"They're close."
Alice's voice carried across the clearing.
Every conversation stopped.
She stood beside Jasper, her eyes fixed on the northern tree line.
Carlisle straightened. "How close?"
"Everyone needs to get into position now."
That was enough.
We had spent days deciding what everyone would do when this moment came. There was nothing left to discuss.
People moved.
Carlisle took his place near the front with Esme beside him. Edward and Bella settled close behind them while Jasper positioned himself where he could watch almost our entire side.
Edythe came to stand beside me.
Behind us, Carlisle's witnesses spread across the positions we had chosen.
The Denalis.
The Amazons.
The Egyptians.
The Irish.
Peter and Charlotte.
Garrett.
Joham.
Alistair.
Vladimir and Stefan.
The Romanians had been watching the northern trees with an anticipation that bordered on disturbing.
The children stood close to the front, easily visible.
I hated that part of the plan.
Necessary did not mean I had to like it.
Renesmee stood near Bella with Jacob beside her in wolf form. His massive russet body was impossible to overlook, but that was fine. One wolf was not the surprise we were holding back.
Harry and Nancy remained with Leah.
Serena, Maysun, and Jennifer stood nearby.
If the Volturi actually allowed Carlisle to present his case, all of them would come forward.
Renesmee was the accusation.
Harry and Nancy were proof that supernatural children could grow.
Joham's daughters were proof of what a human-vampire hybrid eventually became.
First, though, Aro had to be willing to listen.
The rest of the wolves were waiting for the right moment to show themselves.
I stayed human.
Considering what Aro could learn through Edward, I intended to keep it that way as long as possible.
Edythe's fingers brushed mine.
No words.
None were needed.
Alice suddenly went rigid.
Jasper's head snapped toward her.
A few seconds passed.
Then her eyes focused again.
"There."
Everyone looked north.
At first, I saw nothing.
Then black appeared between the trees.
One figure.
Three.
Ten.
Then the forest seemed to fill with them.
They emerged at a walk.
Not a run.
Somehow that made it worse.
The first group came through the trees in a formation so precise it looked rehearsed down to the inch.
Around thirty-five vampires.
Dark cloaks.
Straight lines.
Perfect spacing.
Nobody drifted.
Nobody lagged.
Nobody seemed to need instruction.
They did not look like a coven.
They looked like an army.
Near the center walked the three men there was no mistaking.
Aro.
Caius.
Marcus.
Aro wore a pleasant expression that looked completely wrong on someone arriving at the head of an army.
Caius looked considerably more honest about his mood.
Marcus looked as if nothing on the field interested him enough to care.
Jane and Alec were easy to pick out near the leaders.
Small.
Young looking.
Deadly enough that Bella's expression immediately sharpened.
Her shield was already around us.
Irina walked with the Volturi.
Their witness.
Their accuser.
Tanya saw her almost immediately.
The sound she made was so quiet I nearly missed it.
Kate went rigid beside Garrett.
Carmen moved closer to Eleazar.
Irina's eyes found them too.
For one second, her composure cracked.
Then she continued forward with the people she had brought down on her own family.
Behind the Volturi came another group.
Maybe fifteen.
They were nothing like the disciplined formation ahead of them.
They walked in loose clusters.
Some in pairs.
Some alone.
Several moved sideways as they entered the clearing, trying to get a better view.
They watched us.
They watched the Volturi.
Mostly, they looked like people who had come expecting to see something interesting.
Spectators.
That was what they were.
The Volturi had brought an audience.
Maybe they wanted witnesses to whatever judgment they had already decided to pass.
Maybe the vampires behind them had simply come to see the Volturi remind everyone why they had ruled for so long.
Either way, they were not part of the guard.
Peter glanced back toward Vladimir and Stefan.
The two Romanians were staring at the approaching formation with something dangerously close to delight.
Stefan's smile widened.
"All three."
Vladimir's red eyes shone. "Even the wives came."
I glanced toward the figures following farther back among the Volturi.
Apparently that meant something.
From Vladimir's expression, something important.
Stefan gave a quiet laugh.
"They have not left Volterra and been so exposed in centuries."
There was no fear in either man.
Only satisfaction.
For them, the Volturi bringing this much power to Washington was not threatening.
It was an opportunity.
I turned back toward the approaching force.
"Two hundred fifty yards," Jasper said quietly.
The number did nothing to reassure me.
A vampire could cross that distance almost before a human realized it had moved.
The Volturi kept coming.
Two hundred forty.
Two hundred thirty.
No one slowed.
Carlisle noticed.
His posture changed slightly.
They were supposed to be here over an accusation.
A law.
Evidence.
Instead, their formation continued across the snow without loosening by so much as a step.
Aro did not move forward to speak.
No one called Carlisle's name.
They simply advanced.
I looked at Edward.
His face had become completely still.
"Edward."
He kept his eyes on Aro.
"Are they stopping?"
A second passed.
"No."
That one word changed the field.
My eyes returned to the Volturi.
"What's Aro thinking?"
"He believes the matter is already decided."
"Of course he does."
The distance had closed to roughly two hundred twenty yards.
The children were still forward.
We had brought evidence.
Aro had apparently brought an execution.
Jacob's dark eyes found mine as soon as I turned toward him.
"Jacob."
His ears came forward.
"Bring Sam out."
Jacob remained perfectly still.
But somewhere beyond the southern edge of the clearing, the message had already been delivered.
A few seconds passed.
Then a black wolf stepped from the trees.
Sam.
He walked onto the snow without growling or lowering his head.
He simply appeared.
Then another wolf emerged behind him.
And another.
More shapes moved between the trees until the pack came into view.
Fifteen wolves in all.
The larger wolves moved forward with Sam, spreading behind and around our formation.
The five younger, smaller wolves remained toward the rear of the group.
Still visible.
Still part of the number facing the Volturi.
They simply were not being placed where the first clash would happen.
The reaction across the field was immediate.
The disciplined formation faltered.
Not much.
A shift of heads.
A few guards adjusting their stance.
But after watching them move with perfect precision for fifty yards, even that small reaction stood out.
Caius reacted more strongly.
His expression changed the instant he saw Sam.
For one brief moment, something very close to panic crossed his face.
His eyes snapped from Sam to the other wolves emerging behind him.
He took half a step toward Aro before stopping himself.
Then recognition seemed to catch up with instinct.
Not true werewolves.
Shapeshifters.
The fear disappeared behind anger so quickly I might have imagined it if I had not been watching him directly.
Well. That's interesting.
Aro noticed his reaction too.
Of course he did.
But Aro's own attention had gone completely to the wolves.
Jane turned.
Several guards shifted closer to the leaders.
The spectators behind the Volturi were considerably less disciplined.
Some stopped.
Others whispered.
A few openly moved to get a better look at Sam and the pack.
The wind had been blowing out of the north all morning.
Their scent had reached us long before ours could reach them.
They had seen Jacob.
Irina had almost certainly warned them about shapeshifters.
But knowing wolves existed was different from discovering fifteen more had been waiting just beyond sight.
Two hundred ten yards.
Sam moved into position.
The pack spread with him.
Nobody charged.
Nobody growled.
They simply added fifteen enormous bodies to the force already standing in Aro's path.
The younger five held farther back while the larger wolves filled the spaces behind and along our flanks.
Two hundred yards.
The Volturi stopped.
All at once.
The sudden stillness was almost more impressive than their advance.
Thirty-five vampires went from marching toward us to motionless in the snow.
Their audience took several more seconds to settle behind them.
Aro stared across the clearing.
For the first time since I had seen him, his smile disappeared.
Only briefly.
When it returned, it was different.
Curious now.
Calculating.
{There we go.}
Apparently we had finally become interesting enough to deserve a conversation.
Caius was no longer frightened.
He looked furious.
His stare remained fixed on the wolves as though their existence were somehow a personal insult.
Marcus barely reacted.
Behind me, Stefan spoke softly.
"Look at him."
Vladimir chuckled.
"I am."
I didn't need to ask which one they meant.
Caius's hatred of werewolves was apparently much more entertaining when viewed from the other side.
Carlisle stepped several yards forward.
The Volturi remained where they were.
"Aro."
His voice carried across the field.
Aro's smile widened.
"Carlisle."
Warm.
Friendly.
Almost affectionate.
A remarkably different greeting from the man who had been planning to walk straight through us thirty seconds earlier.
Carlisle opened his hands slightly.
"We have no desire for violence."
Aro looked past him.
His gaze traveled slowly across our side.
First the wolves.
Then the witnesses.
The Denalis.
The Amazons.
The Egyptians.
The Irish.
Peter and Charlotte.
Vladimir and Stefan.
The Romanians smiled at him.
Aro did not return it.
His attention passed over Joham before stopping on Benjamin.
For several seconds.
Amun noticed.
Every part of him tightened.
Benjamin did not move.
Eventually Aro's attention shifted.
To Renesmee.
Even at two hundred yards, I saw the surprise.
He had seen the children through Irina, this was not the same as that memory.
Whatever Aro expected, it had not been the girl standing beside Bella now.
His gaze moved to Harry and Nancy.
Then Serena.
Maysun.
Jennifer.
His expression sharpened with interest.
That reaction bothered me more than anger would have.
Finally his eyes found me.
They remained there.
I stared back.
Still human.
Whatever curiosity I created, he could satisfy it later.
Carlisle spoke again.
"I believe this entire matter rests on a misunderstanding. If you will allow us to explain what Irina saw, I believe you will find that no law has been broken."
Aro looked toward Renesmee again.
Then toward Irina.
Irina was staring at her too.
The uncertainty on her face was growing.
Good.
Caius leaned toward Aro and spoke too quietly for me to hear clearly at this distance.
Edward heard him.
His expression hardened.
Aro answered.
Then turned back toward Carlisle.
"What I see before me is considerably more complicated than I was led to expect."
Carlisle nodded.
"Which is why I ask you to hear us before anyone acts."
Aro looked around the field once more.
At the witnesses.
At the wolves.
At the children.
At the force he had apparently expected to brush aside without stopping.
Then he stepped away from his formation.
Several guards reacted immediately.
Aro raised one hand.
They stopped.
Caius came with him.
Marcus followed more slowly.
Renata remained near Aro as the three leaders moved forward.
Carlisle watched them.
Esme touched his arm.
He turned toward her.
They shared a look.
Then Carlisle stepped out.
Edward joined him.
Bella caught Edward's hand briefly before releasing it.
Then I started forward.
Edythe caught my hand.
I stopped.
"I'm going with them."
"I know."
There was no argument.
She squeezed my hand.
"Come back."
"I will."
She released me.
I joined Carlisle and Edward.
Edward glanced toward me.
My mind remained completely silent to him.
That was useful.
Soon Aro would probably take Edward's hand and learn everything Edward knew about our preparation.
The positions.
The wolves.
The children.
The signal.
Everything.
Except me.
Aro could touch me too if he wanted.
It would not help him.
My mind was as closed to his gift as it was to Edward's while I was human.
Maybe completely closed regardless.
We already knew enough to be confident of that.
For once, I was the person on the field Aro could not simply open like a book.
Carlisle looked between Edward and me.
"Whatever happens, we speak first."
Edward nodded.
"So do I."
Carlisle held my gaze for a moment.
Then nodded.
Behind us, everyone remained in position.
Bella stood near Renesmee.
Jacob remained shifted beside her.
Leah stayed with Harry and Nancy.
Edythe watched from where I had left her.
Sam and fourteen other wolves formed a visible wall behind our side, with the five younger wolves holding toward the rear of that same formation.
Across the clearing, the main Volturi force remained at roughly two hundred yards.
Their fifteen spectators waited behind them.
Only Aro, Caius, and Marcus came to meet us, with Renata keeping close to Aro.
The six of us crossed the snow.
Carlisle.
Edward.
Me.
Aro.
Caius.
Marcus.
The space disappeared quickly.
A hundred yards.
Fifty.
Twenty.
Neither side behind us moved.
At the center of the field, Carlisle slowed.
So did Aro.
Caius stopped beside him.
Marcus took his place on the other side.
Renata remained several steps behind.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Aro looked at Carlisle first.
Something almost genuine entered his expression.
"Carlisle, my dear friend."
Carlisle inclined his head.
"Aro."
Then Aro looked toward Edward.
Recognition brightened his face.
Edward stood silently beside Carlisle, already hearing everything the three Volturi leaders were thinking.
Finally Aro turned to me.
The curiosity I had seen from across the field was stronger up close.
I met his gaze.
Behind us waited our families.
Behind him waited an army.
And surrounding both sides were enough witnesses to make sure whatever happened here would not remain a secret.
The Volturi had arrived intending to pass judgment.
We had already forced them to change that plan once.
Now we would see whether they could be made to change it again.