I had been scared before. I had been angry before. This was different.
This was slow, boiling anger, the kind that settled over every thought I had and colored all of them. I was honestly surprised I was still shaped like a man and not a tiger.
That probably said something about personal growth. Or shock. Possibly both.
My examination of that miracle was interrupted by Edward speaking one word.
"Witnesses."
I looked around and watched the room change.
Bella's arms tightened around Renesmee. Rosalie's mouth went flat.
Leah made a questioning sound.
Harry was pressed against her leg. Nancy stood half behind him, one small hand tangled in Leah's shirt. Seth lay in wolf form beside them, head up, ears forward, body between the children and the door.
Carlisle's voice was careful. "What do you mean?"
Edward spoke slowly, as if he was still working through the idea.
"The Volturi are bringing witnesses. So we need witnesses of our own. People who can see the children. Hear their hearts. Watch them move, breathe, react, change in ways no immortal child ever could. Watch them learn. People who can say they are not what Irina believed she saw."
Bella's face went intense.
Renesmee looked from Edward to Carlisle to me, far too still in Bella's arms. Too much understanding. Not enough childhood.
Carlisle closed his eyes. "Can we ask that in good conscience? To have them come here, defend us, and risk becoming enemies of the Volturi?"
Rosalie answered before anyone else could.
"Yes."
Carlisle opened his eyes, surprised that Rosalie had spoken so quickly.
Rosalie's expression did not soften. "You would go. If this were someone else's family and someone else's child, you would go. And you would ask us to do the right thing, too."
That was a good point.
I kept it to myself, mostly because Rosalie did not need encouragement to continue being correct at people.
Esme reached for Carlisle's arm. "We can ask them to witness. Nothing more. Rose is right. We would do that much for any of our friends."
Bella's hand moved over Renesmee's hair. "Would it make a difference? The Volturi could say they are lying or mistaken."
Edythe shook her head. "Not if we ask the right witnesses. There are some among our kind who know lies when they hear them, either through a gift or through long experience."
"The wolves will stand with us," Leah said.
Her voice was calm, which was how I knew she was furious.
"Jacob will not abandon Ren, and his pack will not either. Sam's pack will come because his does."
Carlisle's face tightened. "Leah…"
"I know," she said. "We are not looking to start a fight if we do not have to. But there is no reason not to be ready if they insist on it."
Jacob's jaw set. "She's right."
Jasper's gaze moved between Leah and Jacob, measuring. "A solid offense can make a good defense much better."
That was not what I expected him to say.
Neither, apparently, was it what Carlisle expected. His eyes moved to Jasper.
Jasper's face stayed calm. "The wolves matter. If this becomes a fight, they matter a great deal."
Leah's expression did not soften, but something in her shoulders eased by a fraction.
Jasper continued, "But Edward is right. The first problem is not the fight. It is the story Aro intends to tell before the fight begins, and getting them to listen."
Rosalie's mouth tightened. "And after."
"Yes," Jasper said. "After matters too. We do not want the Volturi to walk away only to try again quieter, with no witnesses."
Edward nodded slowly. "If Aro brings witnesses, he wants to control what they witness and what they spread in turn."
"So we force the witnesses to see what we want," Edythe said.
Jasper looked back to Alice. "Which means witnesses first. People who can stand there and make the accusation harder to carry."
Leah's jaw flexed.
She still looked like she wanted to argue.
Then Harry's hand tightened in her shirt, and she did not.
"Fine," she said. "Witnesses first."
Jacob folded his arms. "But not witnesses who fold the second some red-eyed royal says boo."
"No," Rosalie said. "Obviously not."
Carlisle looked pained.
I understood.
I even sympathized.
But sympathy was not enough to make me disagree.
Alice had been silent through most of it.
That alone should have worried me. Alice was rarely silent because she had nothing to say.
She sat beside Jasper, his hand wrapped around hers. Her eyes were open, but not settled on anything in the room.
Edward noticed before anyone else.
"Alice?"
Her fingers tightened around Jasper's.
Jasper looked at her once, and something passed between them without words.
Then Alice looked at Edward.
For half a second, her expression went blank.
Not confused.
Blank.
Edward's face changed immediately.
"Why are you suddenly translating your favorite fan fiction into Sanskrit?"
Alice stood.
Jasper stood with her.
She did not answer Edward right away. She looked at Jasper.
"The gray bag."
Jasper did not ask.
He moved.
Gone up the stairs before my next breath.
That got everyone's attention.
Bella's arms tightened around Renesmee. "Alice?"
Alice looked at Edward again.
"I have to leave."
The room went still.
Not shocked exactly.
The kind of still that came when everyone understood too fast and hated what they understood.
Edward's voice was quiet. "Because of me."
"Because of Aro," Alice corrected.
Edward did not look comforted.
No one did.
Alice kept her voice steady. "If I stay near you, you will see too much. You will not mean to. You will not try to. But you will. And if Aro touches you, he will know what you know."
Bella's face hardened. "Then he does not touch Edward."
"That is the goal," Alice said. "It cannot be the whole plan."
No one argued.
That was the problem with plans involving Aro. They all seemed to include some version of hoping a centuries-old monster politely missed the obvious.
Carlisle stepped toward Alice. "What did you see?"
Alice shook her head. "I cannot explain it here."
Edward's jaw tightened.
"Because I will hear it."
"Yes."
He closed his eyes.
Alice's face softened. "Edward—"
"No." His voice was low. "You are right."
Jasper came back down the stairs with a dark gray duffel over one shoulder.
Small.
Plain.
Too ordinary for the way every vampire in the room looked at it.
A travel bag, probably. Money. Identification. Passports. The kind of thing vampires kept ready when a life had to end before sunrise.
Alice glanced at him.
He nodded.
Then she looked at me.
"I need to speak to Thomas."
Leah's head turned sharply. "Why?"
"Because Edward cannot follow through him."
The room went quieter.
Edward flinched.
I hated that.
I hated even more that Alice was right to say it.
Leah's eyes narrowed. "Speak to him here."
"I cannot."
"Then no."
Alice turned fully toward her. "I am not taking him with me."
That mattered.
It did not make Leah relax, but it changed the room by a fraction.
"One conversation," Alice said. "Far enough away that Edward cannot hear me thinking through it. Then he comes back."
Edythe's gaze moved to me. "Thomas?"
"I am coming back," I said.
Leah did not look away from Alice. "How long?"
"Minutes," Alice said.
"Two," Leah said.
Alice almost smiled.
Almost.
"Probably more than two."
"Do not test me right now."
"I would not dream of it."
That sounded exactly like something Alice would dream of doing under better circumstances.
Nancy's fingers tightened in Leah's shirt.
Harry looked at me. "Come back."
My throat went tight.
"I will."
Alice reached for my wrist more slowly this time.
I let her take it.
Then she pulled me out into the cold.
Jasper followed.
No one stopped us.
That was probably the worst part.
The forest swallowed the light behind us. Alice moved fast, but not as if she were trying to take me across the world with her. She was only putting distance between herself and Edward.
When the house was gone behind the trees and the sound of the room had faded, Jasper said, "Here."
Alice stopped.
I pulled my wrist free and turned on her.
"All right. Talk."
She did not waste time.
Good.
I had very little patience left for mystery as a lifestyle.
"You need to keep them moving after I leave."
I stared at her. "That is your explanation?"
"It is the part you need first."
"Try again."
Alice looked back toward the house.
"They can know why I left," she said. "They should know. That part has to be true enough to survive Edward."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning Aro can read it from him and still misunderstand the important part."
That was not comforting.
It was clear, though.
Unfortunately, clear was usually worse.
"They can know I am keeping my visions away from Aro," Alice continued. "They can know I am staying out of his reach. They can know I am trying to keep paths open."
Her eyes returned to mine.
"They cannot know which path."
I looked at Jasper.
He said nothing.
Of course.
I looked back at Alice. "And you are telling me because Edward cannot hear me."
"Partly."
"That word is doing a lot of work today."
"Yes."
I waited.
Alice exhaled, though she did not need to.
"I cannot see you."
"I know."
"I cannot see Leah either."
"I know that too."
"But I can see around both of you."
I frowned. "That sounds fake."
"It is not."
"Convenient answer."
"It is a very inconvenient answer."
Jasper's expression said he agreed with her.
Traitor.
Alice stepped closer. "When you or Leah are involved, the future has holes in it. I cannot see what either of you do. I cannot see what you decide. But I can see how other people respond to the space you leave."
The anger in me shifted.
Not gone.
Listening.
Alice's voice stayed quick and low. "I see Carlisle answering pressure I cannot see. Rosalie agreeing with arguments no visible person made. Edward defending strategies with no visible source. Edythe reacting to a silence that has Leah's shape."
"That sounds like Leah."
"Yes. Some of it is."
"Then why me?"
"Because Leah's first instinct is to put herself between the children and the threat." Alice looked toward the house again. "And she should. That is where she is most needed."
I did not argue.
I could not.
"And me?"
Alice's eyes met mine. "You ask what happens when standing between them is not enough."
The words landed hard.
I did not like them.
I liked even less that I could not deny them.
"You looked at the Volturi coming with witnesses and thought our witnesses needed to be more than believable," Alice said. "They needed to be hard to silence."
"That was not a plan."
"No. It was a direction."
"That sounds nicer than it is."
"It usually does."
Jasper finally spoke. "She is right."
I looked at him. "You are supposed to be my friend."
"I am."
"Then be less annoying while agreeing with terrifying things."
His mouth twitched. "I will work on it."
Alice moved on. "You need to push that direction while I am gone. Edward will understand some of it. Rosalie will understand most of it. Leah already understands the part that matters. Carlisle will resist because he should resist. That is who he is."
"And I am supposed to kick the stained glass again."
Alice blinked.
Jasper looked briefly amused.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing. Keep going."
"The witnesses matter," Alice said. "Not as cover for a fight. Not as bait. They have to be real witnesses, or Aro wins the story before he arrives. But witnesses who can be bullied, isolated, or killed quietly will not be enough."
"So who?"
"Remember the names."
"Fine," I said. "Names."
"Maggie," Alice said. "Siobhan. Liam. Garrett. Mary. Randall. Peter. Charlotte. Benjamin. Alistair."
I repeated them once.
Alice shook her head.
"Again."
"Maggie. Siobhan. Liam. Garrett. Mary. Randall. Peter. Charlotte. Benjamin. Alistair."
"Good."
"That is a strange party."
"It is not a party."
"Clearly. Emmett is not in charge of invitations."
Alice did not smile.
Fair.
"Maggie matters because lies matter," she said. "Siobhan because possibility matters. Benjamin because power changes what Aro thinks he can control. Garrett because conviction is contagious if it survives long enough. Peter and Charlotte because Jasper's name opens that door. Mary and Randall because Rosalie can reach them better than Carlisle. Alistair because accuracy matters even when courage fails."
"And the Amazons?"
"I will send them."
That was clearer than I expected.
"Zafrina?"
"Yes. Senna if I can. Kachiri if the path bends right."
"And you?"
"I go farther."
"Toward what?"
Alice looked south.
Not toward the road.
Farther.
Toward heat and rain and a jungle that still lived in the back of my memory.
"I am looking for something I cannot see clearly yet," she said. "Something the Volturi will not be able to unsee once I find it."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the only one that will not damage the path."
"I am starting to hate paths."
"I have hated them longer."
That shut me up for half a second.
Only half.
I stared at her.
She did not look away.
There was no comfort in her face. No attempt to dress it up. Alice had made the calculation and hated it, but she had made it.
Jasper stood beside her with the gray bag in his hand and the expression of a man who would follow her into hell and then complain about the décor only if it made her smile.
I hated both of them a little.
Mostly because I loved them.
"What else?" I asked.
Alice's voice softened. "Do not let Carlisle choose only the harmless."
That one hurt.
Because I understood it instantly.
"Harmless witnesses make him feel better."
"Yes."
"But they die just as easily."
"Yes."
I looked back toward the house, though I could not see it.
Leah was there.
Edythe.
Harry.
Nancy.
Everyone I would rather die than gamble with.
"Witnesses first," I said.
"Yes."
"But not witnesses who fold."
"Yes."
"And if anyone asks whether we are preparing for a fight?"
"You say we are preparing to survive one if Aro starts it."
"That is going to go over beautifully."
"Probably not."
"At least you are honest."
"I try."
"Alice."
She looked at me.
For a second, the urgency fell away, and I saw just her.
Terrified.
Determined.
Already gone in every way that mattered except the one that hurt.
I stepped forward and hugged her.
She froze for half a breath.
Then her arms came around me hard.
"You are not allowed to make this noble and stupid," I said quietly.
Her laugh broke against my shoulder.
It was barely a sound.
"I thought noble and stupid was your department."
"Shared family trait."
She held on for one more second, then let go.
I turned to Jasper.
"You."
His eyebrow lifted faintly.
"You are my best friend, which means I get to say this without pretending it is polite."
His mouth twitched. "This should be good."
"Bring her back."
His face sobered. "That is the plan."
"No." I stepped closer. "YOU bring her back. That requires you to be with her when she returns."
Something moved behind his eyes.
That one landed.
Good.
"You do not get to turn this into some heroic last ride because you think she matters more than you."
For a long moment, Jasper said nothing.
Then his mouth curved, faint and sad.
"You have been spending too much time with Leah."
"She is usually right about stupid men."
"She is."
"Then listen."
He nodded once.
Alice stepped back.
"You should go back."
"You are leaving now?"
"Yes."
"Just like that?"
"If I go back, I may not leave."
That was the most honest answer she could have given.
I hated it.
"Send the Amazons," I said.
"I will."
"And find the thing they cannot unsee."
"We will."
Then they were gone.
Not walking.
Not running in any human sense.
Just gone.
I stood alone in the wet forest with ten names in my head and the terrible feeling that someone had just handed me responsibility I had not agreed to carry.
For a moment, I did not move.
Then I turned back.
"Where are they?" Edward asked.
His voice was too controlled.
That was bad.
Bella stood beside him, Renesmee in her arms.
Carlisle looked past me, as if Alice and Jasper might step out of the dark if he stared hard enough.
They did not.
Edythe's eyes locked onto mine.
Leah was standing with the twins behind her again.
Always behind her now.
"What happened?" she asked.
I took one breath.
Then I gave them the part of the truth Alice had allowed.
"Alice left because she cannot stay near Edward without risking Aro seeing too much through him."
Edward went motionless.
Bella's face tightened.
Carlisle closed his eyes.
No one looked surprised for long.
They were too smart for that.
Too used to impossible things becoming obvious once someone said them out loud.
"She blocked me," Edward said.
His voice was flat.
"Yes."
Carlisle's hand tightened around the back of a chair. "And Jasper?"
"With her."
Esme whispered, "Of course."
It was grief shaped by understanding.
"They will come back?" Bella asked.
I looked at her.
Then at Renesmee.
I hated Alice for making me answer this.
"She said they would be here the day it matters."
Bella's eyes flashed. "That is not the same thing."
"No," I said. "It is not."
Edythe took one step toward me.
"What else?"
Of course she heard it.
Of course she did.
I met her eyes.
"She is looking for something she cannot see clearly yet. Something the Volturi will not be able to unsee once she finds it."
Edward's face tightened.
"You know more."
"No."
Not a lie.
Not really.
I knew there was more.
I did not know what it was.
"That is all she gave me about where she is going."
Carlisle looked at me carefully. "And what did she give you about us?"
There it was.
The part I could say.
"Names."
Carlisle's gaze sharpened. "Names?"
I nodded.
"Maggie," I said. "Siobhan. Liam. Garrett. Mary. Randall. Peter. Charlotte. Benjamin. Alistair."
Carlisle went still.
So did Edward.
Rosalie's eyes narrowed.
Leah's chin lifted.
"Who are they?" Bella asked.
"Witnesses," Edward said quietly.
Rosalie looked at me. "Only witnesses?"
I looked at her.
Then at the children.
"No."
Carlisle's eyes closed.
"Thomas."
"I know," I said.
"Do you?"
"No," I admitted. "Probably not. But I know this: if the witnesses cannot survive long enough to speak, then we have not saved anyone. We just gave the Volturi a larger audience for the execution."
No one moved.
Leah made a low sound.
Agreement.
Anger.
Both.
Rosalie's expression said finally.
Jasper would have been proud.
That made me angry all over again.
"Alice said not to let you choose only the harmless," I said.
The words hurt Carlisle.
I saw it.
I hated it.
I said them anyway.
Carlisle was quiet for a long moment.
Then he nodded once.
Small.
Devastating.
"Then we call them as witnesses."
Rosalie lifted her chin. "And we do not pretend witnesses cannot bleed."
Carlisle's eyes moved to her.
For once, he did not argue.
"No," he said quietly. "We do not pretend."
That was not agreement to fight.
Not exactly.
But it was a crack in the door where survival could get one hand through.
It would have to be enough.
For now.
Carlisle picked up the phone.
"We begin with Siobhan."
Esme moved beside him. "I will call her with you."
"Rosalie," Carlisle said.
"Mary and Randall," she answered before he could ask.
"Emmett?"
His grin was grim. "Garrett. Apparently I am supposed to tell him not to come."
"Be convincing," Edward murmured.
Emmett looked offended. "I am always convincing."
"No," Rosalie said.
"Frequently?"
"No."
"Occasionally with furniture?"
"Yes."
"Good enough."
Bella looked down at Renesmee.
Then at Edward.
"What about Amun?"
Edward's mouth tightened.
"I will call him."
Carlisle looked at him.
Something unspoken passed through the room.
Edward could call Amun.
Edward could explain.
But Alice had cut him out of a vision and run into the dark rather than let him know everything she knew.
That had meaning now.
Edward saw it in their faces.
His jaw tightened.
Then he gave one small nod.
It cost him.
Good.
Let it.
Some costs saved lives.
Edythe had not taken her eyes off me.
"What else?" she asked.
I looked at her and hated every possible answer.
"Alice said she would send the Amazons if she reached them."
Leah's head turned sharply.
Edythe's face changed.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Bella looked between us. "The Amazons?"
"Zafrina," Edward said quietly.
His voice still sounded scraped raw from Alice leaving, but he forced it steady. "Senna, possibly Kachiri."
Bella's eyes narrowed. "Gift?"
Leah answered before Edward could.
"Illusions."
Bella looked at her.
"Not tricks," Edythe said. "Zafrina can blind an entire field if she chooses."
Bella went very still.
Edward nodded. "She can make you see anything. Or nothing."
Renesmee's fingers tightened in Bella's shirt.
"Nothing?" Bella asked.
"No sight," Edward said. "No room. No enemy. No battlefield."
Bella's expression shifted.
Then hardened.
"Jane."
"Possibly," Edward said.
Leah's jaw tightened. "Possibly is not yes."
"No."
Edythe's voice was smooth. "Against Jane, I will accept possibly."
No one argued.
Not even me.
Especially not me.
Bella looked at me then.
"What about Thomas?"
I sighed.
Of course we had arrived at my defective supernatural warranty again.
"Zafrina's gift did not work on me," I said.
Bella stared.
"It did not?"
"No. Which was very convenient for seeing the terrifying jungle vampire while everyone else was having involuntary scenery changes."
Leah's mouth tightened. "It was not convenient."
"It was a little convenient."
"It was terrifying."
"It was also useful."
"That is usually how things become terrifying."
Carlisle's expression had gone thoughtful in a way that made me nervous.
"Edward cannot hear him," he said. "Zafrina could not blind him. Alice sees only the space around him."
"Wonderful," I said. "I have become a theme."
Rosalie's smile was sharp. "A very inconvenient one."
"Again, feeling praised."
"You should not."
"I never learn."
Leah's shoulder pressed against mine.
Not amused now.
Warning.
"If Zafrina comes," she said, "do not turn him into a plan."
No one answered quickly enough.
Her eyes flashed.
"I mean it."
Carlisle's voice softened. "Leah—"
"No." Her hand found mine and held hard. "If the choice is between Thomas doing something stupid and the rest of you dying, he will do something stupid before any of us finish saying no."
I opened my mouth.
Leah pointed at me without looking. "Do not."
I closed it.
Edythe's voice was soft. "She is right."
That did not help.
Mostly because she was.
Outside, the mist pressed white against the windows.
Somewhere beyond it, Alice and Jasper were already gone.
Not abandoning us.
Not exactly.
Not in any way that made the empty space hurt less.
Inside, the phone began to ring.
The Volturi were bringing witnesses to prove they had a reason to kill us.
So we began calling witnesses to prove our children were alive.
And quietly, beneath that truth, we began choosing people who might still be standing if proof was not enough.