Edward cradled me tightly against his chest, and then we were also hurtling through the shadowy forest, taking a different path than the wolf.
"Edward." I fought to force the words through my constricted throat. "What happened, Edward? What happened to Sam? Where are we going? What's happening?"
"We have to go back to the clearing," he told me in a low voice. "We knew there was a good probability of this happening. Earlier this morning, Alice saw it and passed it through Sam to Seth. The Volturi decided it was time to intercede."
The Volturi.
Too much. My mind refused to make sense of the words, pretended it couldn't understand.
The trees jolted past us. He was running downhill so fast that it felt as if we were plummeting, falling out of control.
"Don't panic. They aren't coming for us. It's just the normal contingent of the guard that usually cleans up this kind of mess. Nothing momentous, they're merely doing their job. Of course, they seem to have timed their arrival very carefully. Which leads me to believe that no one in Italy would mourn if these newborns had reduced the size of the Cullen family." The words came through his teeth, hard and bleak. "I'll know for sure what they were thinking when they get to the clearing."
"Is that why we're going back?" I whispered. Could I handle this? Images of flowing black robes crept into my unwilling mind, and I flinched away from them. I was close to a breaking point.
"It's part of the reason. Mostly, it will be safer for us to present a united front at this point. They have no reason to harass us, but . . . Jane's with them. If she thought we were alone somewhere away from the others, it might tempt her. Like Victoria, Jane will probably guess that I'm with you. Demetri, of course, is with her. He could find me, if Jane asked him to."
I didn't want to think that name. I didn't want to see that blindingly exquisite, childlike face in my head. A strange sound came out of my throat.
"Shh, Bella, shh. It's all going to be fine. Alice can see that."
Alice could see? But . . . then where were the wolves? Where was the pack?
"The pack?"
"They had to leave quickly. The Volturi do not honor truces with werewolves."
I could hear my breathing get faster, but I couldn't control it. I started to gasp.
"I swear they will be fine," Edward promised me. "The Volturi won't recognize the scent-they won't realize the wolves are here; this isn't a species they are familiar with. The pack will be fine."
I couldn't process his explanation. My concentration was ripped to shreds by my fears. We're going to be fine, he had said before . . . and Seth, howling in agony . . . Edward had avoided my first question, distracted me with the Volturi . . .
I was very close to the edge-just clinging by my fingertips.
The trees were a racing blur that flowed around him like jade waters.
"What happened?" I whispered again. "Before. When Seth was howling? When you were hurt?"
Edward hesitated.
"Edward! Tell me!"
"It was all over," he whispered. I could barely hear him over the wind his speed created. "The wolves didn't count their half . . . they thought they had them all. Of course, Alice couldn't see . . ."
"What happened?!"
"One of the newborns was hiding . . . Leah found him-she was being stupid, cocky, trying to prove something. She engaged him alone . . ."
"Leah," I repeated, and I was too weak to feel shame for the relief that flooded through me. "Is she going to be okay?"
"Leah wasn't hurt," Edward mumbled.
I stared at him for a long second.
Sam-help him-, Edward had gasped. Him, not her.
"We're almost there," Edward said, and he stared at a fixed point in the sky.
Automatically, my eyes followed his. There was a dark purple cloud hanging low over the trees. A cloud? But it was so abnormally sunny . . . No, not a cloud-I recognized the thick column of smoke, just like the one at our campsite.
"Edward," I said, my voice nearly inaudible. "Edward, someone got hurt."
I'd heard Seth's agony, seen the torture in Edward's face.
"Yes," he whispered.
"Who?" I asked, though, of course, I already knew the answer.
Of course I did. Of course.
The trees were slowing around us as we came to our destination.
It took him a long moment to answer me.
"Jacob," he said.
I was able to nod once.
"Of course," I whispered.
And then I slipped off the edge I was clinging to inside my head.
Everything went black.
I was first aware of the cool hands touching me. More than one pair of hands. Arms holding me, a palm curved to fit my cheek, fingers stroking my forehead, and more fingers pressed lightly into my wrist.