On the plane to New York, Alice uses the airline phone to talk Jasper and Emmet out of trying to restrain Edward. He can read minds and would know they’re coming, which would speed up his suicidal plans; then, the Cullens would fight the Volturi and lose. Instead, their best chance is for Bella to show herself to Edward before he does anything rash.

Alice tells Bella that, while most vampires travel alone or in pairs, the Volturi are the largest coven, bigger even than the Cullens. Led by three men, each more than 3,000 years old, the inner family includes two women and is protected by about a dozen guards, many with psychic abilities far beyond Alice’s. The Volturi enforce the vampire rules, mainly about keeping vampire identity a secret. Violators get terminated. Edward plans to break that rule and get himself killed.

On the plane to Italy, Alice goes into a trance, searching for signs from the future, while Bella ponders what to do back in Forks if she survives the trip to Volterra. Alice announces that the Volturi have turned down Edward’s request for execution and, instead, plan to offer him a place with them.