safe and sound. twilight

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ

CHAPTER THREE
sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇʀɴ sᴜɴ

Thomas travelled with us to South America before splitting off to head north. He'd never been out of Europe despite the lengthiness of his life but Alice seemed to think he'd do well with the rest of her family, mentioning something briefly about Jasper. I couldn't help but worry about his reaction to those friends with red eyes. He'd gone so far as to almost attack us, thinking us the hunters of humans, and the Cullens didn't need more conflict to add to the list.

Otherwise Alice seemed to have it all planned out. Before leaving she'd sent Peter and Charlotte on their way to Forks. Witnesses were needed. Anyone who could prove the Cullens' innocence in the charge the Volturi would hold against them, and even with the number of people that would undoubtedly go to the family's aid, Alice seemed wary. It wouldn't be enough.

"We'll go to the sisters," she said, introducing me to the idea of the next vampires we would meet.

"The sisters? Bit of an ominous name," I said, because it did sound strange- like something from a story.

Alice smiled, shaking her head as she leaned against my shoulder. "I forget you wouldn't have met them. Sometimes it feels like you've been with us the whole time."

She placed a kiss on my cheek then, lips hard against my skin, leaving her open to catch her mouth in mine. It only lasted a few moments before her laugh was tickling my lips, floating breathily toward my ears. Alice pulled away, trickling peppery kisses against my jaw, ticking her chin against my neck when she finally stopped.

"I love you, you know," I said, not able to stop the words from leaving my thoughts.

"I only need to look at you to know that, Elide," Alice said, eyes blinking up at me, as wide like an owl, round like a doe, and her lips caught mine in a kiss yet again.

I love you was not spoken often because it didn't need to be. The feeling was so overwhelming each time my eyes fell to rest upon her face, that it was inevitable that it would bleed into my expressions. As for Alice- it was her patience that told me she felt that same love too. It was only with me that she could be so quiet, so tender, so slow and steady without any hint of aggravation or rush.

But when we did say those words it felt as if the world was crumbling around us, deteriorating in the absence of speech. It felt as fresh and as passionate as a kiss, with which would usually follow, Alice's hands finding my hair, mine on her waist.

When she finally pulled away, her head moved to rest against my lap, eyes closing as the breeze drifted against her short hair, then moving to rustle the trees above. The light was dusty in that little grove; the grass was damp but soft and the tree large enough to shelter from the morning breeze and the heat of the southern sun.

It reminded me of that sacred tree in Forks where the light was always softer and the air quieter. That too was where Alice would lay beside me, though never so close. It was by that tree- our tree- that I learned of the Volturi, of their wants and hates, just as I learned of the people that may help us in the fight against them.

Alice eventually went on, amber eyes opening to stare back at me. "Senna, Zafrina, and Kachiri. They may be reluctant to help, understandably so, but we can talk to them. See what they know."

"Tell me about them," I said. But I didn't need to ask. Alice was already prepared to begin the story.

"We don't know too much. Kachiri is the founder, like Carlisle. They're red-eyes like most others and use the forest to hunt freely. There's big game there. It's why we met them on a hunting trip in the Amazon. We were the first they'd ever seen of yellow eyes. They thought we were something else," Alice said, the memory leaving the briefest of laughs on her lips. "Kachiri and her coven let us hunt on their territory, showing us the best spots, provided we ensured no attention was drawn their way. We left and heard nothing from them again. Carlisle might've visited them once on his own, but that was it. It was the agreement."