Page 30 (1/2)

Carlisle and Edward had not been able to catch up with Irina before her trail disappeared into the sound They’d swum to the other bank to see if her trail had picked up in a straight line, but there was no trace of her for miles in either direction on the eastern shore

It was all my fault She had come, as Alice had seen, to ered by my camaraderie with Jacob I wished I’d noticed her earlier, before Jacob had phased I wished we’d gone hunting somewhere else

There wasn’t much to be done Carlisle had called Tanya with the disappointing news Tanya and Kate hadn’t seen Irina since they’d decided to coht that Irina had come so close and yet not returned home; it wasn’t easy for theht be I wondered if this brought back hard o

Alice was able to catch a few gli too concrete She wasn’t going back to Denali, as far as Alice could tell The picture was hazy All Alice could see was that Irina was visibly upset; she wandered in the snoathed wilderness - to the north? To the east? - with a devastated expression She rieving

Days passed and, though of course I forgot nothing, Irina and her pain s to think of noould leave for Italy in just a few days When I got back, we’d all be off to South Aone over a hundred ti their legends as well as we could at the source Now that it was accepted that Jacob would coured prominently in the plans - it was unlikely that the people who believed in vampires would speak to any of us about their stories If we dead-ended with the Ticunas, there were many closely related tribes in the area to research Carlisle had some old

friends in the Aht have inforestion as to where else we o for answers It was unlikely that the three Aends of vampire hybrids themselves, as they were all fe our search would take

I hadn’t told Charlie about the longer trip yet, and I stewed about what to say to him while Edward and Carlisle’s discussion went on How to break the news to hiht?

I stared at Renesmee while I debated internally She was curled up on the sofa now, her breathing sloith heavy sleep, her tangled curls splayed wildly around her faceUsually, Edward and I took her back to our cottage to put her to bed, but tonight we lingered with the fa session

Meanwhile, E possibilities The Auars and panthers, for example Emmett had a whi what they would pack Jacob was off with Sas up for his own absence

Aliceroohtening Es Esme’s vases on the console at the moment I could see from the way her face fluctuated - aware, then blank, then aware again - that she was searching the future I assuh the blind spots that Jacob and Renes for us in South Ao, Alice; she’s not our concern," and a cloud of serenity stole silently and invisibly through the rooain

She stuck her tongue out at Jasper and then lifted one crystal vase that was filled hite and red roses and turned toward the kitchen There was just the barest hint of wilt to one of the white flowers, but Alice seemed intent on utter perfection as a distraction to her lack of vision tonight

Staring at Renesain, I didn’t see it when the vase slipped froers I only heard the whoosh of the air whistling past the crystal, and my eyes flickered up in tiainst the edge of the kitchen’s mented crystal bounced and skittered in every direction with an un, all eyes on Alice’s back

My first illogical thought was that Alice was playing some joke on us Because there was no way that Alice could have dropped the vase by accident I could have darted across the room to catch the vase in plenty of tiet it And hoould it fall through her fingers in the first place? Her perfectly sure fingers

I had never seen a va by accident Ever

And then Alice was facing us, twisting in a move so fast it didn’t exist

Her eyes were halfway here and halfway locked on the future, wide, staring, filling her thin face till they see out of a grave froony of her gaze

I heard Edward gasp; it was a broken, half-choked sound

"What?"Jasper growled, leaping to her side in a blurred rush of rabbed her shoulders and shook her sharply She seemed to rattle silently in his hands "What Alice?"

Emmett moved into my peripheral vision, his teeth bared while his eyes darted toward the , anticipating an attack

There was only silence from Esme, Carlisle, and Rose, ere frozen just as I was

Jasper shook Alice again "What is it?"

"They’re coether, perfectly synchronized "All of them"

Silence

For once, I was the quickest to understand - because soered my own vision It was only the distant memory of a dreah thick gauze In host of lint of their ruby eyes in the shrouded ie, or the shine of their sharp wet teeth, but I knehere the gleaht ca need to protect the precious thing behind me

I wanted to snatch Renesmee up into my arms, to hide her behind my skin and hair, to make her invisible But I couldn’t even turn to look at her I felt not like stone but ice For the first time since I’d been reborn a vampire, I felt cold

I barely heard the confirmation of my fears I didn’t need it I already knew

"The Volturi," Alice roaned at the same time

"Why?" Alice whispered to herself "How?"

"When?" Edhispered

"Why?" Esme echoed

"When?"Jasper repeated in a voice like splintering ice

Alice’s eyes didn’t blink, but it was as if a veil covered them; they became perfectly blank Only her ," she and Edward said together Then she spoke alone "There’s snow on the forest, snow on the town Little more than a month"

"Why?" Carlisle was the one to ask this time

Esme answered "They must have a reason Maybe to see "

"This isn’t about Bella," Alice said hollowly "They’re all couard, even the wives"

"The wives never leave the tower," Jasper contradicted her in a flat voice "Never Not during the southern rebellion Not when the Romanians tried to overthrow the the i now," Edhispered

"But why?" Carlisle said again "We’ve done nothing! And if we had, what could we possibly do that would bring f/?/sdown on us?"

"There are so many of us," Edward answered dully "They must want to make sure that" He didn’t finish

"That doesn’t answer the crucial question! Why?"

I felt I knew the answer to Carlisle’s question, and yet at the same time I didn’t Renesmee was the reason why, I was sure So that they would come for her My subconscious had warnedher It felt oddly expected now As if I’d somehoays known that the Volturi would come to take my happiness from me

But that still didn’t answer the question

"Go back, Alice," Jasper pleaded "Look for the trigger Search"

Alice shook her head slowly, her shoulders sagging "It ca for the for Irina She wasn’t where I expected her to be" Alice trailed off, her eyes drifting again She stared at nothing for a long second

And then her head jerked up, her eyes hard as flint I heard Edward catch his breath

"She decided to go to theo to the Volturi And then they will decide It’s as if they’re waiting for her Like their decision was already ain as we digested this What would Irina tell the Volturi that would result in Alice’s appalling vision?

"Can we stop her?" Jasper asked

"There’s no way She’s al, but I wasn’t paying attention to the discussion now All ether inWhat had she seen? A vampire and a ho were best friends I’d been focused on that ie, one that would obviously explain her reaction But that was not all that she’d seen

She’d also seen a child An exquisitely beautiful child, showing off in the falling snow, clearly more than human

Irina the orphaned sisters Carlisle had said that losing their mother to the Volturi’s justice had made Tanya, Kate, and Irina purists when it cao, Jasper had said the words hi the immortal children The i taboo

With Irina’s past, how could she apply any other reading to what she’d seen that day in the narrow field? She

had not been close enough to hear Renes from her body Renesmee’s rosy cheeks could have been a trick on our part for all she knew