"You've lost me."
"Three bad things have happened since you came back." I ticked them off on my fingers. "The newborns in Seattle. The stranger in my room. And-first of all-Victoria came to look for me."
His eyes narrowed as he thought about it. "Why do you think so?"
"Because I agree with Jasper-the Volturi love their rules. They would probably do a better job anyway." And I'd be dead if they wanted me dead, I added mentally. "Remember when you were tracking Victoria last year?"
"Yes." He frowned. "I wasn't very good at it."
"Alice said you were in Texas. Did you follow her there?"
His eyebrows pulled together. "Yes. Hmm . . ."
"See-she could have gotten the idea there. But she doesn't know what she's doing, so the newborns are all out of control."
He started shaking his head. "Only Aro knows exactly how Alice's visions work."
"Aro would know best, but wouldn't Tanya and Irina and the rest of your friends in Denali know enough? Laurent lived with them for so long. And if he was still friendly enough with Victoria to be doing favors for her, why wouldn't he also tell her everything he knew?"
Edward frowned. "It wasn't Victoria in your room."
"She can't make new friends? Think about it, Edward. If it is Victoria doing this in Seattle, she's made a lot of new friends. She's created them."
He considered it, his forehead creased in concentration.
"Hmm," he finally said. "It's possible. I still think the Volturi are most likely . . . But your theory-there's something there. Victoria's personality. Your theory suits her personality perfectly. She's shown a remarkable gift for self-preservation from the start-maybe it's a talent of hers. In any case, this plot would put her in no danger at all from us, if she sits safely behind and lets the newborns wreak their havoc here. And maybe little danger from the Volturi, either. Perhaps she's counting on us to win, in the end, though certainly not without heavy casualties of our own. But no survivors from her little army to bear witness against her. In fact," he continued, thinking it through, "if there were survivors, I'd bet she'd be planning to destroy them herself . . . Hmm. Still, she'd have to have at least one friend who was a bit more mature. No fresh-made newborn left your father alive . . ."
He frowned into space for a long moment, and then suddenly smiled at me, coming back from his reverie. "Definitely possible. Regardless, we've got to be prepared for anything until we know for sure. You're very perceptive today," he added. "It's impressive."
I sighed. "Maybe I'm just reacting to this place. It makes me feel like she's close by . . . like she sees me now."
His jaw muscles tensed at the idea. "She'll never touch you, Bella," he said.
In spite of his words, his eyes swept carefully across the dark trees. While he searched their shadows, the strangest expression crossed his face. His lips pulled back over his teeth and his eyes shone with an odd light-a wild, fierce kind of hope.
"Yet, what I wouldn't give to have her that close," he murmured. "Victoria, and anyone else who's ever thought of hurting you. To have the chance to end this myself. To finish it with my own hands this time."
I shuddered at the ferocious longing in his voice, and clenched his fingers more tightly with mine, wishing I was strong enough to lock our hands together permanently.
We were almost to his family, and I noticed for the first time that Alice did not look as optimistic as the others. She stood a little aside, watching Jasper stretching his arms as if he were warming up to exercise, her lips pushed out in a pout.
"Is something wrong with Alice?" I whispered.
Edward chuckled, himself again. "The werewolves are on their way, so she can't see anything that will happen now. It makes her uncomfortable to be blind."
Alice, though the farthest from us, heard his low voice. She looked up and stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed again.
"Hey, Edward," Emmett greeted him. "Hey, Bella. Is he going to let you practice, too?"
Edward groaned at his brother. "Please, Emmett, don't give her any ideas."
"When will our guests arrive?" Carlisle asked Edward.
Edward concentrated for a moment, and then sighed. "A minute and a half. But I'm going to have to translate. They don't trust us enough to use their human forms."
Carlisle nodded. "This is hard for them. I'm grateful they're coming at all."
I stared at Edward, my eyes stretched wide. "They're coming as wolves?"
He nodded, cautious of my reaction. I swallowed once, remembering the two times I'd seen Jacob in his wolf form-the first time in the meadow with Laurent, the second time on the forest lane where Paul had gotten angry at me . . . They were both memories of terror.