"What? Alice, c'mon. We don't need a riddle, here. We need answers!" Jacob said slamming his fist on the table in front of her.
"Let's take this upstairs," Mom said quietly, letting her eyes touch the face's of our onlookers.
Dad and Alice resisted moving to the next floor, but Mom got them to anyway. See. Stuborness can come in handy. We helped Alice to the chair in the study. She sat down slowly.
"Nessie," she began with a sigh. "You-you tried to fight. Why the hell would you do that?! Are you suicidal?! Are you so desperate to tear apart your family? To put everyone in termoil? What about my brother and sister, your parents! What about Jacob? What about-"
"Wait!" I yelled cutting her off. "I wasn't plotting anything! I promise! But, Alice, you can't see me!"
"No, Renesmee. I cannot see you clearly, but I get little peeks of your future. Only the big events," she paused to glare at me. "You're death seems to be catastrophic enough," she snapped.
I choked on my own breath of air.
"I can see your funeral, Ness! YOUR FUNERAl!" she continued.
"You'd better be joking!" Jacob yelled at her. He walked closer to here agressively. Dad came out of his shocked state in a sixteenth of a second. He was in front of Alice in half of that time.
"You don't touch her!" Dad growled.
Jacob looked from my mother to my father to my aunt repeatedly. He finally ended up closing the distance between himself and me. He wrapped me in a hug tightly.
"I won't let anything get you, honey," he said into my hair. I felt a look of shock frozen on my face.
I could hear Mom's bawling, but I didn't dare looking at her. I didn't want to fall apart, and all it would take is one look at her beautiful face.
"But I wasn't going to do anything! Read my mind!" I demanded from my father.
"There are ways to lie to your mind," Dad said flatly.
How can they not understand?
"What if it's a plan? Edward, you've said so yourself. Aro knows Alice's power better than Alice herself! What if the plan was to provoke her in a way so horrible that her reaction was inevitable?" Mom asked through her dry weeping.
Alice had her face burried in her knees. She looked up slowly from her possition. "Admit it, Edward. Bella could be right about this."
Mom's eyes lit up. "Yes, Edward. I very well could be," she said with a smile.
"That doesn't put Renesmeee in any less danger!" Dad snarled.
"But now you know it isn't my fault. I'm not stupid, guys. Not stupid enough to fight some of the best warriors in our world," I said matter-of-factily.
"And we know someone's gotta watch Nessie at all times," Jacob said.
"I'm fighting! I vote Jacob babysits," Mom said quickly. I stuck my tongue out at her. Babysit! How I despise that demented word!
"Hey now-" Jacob started.
"I vote the same!" I said, interupting Jake before he could say no.
"Me too," Dad said.
"Me three!" Alice said with a grin apon her pixie-like face. "Everything's already better," she said. "Good job, Jacob. I can't see anything."
"We're staying within eyeshot of the fight. I wanna be able to jump in and help if I'm needed. Ness can stay out of trouble if she tries really hard. Right, Nessie?" Jake asked.
"Right," I comfirmed.
"Hey, Carlisle and everyone else is home," Dad said before running downstairs.
Dad got everyone including our guests rallied up to tell them about our newly aqquired information.
"It has been called to our attention," he said confidently pausing to look at his audience,"that the Volturi have also been planng for a fight. We don't know how they could have already've known, but that means we've lost the element of surprise. They've been using some of our gifts to their own advantage," he paused again looking to Alice, whose gaze suddethnly darted to the floor, "and also using some of our more obvious targets as areas to cause issues. To scare us, so to speak."
Alice stopped him from continuing by standing up and putting her little hand on his shoulder. "I've been keeping this from you," she whispered to him. "Two months!" Alice said in a loud ringing voice. "Two months you all have to prepare yourselves. There's not been a battle like this ever. I've seen it. None of you could imagine the scene, not even in your darkest nightmares. Life as we know it will change forever after this war. May it be for better or for worse. The outcome is still up in the air. Know that some will be lost! Know that some will cower! Even thoughs who seem to be the strongest will flee in the end... Two months," Alice said in the loud voice again. "Two months," she whispered, "and we're at war."
I swear a human could've heard a pin drop.
...
Alice's message was sent loud and clear. Their were cowards among us; know one dared to ask her who. And some would be lost. Murdered by one of those damned, demons no doubt. Why couldn't the Volturi have been alright with the power they've already had? Why did they have to overthrow the Romanians at all?
These were the exact thoughts I was trying to avoid. I had my head bent over a fat Harry Potter book. Might as well be consumed in someone else's supernatural war, I thought to myself with a smirk.
Jake and I were going to take a flight down to Forks later, to get all the wolves informed. They'd be excited abput the fight. I rolled my eyes. They were all such children, risking their lives like that. Of course, I love them all as if they were my whole family, but they were so soft compared to vampires! So breakable. I was going to get to see Grandpa Charlie, though. I perked up a little at the thought. He was so good hearted. He let us tell him a little more at a time about our world. He was worried for me, mostly. Understandable, I guess, given my naive and un-moster appearance- wide eyes, heart shaped face, tousled reddish brown hair that flowed down my back.
It was almost two a.m., but I couldn't get to sleep even though the Denali's guest bedroom had one of the softest mattress I'd ever felt.
Alice's word still hung in the air. How did the Volturi find out about our gathering so soon?How odd. I knew the leaders of the covens had already formed a plan about getting the Volturi in Denali, but I wasn't sure about the details.
I jumped when I heard my door creak.
"Hey," Mom said quietly. "You're dad was going to come up and check on you, but I told him I would. What's wrong, baby? Why aren't you asleep? Are they being too loud? I could-"
"No, Mom, I'm fine. Alice, err, got me shook up pretty bad earlier."
"Yes she and your father scared the life out of me." I raised my eyebrows. It was silly hearing her say that, considering her immortality. She chuckled, realizing how funny her words actually sounded. "Last time I saw him in such a state a shock was when he found out I was-" she trailed off smiling.
"You were what?"
"Never mind. Lights out, kid," she said, turning off the lamp on the nightstand.
"'Kay. 'Night."
"'Night," she said before shutting the door.
A funny thing, total darkness. Nature's sleeping drug, as it were.