Eclipse (Twilight #3)(51)

"But what was the point then?" Carlisle mused.

"Checking to see if I'm still human?" I guessed.

"Possible," Carlisle said.

Rosalie breathed out a sigh, loud enough for me to hear. She'd unfrozen, and her face was turned expectantly toward the kitchen. Edward, on the other hand, looked discouraged.

Emmett burst through the kitchen door, Jasper right behind him.

"Long gone, hours ago," Emmett announced, disappointed. "The trail went East, then South, and disappeared on a side road. Had a car waiting."

"That's bad luck," Edward muttered. "If he'd gone west . . . well, it would be nice for those dogs to make themselves useful."

I winced, and Esme rubbed my shoulder.

Jasper looked at Carlisle. "Neither of us recognized him. But here." He held out something green and crumpled. Carlisle took it from him and held it to his face. I saw, as it exchanged hands, that it was a broken fern frond. "Maybe you know the scent."

"No," Carlisle said. "Not familiar. No one I've ever met."

"Perhaps we're looking at this the wrong way. Maybe it's a coincidence . . . ," Esme began, but stopped when she saw everyone else's incredulous expressions. "I don't mean a coincidence that a stranger happened to pick Bella's house to visit at random. I meant that maybe someone was just curious. Our scent is all around her. Was he wondering what draws us there?"

"Why wouldn't he just come here then? If he was curious?" Emmett demanded.

"You would," Esme said with a sudden, fond smile. "The rest of us aren't always so direct. Our family is very large - he or she might be frightened. But Charlie wasn't harmed. This doesn't have to be an enemy."

Just curious. Like James and Victoria had been curious, in the beginning? The thought of Victoria made me tremble, though the one thing they seemed certain of was that it had not been her. Not this time. She would stick to her obsessed pattern. This was just someone else, a stranger.

I was slowly realizing that vampires were much bigger participants in this world than I'd once thought. How many times did the average human cross paths with them, completely unaware? How many deaths, obliviously reported as crimes and accidents, were really due to their thirst? How crowded would this new world be when I finally joined it?

The shrouded future sent a shiver down my spine.

The Cullens pondered Esme's words with varying expressions. I could see that Edward did not accept her theory, and that Carlisle very much wanted to.

Alice pursed her lips. "I don't think so. The timing of it was too perfect. . . . This visitor was so careful to make no contact. Almost like he or she knew that I would see. . . ."

"He could have other reasons for not making contact," Esme reminded her.

"Does it really matter who it was?" I asked. "Just the chance that someone was looking for me . . . isn't that reason enough? We shouldn't wait for graduation."

"No, Bella," Edward said quickly. "It's not that bad. If you're really in danger, we'll know."

"Think of Charlie," Carlisle reminded me. "Think of how it would hurt him if you disappeared."

"I am thinking of Charlie! He's the one I'm worried about! What if my little guest had happened to be thirsty last night? As long as I'm around Charlie, he's a target, too. If anything happened to him, it would be all myfault!"

"Hardly, Bella," Esme said, patting my hair again. "And nothing will happen to Charlie. We're just going to have to be more careful."

"More careful?" I repeated in disbelief.

"It's all going to be fine, Bella," Alice promised; Edward squeezed my hand.

And I could see, looking at all of their beautiful faces one by one, that nothing I could say was going to change their minds.

It was a quiet ride home. I was frustrated. Against my better judgment, I was still human.

"You won't be alone for a second," Edward promised as he drove me to Charlie's. "Someone will always be there. Emmett, Alice, Jasper . . ."

I sighed. "This is ridiculous. They'll get so bored, they'll have to kill me themselves, just for something to do."

Edward gave me a sour look. "Hilarious, Bella."

Charlie was in a good mood when we got back. He could see the tension between me and Edward, and he was misinterpreting it. He watched me throw together his dinner with a smug smile on his face. Edward had excused himself for a moment, to do some surveillance, I assumed, but Charlie waited till he was back to pass on my messages.

"Jacob called again," Charlie said as soon as Edward was in the room. I kept my face empty as I set the plate in front of him.

"Is that a fact?"

Charlie frowned. "Don't be petty, Bella. He sounded really low."

"Is Jacob paying you for all the P.R., or are you a volunteer?"

Charlie grumbled incoherently at me until the food cut off his garbled complaint.

Though he didn't realize it, he'd found his mark.

My life was feeling a lot like a game of dice right now - would the next roll come up snake eyes? What if something did happen to me? It seemed worse than petty to leave Jacob feeling guilty about what he'd said. But I didn't want to talk to him with Charlie around, to have to watch my every word so I didn't let the wrong thing slip. Thinking about this made me jealous of Jacob and Billy's relationship. How easy it must be when you had no secrets from the person you lived with.