Felix drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was fifty-five degrees in Volterra, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt – sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka.
In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America. It was from this town and its gloomy, omnipresent shade that seemed to make it seem like the perfect place for vampires.
It was Forks that I now exiled myself—an action that I took with great horror. I detested Forks.
I loved Volterra. I loved the sun and the heat. I loved the vigorous, sprawling city and I also loved my mates by my side.
"Bella," Felix said to me – the last of a thousand times – before I got on the plane. "You don't have to do this. They've apologized more than a thousand times. Cant you forgive them?"
I felt a spasm of panic as I stared at his wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, hare-brained brother to fend for himself? Of course he had Demetri now, so he would have someone to play with, and a killing partner, and a prank partner, but still.
"I want to go," I lied my eyes most likely purple. I'd always been a bad liar, but I'd been saying this lie so frequently lately that it sounded almost convincing now.
"Tell Carslie I said hi."
"I will."
"I'll see you soon," he insisted. "You can call me whenever you want – I'll come right back as soon as you need me."
But I could see the sacrifice in his eyes behind the promise.
"Don't worry about me," I urged. "It'll be great. I love you, Felix."
He hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I got on the plane, and he was gone.
It's a 10 hour flight from Rome to Seattle, another hour in a small plane up to Port Angeles, and then an hour drive back down to Forks. Flying bothers me, the hour in a car driving slow though, I was a little worried about.
Cauis, Marcus, and Aro had really been disgusted about the whole thing. They seemed genuinely furious that I was going to leave them for the first time with any degree of permanence. They'd already gone my luggage to catch fire and my car given away. But it's their fault this is happening.