d. 

Jasper held out a cell phone. "We need to hurry." 

I'd never seen Carlisle's innate calm so shaken. He took the phone, and paced toward the 
windows. He dialed a number, held the phone to his ear, and laid the other hand against the 
glass. He stared out into the foggy morning with a pained and ambivalent expression. 

Edward took my hand and pulled me to the white loveseat. I sat beside him, staring at his 
face while he stared at Carlisle. 

Carlisle's voice was low and quick, difficult to hear. I heard him greet Tanya, and then he 
raced through the situation too fast for me to understand much, though I could tell that the 
Alaskan vampires were not ignorant of what was going on in Seattle. 

Then something changed in Carlisle's voice. 

"Oh," he said, his voice sharper in surprise. "We didn't realize . . . that Irina felt that way." 

Edward groaned at my side and closed his eyes. "Damn it. Damn Laurent to the deepest pit 
of hell where he belongs." 

"Laurent?" I whispered, the blood emptying from my face, but Edward didn't respond, 
focused on Carlisle's thoughts. 

My short encounter with Laurent early this spring was not something that had faded or 
dimmed in my mind. I still remembered every word he'd said before Jacob and his pack had 
interrupted. 

I actually came here as a favor to her. . . . 

Victoria. Laurent had been her first maneuver - she'd sent him to observe, to see how hard it 

 

might be to get to me. He hadn't survived the wolves to report back. 

Though he'd kept up his old ties with Victoria after James's death, he'd also formed new ties 
and new relationships. He'd gone to live with Tanya's family in Alaska - Tanya the 
strawberry blonde - the closest friends the Cullens had in the vampire world, practically 
extended family. Laurent had been with them for almost a year previous to his death. 

Carlisle was still talking, his voice not quite pleading. Persuasive, but with an edge. Then the 
edge abruptly won out over the persuasion. 

"There's no question of that," Carlisle said in a stern voice. "We have a truce. They haven't 
broken it, and neither will we. I'm sorry to hear that. . . . Of course. We'll just have to do our 
best alone." 

Carlisle shut the phone without waiting for an answer. He continued to stare out into the 
fog. 

"What's the problem?" Emmett murmured to Edward. 

"Irina was more involved with our friend Laurent than we knew. She's holding a grudge 
against the wolves for destroying him to save Bella. She wants -" He paused, looking down 
at me. 

"Go on," I said as evenly as I could. 

His eyes tightened. "She wants revenge. To take down the pack. They would trade their help 
for our permission." 

"No!" I gasped. 

"Don't worry," he told me in a flat voice. "Carlisle would never agree to it." He hesitated, 
then sighed. "Nor would I. Laurent had it coming" - this was almost a growl - "and I still owe 
the wolves for that." 

"This isn't good," Jasper said. "It's too even a fight. We'd have the upper hand in skill, but 
not numbers. We'd win, but at what price?" His tense eyes flashed to Alice's face and away. 

I wanted to scream out loud as I grasped what Jasper meant. 

We would win, but we would lose. Some wouldn't survive. 

I looked around the room at their faces - Jasper, Alice, Emmett, Rose, Esme, Carlisle . . . 
Edward - the faces of my family. 

 

14. DECLARATION 

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS," I SAID WEDNESDAY AFTERnoon. "You've completely 
lost your mind!" 

"Say whatever you like about me," Alice answered. "The party is still on." 

I stared at her, my eyes so wide with disbelief it felt like they might fall out and land on my 
lunch tray. 

"Oh, calm down, Bella! There's no reason not to go through with it. Besides, the invitations 
are already sent." 

"But . . . the . . . you . . . I . . . insane!" I spluttered. 

"You've already bought my present," she reminded me. "You don't have to do anything but 
show up." 

I made an effort to calm myself. "With everything that is going on right now, a party is hardly 
appropriate." 

"Graduation is what's going on right now, and a party is so appropriate it's almost passÃ©." 

"Alice!" 

She sighed, and tried to be serious. "There are a few things we need to get in order now, and 
that's going to take a little time. As long as we're sitting here waiting, we might as well 
commemorate the good stuff. You're only going to graduate from high school - for the first 
time - once. You don't get to be human again, Bella. This is a once-in-a-lifetime shot." 

Edward, silent through our little argument, flashed her a warning look. She stuck out her 
tongue at him. She was right - her soft voice would never carry over the babble of the 
cafeteria. And no one would understand the meaning behind her words in any case. 

"What few things do we need to get in order?" I asked, refusing to be sidetracked. 

Edward answered in a low voice. "Jasper thinks we could use some help. Tanya's family isn't 
the only choice we have. Carlisle's trying to track down a few old friends, and Jasper is 
looking up Peter and Charlotte. He's considering talking to Maria . . . but no one really wants 
to involve the southerners." 

Alice shuddered delicately. 

"It shouldn't be too hard to convince them to help," he continued. "Nobody wants a visit 
from Italy." 

"But these friends - they're not going to be . . .vegetarians, right?" I protested, using the 

 

Cullens' tongue-in-cheek nickname for themselves. 

"No," Edward answered, suddenly expressionless. 

"Here? In Forks?" 

"They're friends," Alice reassured me. "Everything's going to be fine. Don't worry. And then, 
Jasper has to teach us a few courses on newborn elimination. . . ." 

Edward's eyes brightened at that, and a brief smile flashed across his face. My stomach 
suddenly felt like it was full of sharp little splinters of ice. 

"When are you going?" I asked in a hollow voice. I couldn't stand this - the idea that 
someone might not come back. What if it was Emmett, so brave and thoughtless that he was 
never the least bit cautious? Or Esme, so sweet and motherly that I couldn't even imagine her 
in a fight? Or Alice, so tiny, so fragile-looking? Or . . . but I couldn't even think the name, 
consider the possibility. 

"A week," Edward said casually. "That ought to give us enough time." 

The icy splinters twisted uncomfortably in my stomach. I was suddenly nauseated. 

"You look kind of green, Bella," Alice commented. 

Edward put his arm around me and pulled me tightly against his side. "It's going to be fine, 
Bella. Trust me." 

Sure,I thought to myself. Trust him. He wasn't the one who was going to have to sit behind 
and wonder whether or not the core of his existence was going to come home. 

And then it occurred to me. Maybe I didn't need to sit behind. A week was more than 
enough time. 

"You're looking for help," I said slowly. 

"Yes." Alice's head cocked to the side as she processed the change in my tone. 

I looked only at her as I answered. My voice was just slightly louder than a whisper. "Icould 
help." 

Edward's body was suddenly rigid, his arm too tight around me. He exhaled, and the sound 
was a hiss. 

But it was Alice, still calm, who answered. "That really wouldn't behelpful. " 

"Why not?" I argued; I could hear the desperation in my voice. "Eight is better than seven. 
There's more than enough time." 

 

"There's not enough time to make you helpful, Bella," she disagreed coolly. "Do you 
remember how Jasper described the young ones? You'd be no good in a fight. You wouldn't 
be able to control your instincts, and that would make you an easy target. And then Edward 
would get hurt trying to protect you." She folded her arms across her chest, pleased with her 
unassailable logic. 

And I knew she was right, when she put it like that. I slumped in my seat, my sudden hope 
defeated. Beside me, Edward relaxed. 

He whispered the reminder in my ear. "Not because you're afraid." 

"Oh," Alice said, and a blank look crossed her face. Then her expression became surly. "I hate 
last-minute cancellations. So that puts the party attendance list down to sixty-five. . . ." 

"Sixty-five!"My eyes bulged again. I didn't have that many friends. Did I even know that 
many people? 

"Who canceled?" Edward wondered, ignoring me. 

"RenÃ©e." 

"What?" I gasped. 

"She was going to surprise you for your graduation, but something went wrong. You'll have 
a message when you get home." 

For a moment, I just let myself enjoy the relief. Whatever it was that went wrong for my 
mother, I was eternally grateful to it. If she had come to Forksnow . . . I didn't want to think 
about it. My head would explode. 

The message light was flashing when I got home. My feeling of relief flared again as I 
listened to my mother describe Phil's accident on the ball field - while demonstrating a slide, 
he'd tangled up with the catcher and broken his thigh bone; he was entirely dependent on 
her, and there was no way she could leave him. My mom was still apologizing when the 
message cut off. 

"Well, that's one," I sighed. 

"One what?" Edward asked. 

"One person I don't have to worry about getting killed this week." 

He rolled his eyes. 

"Why won't you and Alice take this seriously?" I demanded. "This isserious. " 

He smiled. "Confidence." 

 

"Wonderful," I grumbled. I picked up the phone and dialed RenÃ©e's number. I knew it would 
be a long conversation, but I also knew that I wouldn't have to contribute much. 

I just listened, and reassured her every time I could get a word in: I wasn't disappointed, I 
wasn't mad, I wasn't hurt. She should concentrate on helping Phil get better. I passed on my 
"get well soon" to Phil, and promised to c