𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬 (𝐄𝐝𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧)

𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞

"What is he thinking," Alice cries suddenly, her body trembling in distress. "I have to call Carlisle," she mutters so fast Harley almost doesn't hear her. She grabs a small silver phone from her purse and her fingers dial the numbers so fast they are a blur.

Quinn can just sit and watch, her mind running wild with endless possibilities.

"Rose? I need to talk to Carlisle, now," her voice whips through the words. "Fine, as soon as he's back. No, I'll be on a plane. Look, have you heard anything from Edward?" She listens then with an expression that slowly grows from confused to appalled with each passing second. Her mouth opens into a little O of horror, and the phone shakes in her hand. "Why," she gasps. "Why would you do that, Rosalie?"

Whatever the answer is, her face instantly morphs into fury.

"Well you're wrong on both counts, Rose, so that would be a problem, don't you think," she bites back acidly. "Yes, that's right she's perfectly fine. I was wrong, it's a long story... No, you're wrong about that part, too, which is why I'm calling." She hisses. "Yeah, that's exactly what I saw." Her voice is beginning to grow very flat and hard. "It's a bit late for that now, Rose. Save your remorse for someone who believes it." She snaps the phone shut.

Her eyes are tortured as she turns to look at Harley, who hasn't moved an inch.

"Harley..." she moans and sinks in her seat. Harleen is instantly alarmed, her eyes are practically budging out of their sockets — she has never seen a vampire in such position.

"What, Alice," she asks, beginning to grow frantic. "What is it? Tell me."

Alice's voice sounds helpless. "It's Edward. He thinks you're dead."

The horror dawns on Harleen slowly. And once it all fully sinks in, she instantly sits up in her seat and throws the plastic bag back into the backseat, before clipping in her seatbelt. "We need to get ta him," she says in her thick Brooklyn accent, blank in the face and reaching out for Alice's phone. "Lemme use yer phone real quick, I need ta call him an' let 'im know I'm still alive." She can't abide Edward thinking that. Even if he doesn't want her anymore, she knows it would hurt him to think that she is gone.

"Harley, he won't answer," Alice whispers, but gives her the phone nonetheless. "He believed her."

The room feels like it is starting to spin slightly on its axis. "Believed who," she questions loudly, practically yelling, but Alice says nothing. "Alice, who did he believe?!"

Alice shakes her head after a moment. "Rose called him and told him about my vision, about how I thought you were dead," she spits.

None of this is making any sense to her. "But, wait, didn't you guys tell her that you were told I was locked up? An' that you an' Carlisle were workin' on gettin' me out?" It makes sense that she would have known this.

Alice Cullen just shuts her eyes closed and lets out a deep, unnecessary sigh. "Carlisle and I didn't want to tell any of my siblings that there a possibility that you were alive, because we didn't want to give them false hope. We, ourselves, didn't believe Waller when she told us over the phone."

Okay, that explains it... "So, what now? What else did he say?"

"Rosalie said that he's going to Italy."