Like always, these characters and the major plot line belong to Stephanie Meyer. I just get to take them out for a stroll once in a great while.
This chapter is from Alice's point of view and we learn that there is even more to Alice than what she appears. Thanks for the reviews, and I hope that you enjoy. MB

"What's wrong, my darling?"

I sat there asking myself the same question. I didn't know what was wrong with me honestly, I just knew that I was changing and becoming something else, besides what I already was. I know that since our journey to Alaska to see Tanya's family, I have been changing. I did know how to describe it so I usually just kept my thoughts to myself. I have had to hide many of my thoughts, since I am not really sure what they are myself.

"It's nothing, Jasper."

I hoped it was nothing at least. I hadn't told Jasper or allowed Edward to touch my mind so that I could keep my secret. I didn't know how to answer the questions that would come to the surface so I figured that it would be better that I keep them to myself. Only Carlisle knows now of my internal sorrows or of the vision that I had on that day Edward saw the baby Isabella for the first time. There was so much more to that vision than what I ever told, and it hurt to keep it secret, but it was the best for all.

It was nothing like my normal visions, that would change depending on the course that a person would take, but this one was more concrete… more real. After that specific vision, I still had my normal visions, but I started to see stuff that really didn't make that much sense to me, but I logged them away until maybe something came forward that would make it more clear. The fear that I was changing scared me, and I had to try with all effort to keep my secret and not allow others to know what was on my mind, especially Jasper. Usually when he felt me in this state, he would just surround me with his calm nature and I would feel safe from whatever I was becoming.

I carried this secret and he knew that I couldn't tell him about it. I guess it comes from the bond that we share with each other, but he never asks, but he is there when he knows that I am worried about it. Even the thought that Carlisle knows the truth didn't bother him, since he knows that Carlisle is responsible for the safety of our family. It always makes me happy to know that he loves me enough and feels secure enough in our love that he doesn't require me to reveal everything that I know. The best feeling would be when he would just walk up to me and kiss me gently and leave me to my thoughts. It is a true comfort to have him as my partner in this life.

One of my thoughts of late had been if I should have been more honest with Edward the day I told him of the vision with the woman that would effect his future, because I saw so much more than just the woman, I saw a fierce battle for something very powerful. I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to keep my thoughts together. I have to reflect on this to be sure I am doing the right thing for my family. This event, this vision, has changed the course of our lives forever.

I was very curious when Edward returned from talking to the mother of the baby known as Isabella. I didn't know or understand why he was speaking to her, since we normally shied away from humans in general. I then felt what I would call a twinge of a vision… not whole one, just a part of one. It was when I felt the desire Edward had building to rip the child from its mother's arms and run, that I did see the vision completely. This vision changed me, and the lives of my family would be facing forever.

I saw Edward in a meadow with a dark haired human woman and felt the desire that they felt for each other… the flash of an unknown symbol so very primitive… and a great war on the horizon because of this very powerful unknown being.

I shook it off and only spoke to Edward of what I seen in concern to him. The other parts didn't seem that important so I kept them to myself. The portion of the vision that I hid, did worry me and I knew that I would have to tell someone, just not my brothers, my sister, or Jasper. I would confide in Carlisle sometime soon, so I concentrated hard on the symbol I saw so that I would be able to recall it for him. It consisted of a massive star and three primitive figures reaching toward the star. I shuttered at the thought of the battle that I saw as well, and I felt death and destruction in is wake.

At the moment I felt a great fear, and then Jasper wrapped his being around me like a blanket to calm me. Luckily Edward was unaware of Jasper's actions, or I would have to answer why he was doing that, and I honestly couldn't answer that question at all. We reached Alaska and I again saw a vision with Edward and the dark haired woman. I felt as if she was very important to him and I wanted to convey it to him, but he demanded that I never speak of it again. If I could have cried, I would have then, because I felt as if he was denying something inside himself, something that he was unknowingly searching for. For when I saw them together, I felt something that was beyond love, beyond desire… it was indescribable.

I would not speak of these visions to anyone for almost fifteen years, and finally close before we were to leave Alaska and move to the town of Forks, I decided it was time for me to speak to Carlisle about them. The reason for my sudden interest to tell him… the visions had begun again. Not long after our arrival in Forks, I went to meet with Carlisle in his study. I didn't have to knock, he told me by mind to come in.

"You look rather troubled, Alice."

"I am very troubled, and I honestly should have spoken to you about this long before now."

This was when he laid down the book that he was reading and looked at me. He looked so young, but his eyes told otherwise. His age and wisdom pored from his eyes and at this time they pored out concern about what was bothering me.

"What have you seen in your visions?"

"The question would be better asked, what have I not seen in my visions?"

The way I responded, I could tell that he was becoming more and more worried, so his words were more unsteady when he spoke again.

"What do you mean Alice?"

"What worries me happened the first time that we came through this town on our way to Tanya's."

"You had a vision here when we were here the first time, why didn't you tell me about it then?"

I looked down at the floor and the images from that first vision flooded my mind and I shuttered at the thought of them.

"I saw Edward with a woman by the name of Isabella and she was a human. I felt very powerful feelings between the two of them, a flash of an unknown symbol, and then the image of a great battle."

"Did you tell Edward of this vision?"

"I told him that I saw him with the dark haired woman that they were connected, and nothing more."

"Why not mention the name of the woman?"

"Because he met her without realizing it and he had the desire to rip her from the arms of her mother and drink her dry."

The shock covered Carlisle's face. I didn't intend on telling him that, it just came out when we were talking.

"What do you mean…?"

"Carlisle, I felt the desire for him to take her from the arms of its mother, and run with her, the problem was I wasn't sure if it was to protect her or to kill her."

Carlisle got up and began to pace around the room. He turned to face the window that looked out upon the river.

"So why did you do that? Why would this baby matter so much?"

"Besides the fact that it would ruin our cover and our ability to hide out in the open, but mostly I felt the need to protect the baby because it was like I was supposed to. The best way to describe it was that I felt as if I was programmed to protect that child from him, at least until he was ready."

This was when Carlisle went deep into thought and then returned to his chair at his desk. I followed him and sat in the chair across from the desk. I knew what I said was changing the thoughts that he had of Edward, but I didn't know any other way to describe the feelings that I felt and the need to protect the child from him.

"You spoke of a symbol that you saw, do you recall what it looked like?"

I picked up a piece of paper from his desk and drew the star with its primitive people reaching toward it. He looked very shocked and very confused at the same time, so it could have been taken in many ways. He rose from his chair again and walked over to the lines of books that were shelved and retrieved a dusty volume from its shelves. He turned the pages slowly and finally stopped and turned the book to me.

"Is this the symbol that you saw?"

I looked down to see the symbol from my vision. I had never seen anything like it before so I was sure it was the same as the one from the vision. I traced my fingers over the ancient page. I looked up and nodded.

"Do you know what it means, Carlisle?"

"That I do not know because this text dates back till the beginning of the vampire race and only the scholars of the Volturi can read them."

I was confused… the Volturi… why would they not want something like this to be available to all vampires?

"I don't understand…"

"Alice, the Volturi do not want some texts to be translated and want them left in their primitive form. I received this text from a friend by the name of Julius. He is a scholar for the Volturi and I received it during the time that I was staying with them, many years ago. The only thing that he would tell me is that this book tells a story about a powerful being that the Volturi feared most of all. That symbol is said to represent the being itself."

I looked down at the ancient symbols and scratches on the pages. I wondered what these pages told of the symbol I had seen. I looked back up to see the true worry in his eyes.

"Alice, there is one thing that he did tell me for sure. I didn't believe it at the time, but he told me that the Volturi feared the coming of a prophet. This prophet would be the one that would foresee the coming of this powerful being."

Why was he telling me this stuff? I don't know how this is relevant to anything that we had been talking about.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"Have your visions been becoming stronger? Or have you been seeing more specific things when you have your visions?"

I began to think back and I realized that they were changing and becoming more clear and different in comparison to the visions that I had prior to the first vision here in Forks. The people involved in the specific vision wasn't playing a part in the outcome… they were concrete in what would happen… I looked back at him and he then knew my answer without my verbal reply.

"You are the first of our kind outside the Volturi and me to see this symbol. I am also wondering if Julius was right, and the possibility is there that you are the prophet that the Volturi fears."

"So what are you saying, Carlisle?"

"I am beginning to think that you may be one of the many keys to the greatest mystery in the history of the vampire world. This secret is something that the Volturi have gone to great lengths to hide too."

"Why me?"

"That is something that I am not really sure of Alice. I guess we are going to have to wait it out and find out."

I got up and walked to the window and stared out. I heard Carlisle get up from his chair and come to my side.

"Alice, you have to keep this secret. You can not tell anyone of this conversation, the symbol, the battle, or that you knew that the baby that Edward met that day was intertwined in his destiny. If the Volturi found out that you maybe the prophet that they have feared for so long they might want to recruit you for something, and we would be powerless to help you."

I knew that Carlisle was right and that if I was this prophet that the visions weren't stopping, but would keep coming until the time of the return of this powerful being. I had never had actual dealings with the Volturi, but I had heard of their tactics so I was fearful of what may come if they did find me out.

"Carlisle… the visions aren't going to stop are they?"

"I don't know Alice, but you have to know that for you to even be this prophet, you must have had more power in your being than you ever realized prior to your turning. You have to tell me when you have any visions, no matter how minor they seem. We are going to have to put the pieces to this puzzle together."

"How do we know that this powerful being isn't something that we should fear?"

"We don't. I just think that if the Volturi is scared of it, that there is something telling me that it's because they know that this being can be the downfall of their reign over all the vampires of the world. Promise me, that you will tell me what you see from now on."

I looked out across the river and watched the water ripple ever so slowly. I knew that he was right, but that didn't mean that I wasn't still worried about my existence.

"Yes, Carlisle."

He came to my side and pulled me into a side hug and kissed me on my forehead. He turned and left me there. My head felt like it was swimming in information. Me... A prophet that the Volturi feared? I found it hard to believe, but it would explain why I felt like I was becoming something else too. Nothing made since to me any more and I worried that I was slipping into insanity. I know I was placed in an asylum by my human parents, maybe I was showing signs of these powers then, and that is why they put me there. I'm just grasping at straws now. I can't understand what's happening to me and I am trying to reason out something that neither I nor Carlisle understands.

That was when I went downstairs, past Jasper and Esme, and out the door of the house. I needed to think, and the best way to do that was to run. I felt Jasper wanting to come, but I turned to see him close behind me, and I spoke to him with my eyes that I need to do this on my own so he left me to my thoughts. I closed the door and began to run… I ran faster and faster… until my thoughts were nothing but a complete blur. For the moment… I was free and that was what I needed to be at this time.