While we flew over the Pacific ocean to Cuba, we sat there in silence. I was not sure if it was either a comfortable silence or awkward. His behavior certainly seemed to say that he was perfectly fine with the world. I wasn't. Not in the least. My mind worked overtime, trying to picture as many scenarios as I could when I—finally—saw Edward.
Namely, how to get out of there safely with neither of us harmed. I was sure two against one would be enough. But I couldn't help but want to play it safe by being cautious. For all I knew, Edward could be staying with some coven wherever he was on the island and we were all meeting up in Cuba.
I looked at Leo, studying him not for the first time. He seemed terribly amused by my unapologetic stare.
"Do you fancy me?" Leo asked with a smirk, breaking the silence.
If I had been human, my face would be redder than a tomato right now, but I calmly rejected the fact.
"No, just wondering where you came from, how long you have been around, things like that. Do you have a gift?" I asked. It was true, I had wondered about those, it could play a factor in rescuing Edward, or a complete failure.
"From Italy," he answered, "And I was turned in the late 1500's."
Italy? Does this mean...? I wondered about the coincidence with him and Volturi.
"As for my gift, well, I can view memories of inanimate objects, if I touch them," he continued, looking at me as he continued to pilot the aircraft.
"Really? That's interesting," I said, glad he hadn't touched any of my stuff. It would have revealed anything I had to do with the Cullens in my conversations with the Denali and the pack.
I sat up, remembering my friends back in La Push. Damnit, I should have called them to say that I'll be okay... I sighed lightly, knowing that I could never do anything out of character with Leo around. He would find out if I tried calling Jacob now.
"So..." I began, wondering how to touch on Volturi topic without appearing suspicious. He only smiled at me encouragingly. "You're from Italy, does this mean you have some... history with the Volturi?"
"You could say that," Leo said, nodding solemnly. "I'm only capturing one of them to get my freedom from them. I was inducted into the guard against my will and I escaped about a century ago So, this is my reward, and I know they'll grant me, a freedom."
I felt a stab of pity for Leo, wondering how we could free him from the bondage that was Volturi. Alice was too, I suddenly remembered. I vowed to myself then, that I would rescue everyone myself, or die trying. I only hoped that Leo would be willing to join our side and fight against the Volturi. It was ridiculous, hearing someone who had been a part of the Volturi guard and needed to escape from the oppressive group.
"Don't worry, I promise you'll be free," I said with finality in my voice that I shocked him. For what reason, I wasn't sure why.
Leo didn't talk for awhile after that. I took the time to really study the interior. It was of mostly blue hues, with some splashes of green and purple. It looked nothing like the designs I was used to when I was a human. It seemed like an hour had passed, but with a glance at the clock, only half an hour, that he spoke again, chuckling.
"You think you'll save everyone by defeating the Volturi?" he asked, looking at me.
"Think I can't do it?" I challenged, raising an eyebrow.
"...What's your gift?" he asked suspiciously.
"I'm not sure myself, I only discovered it recently. Need a certain type of gifts to work against. You could say it's a shield," I answered, hoping to win him to my side and rescue Edward instead of having to run away from Leo. I knew this was a great risk, telling a complete stranger about my gifts, but I had to try.
"A shield? Against what?" Leo asked, intrigued.
"Gifts that are of mental nature, I guess, attacking the brain, if you will," I responded, trying to explain. I wished I could use Edward as an example, but it would mean showing him where my allegiances laid. "For example, a vampire attacked me, and she couldn't petrify me because her powers had the ability to petrify a victim in the brain."
"That sounds very useful," Leo acknowledged.
"Yeah, but I haven't been able to use it to the fullest extent yet, I know there's more in my power than just automatically shielding myself. It's a passive power. I can't shield other people yet," I lied. I couldn't be naïve about this after all, and downplay just what I could do. It would help me if Edward was in Cuba and we could get out safely if anyone else had mental gifts. An element of surprise.
"Ah, I see," Leo commented, appearing to be in deep thought.
I looked at the LCD screen showing our current location. We were now flying over Gulf of Mexico. One more hour. The anticipation of seeing Edward only grew in my stomach the closer we got. All my waiting, all my patience and frustrations would soon pay off.
The aircraft touched ground and we both got out. I took a deep breath of air. It was fresh, compared to the compressed air we had to breath in the jet. I looked around, hoping to see Edward come running to me and giving me away. He didn't appear. I let out a disappointed sigh.
"Let's touch base with a group I know Edward is staying with on this island," he said, leading the way after he resized the jet back into a capsule.
"Won't they be suspicious of us?" I asked, frowning.
"Not the traditional way, dear vampire," he said with a chuckled and waved his right hand knowingly.
Oh. Right. His powers. That did come useful, tracking people down, and suddenly, I could trust him even more, knowing that he had been tracking Edward for awhile this way.
"So, you ready to catch the mind reader?" he asked and I nodded, still not sure what to do exactly in this situation. "Just to go over what we discussed, I'll knock on the door and we rush in and overpower him and the group. If anything, you should go in first because of your powers. In my theory, I think the mind reader can't read your thoughts, since it's a mental power."
I nodded, all too eager to find Edward first and then double back, attacking Leo with him on my side. With the two solid plans in mind, we entered an apartment complex, watching him touching random objects as he led us to the third floor of the seven story building. He stopped and whispered to me.
"He's on the top floor, room seven-o-three," he said and I nodded as I quickly ascended the stairs. I couldn't believe I would see Edward within minutes, after all that waiting! Arriving on the final floor, I saw, to my pleasure, the door was on my immediate right. I took two steps forward and knocked, hoping I was somewhat presentable, patting down my hair and smoothing my shirt.
A man with red eyes answered the door and took one look at me and immediately let me in.
"Where is he?" I asked breathlessly, looking around in the dark apartment for Edward, figuring this vampire was giving him a roof over his head.
The door opened again and I spun around, face to face with a smirking Leo.
"Nowhere."