Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) - Stephenie Meyer Page 0,221

well, too. You have nothing to worry about. I’m sorry for any distress this causes you, but we will not impact your people in any way.”

Billy just listened, numb again.

“Our current plan is to live in Forks for about a decade.”

Billy’s heart stopped. Ten years.

“My children will be attending the local high school. I don’t know if any of your tribe’s children come up to the school—”

“No,” Billy whispered.

“Well, if anyone wishes to, I can assure you it will not be unsafe.”

The faces of the children of Forks flashed through Billy’s mind. Was there nothing he could do to protect them?

“Let me give you my number. We’d be happy to have a more cordial—”

“No,” Billy said, stronger this time.

“Of course. Whatever makes you most comfortable.”

And then a panicked thought intruded. The monster had spoken of his children.…

“How many?” Billy asked. His voice sounded like he was being strangled.

“Pardon me?”

“How many of you are there?”

For the first time, the smooth, confident voice hesitated. “Two more found our family many years ago. There are seven of us now.”

Very slowly and deliberately, Billy hung up the phone.

And then I had to stop running. I’d not quite reached the treaty line, but this particular memory made me loath to cut it too close. I turned north and headed homeward.

So nothing very helpful from Billy’s thoughts. I felt reasonably sure that he would follow the same pattern: return to his safe zone and contact his cronies. They would hash through the new information—which was pretty meager—and come to the same conclusion. There was nothing they could do. The treaty was their only protection.

I imagined that Billy’s longstanding friendship with Charlie would be the point of contention. Billy would fight very hard to be allowed to warn Charlie in a more detailed fashion. A cold one had chosen his only daughter as… a victim, a target, a meal; I could guess how Billy would choose to describe our relationship.

Surely the others, more impartial than Billy, would insist on his silence.

Regardless, Billy’s earlier attempt to alert Charlie to the danger of Carlisle working at the hospital hadn’t gone well. Adding in a heavy helping of the fantastical would certainly not help. Billy had already recognized that himself.

I was nearly home. I would give Carlisle the update and my analysis of the situation. There really wasn’t much else to do. I was positive his reaction would be the same. Much like the Quileutes, we had no option besides following the treaty to the letter.

I darted across the freeway again when there were no cars passing. As soon as I was on the drive, I heard the sound of a familiar engine coming from the garage. I stopped dead in the middle of the single lane and waited.

Rosalie’s red BMW rounded the curve and screeched to a stop.

I waved halfheartedly.

You know I’d hit you if it wouldn’t mess my car up.

I nodded.

Rosalie revved her engine once, then sighed.

“You heard about the game, I guess.”

Just let me go, Edward. I could see in her mind that she had no destination in mind. She only wanted to be away from here. Emmett will stay. That’s enough, isn’t it?

“Please?”

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. I don’t understand why this is so important to you.

“You are important to me, Rose,” I said simply.

Everyone will have more fun without me.

I shrugged. She might be right.

I won’t be nice.

I smiled. “I don’t require nice. I only asked for toleration.”

She hesitated.

“It won’t be that bad,” I promised. “Maybe you’ll win the game soundly, make me look bad.”

One corner of her mouth quirked up as she fought a smile. I get Emmett and Jasper.

She always picked the obvious muscle.

“Deal.”

She took another deep breath, instantly regretting our agreement. She tried to imagine being in the same place as Bella and… struggled.

“Nothing is going to happen tonight, Rose. She’s not making any decisions. She’s just going to watch us play a game, that’s all. Think of it as an experiment.”

In that… it might blow up?

I gave her a tired look. She rolled her eyes.

“If it doesn’t work, we’ll regroup and come up with another solution.”

Rosalie had a plethora of other solutions, most of them profane, but she was ready to surrender. She would try… but I could see that she would not work very hard at being civil. It was a start.

I suppose I should change, then. With that, she threw her car into reverse and gunned it back toward the house, climbing from zero to sixty before