The Twilight Saga 5: Midnight Sun 8. Ghost

I did not recover much than of Jaspers guests for the two rejoicing mean solar days that they were in Forks. I however went al-Qaida at all so that Esme wouldnt worry. Otherwise, my existence seemed more homogeneous that of a specter than a vampire. I hovered, invisible in the shadows, where I could follow the useion of my hit the hay and obsession where I could see her and memorise her in the minds of the lucky valets who could walk d peerless the sunlight beside her, some eras accidentally brushing the mainstay of her hand with their own. She neer reacted to such contact their detention were good as warm as hers.The obligate absence from school had never been a footrace exchangeable this before. exactly the sun seemed to crystallize her happy, so I could not resent it besides much. Anything that jolly her was in my level-headed graces.Monday morning, I eavesdropped on a conversition that had the potential to destroy my confidence and keep the time spent out from her a torture. As it ended up, though, it rather made my day.I had to k immediately some teeny respect for microph unmatchable newton he had not simply given up and slunk apart to nurse his wounds. He had more courage than Id given him credit for. He was difference to try turn out again.Bella got to school quite early and, seeming intent on enjoying the sun trance it finallyed, sat at unrivaled of the seldom used picnic benches plot she sojourned for the first bell to ring. Her hair caught the sun in unexpected ways, giving tally a cerise shine that I had not anticipated.Mike instal her on that point, doodling again, and was thrill at his good luck.It was agonizing to plainly be able to pump, powerless, bound to the forests shadows by the blazing sunlight.She greeted him with teeming enthusiasm to withal out him ecstatic, and me the opposite.See, she likes me. She wouldnt smile like that if she didnt. I bet she urgencyed to go to the leap with me. Wonder whats so important in SeattleHe perceived the change in her hair. I never noticed before your hair has red in it.I accidentally uprooted the young spruce manoeuver my hand was resting on when he pinched a strand of her hair between his fingers.Only in the sun, she tell. To my deep satisfaction, she cringed away from him slightly when he enclose the strand behind her ear.It similarlyk Mike a s to build up his courage, wasting some time on microscopical talk.She reminded him of the es study we all had due on Wednesday. From the faintly smug expression on her face, hers was already done. Hed forgotten alto drawher, and that severely diminished his barren time.Dang stupid essay.Finally he got to the point my teeth were clenched so hard they could involve powdery granite and even past, he couldnt make himself engage the enquire outright. I was going to ask if you wanted to go out.Oh, she verbalise.There was a brief silence.Oh? What does that mean? Is she going to yes? Wait I guess I didnt rattling ask.He swallowed hard.Well, we could go to dinner or somethingand I could work on it later. Stupid that wasnt a read/write head either.MikeThe agony and fury of my jealousy was either whit as powerful as it had been last week. I broke an opposite manoeuver stressful to keep back myself here. I wanted so ill to race crossways the campus, too fast for valet eyes, and snatch her up to steal her away from the male child that I hated so much in this moment I could have kill him and enjoyed it.Would she say yes to him?I dont think that would be the best idea.I breathed again. My rigid body relaxed.Seattle was just an excuse, later on all. Shouldnt have asked. What was I thinking? Bet its that freak, Cullen wherefore? he asked sullenly.I think she hesitated. And if you ever accept what Im saying right now I forget cheerfully beat you to cobblers last I laughed out loud at the sound of a death threat coming by dint of her lips. A jay shr ieked, startled, and launched itself away from me.But I think that would hurt Jessicas feelings.Jessica? What? But Oh. Okay. I guess So Huh.His judgements were no lasting coherent.Really, Mike, are you blind?I echoed her sentiment. She shouldnt expect everyone to be as perceptive as she was, entirely truly this instance was beyond obvious. With as much fuss as Mike had had working himself up to ask Bella out, did he imagine it wasnt just as trying for Jessica? It must be selfishness that made him blind to separates. And Bella was so unselfish, she precept everything.Jessica. Huh. Wow. Huh. Oh, he managed to say.Bella used his confusion to make her exit.Its time for class, and I cant be late again.Mike became an unreliable viewpoint from hence on. He found, as he turned the idea of Jessica about and round in his head, that he rather liked the perspective of her finding him disembowelive. It was second place, not as good as if Bella had felt that way. Shes cute, though, I guess. Decent body. A bird in the handHe was off then, on to new fantasies that were just as uncouth as the ones about Bella, exactly now they only irritated rather than infuriated. How poor he merited either girl they were almost inter uncertain to him. I stayed clear of his head after that. When she was out of visual sensation, I curled up against the cool trunk of an commodious madrone tree and I danced from mind to mind, keeping her in sight, forever and a day glad when Angela weber was available to touch sensation through. I wished there was someway to thank the Weber girl for simply cosmos a polished person. It made me feel better to think that Bella had one friend worth having.I watched Bellas face from whichever burden I was given, and I could see that she was sad again. This surprise me I thought the sun would be enough to keep her smiling. At lunch, I saw her regard time and time again toward the empty Cullen table, and that thrilled me. It gave me hope. Perh aps she deep in thought(p)(p) me, too.She had plans to go out with the other girls I automatically planned my own supervision exclusively these plans were postponed when Mike invited Jessica out on the pick up hed planned for Bella.So I went straight to her home plate instead, doing a quick sweep of the woods to make reliable no one heartrending had wandered too close. I knew Jasper had warned his one-time brother to avoid the town citing my lunacy as some(prenominal) explanation and warning but I wasnt taking any(prenominal) fortunes. Peter and Charlotte had no mark of causing animosity with my family, but intentions were changeable thingsAll right, I was overdoing it. I knew that.As if she knew I was watching, as if she took pity on the agony I felt when I couldnt see her, Bella came out to the backyard after a foresighted hour indoors. She had a have got in her hand and a blanket nether her arm.Silently, I climbed into the higher branches of the closest tree c ommanding the yard.She spread the blanket on the damp bewray and then lay on her stomach and started flipping through the worn ledger, as if trying to find her place. I read over her shoulder. Ah more classics. She was an Austen fan.She read cursorily, carrefour and recrossing her ankles in the air. I was watching the sunlight and device play in her hair when her body on the spur of the moment stiffened, and her hand froze on the page. All I saw was that shed reached chapter three when she roughly grabbed a thick partitioning of pages and shoved them over.I caught a glance of a gentle page, Mansfield Park. She was starting a new story the bulk was a compilation of novels. I wondered why shed switched stories so abruptly.Just a few moments later, she slammed the book angrily shut. With a fierce scowl on her face, she pushed the book aside and flipped over onto her back. She took a deep breath, as if to calm herself, pushed her sleeves up and closed her eyes. I remembered the novel, but I couldnt think of anything wretched in it to hoo-ha her. Another mystery. I sighed.She lay very solace, base just in one case to yank her hair away from her face. It fanned out over her head, a river of chestnut. And then she was motionless again. Her ventilation system slowed. After several long minutes her lips began to tremble.Mumbling in her quiescence.Impossible to resist. I listened as far out as I could, catching voices in the houses get onby.Two tablespoons of flourone cup of milkCmon Get it through the encircle Aw, cmonRed, or blueor maybe I should wear something more casualThere was no one close by. I jumped to the ground, landing taciturnly on my toes. This was very wrong, very risky. How condescendingly Id once judged Emmett for his thoughtless ways and Jasper for his lack of discipline and now I was consciously flouting all the rules with a vicious abandon that made their lapses direct like secret code at all. I used to be the liable one.I sigh ed, but crept out into the sunshine, regardless.I avoided looking at myself in the suns glare. It was bad enough that my hide was stone and in world in shadow I didnt want to look at Bella and myself side by side in the sunlight. The difference between us was already insurmountable, painful enough without this image besides in my head.But I couldnt ignore the rainbow sparkles that reflected onto her fell when I got adpressed. My jaw locked at the sight. Could I be any more of a freak? I imagined her terror if she opened her eyes nowI started to re cut across, but she mumbled again, holding me there.Mmm Mmm. Nothing in consecrateigible. Well, I would wait for a bit.I carefully stole her book, stint my arm out and holding my breath while I was close, just in case. I started breathing again when I was a few yards away, taste the way the sunshine and open air abnormal her scent. The heat seemed to sweeten the smell. My throat flamed with desire, the fire snotty-nosed and fierce again because I had been away from her for too long.I spent a moment arrogant that, and then forcing myself to breathe through my nose I let her book fall open in my hands. Shed started with the first book I flipped through the pages quickly to the third chapter of Sense and Sensibility, searching for something potentially offensive in Austens overly polite prose.When my eyes halt automatically at my name the character Edward Ferrars being introduced for the first time Bella spoke again.Mmm. Edward. She sighed.This time I did not fear that she had awoken. Her voice was just a low, wistful murmur. Not the scream of fear it would have been if shed seen me now.Joy warred with self-loathing. She was still dreaming of me, at least.Edmund. Ahh. in any case.closeEdmund?Ha She wasnt dreaming of me at all, I accomplished blackly. The self-loathing returned in force. She was dreaming of fictional characters. So much for my conceit. I replaced her book, and stole back into the cover o f the shadows where I belonged.The afternoon passed and I watched, feeling helpless again, as the sun slowly sank in the sky and the shadows crawled across the lawn toward her. I wanted to push them back, but the nighttime was inevitable the shadows took her. When the light was gone, her skin looked too grisly ghostly. Her hair was dark again, almost black against her face.It was a frightening thing to watch like witnessing Alices visions condescend to fruition. Bellas steady, strong heartbeat was the only reassurance, the sound that unploughed this moment from feeling like a nightmare.I was relieved when her father arrived home.I could hear little from him as he drove down the highway toward the house. Some vague annoyancein the past, something from his day at work. Expectation mixed with hunger I guessed that he was looking forward to dinner. But his thoughts were so quiet and contained that I could not be sure I was right I only got the sum of them.I wondered what her m other sounded like what the genetic gang had been that had formed her so uniquely.Bella started awake, jerking up to a sitting position when the tires of her fathers car hit the brick driveway. She stared around herself, seeming confused by the unexpected darkness. For one brief moment, her eyes touched the shadows where I hid, but they flickered quickly away.Charlie? she asked in a low voice, still peering into the trees surrounding the small yard.The door of his car slammed shut, and she looked to the sound. She got to her feet quickly and gathered her things, casting one more look back toward the woods. I lamd into a tree closer to the back window near the small kitchen, and listened to their evening. It was interesting to compare Charlies rule books to his muffled thoughts. His love and concern for his only daughter were nearly overwhelming, and til now his words were always terse and casual. Most of the time, they sat in companionable silence.I heard her reason her plans for the following evening in Port Angeles, and I re alrightd my own plans as I listened. Jasper had not warned Peter and Charlotte to stay clear of Port Angeles. though I knew that they had fed recently and had no intention of hunting any where in the vicinity of our home, I would watch her, just in case. After all, there were always others of my kind out there. And then, all those human dangers that I had never much considered before now.I heard her worry aloud about divergence her father to prepare dinner alone, and smiled at this inference to my theory yes, she was a care-taker.And then I left, subtile I would return when she was asleep.I would not violation on her privacy the way the peeping tom would have. I was here for her protection, not to leer at her in the way Mike Newton no question would, were he agile enough to move through the treetops the way I could. I would not treat her so crassly.My house was empty when I returned, which was fine by me. I didnt miss the conf used or disparaging thoughts, questioning my sanity. Emmett had left a whole step stuck to the newel post.Football at the Rainier field cmon enchant?I found a pen and scrawled the word sorry beneath his plea. The teams were even without me, in any case.I went for the shortest of hunting trips, contenting myself with the smaller, gentler creatures that did not taste as good as the hunters, and then changed into fresh habilitate before I ran back to Forks.Bella did not sleep as well tonight. She thrashed in her blankets, her face sometimes worried, sometimes sad. I wondered what nightmare haunted herand then realized that perhaps I really didnt want to know.When she spoke, she mostly muttered derogatory things about Forks in a glum voice. Only once, when she sighed out the words interject back and her hand twitched open a mute plea did I have a chance to hope she might be dreaming of me. The adjoining day of school, the last day the sun would hold me prisoner, was much the sa me as the day before. Bella seemed even gloomier than yesterday, and I wondered if she would bow out of her plans she didnt seem in the mood.But, being Bella, she would probably put her friends enjoyment above that of her own.She wore a deep blue blouse today, and the color enured her skin off perfectly, making it look like fresh cream.School ended, and Jessica agreed to pick the other girls up Angela was going, too, for which I was grateful.I went home to get my car. When I found that Peter and Charlotte were there, I mulish could afford to give the girls an hour or so for a head start. I would never be able to bear following behind them, impulsive at the speed limit hideous thought.I came in through the kitchen, nodding vaguely at Emmetts and Esmes greetings as I passed by everyone in the see room and went straight to the piano. Ugh, hes back. Rosalie, of course.Ah, Edward. I hate to see him suffering so. Esmes joy was becoming marred by concern. She should be concerned. T his love story she envisioned for me was careening toward a tragedy more perceptibly every moment. thrust fun in Port Angeles tonight, Alice thought cheerfully. allow me know when Im allowed to talk to Bella.Youre pathetic. I cant believe you missed the game last night just to watch somebody sleep, Emmett grumbled.Jasper paid me no mind, even when the claim I played came out a little more stormily than Id intended. It was an old melodic phrase, with a long-familiar theme impatience. Jasper was saying goodbye to his friends, who eyed me curiously.What a strange creature, the Alice-sized, white-blond Charlotte was thinking.And he was so normal and benignant the last time we met.Peters thoughts were in sync with hers, as was usually the case.It must be the animals. The lack of human blood drives them mad eventually, he was concluding. His hair was just as fair as hers, and almost as long. They were very similar except for size, as he was almost as tall as Jasper in both look and thought. A well matched pair, Id always thought.Everyone but Esme stopped thinking about me after a moment, and I played in more subdued tones so that I would not attract notice.I did not pay attention to them for a long while, just letting the music upset me from my unease. It was hard to have the girl out of sight and mind. I only returned my attention to their conversation when the goodbyes grew more final.If you see Maria again, Jasper was saying, a little warily, tell her I wish her well.Maria was the vampire who had created both Jasper and Peter Jasper in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Peter more recently, in the nineteen forties. Shed looked Jasper up once when we were in Calgary. It had been an eventful visit wed had to move immediately. Jasper had politely asked her to keep her distance in the future.I dont imagine that will happen soon, Peter said with a laugh Maria was undeniable dangerous and there was not much love lost between her and Peter. Peter had, after all, been instrumental in Jaspers defection. Jasper had always been Marias favorite she considered it a minor distributor point that she had once planned to kill him. But, should it happen, I certainly will.They were shaking hands then, preparing to depart. I let the song I was playing trail off to an deceitful end, and got hastily to my feet.Charlotte, Peter, I said, nodding.It was nice to see you again, Edward, Charlotte said doubtfully. Peter just nodded in return.Madman, Emmett threw after me.Idiot, Rosalie thought at the same time.Poor boy. Esme.And Alice, in a chiding tone. Theyre going straight east, to Seattle. No where near Port Angeles. She showed me the proof in her visions.I assumed I hadnt heard that. My excuses were already flimsy enough.in one case in my car, I felt more relaxed the beefy purr of the engine Rosalie had boosted for me last year, when she was in a better mood was soothing. It was a relief to be in motion, to know that I was getting closer t o Bella with every mile that flew away under my tires.