every gifted vampire and get rid of the rest," Alice said in a flat, detached voice.
"Why?" I asked, exasperated.
"When?" Jacob said through his teeth.
"But why?" Mom repeated.
"I don't know," Alice said. "They're trying to keep me from seeing iy. That much I can tell."
"That means one thing," Rose whispered. I tilted my head and furrowed my eyebrows.
"We're at war. Everyone is at war," Dad said.