“Are you sure this was a good idea?” she asked.
“I should be here.”
“Tell me if it gets to be too much.” I nodded.
We were a hundred feet up in the branches of a tall hemlock, sitting side by side on a thick bough. I had my arm around her and she held my other hand in both of hers. I could feel her eyes on my face. Worried.
The branch swayed under us in the wind.
About two miles away, a caravan of cars was driving up Calawah Way with all their headlights on, though it was daytime. We were southeast and upwind, carefully situated so that we wouldn’t be close to any people. It was too far for Edythe to be able to hear much of what anyone was thinking, but that was okay. I was sure I’d be able to guess most of it.
The first car was the hearse. Right behind it was the familiar cruiser. My mom was in the passenger seat, and Phil was in the back. I recognized almost everyone in the cars that followed.
I couldn’t watch the actual funeral—it had been held inside a church building. The graveside service would have to be enough.
The hearse was overkill. There hadn’t been enough of the body that they’d found inside the burned-out shell of my truck to need a casket. If I’d been able to consult with my parents, I would have told them not to waste the money and just get an urn. But I guess if it made them feel better… Maybe they really wanted a grave to visit.
I’d seen where they were putting me—or what they thought was me. The hole was dug yesterday, right beside Grandma and Grandpa Swan. They’d both died when I was little, so I hadn’t known them well. I hoped they didn’t mind having a stranger next to them.
I didn’t know the stranger’s name. I hadn’t wanted to know every detail about how Archie and Eleanor had faked my death. I just knew that someone roughly my size who had been recently interred had taken one last trip. I assumed that all the identifiers had been destroyed—teeth, prints, etc. I felt pretty bad for the guy, but I suppose he didn’t mind. He hadn’t felt anything when the truck veered into a ravine somewhere in Nevada and burst into flames. His family had already mourned. They had a tombstone with his name on it. Like my parents had now.
Charlie and my mom were both pallbearers. Even from this distance, I could see that Charlie looked twenty years older and my mom moved like she was sleepwalking. If she hadn’t had the casket to hold on to, I’m not sure she would have been able to walk in a straight line across the cemetery lawn. I recognized the black dress she was wearing—she’d bought it for a formal party and then decided it aged her; she’d ended up going to the party in red. Charlie wore a suit I’d never seen before. I would guess it was old rather than new—it didn’t look like it would button, and his tie was a little too wide.
Phil helped, too, and Allen and his dad, Reverend Weber. Jeremy walked behind Allen. Even Bonnie Black held on to one of the brass handles while Jules pushed her chair.
In the crowd, I saw almost every person I knew from school. Most were in black, and lots of them were holding each other and crying. It kind of surprised me—I didn’t know many of them very well. I guessed they were just crying because it was sad in general, someone dying when they were only seventeen. It probably made them think about their own mortality and all of that.
One group of people stood out—Carine, Earnest, Archie, Jessamine, Royal, and Eleanor, all in light gray. They held themselves straighter than anyone else, and even from a distance their skin was obviously different… at least to a vampire’s eyes.
It all seemed to take a really long time. Lowering the casket, the reverend giving some kind of speech—a sermon?—my mom and dad each
throwing a flower into the hole after the casket, everyone awkwardly forming the obligatory line to speak to my parents. I wished they would let my mom leave. She was sagging into Phil, and I knew she needed to lie down. Charlie was holding up better, but he looked brittle. Jules wheeled Bonnie over so that she was behind him, a little to the side. Bonnie reached forward and took Charlie’s hand. It looked like that helped some. This put Jules in a position where I could see her face really well, and I kind of wished I couldn’t.
Carine and the rest of the Cullens were near the end of the line. We watched as they made their way slowly to the front. They were quick with my mom—they’d never met her before. Archie brought a chair up for my mom to sit in, and Phil thanked him; I wondered if Archie had seen that she was going to fall.
Carine spent more time with Charlie. I knew she was apologizing for Edythe’s absence, explaining that she’d been too distraught to come. This was more than just an excuse for Edythe to be with me today, it was laying groundwork for the next school year, when Edythe would continue to be so distraught that Earnest would decide to homeschool her.
I watched as Bonnie and Jules left while Charlie was still talking to Carine. Bonnie threw a dark glance back at the Cullens, then suddenly stared in my direction.
Of course she couldn’t see us. I glanced around, trying to figure out what she was looking at. I realized that Eleanor was looking at us, too—she had no trouble spotting us, and she was trying very hard not to smile; Eleanor never took anything seriously. Bonnie must have wondered what Eleanor was staring at.
Bonnie looked away after a few seconds. She said something to Jules.
They continued out to their car.
The Cullens left after the Blacks. The line dwindled, and finally my parents were free. Phil took my mom away quickly; the reverend gave them a ride. Charlie stayed alone while the funeral home employees filled the hole in. He didn’t watch. He sat in the chair that my mom had used and stared away to the north.
I felt my face working, trying to find the expression that went with my grief. My eyes were too dry; I blinked against the uncomfortable feeling. When I took my next breath, the air hitched out of my throat, like I was
choking on it.
Edythe’s arms wrapped tight around my waist. I buried my face in her hair.
“I’m so sorry, Beau. I never wanted this for you.” I just nodded.
We sat like that for a long time.
She nudged me when Charlie left, so I could watch him drive away. “Do you want to go home?” she asked.
“Maybe in a little while.” “All right.”
We stared at the mostly empty cemetery. It was starting to get darker. A few employees were cleaning up chairs and trash. One of them took away the big picture of me—my school picture from the beginning of junior year, back in Phoenix. I’d never liked that one much. I hardly recognized the boy with the uncertain blue eyes and the halfhearted smile. It was difficult to remember being him. Hard to imagine how he must have looked to Edythe, back in the beginning.
“You never wanted this for me,” I said slowly. “What did you want? How did you see things happening—going with the fact that I was always going to be in love with you?”
She sighed. “Best-case scenario? I hoped that… I would get strong enough that we could be together while you were human. That we could be… something more than just boyfriend and girlfriend. Someday, if you didn’t outgrow me, more than just husband and wife. We wouldn’t be able to grow old together, but I would have stayed with you while you grew old. I would have been with you through all the years of your life.” She paused for a second. “And then, when your life was over… I wouldn’t have wanted to stay without you. I would have found a way to follow.”
She looked startled when I laughed. It wasn’t a very robust laugh, but I was surprised that it felt good.
“That was a really, really horrible idea,” I told her. “Can you imagine? When people thought I was your dad? Your granddad? I’d probably get locked up.”
She smiled hesitantly. “That wouldn’t have bothered me. And if anyone had locked you up, I would have busted you out.”
“But you would have married me?” I asked. “Really?”
Now she smiled wider. “I still will. Archie’s seen it.”
I blinked a few times. “Wow. I’m… super flattered. You would really marry me, Edythe?”
“Is that a proposal?”
I thought for half a second. “Sure. Sure it is. Will you?”
She threw her arms around me. “Of course I will. Whenever you want.” “Wow,” I said again. I hugged her back, and kissed the top of her head.
“I think I could have done better with the other version, though.”
She leaned back to look at me, and her face was sad again. “Any other way ended here, too.”
“But there could have been… a better goodbye.” I didn’t want to think about what my last words to Charlie were, but they were constantly on my mind. It was the biggest regret I had. I was glad the memory wasn’t sharp, and I only hoped it would fade more with time. “What if we had gotten married? You know, graduated together, put in a few years at college, then had a great big wedding where we invited everyone we knew? Let them all see us happy together. Give really sappy speeches—have a reason to tell everyone how much we love them. Then go away again, back to school somewhere far away.…”
She sighed. “That sounds nice. But you end up with a double funeral in the end.”
“Maybe. Maybe we’d be really busy for a year, and when I’m a mature vampire and all under control, I could see them again.…”
“Riiiight,” she said, rolling her eyes. “And then all we have to worry about is never aging… and getting on the bad side of the Volturi.… I’m sure that would end well.”
“Okay, okay, you’re right. There’s no other version.” “I’m sorry,” she said quietly again.
“Either way, though, Edythe. If I hadn’t been dumb enough to run off and meet that tracker”—she hissed, but I kept talking—“it would only have delayed things. We still end up here. You’re the life I choose.”
She smiled—slowly at first, but then suddenly her smile was huge and dimpled. “It feels like my life never had a point until I found you. You’re the life I was waiting for.”
I took her face in my hands and kissed her while the branch swayed back and forth under us. I never could have imagined a life like this. There
was a heavy price to pay, but one I would have chosen to pay even if I’d had all the time in the world to consider.
We both felt it when her phone vibrated in her pocket.
I figured it would be Eleanor, sarcastically wondering if we’d gotten lost on our way back, but then Edythe answered the phone, “Carine?”
She listened for just one second, her eyes flying open. I could hear Carine’s voice trilling at top speed on the other end. Edythe shoved off the branch, phone still in hand.
“I’m coming,” she promised as she fell toward the ground, breaking her fall with a branch here and there. I swung down quickly after her. She was already running when I hit the ground, and she didn’t slow for me to catch up.
It must be really serious.
I ran flat out, using all the extra strength that I had because I was new. It was enough to keep her in sight as she sprinted across the most direct route back to the house. My strides were almost three times as long as hers, but still, chasing her was like chasing a bolt of lightning.
It was only when we were close to the house that she let me catch up. “Be careful,” she warned me. “We have visitors.”
And then she was off again. I pushed myself even harder to try to match her. I didn’t have a positive perception of visitors. I didn’t want her to meet them without me next to her.
I could hear snarling before we were at the river. Edythe kept her leap low and straight, hurtling up the lawn. The metal shutters were down across the glass wall. She ran around the south end of the house. I was on her heels the whole way.
She darted over the railing onto the porch. All the Cullens were there, huddled into a tight, defensive cluster. Carine was a few steps in front of them, though I could tell no one was happy to have her there. She was leaning toward the steps, staring forward, a pleading look on her face. Edythe lunged to her side, and something snarled in the darkness in front of the house.
I launched myself onto the porch, and Eleanor yanked my arm back when I tried to go to Edythe.
“Let her translate,” Eleanor murmured.
Ready to rip out of her hands—not even Eleanor was strong enough to
stop me while I was so young—I looked out past Carine to see the vampires we were facing. I’m not sure what I was expecting. A large group, maybe, since the Cullens seemed so defensive.
I wasn’t prepared to see three horse-sized wolves.
They weren’t growling now—all of their massive heads were up, their noses pointing at me.
The one in the lead—pitch-black and larger than either of the others, though they were both three times bigger than I’d ever dreamed a wolf could get—took a step forward, his teeth bared.
“Sam,” Edythe said sharply. The wolf’s head swung around to face her. “You have no right to be here. We haven’t broken the treaty.”
The black monster-wolf snarled at her.
“They didn’t attack,” Carine said to Edythe. “I don’t know what they want.”
“They want us to leave. They were trying to drive you out.” “But why?” Carine asked.
The wolves seemed to be listening intently to every word. Could they understand?
“They thought we broke the treaty—that we killed Beau.”
The big wolf growled, long and low. It sounded like a saw being dragged over chain-link.
“But—,” Carine began.
“Obviously,” Edythe answered before she could finish. “They still think we broke the treaty—that we chose to change him ourselves.”
Carine looked at the wolves. “I can promise you, that’s not how this happened.”
The one Edythe called Sam kept up the long growl. Flecks of saliva dripped from his exposed fangs.
“Beau,” Edythe murmured. “Can you tell them? They aren’t going to believe us.”
I’d been frozen solid this whole time. I tried to shake off the surprise as I moved to stand by Edythe.
“I don’t understand. What are they? What treaty are you talking about?” I whispered the words fast, but it was obvious from the wolves’ alert ears and watchful eyes that they were listening. Wolves that understood English? Eleanor had said Edythe was translating. Did she speak wolf?
“Beau,” Edythe said in a louder voice. “These are the Quileute wolves.
You remember the story?”
“The—” I stared at the massive animals. “They’re werewolves?”
The black wolf growled louder, but the dark brown one in the back blew out a funny huff that sounded almost like a laugh.
“Not exactly,” Edythe said. “A long time ago, we made a treaty with another pack leader. They think we’ve violated it. Can you tell them how you were transformed?”
“Uh, okay…” I looked at the black wolf, who seemed to be in charge. “I’m, uh, Beau Swan—”
“She knows who you are. You met Sam once—at the beach in La Push.” She. The cloudy human memories distracted me for a short second. I remembered the tall woman at La Push. And Jules saying that the wolves were her sisters. That her great-great-grandmother had made a treaty with
the cold ones. “Oh,” I said.
“Just explain to her what happened.”
“Right.” I looked at the wolf again, trying to picture the tall woman somehow inside it. “Uh, a few weeks ago, there was a tracker—er, a vampire tracker—who came through here. She liked the way I smelled. The Cullens told her to back off. She left, but Edythe knew she was planning to try to kill me. I went back to Phoenix to hide out till the Cullens could… well, take care of her, you know. But the tracker figured out where I was and caught up to me. It was a game to her, a game with the Cullens—I was just a pawn. But she didn’t want to just kill me. She… I guess you could say she was playing with her food. The Cullens found me before she could kill me, but she’d already bitten me. Hey—do we still have the video?” I glanced over at Edythe, who was staring at the wolves. She shook her head. I turned back to Sam. “That’s too bad. The tracker was filming the whole thing. I could have shown you exactly what happened.”
The wolves looked at each other. Edythe’s eyes were narrowed as she concentrated on what they were thinking. Suddenly the black wolf was staring at her again.
“That’s acceptable,” Edythe said. “Where?”
The black wolf huffed, and then all three were backing away from the house. When they got to the edge of the trees, they turned and ran into the
forest.
The Cullens all converged on Edythe. “What happened?” Carine asked.
“They aren’t sure what to do,” Edythe said. “They were asked to clear us out. Sam is the actual chief of the tribe, but only in secret. She’s not a direct descendant of the chief we made a treaty with. They want us to talk to the acting chief, the true great-granddaughter of the last wolf-chief.”
“But—wouldn’t that be Bonnie?” I gasped.
Edythe looked at me. “Yes. They want to meet at a neutral location so that Bonnie can see you and make the call.”
“See me? But I can’t get that close.…”
“You can do it, Beau,” Edythe said. “You’re the most rational newborn I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s true,” Carine agreed. “I’ve never seen someone adapt so easily. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were a decade old.”
It wasn’t that I thought they were lying—just that maybe they didn’t get the magnitude of what they were proposing. “But it’s Bonnie. She’s my dad’s best friend. What if I hurt her?”
“We’ll be there,” Eleanor said. “We won’t let you do anything stupid.” “Actually…,” Edythe said.
Eleanor looked at her, shocked.
“They asked that we bring no more than their pack—only three. I already agreed. Beau has to be one, I have to be one, and the other needs to be Carine.”
It was clear Eleanor was hurt. “Is that safe?” Earnest asked.
Edythe shrugged. “It’s not an ambush.”
“Or they hadn’t decided to make it one. Not yet,” Jessamine said.
She was standing protectively by Archie, and there was something wrong with him. He looked a little dazed.
“Archie?” I asked. I’d never seen him look like… like he was behind things instead of ahead of them.
“I didn’t see them,” he whispered. “I didn’t know they were coming. I can’t see now—I can’t see this meeting. It’s like it doesn’t exist.”
I could see that this was news only to me. The others had heard it before we’d arrived, and Edythe had already picked it out of his head.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“We don’t know,” Edythe answered sharply. “And we don’t have time to figure it out now. We want to be there when they arrive. We don’t want them to have a chance to change their minds.”
“It will be fine,” Carine said to the others, her eyes on Earnest. “The wolves are just trying to protect the people here. They’re heroes, not villains.”
“They think we’re villains,” Royal pointed out. “Heroes or not, Carine, we still have to accept that they’re our enemies.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Carine whispered.
“And it doesn’t matter either way tonight,” Edythe said. “Tonight Beau needs to explain to Bonnie so that we don’t have to make the choice between leaving Forks and raising suspicions, or getting into a fight with three barely legal wolves who are just trying to protect their tribe.”
“Archie can’t see if you’ll be in danger,” Jessamine reminded her. “We’ll be fine. Bonnie won’t want to hurt Beau.”
“I’m not sure that’s true now. And I know she won’t have any problem watching you get hurt.”
“I can hear the wolves just fine. They won’t take us by surprise.”
“Tell us where to go,” Eleanor said. “We’ll keep our distance and only come in if you call.”
“I promised. There’s no reason to go back on my word. We need them to see that they can trust us, now more than ever. No!” Edythe said as Jessamine apparently thought of another argument. “We don’t have time. We’ll be back soon.”
Eleanor grumbled, but Edythe ignored her. “Beau, Carine, let’s go.”
I took off after her, and I could hear Carine do the same. Edythe didn’t run as fast this time, and we both easily kept up.
“You seem very confident,” Carine said to Edythe.
“I got a good look at their minds. They don’t want this fight, either. There are eight of us. They know they won’t win if it comes to actual bloodshed.”
“It can’t. I won’t hurt them.”
“I’m not in disagreement with that. But it would cause problems, if we left now.”
“I know.”
I listened, but my thoughts were far away, thinking about Bonnie and Charlie and the fact that I should be nowhere near human beings right now. I’d heard plenty from the others about the newborn years, especially Jessamine, and I wasn’t ready to try to be the first exception to the rule. Sure, I hadn’t had a hard time picking up most things, and everyone was surprised by how… calm I was, but this was different. Edythe had been very careful to make sure I was never tested when it came to the most important thing—not killing anyone. And if I screwed up tonight, not only would I destroy my father’s world—he needed a friend now like he never had before—but I’d also ignite some kind of war between the Cullens and the giant werewolves.
I’d never felt clumsy in this new body, but suddenly that same sense of impending doom was hanging over me. Here was my chance to mess things up in a really spectacular way.
Edythe led us northeast. We crossed the freeway where it turned east toward Port Angeles and continued due north for a short time, following a smaller road. Edythe stopped in a wasteland on the side of the dark road, a large clearing recently made by loggers.
“Edythe, I don’t think I can do this.”
She took my hand. “We’re upwind. Carine and I will try to stop you if something happens. Just remember not to fight us.”
“What if I can’t control it? What if I hurt you?”
“Don’t panic, Beau, I know you can do this. Hold your breath. Run away if it gets bad.”
“But Edythe—”
She put her finger to her lips and stared southward.
It wasn’t long before a set of headlights turned into view.
I was expecting the car to pass. After all, the wolves wouldn’t even fit inside the little sedan. But it slowly came to a stop not far from where we waited, and I realized it was Bonnie inside, and someone else in the driver’s seat.
Then two of the wolves were there, coming from the forest on the other side of the road. They split to move around the car on either side; it looked protective. The woman in the driver’s seat got out and came around to get Bonnie. I was sure it wasn’t Sam, though her hair was just as short. I stared
at her, wondering if I’d met her on the beach, too, but she didn’t look familiar. Like Sam, she was tall and looked strong.
Clearly she didn’t just look strong. She picked Bonnie up in her arms and carried her like the older woman weighed nothing. Kind of like the way the Cullens had thrown me around as if I were a feather pillow. Maybe the wolves—because obviously this was the gray wolf who was missing from the original trio—were stronger than normal humans, too.
Sam and the dark brown wolf led the way as the tall woman carried Bonnie behind them. Sam stopped a good thirty yards away from where we stood.
“I can’t see as well as you,” I heard Bonnie say tartly. Sam prowled another ten yards forward.
“Hello, Bonnie,” Carine said.
“I can’t see, Paula,” Bonnie complained again. Her voice sounded rough and weak to me; I’d been listening to no one but vampires for a month. The half-wolf, half-human pack moved slowly forward until they were only ten yards away. I held my breath, even though the light wind still blew from behind me.
“Carine Cullen,” Bonnie said coldly. “I should have put it together sooner. It wasn’t till I saw you at the funeral that I realized what had happened.”
“But you were wrong,” Edythe said.
“That’s what Sam says,” Bonnie answered. “I’m not sure she’s right.” Bonnie’s eyes flickered to me, and she shuddered.
“All we have is Beau’s word and our own. Will you believe either?” Edythe asked.
Bonnie harrumphed, but didn’t answer.
“Please,” Carine said, and her voice was much kinder than either of the others’. “We’ve never hurt anyone here. We won’t start now. It would be better for us not to leave immediately, otherwise we would go without an argument.”
“You don’t want to look guilty,” Bonnie agreed sarcastically.
“No, we would rather not,” Carine said. “And in truth, we are not in breach.”
Bonnie looked at me. “Then where is Beau? Do you expect me to believe he’s inside that thing that bears some slight resemblance to him?”
Hurt was strong in her voice, but so was hate. I was surprised by her reaction. Did I really seem so different? Like I wasn’t even here?
“Bonnie, it’s me,” I said. She winced at my voice.
I was out of air. I gripped Edythe’s hand and took a shallow breath. Still upwind, it was okay.
“I know I look and sound a little different, but I’m still me, Bonnie.” “So you say.”
I raised my free hand helplessly. “I don’t know how to convince you. What I told Sam was true—another vampire bit me. She would have killed me, too, except that the Cullens got there in time. They didn’t do anything wrong. They were always trying to protect me.”
“If they hadn’t gotten involved with you, this would never have happened! Charlie’s life wouldn’t be broken in pieces—you’d still be the boy I knew.”
I’d had this argument before, and I was prepared. “Bonnie, there’s something you didn’t know about me.… I used to smell really good to vampires.”
She flinched.
“If the Cullens hadn’t been here, those other vampires would still have come to Forks. They might have killed more than me while they were here, but I can promise you, if Charlie had survived, he would be missing me just the same. And there would be nothing left of the boy you used to know. You might not be able to see it, but I’m still here, Bonnie.”
Bonnie shook her head, less angry, though, I thought. More sad. She looked at Carine. “I’ll concede that the treaty is intact. Will you tell me your plans?”
“We’ll stay here another year. We’ll leave after Edythe and Archie graduate. It will look natural that way.”
Bonnie nodded. “All right. We’ll wait. I apologize for our infraction tonight. I…” She sighed. “It was a mistake. I was… overwrought.”
“We understand,” Carine said softly. “There was no harm done. Maybe even some good. It’s better to understand each other as much as possible. Perhaps we could even talk again some—”
“The treaty is unbroken,” Bonnie said in a hard voice. “Don’t ask any more from us.”
Carine nodded once.
Bonnie looked at me again and her face fell. The breeze shifted.
Edythe and Carine both grabbed my arms at the same time. Bonnie’s eyes went wide and then narrowed angrily. Sam snarled once.
“What are you doing to him?” Bonnie demanded. “Protecting you,” Edythe snapped.
The dark brown wolf took a half-step forward.
I took a quick breath, preparing myself to run if it was bad. It was bad.
Bonnie’s scent was like fire as it rushed down my throat, but it was more than just pain. It was a thousand times more appealing than any of the animals I’d hunted, not even in the same class. It was like someone waving a perfectly cooked filet mignon in front of me after I’d been living on stale crackers for a year. But more than that. I’d never tried drugs, but I thought Edythe’s heroin comparison might be the closer version.
And yet, while I wanted to quench my thirst… badly… I knew instantly that I didn’t have to. I wouldn’t want to be any closer to her, no, but I was pretty sure I could handle it even then. I’d expected that when the newborn thing reared its ugly head, I wouldn’t be able to think or decide. That I wouldn’t be a person anymore, I’d be an animal.
I was still me. A very thirsty me, but me.
It only took half a second for me to figure all this out.
“No, don’t worry, Bonnie,” I said quickly. “I’m new to this, and they don’t want me to… lose it, you know? But I’m okay.”
Edythe slowly took her hand off my arm. Carine looked at me, her face kind of… awed.
Bonnie’s eyes were still narrowed, but I could see she was confused, too. She hadn’t expected me to act so much like myself, maybe. I decided to take advantage of the unexpected opportunity. I took another breath, and though it hurt just as badly, I knew I was fine.
“So it sounds like I won’t have a chance to talk to you again,” I said. “And I’m sorry it’s that way. I guess I don’t understand all the rules yet. But since you’re here, if I could just ask one favor…”
Her face got hard again. “What?”
“My dad.” My breath did that weird hitching thing again and I had to
take a second before I could go on. Edythe put her hand on my back, but it was for comfort this time. “Please, just… take care of him? Don’t let him be alone too much. I never wanted to do this to him… or my mom. That’s the hardest part of all this. For me, it’s fine. I’m good. If only there was anything I could do to make it better for them, I would, but I can’t. Could you please watch out for him?”
Bonnie’s face went blank for a minute. I couldn’t read it. I wished I could hear like Edythe did.
“I would have done that regardless,” Bonnie finally said.
“I know. I couldn’t help asking, though. Do you think… you could let me know if there ever is something I can do? You know, from behind the scenes?”
She nodded slowly. “I suppose there may be some of Beau left after all.”
I sighed. She was not going to believe it if I told her that all of me was left, that there was just more added on top.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?”
I froze for a tenth of a second, surprised by the offer. I could tell Edythe and Carine were surprised, too. But there was something more I wanted.
“If…,” I began. “Will you ever tell Jules about any of this?” I looked at the enormous wolves flanking Bonnie. “Or will it always be a secret?”
I didn’t understand the look that crossed her face now. “Jules will know soon enough.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, if she can know about me, can you tell her that I’m happy? It’s not so bad, this whole vampire thing.”
Bonnie shuddered. “I’ll tell her what you said.” “Thanks, Bonnie.”
She nodded, then she looked at the tall girl carrying her and jerked her chin back the way they’d come.
As they turned, I saw a tear escape the corner of her eye. The wolves backed away from us, too.
I hoped it wasn’t the last time I would see Bonnie. I hoped that when Jules was in on the secret, I would be allowed to see her, too. Or at least talk to her again. I hoped that maybe someday the wolves would see that the Cullens were heroes, too.
Bonnie’s car drove away. The wolves melted into the trees. I waited until Edythe was done listening to their departure.
“Tell me everything,” I said.
She smiled. “I will when we get home—so I don’t have to repeat all of it. There was a lot.” She shook her head, like she was amazed.
We started running. Not so fast as before.
“Huh. Actual werewolves. This world is even weirder than I thought,” I said.
“Agreed,” Edythe said.
“That’s right—you thought there weren’t werewolves here anymore.
That must have been kind of a shock.”
“They weren’t the most shocking thing I saw tonight.”
I looked at her, then at Carine. Carine smiled like she was in on some joke.
“I mean, I knew you were special, Beau, but that was something else back there. Jessamine’s not going to believe it.”
“Oh. But…” I stared at her. “You said you knew I could do this.” She dimpled. “Well, I was pretty sure the wind would hold steady.”
Carine laughed, then she exchanged a glance with Edythe. She sped up as Edythe slowed. In a second, we were alone.
I kept pace with Edythe, and stopped when she stopped. She put her hands on either side of my face.
“It’s been a long day. A hard one. But I want you to know that you’re extraordinary, and I love you.”
I pulled her tight against me. “I can handle anything as long as you’re with me.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck. “Then here I will stay.” “Forever,” I said.
“Forever,” she agreed.
I leaned down until my lips found hers. Forever was going to be amazing.
