I touched her arm.

Her eyes came open very slowly. She shook her head from side to side for a moment.

"Anything new?" I asked in a low voice, conscious of the man listening on the other side of me.

"Not exactly," she breathed in a voice I could barely catch. "He's getting closer. He's deciding how he's going to ask."

"You don't really have to worry about that," Carlisle said. "I'm sure if you do get an audience with them, Aro would want to see it for himself."

"What do you mean?" Edward asked.

"He has the ability to see your past...to know everything you've ever thought in your life by touching you with the palm of his hand," Carlisle said. "I would think that he would want to do it as soon as he realizes that you're part of my family...he was quite interested in my chosen way of life, after all, and would like to see how I had managed it. He is quite curious."

We had to run for our connection, but that was good – better than having to wait. As soon as the plane was in the air, Alice closed her eyes and slid back into the same stupor as before. I waited as patiently as I could. When it was dark again, I opened the window to stare out into the flat black that was no better than the window shade.

I was grateful that I'd had so many months' practice with controlling my thoughts. Instead of dwelling on the terrifying possibilities that, no matter what Alice said, I did not intend to survive, I concentrated on lesser problems. Like, what I was going to say to Charlie if I got back:' That was a thorny enough problem to occupy several hours. And Jacob? He'd promised to wait for me, but did that promise still apply? Would I end up home alone in Forks, with no one at all? Maybe I didn't want to survive, no matter what happened.

"Don't ever think that," Edward grumbled. "Whatever happens, you must survive."

It felt like seconds later when Alice shook my shoulder – I hadn't realized I'd fallen asleep.

"Bella," she hissed, her voice a little too loud in the darkened cabin full of sleeping humans.

I wasn't disoriented – I hadn't been out long enough for that.

"What's wrong?"

Alice's eyes gleamed in the dim light of a reading lamp in the row behind us.

"It's not wrong." She smiled fiercely. "It's right. They're deliberating, but they've decided to tell him no."

"Good," everyone said. That meant there was a chance.

"The Volturi?" I muttered, groggy.

"Of course, Bella, keep up. I can see what they're going to say."

"Tell me."

An attendant tiptoed down the aisle to us. "Can I get you ladies a pillow?" His hushed whisper was a rebuke to our comparatively loud conversation.

"No, thank you." Alice beamed at up at him, her smile shockingly lovely. The attendant's expression was dazed as he turned and stumbled his way back.

"Tell me," I breathed almost silently.

She whispered into my ear. "They're interested in him – they think his talent could be useful. They're going to offer him a place with them."

"Argh... as if," Edward scoffed, making a face.

Carlisle frowned again. "To hear everything that everyone is thinking at the moment, and without the necessity of touch...I could see why Aro would be interested in that."

"What will he say?"

"Nothing I would say in front of Bella or Esme," Edward smirked.

"I can't see that yet, but I'll bet it's colorful." She grinned again. "This is the first good news – the first break. They're intrigued; they truly don't want to destroy him – 'wasteful,' that's the word Aro will use – and that may be enough to force him to get creative. The longer he spends on his plans, the better for us."