I had to admit the castle was stunning. Tall pillars loomed above me, reaching towards a beautifully decorated ceiling. The floor was pure marble, with patterned tiles beneath my feet. Still, the grandness of the castle had me missing the simple elegance of the Cullen's home. What I wouldn't give to go back again.

As I passed a mirror upon the wall, I glanced at my eyes. To my surprise, they were finally turning orangish, not the deep red I had grown used to. Besides that, they were also darkening, to my delight. I guessed a day or two until they were dark enough to finally hunt.

In a better mood, I glided around the castle to find Bella. I found her sitting miserably with Marcus in a dining room which the Volturi surely didn't need. Marcus was gleefully telling her about his various adventures over the years with wild hand motions and a huge grin. Bella, polite as ever, feigned interest but I could tell she would have liked nothing better than to get out of there.

I sashayed to the duo and smiled at Bella, sinking into the chair next to her. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Getting you out of this," I whispered. "Marcus?" I asked normally.

He looked at me with raised eyebrows. Panic fluttered in my chest- was I supposed to call him Master as well?

"Yes?" he said warily.

I smiled at him. "I think Aro was looking for you."

Marcus pressed his lips together tightly. "Are you sure?"

He would end up leaving, I saw with a vision. "Yes," I replied confidently.

Marcus sighed and stood up. "Very well." He ran off, giving Bella and I some privacy.

Her eyes were darker than mine, but not by much. "Look at my eyes," I breathed, in case of eavesdroppers.

"They're getting darker," she murmured.

"I know," I said. "I'm guessing a few days until they let us hunt."

She bit her lip. "I'm still not sure this will work."

I blinked in surprise. "Don't you want to see Edward and Nessie?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. But what we're doing...it's a big risk. We could just as easily fail."

"We won't," I assured her. "You have your shield. I have my visions. And don't forget we have Jake's blood, which will make us untrackable. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"I don't know," she said. "Alice, I'm exhausted. I've had my shield up this whole time to stop Chelsea from messing with our emotional ties. I don't know how much longer I can keep it up. I'm drained, Alice."

I sighed heavily. "Then don't, Bella. It's okay. We'll avoid it...somehow," I added.

Bella sighed. "Ali, Chelsea's power is incredibly strong. I'm not sure if we could avoid being affected."

I chewed my lip in frustration. "Bella, don't overwork yourself. We need the shield more when we actually escape than now."

Bella pursed her lips. "I think I can keep it up. But we have to leave as soon as we can."

"Of course," I said. "I'll ask Aro if we can go tomorrow. I mean, our eyes are pretty dark, right?"

"I guess," she said, a bit unsure.

"We'll get back to our family," I promised her. I ran to the throne room. I was surprised to see that Aro wasn't there. After taking a round around the castle, I found him in the garden, of all places.

"Alice," he greeted cheerfully as he examined a patch of flowers. "The roses are doing well, aren't they?"

"Uh, yeah," I mumbled. "I actually had a question."

His attention shifted to me. "What is it?"

"I was wondering if Bella and I could hunt soon. We're pretty thirsty."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'll send someone to get some blood bags."

"No!" I exclaimed. "I mean...with all due respect, we prefer animal blood. I understand that it's the Cullen's diet, and that we're no longer associated with them, but old habits die hard," I babbled.

He looked skeptical, but sighed. "Alright. You can go tonight, and Bella can go tomorrow."

I froze. "We aren't going together?"

Aro laughed. "Of course not. That would be too risky. Unless you could show me that it wouldn't?" He smirked, holding out a hand in invitation.

"We'll go separately," I said immediately.

He smiled. "Alright. I'll send Alec to go with you. Alec!" He called, knowing that he'd hear with his vampire ears. Sure enough, Alec was next to me in the blink of an eye. "Take Alice hunting," Aro ordered before running off.

Alec studied me curiously. "Let's go," he said after a while. I silently followed him out of a passage that would keep our glimmering skin away from human eyes while pondering how I would do this. Why did Alec have to be the one to take me? Bella's shield was surely out of range by now. If I tried to escape, I'd be paralyzed by his power within seconds. Unless...could I negotiate with Alec? To me, he'd seemed a little more human than the rest of the Volturi. Could I appeal to him somehow? It was a huge risk.

When we reached a small clearing, Alec stopped. "Go ahead," he said. "Go hunt."

I looked up at him, trying to look as harmless as possible. "Actually, I have a request."

His eyebrows shot up. "A request."

"Yes." I paused. "Bella and I were planning to escape."

"Hmmm," he hummed nonchalantly.

"You aren't surprised?"

"No. You both are terrible actresses. You're lucky the rest of the Volturi didn't see that. If I guessed correctly, this would have been the time when you would have escaped, right? With Bella's shield protecting you."

"You're right," I said grudgingly. "Was our plan that easy to see through?"

He shrugged. "Maybe I'm just observant."

"Maybe," I murmured. "Anyway, what if I asked you to help us escape?"

"That would be going against Master Aro," he deadpanned.

Embarrassment crept over me. I shouldn't have expected Alec to betray Aro. "You're right," I said. "But could you at the very least not tell Aro?" I pleaded.

He smirked. "I never said I wouldn't help you escape."

Shock replaced embarrassment. "Really?" He just smiled softly in reply. "Why?"

"Why not?" He pointed out. "No one will find out I helped, I'm sure of that. I needed a little excitement anyway."

"But what about Aro wanting our powers?" I pointed out.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself. You aren't as special as you think. With vampire numbers increasing, I'm sure there's another psychic and shield somewhere that are more willing to join."

I sagged in relief. "Thank you."

"But I have one condition," he continued.

"Anything."

"You will never tell anyone besides Bella about my help. Not Aro, not the Cullens, no one. And you will never get involved with the Volturi ever again." I could hear the threat in his tone. I suddenly realized that to some extent, Aro feared Carlisle and his coven. After all, we were one of the biggest covens in North America, with more than several talented members.

"I promise," I replied.

"Good," he said. "Now, here's what we're going to do. You are going to come back with me to the castle. You will tell Aro that there were some humans hiking, therefore you could not hunt. Then I will offer to take both you and Bella hunting tomorrow morning. Then you can do whatever you want. Got it?"

I nodded.

"Just a warning, it won't take Aro long to realize you're gone. He'll have Demetri on your trail before you know it."

"We have a way around that," recalling the vial of Jacob's blood that Bella had.

"Good. Let's go," he said, heading back towards the castle. A new excitement buzzed in my veins.

I didn't need a vision to tell me that Bella and I were going to make it back.

A/N: At this point, it's probably clear that this story is coming to an end. While there will not be a sequel, I did put a poll on my profile regarding which kind of story you all would like to see me write next. If you guys voted, I'd really appreciate it.