ched 
white and beached deep in the sand; it was our tree, in a way. 

 

Jacob sat down on the natural bench, and patted the space next to him. 

"I don't mind long stories. Is there any action?" 

I rolled my eyes as I sat next to him. "There's some action," I allowed. 

"It wouldn't be real horror without action." 

"Horror!" I scoffed. "Can you listen, or will you be interrupting me with rude comments 
about my friends?" 

He pretended to lock his lips and then threw the invisible key over his shoulder. I tried not to 
smile, and failed. 

"I'll have to start with the stuff you were already there for," I decided, working to organize 
the stories in my head before I began. 

Jacob raised his hand. 

"Go ahead." 

"That's good," he said. "I didn't understand much that was going on at the time." 

"Yeah, well, it gets complicated, so pay attention. You know how Alice sees things?" 

I took his scowl - the wolves weren't thrilled that the legends of vampires possessing 
supernatural gifts were true - for a yes, and proceeded with the account of my race through 
Italy to rescue Edward. 

I kept it as succinct as possible - leaving out anything that wasn't essential. I tried to read 
Jacob's reactions, but his face was enigmatic as I explained how Alice had seen Edward plan 
to kill himself when he'd heard that I was dead. Sometimes Jacob seemed so deep in thought, 
I wasn't sure if he was listening. He only interrupted one time. 

"The fortune-telling bloodsucker can't see us?" he echoed, his face both fierce and gleeful. 
"Seriously? That's excellent !" 

I clenched my teeth together, and we sat in silence, his face expectant as he waited for me to 
continue. I glared at him until he realized his mistake. 

"Oops!" he said. "Sorry." He locked his lips again. 

His response was easier to read when I got to the part about the Volturi. His teeth clenched 
together, goose bumps rose on his arms, and his nostrils flared. I didn't go into specifics, I 
just told him that Edward had talked us out of trouble, without revealing the promise we'd 
had to make, or the visit we were anticipating. Jacob didn't need to have my nightmares. 

"Now you know the whole story," I concluded. "So it's your turn to talk. What happened 

 

while I was with my mom this weekend?" I knew Jacob would give me more details than 
Edward had. He wasn't afraid of scaring me. 

Jacob leaned forward, instantly animated. "So Embry and Quil and I were running patrol on 
Saturday night, just routine stuff, when out of nowhere - bam!" He threw his arms out, 
impersonating an explosion. "There it is - a fresh trail, not fifteen minutes old. Sam wanted 
us to wait for him, but I didn't know you were gone, and I didn't know if your bloodsuckers 
were keeping an eye on you or not. So we took off after her at full speed, but she'd crossed 
the treaty line before we caught up. We spread out along the line, hoping she'd cross back 
over. It was frustrating, let me tell you." He wagged his head and his hair - growing out from 
the short crop he'd adopted when he'd joined the pack - flopped into his eyes. "We ended up 
too far south. The Cullens chased her back to our side just a few miles north of us. Would 
have been the perfect ambush if we'd known where to wait." 

He shook his head, grimacing now. "That's when it got dicey. Sam and the others caught up 
to her before we did, but she was dancing right along the line, and the whole coven was right 
there on the other side. The big one, what's-his-name -" 

"Emmett." 

"Yeah, him. He made a lunge for her, but that redhead is fast! He flew right behind her and 
almost rammed into Paul. So, Paul . . . well, you know Paul." 

"Yeah." 

"Lost his focus. Can't say that I blame him - the big bloodsucker was right on top of him. He 
sprang - hey, don't give me that look. The vampire was on our land." 

I tried to compose my face so that he would go on. My nails were digging into my palms 
with the stress of the story, even though I knew it had turned out fine. 

"Anyway, Paul missed, and the big one got back on his side. But by then the, er, well the, uh, 
blonde . . ." Jacob's expression was a comical mix of disgust and unwilling admiration as he 
tried to come up with a word to describe Edward's sister. 

"Rosalie." 

"Whatever. She got real territorial, so Sam and I fell back to get Paul's flanks. Then their 
leader and the other blond male -" 

"Carlisle and Jasper." 

He gave me an exasperated look. "You know I don't really care. Anyway, so Carlisle spoke 
to Sam, trying to calm things down. Then it was weird, because everyone got really calm 
really fast. It was that other one you told me about, messing with our heads. But even though 
we knew what he was doing, we couldn't not be calm." 

 

"Yeah, I know how it feels." 

"Really annoying, that's how it feels. Only you can't be annoyed until afterwards." He shook 
his head angrily. "So Sam and the head vamp agreed that Victoria was the priority, and we 
started after her again. Carlisle gave us the line, so that we could follow the scent properly, 
but then she hit the cliffs just north of Makah country, right where the line hugs the coast for 
a few miles. She took off into the water again. The big one and the calm one wanted 
permission to cross the line to go after her, but of course we said no." 

"Good. I mean, you were being stupid, but I'm glad. Emmett's never cautious enough. He 
could have gotten hurt." 

Jacob snorted. "So did your vampire tell you we attacked for no reason and his totally 
innocent coven -" 

"No," I interrupted. "Edward told me the same story, just without quite as many details." 

"Huh," Jacob said under his breath, and he bent over to pick up a rock from among the 
millions of pebbles at our feet. With a casual flick, he sent it flying a good hundred meters 
out into the bay. "Well, she'll be back, I guess. We'll get another shot at her." 

I shuddered; of course she would be back. Would Edward really tell me next time? I wasn't 
sure. I'd have to keep an eye on Alice, to look for the signs that the pattern was about to 
repeat. . . . 

Jacob didn't seem to notice my reaction. He was staring across the waves with a thoughtful 
expression on his face, his broad lips pursed. 

"What are you thinking about?" I asked after a long, quiet time. 

"I'm thinking about what you told me. About when the fortune-teller saw you cliff jumping 
and thought you'd committed suicide, and how it all got out of control. . . . Do you realize 
that if you had just waited for me like you were supposed to, then the bl -Alice wouldn't have 
been able to see you jump? Nothing would have changed. We'd probably be in my garage 
right now, like any other Saturday. There wouldn't be any vampires in Forks, and you and me 
. . ." He trailed off, deep in thought. 

It was disconcerting the way he said this, like it would be a good thing to have no vampires 
in Forks. My heart thumped unevenly at the emptiness of the picture he painted. 

"Edward would have come back anyway." 

"Are you sure about that?" he asked, belligerent again as soon as I spoke Edward's name. 

"Being apart . . . It didn't work out so well for either of us." 

He started to say something, something angry from his expression, but he stopped himself, 

 

took a breath, and began again. 

"Did you know Sam is mad at you?" 

"Me?" It took me a second. "Oh. I see. He thinks they would have stayed away if I wasn't 
here." 

"No. That's not it." 

"What's his problem then?" 

Jacob leaned down to scoop up another rock. He turned it over and over in his fingers; his 
eyes were riveted on the black stone while he spoke in a low voice. 

"When Sam saw . . . how you were in the beginning, when Billy told them how Charlie 
worried when you didn't get better, and then when you started jumping off cliffs . . ." 

I made a face. No one was ever going to let me forget that. 

Jacob's eyes flashed up to mine. "He thought you were the one person in the world with as 
much reason to hate the Cullens as he does. Sam feels sort of . . . betrayed that you would 
just let them back into your life like they never hurt you." 

I didn't believe for a second that Sam was the only one who felt that way. And the acid in my 
voice now was for both of them. 

"You can tell Sam to go right to -" 

"Look at that," Jacob interrupted me, pointing to an eagle in the act of plummeting down 
toward the ocean from an incredible height. It checked itself at the last minute, only its talons 
breaking the surface of the waves, just for an instant. Then it flapped away, its wings 
straining against the load of the huge fish it had snagged. 

"You see it everywhere," Jacob said, his voice suddenly distant. "Nature taking its course - 
hunter and prey, the endless cycle of life and death." 

I didn't understand the point of the nature lecture; I guessed that he was just trying to change 
the subject. But then he looked down at me with dark humor in his eyes. 

"And yet, you don't see the fish trying to plant a kiss on the eagle. You never see that ." He 
grinned a mocking grin. 

I grinned back tightly, though the acid taste was still in my mouth. "Maybe the fish was 
trying," I suggested. "It's hard to tell what a fish is thinking. Eagles are good-looking birds, 
you know." 

"Is that what it comes down to?" His voice was abruptly sharper. "Good looks?" 

 

"Don't be stupid, Jacob." 

"Is it the money, then?" he persisted. 

"That's nice," I muttered, getting up from the tree. "I'm flattered that you think so much of 
me." I turned my back on him and paced away. 

"Aw, don't get mad." He was right behind me; he caught my wrist and spun me around. "I'm 
serious! I'm trying to understand here, and I'm coming up blank."