Eclipse (Twilight, #3)

by Stephenie Meyer

To call this other vehicle a motorcycle hardly seemed fair, since it didn’t seem to belong to the same family as my suddenly shabby-looking bike. It was big and sleek and silver and—even totally motionless—it looked fast. “What is that?” “Nothing,” Edward murmured. “It doesn’t look like nothing.” Edward’s expression was casual; he seemed determined to blow it off. “Well, I didn’t know if you were going to forgive your friend, or he you, and I wondered if you would still want to ride your bike anyway. It sounded like it was something that you enjoyed. I thought I could go with you, if you wished.” He shrugged.

bit my lip and imagined it for a moment. “Edward, if you thought I was going too fast or losing control of the bike or something, what would you do?” He hesitated, obviously trying to find the right answer. I knew the truth: he’d find some way to save me before I crashed. Then he smiled. It looked effortless, except for the tiny defensive tightening of his eyes. “This is something you do with Jacob. I see that now.”

“There are things between my hands right now that I can’t live without. You could take care of them.”

“Be honest, how hideous do I look?” He took another step back and pursed his lips. “That bad, huh?” I muttered. “No, no, Bella. Actually…” he seemed to be struggling for the right word. “You look… sexy.” I laughed out loud. “Right.” “Very sexy, really.” “You are just saying that so that I’ll wear it,” I said. “But that’s okay. You’re right, it’s smarter.”

“You know what this reminds me of?” I asked. “It’s just like when I was a kid and Renée would pass me off to Charlie for the summer. I feel like a seven-year-old.” Edward laughed.

He took the bike from me, balanced it on the kickstand, and grabbed me up in another vice-tight hug. I heard the Volvo’s engine growl, and I struggled to get free. “Cut it out, Jake!” I gasped breathlessly.

“He’s being pretty dang pleasant about this; you don’t need to push your luck.” He laughed again, louder than before—he found what I’d said very funny indeed. I tried to see the joke as he walked around the Rabbit to hold my door open for me. “Bella,” he finally said—still chuckling—as he shut the door behind me, “you can’t push what you don’t have.”

Hanging out with no one but extremely dexterous people all the time was going to give me a complex.

It was easier being with my Quileute friends than I’d expected.

Other than a few teasing complaints—mostly by Paul—about keeping the bloodsucker stench downwind, I was treated like someone who belonged.

The way he stared at her! It was like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. Like a collector finding an undiscovered Da Vinci, like a mother looking into the face of her newborn child.

Watching them, I felt like I better understood what Jacob had told me about imprinting before—it’s hard to resist that level of commitment and adoration.

“The histories we always thought were legends,” he said. “The stories of how we came to be. The first is the story of the spirit warriors.”

“The Quileutes have been a small people from the beginning,” Billy said. “And we are a small people still, but we have never disappeared. This is because there has always been magic in our blood. It wasn’t always the magic of shape-shifting—that came later. First, we were spirit warriors.” Never before had I recognized the ring of majesty that was in Billy Black’s voice, though I realized now that this authority had always been there.

“In the beginning, the tribe settled in this harbor and became skilled ship builders and fishermen. But the tribe was small, and the harbor was rich in fish. There were others who coveted our land, and we were too small to hold it. A larger tribe moved against us, and we took to our ships to escape them. “Kaheleha was not the first spirit warrior, but we do not remember the stories that came before his. We do not remember who was the first to discover this power, or how it had been used before this crisis. Kaheleha was the first great Spirit Chief in our history. In this emergency, Kaheleha used the magic to defend our land. “He and all his warriors left the ship—not their bodies, but their spirits. Their women watched over the bodies and the waves, and the men took their spirits back to our harbor. “They could not physically touch the enemy tribe, but they had other ways. The stories tell us that they could blow fierce winds into their enemy’s camps; they could make a great screaming in the wind that terrified their foes. The stories also tell us that the animals could see the spirit warriors and understand them; the animals would do their bidding. “Kaheleha took his spirit army and wreaked havoc on the intruders. This invading tribe had packs of big, thick-furred dogs that they used to pull their sleds in the frozen north. The spirit warriors turned the dogs against their masters and then brought a mighty infestation of bats up from the cliff caverns. They used the screa...

“That was the story of the spirit warriors,” Old Quil began in a thin tenor voice. “This is the story of the third wife’s sacrifice. “Many years after Taha Aki gave up his spirit wolf, when he was an old man, trouble began in the north, with the Makahs. Several young women of their tribe had disappeared, and they blamed it on the neighboring wolves, who they feared and mistrusted. The wolf-men could still read each other’s thoughts while in their wolf forms, just like their ancestors had while in their spirit forms. They knew that none of their number was to blame. Taha Aki tried to pacify the Makah chief, but there was too much fear. Taha Aki did not want to have a war on his hands. He was no longer a warrior to lead his people. He charged his oldest wolf-son, Taha Wi, with finding the true culprit before hostilities began. “Taha Wi led the five other wolves in his pack on a search through the mountains, looking for any evidence of the missing Makahs. They came across something they had never encountered before—a strange, sweet scent in the forest that burned their noses to the point of pain.” I shrank a little closer to Jacob’s side. I saw the corner of his mouth twitch with humor, and his arm tightened around me. “They did not know what creature would leave such a scent, but they followed it,” Old Quil continued. His quavering voice did not have the majesty of Billy’s, but it had a strange, fierce edge of urgency about it. My pulse jumped as his words came faster. “They...

Just a human woman, with no special gifts or powers. Physically weaker and slower than any of the monsters in the story. But she had been the key, the solution. She’d saved her husband, her young sons, her tribe. I wish they’d remembered her name.…

Something shook my arm. “C’mon, Bells,” Jacob said in my ear. “We’re here.” I blinked, confused because the fire seemed to have disappeared. I glared into the unexpected darkness, trying to make sense of my surroundings. It took me a minute to realize that I was no longer on the cliff. Jacob and I were alone. I was still under his arm, but I wasn’t on the ground anymore. How did I get in Jacob’s car? “Oh, crap!” I gasped as I realized that I had fallen asleep. “How late is it? Dang it, where’s that stupid phone?” I patted my pockets, frantic and coming up empty. “Easy. It’s not even midnight yet. And I already called him for you. Look—he’s waiting there.”

“You called Edward for me?” My eyes were adjusted enough to see the bright gleam of Jacob’s smile. “I figured if I played nice, I’d get more time with you.” “Thanks, Jake,” I said, touched. “Really, thank you. And thanks for inviting me tonight. That was…” Words failed me. “Wow. That was something else.”

“I know. Jacob explained.” He started toward the car, and I staggered woodenly at his side. “Are you tired? I could carry you.”

Then there was a movement in the night, right beside me. Edward slid through my open window, his hands colder than the rain. “Is Jacob out there?” I asked, shivering as Edward pulled me into the circle of his arm. “Yes… somewhere. And Esme’s on her way home.” I sighed. “It’s so cold and wet. This is silly.” I shivered again. He chuckled. “It’s only cold to you, Bella.”

It was cold in my dream that night, too, maybe because I slept in Edward’s arms. But I dreamt I was outside in the storm, the wind whipping my hair in my face and blinding my eyes. I stood on the rocky crescent of First Beach, trying to understand the quickly moving shapes I could only dimly see in the darkness at the shore’s edge. At first, there was nothing but a flash of white and black, darting toward each other and dancing away. And then, as if the moon had suddenly broken from the clouds, I could see everything. Rosalie, her hair swinging wet and golden down to the back of her knees, was lunging at an enormous wolf—its muzzle shot through with silver—that I instinctively recognized as Billy Black. I broke into a run, but found myself moving in the frustrating slow motion of dreamers. I tried to scream to them, to tell them to stop, but my voice was stolen by the wind, and I could make no sound. I waved my arms, hoping to catch their attention. Something flashed in my hand, and I noticed for the first time that my right hand wasn’t empty. I held a long, sharp blade, ancient and silver, crusted in dried, blackened blood. I cringed away from the knife, and my eyes snapped open to the quiet darkness of my bedroom. The first thing I realized was that I was not alone, and I turned to bury my face in Edward’s chest, knowing the sweet scent of his skin would chase the nightmare away more effectively than anything else.

remember what he’d said. Something about feeling sympathy for Heathcliff, of all people. That couldn’t be right; I must have dreamed that part. Three words on the open page caught my eye, and I bent my head to read the paragraph more closely. It was Heathcliff speaking, and I knew the passage well. And there you see the distinction between our feelings: had he been in my place and I in his, though I hated him with a hatred that turned my life to gall, I never would have raised a hand against him. You may look incredulous, if you please! I never would have banished him from her society as long as she desired his. The moment her regard ceased, I would have torn his heart out, and drank his blood! But, till then—if you don’t believe me, you don’t know me—till then, I would have died by inches before I touched a single hair of his head! The three words that had caught my eye were “drank his blood.” I shuddered.

“I HAVE FORESEEN…,” ALICE BEGAN IN AN OMINOUS TONE. Edward threw an elbow toward her ribs, which she neatly dodged. “Fine,” she grumbled. “Edward is making me do this. But I did foresee that you would be more difficult if I surprised you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. It is Monday… the fourth.” She grabbed my elbow, spun me halfway around, and pointed toward a big yellow poster taped to the gym door. There, in sharp black letters, was the date of graduation. Exactly one week from today. “It’s the fourth? Of June? Are you sure?”

I felt like someone had kicked my legs out from under me. The weeks of stress, of worry… somehow in the middle of all my obsessing over the time, my time had disappeared. My space for sorting through it all, for making plans, had vanished. I was out of time. And I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know how to do this. How to say goodbye to Charlie and Renée… to Jacob… to being human. I knew exactly what I wanted, but I was suddenly terrified of getting it.

Why was I panicking now? I’d known the deadline was coming. Why should it frighten me that it was here?

“Would you please tell me what you are thinking? Before I go mad?” What could I say to him? That I was a coward? I searched for words. “Your lips are white. Talk, Bella.” I exhaled in a big gust. How long had I been holding my breath? “The date took me off guard,” I whispered. “That’s all.” He waited, his face full of worry and skepticism. I tried to explain. “I’m not sure what to do… what to tell Charlie… what to say… how to…” My voice trailed off.

“Would you tell me why? The whole truth, not sparing my feelings?” He hesitated for a minute. “If I answer your question, will you then explain your question?”

“You could do so much better, Bella. I know that you believe I have a soul, but I’m not entirely convinced on that point, and to risk yours…” He shook his head slowly. “For me to allow this—to let you become what I am just so that I’ll never have to lose you—is the most selfish act I can imagine. I want it more than anything, for myself. But for you, I want so much more. Giving in—it feels criminal. It’s the most selfish thing I’ll ever do, even if I live forever. “If there were any way for me to become human for you—no matter what the price was, I would pay it.”

“You don’t want to be my wife.” My heart stopped, and then broke into a sprint. A cold sweat dewed on the back of my neck and my hands turned to ice. He waited, watching and listening to my reaction. “That’s not a question,” I finally whispered.

“I’m not that girl, Edward. The one who gets married right out of high school like some small-town hick who got knocked up by her boyfriend! Do you know what people would think? Do you realize what century this is? People don’t just get married at eighteen! Not smart people, not responsible, mature people! I wasn’t going to be that girl! That’s not who I am.…” I trailed off, losing steam.

I stared at him with my eyes frozen wide. “Breathe, Bella,” he reminded me, smiling. I breathed.

“Dum, dum, dah-dum,” I hummed under my breath. I was going for the wedding march, but it sort of sounded like a dirge.

Only one conclusion is indisputable: something hideous is stalking Seattle.

“Let’s go now,” Emmett said with sudden enthusiasm. “I’m dead bored.” A hiss echoed down the stairway from upstairs. “She’s such a pessimist,” Emmett muttered to himself. Edward agreed with Emmett. “We’ll have to go sometime.”

and then his eyes paused on my face. “You’re confused,” he said to me, his deep voice very quiet.

“You can afford the time to be patient,” Jasper told him. “Bella should understand this, too. She’s one of us now.” His words took me by surprise. As little as I’d had to do with Jasper, especially since my last birthday when he’d tried to kill me, I hadn’t realized that he thought of me that way.

took me a minute to understand why the shape looked strangely familiar. “Oh,” I breathed as realization hit. “Jasper, you have a scar exactly like mine.”

Jasper smiled faintly. “I have a lot of scars like yours, Bella.” Jasper’s face was unreadable as he pushed the sleeve of his thin sweater higher up his arm. At first my eyes could not make sense of the texture that was layered thickly across the skin. Curved half-moons crisscrossed in a feathery pattern that was only visible, white on white as it was, because the bright glow of the lamp beside him threw the slightly raised design into relief, with shallow shadows outlining the shapes. And then I grasped that the pattern was made of individual crescents like the one on his wrist… the one on my hand.

And then I gasped, staring up at him. “Jasper, what happened to you?”

But Edward was just as absorbed as I was; I could feel his eyes on my face, reading every flicker of emotion.

I shuddered at the image in my head, at the word feed. But Jasper wasn’t worried about frightening me, not overprotective like Edward always was. He went on without a pause.

“You see, it occurred to someone once that, if he were the only vampire in, let’s say Mexico City, well then, he could feed every night, twice, three times, and no one would ever notice. He plotted ways to get rid of the competition.

“But the most effective tactic was invented by a fairly young vampire named Benito. The first anyone ever heard of him, he came down from somewhere north of Dallas and massacred the two small covens that shared the area near Houston. Two nights later, he took on the much stronger clan of allies that claimed Monterrey in northern Mexico. Again, he won.”

“Benito had created an army of newborn vampires. He was the first one to think of it, and, in the beginning, he was unstoppable. Very young vampires are volatile, wild, and almost impossible to control. One newborn can be reasoned with, taught to restrain himself, but ten, fifteen together are a nightmare. They’ll turn on each other as easily as on the enemy you point them at. Benito had to keep making more as they fought amongst themselves, and as the covens he decimated took more than half his force down before they lost. “You see, though newborns are dangerous, they are still possible to defeat if you know what you’re doing. They’re incredibly powerful physically, for the first year or so, and if they’re allowed to bring strength to bear they can crush an older vampire with ease. But they are slaves to their instincts, and thus predictable. Usually, they have no skill in fighting, only muscle and ferocity. And in this case, overwhelming numbers.”

“All hell broke loose—and I mean that more literally than you can possibly imagine. We immortals have our histories, too, and this particular war will never be forgotten. Of course, it was not a good time to be human in Mexico, either.”

“Anyone who was found with the newborns was executed immediately, and, since everyone was trying to protect themselves from Benito, Mexico was emptied of vampires for a time.

Jasper shuddered. I realized that I had never before seen him either afraid or horrified. This was a first.

“It didn’t take long before covens began to dispute again. There was a lot of bad blood, if you’ll forgive the expression. Vendettas abounded. The idea of newborns was already there, and some were not able to resist. However, the Volturi had not been forgotten, and the southern covens were more careful this time. The newborns were selected from the human pool with more care, and given more training. They were used circumspectly, and the humans remained, for the most part, oblivious. Their creators gave the Volturi no reason to return. “The wars resumed, but on a smaller scale. Every now and then, someone would go too far, speculation would begin in the human newspapers, and the Volturi would return and clean out the city. But they let the others, the careful ones, continue.…” Jasper was staring off into space.