She must be keeping that thing a secret for her own reasons. She needs to know, too. Maybe I can say enough to warn her without actually breaking the treaty.
“Thanks again for the fish fry.” Bella’s words were clearly a dismissal, but Billy didn’t think she looked surprised when he held his ground. She sighed and folded her arms across her chest.
“Bella,” Billy said, his voice no longer casual. It was deeper now, graver.
She held as perfectly still as it was possible for a human to stand and waited for him to continue.
“Bella,” he repeated. “Charlie is one of my best friends.”
“Yes.”
He said the words very slowly. “I noticed you’ve been spending time with one of the Cullens.”
“Yes,” she said again, barely veiling her hostility now.
He didn’t respond to her tone. “Maybe it’s none of my business, but I don’t think that is such a good idea.”
“You’re right,” she retorted. “It is none of your business.”
So angry.
His voice turned ponderous again as he considered his wording carefully. “You probably don’t know this, but the Cullen family has an unpleasant reputation on the reservation.”
Very careful. He stayed just barely on the right side of the line.
“Actually, I did know that.” Bella’s words flew hot and fast, in direct contrast to his. “But that reputation couldn’t be deserved, could it? Because the Cullens never set foot on the reservation, do they?”
This pulled him up short. She knows! She knows? How? And how could she…? She couldn’t. She can’t know the whole truth. The revulsion that colored his thoughts made my teeth grind again.
“That’s true,” he finally conceded. “You seem… well informed about the Cullens. More informed than I expected.”
“Maybe even better informed than you are?”
What could they have told her that would make her so defensive of them? Not the truth. Some romantic fairy tale, no doubt. Well, obviously she won’t be convinced by anything I have to say.
“Maybe.” He was annoyed to have to agree with her. “Is Charlie as well informed?”
He watched her expression get more evasive. “Charlie likes the Cullens a lot.”
Charlie doesn’t know anything.
“It’s not my business,” Billy said. “But it may be Charlie’s.”
Bella’s gaze dissected his expression for a long moment.
The girl looks like a lawyer.
“Though it would be my business, again, whether or not I think that it’s Charlie’s business, right?” she asked. It didn’t really sound like a question.
Again, they locked eyes.
Finally, Billy sighed.
Charlie wouldn’t believe me anyway. I can’t alienate him again. I need to be able to keep watch on this situation.
“Yes, I guess that’s your business, too.”
Bella sighed and her posture relaxed. “Thanks, Billy,” she said, her voice softer now.
“Just think about what you’re doing, Bella,” Billy urged.
Her answer was too quick. “Okay.”
Another thought caught my attention. I’d paid little notice to Jacob’s fruitless search, too focused on Billy and Bella’s standoff. But now he realized—
Oh man, I’m a moron. He wanted me out of the way.
Full of dismay over how his father might be embarrassing him, and with a measure of guilty fear that Bella might have told on him about the treaty breaking, Jacob slammed the trunk and loped toward the front door.
Billy heard the trunk and knew his time was up. He made his final plea.
“What I meant to say was… don’t do what you’re doing.”
Bella didn’t answer, but her expression was gentler now. Billy had a faint moment of hope that she was listening to him.
Jacob banged the front door open. Billy glanced over his shoulder, so I couldn’t see Bella’s reaction.
“There’s no picture anywhere in that car,” Jacob grumbled loudly.
“Hmm. I guess I left it at home,” Billy said.
“Great,” his son retorted with heavy sarcasm.
“Well, Bella, tell Charlie…” Billy waited for a beat before continuing. “That we stopped by, I mean.”
“I will,” she replied, voice sour again.
Jacob was surprised. “Are we leaving already?”
“Charlie’s gonna be out late,” Billy explained, already wheeling himself toward the door.
What was even the point of coming up?Jacob complained internally. Old man is getting senile. “Oh. Well, I guess I’ll see you later, then, Bella.”
“Sure,” Bella said.
“Take care,” Billy added in a warning voice.
Bella didn’t answer.
Jacob helped his father over the threshold and down the one step of the porch. Bella followed them to the door. She glanced toward the empty truck, then waved once toward Jacob and shut the door while Jacob was still loading his father into the car.
Though I would have liked to join Bella and talk over what had just happened, I knew my job wasn’t done yet. I heard her stamping up the stairs as I dropped from the tree and cut through the woods behind her house.
It was much more difficult to follow the Blacks in the daytime while on foot. I couldn’t very well pace them along the highway. I ducked in and out of the thicker knots of forest, listening for the thoughts of anyone close enough to see me. I beat them to the La Push turnoff, and chanced a full-tilt sprint across the rainy highway while the only visible car was headed in the other direction. Once I was on the west side of the road, there was plenty of cover. I waited for the old Ford to appear, then ran parallel to them through the dark trees.
The two weren’t talking. I wondered if I had missed any earlier recriminations from Jacob. The boy’s head was busy replaying the kiss again, and he was concluding morosely that Bella had been very into it.
Billy’s mind was caught up in a memory. I was surprised that I remembered this, too. From a different angle.
It was over two and a half years ago. My family had been in Denali at the time, just a short courtesy visit on our way from one semipermanent home to the next. Groundwork for the move back to Washington had included one unique chore. Carlisle already had his job lined up and Esme had bought her fixer-upper sight unseen. My siblings’ and my fake transcripts had been transferred to Forks High School. But the last step of preparation was the most important—while also the most atypical. Though we’d moved back to former homes in the past—after an appropriate amount of time had elapsed—we’d never had to give warning of our arrival before.
Carlisle had started with the internet. He’d found an amateur genealogist named Alma Young working out of the Makah Reservation. Pretending to be another family history enthusiast, he’d asked about any descendants of Ephraim Black who might still live in the area. Mrs. Young had been excited to give Carlisle the good news: Ephraim’s grandson and great-grandchildren all lived in La Push, just down the coast. Of course she didn’t mind giving Carlisle the phone number. She was sure Billy Black would be thrilled to hear from his very distant cousin.
I’d been in the house when Carlisle had made the next call, so of course I’d heard everything Carlisle had said. Billy was remembering his side of it now.
It had been such an ordinary day. The twins were out with friends, so it was just Billy and Jacob at home. Billy was teaching the boy how to whittle a sea lion out of madrona wood when the phone rang. He’d wheeled himself to the kitchen, leaving the child so focused on his work that he barely noticed his father leaving.
Billy had assumed it was Harry, or maybe Charlie. He’d answered with a cheerful “Hello!”
“Hello. Is this Billy Black?”
He didn’t recognize the voice on the other end of the line, but there was something sharp and clear about it that put his back up for some reason.
“Yes, this is Billy. Who’s asking?”
“My name is Carlisle Cullen,” the soft yet piercing voice told Billy, and it felt like the floor was falling out from under him. For a wild second, he’d thought he was having a nightmare.
This name and this keen-edged voice were part of a legend, a horror story. Though he’d been warned and prepared, it had all been such a very long time ago. Billy had never actually believed that one day he’d have to live in the same world as that horror story.
“Does my name mean anything to you?” the voice asked, and Billy noticed how young it sounded. Not hundreds of years old, as it should.
Billy had struggled to find his own voice. “Yes,” he finally rasped.
He thought he heard a faint sigh.
“That’s good,” the monster replied. “It makes it easier for us to fulfill our duty.”
Billy’s mind went numb as he realized what the monster was saying. Duty. He was speaking of the treaty. Billy struggled to remember the secret accords he’d so carefully memorized. If the monster said he had a duty to discharge, then that could only mean one thing.
All the blood drained from Billy’s face and the walls seemed to tilt around him, though he knew he was sitting safe and stable in his wheelchair.
“You’re coming back,” he choked out.
“Yes,” the monster agreed. “I know this must be… unpleasant for you to hear. But I assure you that your tribe is in no danger, nor are any of the people in Forks. We have not changed our ways.”
Billy couldn’t think of anything to say. He’d been locked into this treaty since before his birth. He wanted to object, to threaten… but treaty or no, there was nothing he could do.
“We’ll be living outside Forks.” The monster rattled off a set of numbers, and it took Billy a moment to realize they were coordinates, lines of longitude and latitude. He scrambled for something to write with, and came up with a black Sharpie but no paper.
“Again,” he demanded hoarsely.
The numbers came more slowly this time, and Billy scrawled them down his arm.
“I’m not sure how well you know the agreement—”
“I know it,” Billy interrupted. The blood drinkers got a five-mile radius around the location of their lair that was off limits for any member of the tribe. It was a small space compared to the land that belonged to the tribe, but in this moment it seemed like much too much.
How would they convince any of the children to obey this rule? He thought of his own headstrong daughters and his happy-go-lucky son. None of them believed any of the stories. And yet if they ever made an innocent mistake… they’d be fair game.
“Of course,” the monster said politely. “We know it very well, too. You have nothing to worry about. I’m sorry for any distress this causes you, but we will not impact your people in any way.”
Billy just listened, numb again.
“Our current plan is to live in Forks for about a decade.”
Billy’s heart stopped.Ten years.
“My children will be attending the local high school. I don’t know if any of your tribe’s children come up to the school—”
“No,” Billy whispered.
“Well, if anyone wishes to, I can assure you it will not be unsafe.”
The faces of the children of Forks flashed through Billy’s mind. Was there nothing he could do to protect them?
“Let me give you my number. We’d be happy to have a more cordial—”
“No,” Billy said, stronger this time.
“Of course. Whatever makes you most comfortable.”
And then a panicked thought intruded. The monster had spoken ofhis children.…
“How many?” Billy asked. His voice sounded like he was being strangled.
“Pardon me?”
“How many of you are there?”
For the first time, the smooth, confident voice hesitated. “Two more found our family many years ago. There are seven of us now.”
Very slowly and deliberately, Billy hung up the phone.
And then I had to stop running. I’d not quite reached the treaty line, but this particular memory made me loath to cut it too close. I turned north and headed homeward.
So nothing very helpful from Billy’s thoughts. I felt reasonably sure that he would follow the same pattern: return to his safe zone and contact his cronies. They would hash through the new information—which was pretty meager—and come to the same conclusion. There was nothing they could do. The treaty was their only protection.
I imagined that Billy’s longstanding friendship with Charlie would be the point of contention. Billy would fight very hard to be allowed to warn Charlie in a more detailed fashion. A cold one had chosen his only daughter as… a victim, a target, a meal; I could guess how Billy would choose to describe our relationship.
Surely the others, more impartial than Billy, would insist on his silence.
Regardless, Billy’s earlier attempt to alert Charlie to the danger of Carlisle working at the hospital hadn’t gone well. Adding in a heavy helping of the fantastical would certainly not help. Billy had already recognized that himself.
I was nearly home. I would give Carlisle the update and my analysis of the situation. There really wasn’t much else to do. I was positive his reaction would be the same. Much like the Quileutes, we had no option besides following the treaty to the letter.
I darted across the freeway again when there were no cars passing. As soon as I was on the drive, I heard the sound of a familiar engine coming from the garage. I stopped dead in the middle of the single lane and waited.
Rosalie’s red BMW rounded the curve and screeched to a stop.
I waved halfheartedly.
You know I’d hit you if it wouldn’t mess my car up.
I nodded.
Rosalie revved her engine once, then sighed.
“You heard about the game, I guess.”
Just let me go, Edward.I could see in her mind that she had no destination in mind. She only wanted to be away from here. Emmett will stay. That’s enough, isn’t it?
“Please?”
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. I don’t understand why this is so important to you.
“You are important to me, Rose,” I said simply.
Everyone will have more fun without me.
I shrugged. She might be right.
I won’t be nice.
I smiled. “I don’t require nice. I only asked for toleration.”
She hesitated.
“It won’t be that bad,” I promised. “Maybe you’ll win the game soundly, make me look bad.”
One corner of her mouth quirked up as she fought a smile. I get Emmett and Jasper.
She always picked the obvious muscle.
“Deal.”
She took another deep breath, instantly regretting our agreement. She tried to imagine being in the same place as Bella and… struggled.
“Nothing is going to happen tonight, Rose. She’s not making any decisions. She’s just going to watch us play a game, that’s all. Think of it as an experiment.”
In that… it might blow up?
I gave her a tired look. She rolled her eyes.
“If it doesn’t work, we’ll regroup and come up with another solution.”
Rosalie had a plethora of other solutions, most of them profane, but she was ready to surrender. She would try… but I could see that she would not work very hard at being civil. It was a start.
I suppose I should change, then.With that, she threw her car into reverse and gunned it back toward the house, climbing from zero to sixty before she was fully out of view. I took the shorter route straight through the forest.
Inside, Emmett was watching four different baseball games at the same time on the big screen. His head was turned away, though, listening to the sound of Rosalie’s car squealing into the garage.
I gestured to the TV. “Nothing you’ll find there will help you win tonight.”
You talked Rose into playing?
I nodded once, and a huge grin split his face.
I owe you one.
I pursed my lips. “Really?”
He was intrigued that I clearly wanted something. Sure, what do you want?
“Your best behavior around Bella?”
Rose flitted through the room and up the stairs, pointedly ignoring us both.
Emmett thought about my request. What exactly does that entail?
“Not terrifying her on purpose.”
He shrugged. “Seems fair.”
“Excellent.”
I’m just glad you’re back.The last months had dragged unusually for Emmett, first with my moods and then with my absence.
I almost apologized, but I knew he wasn’t upset with me now. Emmett lived for the present.
“Where are Alice and Jasper?”
Emmett was watching the games again. Hunting. Jasper wants to be ready. Funny thing—seemed like he was excited for tonight, more than I would have expected.
“Funny,” I agreed, though I had a little more insight into why.
Edward, dear, I can hear you dripping on my floors. Please change into something dry and mop that up.
“Sorry, Esme!”
I dressed for Charlie this time, pulling out one of the more impressive rain jackets that I rarely wore. I wanted to look like a person who was taking the weather seriously, concerned about avoiding the cold and the wet. It was the little details that set humans at ease.
Automatically, I tucked my bottlecap into the pocket of my new jeans.
While I was mopping, I thought about the short journey to the baseball clearing tonight, and realized that—after yesterday—Bella might not be too keen on running with me to our destination. I knew there would have to be some running, but the shorter the distance the better, I assumed.
“Can I borrow your Jeep?” I asked Emmett.
Nice jacket.He chuckled. Do try to stay dry and cozy.
I waited with an overdone expression of patience.
“Sure,” he agreed. “But now you owe me one.”
“I’m delighted to be in your debt.”
I darted back upstairs to the sound of his laughter.
It was a quick conference with Carlisle—like me, he could see no course of action besides continuing on as we were. And then I was hurrying back to Bella.
Emmett’s Jeep was in many ways the most conspicuous of our cars just by sheer size. But there weren’t many people out in the downpour, and the rain would make it hard for anyone to see who was driving. People would assume the massive vehicle was from out of town.
I wasn’t sure how much time Bella would need, so I turned up the street a block from hers to make sure she was ready for me.
Before I was even to the end of the street, I could tell Charlie’s thoughts were in a dither. She must have begun. I caught a glimpse of Emmett’s face in his head. What was that about?
I pulled over by a patch of forest between homes and let the engine idle.
I was close enough now to make out their spoken voices. The nearby houses were not silent, but those other voices, both mental and physical, were easily ignored. I was so attuned to the sound of Bella’s voice by now that I could have picked it out over a stadium full of shouting.
“It’s Edward, Dad,” she was saying.
“Is he?” her father demanded. I tried to make sense of what they were saying about me.
“Sort of, I guess,” she admitted.
“You said last night that you weren’t interested in any of the boys in town,” he remonstrated.
“Well, Edward doesn’t live in town, Dad.… And anyways, it’s kind of at an early stage, you know? Don’t embarrass me with all the boyfriend talk, okay?”