she had her teeth locked together like she was trying to hold back a scream.
Edward put both hands on either side of her face.
"Carlisle?" he called in a tense, low voice.
"Right here," the doctor said. I hadn't heard him come in.
"Okay," Bella said, still breathing hard and shallow. "Think it's over. Poor kid doesn't have enough room, that's all. He's getting so big."
It was really hard to take, that adoring tone she used to describe the thing that was tearing her up. Especially after Rosalie's callousness. Made me wish I could throw something at Bella, too.
She didn't pick up on my mood. "You know, he reminds me of you, Jake," she said - affectionate tone - still gasping.
"Do not compare me to that thing," I spit out through my teeth.
"I just meant your growth spurt," she said, looking like I'd hurt her feelings. Good. "You shot right up. I could watch you getting taller by the minute. He's like that, too. Growing so fast."
I bit my tongue to keep from saying what I wanted to say - hard enough that I tasted blood in my mouth. Of course, it would heal before I could swallow. That's what Bella needed. To be strong like me, to be able to heal....
She took an easier breath and then relaxed back into the sofa, her body going limp.
"Hmm," Carlisle murmured. I looked up, and his eyes were on me.
"What?" I demanded.
Edward's head leaned to one side as he reflected on whatever was in Carlisle's head.
"You know that I was wondering about the fetus's genetic makeup, Jacob. About his chromosomes."
"What of it?"
"Well, taking your similarities into consideration - "
"Similarif/es?" I growled, not appreciating the plural.
"The accelerated growth, and the fact that Alice cannot see either of you."
I felt my face go blank. I'd forgotten about that other one.
"Well, I wonder if that means that we have an answer. If the similarities are gene-deep."
"Twenty-four pairs," Edward muttered under his breath.
"You don't know that."
"No. But it's interesting to speculate," Carlisle said in a soothing voice.
"Yeah. Just fascinating"
Bella's light snore started up again, accenting my sarcasm nicely.
They got into it then, quickly taking the genetics conversation to a point where the only words I could understand were the the's and the ands. And my own name, of course. Alice joined in, commenting now and then in her chirpy bird voice.
Even though they were talking about me, I didn't try to figure out the conclusions they were drawing. I had other things on my mind, a few facts I was trying to reconcile.
Fact one, Bella'd said that the creature was protected by something as strong as vampire skin, something that was too impenetrable for ultrasounds, too tough for needles. Fact two, Rosalie'd said they had a plan to deliver the
creature safely. Fact three, Edward'd said that - in myths - other monsters like this one would chew their way out of their own mothers.
I shuddered.
And that made a sick kind of sense, because, fact four, not many things could cut through something as strong as vampire skin. The half-creature's teeth - according to myth - were strong enough. My teeth
were strong enough.
And vampire teeth were strong enough.
It was hard to miss the obvious, but I sure wished I could. Because I had a pretty good idea exactly how Rosalie planned to get that thing "safely" out.
BOOK TWO: JACOB 16. TOO-MUCH-INFORMATION ALERT
I took off early, long before sunrise was due. I'd gotten just a little bit of uneasy sleep leaning against the side of the sofa. Edward woke me when Bella's face was flushed, and he took my spot to cool her back down. I stretched and decided I was rested enough to get some work done.
"Thank you," Edward said quietly, seeing my plans. "If the route is clear, they'll go today."
Tillet you know."
It felt good to get back to my animal self. I was stiff from sitting still for so long. I extended my stride, working out the kinks.
Morning, Jacob,Leah greeted me.
Good, you're up. How long's Seth been out?
Not out yet,Seth thought sleepily. Almost there. What do you need?
You think you got another hour in you?
Sure thing. No problem.Seth got to his feet right away, shaking out his fur.
Let's make the deep run,Itold Leah. Seth, take the perimeter.
Gotcha.Seth broke into an easy jog.
Off on another vampire errand,Leah grumbled.
You got a problem with that?
Of course not. I just love to coddle those darling leeches.