Blinding Noon
BOOK ONE
seth
PREFACE
I HEARD THEIR VOICES BEFORE I SAW THEM.
I opened one eye lazily, annoyed for being woken up.
They were back from their hunting trip and were arguing loudly about something.
I listened, and soon caught the gist of their conversation.
Rose and Edward were hissing at each other, their hostility was a tangibly sour flavour in the air.
"No! It isn't reasonable!" Edward spat, I remembered the expression that would be on his pale face when he used that tone, and he then added slowly "You didn't even ask the boy."
Boy?
"I'm sure he won't mind" The blonde girl's voice was beautiful but acidy at the same time.
What could they be so worked up about?
I listened harder.
Then I heard it, the steady thrum of a live heart, pumping blood around a human body.
It wasn't the fast paced pounding of any of the pack, or the fluttering pattern Nessie's unique heart.
No, this was the normal human heart, steady, dependable human.
Yet it sounded so abnormal in its current surroundings.
I sat up on the comfortable couch in the Cullen's living room.
I had crashed there yesterday, I rubbed my eyes and yawned, my arms flexing, and my mouth forming a round O shape.
Intrigued by this strange heart beat, I stood and shuffled out to the front door.
Peering out into the glaring day I realized it must be around 12.
"Shoot!" I mumbled, Leah's gonna kill me.
I focused my attention on the heated argument going on the front lawn.
Edward was in the centre, flanked by Emmett and Jasper; they were facing Rosalie, who was surrounded by Alice and Esme. They were wearing expressions that did not seem to match their casual stances, and they all kept on throwing glances to their left.
I recognised Bella and Renesmee at the fringe of the woods; Jacob was holding Resesmee's hand, she looked up at him with a worried expression, then behind her making the same face. Jacob was growling fiercely under his breath. Carlisle was closest to them, he looked like he was discussing something with Bella, and she kept nodding and gesturing behind her out of sight. They all looked like they were shielding something.
Every Vampire was sparkling, sending beams of light cascading on to the reflective glass wall of the Cullen's house. Nessie was glowing with a radiant sheen, contrasting completely with Jacobs's russet bare chest.
I stepped down the front stairs and into the sun, a rare sight in Forks. Nessie smiled at me, and stepped to the side.
Bella beckoned me to come and stand with them them; at the same time Edward gasped sharply, and snapped his head up to look at me.
His expression utterly amazed.
I barley registered that, or anything else in that moment.
Partly because my eyes were fixed on the person in the shade behind Bella and Nessie.
Mostly because my life had just been torn apart.