Rising Waters//Book Two

Chapter 11:

Red Cloaks and Red Eyes

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One 11-hour flight across the earth and 2-hours of terrestrial traveling later, Volterra was finally in sight. 

After spending hours trying not to panic in an airborne steel death trap, I was easily out cold once Alice had got hold of a rental car. 

However, I am not a deep sleeper and was easily awakened by Bella and Alice's fourth iteration of the same conversation.  

"Bella, he is a werewolf. How could you even be friends with him, let alone more!?" 

"I didn't know he was a werewolf when we started hanging out..." Bella tried to defend herself. Terribly. 

Alice hadn't let her thoughts on Jacob go unspoken throughout the entire flight here, and I guess she doesn't plan on letting up anytime soon.

"And now that you know he's a dog, what now Bella?! Are you just going to go to Edward and pretend there was nothing between you and that mutt?!"

"Can we please just not go through this Alice?" Bella pleaded.

Giving up, Alice finally started paying attention to the road again, blowing out a very un-vampire-like sigh. 

As we neared the city, my brain couldn't stop spinning through endless ways this all could and probably would go terribly wrong. 

Firstly, Edward could already be dead.

That would make this entire trip worth it.

Second, Bella has a great chance of dying if she rushes around to find him half-cocked.

Thirdly, the Vultori, just in general.

As we entered the city, I immediately noticed the non-discreet red cloaks being worn by any and all individuals roaming the streets.  

"Why are they all in red?" Bella voiced her confusion.

"Saint Marcus festival. They're commemorating the expulsion of vampires from the city." 

Oh, that's hilarious.

Alice continued on, rattling Bella nerves even more, "It's the perfect setting. The Vultori will never let him get far enough to reveal himself."

"We have 5 minutes!" By this point, Bella was about to start pulling her hair out.

The streets were becoming more densely populated the closer we got to the city center and I knew we weren't going to make it much further with the car. The Polizia di Stato seemed to be thinking along the same lines, as we were soon met with a barricade of which behind lied crowds of people.

Bella jumped out of the car within seconds of stopping while I struggled to move the seat forward so I could get out. 

"Alice?!"

Alice tried to talk her through a rough plan. "Bella you're the only one he can't see coming. If I go he'll read my thoughts, he'll think I'm lying and rush into it. You need to find the clock tower." 

I finally climbed out of the car just as Bella rushed away in a panicked flurry in the wrong direction of the city center. 

Trying to follow Bella would be useless, and the buildings in the city were too condensed to find the clocktower on the ground. 

"Higher vantage point it is," I muttered aloud before sprinting towards a three-story building that led out to a balcony.

Hurrying up the stairs and toward the balcony, I quickly stepped up onto the railing and jumped across the alleyway onto another roof that inclined toward a group of even higher buildings.