I almost smiled.

There was no 'almost' about anyone's smile in the room and several people were even chuckling at that.

"What do you think?"

"I think it's all connected. Not just the two, but all three."

"You've lost me."

"Three bad things have happened since you came back." I ticked them off on my fingers.

"The newborns in Seattle. The stranger in my room. And - first of all - Victoria came to look for me."

His eyes narrowed as he thought about it. "Why do you think so?"

"Because I agree with Jasper - the Volturi love their rules. They would probably do a better job anyway." And I'd be dead if they wanted me dead, I added mentally.

Edward shuddered at that. He wasn't the only one that did and his eyes became hard. "She has a point."

"Convinced, at last," Carlisle said.

"Yes," Edward sighed.

"Remember when you were tracking Victoria last year?"

"Yes." He frowned. "I wasn't very good at it."

"Alice said you were in Texas. Did you follow her there?"

"Of course!" Jasper rolled his eyes. "Why didn't I see that? She could have learned about the newborn armies there..."

His eyebrows pulled together. "Yes. Hmm . . ."

"See - she could have gotten the idea there. But she doesn't know what she's doing, so the newborns are all out of control."

He started shaking his head. "Only Aro knows exactly how Alice's visions work."

"Aro would know best, but wouldn't Tanya and Irina and the rest of your friends in Denali know enough? Laurent lived with them for so long. And if he was still friendly enough with Victoria to be doing favors for her, why wouldn't he also tell her everything he knew?"

Alice was glaring at this, that her extended family would be the ones that allowed Victoria slip through her defenses.

"I'm sure they didn't realize what they were doing," Esme frowned. "They thought he was their friend."

"They didn't have to talk about that," Alice sneered, very annoyed.

Edward frowned. "It wasn't Victoria in your room."

"She can't make new friends?

"Emphases on the word make," Emmett laughed.

Think about it, Edward. If it is Victoria doing this in Seattle, she's made a lot of new friends. She's created them."

He considered it, his forehead creased in concentration.

"Hmm," he finally said. "It's possible. I still think the Volturi are most likely . . .

"Because you're a stubborn idiot," Rosalie teased.

But your theory - there's something there. Victoria's personality. Your theory suits her personality perfectly. She's shown a remarkable gift for self-preservation from the start - maybe it's a talent of hers. In any case, this plot would put her in no danger at all from us, if she sits safely behind and lets the newborns wreak their havoc here. And maybe little danger from the Volturi, either.

"Yes, she would just kill any survivors...from her army that is, and no one would be the wiser," Jasper frowned. "It is a good plan."

"Too bad we will be able to deal with it quite easily," Emmett chuckled.

"Yes, I doubt she would expect us to ally ourselves with the wolves," Jasper chuckled too.

Perhaps she's counting on us to win, in the end, though certainly not without heavy casualties of our own. But no survivors from her little army to bear witness against her. In fact," he continued, thinking it through, "if there were survivors, I'd bet she'd be planning to destroy them herself. . . . Hmm. Still, she'd have to have at least one friend who was a bit more mature. No fresh-made newborn left your father alive. . . ."

"True, I would say that about a year would be the earliest that a newborn could handle that," Jasper said.

He frowned into space for a long moment, and then suddenly smiled at me, coming back from his reverie. "Definitely possible. Regardless, we've got to be prepared for anything until we know for sure. You're very perceptive today," he added. "It's impressive."

"And that's not patronizing her," Alice rolled her eyes.

I sighed. "Maybe I'm just reacting to this place. It makes me feel like she's close by . . . like she sees me now."

His jaw muscles tensed at the idea. "She'll never touch you, Bella," he said.

"Of course not," Edward said, looking angry.

In spite of his words, his eyes swept carefully across the dark trees. While he searched their shadows, the strangest expression crossed his face. His lips pulled back over his teeth and his eyes shone with an odd light - a wild, fierce kind of hope.

"Yet, what I wouldn't give to have her that close," he murmured.

"Yes, then it would all be over now," Edward said.

"Victoria, and anyone else who's ever thought of hurting you. To have the chance to end this myself. To finish it with my own hands this time."

I shuddered at the ferocious longing in his voice, and clenched his fingers more tightly with mine, wishing I was strong enough to lock our hands together permanently.

We were almost to his family, and I noticed for the first time that Alice did not look as optimistic as the others.

"Why not Alice? You seemed pleased in the last chapter," Jasper asked, worried.

"You don't think someone could still get hurt?" Esme asked, worried as well, but her tone was different from Jasper's. He was just worried because Alice was depressed, not necessarily about anyone's safety.

"No, I don't think it's anything like that." Alice said, both amused and annoyed. "I would think this has something to do with my ineptness again."

She stood a little aside, watching Jasper stretching his arms as if he were warming up to exercise, her lips pushed out in a pout.

"Is something wrong with Alice?" I whispered.

Edward chuckled, himself again. "The werewolves are on their way, so she can't see anything that will happen now. It makes her uncomfortable to be blind."

"That's not going to make me feel any better," Alice grumbled.

Alice, though the farthest from us, heard his low voice. She looked up and stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed again.

"Hey, Edward," Emmett greeted him. "Hey, Bella. Is he going to let you practice, too?"

"Argh," Edward groaned. "You don't need to give her any ideas."

Edward groaned at his brother. "Please, Emmett, don't give her any ideas."

"When will our guests arrive?" Carlisle asked Edward.

Edward concentrated for a moment, and then sighed. "A minute and a half. But I'm going to have to translate. They don't trust us enough to use their human forms."

"That makes sense," Jasper said. "Though, that's just going to make it more uncomfortable for me."

Carlisle nodded. "This is hard for them. I'm grateful they're coming at all."