I didn't have to tell the pack I was on my way - they could see the forest blurring past me as I sprinted for home. I didn't have to tell them that I was half-past crazy, either. The sickness in my head was obvious.
They saw all the horror - Bella's mottled stomach; her raspy voice; he's strong, that's all: the burning man in Edward's face: watching her sicken and waste away... seeing it hurting her, Rosalie crouched over Bella's limp body: Bella's life means nothing to her - and for once, no one had anything to say.
Their shock was just a silent shout in my head. Wordless.
I was halfway home before anyone recovered. Then they all started running to meet me.
It was almost dark - the clouds covered the sunset completely. I risked darting across the freeway and made it without being seen.
We met up about ten miles out of La Push, in a clearing left by the loggers. It was out of the way, wedged between two spurs of the mountain, where no one would see us. Paul found them when I did, so the pack was complete.
The babble in my head was total chaos. Everyone shouting at once.
Sam's hackles were sticking straight up, and he was growling in an unbroken stream as he paced back and forth around the top of the ring. Paul and Jared moved like shadows behind him, their ears flat against the sides of their head. The whole circle was agitated, on their feet and snarling in low bursts.
At first their anger was undefined, and I thought I was in for it. I was too messed up to care about that. They could do whatever they wanted to me for circumventing orders.
And then the unfocused confusion of thoughts began to move together.
How can this be? What does it mean? What will it be?
Not safe. Not right. Dangerous.
Unnatural. Monstrous. An abomination.
We can't allow it.
The pack was pacing in synchronization now, thinking in synchronization, all but myself and one other. I sat beside whichever brother it was, too dazed to look over with either my eyes or my mind and see who was next to me, while the pack circled around us.
The treaty does not cover this.
This puts everyone in danger.
I tried to understand the spiraling voices, tried to follow the curling pathway the thoughts made to see where they were leading, but it wasn't making sense. The pictures in the center of their thoughts were my pictures - the very worst of them. Bella's bruises, Edward's face as he burned.
They fear it, too.
But they won't do anything about it
Protecting Bella Swan.
We can't let that influence us.
The safety of our families, of everyone here, is more important than one human.
If they won't kill it, we have to.
Protect the tribe.
Protect our families.
We have to kill it before it's too late.
Another of my memories, Edward's words this time: The thing is growing. Swiftly.
I struggled to focus, to pick out individual voices.
No time to waste,Jared thought.
It will mean a fight,Embry cautioned. A bad one.
Were ready,Paul insisted.
Well need surprise on our side,Sam thought.
If we catch them divided, we can take them down separately. It will increase our chances of victory, Jared thought, starting to strategize now.
I shook my head, rising slowly to my feet. 1 felt unsteady there - like the circling wolves were making me dizzy. The wolf beside me got up, too. His shoulder pushed against mine, propping me up.
Wait,I thought.
The circling paused for one beat, and then they were pacing again.
There's little time,Sam said.
But - what are you thinking? You wouldn't attack them for breaking the treaty this afternoon. Now you're planning an ambush, when the treaty is still intact?
This is not something our treaty anticipated,Sam said. This is a danger to every human in the area. We don't know what kind of creature the Cullens have bred, but we know that it is strong and fast-growing. And it will be too young to follow any treaty. Remember the newborn vampires we fought? Wild, violent, beyond the reach of reason or restraint. Imagine one like that, but protected by the Cullens.
We don't know - I tried to interrupt.
Wedon't know, he agreed. And we can't take chances with the unknown in this case. We can only allow the Cullens to exist while we're absolutely sure that they can be trusted not to cause harm. This. . . thing cannot be trusted.