Chapter Fifty Eight

Bella

When I woke up I found I wasn't alone, this time there was a young man in the room sitting in a chair staring at me as if I were some museum exhibit. I sat up quickly but checked and was relieved to find my shield hadn't vanished while I slept. Seeing me move he looked at me more intently and I had the impression that there was a mist or fog in the room, swirling around the furniture but bumping ineffectually at the edges of my shield.

"Can I help you? It's customary to knock and wait to be invited in,"

He started at my words and looked taken aback.

"I heard you were a rather unusual human Bella Swan and it seems they were right."

"Oh really? Who told you that? And by the way you have me at a disadvantage. You know my name but I don't know yours."

"Oh, I'm Alec Volturi, one of Aro's special guard"

"Really? Well you'd best tell him that whatever little trick you were trying on me didn't work. Now get the hell out of my room"

He didn't like it but he had no choice but to leave, I was getting a little tired of all these unannounced visits but pleased I was able to protect myself, now if only I could work on my gift. What I really wanted was to blast a hole in this damn place so I could walk out. I saw the sun was shining and if only I could get outside the Volturi couldn't follow, not without giving themselves away to the humans in the town and I knew they wouldn't risk that.

I wasn't tired any longer and I knew I could safely sleep now but I was hungry and thirsty, the water tasted strange and I had demanded unopened cans and bottles much to the guards amusement. Instead I was left with the suspect tap water or nothing and the food they brought to me was cold by the time I received it and as a result pretty revolting. Deciding to become proactive I went to the door and hammered on it with my fists but to no avail.

"It would be more effective if you used a chair"

I whirled at the voice behind me to see a man sitting on the window ledge smiling at me in amusement. He looked soggy and there was an odour about him that made my nose wrinkle in disgust.

"Who the hell are you? Superman? If Aro thinks this is going to impress me he's mistaken so why don't you just fly back where you came from."

He grinned,

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised to find The Major's mate has a temper."

"Temper? That wasn't a temper but this is"

It wasn't till the crystal vase was flying through the air that I registered his words. was this someone from Jasper? He'd called him The Major and knew I was his mate but then so did the Volturi, Anyway he caught the vase and put it down gently before slipping off the sill to stand in the room with me.

"I don't have long, the Volturi could be back at any moment. I'm just here to tell you that he's on his way back and to hold on."

"Who are you?"

"Darius at your service and Rose and Emmett are in Pisa waiting for the Major's flight to land."

"Jasper's coming back with my father. I already know, Aro told me all about it."

"Oh Ill bet he did but I'm also betting he put some spin on the tale. Did he tell you The Major changed your father?"

He took one look at my expression and laughed quietly,

"Yeah I thought he might. Well just hold on and well get you out of here."

"Wait"

I shouted as he jumped back on the window sill,

"Take me with you"

"I'm sorry princess but that's not possible, I have to move fast and go through the town sewer, underwater. Can you hold your breath for ten minutes?"

"No"

"Then if I took you I'd end up with a drowned princess and The Major wouldn't appreciate that now would he? Just hold on"

With a final salute he was gone and although I ran to the window and looked out I couldn't see anything except water from a fountain in the courtyard but I could smell a disgusting odour and looking at the sill I saw a small puddle of brown liquid. Sewer? So he hadn't been lying after all. As I heard a key turn in the door I wiped the liquid up with my sleeve and ran into the bathroom making what I hoped were convincing toilet noises.

"Bella are you there?"

I came out trying to look sick and by his face Aro seemed convinced.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Yes that awful food you keep sending me has given me a bad stomach, I told you I couldn't eat it and now I'm sick"

He looked alarmed,

"Can we get you something for it?"

"Yes, stomach powders and some toilet rolls…...oh yes and some fresh food and sodas."

Having made my demands I clutched at my stomach and ran back in the bathroom slamming the door behind me.

My ploy seemed to work, not only were they unaware I had a visitor but fresh food was brought up by a silent Italian girl, a human this time, along with some bottles of soda and some stomach medicine. I thanked her shortly and she nodded fleeing the room as if I had the plague or something. I celebrated with a meal washed down with a bottle of soda and I felt more human. Of course I had other visitors later in the day, Caius and Chelsea this time, both concerned for my health and hoping if I were sick and weak they might be able to persuade me to join them but I just sat looking as if I had no energy and wasn't even listening and after about ten minutes they gave up and left.

I decided to try out my shield again but this time to move a chair across the rug, if I could do that then I was getting stronger and maybe I could use a piece of furniture to ram the door, of course I had to be careful because if Aro found out my shield was that powerful he might strive for another way to keep me here permanently, unless of course I could be dangerous. Mind, to do that I would have to be able to shatter walls or windows at least. Now that sounded like fun and I had nothing better to do so I decided to try the chair first and if that worked, well the sky was the limit.

It took a lot of concentration and time but after about an hour the chair began to move slowly as if pushed by a ghost. It picked up a little speed as it went and only stopped when it banged against the stone wall. I stopped and listened, had the sound alerted anyone? Ten minutes went by and I decided no one was close by or they just thought I was trashing the place in temper. I didn't mind it meant I could keep trying. Glancing round the room I saw the glass that had been on the tray of food and drink and I studied it thinking about my shield but the knight's was too big and cumbersome, I needed something smaller, well a wall made out of lego bricks was smaller but still a shield so I visualised that and because it was smaller it seemed to work much faster and with spectacular effect, at least on a small scale. The glass shattered as it hit the wall at speed. Now if I could find a way of speeding up my large shield I could get really spectacular results but after three hours I still couldnt get it to move fast enough or with any precision, only moving the chair across the room wobbling about before crashing against the stones but making no impression and I gave up instead laying on the bed thinking of Jasper and how much I missed him. My chest wasn't aching so much but then Darius had said Jasper was on his way which verified what Aro had told me so maybe he had landed now and was on his way to Volterra along with my dad. I just wished they were both here right now. I didn't feel like a fearless Amazon warrior now, I was just a young girl in a strange place full of monsters and very tired. In the end I cried myself to sleep thinking about them.