76.
The shadow peeled back layer after layer. First, the outline of a tree trunk appeared. Sharp light gray against the darkness. There was no scent, no sound. Just the ever-present evil luring in the background.
"Careful," whispered Emmett. His hand rested on Alice's shoulder. Her eyes were closed, focusing on her power. Listening to the whispers. This thing kept them trapped in this soup of broken dreams. Edward kept a firm grip on Emmett's forearm. The Cullen's blood pact held them linked and united. The storm of illusions almost shattered their minds. Jasper was curled in half, panting against the voices assaulting him. Emmett held a sobbing Rosaline against his massive chest. They didn't know where the wolves had gone to. Lost or broken.
More darkness peeled away and vibrant orange and red leaves appeared under their feet. The red bled into the soil. A light tremor overtook Edward. He closed his palm, his nails digging into the flesh.
"Steady, Edward," warned Alice. "I can hear her. But she's faint. Fading." Horror seeped into his heart. What if he couldn't save his little girl? What if this monster makes a ruin of this world? No, he couldn't live with this on his conscience. A cackle jolted his thought to the present. Forcing him to face reality. This entity was insidious. Corrupting thoughts and injecting doubts to weaken the mind. Edward wanted to rage and tear it to shreds. However, brute force was not the solution in this matter.
"Will you be strong enough to run a blade through your little girl?" Asked the disembodied voice hovering in the darkness. Alice opened her eyes with a gasp. Edward pulled his hand from Emmett to dash toward the now visible clearing.
"Don't!" Alice held him just in time. She almost lost her footing from the impact of their bodies. "Don't fall for it. Don't listen to her." Her gaze sparked with an unearthly blue glow.
"You know you'll have to kill her too, right?" The group tightened around Edward, facing the impending doom. "There's no way I'm letting her go. Too much power. Raw power flowing from her veins." The voice boomed around the trees and their branches shuddered under its weight. Alice looked up in alert. As if she could hear a sound the others didn't.
"Something is in this clearing." The sinister laugh of the Darkness rolled like menacing thunder hiding within black clouds. The group moved among the skinny crooked trees. A deep sense of dread curled down the pit of Edward's stomach as they emerged from the wall of eerie vegetation.
"Edward?" called one of the two figures standing in the middle of a ring of pebbles. He blinked unsure if this was another illusion. The woman faced him fully, eyes filled with relief. "I thought I'd never found you," said Bella. She took a step towards him. His undead heart leaped in his chest. The illusion was perfect, capturing everything his wife is...was. Scarlet bled into her eyes instead of tears.
"Stay back!" shouted Emmett. She blinked, her expression filled with confusion.
"It's me." She extended a hand toward her husband. "You know it's me." There was a cloud wrapped around Edward preventing him from using his power. Still, he extended it. Hoping, praying, that it was really Bella and not another trick. Nothing. There was only silence separating them. A shadow crossed her face. Sadness. Bella lowered her hand and her fingers gripped over emptiness. His dead heart broke. Shattered into tiny icy pieces. "Is this how we are going to fight against her? Letting her tear into our defenses, at each other's throats?" She glared at Emmett. Hurt displayed on her face.
"Funny," boomed Darkness. "Insignificant insects! You think they can defeat me when they can't even see their own allies." The second figure standing next to Bella whispered something Edward didn't catch. He then noticed who it was. Renesmee's friend. The leopard girl. Could it be... Was this real?
This time, he shrugged away from his family and rushed to the clearing. Alice's voice rang in his ears. Still, he didn't stop until he held his wife in his arms. Only his flesh would know. Only holding her in his embrace will confirm this was real. She looked up at him through teary eyes.
"Spider monkey," he said with a half smile. She buried her face into his chest and tightened her grip around his back. She chuckled. They had gone through so much together, they were a set that belonged to each other. A whole. A twisted pair.
The small group had moved closer with wary eyes. Suspicious. Reka, the leopard girl crossed her arms over her chest. She pursed her lips at Edward.
"Took you long enough," she added in disdain. "Can we go kick some ass now?" A low growl escaped from Emmett. A warning. The girl paid him no attention. Her gaze was fixed on the looming mountain ahead of them. Was this another illusion? They didn't know.