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BAILEY RESTED HER HEAD AGAINST the seat watching Alice. Alice had pulled her legs up on the seat, wrapping her arms around them and leaning her forehead against her knees. She rocked back and forth as she concentrated. She was in the middle of using her gift to observe Edward's actions. Bailey reached for the blind of her window, closing the shade against the brightening eastern sky.
"What's happening?" Bella mumbled.
"They've told him no," she said quietly. Her enthusiasm was gone.
Bella's voice choked in her throat with panic. "What's he going to do?"
"It was chaotic at first. I was only getting flickers, he was changing plans so quickly."
"What kind of plans?" Bella pressed.
"There was a bad hour," Alice whispered. "He'd decided to go hunting. In the city. It got very close. He changed his mind at the last minute."
"He wouldn't want to disappoint Carlisle," Bella mumbled.
"Probably," Alice agreed.
"Will there be enough time?" As Bella spoke, there was a shift in the cabin pressure. Bailey could feel the plane angling downward.
"I'm hoping so—if he sticks to his latest decision, maybe."
"What is that?"
"He's going to keep it simple. He's just going to walk out into the sun."
The Volturi couldn't possibly allow that. Not if they wanted to keep their city inconspicuous. Bailey pressed her hands together. Just what would happen if they were too late? What if Edward was killed before they even landed in Italy? She glanced at Alice, then at Bella before looking at her hands again. Would Bailey even be able to console Bella if that happened? She disappeared into herself when Edward disappeared... but if he died? It would be so much worse. What if she actually succeeded in joining him in death? Bailey shut her eyes but opened them quickly before the image of Bella falling reappeared in her head. If Bella ever died like that Bailey would be beside herself.
"We'll be too late," Bella whispered, throat closing in panic.
"Alice shook her head. "Right now, he's leaning toward the melodramatic. He wants the biggest audience possible, so he'll choose the main plaza, under the clock tower. The walls are high there. He'll wait till the sun is exactly overhead."
"So we have till noon?"
"If we're lucky. If he sticks with this decision."
The pilot came on over the intercom, announcing, first in French and then in English, their imminent landing. The seat belt lights dinged and flashed.
"How far is it from Florence to Volterra?"
"That depends on how fast you drive... guys?"
"Yes?" Bella replied, while Bailey silently looked over at Alice.
