Twilight: Chapter 19–Epilogue

As soon as I was done she handed me her slacks. I yanked them on, but I couldn’t get my feet out; they were too long. She deftly rolled the hems a few times so I could stand.

Phoenix—the palm trees, the scrubby creosote, the haphazard lines of the intersecting freeways, the green swaths of golf courses and turquoise splotches of swimming pools, all submerged in a thin smog and embraced by the short, rocky ridges that weren’t really big enough to be called mountains.

“What does that mean?” My voice quavered, and I fought to control it.

“We have another fairly superfluous weapon. We’re also venomous,” she said, her teeth glistening.

I stared at the precise rendering of my mother’s family room.

There was no escape, no reprieve.

The only solace, the only hope I had left, was knowing that I would see Edward soon.

I got ready methodically, concentrating on each little task.

Alice’s eyes were confused, but—I saw to my relief—not suspicious. She must be attributing the change in her vision to some maneuver of the tracker’s rather than a betrayal by me.

He looked askance at my luggage-less state, but then shrugged, not caring enough to ask.

The lobby was dark and empty, cool, the air conditioner thrumming.

She’d seen my feet flailing, trying to reclaim my balance.

It was strangely easy to converse with this genteel hunter.

And wouldn’t it be the perfect ploy, to go to the last place you should be when you’re hiding—the place that you said you’d be.

The bravado was wearing off. I sensed that he was coming to the end of his gloat.

So I guess her coven ought to be able to derive some comfort from this experience. I get you, but they get her.

Then he slumped forward, into a crouch I recognized, and his pleasant smile slowly widened, grew, till it wasn’t a smile at all but a contortion of teeth, exposed and glistening.

Where I floated, under the dark water, I heard the happiest sound my mind could conjure up—as beautiful, as uplifting, as it was ghastly.

Behind that longed-for sound was another noise—an awful tumult that my mind shied away from.

Something heavy held my leg to the floor, and Carlisle had my head locked in the vise of his stone arms.

“Alice had a little bit too much fun fabricating evidence. It’s all been taken care of very convincingly—you could probably sue the hotel if you wanted to. You have nothing to worry about,” he promised, stroking my cheek with the lightest of touches.

“You want to stay in Forks?” she asked, bewildered. The idea was inconceivable to her.

His nostrils flared, his mouth looked as if it was chiseled from stone.

“Why not?” My throat rasped and the words weren’t as loud as I’d meant them to be.

“And the pain?” he asked.
I blanched.

And Charlie’s resilient, he’s used to being on his own.

“So where does that leave us?” I wondered.
He chuckled humorlessly. “I believe it’s called an impasse.”

He was laughing when the nurse came in, brandishing a syringe.

“Excuse me,” she said brusquely to Edward.

Edward helped me into his car, being very careful of the wisps of silk and chiffon, the flowers he’d just pinned into my elaborately styled curls, and my bulky walking cast.

Whenever I fidgeted or complained, she reminded me that she didn’t have any memories of being human, and asked me not to ruin her vicarious fun.

I could feel the rage- induced tears starting to fill my eyes.

There were actual balloon arches and twisted garlands of pastel crepe paper festooning the walls.

“Do you want me to bolt the doors so you can massacre the unsuspecting townsfolk?” I whispered conspiratorially.

“Thanks,” Jacob said amiably.

“You seemed honestly surprised when you figured out that I was taking you here,” he began.
“I was,” I interjected.

“Well...I assumed it was some kind of...occasion. But I didn’t think it would be some trite human thing...prom!” I scoffed.

I looked down at my dress, fidgeting with a stray piece of chiffon.

“You thought that would be a black tie occasion, did you?” he teased, touching the lapel of his tuxedo jacket.

But his mercurial mood shifted on me.