* * *
It was some time later while Edward was tracing little circles on my stomach with his fingertips that he confronted me. “Bella?”
“Mmmhmm?” I was feeling quite distracted.
“I was just wondering…” he stopped his fingers and I looked up. “What exactly are you doing to me?”
All innocence, I asked, “What are you talking about?” I suspected he was referring to my shield, but I couldn’t be sure.
He sat up from where he’d been lying next to me. “It’s been a most pleasant morning, I’ll admit, but I’m really not accustomed to this… silence.”
I giggled. “I just thought you’d like to try something different, that’s all.” I reached over to pull his lips to mine then paused, his mouth a hair’s breadth from mine. “Besides, I wanted you all to myself. No distractions.”
He pulled away slightly. “How did you figure out how to do this?”
I smiled. “I read the paper…”
“Hmmmm. You’ll have to read more often.” His lips met mine and we were submerged for a few more minutes in exquisite pleasure.
“Mom? Dad?” Nessie’s voice preceded her by seconds. Ugh. I loved my daughter, but these interruptions were getting old. It’s a good thing vampires were fast. We were dressed before she reached our door. She was knocking timidly. “Are you in there?”
I looked at Edward. He appeared to be very disgruntled. I’d never seen him quite this rattled. He hissed, “Would you please remove your shield?”
I toyed with the idea of leaving him shielded, but his cloudy expression convinced me to release it. I’d have to remember this. I had enjoyed having him all to myself. No distractions from intruding thoughts. I smiled smugly then released the shield.
I replied to Nessie’s question, “Yes, we’re here, honey. What did you need?”
Edward hadn’t quite recovered himself, although he was flawlessly dressed in my favorite khakis.
“May I come in?”
I surveyed the room. Edward was flying through the room and putting everything in order as we spoke.
“Sure, honey.”
Nessie poked her head in. “Carlisle told us about Leah. That’s so cool. Jacob’s jazzed about the twins, and so is Seth. He’d been at some campout with the other La Push guys since this is the last week before school starts. He was so surprised to see Leah at Sue’s place and with twins, too. Oh, and the Danali clan arrived a few minutes ago. They were asking about you…”
“Oh. Ummmm. Could you let them know I’ll be right there?” I asked.
Nessie nodded and quickly disappeared.
I snuck a look at Edward. Maybe this hadn’t been the best time to try out my shield on him. My eyes narrowed. On the other hand, maybe this was a very good time. I didn’t want him knowing exactly what I had in mind. My conversations with Kate and Tanya had been clear. Alice had seen what I was doing, too. And wasn’t this the whole purpose of their visit? To see if I could shield two vampires at the same time?
He grabbed my hand, his mood recovered. We ran together to the river. I released his hand as I was jumping and promptly re-shielded him.
“Bella!” he hissed.
I laughed.
I thought his anger at being shielded would be less intense than his anger at my planning to fight the Volturi. As he came up beside me, his stormy expression almost convinced me otherwise. If I didn’t know he absolutely adored me, I would be very afraid of him at that moment. I’d never seen him so angry with me.
“Unshield me now.”
“Edward, be reasonable. There isn’t anyone here that you don’t know. None of them know you’re shielded. Relax and enjoy the moment.”
He glared at me and stormed in the back door of the Cullen home. I followed close behind.
Several pairs of vampire eyes turned to look at us. I smiled widely at the group and moved to Edward’s piano bench. He sat next to me but didn’t hold my hand.
“How was your trip down?” I directed my innocent question to Kate. I wrapped my shield securely around her. Two shields. No problem. Could I do three? I might not know until the actual battle.
I caught Kate’s eye and nodded slightly. She grinned, understanding that my shield was in place. I could feel her light glowing strongly. She was testing me.
“The usual. Nothing interesting.”
Alice was staring intently at Edward. She looked frustrated.
Carlisle was looking questioningly at him as well. I guessed that both had thought something they’d assumed would get a reply.
I suppressed a smile. Edward was getting a taste of how the rest of us lived.
Eleazer ignored the tension in the room. “Tell me about your trip, Carlisle.”
Carlisle reluctantly moved his gaze from Edward’s and directed his attention to Eleazer. “We traveled through several small villages in Iraq seeking some information on a legend there. I wanted to get versions of the story of Gilgamesh. He had sought information from an immortal being dwelling on the earth. All the stories are very similar in their detail. Immortality had something to do with a plant found on the bottom of the sea.”
Eleazer nodded. “I’m familiar with the story, but why go to such great lengths to hear different versions of a myth?”
Carlisle glanced at the vampires in the room. His eyes rested on Nessie. “It seems that many myths are based on some small seed of truth.” He looked again at Eleazer. “The seed of truth is often the part of the story that remains over time and distance. I have followed myths all over the world to the closest source I can find. Most of the stories point to the eating of some kind of plant to achieve immortality.”
Carlisle’s expression was animated, and Edward seemed to share some of his excitement. He must’ve been getting over his anger at me because he reached for my hand. I was glad to take it. It seemed unnatural to be sitting next to Edward and not touching him.
“One of the oldest written accounts of a plant that grants the eater immortality is actually in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. The Hebrew version seems to verify the English translation. When Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden for partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, a cherubim and a flaming sword were sent to protect the Tree of Life so that they wouldn’t eat of it and live forever in their sins.” Carlisle scanned the room, as if making sure he had our attention. “If we can find this plant that gives immortality, maybe we can decipher its secrets and become human again.”
Eleazer blinked. We had told him about changing back to humans when we had visited him in Denali, but hearing it from Carlisle himself seemed to help him taste the reality of the idea.
A crease formed between his eyes. “How would you go about finding this…this plant?”
“That is where the research comes in.”
I looked at Edward. He was glaring at me again. Clearly, he wanted to know what thoughts were being thrown around the room. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I guessed he couldn’t be much madder about my planning an attack on the Volturi than he was with me over the shielding. I hadn’t anticipated that listening in on other people’s thoughts was so important to him. I released my shield, and he immediately lightly squeezed my fingers in silent thanks.
His eyes widened and he whispered, “We’ll talk about your Volturi plans later.”
Ouch. It hadn’t taken long for him to ferret that thought out. I looked around the room. From the grimly determined look on her face, I guessed that Tanya was the culprit—thinking about avenging Irina.
I carefully kept Kate’s shield in place. I didn’t want Garrett taking the hit for any carelessness on my part. He was sitting in front of her on the floor and was leaning against her leg. If I released my shield, he’d take a bad jolt, I was sure. I could sense her light glowing brightly against my shield. She was doing her best to test my abilities.
All of this side activity had only taken a moment. My attention was once again riveted on Carlisle. Carmen asked
the question I desperately wanted to ask, “What is the cherubim and a flaming sword?”
Carlisle’s face fell a little. “I’m not really sure. The written record isn’t very clear. All the versions I’ve read say something about the cherubim being an angel with the sword a weapon, but what that means I don’t know.”
Garrett jumped in then, as interested as the rest of us, “How would one go about getting around these… protections?”
Carlisle’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know that answer, either. However, the more recent legends don’t mention cherubim and a flaming sword. They mention an unprotected plant. I have my own theories, but I don’t know how accurate they are. Theories are just ideas until they’re tested.”
We waited for his theories, all eyes directed toward him. “Every civilization on every continent had some story about a great flood. These stories pre-date all instances of mentions of immortal beings. My guess is that the cherubim and a flaming sword were either washed away or no longer necessary after that point in time.” We sat back, exchanging looks of wonder.
Carlisle had our undivided attention. “All civilizations before the birth of Christ also had another thing in common: the practice of animal sacrifice. Even the Greeks and Romans practiced it. Sometimes, sadly, the practice was twisted into something it was never meant to be—the sacrifice of humans, but the initial reason for the sacrifice is found in ancient writings. The only time the Holy Bible mentions human sacrifice as valid was when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, his only son. When Abraham showed his willingness to pay the ultimate price—the life of his son—a sacrificial ram was provided for the sacrifice instead.” The group exchanged confused glances. It was obvious most of us weren’t familiar with the story.
He continued, “If you remember, Cain slew Abel because God accepted Abel’s sacrificial lamb but not Cain’s offer of fruit and vegetables. The reason for the sacrificial lamb is also found in ancient writing. The sacrifices were a reminder that God would sacrifice his only son to pay the price of sin. All through the ages until the time of Christ, the only acceptable form of worship involved animal sacrifice. It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that all civilizations before the time of Christ practiced it.”
Carlisle paused and looked at the expectant group. “I’m thinking that… after the Atonement of Christ, where he paid the price for all sin, whether or not immortal beings were created no longer mattered. The cherubim and a flaming sword were no longer necessary because no being—immortal or otherwise—would live forever in their sins. All sins were covered in the blood of Christ.”
A collective breath hissed in. Eleazer shook his head and Carmen sat up in surprise. We all knew that Carlisle was a religious man, but I could see that this stretched his credibility for them.
I knew Edward was leaning toward the same kind of belief as Carlisle. I wasn’t sure where I stood, but my feelings in the plane as we landed in Seattle wouldn’t let me reject Carlisle’s theory. I watched Garrett. His eyes had taken on a thoughtful look, and I knew he, too, wasn’t just tossing out Carlisle’s theories.
Jacob jumped up off the floor from where he’d been sitting next to Nessie. “Who’d like to play a game of croquet?”
“Croquet?” Garrett asked in surprise. “What kind of vampire game is that?”
Emmett grinned. “You’ll like playing this game. We’ve added a vampire twist. Count me in.”
“I’ll try anything once.” Garrett looked a little doubtful, then he looked at me. “Were you coming, Bella?”
I grinned at him. “I think I’ve had my share of being pinned this week. I’ll pass.”
He looked confused. “What does that have to do with croquet?”
I laughed. “It depends on whose rules you’re playing by.”
Kate looked interested, “What do you mean by that?”
Jacob jumped in, “In this game, you get to make up your own rules, as long as everyone understands them before the game starts.”
Tanya laughed. “That would keep the game interesting, all right.”
“Are you playing, Edward?” Jacob asked.
“I don’t think I’ll play, but I’ll set up the course, if you want.”
Nessie’s voice, clear and musical, rose above the others, “I want to play this time. You always leave me out.”
Emmett grumbled good naturedly. “I guess the hunting rules are out today, then.” He paused and smiled at Nessie to take away their sting. “I’m full, anyway, and believe it or not I’m tired of grizzlies.”
We all laughed.
Edward accepted the wickets from Jacob. “Bella, would you like to help me set up the course?”
I looked at him, startled. I was hoping for a little time before we had our Volturi chat. I wasn’t going to get any. “Sure.” I joined him, and we headed out the door.
We jumped the river in silence and headed for the forest behind our cottage. We ran several minutes before Edward said softly, “When, exactly, were you planning to tell me that you are planning to fight the Volturi?”
We ran a similar length of time before I replied. “I didn’t want to say anything until I knew I could manipulate my shield properly. I didn’t want to fight unless we can win. The Volturi won’t walk away from a fight on their own turf.”
Edward stopped. “What makes you think we’ll be fighting them there?”
“I think they’re too scared to come back. The wolf packs are a deterrent.” I looked at him with pleading eyes. “Don’t you remember what you said after our last meeting with them?”
Edward shook his head. “I said a lot of things, Bella. What are you talking about?”
I choked on tears that wouldn’t come. “You said… the Volturi would pick us off one at a time.”
He engulfed me in his arms, understanding melting his anger. “Oh, Bella. I had no idea my thoughtless comment would give you so much stress. I really don’t believe that…”
“But they will. I feel it. If we don’t get them, they will get us. There’s no compromise here, Edward. There’s not.”
He could see the intensity of my feelings. He changed the subject. “Let’s get this course set up. We’ll discuss this later.”
I sighed. There might not be much time left for us to have a ‘later.’ I was feeling the pressing fear of the Volturi like a cloud heavy with rain. Alice hadn’t seen anything, but she was having a lot of holes in her vision lately. My feeling of impending doom hadn’t ever been off. I was beginning to trust my feelings more than Alice’s visions, and that was a scary place to be.
It didn’t take us long to set up the course. I didn’t do anything but follow Edward as he placed the wickets. If the vampires didn’t have such a superb sense of smell, I doubted if they could have found them. I almost wished I could play. The course was certainly challenging.
On our way back, I posed him a question that had been bothering me, “How come being shielded upsets you so much?”
“When Carlisle was talking about the plant, I really wanted to hear what Eleazer was thinking. He lived with the Volturi for a long time. He might’ve had the answer we needed about the plant.”
“Oh. I’m sorry, Edward. I had no idea.”
He shrugged. “It’s water under the bridge now. Although I can probably ask him another question about it before they leave. I guess the biggest reason is that I’m so accustomed to hearing everyone’s thoughts that I felt defenseless with your shield up.”
“If it bothers you so much, I won’t do it again.”
He smiled at me. “It didn’t bother me this morning, but I’d rather you planned it out and let me know. A sneak attack is hardly fair.”
I snickered, then reached for his hand and we rushed back to the house.
When we arrived back at the Cullen place, Alice was at the computer. I walked up behind her and asked, “Do you mind looking up Jacob and Nessie’s school schedules? They were posted on Friday.”
“Not at all.”
; Nessie’s schedule opened up and Alice opened Jacob’s in another window so we could compare them. Jacob moved over, his interest in the croquet game momentarily forgotten. “Woo hoo!! We got the mechanics class together. It’s first period.” Nessie came up beside him.
She groaned. “I got the home economics class.”
I looked at her in surprise. “I thought you wanted that one.”
“So did I, but I changed my mind after I wrote it down. I was hoping it would fill up and I’d get the drawing class. Esme would probably be a better teacher.”
I silently agreed with her, but said comfortingly, “Maybe you can get drawing next semester.”
She frowned. “Maybe. Oh well. Let’s go play some croquet.” She grabbed Jacob’s hand and the group headed out the door, croquet mallets and balls ready for action.