“Because I kissed her,” Jacob said, unashamed. “Good for you, kid,” Charlie congratulated him. I ground my teeth and went for the phone. I dialed Edward’s cell. “Bella?” he answered on the first ring. He sounded more than relieved — he was delighted. I could hear the Volvo’s engine in the background; he was already in the car — that was good. “You left the phone . . . I’m sorry, did Jacob drive you home?” “Yes,” I grumbled. “Will you come and get me, please?” “I’m on my way,” he said at once. “What’s wrong?” “I want Carlisle to look at my hand. I think it’s broken.” It had gone quiet in the front room, and I wondered when Jacob would bolt. I smiled a grim smile, imagining his discomfort. “What happened?” Edward demanded, his voice going flat. “I punched Jacob,” I admitted. “Good,” Edward said bleakly. “Though I’m sorry you’re hurt.” I laughed once, because he sounded as pleased as Charlie had. “I wish I’d hurt him.” I sighed in frustration. “I didn’t do any damage at all.” “I can fix that,” he offered. “I was hoping you would say that.” There was a slight pause. “That doesn’t sound like you,” he said, wary now. “What did he do?” “He kissed me,” I growled. All I heard on the other end of the line was the sound of an engine accelerating. In the other room, Charlie spoke again. “Maybe you ought to take off, Jake,” he suggested. “I think I’ll hang out here, if you don’t mind.” “Your funeral,” Charlie muttered. “Is the dog still there?” Edward finally spoke again. “Yes.” “I’m around the corner,” he said darkly, and the line disconnected. As I hung up the phone, smiling, I heard the sound of his car racing down the street. The brakes protested loudly as he slammed to a stop out front. I went to get the door. “How’s your hand?” Charlie asked as I walked by. Charlie looked uncomfortable. Jacob lolled next to him on the sofa, perfectly at ease. I lifted the ice pack to show it off. “It’s swelling.” “Maybe you should pick on people your own size,” Charlie suggested. “Maybe,” I agreed. I walked on to open the door. Edward was waiting. “Let me see,” he murmured. He examined my hand gently, so carefully that it caused me no pain at all. His hands were almost as cold as the ice, and they felt good against my skin. “I think you’re right about the break,” he said. “I’m proud of you. You must have put some force behind this.” “As much as I have.” I sighed. “Not enough, apparently.” He kissed my hand softly. “I’ll take care of it,” he promised. And then he called, “Jacob,” his voice still quiet and even. “Now, now,” Charlie cautioned. I heard Charlie heave himself off of the sofa. Jacob got to the hall first, and much more quietly, but Charlie was not far behind him. Jacob’s expression was alert and eager. “I don’t want any fighting, do you understand?” Charlie looked only at Edward when he spoke. “I can go put my badge on if that makes my request more official.” “That won’t be necessary,” Edward said in a restrained tone. “Why don’t you arrest me, Dad?” I suggested. “I’m the one throwing punches.” Charlie raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to press charges, Jake?” “No.” Jacob grinned, incorrigible. “I’ll take the trade any day.” Edward grimaced. “Dad, don’t you have a baseball bat somewhere in your room? I want to borrow it for a minute.” Charlie looked at me evenly. “Enough, Bella.” “Let’s go have Carlisle look at your hand before you wind up in a jail cell,” Edward said. He put his arm around me and pulled me toward the door. “Fine,” I said, leaning against him. I wasn’t so angry anymore, now that Edward was with me. I felt comforted, and my hand didn’t bother me as much. We were walking down the sidewalk when I heard Charlie whispering anxiously behind me. “What are you doing? Are you crazy?” “Give me a minute, Charlie,” Jacob answered. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.” I looked back and Jacob was following us, stopping to close the door in Charlie’s surprised and uneasy face. Edward ignored him at first, leading me to the car. He helped me inside, shut the door, and then turned to face Jacob on the sidewalk. I leaned anxiously through the open window. Charlie was visible in the house, peeking through the drapes in the front room. Jacob’s stance was casual, his arms folded across his chest, but the muscles in his jaw were tight. Edward spoke in a voice so peaceful and gentle that it made the words strangely more threatening. “I’m not going to kill you now, because it would upset Bella.” “Hmph,” I grumbled. Edward turned slightly to throw me a quick smile. His face was still calm. “It would bother you in the morning,” he said, brushing his fingers across my cheek. Then he turned back to Jacob. “But if you ever bring her back damaged again — and I don’t care whose fault it is; I don’t care if she merely trips, or if a meteor falls out of the sky and hits her in the head — if you return her to me in less than the perfect condition that I left her in, you will be running with three legs. Do you understand that, mongrel?” Jacob rolled his eyes. “Who’s going back?” I muttered. Edward continued as if he hadn’t heard me. “And if you ever kiss her again, I will break your jaw for her,” he promised, his voice still gentle and velvet and deadly. “What if she wants me to?” Jacob drawled, arrogant. “Hah!” I snorted. “If that’s what she wants, then I won’t object.” Edward shrugged, untroubled. “You might want to wait for her to say it, rather than trust your interpretation of body language — but it’s your face.” Jacob grinned. “You wish,” I grumbled. “Yes, he does,” Edward murmured. “Well, if you’re done rummaging through my head,” Jacob said with a thick edge of annoyance, “why don’t you go take care of her hand?” “One more thing,” Edward said slowly. “I’ll be fighting for her, too. You should know that. I’m not taking anything for granted, and I’ll be fighting twice as hard as you will.” “Good,” Jacob growled. “It’s no fun beating someone who forfeits.” “She is mine.” Edward’s low voice was suddenly dark, not as composed as before. “I didn’t say I would fightfair.” “Neither did I.” “Best of luck.” Jacob nodded. “Yes, may the best man win.” “That sounds about right . . . pup.” Jacob grimaced briefly, then he composed his face and leaned around Edward to smile at me. I glowered back. “I hope your hand feels better soon. I’m really sorry you’re hurt.” Childishly, I turned my face away from him. I didn’t look up again as Edward walked around the car and climbed into the driver’s side, so I didn’t know if Jacob went back into the house or continued to stand there, watching me. “How do you feel?” Edward asked as we drove away. “Irritated.” He chuckled. “I meant your hand.” I shrugged. “I’ve had worse.” “True,” he agreed, and frowned. Edward drove around the house to the garage. Emmett and Rosalie were there, Rosalie’s perfect legs, recognizable even sheathed in jeans, were sticking out from under the bottom of Emmett’s huge Jeep. Emmett was sitting beside her, one hand reached under the Jeep toward her. It took me a moment to realize that he was acting as the jack. Emmett watched curiously as Edward helped me carefully out of the car. His eyes zeroed in on the hand I cradled against my chest. Emmett grinned. “Fall down again, Bella?” I glared at him fiercely. “No, Emmett. I punched a werewolf in the face.” Emmett blinked, and then burst into a roar of laughter. As Edward led me past them, Rosalie spoke from under the car. “Jasper’s going to win the bet,” she said smugly. Emmett’s laughter stopped at once, and he studied me with appraising eyes. “What bet?” I demanded, pausing. “Let’s get you to Carlisle,” Edward urged. He was staring at Emmett. His head shook infinitesimally. “What bet?” I insisted as I turned on him. “Thanks, Rosalie,” he muttered as he tightened his arm around my waist and pulled me toward the house. “Edward . . . ,” I grumbled. “It’s infantile,” he shrugged. “Emmett and Jasper like to gamble.” “Emmett will tell me.” I tried to turn, but his arm was like iron around me. He sighed. “They’re betting on how many times you . . . slip up in the first year.” “Oh.” I grimaced, trying to hide my sudden horror as I realized what he meant. “They have a bet about how many people I’ll kill?” “Yes,” he admitted unwillingly. “Rosalie thinks your temper will turn the odds in Jasper’s favor.” I felt a little high. “Jasper’s betting high.” “It will make him feel better if you have a hard time adjusting. He’s tired of being the weakest link.” “Sure. Of course it will. I guess I could throw in a few extra homicides, if it makes Jasper happy. Why not?” I was babbling, my voice a blank monotone. In my head, I was seeing newspaper headlines, lists of names. . . . He squeezed me. “You don’t need to worry about it now. In fact, you don’t have to worry about it ever, if you don’t want to.” I groaned, and Edward, thinking it was the pain in my hand that bothered me, pulled me faster toward the house. My hand was broken, but there wasn’t any serious damage, just a tiny fissure in one knuckle. I didn’t want a cast, and Carlisle said I’d be fine in a brace if I promised to keep it on. I promised. Edward could tell I was out of it as Carlisle worked to fit a brace carefully to my hand. He worried aloud a few times that I was in pain, but I assured him that that wasn’t it. As if I needed — or even had room for — one more thing to worry about. All of Jasper’s stories about newly created vampires had been percolating in my head since he’d explained his past. Now those stories jumped into sharp focus with the news of his and Emmett’s wager. I wondered randomly what they were betting. What was a motivating prize when you had everything? I’d always known that I would be different. I hoped that I would be as strong as Edward said I would be. Strong and fast and, most of all, beautiful. Someone who could stand next to Edward and feel like she belonged there. I’d been trying not to think too much about the other things that I would be. Wild. Bloodthirsty. Maybe I would not be able to stop myself from killing people. Strangers, people who had never harmed me. People like the growing number of victims in Seattle, who’d had families and friends and futures. People who’d had lives. And I could be the monster who took that away from them. But, in truth, I could handle that part — because I trusted Edward, trusted him absolutely, to keep me from doing anything I would regret. I knew he’d take me to Antarctica and hunt penguins if I asked him to. And I would do whatever it took to be a good person. A good vampire. That thought would have made me giggle, if not for this new worry. Because, if I really were somehow like that — like the nightmarish images of newborns that Jasper had painted in my head — could I possibly be me? And if all I wanted was to kill people, what would happen to the things I wanted now? Edward was so obsessed with me not missing anything while I was human. Usually, it seemed kind of silly. There weren’t many human experiences that I worried about missing. As long as I got to be with Edward, what else could I ask for? I stared at his face while he watched Carlisle fix my hand. There was nothing in this world that I wanted more than him. Would that, could that, change? Was there a human experience that I was not willing to give up? 16. EPOCH “I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!” I MOANED TO MYSELF. Every item of clothing I owned was strewn across my bed; my drawers and closets were bare. I stared into the empty recesses, willing something suitable to appear. My khaki skirt lay over the back of the rocking chair, waiting for me to discover something that went with it just exactly right. Something that would make me look beautiful and grown up. Something that said special occasion. I was coming up empty. It was almost time to go, and I was still wearing my favorite old sweats. Unless I could find something better here — and the odds weren’t looking good at this point — I was going to graduate in them. I scowled at the pile of clothes on my bed. The kicker was that I knew exactly what I would have worn if it were still available — my kidnapped red blouse. I punched the wall with my good hand. “Stupid, thieving, annoying vampire!” I growled. “What did I do?” Alice demanded. She was leaning casually beside the open window as if she’d been there the whole time. “Knock, knock,” she added with a grin. “Is it really so hard to wait for me to get the door?” She threw a flat, white box onto my bed. “I’m just passing through. I thought you might need something to wear.” I looked at the big package lying on top of my unsatisfying wardrobe and grimaced. “Admit it,” Alice said. “I’m a lifesaver.” “You’re a lifesaver,” I muttered. “Thanks.” “Well, it’s nice to get something right for a change. You don’t know how irritating it is — missing things the way I have been. I feel so useless. So . . . normal.” She cringed in horror of the word. “I can’t imagine how awful that must feel. Being normal? Ugh.” She laughed. “Well, at least this makes up for missing your annoying thief — now I just have to figure out what I’m not seeing in Seattle.” When she said the words that way — putting the two situations together in one sentence — right then it clicked. The elusive something that had been bothering me for days, the important connection that I couldn’t quite put together, suddenly became clear. I stared at her, my face frozen with whatever expression was already in place. “Aren’t you going to open it?” she asked. She sighed when I didn’t move immediately, and tugged the top of the box off herself. She pulled something out and held it up, but I couldn’t concentrate on what it was. “Pretty, don’t you think? I picked blue, because I know it’s Edward’s favorite on you.” I wasn’t listening. “It’s the same,” I whispered. “What is?” she demanded. “You don’t have anything like this. For crying out loud, you only own one skirt!” “No, Alice! Forget the clothes, listen!” “You don’t like it?” Alice’s face clouded with disappointment. “Listen, Alice, don’t you see? It’s the same! The one who broke in and stole my things, and the new vampires in Seattle. They’re together!” The clothes slipped from her fingers and fell back into the box. Alice focused now, her voice suddenly sharp. “Why do you think that?” “Remember what Edward said? About someone using the holes in your vision to keep you from seeing the newborns? And then what you said before, about the timing being too perfect — how careful my thief was to make no contact, as if he knew you would see that. I think you were right, Alice, I think he did know. I think he was using those holes, too. And what are the odds that two different people not only know enough about you to do that, but also decided to do it at exactly the same time? No way. It’s one person. The same one. The one who is making the army is the one who stole my scent.” Alice wasn’t accustomed to being taking by surprise. She froze, and was still for so long that I started counting in my head as I waited. She didn’t move for two minutes straight. Then her eyes refocused on me. “You’re right,” she said in a hollow tone. “Of course you’re right. And when you put it that way. . . .” “Edward had it wrong,” I whispered. “It was a test . . . to see if it would work. If he could get in and out safely as long as he didn’t do anything you would be watching out for. Like trying to kill me. . . . And he didn’t take my things to prove he’d found me. He stole my scent . . . so that others could find me.” Her eyes were wide with shock. I was right, and I could see that she knew it, too. “Oh, no,” she mouthed. I was through expecting my emotions to make sense anymore. As I processed the fact that someone had created an army of vampires — the army that had gruesomely murdered dozens of people in Seattle — for the express purpose of destroying me, I felt a spasm of relief. Part of it was finally solving that irritating feeling that I was missing something vital. But the larger part was something else entirely. “Well,” I whispered, “everyone can relax. Nobody’s trying to exterminate the Cullens after all.” “If you think that one thing has changed, you’re absolutely wrong,” Alice said through her teeth. “If someone wants one of us, they’re going to have to go through the rest of us to get to her.” “Thanks, Alice. But at least we know what they’re really after. That has to help.” “Maybe,” she muttered. She started pacing back and forth across my room. Thud, thud — a fist hammered against my door. I jumped. Alice didn’t seem to notice. “Aren’t you ready yet? We’re gonna be late!” Charlie complained, sounding edgy. Charlie hated occasions about as much as I did. In his case, a lot of the problem was having to dress up. “Almost. Give me a minute,” I said hoarsely. He was quiet for half a second. “Are you crying?” “No. I’m nervous. Go away.” I heard him clump down the stairs. “I have to go,” Alice whispered. “Why?” “Edward is coming. If he hears this . . .” “Go, go!” I urged immediately. Edward would go berserk when he knew. I couldn’t keep it from him for long, but maybe the graduation ceremony wasn’t the best time for his reaction. “Put it on,” Alice commanded as she flitted out the window. I did what she said, dressing in a daze. I’d been planning to do something more sophisticated with my hair, but time was up, so it hung straight and boring as on any other day. It didn’t matter. I didn’t bother to look in the mirror, so I had no idea how Alice’s sweater and skirt ensemble worked. That didn’t matter, either. I threw the ugly yellow polyester graduation robe over my arm and hurried down the stairs. “You look nice,” Charlie said, already gruff with suppressed emotion. “Is that new?” “Yeah,” I mumbled, trying to concentrate. “Alice gave it to me. Thanks.” Edward arrived just a few minutes after his sister left. It wasn’t enough time for me to pull together a calm faade. But, since we were riding in the cruiser with Charlie, he never had a chance to ask me what was wrong. Charlie had gotten stubborn last week when he’d learned that I was intending to ride with Edward to the graduation ceremony. And I could see his point — parents should have some rights come graduation day. I’d conceded with good grace, and Edward had cheerfully suggested that we all go together. Since Carlisle and Esme had no problem with this, Charlie couldn’t come up with a compelling objection; he’d agreed with poor grace. And now Edward rode in the backseat of my father’s police car, behind the fiberglass divider, with an amused expression — probably due to my father’s amused expression, and the grin that widened every time Charlie stole a glance at Edward in his rearview mirror. Which almost certainly meant that Charlie was imagining things that would get him in trouble with me if he said them out loud. “Are you all right?” Edward whispered when he helped me from the front seat in the school parking lot. “Nervous,” I answered, and it wasn’t even a lie. “You are so beautiful,” he said. He looked like he wanted to say more, but Charlie, in an obvious maneuver that he meant to be subtle, shrugged in between us and put his arm around my shoulders. “Are you excited?” he asked me. “Not really,” I admitted. “Bella, this is a big deal. You’re graduating from high school. It’s the real world for you now. College. Living on your own. . . . You’re not my little girl anymore.” Charlie choked up a bit at the end. “Dad,” I moaned. “Please don’t get all weepy on me.” “Who’s weepy?” he growled. “Now, why aren’t you excited?” “I don’t know, Dad. I guess it hasn’t hit yet or something.” “It’s good that Alice is throwing this party. You need something to perk you up.” “Sure. A party’s exactly what I need.” Charlie laughed at my tone and squeezed my shoulders. Edward looked at the clouds, his face thoughtful. My father had to leave us at the back door of the gym and go around to the main entrance with the rest of the parents. It was pandemonium as Ms. Cope from the front office and Mr. Varner the math teacher tried to line everyone up alphabetically. “Up front, Mr. Cullen,” Mr. Varner barked at Edward. “Hey, Bella!” I looked up to see Jessica Stanley waving at me from the back of the line with a smile on her face. Edward kissed me quickly, sighed, and went to go stand with the C’s. Alice wasn’t there. What was she going to do? Skip graduation? What poor timing on my part. I should have waited to figure things out until after this was over with. “Down here, Bella!” Jessica called again. I walked down the line to take my place behind Jessica, mildly curious as to why she was suddenly so friendly. As I got closer, I saw Angela five people back, watching Jessica with the same curiosity. Jess was babbling before I was in earshot. “。 . . so amazing. I mean, it seems like we just met, and now we’re graduating together,” she gushed. “Can you believe it’s over? I feel like screaming!” “So do I,” I muttered. “This is all just so incredible. Do you remember your first day here? We were friends, like, right away. From the first time we saw each other. Amazing. And now I’m off to California and you’ll be in Alaska and I’m going to miss you so much! You have to promise that we’ll get together sometimes! I’m so glad you’re having a party. That’s perfect. Because we really haven’t spent much time together in a while and now we’re all leaving. . . .” She droned on and on, and I was sure the sudden return of our friendship was due to graduation nostalgia and gratitude for the party invite, not that I’d had anything to do with that. I paid attention as well as I could while I shrugged into my robe. And I found that I was glad that things could end on a good note with Jessica. Because it was an ending, no matter what Eric, the valedictorian, had to say about commencement meaning “beginning” and all the rest of the trite nonsense. Maybe more for me than for the rest, but we were all leaving something behind us today. It went so quickly. I felt like I’d hit the fast forward button. Were we supposed to march quite that fast? And then Eric was speed talking in his nervousness, the words and phrases running together so they didn’t make sense anymore. Principal Greene started calling names, one after the other without a long enough pause between; the front row in the gymnasium was rushing to catch up. Poor Ms. Cope was all thumbs as she tried to give the principal the right diploma to hand to the right student. I watched as Alice, suddenly appearing, danced across the stage to take hers, a look of deep concentration on her face. Edward followed behind, his expression confused, but not upset. Only the two of them could carry off the hideous yellow and still look the way they did. They stood out from the rest of the crowd, their beauty and grace otherworldly. I wondered how I’d ever fallen for their human farce. A couple of angels, standing there with wings intact, would be less conspicuous. I heard Mr. Greene call my name and I rose from my chair, waiting for the line in front of me to move. I was conscious of cheering in the back of the gym, and I looked around to see Jacob pulling Charlie to his feet, both of them hooting in encouragement. I could just make out the top of Billy’s head beside Jake’s elbow. I managed to throw them an approximation of a smile. Mr. Greene finished with the list of names, and then continued to hand out diplomas with a sheepish grin as we filed past. “Congratulations, Miss Stanley,” he mumbled as Jess took hers. “Congratulations, Miss Swan,” he mumbled to me, pressing the diploma into my good hand. “Thanks,” I murmured. And that was it. I went to stand next to Jessica with the assembled graduates. Jess was all red around the eyes, and she kept blotting her face with the sleeve of her robe. It took me a second to understand that she was crying. Mr. Greene said something I didn’t hear, and everyone around me shouted and screamed. Yellow hats rained down. I pulled mine off, too late, and just let it fall to the ground. “Oh, Bella!” Jess blubbered over the sudden roar of conversation. “I can’t believe we’re done.” “I can’t believe it’s all over,” I mumbled. She threw her arms around my neck. “You have to promise we won’t lose touch.” I hugged her back, feeling a little awkward as I dodged her request. “I’m so glad I know you, Jessica. It was a good two years.” “It was,” she sighed, and sniffed. Then she dropped her arms. “Lauren!” she squealed, waving over her head and pushing through the massed yellow gowns. Families were beginning to converge, pressing us tighter together. I caught sight of Angela and Ben, but they were surrounded by their families. I would congratulate them later. I craned my head, looking for Alice. “Congratulations,” Edward whispered in my ear, his arms winding around my waist. His voice was subdued; he’d been in no hurry for me to reach this particular milestone. “Um, thanks.” “You don’t look like you’re over the nerves yet,” he noted. “Not quite yet.” “What’s left to worry about? The party? It won’t be that horrible.” “You’re probably right.” “Who are you looking for?” My searching wasn’t quite as subtle as I’d thought. “Alice — where is she?” “She ran out as soon as she had her diploma.” His voice took on a new tone. I looked up to see his confused expression as he stared toward the back door of the gym, and I made an impulse decision — the kind I really should think twice about, but rarely did. “Worrying about Alice?” I asked. “Er . . .” He didn’t want to answer that. “What was she thinking about, anyway? To keep you out, I mean.” His eyes flashed down to my face, and narrowed in suspicion. “She was translating the Battle Hymn of the Republic into Arabic, actually. When she finished that, she moved on to Korean sign language.” I laughed nervously. “I suppose that would keep her head busy enough.” “You know what she’s hiding from me,” he accused. “Sure.” I smiled a weak smile. “I’m the one who came up with it.” He waited, confused. I looked around. Charlie would be on his way through the crowd now. “Knowing Alice,” I whispered in a rush, “she’ll probably try to keep this from you until after the party. But since I’m all for the party being canceled — well, don’t go berserk, regardless, okay? It’s always better to know as much as possible. It has to help somehow.” “What are you talking about?” I saw Charlie’s head bob up over the other heads as he searched for me. He spotted me and waved. “Just stay calm, okay?” He nodded once, his mouth a grim line. In hurried whispers I explained my reasoning to him. “I think you’re wrong about things coming at us from all sides. I think it’s mostly coming at us from one side . . . and I think it’s coming at me, really. It’s all connected, it has to be. It’s just one person who’s messing with Alice’s visions. The stranger in my room was a test, to see if someone could get around her. It’s got to be the same one who keeps changing his mind, and the newborns, and stealing my clothes — all of it goes together. My scent is for them.” His face had turned so white that I had a hard time finishing. “But no one’s coming for you, don’t you see? This is good — Esme and Alice and Carlisle, no one wants to hurt them!” His eyes were huge, wide with panic, dazed and horrified. He could see that I was right, just as Alice had. I put my hand on his cheek. “Calm,” I pleaded. “Bella!” Charlie crowed, pushing his way past the close-packed families around us. “Congratulations, baby!” He was stillyelling, even though he was right at my ear now. He wrapped his arms around me, ever so slyly shuffling Edward off to the side as he did so. “Thanks,” I muttered, preoccupied by the expression on Edward’s face. He still hadn’t gained control. His hands were halfway extended toward me, like he was about to grab me and make a run for it. Only slightly more in control of myself than he was, running didn’t seem like such a terrible idea to me. “Jacob and Billy had to take off — did you see that they were here?” Charlie asked, taking a step back, but keeping his hands on my shoulders. He had his back to Edward — probably an effort to exclude him, but that was fine at the moment. Edward’s mouth was hanging open, his eyes still wide with dread. “Yeah,” I assured my father, trying to pay enough attention. “Heard them, too.” “It was nice of them to show up,” Charlie said. “Mm-hmm.” Okay, so telling Edward had been a really bad idea. Alice was right to keep her thoughts clouded. I
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