I do not own any of the characters, Mrs. Meyer does.

Chapter 15

Jennifer's POV

Why was Edward running after her? Why didn't he stay with me? Was it because of Ice Queen Rosalie? Ha! I doubted that: Edward never liked Rosalie much.

Then why? I searched for a reason that would make Edward leave me, without explanations.

I became horrified as my mind processed the next justification: what if he didn't love me? No! I tried futilely to reject that explanation, to push it out of my brain completely, but a practical part of my mind made several things click with this painful theory: why Edward had always changed subjects when 'Bella' was mentioned, why he'd never let things go further than French kissing, why he hadn't proposed to me yet…

Could she be right? I turned that question over and over in my head, looking for a way to contradict it. What if she was right? I needed someone else's opinion on this. Someone unbiased. Someone like…Tanya.

As I stood up, Emmett reached out and grabbed my arm, asking me where I was going, almost demanding my answer. I brushed him off, heading straight for the Denali Clan.

After I parked one of the Cullens' electric planes in the Denalis' garage, I walked to their front door, pausing on their porch. I took a few unnecessary deep breaths. I couldn't understand why I was nervous; there really wasn't anything for me to worry about. I knocked three sharp knocks and waited.

"Jennifer!" Tanya greeted me as she swung open the door. She enveloped me in a warm hug. "It's been so long!" her words were muffled against my shirt. Then she glanced behind me. "Where's Edward? Why didn't he come with you?"

I sighed. Though I knew this conversation was inevitable, I had hoped, albeit uselessly, that it would come up later. I walked into the living room, taking a seat on one of the leather couches.

"That's the reason why I'm here, actually." I sighed again.

Tanya began jumping to conclusions. "Did he cheat on you? How dare he! I swear the next time that I see him, he'll regret—"

"Stop," I raised my hand. "No, he did not cheat on me." Then I thought about everything that had happened. "Well, not yet, anyway," I added more quietly. Tanya waited patiently. "I came to seek your opinion."

I told her everything that had happened during the past week, from Marie Camry, to my date on Saturday night, to 'Bella' suddenly running out of our house. Tanya listened to everything I had to say, nodding at some places, but never interrupting me.

"I'm not sure what to make of this," Tanya finally muttered, her eyebrows pulled down in concentration and confusion. "I'm guessing that you don't know much about this Bella."

"Yes," I agreed. "I guess you could say I am utterly confused about 'Bella'."

"Ok, I think that you need to know the whole story." Tanya sat on a couch opposite to mine, and her eyes were distant. "Over ninety years ago, Edward was in a relationship with a human – Bella. The Cullens told us that he loved her very much, but that he felt that she was constantly in danger because of him, especially when Jasper almost attacked Bella because of a tiny paper cut. So Edward left her.

"During the many visits we paid the Cullens after he was no longer with Bella, Edward was a total wreck: he would never leave his room, he would ignore everyone, he would only hunt a few times per year…

"At that time, I still hadn't found Matt yet, and I thought that this phase would pass for Edward, and I comforted him. I had wanted him to realize that there was world for him besides Bella, which in my mind, was me." She laughed at herself. "I now know that he loved Bella more than I could ever imagine." She looked at me then. "But now he's found you! You've cured him!"

Then her expression changed, and she ducked her head before I could identify what new emotion was. "But now you say that Edward has followed Bella, and I'm not sure what that could mean. There are two possibilities: either he's going after he to tell her that he's sorry for leaving, but that he loves you more, or, he realizes that she is truly his soul mate, that you were only a…distraction, and…abandons you. I'm sorry, but that's all I can come up with right now."

I nodded. "Thank you, Tanya, for listening."

"You're welcome. You do know that I'll always be there for my little sister, right?" She grinned at me.

I grinned back. "Of course."

"Will you be staying here for a while?"

"Uh…no." I watched as her face dropped. "I'll visit soon," I promised quickly. "But I got to keep up this stupid human charade called school," I grimaced, and Tanya laughed.

"Ok, see you soon!" She led me to the doorway and gave my shoulder a squeeze.

I waved as I hopped into the plane's cockpit. "Bye Tanya!"

I glanced at the time; I had around a day left before I had to go to school. I groaned loudly, thinking of the tedium that I'd have to endure, again.

24 hours. That was more than enough time for me to fly around the globe; I had done it a few times before. Besides, even if I didn't get back to Forks by early Monday, Alice would have Esme call the school and tell them that I was sick or something.

A smile of excitement spread across my face as the plane shot through the cloudless sky at a breakneck speed. If I were human, everything would have been reduced to a fuzzy blur, but I was a vampire, and I could see every minute detail with clarity as they replaced each other over a hundred times within a second.

Lush, green forests gradually changed into sandy plains, which morphed into an endless rocky desert. The plane skimmed over the surface of the Earth as the landscape shifted visibly every second.

As I flew over Northwestern Asia, I realized that barely 6 hours had passed. I slowed the plane down and landed it smoothly on the thick ice. The glacial wind whipped wildly through my silky copper hair and hurtled itself through my thin T-shirt and jeans as I stepped out of the plane, goading me to fall. As if that would happen, I laughed, and the sound echoed into the expanse, ringing until I could not hear it anymore.

Everything was so white, so beautiful, so pure and innocent, so perfect. I closed my eyes and smiled, inhaling and exhaling slowly.

The peaceful silence was broken as I heard a flock of birds flapping their wings in the distance. I ran silently towards them, wondering why they would be here, in the middle of nowhere.

They were large, their bodies whiter than snow. They had defined necks and wide, feather-covered wings. After a moment, I realized that they were hungry, and wanted the fish under the seemingly unbreakable ice. They circled in the sky, not knowing what to do.

Then suddenly, one of them dropped onto the ice. Was it hurt? Too tired? Then it flew back into the sky, higher, and dropped again. Soon, the whole flock was flying and dropping as the ice began to crack. Finally, I could see the ice giving way to the ocean, and birds plunged into the water, grabbing fish as they exited.

I walked slowly back to the plane, amazed at what I'd just witnessed.

My mind was focused on the flock of birds as I flew the plane into Europe. In some ways, I was a bird, and Edward was a fish. What stood in our way was the ice, or Bella. If I wanted Edward, then I couldn't be alone, because I couldn't break the ice myself. I needed other people to help me.

I looked at the scenery below me, and saw a dark, ominous castle glaring back at me. It was the Volturi Castle.

Then an idea hit me: the Volturi could help me, help me break the ice, help me defeat Bella.

The plane made a sharp turn and glided down a flat path. I flung my hair over my shoulder and strode to the main door. It opened with a small squeak and the receptionist looked up.

"May I talk to Aro, please?"

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