Humming gently entered my consciousness before I could acknowledge that a cold hand was patting my hair, like one would lazily pet a dog. I opened my eyes and winced at the pain.

"Easy now, darlin'. Humans aren't generally capable of the power for an ability like you used. Take a moment before sitting back up." Jasper's drawl gave me a sense of calm. If Jasper was here, I would at least know what had happened. He had never failed to tell me the truth before.

We were still in the baseball clearing, my dad's body still next to me. Though someone had corrected the placement of his head and placed his hands on his abdomen as if he was only resting. My lower lip trembled as new tears burned in my eyes.

"What happened?" My whisper barely audible to my ears, but I know that the vampire next to me would still hear me. I reached out, placing my hand on Charlie's cheek.

Jasper's hand paused, resting on my head for a second before disappearing. "We got Victoria. She is gone, forever."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "I saw that part. The bonfire, the smoke. How did she. . . I mean, why did he push me out of the way?

"Isabella. . . I am not a father. But I imagine that a parent would do anything – give anything – just to save their child. You were his daughter. He gave his life for yours, like any great parent would have."

A sob chocked out and a tear escaped between my closed eyelids. A cold thumb brushed it away. After a few moments, I opened my eyes again and looked around the clearing. It was larger than before, several trees knocked down or splintered. To the left, Alice, Edward, Carlisle, and Esme stood banging on the air and yelling at each other, though I couldn't hear anything. I could only tell from the body language.

To the right, Peter, Emmett, and Rose sat resting against some trees, looking for all intents and purposes as if they were waiting for a bus. Jasper and I were the only ones in the middle with my dad.

"There is a lot of damage to the trees here from your fight. I hope it doesn't take long to naturalize again."

"Isabella, darling. Our fight didn't damage the trees."

I focused on Jasper, and he held my gaze. "Well, if it wasn't the fight . . ." My voice trailed off, starting to remember the sound of tearing and explosion just before I blacked out.

He took a deep breath and a wave of false calm rolled over me. I swallowed. "I think you know the answer. The trees are damaged because of you."

"Me? But I'm human. How does a human do that?"

"A typical human can't. But you are a shield, and I would say, a mighty powerful one. Your emotions spiked into such an extreme, I thought – I felt like I was burning again, from the change. And it was what you were feeling. They took control and your shield protected you. No human should be capable for feeling as deeply as you did at that moment."

I bit my lip. "I must be broken. Can't even 'feel' correctly. Couldn't save my dad. Or Angela. Or Jessica or Ben or Mike." My heartrate began increasing and my breathing didn't seem to want to stay in my lungs when Jasper's calm washed over me again. This time I grasped it and pulled it close – as a lifeline to the only steady thing left in this universe.

"I wouldn't say you are broken. And none of us, not even us vampires, were able to prevent her from killing completely. I am sorry for those you have lost. Most were good people, but none of them deserved to die in that way. Your shield which protects your mind from being heard by Edward and protected your mind's decisions from being seen by Alice – appears to now have a physical element."

"What?"

His right hand waved around the field, taking in the damaged trees and vampires on both sides. "At the emotional level you were at, your shield protected you from any additional pressures that Edward and Alice were placing on you. It became a physical thing and pushed out from your spot like a bubble. I cannot hear them; they cannot hear us. I cannot get out nor can they get in. Your shield protected you. Even after your human body failed and you blacked out."

I stared at him and then surveyed the area again. Squinting my eyes, I focused near where Edward was slamming his fists on something. I couldn't see anything, but it was apparently true. Edward did appear to be trying to get to me and was being stopped by some invisible barrier.

"Huh. So, how long was I out?"

"The sun just rose perhaps an hour ago. So, 18 hours."

I gulped and then took a deep breath. "So, how do I put the shield away?"

"Now that is the million-dollar question and I have no answer." I stared at him, my mouth gaping. "Well, my thought was that perhaps as your body rested your shield would automatically fall away. But it has stayed strong and steady with every hour. There was no evidence of any change in it. I have tried to send you calm emotions, but they only bounced back at me. My last guess is that you need to decide to remove it."

"Decide? Like I just say, 'hey shield, stop it' and my brain is just going to do whatever it needs to do?"

He shrugged and leaned back on his hands, and I sighed.

Well, I guess it is as good of a place to start as any.

I stood up and closed my eyes, focusing on that feeling of that band that had snapped before my world darkened. I began a slow mantra, mumbling out loud, "Calm. I am safe. Remove my shield. Calm. I am safe. Remove my shield. Calm. I am safe. Remove my shield."

Suddenly, a sharp pain in my head struck, like a knife stabbing through the temples and I gasped out loud as the sound of yelling reached my ears. Within seconds all of the vampires were clamouring to get to me, talking over each other. When Edward took hold of my arm in his grip, I tried to shake him off.

"Enough! Get your hands off me!"

"Bella. Calm. Did he hurt you? I couldn't get to you to protect you."

I struggled, trying to release my arm from his grip but it only tightened, and I seethed through my teeth when four deep growls echoed around us. Edward paused and listened to the minds around him, and he let go. Rose and Emmett kept their eyes on him and stepped closer, forcing him to back up and away while I cradled my wrist to myself, rubbing the bruising skin.

Peter stepped in front of me, blocking my view of the others. He held my gaze with raised eyebrows while he spoke. "I know this is not the best time, but as most here will tell you, I am not one to mince my words. We can't let anyone find your father's body. The 'foul play' is too obvious, and we cannot have an investigation into us."

"Captain, this is not the right time." Jasper growled out between clenched teeth.

I placed my hand on his chest, surprised to find it felt warm to me. With a slight shake of my head, I turned back to Peter. "No. Peter is right. The Volturi do not need another reason to kill me or wipe out this town. Just promise me, that wherever we make his burial, that it can be accessible. To at least myself. Even if I need a vampire to reach it."

My lower lip trembled, and Peter bowed his head before carefully picking my father up, cradling him in his arms in a way that his head stayed resting in the crook of his elbow, as if dad was only sleeping. I leaned towards Jasper, accepting the warmth of his body. Or perhaps, I was so cold that even a vampire felt warm.

His arms wrapped around me and held me. "We will provide him a burial fitting his courageous end. The honour any parent would gladly accept."

I mouthed 'thank you', unable to find any more voice out of my vocal chords.

He then turned to the others. "Whether you want to or not, we will need to move. We will need to leave here and in a way that does not implicate us to the Chief's disappearance. I don't care how you wish to do it or whether you want to fake both the Chief's and Isabella's death, but we are leaving this area, and I don't think we can return in any time less than a century."

Edward stiffened. "You aren't in charge of this family. You can't tell us when we must move."

Esme and Carlisle looked towards Alice who only shook her head, frustrated. "I still can't see a damn thing because of that freak!" She pointed her index finger at me. I imagined being strong enough to snap her finger clear back, breaking it off. Suddenly she screams out as her finger bent back, just as I imagined it would.

Esme muttered, "She must be a witch."

"Well, whether I am a witch or not. You four do whatever the hell you want to do. The rest of us are going to do the logical thing and run from here before we are implicated worse with the Volturi than I already am." I snapped back. Turning my face back to Jasper, "Can you take me to where Peter went with my dad? I want to say my goodbyes and then we need to get away from Washington."

He nodded as he took me in his arms, scooping up my legs with his left arm and cradling my shoulders and head close with his right as he took off. I couldn't tell for certain, but it sounded like there was a buzzing of vampire voices. Vampires speaking too fast and low for my human ears to distinguish specific words. But the world was blurring too quickly for me to look around and see who Jasper was speaking with.

Eventually he came to a stop and carefully placed me on my feet, keeping his right hand on the small of my back. We were high up in the mountains, too high to be close to home but further along the Rockies Mountain ridge. Looking out, I could see for miles and there, Peter was finishing bashing a deep indent into the mountain rock face.

Rose and Emmett were also with us, and they joined Peter in finishing. Once they were satisfied, they laid my dad carefully into the makeshift tomb, placing his hands at rest, folded on top of each other. Jasper then handed me a small bouquet of wildflowers.

"Where did you get these?"

"I saw them, on our run here. You were so focused on your dad and the others; I just ran and retrieved them. Sorry they may not be his favourite colour, but it was what was available."

"They are perfect. Thank you."

I took them and walked up to my dad. I placed them in the middle of his chest. Leaning forward, I gave a final kiss to his cheek. "Dad. I love you so much. I already miss you. I am so sorry I brought this to your doorstep, that I wasn't a better daughter. I hope I can live long enough to make you proud of who I have become." My words were choked out by my sobs, and I cried.

I cried for a long time, until I was shivering in the mountain air and Rose came next to me. "Bella, I know it is hard. But you will freeze if we keep you here much longer." She pulled me into a hug from the side and I rested my head on her cold shoulder for a second before nodding.

"You are right. Let's go."

We stepped back and the three guys lifted a large flat stone on top of the makeshift tomb. Jasper then used his nails to write something in the rock. Once he was done, he stepped back and I leaned forward to read.

'Chief Charlie Swan – A Loving Father to the End'

"Thank you. Thank you all. But where do we go now?"