Now You See Me [Jasper Hale story]

XIV. Beware, Volterra!

"Beware: open-mindedness will often say, 'Everything is permissible except a sharp opinion." ― Criss Jami

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"Please! Please, please, please!" I begged urgently, my eyes holding the most pleading gaze. "Please, take me to Italy with you!"

"No," Alice stated resolutely, as she tried to sneak out around me. The main trouble of her attempt to escape was her not having used the supernatural, über, epic, almighty vampiric abilities. That was why she made it easy for me to jump in front of the door and stop her.

"I'm not letting you go, Alice. You must take me with you, 'cause you dyed my hair red!" Crossing my arms over my chest, I narrowed my eyes belligerently.

"Gwyn, you clearly don't understand how dangerous the trip is. The Volturi aren't the right people to mess around with. They've kill thousands of vampires without a blink of an eye!" insisted Alice stubbornly. "Moreover, you asked me to do dye your hair!"

"Ha! The history - and my aunt - don't ask questions like who did it. The only thing that matters to them is what happened," I replied coldly, a dangerous flash of a smile ghosting over my lips. Alice frowned, opening her mouth to say something. However, I cut her off before she started arguing. "But you're taking Bella with you! Although... oh, sorry. I must have forgotten, that danger and bad guys avoids Bella like the plague."

"This is not funny," Alice snapped at me and I was truly starting to think that she was adamant about not taking me with her. Which meant I would have to change the strategy of negotiating.

"You're right, it's not..." exhaling heavily, I let my arms fall down from my chest. The corners of my lips wilted in a hurt face expression, as I felt fake wrinkles of fake engrave themselves into the skin of my forehead. For those who hadn't gotten the hint yet, I was trying to make Alice think that her behavior hurt me. Which apparently wasn't far from the truth.

The vampire's pupils widened in surprise. "Gwyn, I..."

"For a while, I thought you were back, ya know? This time, for real," I made a step to the side, away from the door. "Guess I was wrong though."

"Don't do this to me! I'm doing it for your safety," my friend whimpered helplessly.

"Yeah sure... Go, save the world, Alice! I won't be standin' in your way," stretching my arm towards the door, I notioned her the way. When she made a step towards it, I started counting seconds.
Five - Alice's shoulders slumped. Four - she stopped walking. Three - she sighed. Two - she turned around. One...

"Leave a note to Hayden. Write that I called you, and invited you to spend a few days with my family, in Alaska. That should calm her down a bit."

In that moment, I started jumping up, clapping my hands in happiness. The little theater of mine hit the planned target, so there was no reason for me not to feel as happy as a lark. Alice hadn't let me hug her, sending me upstairs, to pack my things. Fortunately, I managed to do so brusquely, therefore, in bare five minutes, we were ready to leave.

Beware, Volterra! Gwyneth Callaghan's coming!

***
With each stop made on our way, I was growing more and more suspicious. Not only that Alice rolled the car onto the highway to Canada, but she also made us have a dinner at McDonald's, somwhere behind Seattle. Personally, I hated McDonald's, and since Bella didn't look any more excited about it, I assumed she didn't like the fastfood either. However, Alice was relentless. Bella picked some burger with fries and salad, while I ordered two Happy Meals with chicken nuggets. Both Swan and Cullen kept staring at me in what seemed like derision.

"What?" I snapped at them gloomily. "It's the only meal that's worth something in McDonald's. And two of them, because one wouldn't have been enough."

Alice giggled, Bella smirked, as we started walking towards our car. After a few hours of the drive, my eyes began to close. After all, I was well fed, Carlisle's car was very comfortable and the view of dreary wilderness of the North somehow lulled me to sleep. I had to admit, that I didn't care much about where we were going. The important thing for me was having Alice nearby. It was genuinely selfish - especially when considering that Edward was in danger, somewhere in Italy...
On the other hand, it was more than clear that Bella might have trouble with accepting the fact, that we had just passed a huge sight which said "Alaska 20 miles". In fact, I was wondering why she hadn't said something already.

"Did Alaskan airport win the prize for the furthest airport from Forks?" I turned my head lazily, in order to look at Alice. She ignored my mocking tone, her eyes glued to the road. And right then, things started making sense. We were going to Alaska, where there was the rest of her family. I almost choked on the rest of my raspberry Fanta (which was too sweet and not at all tasty anyways), the moment I realized Jasper Hale was going to be there.

Alice looked at me, worried, "Are you all right?"

"No!" I forced out, observing the damage on my dress, caused by the sweet liquid. Suddenly, even Alice's insisting on my wearing the pretty, little dress with high-heeled shoes started clearing up. "Gosh, you're taking us to your family!" The vampire hadn't said anything. "What the hell, Alice?! You hadn't even asked!"

"I didn't have to ask, I knew the answer. You'd have said no," the expression in her face hadn't changed for the least.

I clenched my fists. "Indeed I would! Jesus, why me?! Urgh! Was it his idea?"

"No, it wasn't," Alice beeped vigorously, "Jasper doesn't know you're coming with us. Nobody knows, actually."

"So, this plan comes entirely out of your head," I waited until Alice nodded, then I pinched her shoulder, "Are you out of your mind?! You know how I feel about him!"

"As much as I know how he feels about you!" narrowing her eyes, Alice looked at my fuming self for the very first time. It must have been a tragic view, since her face expression softened and her golden eyes told me she started feeling sorry, "Look, I know I should have told you at first. But... you were so determined to come with me! Moreover, it occurred to me, that taking you to see him wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Wouldn't it? Do you really think so, Alice? Because I don't!" attempting to collect the last bits of calmness from the ground, I inhaled deeply, turning my head to the window. "The last time we saw each other, I ended up running away from him, because he would attempt to kill me."

"Before the messed up ending though, you two had a good time."

I groaned, "It doesn't matter what happened before that, Alice! The only fact that matters to me is, that I can't be with him, until he'd give us a chance. No matter how much I want him, I can't handle it on my own. Jasper has to try as well!"

Awaiting another argument from Alice's side, I half armored myself with apathy. Something deep inside me ached every time she pronounced his name. Speaking about Hale was like striking hard into iron, which appeared to be my heart. Fuck! Never in my life will I forgive myself for letting a man get so close to me.
Alice had't said anything though. For that, I leaned my head against my palm, watching the darkness of Alaska in silence. Soon, I fell into an uneasy, shallow sleep.


Once waking up, I looked around myself indistinctly. The elegant, silver clock on the dashboard shone bright 2:32 a.m., and I turned around, to look at Bella. She was still sleeping, even though Alice switched on the radio. The drums of a Rock song I wasn't able to recognize drummed quietly in the background, as Alice graced me with a kind smile and a simple good morning. As if the air between the two of us wasn't more than tense only three hours ago. Oh my, how much I loved her for it.

"Where are we?" I asked hoarsely, as the car rolled of the highway, onto an inconspicuous drit road.

"Almost there," Alice replied, pointing her finger at the windsreen. My eyes followed her lead.

"Holy shit," murmuring in shock, the moment a huge, wooden-stony caught my sight, my jaw dropped. "Tell me, has Carlisle robbed a bank? Because I don't see any other way, how he could possibly have earned enough money to build... something like that!"

The vampire smirked, "This is not our house," she explained patiently. "It belongs to another vampiric coven. They're called Denali and years ago, all of them changed their lifestyle to ours."

"Oh... well, that explains-"

"WHAT is it?!" A surprised, sleepy voice sounded from behind us. Alice and I exchanged quick peeps. "This isn't the airport! Why aren't we at the airport? Where are we going? Alice!"

The vampire sighed, looking up, into the rearview mirror, "Here we go. Good morning, sunshine."

"Hiya Bells," I tried to intervene, "This morning is simply beautiful, isn't it?"

Bella huffed, unfasting her seatbelt. "It would have been much more beautiful, if I had been sitting on the plane!" She then shifted to sit in the middle, to stick her head out, between me and Alice. "Where the hell are we?"

Alice literally asked me to explain the situation to Bella, through a pleading peer in the mirror. I, however, threw my hands up, in order to show her that this wasn't my problem to deal with. "We are in Alaska. My family agreed on our making a stop here, before we would depart for Italy."

"Huh, that's really awesome!" Swan hissed sarcastically, "We don't have time for making family reuniting stops, Alice! Edward is on his way to Volterra! Fuck, he will get himself killed, while nobody will be there to stop him!"

"Honey, please, calm down," the vampire ushered, rather desperately. I couldn't help myself, but chuckled.

"And you," Bella turned to look at me with the same fighting spirit. "Did you know about their plan?"

My eyes widened, "I found out when we passed a sign that said Alaska."

"Urgh... I can't believe this is happening!" Bella exclaimed in rage. "You could have woken me up, Gwyneth! I could have gone by myself!"

"Alright, that's enough," I came up with the most serious frown I had been capable of. "Let me remind you, Bella, that we are where we are, entirely because of you. If YOU hadn't jumped off the cliff, Jacob Black wouldn't have to pull you out of the water, Alice wouldn't have gotten the vision, Edward wouldn't have called to your home, and so on. So stop throwing stones when you're the one who's living in a glass house."
It was cold and cruel, but it was the truth. All of us knew it. Bella had stopped shouting, then snorted, turned away from me, leaned back, and started ignoring me offendedly. Alice furrowed her eyebrows at me reproachfully.
"What? I'm right!" defending my behavior, I threw my hands up once again, "And stop blaming me! You know my opinion on this trip."

Since my little burst-out, I felt like a boss. Having grounded the most determined, stubborn person I had ever met, and a vampire who could kill me in a blink of an eye, gave me the courage I missed. Despite none of us had said another word, a small, devilish smile reached my lips.
Alice parked the car on a place next to Emmett's Jeep. Afterwards, group of ten, immensely beautiful people appeared out of nowhere, right in front of the house. That wasn't the worst part yet, though. I managed to keep myself in a pretty serene state of mind, while the smile hadn't faded from my face; until I noticed one particular person, among all the inhuman gods and goddesses. With that, the determination to remain calm faded away.