Eclipse - Meyer Stephenie - Страница 31

I cringed at my father’s name.

“It’s going to be fine, Bella,” Esme murmured, smoothing my hair.

“But what was the point then?” Carlisle mused.

“Checking to see if I’m still human?” I guessed.

“Possible,” Carlisle said.

Rosalie breathed out a sigh, loud enough for me to hear. She’d unfrozen, and her face was turned expectantly toward the kitchen. Edward, on the other hand, looked discouraged.

Emmett burst through the kitchen door, Jasper right behind him.

“Long gone, hours ago,” Emmett announced, disappointed. “The trail went East, then South, and disappeared on a side road. Had a car waiting.”

“That’s bad luck,” Edward muttered. “If he’d gone west . . . well, it would be nice for those dogs to make themselves useful.”

I winced, and Esme rubbed my shoulder.

Jasper looked at Carlisle. “Neither of us recognized him. But here.” He held out something green and crumpled. Carlisle took it from him and held it to his face. I saw, as it exchanged hands, that it was a broken fern frond. “Maybe you know the scent.”

“No,” Carlisle said. “Not familiar. No one I’ve ever met.”

“Perhaps we’re looking at this the wrong way. Maybe it’s a coincidence . . . ,” Esme began, but stopped when she saw everyone else’s incredulous expressions. “I don’t mean a coincidence that a stranger happened to pick Bella’s house to visit at random. I meant that maybe someone was just curious. Our scent is all around her. Was he wondering what draws us there?”

“Why wouldn’t he just come here then? If he was curious?” Emmett demanded.

“You would,” Esme said with a sudden, fond smile. “The rest of us aren’t always so direct. Our family is very large — he or she might be frightened. But Charlie wasn’t harmed. This doesn’t have to be an enemy.”

Just curious. Like James and Victoria had been curious, in the beginning? The thought of Victoria made me tremble, though the one thing they seemed certain of was that it had not been her. Not this time. She would stick to her obsessed pattern. This was just someone else, a stranger.

I was slowly realizing that vampires were much bigger participants in this world than I’d once thought. How many times did the average human cross paths with them, completely unaware? How many deaths, obliviously reported as crimes and accidents, were really due to their thirst? How crowded would this new world be when I finally joined it?

The shrouded future sent a shiver down my spine.

The Cullens pondered Esme’s words with varying expressions. I could see that Edward did not accept her theory, and that Carlisle very much wanted to.

Alice pursed her lips. “I don’t think so. The timing of it was too perfect. . . . This visitor was so careful to make no contact. Almost like he or she knew that I would see. . . .”

“He could have other reasons for not making contact,” Esme reminded her.

“Does it really matter who it was?” I asked. “Just the chance that someone was looking for me . . . isn’t that reason enough? We shouldn’t wait for graduation.”

“No, Bella,” Edward said quickly. “It’s not that bad. If you’re really in danger, we’ll know.”

“Think of Charlie,” Carlisle reminded me. “Think of how it would hurt him if you disappeared.”

“I am thinking of Charlie! He’s the one I’m worried about! What if my little guest had happened to be thirsty last night? As long as I’m around Charlie, he’s a target, too. If anything happened to him, it would be all my fault!”

“Hardly, Bella,” Esme said, patting my hair again. “And nothing will happen to Charlie. We’re just going to have to be more careful.”

“More careful?” I repeated in disbelief.

“It’s all going to be fine, Bella,” Alice promised; Edward squeezed my hand.

And I could see, looking at all of their beautiful faces one by one, that nothing I could say was going to change their minds.

It was a quiet ride home. I was frustrated. Against my better judgment, I was still human.

“You won’t be alone for a second,” Edward promised as he drove me to Charlie’s. “Someone will always be there. Emmett, Alice, Jasper . . .”

I sighed. “This is ridiculous. They’ll get so bored, they’ll have to kill me themselves, just for something to do.”

Edward gave me a sour look. “Hilarious, Bella.”

Charlie was in a good mood when we got back. He could see the tension between me and Edward, and he was misinterpreting it. He watched me throw together his dinner with a smug smile on his face. Edward had excused himself for a moment, to do some surveillance, I assumed, but Charlie waited till he was back to pass on my messages.

“Jacob called again,” Charlie said as soon as Edward was in the room. I kept my face empty as I set the plate in front of him.

“Is that a fact?”

Charlie frowned. “Don’t be petty, Bella. He sounded really low.”

“Is Jacob paying you for all the P.R., or are you a volunteer?”

Charlie grumbled incoherently at me until the food cut off his garbled complaint.

Though he didn’t realize it, he’d found his mark.

My life was feeling a lot like a game of dice right now — would the next roll come up snake eyes? What if something did happen to me? It seemed worse than petty to leave Jacob feeling guilty about what he’d said.

But I didn’t want to talk to him with Charlie around, to have to watch my every word so I didn’t let the wrong thing slip. Thinking about this made me jealous of Jacob and Billy’s relationship. How easy it must be when you had no secrets from the person you lived with.

So I would wait for the morning. I most likely wasn’t going to die tonight, after all, and it wouldn’t hurt him to feel guilty for twelve more hours. It might even be good for him.

When Edward officially left for the evening, I wondered who was out in the downpour, keeping an eye on Charlie and me. I felt awful for Alice or whoever else it might be, but still comforted. I had to admit it was nice, knowing I wasn’t alone. And Edward was back in record time.

He sang me to sleep again and — aware even in unconsciousness that he was there — I slept free of nightmares.

In the morning, Charlie left to go fishing with Deputy Mark before I was up. I decided to use this lack of supervision to be divine.

“I’m going to let Jacob off the hook,” I warned Edward after I’d eaten breakfast.

“I knew you’d forgive him,” he said with an easy smile. “Holding grudges is not one of your many talents.”

I rolled my eyes, but I was pleased. It seemed like Edward really was over the whole anti-werewolf thing.

I didn’t look at the clock until after I’d dialed. It was a little early for calls, and I worried that I would wake Billy and Jake, but someone picked up before the second ring, so he couldn’t have been too far from the phone.

“Hello?” a dull voice said.

“Jacob?”

“Bella!” he exclaimed. “Oh, Bella, I’m so sorry!” he tripped over the words as he hurried to get them out. “I swear I didn’t mean it. I was just being stupid. I was angry — but that’s no excuse. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever said in my life and I’m sorry. Don’t be mad at me, please? Please. Lifetime of servitude up for grabs — all you have to do is forgive me.”

“I’m not mad. You’re forgiven.”

“Thank you,” he breathed fervently. “I can’t believe I was such a jerk.”

“Don’t worry about that — I’m used to it.”

He laughed, exuberant with relief. “Come down to see me,” he begged. “I want to make it up to you.”

I frowned. “How?”

“Anything you want. Cliff diving,” he suggested, laughing again.

“Oh, there’s a brilliant idea.”

“I’ll keep you safe,” he promised. “No matter what you want to do.”

I glanced at Edward. His face was very calm, but I was sure this was not the time.

“Not right now.”

“He’s not thrilled with me, is he?” Jacob’s voice was ashamed, rather than bitter, for once.

“That’s not the problem. There’s . . . well, there’s this other problem that’s slightly more worrisome than a bratty teenage werewolf. . . .” I tried to keep my tone joking, but I didn’t fool him.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded.

“Um.” I wasn’t sure what I should tell him.

Edward held his hand out for the phone. I looked at his face carefully. He seemed calm enough.

“Bella?” Jacob asked.

Edward sighed, holding his hand closer.

“Do you mind speaking to Edward?” I asked apprehensively. “He wants to talk to you.”

There was a long pause.

“Okay,” Jacob finally agreed. “This should be interesting.”

I handed the phone to Edward; I hoped he could read the warning in my eyes.

“Hello, Jacob,” Edward said, perfectly polite.

There was a silence. I bit my lip, trying to guess how Jacob would answer.

“Someone was here — not a scent I know,” Edward explained. “Has your pack come across anything new?”

Another pause, while Edward nodded to himself, unsurprised.

“Here’s the crux, Jacob. I won’t be letting Bella out of my sight till I get this taken care of. It’s nothing personal —”

Jacob interrupted him then, and I could hear the buzz of his voice from the receiver. Whatever he was saying, he was more intense than before. I tried unsuccessfully to make out the words.

“You might be right —,” Edward began, but Jacob was arguing again. Neither of them sounded angry, at least.

“That’s an interesting suggestion. We’re quite willing to renegotiate. If Sam is amenable.”

Jacob’s voice was quieter now. I started chewing on my thumbnail as I tried to read Edward’s expression.

“Thank you,” Edward replied.

Then Jacob said something that caused a surprised expression to flicker across Edward’s face.

“I’d planned to go alone, actually,” Edward said, answering the unexpected question. “And leave her with the others.”

Jacob’s voice rose in pitch, and it sounded to me like he was trying to be persuasive.

“I’ll try to consider it objectively,” Edward promised. “As objectively as I’m capable of.”

The pause was shorter this time.

“That’s not a half-bad idea. When? . . . No, that’s fine. I’d like a chance to follow the trail personally, anyway. Ten minutes . . . Certainly,” Edward said. He held the phone out to me. “Bella?”

I took it slowly, feeling confused.

“What was that all about?” I asked Jacob, my voice peeved. I knew it was juvenile, but I felt excluded.