Rowan barely even took three steps toward the front door to leave before Alice physically inserted herself between Rowan and the exit.
"Nope," Alice's eyes were near frantic, "You are not leaving, at least not without me."
Rowan blinked, "...Alice?"
Alice's almost-warm fingers wrapped around Rowan's wrist, "You just told me you are Dreamlinked to the Volturi Kings. You think I'm just going to let you wander around unsupervised?"
Jasper started, "Alice - "
"I'm not letting her out of my sight, Jazz."
Jasper paused, seeing how determined his wife was, and fell quiet.
Edward, meanwhile, was in a full-blown panic, pacing in tight figure eights.
"We have to hide her - no, won't work- maybe Alaska, no.... we could - Carlisle, we need a plan!"
"Edward." Carlisle placed a gentle hand on his son's shoulder, "Sit."
Edward did not sit. "They're going to come here. Aro is going to be here. Rowan, do you even know what that means? Aro reached for you."
Rowan stayed quiet because she knew exactly what it meant. She didn't need to start panicking again about being the soulmate to three vampire kings again, no thank you.
Alice made a tiny distressed noise and wrapped Rowan tightly in her arms, "Don't scare her." She glared over at Edward.
"I'm not! I'm just stating the truth."
Meanwhile, Rowan looked down at Alice's arms tightly around her, which was starting to make her a bit breathless, "Sweetie, I need to be able to breathe."
Alice reluctantly relinquished her hold on Rowan.
Before anything else could be said, the front door to the Cullen house slammed open.
"Ok, seriously! What the hell is going on!" Bella Swan marched up to Rowan, "I know something big is going on, and no one tells me anything!"
Rosalie sighed in irritation, "Oh great, another one."
Edward looked over at Bella with a pained look, "Bella, this really isn't the ti..."
"No!" Bella interrupted, planting herself beside Rowan with crossed arms. "I'm done being left out. Rowan's being weird. Alice wasn't at school. You are all generally weird, and I'm not blind." She jabbed a finger at Rowan, "So unless Rowan is secretly a government experiment or runaway princess, then somebody better start explaining, right now."
Carlisle folded his hands on his knees, where he had settled down to sit by his wife. "Bella, what do you think is happening?"
"How did she know where I was?" Rowan whispered to Alice.
Bella glanced at Rowan, "Used Dad's work computer to track your cell phone." Turning back to Carlisle, despite Rowan sputtering behind her. Bella pointed to Rowan's faintly glowing fingertips, "That, for instance, is not normal, and all you act like she's both precious and about to explode at the same time. And her aura? It feels warm, like sunshine."
Rowan looked over in surprise at Bella, "You can feel that?"
Bella shrugged, "It feels like a heartbeat in the air. How was I not going to notice that?"
"You are very perceptive for a human." Edward stared at Bella like she was a puzzle he wanted to solve.
Bella raised an eyebrow at him before turning toward Rowan, "Please, tell me what's going on, Rowan. I know you are not dangerous. I just want to understand. I just want to help."
Rowan looked into Bella's brown eyes and realized that sometimes protecting someone by keeping secrets only got them in trouble quicker. "Alright, I'll tell you."
Bella leaned forward, and Rowan's glow brightened.
"My magic is waking up, and through it, three powerful ancient kings are dreaming of me." Rowan paused, "And I think they are coming here to find me."
"Then you stay by my side. I'll protect you." Bella said confidently.
Edward stepped forward, "You don't understand what you are dealing with..."
"Shut up, Edward." Bella looked straight at Rowan, "I'm officially adopting you. No ancient magical kings will touch you. No one will take you away from me."
Alice's eyes narrowed, "She's already got me, and I'm moving into your house."
Everybody stared at Alice.
Rosalie asked slowly, "I'm sorry, what?"
Alice lifted her chin defiantly, "Rowan is not safe. Volturi dreamlinks are an omen. We don't know what stage of the bond they are in. I am moving into Charlie's house to protect her."
Rowan shook her head, "Alice, you don't have to..."
Bella laughed, "Oh, Dad is going to have an aneurysm."
Edward spoke up, "Alice, you can't just..."
"I can and I will."
Esme, the voice of reason, spoke gently, "Sweetheart, maybe have a conversation with Charlie first..."
Rowan couldn't help but laugh. Well, she supposed there were worse kinds of chaos to deal with than fiercely protective friends and adopted family members.