Chapter 110

Rose

Esme went back to Volterra much against my wishes while I went to pick Emmett up at the airport and tell him what we had been doing while the rest of them thought we had been sitting quietly waiting for a call to tell us we could go back. We were both annoyed at the way we had been sidelined but when I saw him come out of the terminal building I couldn't help running over to greet him. Feeling my mates arms around me again was so wonderful I never wanted him to let me go again. When he finally did I saw him looking round for Esme.

"She's in Volterra."

"What? Why? Don't you think that's a little stupid? Dangerous even considering all that's going on?"

"Well, we decided that someone had to try contacting Alice and as you all seemed to have forgotten about her and we were already here on the ground..."

"You've seen her? Where is she Rose?"

I explained about our plan to arrange several visits hoping that Alice might see one of them and the young boy she had sent with a note for us.

"We're hoping she'll do the same again, but this time tell us where she is."

"You aren't thinking about trying to rescue her are you? Just the two of you?"

"Actually we were, you seem to forget we are as strong and fast as you and we have brains. Not to mention Alice has her secret weapon, she's still hiding it from the Volturi."

He didn't speak much on the drive back, I'd stung him with my accusation and I knew he hated the idea of Esme and I putting ourselves in danger, but we couldn't just forget about Alice, she was family. When I pulled up outside the apartment on the outskirts of Pisa he looked around,

"It was more convenient than the house. We've got it on a six-month lease."

He nodded grabbed his bag and followed me up to the apartment relieved to find Esme there and from the look on her face she had news for me. She greeted Emmett warmly and he repaid her hug with one of his own then she bombarded him with questions dying to hear all the news from home.

"Its such wonderful news to hear Charlotte escaped. How did she do it?"

"We don't know and Darius is suspicious."

"Surely he doesn't think Charlotte is in league with The major or the Volturi."

"He doesn't know what to think, but it seems mighty strange she was able to slip away from The Major, almost as strange as her still being alive."

When he finished telling us how they had trapped Edward inside Renee's house and what Charlie had done to him I told them my news. I hadn't been in Volterra long, sitting in the shade of a plane tree pretending to drink coffee when the same young boy appeared and ran up to me.

"Hello, do you have something for me?"

He nodded taking a thicker envelope from his pocket and handing it over.

"She told me there would be a reply."

"Oh right, well sit down and I'll buy you a drink. What would you like?"

He sat down apprehensively looking round and I understood this was all new and overwhelming for him so I called the waiter over and ordered him Aranciata San Pellegrino. He smiled broadly,

"I love orange drinks, my mother squeezes our own oranges, but there are no bubbles. I like bubbles, they make me sneeze."

I smiled to hear his child's take on a drink that meant nothing to most people.

While he sat there, his brown legs swinging off the ground drinking his orange through a straw I read Alice's letter. She had made a friend, another "guest" of the Volturi staying at the villa and she thought he might be useful. He had a gift although she wasn't entirely sure how powerful it was and it would take time to earn his trust. She wanted to know if I would give my cell phone number to the boy, a new cell phone that could be thrown away after use. That way she could contact me if she was able to come up with a plan and she was hopeful she might. I was glad to know Emmett would be with us, if there were a fight to get Alice free then he would certainly be only too happy to help out.

"I have to give you a number so you can contact me if I'm not here next time you visit. You do know how to use a phone don't you?"

He nodded his head,

"I come into Volterra to ring the hospital for my father. My mother is with my sister there. The money you gave me helped to pay for medicine for her."

"Did you tell your mother where you got the money?"

"No, I didn't give it all to my father for Francesca. I told him I had helped a lady tourist carry her bags to a hotel and she gave me money. When I go back this time I will tell him the same and give him more of the money you gave me. I hide it on the hillside where I watch the goats."

I took some more Euros from my pocket and handed them to him along with the phone number of a cell phone Rose always kept in case of emergencies but had never registered.

"If I'm not here and you need to get a message to me you ring this number, either Rose or myself will answer."

He looked at the scrap of paper I handed him for a few seconds then handed it back to me.

"I'll remember the number. If I keep it and my father or the men at the villa catch me and look I won't have anything that they can ask me about. I'm just a goat herder, that's safer."

I watched as he scurried into the square losing him among the people wandering around and taking photographs of the fountain and clock tower before leaving myself. Just maybe we could get Alice out before we had to leave Italy.

Emmett was interested to hear my news and like me was eager to get Alice free, especially as he felt guilty about pushing her to the back of his mind for so long. He insisted that the next time we visited Volterra he would come along too although we both pointed out that he was much more likely to be spotted by any Volturi guard than us.

We had already decided to give the place a miss for a few weeks as we now had a way for Alice to get messages to us more safely than visiting the town regularly. Instead we made plans for the future with both Charlotte and Alice back where they belonged although perhaps that was wishful thinking, after all nothing had really changed, some of the Volturi still wanted us for breaking the law and we had no idea what The Major's orders with respect to us were. Aro might try to shield us, but that didn't mean Marcus would and Aro would still want Alice unless she could convince him that her gift was useless, mind she was doing a pretty good job of that from all accounts. Would The Major and Captain be looking for Charlotte, the runaway? I didn't understand her escape any more than Darius although I did trust the girl, unlike him.

Eleazar and Carmen had invited us to go live with them in Denali but no one was very keen, the girls were something of an obstacle there. Rose got annoyed when they made a play for Emmett even though she understood he wasn't interested and it was just their nature. If truth be told I wasn't keen on their attitude to Carlisle either so it wouldn't be a good idea to move to Alaska. I had toyed with the idea of moving to Europe and I knew Carlisle would be happy as long as I was, but I didn't want to be too close to Italy.

Spain and Portugal were always possibilities or further east, but it would have to wait until we were all together once more. I would research some places and then we would put it to the vote. Of course our family had increased by one with Charlie and I wondered if Bella would join him in our world, I certainly hoped so, I was very fond of her. It was frustrating to be out of the loop and I decided to contact Carlisle and find out exactly what was happening and give him the rest of our news.