A/N – I am very excited to have completed this chapter so quickly, I haven't had a two week turn around for updating in over a year! My pre-reader Gasaway Alley and I had great time polishing the piece and she also inpsired a nice little plot seed for later. TwiliteAddict beta'd this for me lightening quick. Thank you so much ladies, this story is enhanced so much by your edits and input.

I'm sure you are anxious to find out what happened to Bella when she was plucked out of the sky of the In Between. Without further ado...

Awareness tumbled into my brain, a muddy onslaught leaving me in murky disorientation as I tried to grab a hold of my senses. My first task was to quell the dizzying spin of my body adjusting from being plucked out of one reality, and then dumped unceremoniously into another. I felt like I'd been pulled through a tiny keyhole of time and space. Heat warmed my skin, shrouding my sight with a cherry red glow from sunshine burning through the delicate skin of my closed eyes.

Where am I?

I was laying on a flat smooth surface, but my body felt a slight rocking motion which was not helping my dizziness. A rush of nausea thickened my tongue - I refused to open my eyes until it had passed. I could hear the slosh and slap of water breaking against...a hull?

A boat?

I opened my eyes, only to be temporarily blinded by the sun which was hanging directly above me in an azure sky. As the multicolored spots flashed and faded, a dark outline of a hawk circled lazily - I can't be far from land if that is a hawk up there. Turning my head to the left I squinted across the highly polished glare of a hardwood deck. This was a very large boat. A yacht perhaps? A life preserver hanging on the port side told me its name was Mandjet.

"Edward?" My connection to him was gone. I couldn't feel him at all. I felt a surge of panic and pushed it down before it swallowed me. What the hell was I thinking calling out to the Universe like that? What did I expect exactly? Someone to answer and say...

"He's not here. I thought it best we have this conversation in private."

Startled, I jumped up off the floor of the yacht to face the ambiguously accented, brown-sugar voice to the left of me. A handsome exotic male, with skin the color of creamed coffee and hair so black it shone blue when the sun hit it, was sitting at a table in the middle of what appeared to be breakfast. He was handsomely dressed in a snow white button down looking as crisp and upper-crust casual as a Ralph Lauren ad. He had an amused look on his face as he folded his newspaper, its universally precise columns containing a language I did not recognize. I scowled deeply, crossing my arms over my chest as I wondered darkly what the hell was he so smug about, and where the hell my lover was.

"What did you do with Edward?"

"Absolutely nothing my dear. Your Edward is perfectly safe and right where I left him in the In Between."

With a heavy sigh escaping my lips, I couldn't help but close my eyes briefly as my shoulders sagged in relief. I opened my eyes to see my host flashing a bright toothy grin with an appreciative nod.

"Your devotion to him is deep. We were counting on that." He stood up and offered the empty chair at the table to me. I walked gingerly to the seat, still feeling a little off from my magic carpet ride.

"I'm so sorry about the nausea and dizziness my dear, I had to sacrifice comfort for expediency as you were causing quite a commotion on the party line, and we can't have that just yet."

"Pardon my rudeness, but..who are you ?"

"Who I am is of no real importance. At least not anymore. I've been retired for a very long time now." He snorted in derision, poorly masking an obvious wound to his pride. Lowering his voice, he leaned towards me in a conspiring manner, "In fact, you really shouldn't be here. I'm not allowed to interfere, but you left me with no choice. Power such as you summoned was enough to break through more planes of existence than you would care to dream of - but then again, from what I've seen, you show no real sense of self preservation, or reservation for that matter. Though impressive, such a bold display...attracts a lot of attention. Not all of it good."

Carefree ease dissolved from his face as his intense, kohl-lined eyes darkened and narrowed while he appraised my reaction to his ominous statement. Spidery legs of fear began to creep along my skin, and as frightened as I was at the thought of gods or goddesses from other planes of existence having it out for me, I refused to let him see it.

"Who. Are. You?" I was pretty much done with the cloak and dagger routine.

His scrutinizing glare relaxed, a smirk tugging again at his lips. At least he finds my impatience amusing. He carried on blithely as if he didn't hear my question. My host chuckled as if we shared a naughty secret and winked salaciously at me.

"Who YOU are however, now that...that is a much more interesting conversation."

"Who I am?" I blustered.

"Yes, Isabella...who you are. You are the culmination of thousands of generations of prophecy, breeding and above all, hope. You are the hope for your people. For humanity." A birdlike screech punctuated his grand statement and the hawk I had glimpsed earlier, leagues above me in the sky, swooped in and landed gracefully upon a solid gold perch standing beside the table. The majestic bird preened and settled before training its black beady eyes on me, tilting its head to the side as if it could see through to the heart of me. Perhaps he could. I wondered what it would find there. Enough strength to do whatever it took to save the ones I love?

I sure hope so.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that the animal knew me somehow, and I him. It made me a little uncomfortable. In fact this whole scenario made me uncomfortable, being here without Edward made me...edgy.

"I'm the hope for humanity? What the hell are you talking about? "

"Temper, temper Isabella. You shook the heavens for answers to ONE question - How to save Edward." he admonished. Frustration curled its spiny fingers, strangling my patience, but what did I expect? A straight answer from a god who won't even tell me his name? Yeah right.

"Unfortunately, our time is limited, so let's not trifle over things you can't change and talk about things you can." his voice was clipped, letting me know his patience was dwindling as well. At this point, ruffling his feathers would not help me, especially since I now had more questions than what I came here with.

He clapped his hands together and rubbed them vigorously, closing his eyes as he pulled them apart slowly. A filmy, gauzy substance held swirling dark shapes which began to sharpen, revealing the same scene that brought me here: Edward, lying in a modern bed, sweat beading his grey tinged brow. Fear and desperation clogged my throat, the vision no less horrific the second time around of my love haggard and hollowed out by imminent death. My world threatened to collapse with the heavy weight of losing him.

"How do I save him?" I choked out. Fat tears were quickly damming up my ability to communicate.

Sadness pooled in his eyes as he placed his hands together again, making the image of Edward disappear. He reached for his linen napkin pushing it into my hand.

"Don't cry my dear. Tears from one as strong as you have the ability to drown whole worlds in sorrow."

I balled the napkin in my hand and took a deep shuddering breath to try and gather my dignity. "I'm sorry. Please...how do I save him?"

His eyes took on a far away look, as if he was not just recalling past events, but actually reliving them. I looked beyond him to notice we were on a very large river. In the distance I could see the banks were dense with tall skinny trees resembling palms. Mud-brick dwellings dotted the land beyond the river, the scene was timeless and simplistic.

"Humans have worshipped Gods and Goddesses since the beginning of time. They would build us temples, make sacrifices to us, label us as divine - omnipotent even - and they blindly obeyed our every whim. It's all a ruse Isabella. A gross misrepresentation of the balance of power. Humans have the true power. We can't resist their adulation and it eventually corrupts - without their subservience and energy directed towards us in worship and ritual, we lose respect and position amongst our own. What is the use of King with no people? A shepherd without sheep? The first time I experienced this drop in favour with my human worshipers, I was deeply angered. I was at the head of my Pantheon and desperate to maintain my status.

I demanded blood payment for their infidelity and in doing so, loosed a great evil into the world. An evil that would not stop until it eradicated all of humanity, its bloodlust, insatiable. Realizing I was cutting off my nose to spite my face, I tried to reign in the beast I had turned loose.

I cornered the monstrosity, but was unable to kill it. It was too strong, even for me. My brother devised a way to subdue it, then I divided it into two parts, banishing the most troublesome portion of it from the land of my people. It became known as The Forsaken. Thousands of years have not mellowed its malevolent desire to be whole again. It plots, aching to find its other half and return to its former self."

He paused in his narrative long enough for me to finally comment. I was not entirely comfortable with where this was leading and decided to cut him off at the pass.

"What does any of this have to do with saving Edward?"

"Everything. As I told you Isabella, your bloodlines, the very fabric of your destiny was carefully chosen, woven into being in this place at this time. You are meant to keep The Forsaken from finding and reuniting with its other half - The Source.

"The Source?"

"A goddess of Creation. Life itself."

Life itself. A cure for Edward? We were finally getting to the "what's in this for me" portion of the conversation.

"So...The Source could help Edward?"

"Yes. But there are risks, Isabella even for someone with your abilities. The Forsaken will not be as easily dispatched as The Volturi."

"How do you figure that was easy? I damn near burnt myself to a crisp doing it."

"You managed quite well, considering."

"Considering!"

He arched his eyebrow, calling my temper into question again.

"How do I find The Forsaken?" I huffed.

"I don't think you need to worry about that. It will find you..." He reached for a package of cigarettes and withdrew one. It was wrapped in black paper not the stereotypical white. He lit it, taking a long deep drag, blowing smoke rings as he exhaled. "...which is why you must keep quiet about our conversation here. With the death of Xandru and his failure to tell you everything he should have, The Forsaken believes you will be taken unawares. It believes it has the advantage."

"Xandru gave up his life to help me...he died a hero and I won't tolerate him being labeled as a "failure" and...I'm done lying. I won't lie to Edward, or our family. I'm stronger with them than without them."

He shrugged his shoulders, turning his palms up. "That is completely up to you, but know this, The Forsaken will use your weaknesses against you, and your weakness is the love you have for Edward and his family."

"You obviously don't know me very well. I'm stronger only because of my love for them. I'm not a glass half-empty kind of woman. And, trust me, if there is any liquid at all left in the glass, Adversity can kiss my ass." I gave him my sweetest smile, resisting the urge to roll my neck and snap my fingers.

My host surprised me when the very air was split by his uncontrolled laughter which stretched across the water to echo back in a joyful cacophony of sound. Wiping the tears from his eyes, his mirth tapered to a sigh, "Oh Isabella, you are truly something. I've never known a more fearless, guileless being. "

"Well, I just figure, if its my destiny to stand against The Forsaken, when and where doesn't really matter...but how certainly does. How do I defeat it?"

He took a thoughtful drag on his cigarette, exhaling heavily in one long stream, weighing his answer. I could smell the spicy smoke from his cigarette clinging to his breath, fanning across my face like a desert breeze.

"I don't know. You see, here's the slippery part about Destiny - events can be preordained, but never definitive or absolute in outcome as to allow for the ebb and flow of free will. For example, I don't know when or how Edward is stricken with illness, but I know that it will happen, no matter how many pains you take to keep him safe. I know your battle with The Forsaken is inevitable yet I don't know who will be left standing. All I have to offer for comfort is that your metamorphosis is complet e, and you have been filled with as much power as you will need to accomplish your quest."

Destiny. Power. I was starting to get sick of those words. My mind flashed a memory of Alice, her eyes, ears and nose pouring golden venom from being overloaded with potent visions of my and Edward's future. I decided to push my luck. Afterall, from what I got from the gist of his story, I was cleaning up his mess in taking care of The Forsaken. He owed me at least this much. I wouldn't dare tell him that though.

"I won't forgive myself if I leave here and not ask you this. Is there any way I can ...dampen my power around others? So that I don't hurt anyone I love unintentionally?"

Understanding dawned across his face. "Ahhh, yes. The Oracle can't be near you without losing her mind. I may be able to help you there. A gift, before you go." He smiled broadly, stood and walked over to my chair holding out his hand to help me up. Dark eyes held mine, dragging me in, drowning me in a flood of magic as he placed his fingers at my temples. White light pulsed from his fingertips in my peripheral vision. An invisible force pushed its way into my head, a cooling numbness blanketing my brain before everything went black. The god's last words to me hung in the air;

"Rise, Isabella. It's time."