Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) - Stephenie Meyer Page 0,244

with the tracker quickly, then this would be the right choice. Why was it so painful to make?

I would feel better if there was any evidence that Bella was concerned about her own safety at all. That she understood everything she was risking. That it wasn’t just her own life on the line.

Maybe that was the key. She never worried about herself… but she always worried about me. If I made this about my distress rather than her actual mortal peril, perhaps she would be more cautious.

My control was weak. I spoke in barely more than a whisper, worried that I might scream otherwise. “Bella.”

She met my eyes in the mirror. Hers were defensive rather than afraid.

“If you let anything happen to yourself—anything at all—I’m holding you personally responsible,” I said softly. “Do you understand that?”

Her lips trembled. Had she finally realized the danger? She swallowed loudly and muttered, “Yes.”

Close enough.

Alice’s mind was in a million places, many of them a sunny freeway viewed through dark-tinted glass. Bella always sat in the backseat, Alice’s arm around her, staring blankly ahead. Jasper watched from the driver’s seat. I thought of my brother, trapped in a small vehicle with Bella’s scent for so many hours.

“Can Jasper handle this?” I demanded.

“Give him some credit, Edward,” Alice chided. “He’s been doing very, very well, all things considered.”

But her mind flashed through a dozen future scenes, just in case. Jasper didn’t lose focus in a single one.

I appraised Alice. The tiny exterior made her look fragile, but I knew she was a fierce opponent. The tracker or anyone else would underestimate her. That should count for something. Still, I felt uneasy picturing her having to physically protect Bella.

“Can you handle this?” I muttered.

Her eyes narrowed in outrage—put on; she’d seen the question coming.

I could take you blindfolded.

She snarled at me, long and loud, a disturbingly ferocious sound that echoed against the Jeep’s glass and pushed Bella’s heart into a sprint.

For half a second, I couldn’t help but smile at Alice’s ridiculous display, and then all humor vanished again. How had it come to this? How would I let myself be separated from Bella, no matter how lethal her guardians?

Another unpleasant thought flickered through my brain. Bella and Alice alone, embarking on their foreseen friendship. Would Alice tell Bella her solution to this nightmare?

I nodded once, a sharp jerk, to let her know that I’d accepted her role as Bella’s protector. “But keep your opinions to yourself,” I warned.

23. GOODBYES

THAT WAS THE LAST THING ANYONE SAID AS WE RACED BACK TO FORKS. Of course the way would seem much shorter when I was terrified of arriving. All too soon we were pulling up to Bella’s home, the lights shining from every window, both upstairs and down. The sounds of a college basketball game drifted from the front room. I strained to hear anything not human in the vicinity, but the tracker didn’t seem to have arrived yet. And Alice still could see no future in which this stop turned into an attack.

Maybe we should just stay. Let Bella return to her normal life while the rest of us became perpetual sentries. I could count on Emmett, Alice, Carlisle, Esme—and I was fairly certain Jasper, as well—to join me in such a vigil. The tracker would find it impossible to get to her with so many eyes—and minds—watching. Was unified strength the safer option than dividing into thirds?

But as I considered this, Alice saw how the tracker would wait, how he would adapt. How he would, after the boredom set in, begin a war of attrition. Bella’s friends disappearing in the night. Favorite teachers. Charlie’s coworkers. Random humans who had no connection to her. The numbers would add up to the point where the resulting scrutiny would force us to disappear, regardless. And I could guess how Bella would feel about all those innocents paying with their lives for her continued safety.

So the original plan would have to be enough.

It was hard to process the strange physical sensation that accompanied this realization. I knew that an actual pit had not opened in the center of my torso, but the impression was unnervingly realistic. I wondered if it was some long-forgotten human response that I’d never felt in my immortal life because I’d never had a reason to panic quite like this.

We needed to move. Though I knew the point was to give the tracker something to follow, I still wanted to have Bella long gone before he