14. SMOKE
Seventeen wolves and fourteen vampires stood in a circle for twenty seconds. Planning was getting easier and becoming a faster thing than it had been before. Jacob phased to human form for those twenty seconds to communicate with Alice and the rest, making sure that we were all on the same page.
After those twenty seconds of pure planning and last-minute preparation, we were running again. Jacob phased back and we all knew the plan instantly. Alice was on the phone with Carlisle again, and the other group was headed for the water between Athenodora's Island and Isla Didyme, while we were headed towards the water that separated Sulpicia's Island from Isla Didyme. According to Edward, the main Volturi fighters were on the main island: Alec, Demetri, Oberon, Elijah, Renata, Felix, Hallie, along with the leaders, Aro and Caius, and the wives. Then there were all the unknowns. Well, unknown to me, at least.
My mind was buzzing with excitement. Nineteen Volturi had already fallen, and none of our number had been lost yet! It seemed so impossible, so unbelievable! I had been so braced for loss, for my own loss, for my family's loss.
But, then again, there was a larger battle just ahead. This had only been the pre-game show. The real battle was still to be won.
Stop worrying and focus, Seth! Leah's mind said. We're almost to the crossing point!
I tried to stop worrying as we neared the place where we would be able to cross easily and undetected. The "undetected" part was probably not true though. Part of my mind was screaming to me that there would be Volturi soldiers waiting for us on the other side of the water... maybe even in the water.
Then we were there. All twenty-five of us stopped at the edge of the water. There wasn't much of a distance between us and the other island, but now we could really tell the size of the main island.
It was so unlike what I had expected. I had almost been stupid enough to expect a tiny little tropical island covered in Volturi soldiers. I had been way wrong.
Only one word could describe the monumental island that stood resolute before us today.
Huge.
Holy crap, Embry said.
When they said big island, they weren't joking! Collin said, shaking his head.
Our vampire comrades seemed unperturbed by the size of the island, and instead began to walk into the water, quickly, and silently. The distance between the islands was small, only about one hundred feet, and it was only about three feet deep the whole way around.
The vampires that stayed behind were Bella, Kate, and Jasper, who were all holding on to Jane.
"What do we do with this witch?" Bella asked Alice, who was closer to the shore than the others, holding the tiny silver cell phone high above the water. The other vampires that were in the water stopped and crouched down in the water, waiting.
Alice spun round suddenly, her eyes seeming to turn black.
"Bella!" she screamed. "WATCH OUT!"
And then we saw them.
The hair on the wolves backs stood up straight as three dark gray clad Volturi soldiers drifted gracefully out of the forest.
I recognized one of them immediately. I had seen him once before. And now, as he drifted forward to kill us, his angelic face morphed into a smile.
"Jane," Alec said gently, his arms stretched to the side, as if inviting us to kill him. "I can't even begin to tell you how good it is to see you again."
His hair was a darker than Jane's, and he was slightly taller, but he was just as lethal. Behind him stood two Volturi I didn't recognize.
"Stay back, Alec," Benjamin warned, instantly at Bella's side, as well as the rest of our twenty-five. There was a sudden burst of light, and it appeared that Benjamin's hands were on fire. "Or you'll burn where you stand."
Alec laughed. The laughter that rippled from his throat was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. But the menace in it was hard to miss.
"You really don't want to do that, Benjamin of Egypt," he chimed when his laugh drew near an end. "I'm only here for my sister."
Bella laughed too, but her laugh was filled with hate.
"Come and get her," she cackled.
Jane spoke then, for the first time in a while.
"My dear brother," she said, as calm as she could ever be. I could tell she had practiced it. "It's been too long."
"Yes, Jane," he crooned, a smile of menace distorting his angelic features. "I suppose these barbarians treated you well? Or is that too much to expect?"
Jacob, who was only ten feet away from him, snarled down at him.
Alec rolled his eyes.
"This hostility is more than unnecessary, I can assure you," Alec said, the smile returning to his angelic features. "Just let my sister go. We're going to have to kill you soon anyway, so we might as well wait till the real show begins."
His voice was mimicking almost exactly what I had been thinking before.
This was all just the pre-show.
Bella's ocher eyes bore down Alec's violently red ones.
"We're not falling for whatever you're trying to pull," Bella said.
"Do you think us fools, witch boy?" Kachiri said in her wild voice. She was right beside Bella, with Alice on Bella's other side.
"Fools? Yes, and no," he said, shrugging off the 'witch boy' comment. The tension in our group became even more dominant as Alec explained. "No, because we hold you in too much high respect to think of you as fools. Except for the wolves." The wolves growled. "Yes, because you obviously think you can defeat us."
Jasper snarled again.
"We already took down twenty of you," he said through bared teeth.
Alec seemed to be entirely undisturbed by that. I was instantly confused. There were only fifty-something of them. We had taken so many out already!
"Not bad," he said, with a 'like it really matters' look masking his face. "But believe me: this war has barely even begun."
Ripples flowed through the pack mind, which had (up to this point) been simply contemplating what Alec and the others were saying.
Okay, I know there are still a lot of them left, but what does that mean?
We should just kill him now and get it over with.
Something worse is on that bigger island, I can just feel it!
Then Alec was speaking again.
"So I'll take my sister, and see you again soon, I hope," he said. I could tell he really did hope to see us again soon. So he could rip us to bits and burn us. Of course. Why else?
There was hesitation. I knew that we had no use for her. She had been simply our way of knowing what the Volturi planned. Did we need her anymore?
No, of course we didn't. But would we stand a chance against her in the battle? The real battle?
But I couldn't really say anything. The whole wolf thing screwed that up.
And then Jane was out of Jasper, Kate, and Bella's hands. (But not before Kate shocked her one more time; Jane yelped at that.) The tiny pale brown haired vampire ran to her brother, standing by his side, and then glaring back at us. Specifically at Bella.
I heard Alec laugh once, and then they were gone. They made a circle to get away from us and I barely registered the blur they created across the horizon as they ran at high speed across the water to the main island.
"We have to go, now!" Alice shouted.
We all spun around. Every one of us, wolf or vampire, shot across the water like a swarm of bats ascending from the depths of Hell, and reached the opposing shore within five seconds.
"Which way?" Jasper asked Alice.
"Just follow me," she said, to all of us.
Alice darted from the beach and into the trees.
Is there really much point to waiting? Leah was thinking.
I don't know, Jacob said. Carlisle said it was absolutely important.
I'm not sure how much more I can take of the leeches using important as their word for when they have to pee, Michael replied.
A few of us barked a laugh.
"Very funny," Edward said. He had been listening to the thought-conversation. "We don't pee, anyway."
What's so important that we need to wait? Jared asked, impatient.
Yeah! Collin complained. They could, like, jump us or something!
Edward laughed, his voice filling the beach where we stood.
"Let's just say our numbers have gone up again."
There was half a moment of shock as my spirits suddenly sky-rocketed. More people to help! Less of a chance that we could lose!
"They're back."
The hackles on the back of my neck stood up as the sharp scent of vampire suddenly hit me like a cannonball. We all spun toward the source, and my wolf eyes widened, doubling in size.
In front of us now stood a horde of vampires beyond anything I had ever seen, even beyond what I had witnessed in the meadow last winter!
There were exactly forty-three (I counted) vampires and two vampire hybrids! I recognized the newcomers quickly. Stefan and Vladimir, the Romanian vampires; Alistair, the one that bailed on us last time; Maggie, Siobhan, and Liam, our friends from Ireland; Amun and Kebi, the other two Egyptian vampires; and then there was one that I didn't recognize, but he looked like Dracula, in the flesh.
Carlisle was shaking hands with Amun.
"My friend, Amun," Carlisle said, greeting him as if nothing had transpired between them last winter, where Amun had considered fighting against us; I almost growled at the memory. "How good it is to see you again. And Kebi, the same."
"Yes, friend," was Amun's reply. His olive toned face looked almost repentent. "It has been too long. We should have come with our Benjamin, but we were too afraid. I know that I was wrong. I see now that the Volturi have overstepped their authority. We must fight with you."
"Thank you so much, my old friend," Carlisle thanked him, grasping his hand with both of his.
Carlisle now turned to Alistair, who looked deeply grieved.
"Carlisle," Alistair began. "I must ask your forgiveness for leaving you to die last winter." He seemed to flinch away from the memory, as if it pained him. "I was afraid. Now I realize that I must either die alone, or die with you. I choose to die a patriot, not a coward."
Jasper clapped him on the back in a sign of comradeship as Alistair's hand slammed into Carlisle's hand in an iron clad handshake. Then Carlisle pulled him into a quick embrace before he swiveled to greet Siobhan's clan.
"Dear Carlisle," Maggie sang, bouncing forward to hug his side. "How wonderful it is to see you again."
"Yes, indeed," Siobhan said, smiling. She was just as tall as the Amazonians, and her muscles were visible through her clothing. "On the eve of battle, we come to aid you. If you will forgive the theatrics, of course."
"Theatrics are acceptable," Carlisle said, kissing her hand. "I am- We are eternally grateful for your arrival. The battle ahead looks grim. We cannot expect to come out unscathed, if we get back alive at all."
The entire group seemed to cringe.
Stefan and Vladimir, the two Romanian vampires, were at Carlisle's side in a nanosecond. The one whose name I did not know lingered behind them, as if he was a companion of theirs.
"Friend Carlisle," Stefan said.
"Finally we may get the battle we have thirsted so many years for," Vladimir said, grinning.
"And this world may finally be rid of the Volturi forever," Stefan finished, his eyes seeming to glow a brighter red with the idea.
"And Tyler," he called to the one I did not know. "Or Ty, is it now? How gracious it is of you to come to our aid. It has been centuries, my very, very, old friend."
"Yes," Ty said, gliding forward to take Carlisle's hand. "It has been too long. I must visit you soon, of course. If we get out of this, that is."
I could've sworn that the entire army flinched away from these words like before, just before Ty vanished into the crowd.
There were less than two seconds of silence before Alice suddenly gasped, her eyes hazing over as the future clouded her mind. Edward gasped in unison with Alice, his breath cutting short.
"Everyone listen," he said, speaking to the entire army. Every eye shot towards him, anticipation tangible within our ranks. "The Volturi know we're here, of course. But this news is the worst of all."
I didn't breathe, afraid that I'd fall over dead with morbid anticipation.
"The Volturi guard we killed on the two islands..." he began. He paused, pressing his fingers to his head in frustration. "They weren't real."
"What?" Carlisle said, his voice filled with horror.
Ripples of anger and fear tingled and stabbed through our pack mind, and anxiety filled me like acid, burning away at the walls of my veins.
Oh, shit.
God damn it!
No! No, no, no, no no no no!
"What the hell do you mean, Edward?" Bella said, her voice filled with panic.
"Clones," Edward and Alice said in unison. It was impossible not to notice that Edward was trying to remain coherent. "They were clones!"
Every single body seemed to droop. We had just fought for our lives! We were so ready for a battle that wouldn't be as bad as we had anticipated! Not only that, but I had been ready!
"What?" Carmen said, her voice confused. "Clones? How could this happen?"
"One of the newborns we didn't know about," Alice explained, shaking her head. "Wendy. She could change into anyone, and make clones of herself. The clones could change into whoever they wanted. The perfect illusion."
"What about Felix?" Rosalie said, trying to keep her voice even.
"That was really Wendy," Edward replied. "The real Felix is a little bit faster than most of us, so she, as him, escaped us easily."
Anger mixed in with the anxiety, a new scorching burn replacing the stinging.
Whoa, Seth, cool it! We can still win this! Brady tried to console me.
What in the hell do you think is going on, Brady?! Someone said. I was shocked to know that this voice was none other than mine, my voice. Somehow, I kept shouting. We're going to die! We don't stand a God damn chance!
Brady shrunk away from me, both mentally and physically, a sad moan escaping his body.
I felt instantly horrible. What kind of monster was this war turning me into? Was it so bad that I could really yell at my brother like that? My heart ached again, an echo of the fault lines that had torn it apart. Brady didn't deserve my anger. And I didn't deserve such a good friend like him.
I didn't even get the chance to apologize.
Only moments after my tirade, Edward was speaking again.
"They're all still alive," he said, his voice still horrorstruck.
"All thirty-seven of them," Alice finished, her voice turning into a moan. "Not even counting the clones."
"How many of us are there?" Eleazar asked lightly.
The vampires had no problem with math.
"Fifty-nine," Carlisle announced in exultation, and the sudden change in mood among us was so great that it was like dawn breaking on the horizon.
"Hell, yes!" Emmett hollered.
"What are we waiting for?" Benjamin crowed. "Let's go kick some Volturi-"
But Alice cut him off.
"You still think we can win?" she groaned, and I was sure she would be crying if she could.
"Well, why not?" Jasper asked, his eyebrows pushing together. "I highly doubt this Wendy could get her illusion past Bella's shield. As long as we're inside it, they don't exist, and can't hurt us."
"Yes!" Esmé sang, clapping her hands together.
"You're right, Jazz," Alice said, her tone lightening the tiniest bit.
"Jennie," Edward said, motioning towards the blonde Seattle coven teenage vampire.
I was instantly confused.
"How strong is your power, Jennie?" he asked, his voice desperate.
Jennie pursed her lips together, and rubbed her arm. She looked slightly embarrassed. I tried to remember what Alice had said about her ability to me on the way back from Port Angeles, but the memory escaped me.
"It's, well," she stammered. "It's not like you think, I can assure you that. I struggle with it. Moving boulders, levitate plates... that's as far as I've tested it, really."
I had realized by then that Alice hadn't told me about their powers, because none of this was familiar.
"Jennie has a power similar to a power one of Caius's newborns possesses," Edward explained to us all. "She has telekinesis, and can move things with her mind."
"Which one of them?" Carlisle asked.
"Oberon," Edward said, spitting the name. "Caius's new best friend."
"What does his ability do better than Jennie's, exactly?" Barron, the one holding Jennie's hand, said, his voice wary.
"His control is complete," Edward said, his voice full of pain, the pain Alice was seeing in the future now. This news sent shockwaves through the army as we realized what this meant. I had to lean against Jacob's warm russet fur to keep from falling over. "Oberon can move anything, anywhere. He will be their lead man in the battle. I think Oberon will be mostly a distraction, but with his power, much of our powers are for nothing. Jennie can't beat him, Kate won't get near enough to shock him... nothing. We're doomed. Josh is doomed."
"Don't say that," a voice spat. I didn't recognize the voice at first, until I turned my gaze to the black haired boy beside Jennie. Dylan's face was twisted in pain. "Don't you dare ever say that again, Edward Cullen. Don't even think it. We are NOT doomed! We will NOT lose! Not tonight, not any other night! There are more of us than them! Surely, five or six of us could take Oberon down! We may seem to have the underhand, but don't you dare say there isn't hope. And Josh..." He seemed to choke up on Josh's name, and I couldn't understand entirely why. "Josh is not doomed."
Edward seemed shocked at Dylan's words. He looked almost frozen. Dylan hadn't said a word to us since we first saw him.
And suddenly, we all had hope. I imagined how it would feel to me, and to everyone else, if Oberon fell. No, when he fell! If I could get to Caius, then I would be eternally happy. I couldn't wait to watch him burn.
And we all had hope.
We were moving again within minutes, plans being formed again. We reached the Bay of Broken Souls, the bay that stood between us and the Citadel of Didyme.
And then we could see.
The water stretched for about the length of three football fields. We all stood on the edge of the water, stretched across the sand, waiting for a few more seconds.
Across the vast stretch of water was a beach. The sand was absolute white. Just beyond the sand was a field: a battlefield, covered in grass. At the edge of the battlefield, beyond it, stood a wall. It was high. It looked just high enough that a vampire would have a lot of trouble trying to jump over it. I could tell that the wall was smooth so that it would be impossible to scale.
"They're waiting," Edward said, appalled. He wasn't usually taken by surprise. "They want us to make the first strike."
On top of the wall, barely visible to my eyes, stood two figures. The black that flowed out from behind them waved in the wind. My heart skipped a beat as they were joined by more black-shrouded figures.
And from the top of the wall, Jane and Alec grinned at us.