Waxing Gibbous

Sentenced to Die (A)

I was upstairs with Rosalie, lying in our bed. Demetri was taking a nap downstairs with Leah keeping an eye over him, though she was probably asleep too.

The whole family was preparing for the trip. Edward and Carlisle were deep in planning how to approach, Emmett, Lucia and Jasper were more excited in the hunting plans. The Amazon offered a change from our normal quarry. Jaguars and panthers, for example. Emmett had a whim to wrestle with an anaconda. Esme was planning on what to pack.

Rosalie had been busy packing our bags for the trip to Canada, but I stole her away. "relax" I whispered. "I've taken this trip many times, I know what to do"

"what if they don't accept him? What if they don't know?"

"shh. Rose, it won't hurt to ask."

"Let it go, Alice; she's not our concern," I heard Jasper say. I wasn't too concerned as I was relishing in the closeness I got with Rosalie.

I only heard the whoosh of the air whistling past the crystal then the smashing of crystals on the floor. Rosalie and I shared a look before zooming down the stairs to the living room.

Alice was facing us, her eyes were halfway here and halfway locked on the future, wide, staring, filling her thin face till they seemed to overflow it. Looking into her eyes was like looking out of a grave from the inside; I was buried in the terror and despair and agony 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 movement, crushing the broken crystal under his feet. He grabbed 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 window, anticipating an attack. There was only silence from Esme, Carlisle, and Rose, who were frozen just as I was.

Jasper shook Alice again. "What is it?"

"They're coming for us," Alice and Edward whispered together, perfectly synchronized. "All of them."

Silence.

In an instant Rosalie moved to Demetri, Leah hadn't moved an inch afraid to wake him up, but I could see the tremor of her hands. She handed Rose the sleeping boy before running off. I ran to Rose, looking down at the boy... my boy.

"The Volturi," Alice moaned.

"All of them," Edward groaned at the same time.

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

"When?" Edward whispered.

"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 mouth held on to her expression of horror.

"Not long," 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 coming - Aro, Caius, Marcus, every member of the guard, 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 them. Not even when they were hunting the immortal children. Never."