Darkened Sky (Chapter Ten:Rigid)
Chapter Ten: Rigid
I don't pretend to be captain weird. I just do what I do.
-Johnny Depp
“Nice to see you again to, Aro. Jane.” Edward lied. I nodded once and pasted the fakest, real smile I had. “Your still human I see.” Jane interrupted. “Why is that?”
“We have an a-” I began to say, but Edward cut me off, eying me carefully.
“Long story.”
“I think we have just enough time to hear it.” Jane smirked.
“Let's go some where more private then.” Edward whispered.
“Edward! What about Jess, Mike and Ben and Angela?”
“Text them.”
I took out my phone obediently.
Hey guys. E & I have 2 go. Alice is hurt or something.
TTYL.
B
I sent it to Jessica and Mike, they would get the message out.
O! GWS, Alice.
I beamed and put my phone back into my back pocket. It was nice of them to say Get Well Soon. Even thought it was a big lie.
“Where are we going today?” Aro questioned Edward.
“I am still unaware of our location.”
Meadow. Flashed through my mind, and I looked up.
“Bella seems to have an idea.” Jane snickered.
“Yes, Bella?” Aro turned to look at me.
“Well..I was going to suggest our meadow, Edward.”
“You two have a meadow?” Jane was trying to suppress laughter.
“That's a possibility.” Edward accepted.
“Then let's be on our way.” Aro boomed, “We don't have all day.”
Edward pulled me along with him. I could tell this was going to end terribly. Someone was going to get hurt. Or killed. I felt vulnerable again. Not that I never was not vulnerable. Yet, lately I was braver. I had more confidence, and seeing the Volturi again drained all of that feeling away from me. I slid into the Volvo, and sighed. Edward looked at me apologetic eyes. I gave in immediately.
“I am so sorry I suggested our meadow.”
“Bella. It's a meadow. Breath.”
“I am breathing.”
Edward's hands were balled into fists on the steering wheel.
“Are they still blocking their thoughts?”
“Yes.”
“Why do they have to ruin everything. I just wanted a normal day to hang out with the people that I never get to hang out with anymore. In fact, I never will hang out with them any more after I'm a vampire. This time is precious.”
“Unless you don't become a-”
“Don't even try. I'm going to be a vampire. In 2 months, 3 weeks and 5 days.”
“You've been counting?”
“No. I just did that math in my head.”
Edward rolled his eyes and smiled. Good. Smiling was good. Then Edward's phone rang and the smile vanished. Darn it.
“Hello? Yes Alice I'm well aware that the Volturi is here. They are at the house now? Well thanks for the warning about them coming all together. You didn't see it? Go talk to Carlislie about that. Whatever. Yes. You too. Okay. Bye Alice.” Edward groaned and rested his head on the seat. His golden, ocher eyes closed.
I was officially in shock. Alice didn't see the Volturi coming? Now, how is that even possible? I felt my pocket vibrate. Oops. I forgot about my phone. I picked it up, and placed it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hi Bella.”
“Oh. Er. Hi Jake. I can't really talk right now, okay?”
“Ugh. Why?”
“I'm sorta in the issue of a major problem.”
“What?” He teased. “You decide on the bridesmaid colors?”
“This isn't a joke. So shut up.” I hung up my phone and put it, once again, in my pocket. “Edward?”
“Yes love?”
“Are you aware that we are still in the parking lot of the mall?”
His eyes fluttered open and glanced around. “Oh.” He put the Volvo in drive. “Thanks, Love.
“No problem.” I added quietly.
The ride to the Cullen's was silent. Both of us wrapped up in our own thoughts. I'm not sure what he was thinking about. And I didn't want to annoy him by asking, so I kept my mouth shut. I did spend some time thinking about what he could be thinking though. The other part of time was spent on how Alice didn't see. My best guess:
They were traveling with a pack of werewolves.
My guess didn't seem that bad, actually. They could've been sneaking around by werewolves, since they know, Alice can't see them. If I was a vampire trying to sneak up on other vampires, I would do the same. The only thing that bothered me about that, it made Alice feel weak. A feeling she hadn't felt in some time now.
When we got to Edward's house, I didn't want to leave the comfort of his car. It took a lot of dazzling, and a few kisses to get me out. When we approached the door. We could see Alice awaiting our return. She wenched opened the door, and moved aside to let us in. “Ah. There he is.” Aro said, smiling. He lifted one hand as a notion to show everyone that Edward had arrived. Someone tagged me from behind and pulled me to the side of the stairs. It was Rosalie and Alice.
“Bella?” Rosalie asked in her calm, silken voice.
“Yes?”
“Can you go upstairs with Alice for a while?”
“But- I really think I should stay here. You might need me.”
“Don't worry. I will come get you when we do. Just, for a while. You might want to go upstairs.”
I didn't want to cause any more drama then what was necessary, so I climbed up the stairs with Alice. She opened the door to her room and flopped onto the bed. She was crying, repeating. “How could I not them coming?” Over and over again.
“I have an idea, on how you didn't see them.” I whispered after a few minutes of paranoia sweeping over me.
She sat up immediately. “Yes?”
“They traveled with a pack of wolves.”
She pondered the thought.
“I mean, Alice. You can't see the wolves anyways. So, they may have tugged along.”
“Treaty.”
“They can do it without being seen.”
Alice looked at me, “You know what,Bella? I think that you might be absolutely right. When I was thinking about, Edward heard. Well, read.”
I grinned, “So I'm not a total failure?”
“No. Why would you think that?”
“Because I wasn't doing anything to help the family. Just destroy it.”
Alice's laughed was enchanting.
“Bella, just because you made us rigid at first, doesn't mean you destroy us. Calm down.”
“I know, I know, but I still barley do anything.”
“Bella. You helped us stop a war against newborns. That's a whole lot.”
“I sat there being vulnerable.”
“So? You led them to an off trail by your blood, then we killed them. Easy as that, Bella. If you hadn't done that, we might still be fighting in the woods.”
“Yeah. Then Charlie would kill me if the newborns didn't.”
“Exactly. So you did help.”
“I know. I know.”
Suddenly, the door flew open. “Hey Bella. We need you.”