Almost Impossible Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The phone call had gone better than I thought, at least on my part. Finding out it was in fact the Volturi who were coming was an entirely different thing. I was terrified, not just for myself, but for everyone. One stupid incident led to more stupid ones and that leads to possibly many deaths. It took me a while to calm myself down enough to go home.

Once I did finally get home, it was easy to stay calm while distracting myself. I cooked dinner like normal, but this time watching how much I made. Didn't want Charlie to start thinking again. It all felt pretty normal; I could tell Charlie was ready to ask me another question, but he never did and I was glad.



After dinner, I did the dishes and put them away, cleaning the rest of the kitchen. I went up stairs and straightened up my room, though it didn't really need it since I was hardly home. At some point, I dozed off and woke up to hearing silence. I focused a little harder and I could hear Charlie in his room asleep. My nervousness kicked in again as I looked at the clock and realized it was time to go. I could only hope Charlie wouldn't wake up.

I changed my clothes, putting on something lighter and silently walked downstairs. It was dark and I was glad I didn't trip, not that I've done that a whole lot lately. I've never snuck out like this. The only other times I snuck out were with Edward and he jumped out the window with me on his back. With my luck, the front door would shut loudly or something and Charlie would realize I was gone as soon as I left.

Once I got out the door and walked away far enough quietly, I smiled and sighed. Just as I went to take another step a figure appeared out of the trees, I gasped, jumping backwards.

"Sorry Bells," Jake laughed quietly.

I sighed. "It's ok. Just a little amazed I made it out," I whispered.

"Yeah. Guess it's a good thing you're not as clumsy as you were before," he said, laughing louder.

"Shut it." And I laughed too.

"Well... Let's get this over with."

"Ok."

I walked over into the trees, off to the side of my house, and stripped down to phase. Just as I tied my clothes to my ankle, I looked up, caught Jake's eyes on me, and instantly phased. He started laughing, harder than before.

Sorry Bells, Jake said.

Yeah whatever, I laughed. Glad I couldn't blush in wolf form.

I was glad he didn't decide to share the image with everyone else. They were all pretty quiet; I could tell they were nervous too.

Is he there yet? I asked. I could see that some of the pack was surrounding the clearing already.

I think he's coming. I can't really see him, but I smell him, Quil answered.

I ran a little faster, hoping to get there and get it all over with faster. Jake ran by my side. He was focused on staying calm. I could tell it was hard work.

When we finally got to the meeting area, I could see him. He looked the same as always. I don't why I expected different, but he just looked sad. I felt my heart ache again and decided then would be a good time to phase back, so I did once I got over to the trees far enough away from everyone.

I started to walk over to where Edward was standing, but Jake caught up with me, causing me to walk slower. I wanted to remind him everything was ok, but I didn't want to argue.

Edward was just standing there alone and for a moment, I was curious why the others didn't come. I wondered if he had even told them yet.

"Hello Edward," I said once I was near him, stopping about three feet away.

"Hello Bella," he whispered. I could tell he was trying to keep his feelings felt locked up, but he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"One quick question first," I said suddenly. "Was the vision why you came to see me the other day?" I wasn't even sure why I had asked.

"No. I just wanted to talk to you."

The pain in his voice made my heart ache even more. I hated to see him in this kind of pain. I could see it in his eyes too clearly; I hated it. I hated knowing I was causing it and that there was not one thing I could do to fix it. I felt the tears start to build up in my eyes just as Jake cleared his through causing me to focus again. Maybe I wasn't as ok with it all as I had thought.

"So Alice did see the Volturi." It was a dumb thing to say, but I just needed to talk instead of think.

"Yes, they are coming. I actually was on my way to see you, to tell you when you called," he told me.

My strength lost the battle and the tears started to flow down my cheeks as I looked down to hide it. I don't know if was from Edward or from knowing that the Volturi are coming for me; most likely both.

Edward moved slightly, starting to reach his arms out to me, but Jake moved quickly in between us and I heard a quiet growl. Edward reacted by stepping in closer to him and letting out a snarling sound.

"Stop it!" I almost growled myself. Edward eyed me, but didn't say anything and looked back at Jacob.

They both straightened up and moved back, not taking their eyes off each other.

"Edward, do you know when they are coming?" I sniffed and wiped the tears away with the back of my hands, trying to focus again.

"It's not clear yet. They have only made the decision to come, but not when," he said.

"Yeah, I know how that works," I mumbled just as I was starting to catch a new scent entering the area.

I jerked my head from side to side, trying to figure out what it was and trying not to panic, but once I looked back at Edward, I could see Alice standing behind him with a very slight, cautious smile on her face.

Before I could even give it a second thought, I ran to her. I could hear the surrounding wolves react, but I didn't care. I threw myself at her, hugging her has hard as I could.

"Oh Alice," I said, but then my nose couldn't take it anymore. "Wow." I cringed, covering my nose and laughed. It was a nice cover up to the new tears that were starting to fall.

"Bella, I've missed you," she said still holding onto my hand and laughing with me.

"Oh Alice, I'm so sorry. I should have told you... I shouldn't have... I would have if..." I tried to say so many things at once, nothing came out correctly.

"I know Bella. It's ok, Edward told me all about it and before that, I knew something big had to have happened for you to just never talk to me again. At first I didn't believe it, but now..." She shook her head staring at me, sniffing a little and started to laugh a little. "It's hard not to believe it."

I glanced over to Edward and Jake, but stopped at Edward when I saw his sadness again. That brought be back to the seriousness of the situation.

I cleared my throat while I looked at the ground, trying to erase Edward's expressions from my mind. It hurt much more seeing what I had done to him, rather than just knowing it. I wanted so badly to wrap my arms around him and tell him it would be ok. Though I knew it probably wouldn't be- not with everything going on now.

"What do we do? What is there to do before they come, if anything," I asked. I felt hopeless.

"Prepare anyway you can. There is no point in you running away now. Plus I suppose you can't just leave now anyways."

I just nodded my head. I'm stuck here, stuck bringing everyone down on the ones I love, like always.

"We can take care of ourselves," Jake added in. "We will figure out what to do."

"Oh really? Then why did you need Alice's visions to know?" Edward snapped.

"Shut up! There is no time for you to fight. What's happening is happening and there is no use in fighting over what can't be changed. We need to focus," I told them.

After a moment of thinking, Edward turned to look at me. "Have you told them what you know about the Volturi?"

I looked down. "Yes. I showed them the images of it all."

He nodded. "So they know pretty much what to expect then. There really isn't much we can do, but I will talk to Carlisle about it."

I suddenly remembered the last time I saw Carlisle and new tears formed and spilt over. Edward reached over and grabbed my hand, ignoring Jacob's growls.

"Bella, it's going to be ok," he told me.

"Oh, it's not that," I said sniffling. "The last time I saw Carlisle, he was pretty mad at me."

""Oh Bella," he lightly laughed with very little humor. "He wasn't mad at you specifically. He was worried. I suppose even the most kept together man still lets anger out on the wrong people. I left and they didn't know where I was. He was worried about me and was curious why you didn't appear to be. He feels bad about the way he treated you."

It made sense. Carlisle was always so calm and rational about everything. I guess there are some times when the littlest things break you. I know that first hand. I could see Jake roll his eyes out of the corner of my eye as he made a weird sound. I stomped on his foot and he laughed. I knew he was doing that towards Edward using the word 'man', since he never sees vampires as men and women.

"I have an idea," Edward said after a moment. "I think one of you should come talk to Carlisle. He can explain things to you about the Volturi. Things Bella may not have."

"Ok I will go," I said as I smiled at Alice, who had been unusually quiet the whole time.

"Not alone," Jake said with another growl. He was doing a lot of that tonight. I wondered how he hadn't phased yet with how angry he kept getting.

"Jake, I will be fine. They won't hurt me, I've told you that."

"Not alone," he said with more intensity.

"Why would I ever hurt her?" Edward said, using the same tone as Jake.

"Oh I can think of a few reasons. You've done it enough in the past," Jake snapped.

"Ok. Ok. Jake you can come as long as you don't keep overreacting."

"I'm not overreacting Bella. You just need to take this more seriously. You're not human anymore. You can't just go and hang out with vampires anymore. Not that you should have before either, but still. We are enemies, you have to learn that."

I sighed as I lightly pushed Alice to walk forward. "Why don't you guys go one back. We will meet you there in a few minutes," I said with a smile.

After Edward and Alice had gone, I walked over to the trees, glaring at Jacob. After I was phased back I heard the rush of the packs' voices in my head and I had to tell them all to be quiet for a minute. They were angry at me for agreeing to go and see Carlisle, but I didn't care.

We need to find out more about them and to know if Alice sees more, I told them.

I don't think It's a good idea, Sam said.

Why not? I will be fine. Yes, they are your enemies, but after all this time, I know them better than that. They will not hurt me. Especially not with you all there.

I don't know why I said that. They didn't all need to be there, but I caved. Their worrying was getting on my nerves and I had more to worry about than the Cullens possibly attacking me.

At once, they finally agreed on them all coming. A few were just worried about me, the rest were hoping to get a good fight out of it.

What about the treaty line? Seth asked.

There are bigger problems to worry about, I told them.

I was waiting for Sam to yell at me, but he just agreed. I didn't mean to keep answering their questions, or telling them what to do, but everything is all so new and confusing, the rest is just terrifying.

It's ok, Sam said.

I knew it was going to be hard getting used to having to listen to Sam, especially when he was angry all the time. This nicer Sam was just weird.

We all started running toward the Cullen's house. It was weird heading back there now. I was looking forward to seeing Esme, Carlisle, and Emmett, but I knew Rosalie wouldn't make it easy, she never did.

Once we got closer, the pack spread apart. Jake and I walked a bit closer to phase. Once we left the trees, Alice walked out of the house and met us on the steps. She smiled at me as she stepped aside for us to walk in. I smiled back, but felt uncomfortable going into the house.

Once I got closer to the door, a strange smell hit me like a stack of brick and I stopped to catch my breath.

"It's ok Bells. It's the vampires. It's just worse because it's so many at once," Jake said.

I nodded as I turned to take in one huge deep break from the breeze that was going by, and then I walked into the house.

Esme got up off the couch and started walking towards me, but slowed while narrowing her eyes as she covered her nose. The expression on her face made me laugh.

"Hi Esme," I said, laughing still. "Good to see you too."

"I'm sorry Bella. I'm just not used to the smell, especially coming from you... I'm really glad to see you," she said as she dropped her hand and gave me a hug.

"Where is everyone else?" I asked her asked she backed away.

"Emmett, Rose, and Jasper went out to hunt," she said and the way she said it sounded like it was because we were coming over. Though I had wanted to see Emmett, I was happy about that. Dealing with less right now was better. Carlisle came downstairs then and he turned to smile at me.

"Hello Bella. It's good to see you," he said.

"Good you see you too," I told them both as I took in another breath, trying to hold back the tears. It was turning out to be one emotional night.

"I'm sorry about the last time I saw you Bella," he started to say.

I waved my hand in the air. "It's ok. Edward explained. You can't always be expected to never get angry."

"Yes, but it really had nothing to do with you, so I shouldn't have."

"Actually, I believe it did."

"What do you mean?" he looked at me with confusion.

"I left Edward there. I didn't talk to him, never explained anything, I just left. He was hurt and so he left. You were worried about him because of what I did, but it's ok. I handled everything the wrong way, I know that now," I said with half of a smile. I didn't think it would be a relief telling them I knew I was wrong, but it was.

"It still does not give me a right to taking it out on you," he said.

"Well, I forgive you," I told him. No use in arguing about it.

"Ok, so now that that is over with, why don't we talk about the reason we are here," Jake said impatiently.

"Right, the Volturi," Carlisle said, expression unreadable.

I sat down on the couch while Carlisle explained things to Jake. I knew it all, but it would help if Jake heard it from Carlisle himself, whether he thought so or not. He told them about the rules and though he doesn't quite agree with them, he knows they have them for good reason. I could tell Jake didn't like hearing Carlisle talking about the Volturi in a good way. Honestly neither could I, not when they threatened to kill me.

At one point, I didn't really mind what they were making me do. I wanted to become a vampire anyway, so Volturi saying that only confirmed that it really would be happening, but now, it's all entirely different. My main question now was, what would they do once they found out what I really was?

While I was sitting there thinking everything through, I didn't realize, right away, that Edward had sat down next to me.

"Hi," I said quietly.

"Hi," he said, looking away from me.

"Edward, I just want to say I'm sorry. I didn't tell you what had happened when I should have and then to make it all worse I almost attacked you when I tried to tell you. I just did this whole thing the wrong way," I rambled.

"I know Bella. I know you can't control it, any of it." He stopped for a moment as he looked up at me. "I just miss you and I'm not going to deny that I hate seeing you with him. I hate knowing that I can't be the one comforting you with all that is going on."

I could hear the hurt in his voice. Tears started to form in my eyes and one broke loose. Edward brought his hand up to wipe it away with his thumb. At that exact moment Jake came into the room, but he didn't yell or get mad or anything. I was surprised, but then I realized he must have heard us talking. After all, he did tell me I should have talked to Edward about it.

"We should get going," Jake said as he reached for my hand. "The sun will be up soon and you need to get home before Charlie wakes up."

"So what's going on?" I asked, since I didn't hear any of it.

"We wait, just like we planned. We will prepare for what they can do, but hopefully they won't do anything, though I doubt that. You may not be human anymore, but like Carlisle said, they don't trust werewolves. They might think that is worse than being human."

"So what, we just hope they hear us out and decide that there won't be anything to do? I doubt that too. They don't seem like type to just negotiate something like this," I said calmly, trying not to get upset again. I was tired and everything was just weighing down on me. I yawned as Jake pulled me up off the couch.

"We will talk about this more tomorrow."

I started to say my goodbyes to everyone when I turned to look at Alice, she was very focused. I knew that look..

"Alice? What's going on?" I asked as I walked over to her.

"She sees them coming," Edward said as he focused on what Alice was seeing. I started to panic.

"I can't tell when, but it doesn't look very soon," Alice whispered as she turned to look at me. "Judging by the trees in the area, it looks like maybe a little into the fall. It's not very far away, but better than coming now. Hopefully I'll get better timing as they think about it more."

There was maybe only about two months of summer left. No, it wasn't very far away, but she was right it was better than being worried that it could be tomorrow or the next day. I yawned again.

"Ok, time to go." Jake said again and led me to the door.

"Goodbye everyone," I said. I didn't have the energy anymore to say or hear anything more. I knew there had to be more to her vision, like who exactly was coming, but I didn't want to know right then. Since I was standing next to Alice, I gave her a hug and walked out the door.

After we got out and phased back, Jake explained everything to the pack. I was just focused on staying awake while I ran, making sure I didn't hit any trees. I barely missed some a couple of times and I could hear someone laughing at me. I was too focused to pay any attention.

Once Jake and I got to my house, I was standing out in front of the door, just about to go in when Jake stopped me. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. As soon as his lips touched mine I felt every inch of my body spark with energy, I didn't think I had left, pulling myself closer to him. Our lips parted and the kiss intensified, I didn't want to let him go. I couldn't focus on anything, other than the fact that I never have to ever let go of him. He held me tighter for a moment before he pulled away and kissed me one last time. I looked up at him and smiled.

"I love you Bella," he whispered in my ear.

"I love you Jake," I whispered back.

He backed away and walked until he disappeared into the trees. I was able to sneak back in and up into my room without Charlie waking up. I didn't bother changing, I just threw myself into bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.