Benjamin grinned and threw an impish glance toward the Romanians. “Apparently, I’m a hot commodity. It appears I have to win the right to be free.”

“This won’t be the first time I’ve fought to keep myself from a king’s rule,” Garrett said in a teasing tone. He walked over and clapped Benjamin on the back. “Here’s to freedom from oppression.”

“We stand with Carlisle,” Tanya said. “And we fight with him.”

The Romanians’ pronouncement seemed to have made the others feel the need to declare themselves as well.

“We have not decided,” Peter said. He looked down at his tiny companion; Charlotte’s lips were set in dissatisfaction. It looked like she’d made her decision. I wondered what it was.

“The same goes for me,” Randall said.

“And me,” Mary added.

“The packs will fight with the Cullens,” Jacob said suddenly. “We’re not afraid of vampires,” he added with a smirk.

“Children,” Peter muttered.

“Infants,” Randall corrected.

Jacob grinned tauntingly.

“Well, I’m in, too,” Maggie said, shrugging out from under Siobhan’s restraining hand. “I know truth is on Carlisle’s side. I can’t ignore that.”

Siobhan stared at the junior member of her coven with worried eyes. “Carlisle,” she said as if they were alone, ignoring the suddenly formal feel of the gathering, the unexpected outburst of declarations, “I don’t want this to come to a fight.”

“Nor do I, Siobhan. You know that’s the last thing I want.” He half-smiled. “Perhaps you should concentrate on keeping it peaceful.”

“You know that won’t help,” she said.

I remembered Rose and Carlisle’s discussion of the Irish leader; Carlisle believed that Siobhan had some subtle but powerful gift to make things go her way—and yet Siobhan didn’t believe it herself.

“It couldn’t hurt,” Carlisle said.

Siobhan rolled her eyes. “Shall I visualize the outcome I desire?” she asked sarcastically.

Carlisle was openly grinning now. “If you don’t mind.”

“Then there is no need for my coven to declare itself, is there?” she retorted. “Since there is no possibility of a fight.” She put her hand back on Maggie’s shoulder, pulling the girl closer to her. Siobhan’s mate, Liam, stood silent and expressionless.

Almost everyone else in the room looked mystified by Carlisle and Siobhan’s clearly joking exchange, but they didn’t explain themselves.

That was the end of the dramatic speeches for the night. The group slowly dispersed, some off to hunt, some to while away the time with Carlisle’s books or televisions or computers.

Edward, Renesmee, and I went to hunt. Jacob tagged along.

“Stupid leeches,” he muttered to himself when we got outside. “Think they’re so superior.” He snorted.

“They’ll be shocked when the infants save their superior lives, won’t they?” Edward said.

Jake smiled and punched his shoulder. “Hell yeah, they will.”

This wasn’t our last hunting trip. We all would hunt again nearer to the time we expected the Volturi. As the deadline was not exact, we were planning to stay a few nights out in the big baseball clearing Alice had seen, just in case. All we knew was that they would come the day that the snow stuck to the ground. We didn’t want the Volturi too close to town, and Demetri would lead them to wherever we were. I wondered who he would track in, and guessed that it would be Edward since he couldn’t track me.

I thought about Demetri while I hunted, paying little attention to my prey or the drifting snowflakes that had finally appeared but were melting before they touched the rocky soil. Would Demetri realize that he couldn’t track me? What would he make of that? What would Aro? Or was Edward wrong? There were those little exceptions to what I could withstand, those ways around my shield. Everything that was outside my mind was vulnerable—open to the things Jasper, Alice, and Benjamin could do. Maybe Demetri’s talent worked a little differently, too.

And then I had a thought that brought me up short. The half-drained elk dropped from my hands to the stony ground. Snowflakes vaporized a few inches from the warm body with tiny sizzling sounds. I stared blankly at my bloody hands.

Edward saw my reaction and hurried to my side, leaving his own kill undrained.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a low voice, his eyes sweeping the forest around us, looking for whatever had triggered my behavior.

“Renesmee,” I choked.

“She’s just through those trees,” he reassured me. “I can hear both her thoughts and Jacob’s. She’s fine.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I said. “I was thinking about my shield—you really think it’s worth something, that it will help somehow. I know the others are hoping that I’ll be able to shield Zafrina and Benjamin, even if I can only keep it up for a few seconds at a time. What if that’s a mistake? What if your trust in me is the reason that we fail?”

My voice was edging toward hysteria, though I had enough control to keep it low. I didn’t want to upset Renesmee.

“Bella, what brought this on? Of course, it’s wonderful that you can protect yourself, but you’re not responsible for saving anyone. Don’t distress yourself needlessly.”

“But what if I can’t protect anything?” I whispered in gasps. “This thing I do, it’s faulty, it’s erratic! There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Maybe it will do nothing against Alec at all.”

“Shh,” he hushed me. “Don’t panic. And don’t worry about Alec. What he does is no different than what Jane or Zafrina does. It’s just an illusion—he can’t get inside your head any more than I can.”

“But Renesmee does!” I hissed frantically through my teeth. “It seemed so natural, I never questioned it before. It’s always been just part of who she is. But she puts her thoughts right into my head just like she does with everyone else. My shield has holes, Edward!”

I stared at him desperately, waiting for him to acknowledge my terrible revelation. His lips were pursed, as if he was trying to decide how to phrase something. His expression was perfectly relaxed.

“You thought of this a long time ago, didn’t you?” I demanded, feeling like an idiot for my months of overlooking the obvious.

He nodded, a faint smile pulling up one corner of his mouth. “The first time she touched you.”

I sighed at my own stupidity, but his calm had mellowed me some. “And this doesn’t bother you? You don’t see it as a problem?”

“I have two theories, one more likely than the other.”

“Give me the least likely first.”

“Well, she’s your daughter,” he pointed out. “Genetically half you. I used to tease you about how your mind was on a different frequency than the rest of ours. Perhaps she runs on the same.”

This didn’t work for me. “But you hear her mind just fine. Everyone hears her mind. And what if Alec runs on a different frequency? What if—?”

He put a finger to my lips. “I’ve considered that. Which is why I think this next theory is much more likely.”

I gritted my teeth and waited.

“Do you remember what Carlisle said to me about her, right after she showed you that first memory?”

Of course I remembered. “He said, ‘It’s an interesting twist. Like she’s doing the exact opposite of what you can.’”

“Yes. And so I wondered. Maybe she took your talent and flipped it, too.”

I considered that.

“You keep everyone out,” he began.

“And no one keeps her out?” I finished hesitantly.

“That’s my theory,” he said. “And if she can get into your head, I doubt there’s a shield on the planet who could keep her at bay. That will help. From what we’ve seen, no one can doubt the truth of her thoughts once they’ve allowed her to show them. And I think no one can keep her from showing them, if she gets close enough. If Aro allows her to explain. . . .”

I shuddered to think of Renesmee so close to Aro’s greedy, milky eyes.