Solstice

HOMECOMING

Before I'd taken note of it, I was on a plane; and I didn't wake again until we hit the tarmac in dreary, drizzly Washington State. But I was still tired, and Edward insisted on me going to bed as soon as I got home.

'But I have so much to tell you,' I tried to protest, and he pressed his fingers to my lips.

'I can wait until you wake up.' He smiled, sliding his arms around my waist. 'And Jasper can tell me more about it – with greater ease, because I can read his mind.'

'He's shielded now too, remember?' I asked, pressing myself closer to him and forcing back an absolutely enormous yawn.

Edward scowled. 'Of course. It's most inconvenient,' he told me, and I stared at him uncertainly. 'I no longer know what moves they're going to make in chess, or when Emmett's going to lunge at me and give me a pounding.'

I grinned. 'He's never going to grow up, is he?' I asked, and Edward shook his head.

'Not even when he's a grandfather. Now: off to bed with you,' he said sternly, and I reluctantly went into the bedroom and laid down. The first thing I knew, it was twelve hours later, and the world was dark.

'Edward?' I whispered, and saw a blurred shape speeding into the room. 'Did Jasper tell you everything?'

'He did. I would be very interested to know what they're planning. Some kind of all-out attack, perhaps? I wish that I'd gone with you.' In the dim light filtering over the top of the curtains, his eyes were sad.

'You had to stay here to look after Ness and Nahuel,' I reminded him, and he nodded.

'I was thinking we should push our second honeymoon back a bit,' he told me, and I frowned. 'Ness's wedding?' he reminded me. 'Shouldn't we be involved in the preparations rather than coming back the day before the ceremony?'

'If Alice will let us, yes.' I pulled myself upright and folded my arms around him. 'Why am I still so tired?' I wondered. 'I slept all the way back from Istanbul, and then had another twelve hours just now, but I don't feel like I've slept at all.'

'Rest, Bella.' Edward laid me back on my pillows, his eyes filled with concern. 'I'll see if I can find out anything about hybrids and fatigue. Leave it to me.' He kissed my forehead and flitted out of the room, closing the door gently behind him. I fell asleep instantly, and was propelled into a nightmare.

I stood, invisible, in Persephone's back room as she and the coven planned their assault on the Volturi. They were wondering what the best angle was – whether to go back a few thousand years to kill them before they were Changed, whether to pick off the Guard one by one until Aro was left defenceless, or to cast a powerful wasting spell so that the Volturi would sicken and ossify.

'The last one is the most promising, but also the most unpredictable,' Persephone said thoughtfully. Much to my disgust, she lit a cigarette, and blew out a plume of smoke while she stared into the distance. 'I don't think it would be a good idea to go that far back into the timeline – what other monsters would have risen instead of the Volturi? We run the risk of never being born if we kill them when they were Changed. And the entire fate of the world would have been very different.'

'Do you think that's such of a bad thing?' Genus argued. 'Look what men have done to us over the centuries,' she spat, her face contorted with hatred. 'We could go back two thousand years and take power for ourselves.'

'Now, that is an interesting idea.' Persephone's eyes brightened. 'Take over from the Volturi before they even start. Come to some arrangement with the Byzantines – you don't interfere with our clan, and we won't interfere with ours. I would like to rip apart Jane and Alec with my bare hands,' she mused. 'But we can't have all the fun, can't we?'