Author's Notes: Thank you to all my lovely wonderful reviewers! banananasbff123, Perdita Durango, kmddeprez1122, SamAdams, midtwilight, tooki13, mysteryfan09, Isabella, LehcarMarie, ChocoholicFtw, juicy-georgia-peach, xMrs. Taylor Lautnerx, Miamore, lena m., Aiyami Sakura, ConradKCat, x-rayLady, sonia48, and eccy. You guys seriously make my day with your enthusiasm and encouragement!

In this chapter, the Cullens try to figure out their next moves against the Volturi, and discover more about their diabolical intentions.


Disclaimer: The Twilight saga and all characters therein are the creation of Stephenie Meyer. No profit is being made from this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.


Chapter Sixteen

Plans

The ten of us sat around the room, silent, thinking. Alice's eyes were glazed as she searched the future; Edward was with her. Bella sat on one side of me, holding my hand, and Jacob sat on the other, holding my knee. Jasper and Emmett were in whispered conversation. Rosalie stared out the window. Carlisle and Esme sat across from me, concern written on their faces.

Seth and Leah were staying down the hall. I knew why they'd come; not for any love of the Cullens and our family problems, but because I was Jacob's Almighty Imprinted One.

Idly, I wondered if and when the Clearwaters would ever imprint. Then they would understand how important it was, how Jacob and I had to be together, that it was like oxygen we needed in order to breathe.

Carlisle began. "I think we can gather that the Volturi are engaging in some kind of project out in the jungle."

"A nefarious project," said Bella. I thought she just wanted to use that word; she read so many old classic novels full of such vocabulary.

"They said their project leader was a young vampire. That he'd been a genius as a human, that he's a –" I paused, trying to think of what Chelsea had been about to say about him. "I think she was going to call him a geneticist. I think he must be Mendel, the hacker who's been into all the medical records."

"That would be an appropriate name for him," said Carlisle.

Jasper looked up from his conversation with Emmett. "You said that their new talent-finder was Govinda Singh, the human businessman who vanished?"

I nodded.

"Maybe there are more. Maybe their geneticist was famously missing, too, or reported dead. Top scientists make the news."

Carlisle was frowning. "The only one I can think of is Saul Ferreira. Unsolved. And he was Brazilian… He didn't seem the type, though. I was acquainted with him. Exchanged ideas – theoretical, as far as he knew – about cross-species genetics."

Bella giggled, glancing at Edward.

Really, those two.

Jacob looked equally disgusted. "So," he said, a little loudly, "what are they doing out there in the middle of the Amazon?"

We all turned our heads to look at Alice. She shook her hands out and blinked. "I'm not getting anything. I can see fragments only, all fuzzy, like snow on a screen. White buildings, a lab, the forest… nothing we didn't get from Nessie's satellite data. Whatever it is, there must be a lot of hybrids around."

"Maybe that's our answer," said Carlisle. "Maybe the Volturi are picking up where Nahuel's father left off."

Bella tensed. "I hope not."

"There's only one way to find out," said Emmett. "We get out to that compound and break in. If they're keeping Nahuel and his sister hostage, that's not right. Besides, they're already going to be after Nessie because of Demetri." He grinned at me.

"Without Demetri, they could never find us," said Rosalie, not turning from the window. "We shouldn't get further involved. It's too dangerous."

"And what, spend forever on the lam?" Jacob said. If there was a chance to disagree with Rosalie, he always took it.

"Not risk our necks for someone we don't even know," she hissed back.

"I think we need to find out what's going on before we make any decisions," said Carlisle. He was always fair.

Alice sighed and turned back to scanning the future.

"Okay," I said. "I'm going to need my computer."

We split up. Bella called Charlie back in Forks and told him that they'd located me, that I was fine, and that the family had decided to have a bonding holiday here in Brazil. I could almost hear his grumbling disapproval over the phone.

Carlisle called Tanya up in Alaska and told her everything that had happened. Eleazar, and Carmen were on a week-long trip, but the other Denalis wanted in on it. Especially Garrett, Kate's husband. He relished the chance to be an underdog. And they'd been plotting revenge on the Volturi ever since their sister's death.

Meanwhile, Jacob retrieved my computer from the front desk – they'd taken custody of my things when my driver (his name was Fernando, and I needed to remember to thank him) had reported me missing. I set it up on the balcony, using my own satellite link to a secure connection, and my fingers probed the Net, searching like never before, tracing the ghostlike fingerprints of a genius vampire scientist.

A part of me relished it. Finally, a worthy opponent.

This was probably what had brought me together with Aylen. Our quick minds would naturally gravitate toward others like us. I sent messages to our other two friends, Silvius and DeviDiva. "Listen guys, I'm going to need your help with this Mendel hacker case. Also, what do you look like? It just seems weird we've gone this long without knowing what each other looks like. I'm five-eight, red hair, pale skin."

I got a note back from DeviDiva right away. "You'd never guess, but I'm thirty-five, black hair, dark skin. I'm married and have three small children. My husband thinks I work for a customer service call center. Also, good luck tracking me down on that, Morphette. Every woman in Bangladesh has at least three kids."

That was good. She didn't sound like a vampire.

Jacob dogged my side (literally) and ate the menu of the hotel's famous restaurant. He called Quil and Embry, the other members of his pack, and ordered them down to Brazil on the soonest available flight. They would have been ticked if they missed out on the battle. He and Seth also set about renting a charter plane to take us close to the coordinates. The nearest city with an airport was called Manaus.

"Make sure they're clear on exactly where we're going," I warned, thinking of that dubious cargo pilot with whom I'd hitched a ride.

"Don't worry, your dad's flying it," said Jacob.

Seth gave me great big hug. "Glad you're back safe. You can't believe how crazy Jake was acting."

In the corner, Leah was silent. That told me her opinion of the matter.

As I blushed under Jacob's intense scrutiny, and felt hot and tingly every time he found a way to touch me, I thought about Leah. That girl needs to get imprinted. Or at least get a boyfriend and let off some steam.

Jacob, who'd been tracing my arm with his fingers, heard my thought and chuckled.

I'd been scanning the missing persons records. It was amazing to see how many were in northern Italy, over time; a random distribution, no foul play suspected, but it was clear that the Volturi were feeding a lot of mouths. No law enforcement agency would put it together; they wouldn't believe it.

Sighing, I moved on to more specific problems. Like the missing biologists. As Carlisle had said, Dr. Saul Ferreira was the most prominent. The others had either been found or explained later. Dead end.

"Moving on," I muttered. I followed Mendel's trail into the organizations to which he belonged. Sons of Confederate Veterans – weird. The Randi Foundation, which looked for psychic ability and offered a one million dollar reward for proof – the reward had never been claimed. Those people had clearly never met Alice. And then there was the National Mental Institution Reparations Society, a social justice organization that helped families whose members had been unjustly committed. Most of their cases were from early in the twentieth century, and also from the early years of the recent Second Depression, which had lived up to its name in a lot of ways.

I found a post matching one of Mendel's routed IP addresses. He claimed to be a member of a family who needed reparations and he was looking for his own distant relatives.

I read the post and my hot blood turned to ice in my veins.

"Hello all, I'm a descendant of Mary Alice Brandon, who was incarcerated and died while in the Mississippi State Mental Institution outside of Biloxi. Are there any other Brandon descendants out there? I'm looking to file a claim with the Compensation Board."

"Oh my God," I murmured.

Jacob read the post, too. "What's the problem?"

Mary Alice Brandon. That was Alice's human name. He's looking for her relatives!

"But what does that mean?"

I don't know yet. There was one response to the post: someone had given him a link to a genealogical page. I clicked it.

It required membership but I went through a back door and gained access using a decrypted password. Their weak security was no match for me. There, I found Alice's human family. I touched the screen where her name glowed, reading 'Deceased.' She'd had a sister, Cynthia, who'd had a daughter… who'd had a son… who'd had a son… who'd had a daughter. It was like reading the "begot" sections of the Bible. My eyes traced down the line to the end. Nicole Goodwin, born twenty-eight years ago.

The first tingles of panic made my fingers fly. I typed 'Nicole Goodwin' into a search engine and got a rash of results. The first one screamed at me. This time I swore.

"No leads in missing woman case!" the headline read, from a newspaper in New Orleans. It was from a week ago. "Twenty-eight year old Nicole Goodwin, a high school history teacher, vanished from her home in the middle of the night. Her roommate reported her missing the next morning, seeing her bed made up and a suitcase gone; there was no note. Police do not believe foul play is involved, but Goodwin's parents have offered a $20,000 dollar reward for any information leading to their daughter's whereabouts."

Jacob frowned at the headline. "This is not a coincidence."

I nodded.

"What's going on?" Leah asked, finally taking an interest in our tense conversation.

"This," I said. "Alice's… I guess she's her… what? Great-great-great-grand-niece? She's missing."

Leah looked at us like, So?

"But why would the Volturi take a descendant of Alice? I don't get it," said Jacob.

"We need to show her." In my mind, I called out, Dad! Bring Alice in here right away!

A few seconds later, Edward and Alice were at my shoulder. "What is it, Ness?" Alice said.

"Here, read this," I said, pointing at the article.

Alice scanned it and looked at me. "Another missing person… odd."

I touched her cheek and showed her the rest. Family line. Your sister. Descendant. Nicole is your niece. They took her, I just know it.

Edward hissed.

Alice looked at me, wide-eyed. "But… why?" she whispered.

As soon as I formed the answer, Edward nodded. "Makes sense," he said.

"Enlighten us, weirdos," said Jacob.

"The Volturi are talent-hunting," said Edward. "They don't have Alice. I would bet my Aston Martin that they looked for a relative of Alice's and will turn her, hoping that she'll display the same talent. After all, Renesmee has proven that powers can be passed genetically. So does Bella – after all, I find it difficult to read Charlie's exact thoughts."

"You do?" asked Jacob. "I never knew that."

"They're just very vague, private," said Edward. "Then it strengthened with Bella."

"So this Nicole could have Alice's power…" I said.

"We can't let this happen," said Alice. "It's not fair, she had a life, and…" she trailed off, her eyes glassing over.

"Oh, no," Edward said, seeing what was in Alice's head.

Leah, Jacob, and I waited, stressed.

Alice blinked, her golden eyes horrified. "She's already burning. Nicole. She's at the facility in the jungle, I can see that much. She's in a white room and tied down, screaming. She was bitten yesterday. It's already too late."

Leah was agitated and quivering. Jacob commanded, "No, be calm."

This would be hard for Jacob. It was difficult enough living with "good" leeches. It violated everything his pack stood for to see innocent humans bitten and turned to bad leeches.

I touched his arm. This is awful.

He nodded, his mouth held in tight control.

Jasper entered the room, looking for Alice. "I felt you," he said, cradling Alice's head. "What's wrong?"

Alice nodded at me to show Jasper, which I did.

Jasper's eyes narrowed, thinking.

Edward said, "Huh. I bet you're right."

"Edward, you're so annoying!" said Jacob.

"Tell us!" I added.

Instead, Jasper spoke. "I think the Volturi are building an army. It's like a newborn army, but they're cherry-picking humans for talent. It's not random. Notice they've been taking people with special skills. Mendel, their scientist, is tracing talent through the human gene pool. They got lucky with Govinda, the corporate guy; now that they have him, they can interview human candidates. Then they take them to this facility, turn them, make sure they're brainwashed and loyal, and then…"

"But why would they be building an army at all? And so fast?" I asked.

"Because of us," said Jacob. "Why else? Sixteen years ago, those cloak-wearing creeps got humiliated in front of half the vampire world. By us."

"I'm afraid Jacob's right," said Edward. "It makes too much sense."

"Yeah, I get that way sometimes," said Jacob.

Alice took Jasper's hand and, looking like she had a headache, plunged into the future once more. After a minute she blinked. "We're in the forest. All of us…. Blank spots, so the wolves are there… Tanya and Kate and Garrett are on a plane, they left a note, but the others will see it too late. We're going tomorrow. There will be a fight… I can't see how it goes… We'll be there when she awakes as a vampire. Nicole." Alice took a deep breath. "And then Aro, Caius, and Marcus will come here." Her voice was despairing, unable to see the outcome.

"All of the Volturi?" Jasper asked tightly.

"Just the three and their guards. Renata. Jane. They've already decided it, they were going to check up on the project anyway…" Alice winced. "I can't see what's there. Once Aro, Caius, and Marcus arrive, their futures vanish."

"Maybe it would be easier if Renesmee and the wolves stayed back," said Edward.

"Hell, no!" I shouted.

"Not a chance," muttered Leah.

"Nessie, yes. Wolves, no!" said Jacob.

"Nope," I repeated. "Besides, I promised Nahuel I'd come back for them."

Alice let out a long-suffering sigh. "Well," she said, "if we're going on a trek into the jungle to fight the Volturi, we're going to do it in style." She grabbed my hand. "It'll be cloudy all afternoon. We're going shopping."