wl tore through my mind like a tornado, both strange and familiar. Strange because I'd
never heard such a tortured cry before. Familiar because I knew the voice at once - I
recognized the sound and understood the meaning as perfectly as if I'd uttered it myself. It
made no difference that Jacob was not human when he cried out. I needed no translation.
Jacob was close. Jacob had heard every word we'd said. Jacob was in agony.
The howl choked off into a peculiar gurgled sob, and then it was quiet again.
I did not hear his silent escape, but I could feel it - I could feel the absence I had wrongly
assumed before, the empty space he left behind.
"Because your space heater has reached his limit," Edward answered quietly. "Truce over,"
he added, so low I couldn't be sure that was really what he'd said.
"Jacob was listening," I whispered. It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
"You knew."
"Yes."
I stared at nothing, seeing nothing.
"I never promised to fight fair," he reminded me quietly. "And he deserves to know."
My head fell into my hands.
"Are you angry with me?" he asked.
"Not you," I whispered. "I'm horrified atme. "
"Don't torment yourself," he pleaded.
"Yes," I agreed bitterly. "I should save my energy to torment Jacob some more. I wouldn't
want to leave any part of him unharmed."
"He knew what he was doing."
"Do you think that matters?" I was blinking back tears, and this was easy to hear in my voice.
"Do you think I care whether it's fair or whether he was adequately warned? I'mhurting him.
Every time I turn around, I'm hurting him again." My voice was getting louder, more
hysterical. "I'm a hideous person."
He wrapped his arms tightly around me. "No, you're not."
"I am! What's wrong with me?" I struggled against his arms, and he let them drop. "I have to
go find him."
"Bella, he's already miles away, and it's cold."
"I don't care. I can't justsit here." I shrugged off Jacob's parka, shoved my feet into my boots,
and crawled stiffly to the door; my legs felt numb. "I have to - I have to . . ." I didn't know
how to finish the sentence, didn't know what there was to do, but I unzipped the door
anyway, and climbed out into the bright, icy morning.
There was less snow than I would have thought after the fury of last night's storm. Probably
it had blown away rather than melted in the sun that now shone low in the southeast,
glancing off the snow that lingered and stabbing at my unadjusted eyes. The air still had a
bite to it, but it was dead calm and slowly becoming more seasonable as the sun rose higher.
Seth Clearwater was curled up on a patch of dry pine needles in the shadow of a thick
spruce, his head on his paws. His sand-colored fur was almost invisible against the dead
needles, but I could see the bright snow reflect off his open eyes. He was staring at me with
what I imagined was an accusation.
I knew Edward was following me as I stumbled toward the trees. I couldn't hear him, but the
sun reflected off his skin in glittering rainbows that danced ahead of me. He didn't reach out
to stop me until I was several paces into the forest shadows.
His hand caught my left wrist. He ignored it when I tried to yank myself free.
"You can't go after him. Not today. It's almost time. And getting yourself lost wouldn't help
anyone, regardless."
I twisted my wrist, pulling uselessly.
"I'm sorry, Bella," he whispered. "I'm sorry I did that."
"You didn't do anything. It's my fault. I did this. I did everything wrong. I could have . . .
When he . . . I shouldn't have . . . I . . . I . . ." I was sobbing.
"Bella, Bella."
His arms folded around me, and my tears soaked into his shirt.
"I should have - told him - I should - have said -" What? What could have made this right?
"He shouldn't have - found out like this."
"Do you want me to see if I can bring him back, so that you can talk to him? There's still a
little time," Edward murmured, hushed agony in his voice.
I nodded into his chest, afraid to see his face.
"Stay by the tent. I'll be back soon."
His arms disappeared. He left so quickly that, in the second it took me to look up, he was
already gone. I was alone.
A new sob broke from my chest. I was hurting everyone today. Was there anything I touched
that didn't get spoiled?
I didn't know why it was hitting me so hard now. It wasn't like I hadn't known this was
coming all along. But Jacob had never reacted so strongly - lost his bold overconfidence and
shown the intensity of his pain. The sound of his agony still cut at me, somewhere deep in
my chest. Right beside it was the other pain. Pain for feeling pain over Jacob. Pain for
hurting Edward, too. For not being able to watch Jacob go with composure, knowing that it
was the right thing, the only way.
I was selfish, I was hurtful. I tortured the ones I loved.
I was like Cathy, likeWuthering Heights, only my options were so much better than hers,
neither one evil, neither one weak. And here I sat, crying about it, not doing anything
productive to make it right. Just like Cathy.
I couldn't allow what hurtme to influence my decisions anymore. It was too little, much too
late, but I had to do what was right now. Maybe it was already done for me. Maybe Edward
would not be able to bring him back. And then I would accept that and get on with my life.
Edward would never see me shed another tear for Jacob Black. There would be no more
tears. I wiped the last of them away with cold fingers now.
But if Edward did return with Jacob, that was it. I had to tell him to go away and never come
back.
Why was that so hard? So very much more difficult than saying goodbye to my other friends,
to Angela, to Mike? Why did thathurt ? It wasn't right. That shouldn't be able to hurt me. I
had what I wanted. I couldn't have them both, because Jacob could not be just my friend. It
was time to give up wishing for that. How ridiculously greedy could any one person be?
I had to get over this irrational feeling that Jacob belonged in my life. He couldn't belong
with me, could not bemy Jacob, when I belonged to someone else.
I walked slowly back to the little clearing, my feet dragging. When I broke into the open
space, blinking against the sharp light, I threw one quick glance toward Seth - he hadn't
moved from his bed of pine needles - and then looked away, avoiding his eyes.
I could feel that my hair was wild, twisted into clumps like Medusa's snakes. I yanked
through it with my fingers, and then gave up quickly. Who cared what I looked like, anyway?
I grabbed the canteen hanging beside the tent door and shook it. It sloshed wetly, so I
unscrewed the lid and took a swig to rinse my mouth with the ice water. There was food
somewhere nearby, but I didn't feel hungry enough to look for it. I started pacing across the
bright little space, feeling Seth's eyes on me the whole time. Because I wouldn't look at him,
in my head he became the boy again, rather than the gigantic wolf. So much like a younger
Jacob.
I wanted to ask Seth to bark or give some other sign if Jacob was coming back, but I stopped
myself. It didn't matter if Jacob came back. It might be easier if he didn't. I wished I had
some way to call Edward.
Seth whined at that moment, and got to his feet.
"What is it?" I asked him stupidly.
He ignored me, trotting to the edge of the trees, and pointing his nose toward the west. He
began whimpering.
"Is it the others, Seth?" I demanded. "In the clearing?"
He looked at me and yelped softly once, and then turned his nose alertly back to the west.
His ears laid back and he whined again.
Why was I such a fool? What was I thinking, sending Edward away? How was I supposed to
know what was going on? I didn't speak wolf.
A cold trickle of fear began to ooze down my spine. What if the time had run out? What if
Jacob and Edward got too close? What if Edward decided to join in the fight?
The icy fear pooled in my stomach. What if Seth's distress had nothing to do with the
clearing, and his yelp had been a denial? What if Jacob and Edward were fighting with each
other, far away somewhere in the forest? They wouldn't do that, would they?
With sudden, chilling certainty I realized that they would - if the wrong words were said. I
thought of the tense standoff in the tent this morning, and I wondered if I'd underestimated
how close it had come to a fight.
It would be no more than I deserved if I somehow lost them both.
The ice locked around my heart.
Before I could collapse with fear, Seth grumbled slightly, deep in his chest, and then turned
away from his watch and sauntered back toward his resting place. It calmed me, but irritated
me. Couldn't he scratch a message in the dirt or something?
The pacing was starting to make me sweat under all my layers. I threw my jacket into the
tent, and then I went back to wearing a path across the center of the tiny break in the trees.
Seth jumped to his feet again suddenly, the hackles on the back of his neck standing up
stiffly. I looked around, but saw nothing. If Seth didn't cut it out, I was going to throw a
pinecone at him.
He growled, a low warning sound, slinking back toward the western rim, and I rethought my
impatience.
"It's just us, Seth," Jacob called from a distance.
I tried to explain to myself why my heart kicked into fourth gear when I heard him. It was
just fear of what I was going to have to do now, that was all. I could not allow myself to be
relieved that he'd come back. That would be the opposite of helpful.
Edward walked into view first, his face blank and smooth. When he stepped out from the
shadows, the sun shimmered on his skin like it did on the snow. Seth went to greet him,
looking intently into his eyes. Edward nodded slowly, and worry creased his forehead.
"Yes, that's all we need," he muttered to himself before addressing the big wolf. "I suppose
we shouldn't be surprised. But the timing is going to be very close. Pleas