It wasn't enough to make me hopeful, to make me feel the relief she obviously felt.

"That's because you're a pessimist," Edward said.

There were still so many ways that we could be too late. And if I didn't get through the walls into the Volturi city, I wouldn't be able to stop Alice from dragging me back home.

"Alice?"

"What?"

"I'm confused. How are you seeing this so clearly? And then other times, you see things far away – things that don't happen?"

Edward glared, guessing where this was going.

Her eyes tightened. I wondered if she guessed what I was thinking of.

"It's clear because it's immediate and close, and I'm really concentrating. The faraway things that come on their own – those are just glimpses, faint maybes. Plus, I see my kind more easily than yours. Edward is even easier because I'm so attuned to him."

"And why are you so attuned to Eddy?" Emmett smirked.

"Because, most of the time, he's the only one I'm allowed to play games with," Alice answered immediately.

"That's because you're both cheaters," Emmett grumbled.

"It's not our fault that we're special," Edward smirked.

"Freaks," Emmett muttered.

"Whatever," Alice shrugged, rolling her eyes.

"You see me sometimes," I reminded her.

She shook her head. "Not as clearly."

I sighed. "I really wish you could have been right about me. In the beginning, when you first saw things about me, before we even met…"

"What do you mean?"

"You saw me become one of you." I barely mouthed the words.

She sighed. "It was a possibility at the time."

"At the time," I repeated.

"Actually, Bella…" She hesitated, and then seemed to make a choice. "Honestly, I think it's all gotten beyond ridiculous. I'm debating whether to just change you myself."

"Alice!" Edward shouted.

"Well, honestly Edward, you're not really leaving me with much of a choice!" Alice shouted back. 'And this should just show you how serious I am about our agreement.'

"Hmph," Edward huffed, still glaring at her.

I stared at her, frozen with shock. Instantly, my mind resisted her words. I couldn't afford that kind of hope if she changed her mind.

"Did I scare you?" she wondered. "I thought that's what you wanted."

"I do!" I gasped. "Oh, Alice, do it now! I could help you so much – and I wouldn't slow you down. Bite me!"

Edward growled at that, but just about everyone else chuckled, and Emmett laughed outright.

"Shh," she cautioned. The attendant was looking in our direction again. "Try to be reasonable," she whispered. "We don't have enough time. We have to get into Volterra tomorrow. You'd be writhing in pain for days." She made a face. "And I don't think the other passengers would react well."

"Nah, I'm sure they'll be fine with you biting a girl and then have her screaming for the rest of the flight," Emmett chuckled.

I bit my lip. "If you don't do it now, you'll change your mind."

"No." She frowned, her expression unhappy. "I don't think I will. He'll be furious, but what will he be able to do about it?"

"Stop you, of course," Edward said.

"Can you?" Alice raised one of her eyebrows. 'You know how persistent I can be when I want something.'

"I can be just as stubborn," Edward said as they glared at each other.

My heart beat faster. "Nothing at all."

She laughed quietly, and then sighed. "You have too much faith in me, Bella. I'm not sure that I can. I'll probably just end up killing you."

"I'll take my chances."

"You are so bizarre, even for a human."

"Thanks."

"Oh well, this is purely hypothetical at this point, anyway. First we have to live through tomorrow."

"Good point." But at least I had something to hope for if we did. If Alice made good on her promise – and if she didn't kill me – then Edward could run after his distractions all he wanted, and I could follow.

Edward smiled at that, beside himself.

I wouldn't let him be distracted. Maybe, when I was beautiful and strong, he wouldn't want distractions.

"You don't have to change; you hold my complete attention the way you are," Edward said.

"Go back to sleep," she encouraged me. "I'll wake you up when there's something new."

"Right," I grumbled, certain that sleep was a lost cause now. Alice pulled her legs up on the seat, wrapping her arms around them and leaning her forehead against her knees. She rocked back and forth as she concentrated.

I rested my head against the seat, watching her, and the next thing I knew, she was snapping the shade closed against the faint brightening in the eastern sky.

"What's happening?" I mumbled.

"They've told him no," she said quietly. I noticed at once that her enthusiasm was gone.

My voice choked in my throat with panic. "What's he going to do?"

"It was chaotic at first. I was only getting flickers, he was changing plans so quickly."

"What kinds of plans?" I pressed.

"There was a bad hour," she whispered. "He'd decided to go hunting."

"No," Esme gasped.

"Which is one of the reasons why I won't go through with it," Edward reassured her.

She looked at me, seeing the incomprehension in my face.

"In the city," she explained. "It got very close. He changed his mind at the last minute."

"He wouldn't want to disappoint Carlisle," I mumbled. Not at the end.

"Probably," she agreed.

"You wouldn't want to disappoint Bella either," Carlisle said.

"No...even with her gone, I wouldn't want to do that," Edward said.

"Will there be enough time?" As I spoke, there was a shift in the cabin pressure. I could feel the plane angling downward.

"I'm hoping so – if he sticks to his latest decision, maybe."

"What is that?"

"He's going to keep it simple. He's just going to walk out into the sun."

"That's so lame," Emmett scoffed.

"I like it," Edward said. "So simple...yet, so effective."

"Lame," Emmett repeated, rolling his eyes.

Just walk out into the sun. That was all.

It would be enough. The image of Edward in the meadow – glowing, shimmering like his skin was made of a million diamond facets – was burned into my memory. No human who saw that would ever forget. The Volturi couldn't possibly allow it. Not if they wanted to keep their city inconspicuous.

I looked at the slight gray glow that shone through the opened windows. "We'll be too late," I whispered, my throat closing in panic.

She shook her head. "Right now, he's leaning toward the melodramatic. He wants the biggest audience possible, so he'll choose the main plaza, under the clock tower. The walls are high there. He'll wait till the sun is exactly overhead."

"I've never been happier about you dramatic tendencies than right now," Alice smirked.

"That's the preface," Edward scowled. "Her racing to get to me...The bell ringing."

"So, it's going to be close," Alice said convincingly. "But she'll make it."

"So we have till noon?"

"If we're lucky. If he sticks with this decision."

The pilot came on over the intercom, announcing, first in French and then in English, our imminent landing. The seat belt lights dinged and flashed.

"How far is it from Florence to Volterra?"

"That depends on how fast you drive…Bella?"

"Yes?"

She eyed me speculatively. "How strongly are you opposed to grand theft auto?"

"I hope I get a good one," Alice said.

A bright yellow Porsche screamed to a stop a few feet in front of where I paced, the word TURBO scrawled in silver cursive across its back.

"Nice!" Alice said.

"That really is a good car," Rosalie said. "It's got nothing on my M3, but it's still nice."

Everyone beside me on the crowded airport sidewalk stared.

"Hurry, Bella!" Alice shouted impatiently through the open passenger window.