The Crash: Book Two - Heart on Fire

Chapter Eight: The Lonely God

Angela

"Heart beats fast. Colors and promises. How to be brave? How can I love when I'm afraid to fall? But watching you stand alone. All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow."

- Christina Perri (A Thousand Years)

Thursday, September 15, 2005

"One of you, please talk." Carlisle begged, and Alice took a deep breath.

"There's too much to explain, and I don't think it would help." Her voice was quiet and she spoke slowly, her gaze fixed on the floor. Whatever she had seen shattered her emotions and left her deeply upset and perhaps a bit broken.

"Alice, why did you look at me like that?" I asked as softly as I could, but Alice shook her head violently. Almost like a child throwing a tantrum.

"I can't!" She shouted. "I don't know what I saw." She looked at me with wild terrified eyes, continuing to shake her head slightly.

"Alice, you've been evasive for a year and now we need to know what's going on." Esme pleaded as gently as she could, and Alice seemed to lose it and ran to her. Esme wrapped her up in a motherly hug and Alice kept shivering.

"Oh god... I wish I could be sick." She took another steadying breath and looked at me directly. "I saw death and pain, and I haven't the first clue how to stop any of it." She stopped and closed her eyes again. When she opened them up again she looked more stable, the wild fear gone, in its place steely determination. "But I will, I just need time to properly go through it all. We have some time before the first nexus event."

"Alright, I trust you in interpreting your visions. However, I must know what happened, why were you unconscious and why did it affect Edward?" Carlisle demanded more than asked, he was clearly disturbed by Alice's emotional state which made me think that she rarely reacted like this, if ever.

"My visions just evolved in the most dramatic way possible, and I have no idea why." Alice's voice was dark and angry, which felt like the opposite of my friend.

"I may be partially responsible." Mason's deep voice quieted the room into utter silence. We all looked at him, and Rose in particular threw him a hateful glare.

"Explain." Rosalie said with hostility, a threat implicit in her tone and expression.

"Simply put, part of my gift allows me to amplify the abilities of those around me. I realized Edward wasn't strong enough to break through her fugue state, so I pushed him a bit. Edward you're capable of far more than you currently utilize. In fact, you all are very powerful, each in your own way." Mason looked around the room meeting everyone's eyes but lingered a bit longer when he looked at me.

"What do you mean? Is that why I could interact with her vision?" Edward asked, his face darker than I had ever seen it. He wasn't just upset, he looked almost hollowed out. I glanced over at Bella and pulled her closer to me and put an arm around her shoulder. She gave me a thankful smile, and looked hard at Edward for several seconds before turning away.

"What do we do?" Emmett asked, moving around me on the opposite side of Bella, close enough to keep me safe but no longer intrusive. Alice gave him a strange look, which caused Rosalie to move over to him. He silently snaked an arm around her waist and hugged her tightly as he and Alice continued their strange wordless conversation.

Alice shook her head, glanced at me for a second and then addressed the room. "I think we have to let things play out, there are so many variables. We must be wary of whom we interact with, and how we present ourselves. Especially the wolves, we have to make peace." She let a note of desperation slip into her voice again.