Full Moon

Demetri left us in the opulent room managed by the receptionist Gianna. 

"Catch her," Alice commanded moments before I swayed on my feet. 

Edward, of course, caught me before my legs gave out entirely. The sobs were already overtaking me, a ripping sound coming from my lungs. I began crying so hard that I coughed instead of breathed. 

"She's going into hysterics," Alice advised before going to the receptionist desk. 

"All those people," I mumbled around trembling lips. 

"I know," Edward said quietly.

He pulled me onto his lap. I was too petrified to object. I'd tolerated it when our lives were in danger, but now it just seemed bizarre that he'd continue the charade. I didn't like how cold he was, the way his skin was making me shiver. The cloak he wore should have kept him a touch less frigid. Maybe I was going into shock. 

"It's so horrible," I whispered again. My mind kept going back to the confused old woman with the rosary. 

"I know," Edward agreed. 

Alice came back a moment later with her hands full. She gave me a bottled water and a sandwich, as well as a box of tissues. She set a waste bin on the ground. 

"In case you vomit," she said cheerfully. "Be a doll and put this under your tongue." 

I opened my mouth on reflex, stupidly trusting her, and felt her fingers press a pill in. It dissolved quickly under my tongue. It tasted bitter and salty. I grimaced and chased it with water. 

"It will help calm you down," Alice advised with a hand to my cheek. Her eyes were kind, almost motherly. "You're warmer than usual." 

"It's the crying," Edward said dismissively. "Eat something, Bella." 

Horrified as I was with the entire situation, I was also starving. I ate the entire sandwich and chugged the bottle of water with tears still streaming down my cheeks. Edward wiped them away patiently. His fingers did felt nice against my burning face. 

"When's the last time you fed her, Alice?" Edward demanded. 

"I've been a bit preoccupied managing you. And Bella doesn't eat much when she's stressed," Alice said defensively. She sat beside us. 

I was starting to feel the effects of the pill she'd given me. My tears stopped. My breathing evened out. My head slowly dropped onto Edward's shoulder and my entire body relaxed. 

"Can I sit somewhere else?" I asked quietly. 

Surprised, Edward moved so I sat between him and Alice. My head drifted onto her shoulder instead. I was still shivering; my face was hot but my body was freezing. I missed Jules. I needed her. She would make everything better. At least I wouldn't be cold anymore.

I looked over at the receptionist. "Does she know? About them?" 

"She knows everything," Edward confirmed. He moved so the cloak at least partially covered me, an attempt at keeping me warm. 

"And she knows they're planning on killing her?" I asked. 

"She's hoping they'll keep her." 

"They won't," Alice said quietly. 

I tried to understand, but I couldn't come to terms with it. "Why would she want to be one of them?"

Edward said nothing, but Alice's hand wrapped around mine. "You did, too." 

The thought sent a bolt of nausea through me. I eyed the waste bin but decided to hold it and closed my eyes. 

I felt cold fingers trace my face. The sensation made me jump, even limply. 

"You look tired," Edward murmured. 

I moved my face from his hands, frowning. I eyed the pitch-black irises. The deep purple bruises beneath them. "You look thirsty." 

Edward smiled slightly. "It's nothing," he said weakly.

Maybe he wouldn't rip my throat out before I got back to Forks. 

"You should hunt," I whispered. 

"Outside the city," Alice added. 

I must have dozed off at that point, waking up sluggish hours later. I was being carried. I heard a murmur of voices, and then I was set down. 

My eyes slid open at that point. I was in a car, buckled in, watching as a dark landscape zoomed by us. Lights twinkled in the distance. 

Edward was driving. Alice was in the passenger seat. They didn't speak. The world went dark again until I woke up on a plane. 

How the hell did they drag me unconscious through airport security? 

It was about at that point that I was mad. For the entire situation. For the abandonment, for the suicide mission, for risking my life, for drugging me. I resigned to stay awake from that point forward, despite the exhaustion my body was fighting. Everything was hurting and my head felt sluggish, like a flu. 

I ate on the plane again, and ordered energy drinks. There were three flights; Florence to Rome, Rome to Atlanta, Atlanta to Seattle. I was going to stay awake for all of them.

I started feeling sluggish on the second plane. By the third, I was dragging my feet to the terminal. Every blink felt longer and longer. The energy drinks weren't working as we took off towards Washington. No matter how many more I gulped down, the world just got darker. 

"How are you feeling, Bella?" Alice asked sweetly.

I looked at her accusingly. Her eyes were large, innocent. Maybe she didn't do it. Maybe I was exhausted. Or maybe Edward did it. I didn't have the energy to question it anymore. 

The world slipped past me again. 

I had to pee. That was my first thought when I finally resurfaced. My bladder now controlled my legs, me standing and attempting to make it to the bathroom. 

My legs crumbled under me. 

I felt cold hands attempting to help me up, but I shrugged them off and tried standing again. My legs wouldn't work. My mouth wasn't cooperating well either. 

"Do you need some assistance, ma'am?" A polite voice asked. I looked up to see an airplane stewardess, in her navy blue uniform smiling down at me. She knelt to help me up. I leaned my weight on her; she didn't budge. 

"Her feet are just asleep from sitting for so long," Edward said sweetly. I knew the face he was making, the one that would make people stop asking questions and just oggle him instead. 

"Is that so?" Her voice was cool and polite, not transfixed like I expected. 

"I've got her," he said in a commanding tone. I cringed away from his hands, fixing myself at her side. 

"Let her help, Edward," I heard Alice murmur. "She'll be fine." 

Their tone implied that a conversation was happening silently between them. 

"I'll help you," she said in a determine tone. "Right this way." 

She walked beside my stumbling figure, guiding me to the restroom, but we kept walked right past it to the bathroom in the next section of the plane. Away from prying ears. Human ones, anyway. The vampires in the next cabin would hear anyway. 

I nearly fell into the bathroom and locked it behind me. Maybe I could hide in here until we landed. I washed my face in an attempt to bring some life back into me, but I still looked like reheated death. My skin was paler than usual, my hair oily and clumped, my clothes rumpled. There were bruises under my eyes like I'd been beaten. I didn't dare take off my clothes to see the bruises from the rough treatment in Volterra. I hadn't used deodorant in days, but thankfully I was nose-blind to myself at this point. My teeth felt like they had a layer of sandpaper on them. 

The stewardess was waiting in the hall for me. 

"Ma'am," she said quietly. "I don't mean to pry or concern you, but are you okay?" 

I blinked twice, leaning back against the doorway to steady myself. I tried to focus on her words. On her in general. I felt light-headed still.

"Are you safe with the people you're with?" She asked. 

I felt tears spring into my eyes, because I didn't know the answer to that. I didn't know I was safe. I wanted Jules. I would be safe with her. I wanted to go home. 

All I could see was that little old woman. Scared, alone, clutching the cross of her rosary. Speaking to people but not being heard. Her face had plagued my drug-induced dreams. 

"We can separate you from them, even if just temporarily, and I can get you with security when we touch down in Washington. Is there anyone you would like us to call?" She asked quietly. Like I was a spooked animal, going to bolt at any moment. 

"Julie. My girlfriend. Can you call her?" I blinked, remembering that she might be out searching for Victoria. My words sounded garbled. My tongue was heavy. I tried to enunciate. "My Dad, if she doesn't pick up." 

She wrote down the numbers as I recited them to her. We triple-checked together. 

"Can I sit somewhere else?" I asked her. "Away from them?" 

"Of course," she said calmly. "Do we need to call the police? Are you being trafficked, or detained...?" 

"No, no," I said quickly. I drifted on my feet. "They're not dangerous. I just..." 

The tears came flowing now. I couldn't hold them back. "I want to go home."

Her dark eyes softened. She couldn't out of her mid-twenties. She looked so young, with a sweet face. A cute afro of curly hair, dimples. She looked like she cared. 

"My name's Carissa," she said kindly. "I'm going to take care of you, okay?"