Before I realized it, a message from the pilot alerted me that we were going to land soon.
During the last hour, horrible visions had flashed across my mind- most gory and blood-drenched in a way that would have made my stomach turn a few months ago. Knowing it was the little boy's blood, it still did.
A crazy plan popped into my mind. The Cullens were mostly done packing and nearly had everything in Buffalo. All Bella and I had to do was find a good chance to escape the Volturi. What better chance than at the airport? I could grab the boy and we could run. What we'd do with the boy, I didn't know. We couldn't change him, at least not for another decade or so.
Still, the rational part of my brain knew trying to pull it off would only get all of us killed. There was no way Bella and I could escape a team of the most talented individuals in the vampire world. To attempt so would be suicide.
I looked back and forth between the boy, Chelsea, Felix, then back again. It was then I realized just how outnumbered vampires were in comparison to humans. The Volturi was, in some way, afraid of humans. If the secret got out, the only logical things that would occur would be one, an uprising to destroy all vampires, which would obviously fail. The only other thing that I could think of was people wanting to become one of us. And when they did, the vampire population would only grow. And when that happened, it was unlikely the Volturi would be in charge. There would be chaos everywhere. It would be similar to overthrowing a government.
I didn't see any of that in the near future, though. Whether that was good or bad, I didn't know.
The plane suddenly jerked, and I realized we were back on the ground. The boy was chattering excitedly to his mother- apparently, they were visiting the boy's cousin and his family. Little did he know he would probably never get a chance to see his "Cousin Ada."
The aircraft came to a complete stop. Sounds of seatbelts clicking apart filled the air. Slowly, everyone started to grab their hand baggage and exit.
The mother, holding the boy's hand, finally slid out into the aisle and started to shuffle to the front of the plane. Aro was quick to stay right on their heels.
"Get up," said Chelsea, pulling me up by the arm. She led me as Felix lurked behind. No way to escape, not now. I looked around Felix's hulking figure to catch a glimpse of Bella, sandwiched between Demetri and Jane. She seemed oblivious to the event about to occur.
The boy and his mother entered the airport, Aro still trailing them. His golden opportunity arrived.
"Mommy, I have to go pee," said the boy, looking towards the bathroom.
The mother glanced around. She clearly was skeptical about letting her son go alone, but it was either that or watch their baggage. "Alright, let me just find someone to watch our things for a moment, okay? Then I'll take you."
"No!" whined the boy. "I don't want to go in the girl's bathroom with you again! I'm a boy!"
The mother sighed. "Fine. Go. But don't take too long, okay? I'm going to be standing right out here."
The boy nodded and scurried through the door. Aro breezed in after him, smiling at the mother as he passed. I hoped that the bathroom would be crowded, so Aro would have no choice but to postpone his murderous plans.
"Come on," said Felix, pushing me away from the bathroom.
"Where are we going?" I asked, not moving.
"The other entrance," he said. When I still didn't move, my eyes transfixed on the bathroom door, he picked me up and swung me over his shoulder.
"Hey!" I yelled, drawing a few stares.
Felix smiled at the stares. "Sorry, my little sister is just a bit cranky right now. Long flight," he said, and continued walking. What was it with these Volturi guards pretending I was the little sister?
I wondered what would happen if I screamed that he was kidnapping me. Of course, any humans that happened to try to stop Felix would be no match.
When we reached the door on the opposite side, he dumped me on the floor. I ended up landing square on my butt. I'm sure it would have hurt if I wasn't a vampire.
The good news was that I hadn't heard any screams from the bathroom- yet. The bad news was Aro still hadn't exited.
It took forever until Aro came out, holding the boy as if he was sleeping. My breath stopped for a second, until I realized he was only knocked out, not dead.
"Felix, take the human," he said, dumping the boy into Felix's arms. To my surprise, Felix gently adjusted the boy so his head wouldn't loll around, and shifted him into a more comfortable position. If I had passed him without knowing his intentions, I would have assumed Felix was the boy's father. Maybe he wasn't quite the heartless Volturi guard I'd thought he was.
Still, the fact that he was all for killing the boy proved otherwise. The worst part was, I couldn't even see any reason as to why this child deserved to be killed. It wasn't his fault.
"Let's go," hissed Aro, walking casually through the airport. Dazed, I followed him. Why hadn't he killed the boy? The only reason I could see was that Aro saw some sort of potential in him and was waiting to change him. But the boy couldn't be much older than five, and Aro didn't have that kind of patience.
Felix read my mind. "He's going to kill him at the castle," he whispered to me. "Do you know how hard it would be to dispose of a body in the middle of the airport?"
I wanted to tell him that of course I didn't, because never in my life had I imagined I would have a need to do so. And now, here I was, parading through an airport with the most dangerous vampires in the world, all hell-bent on killing a five-year-old for simply having an active imagination. What had my life come to?
I managed to slow down enough until I was walking beside Bella. I imagined how panicked the boy's mother would be. It had been a good twenty minutes since he had entered the bathroom. Did she consider the possibility that she would never see her son again? No, she would have hope. But all the hope in the world couldn't save the boy.
"What do we do?" I whispered to Bella.
"What can we do?" she replied. "Just give it up, Alice. We can't save everyone."
She was right, but I wasn't worried about saving everyone. I just wanted to save one person. "Is there anything you can do?" I asked her.
She sighed. "I can stop Jane from torturing him. But if Aro decides to be pitiful and tells Alec to cut off his senses…"
"Don't stop him," I said quickly. Nothing could be worse than a painful death.
"Do you see anything?" asked Bella.
I shook my head. I was refraining from searching for visions- I was afraid what the future would hold. Whatever it was, I was sure it wouldn't be pretty.
A dark car with tinted windows pulled up, and we all piled in. To my surprise, the driver was human. His smell filled the air, but the blood bag Alec had given me in the plane hadn't worn off yet. I was sure I could refrain from attacking him for a few hours. He was a short man, dressed up very professionally but looking extremely nervous. Who wouldn't be, in a car full of vampires? I wonder if he was always their driver or if this was a one-time thing. Judging by his tense look, I would guess the second one.
His dull brown eyes flicked back and forth to the boy, still cradled in Felix's arms. I made sure to sit as close to Felix as possible, although as Bella said, there was nothing I could do.
I looked at the unconscious boy and wondered about his future. Not the current one, but what he would turn out to be if he hadn't mentioned anything about vampires. Would he be rich? Poor? Happy? Regretful? Even with my power, I couldn't answer those questions.
Then, in one second, it crashed down on me. This was my fault. If I had been able to control my thirst during the flight, I wouldn't have needed to drink the blood, and the boy would never have said anything.
It's a pretty bitter moment when you realize someone is going to die because of you. Especially when that someone was just a little boy.
The car turned and the Volturi castle came in sight. As gorgeous as it was, I couldn't help but feel a sickening feeling.
The kind of feeling when death is approaching.