It happened mid-evening, when the house was warm and peaceful, and none of us expected the world to break.
Alice stood in the kitchen doorway, about to say something, when her expression went blank so abruptly it looked unnatural.Her eyes unfocused — not in that distant, dreamy way her visions sometimes came, but violently. Like something had grabbed her mind and yanked it forward.
Edward was beside her in less than a second.
"Alice?"
No response.
Her breathing hitched.Her hands trembled — small, uncontrollable spasms that terrified me more than any vision ever had.
Bella caught her shoulders just in time.
"Alice, I'm here," she whispered, wrapping her in the cocoon of her shield.
Alice gasped like she was drowning.
"The room—" she choked. "Stone. Cold. It's not Volterra… no, it is, but… deeper. Hidden."
Carlisle exchanged a dark look with Esme.
"A sub-chamber," Carlisle murmured. "Few know those exist."
Alice kept shaking her head, frantic.
"There are voices. I hear Aro. Caius. Marcus is… quiet, watching. But there's someone else. Someone they're speaking about."
Edward leaned in, his jaw tight.
"Who?"
Alice winced, clutched Bella's arm.
"I can't see him clearly. He's in the corner, crouched, like he's—"Her voice faltered."Like he's afraid."
The room froze.
Volturi don't keep afraid people in their presence. Only broken ones.
Jacob stood from the fireplace, eyes flashing.
"Is he human?"
"No," Alice whispered. "Not entirely."
Her vision flickered again — her whole body jolting like something interfered with the flow itself.
Edward flinched."What was that? Your future split."
"I know," Alice whispered. "Something is disrupting it. Someone."
She inhaled sharply, as if seeing something she didn't want to.
"He looks young. Too young. And he's… wrong."
Carlisle's head snapped up.
"Wrong how?"
Alice swallowed.
"I smell vampire. But I also hear a heart."Her voice cracked."Like Nessie."
A horrified silence fell.
A hybrid.
Another one.Created — not born.
Jacob muttered a curse under his breath.
Alice pressed her palms to her temples as if the vision burned.
"They're giving him orders. Aro is gentle, coaxing… Caius is furious. He hates him."
"That fits," Edward muttered.
But Alice wasn't done.
"And his power—"Her breath hitched."It's leaking. It's touching the future itself. He doesn't know he's doing it. But he's… projecting."
"Projecting?" Carlisle echoed softly.
Alice screamed.
Bella tightened her shield instantly.
Alice's voice trembled violently:
"He looked up."
Edward's eyes widened.
"No. Alice, no one can—"
"He looked up in the vision," she insisted, panic sharpening every word."Not at them. At me. Like he felt me watching."
Jacob stiffened, growling low.
Alice's voice grew thin, terrified.
"And then he whispered something. Not to Aro. Not to Caius."
She was trembling now.
"He whispered it to me."
"What did he say?" I asked, barely breathing.
Alice swallowed.
Her voice broke as the words came out:
"Don't look at me."
The room froze.
Not a threat.Not a boast.
A plea.
And then she snapped out of the vision, collapsing into Bella's arms, shaking uncontrollably.
Carlisle knelt beside her, voice gentle but strained.
"What you saw wasn't control," he murmured."It was fear. Instability. Someone being used."
Edward's jaw tightened.
"A child," he said quietly."A weapon."
Alice whispered one last thing, her voice cracking:
"He doesn't understand what he is. Or what they're making him do."
And the house fell silent.
The Volturi weren't just watching us anymore.
They were building something.
Someone.