Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

43 - ᴠᴏʟᴛᴜʀɪ

 THE FOLLOWING day, Athena sat in the living room with Emmett, Carlisle and Jasper as they all watched the screen that displayed news about whatever was happing in Seatle getting far worse. "It's getting worse," Carlisle spoke as Edward and Bella walked into the room, shutting off the tv as the newswoman started to rattle off about something unimportant to them. Athena stared at the black screen, mind going a million miles a minute. Jasper noticed her vacancy immediately and placed his hand over hers, knowing it gave her some sort of tether to reality when she got into those headspaces. "We're going to have to do something."

"Takes more than one of our kind to cause the damage they're reporting. Quite a few more. They're undisciplined, conspicuous," Jasper explained, keeping half his mind focused on the woman sitting next to him and half of it on the conversation.

"It's newborns," Edward concluded, catching Carlilse's and Athena's undivided attention in the conversation.

"Untrained. But this isn't random," Jasper responded, coming to the same conclusion that Edward had already come to. "Someone's creating an army."

"Oh, now we're definitely going to Seattle," Emmett almost grinned, getting up from his seat in borderline excitement. Athena let out a soft exhale, shaking her head at him.

"Maybe the Volturi are behind it. They haven't done anything to stop this army," Edward paused, moving slightly closer to Bella - a mortal wouldn't have noticed the sudden change in placement but they all did. "In Italy, I read Aro's mind he wants me and Alice to join him and he," he paused again, looking directly to Athena who had looked down to the floor at the very mention of the Volturi. "He wants Athena back." She felt like a breath had been stuck in her throat and she needed to relieve the pressure immediately but she couldn't.

Jasper turned his head as she stood, not wanting to be in this now slightly claustrophobic room any longer. "Back?" he asked, directing all his attention to her with such concern in his eyes that she could hardly bear to look into them.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled fakely, needing to be in the safe and comforting place that was her home. Where she could control things. "I'll tell you later, I promise," she whispered then left the room, running all the way home without even looking at the greenery around her as she ran.

Once she got home she slammed her door and started frantically searching around for something that could distract her thoughts of everything that happened at Voltura all those years ago. She didn't trust herself with her books, not wanting to accidentally rip a page and she didn't have anything to bake with. So music, she went straight over to her radio and flicked it on waiting for the music to start blaring out. It did and for a moment her mind stilled as she listened to the rhythm and beats of the song but then the radio stopped playing as it switched songs and she lost all that focus. The fear and anger built up again, to levels that she simply could not handle. Her body worked quickly to try and calm itself down but without mortal mechanisms like hyperventilation and tears, she had one resort. She picked up Eric's favourite mug that had been sat on her coffee table, housing a collection of pens just in case, and threw it across the room. It smashed on the side of the wall, sending small fragments of china all over her living room and a part of her kitchen. Jasper burst into the room then, having heard the crash from outside her house as he sped up the stairs. She had dropped the hearing barrier for him a few days ago and honestly, she had never made a better decision. She wouldn't have answered the door if he knocked, she probably wouldn't have even heard it.

"Athena?"

"I want to go for a run. Will you come with me?" she spoke, struggling to keep her voice steady as she began collecting her house keys and locking the doors again.