Disclaimer: Smeyer owns "Twilight." Elysabeth owns "Les Yeux de la Lune."
T/N: A reviewer asked what Elysabeth meant when she observed that her English-speaking readers are different from her French-speaking ones. Elysabeth says, in a nutshell, that you guys focus on the concrete: details of the plot, whether something is possible or realistic, how similar her characters are to the originals. Her Francophone readers concentrate on the abstract: the atmosphere she evokes, emotional nuances, the style of the writing (umm, perhaps this reflects the shortcomings of translation).
In any case, she's been delighted to hear from you because you make her see her story in a new way.
And now we'll see what Edward has planned for Bella ...
Chapter 10: Stone and Flesh
9 p.m.
Had Jasper done everything necessary?
From my seat in the Volvo, I swept my gaze across the building. No sign of activity on the outside. Mentally, I scrutinized the inside. Good. All was calm.
I turned toward Bella. She was still sleeping, her head propped against the window. Her eye exam had worn her out.
I hadn't known that a routine visit to the ophthalmologist for Bella meant being subjected to all sorts of barbaric tests. I had nearly strangled that bald man when he had put burning drops into Bella's eyes. It took every bit of self-control I possessed to remain in the waiting room when the charlatan had aimed at her face an irritating laser that was supposed to be beneficial for her retina. Beneficial? No matter! Luckily for him, my scan of his mind found at least 20 years of experience and competence. I would have flattened him with one hand if he hadn't been professional. It was only by repeating to myself a hundred times that this guy knew what he was doing that I was able to stay seated. I left his office as exhausted as Bella, though for her it was physical and for me psychological.
She had noticed my anger, which astonished her.
"I didn't like at all what he did to you," I had grumbled.
"It's like that at every exam. I'm used to it."
"I'm not."
Bella's mischievous smile had appeared. "Do I need to talk some more about Charlie's electroshock gun to distract you? Do you know that it can power an entire city?" she had immediately recited.
I had relaxed a little by the time we had returned to the Volvo.
Driving all day had used up her strength. We had made only one stop, to get gas and to eat (well, Bella had eaten). She had slept the last two hours of the journey. I would have felt guilty for not taking her straight home if I hadn't known that her fatigue would vanish once she discovered my surprise.
"Bella?" I said softly.
Her eyelids opened slowly, still reddened and swollen by the tests.
"We're here?" she asked, her voice hoarse from sleep.
I had often watched her sleep, this was the first time I had seen her awake. What was it like to return to the waking world? How did it feel to be pulled from a state of inertia? And for Bella, what was it like to move from one dark world to another?
I put my curiosity aside. Question time was over for the day.
"Yes," I said instead.
In an instant, I was outside and opening her door. Bella yawned as she climbed out. She shook out her legs and stretched. Staying immobile for a long time was uncomfortable for human muscles, I had read.
"What time is it?"
"9 p.m."
"So late? Where are we?"
"I can't tell you right away. You will figure out what I want to show you if I tell you where we are."
The reason we were here suddenly came back to her. She was immediately alert and impatient.
"Where is your big surprise?"
"In the building just in front of us. Are you coming?"
I deliberately made my steps loud so that she could follow me without problem. I walked along the wall, all my senses – except my sense of smell, since Bella was right behind me – heightened so that I would know if anyone saw us. I found the emergency exit and prayed that the electronic lock and alarm system had been disabled. I grabbed the lever and pushed. The door opened noiselessly. Bravo, Jasper.
I stepped into the interior. It was dark, but that wasn't a problem for either of us. I no longer needed to bother to walk loudly here because the tall walls of the building created an echo.
Bella carefully followed me. "Where are we?" she asked.
"You'll soon find out."
I had studied the floor plan on the Internet. I knew exactly where to go. I ascended a marble staircase and arrived at the doorway of a large room.
"You can't describe this place to me?" Bella's strangled voice made me turn around. She was trembling and nervous.
I was seized by panic. Did she fear that the vampire was dragging her into a dungeon? Did she think I was isolating my victim? That I was going to imprison her some place where no one could help her, where no one could hear her screams? Where no one would find her corpse?
In regarding her more closely, I suddenly understood that I had once again made a mistake.
"I'm so sorry, Bella. I had forgotten."
I knew that she was uneasy in a strange place whose size she couldn't figure out. I should have immediately suspected that that was the cause of her discomfort.
Would I ever stop being so paranoid and worry that any minute Bella would become afraid of me? It would take time to get used to this absence of disgust and fright. I had spent the last century seeing these reactions from humans. I supposed that I would need another century to get used to the opposite reaction.
I took her hand to reassure her. "I can't describe where we are. It would ruin the surprise."
"So many mysteries."
I kept her hand in mine and continued into the room. I soon found what I was looking for.
"Here we are."
I released her hand so I could take her wrist. I pulled gently on her arm so she could touch a particular surface. Bella, docile, let me guide her. I let go of her wrist so she could figure out what was under her fingers.
Without a word, but with an intrigued expression, she caressed the curves, stroked the contours and pushed on the material. Her eyebrows rose when her tactile inspection revealed what she was touching.
"No … it can't be …"
She moved her fingers everywhere to assure herself that she wasn't wrong. I smiled at her consternation.
"Oh, my God! It's ... it's "The Flight" by Gestalder! You … you've brought me to the museum."
She jumped back as if the life-size statue had just burned her.
"You have the museum all to yourself, Bella."
She turned toward me, her eyes round in dismay.
"But, no … it's illegal. We shouldn't be here."
She started whispering for fear that her voice would ring too loudly in the exhibition space and alert someone. I had suspected that she would react this way. Such a law-abiding creature as Bella would never dare to commit an illegal act.
"Bella, I've arranged everything. Nobody will know anything," I comforted her. "You can examine as much as you want all the sculptures in this wing."
She quickly shook her head and wiped her hand on her jeans, as if to clean them of the crime she had committed.
I laughed at her reaction.
"This isn't allowed. Nobody can touch the artworks," she whispered furiously, vexed that I was so casual about masterminding such an infraction.
"I know. That's why we're here after closing."
She chewed on her lip, torn between her desire to touch the sculpture again and her worry that we could be caught.
"They'll be damaged if I touch them."
I chuckled again, observing temptation do battle with her scruples. "For one night, Gestalder won't mind."
"I'm going to leave fingerprints everywhere and someone will track me down!"
She certainly had an active imagination, I had to say.
"Your fingerprints can't be identified if you don't have a record. Have you committed a crime before?" I teased her, knowing her response already.
"No!" she said indignantly.
"So, you're not in any police records. If by some chance the museum notices that someone has touched the artworks, nobody will be able to trace it back to you. And honestly, Bella, why would museum officials call the police? What could they say? Find the miscreant who had dared touch a Gestalder? The policemen would just laugh and tell them to let them go after much more important crimes."
My words seemed to convince her. A little.
"There must be cameras – they're definitely going to see us."
"I took care of that too. Do you believe that I'd let you run the least risk of danger?"
That was rich, coming from the vampire thirsty for her blood. I laughed again, this time at myself.
Bella paid no attention to my self-derision. "But … how did you do it?"
It would have taken too long to explain Jasper's talents so I was vague.
"Cullen magic."
Incredulous, Bella stayed unmoving in front of me, still uncomfortable with the situation. Then, she finally turned away and touched her fingers tentatively to the statue. She shook at the contact of the polished bronze. She followed the lines of the figure to its base and knelt before it. I thought that she was examining the feet of the dancer, but when I saw her shoulder convulse in a silent sob, I realized that Bella had simply collapsed under the weight of emotion.
"You're crying?"
I was disconcerted. I expected joy, not tears.
"I can't believe you did this..."
I stepped to her, crouched down and reached toward her shoulder to … do what exactly? Console her?
Was this an old human impulse resurfacing? For a fraction of a second, wanting to comfort her seemed completely natural. But how to do it?
I stopped my hand just before it reached her. It wasn't a good idea to touch her … was it? Was it normal to want to touch someone to comfort her? And what should I say? What were the right words? Giving solace to someone was a very human action that I was unaccustomed to … exactly like sleep. Were my long-dormant instincts enough to find the words to soothe her? How could I find them when I didn't know the origin of her distress? I knew it was my fault, but I didn't know what I had done wrong.
"Oh, no, Bella, I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
She straightened up and turned to me, her eyes shining with tears, full of astonishment.
"Hurt me? Edward …" She released a laugh mixed with a sob. "These are tears of joy, you big dope!"
Joy?
Ah, of course. I had seen that in movies, crying for joy. It seemed very human.
I laughed then, relieved to finally discover that I hadn't made a mistake.
"Sorry. I'm not used to that."
She smiled and wiped her tears away with her sleeve.
"Why are you doing this? You … you do too much for me. How can I thank you?"
"What I'm doing is a way of thanking you. You can't thank me for thanking you."
"You're thanking me for what?"
"For being you."
She seemed overwhelmed that I had arranged this for such a simple reason.
I encouraged her to continue her examination, to remember through touch what she had once seen with her eyes.
She relaxed and let herself indulge in a long session with the dancer. She started gently, trembling, restrained. She smiled at the feel of certain curves, associating their texture and sizes with her little girl's recollection. With reverential caresses, Bella admired in her way the lightness of the dancer, from head to toe.
"It's fabulous," she murmured, overcome.
I was moved by her gestures. I thought again of my sister's new Porsche, an expensive, and materialist, present. I too enjoyed such frivolities. Bella, though, what gave her pleasure was something spiritual and simple. That is, simple for a Cullen – a normal human would have had a lot more trouble organizing this.
After contemplating all the angles of the statue, Bella moved to another one. She stretched out her fingers, then stopped suddenly. She turned her head in my direction.
"You'll tell me if you get bored, okay?"
Get bored? Just watching her sleep was fascinating to me! Looking at her marveling over these statues, knowing that it was thanks to me that she was having this little moment of joy, made me as thrilled as she was.
"Don't worry about me, Bella. Take all the time you want," I encouraged her.
Reassured, she examined the second statue, this time more confidently. Her fingers shook less. She moved around the statue attentively and declared, "The 'Lovers!' This is the 'Lovers!'"
She went on to name all the statues one by one.
"'The Prima Ballerina' … 'Elevation!' And here, this is …" Her palms glided over the abstract shapes, gathering more information. "It's 'The Mountain Nymph!'"
Bella circled the room while I watched her closely, happy that all the signs of her fatigue had disappeared. She almost forgot I was there, she was so intent. I knew this was a unique experience for her, something she would never have dared to even dream of. She etched each work into her memory, aware that such an opportunity might never reappear. Witness to her pleasure, I swore to myself that if she wanted to return one day, I would make it happen.
After two hours of studying all the Gestalder works in the hall, Bella sighed with contentment. Happy. She was happy. And it was because of me. I was delighted beyond words to know that I had put that dreamy smile on her face.
She came back to me, full of gratitude.
"Thank you. It was wonderful."
"You've seen everything you wanted?"
A smile curved a corner of her lips and she blushed. The rush of blood to her cheeks … didn't make me uncomfortable. Or nearly so. Finally, I was becoming desensitized!
I didn't linger on the pride I had in myself for this. I was too curious about what was embarrassing her.
"Almost," she said in a small voice.
"Is there another part of the museum you'd like to see?"
I was already conducting a mental survey of the other floors, wondering if Jasper had tampered with the cameras and security system of just this particular wing. If that were so, I needed merely to call him to take care of the problem. In any case, the guard was in the room with the video feed from the cameras, napping. I had nothing to fear from him.
Bella bit her lip and shook her head. She raised her eyes to my face as if to ask for my complete attention to what she was going to say to me.
"It's you that I'd like to see now."
It felt as if her words resonated all around me, amplified in my shocked mind as much as by the echo of this exhibition space.
I stared into her lifeless pupils. Her gaze wasn't teasing. She was serious.
To see me … in her fashion?
I glanced at the sculptures. My eyesight allowed me to discern the fingerprints that had so worried Bella. Every surface of the statues was covered with the imprint of her fingertips. Then I imagined myself also covered with those imprints, those souvenirs of her explorations …
I shuddered. Was it a shiver of excitement or fear? I didn't know.
I was silent a long moment, calculating the ramifications of her request. I tried to put myself in her place: if the tables were turned, if I had to live in total darkness, I would want to have a mental idea of Bella. I would even be consumed with frustration to have no physical information. Her voice alone wouldn't have sufficed.
It was similar to how she needed to know the dimensions of the spaces she was in. Bella would surely want to know what the people around her were like – especially her vampire friend. Did she picture me with a long cape, fangs and pointed ears? The caricature had no doubt crossed her mind at least once.
I wanted to let her see me. I did. Truly. .. I couldn't allow it. I mused a second on what this … observation could do to my self-control. I was terrified just at the thought that the monster would awake and I would be powerless against it.
Once again, Bella had too much faith in me. I had to be prudent for her.
"You don't know what you're asking. Everything's gone well till now, I've been able to handle it, but that … I can't do. I'm sorry."
I read the disappointment on her face and turned my eyes away, unable to bear seeing her sad,
"I'm sure you can," she said, insistent. "You won't hurt me."
"No."
My refusal was categorical, and I didn't try to see her reaction, fearful that her disappointment would be more obvious still.
Bella came closer to me. "Please."
I could close my eyes so I wouldn't see her pleading face, but I would have had to deaf to not be swayed by her words.
I retreated from her hands that she had stretched toward me.
"Tell me what to do or not do to make this easier for you," she asked.
My laugh was sarcastic. "What to do? Well, you'd have to stop breathing. And you'd have to stop smelling so good. Oh, while you're at it, stop the blood from running through your veins."
"Hmm. I can hold my breath for almost an entire minute," she said, mock-bragging. "Unfortunately, I don't have control over my scent and my blood. I should have brought the horrible perfume that my grandmother used to wear. Believe me, a drop of that and I would disgust you permanently."
She was trying to relax me with her prattle, but her effort was vain.
"No artificial scent could hide your fragrance from me."
Swaying me with joking had failed. She tried sincerity.
"If you knew how often I have tried to imagine you in my mind… Your voice, the vibrations emanating from you, every part of you that I can grasp … I've tried to come up with a face to match them. I've tried to attach a body to your movements, expressions to your different intonations. You haven't made it easy. You were so distant and so close at the same time, so mysterious… Don't leave me in the shadows, I beg you."
How could I remain unmoved by that?
"Bella …."
"Let's begin with what's easiest."
She didn't wait for my permission. She took my hand, as she had done a few times before. I could deal with that. It did almost nothing to me now … apart from making my skin tingle all over.
This time, her fingers did not weave themselves into mine. They studied me, one finger after another. Her index finger barely touched mine, but it felt as if it had been marked by a branding iron … or rather a white feather.
With her index finger, Bella followed a raised vein in my gleaming stone flesh. She traced it to my wrist, into previously unexplored territory (why had I worn a short-sleeved shirt? A layer of fabric would have been a useful shield). She continued her path on my arm until she reached the inside of my elbow – a warm little feather skating on smooth ice.
I froze. I made myself marble, like so many of the sculptures around us. I was petrified with fear yet at the same time impatient to feel her inquisitive fingers.
Bella's fingers wound around my forearm, measuring its circumference. She traveled the valley of my tensed muscles that I tried to keep unmoving. I didn't budge, but I was having great difficulty keeping her touch from making my body react. She lingered on my arm, her palm curving to its shape. She was tentative, watching for my reactions.
She was nonetheless reassured by my apparent control and became bolder. Her fingers, which had only brushed me before, were more insistent. Her other hand joined the exploration.
She found my shoulder, analyzed its broadness, followed the line my nape, grazed the empty artery in my neck, crossed my clavicle on her way to my other shoulder. She circled me slowly, just as she had circled all the artworks in this room. She continued over my shoulder blade, then counted one by one my vertebrae from my neck to the small of my back. I couldn't breathe. Her hands glided over my hip as she moved around until she was once more in front of me, her hand on my chest.
My brain was going to explode from the effect of her touch, from suppressing the shudders she was causing in me. Yet, masochist as I was, I didn't move an inch. I couldn't even try to stop her. How could I? I couldn't operate my vocal cords to warn her off, much less the muscles that I needed to move away from her hands. I was in a haze from these novel sensations, sensations I couldn't even identify sufficiently to know if they were signs of the awaking monster or something both very primal … and very human.
Bella gathered my information, learning the least details of my body. There was nothing untoward in her touches. She studied me with great respect, even admiration. She discovered it all sweetly, gently.
My mind short-circuited when her fingers meticulously examined my stone torso, investigated the planes of my chest. I was falling apart.
She took my hand again and knelt, pulling me down with her. I obeyed like a puppet and found myself sitting on my heels. I wondered why she wanted us on the floor, then understood that it was so she could more easily continue her examination. I was too tall for her to study my face while we were standing.
This was a risky venture that would take her too close to the most dangerous part of my body: my teeth. And yet I let her. My common sense had disappeared as I focused on the exquisite, torturous sensations brought on by her fingers.
Bella slid a hand into my hair, smiling at something mysterious. Her face was at the same level as mine, and I gulped when I stared into her eyes, seeing a reverie mixed with the intense concentration. Lost in these new feelings inside me, I could only with difficulty remind myself not to breathe in her scent.
Bella carefully moved her hand from my hair down to my temple. Her fingers pushed a stray lock behind my ear. I would have never believed before now how sensitive that part of my body could be. This time I couldn't help myself. I trembled. Seeing my reaction, Bella didn't linger on my ear and moved back to my face. She traced the line of my smooth jaw and the hard curve of my chin up to my other temple. She caressed my forehead, found my eyebrows that were furrowed with my effort to keep still. Her fingers grazed my eyelids and I had to close them. My sight cut off, I could no longer anticipate her movements, determine her next destination. I had to rely instead only on the warmth of her fingers to guess where they were headed.
Bella gently stroked the purple shadows under my eyes, the bridge of my nose.
Above all, do not breathe.
She moved lower. Too low. Her fingers wandered over my marble lips and I was finally able to move. I grabbed her by the shoulders to stop her.
Bella stopped and jumped back. "I've gone too far?"
I opened my eyes, focusing on that face that I loved so I could find the power to resist the temptation to open my mouth and search out the warmth of those fingers that had ventured too close to my teeth. I forced myself to think of the guardian angel of Bella's imagination, that distant ideal, to get back on the straight and narrow.
"Edward?" she asked as I stayed silent, concentrating on myself and monster inside.
When I didn't answer, she tried to pull away, but I prevented her. If she retreated, I could no longer draw strength from her innocent face to repress the monster.
"Give me a minute," I finally managed to get out.
I concentrated on the parts of Bella's humanity that I loved: her gentle heartbeat, a musical instrument in itself. Her inhalations and exhalations, breaths of life, of hope. Her eyes, two pools empty of life but full of trust and concern. All that was more important than her delectable blood.
I asked myself, in a flash of lucidity, why venom wasn't flooding my mouth. Her hand had been very close to my teeth, yet the poison I produced was absent.
And suddenly I realized that it wasn't the monster I was repressing. I was hungry, but not for the reason I had thought. It was the lover in me who was hungry for her, who longed to draw her closer, to revel in her heat, her softness …
However, neither the lover nor the monster could show himself tonight.
Or any other night.
A minute passed. The hunger was still there, but it was much easier to control than that of the monster.
"It's fine, " I said, to myself as much as her.
I released her shoulders and was relieved that I hadn't crushed her bones with my reflex. Protecting her from my strength was becoming an automatic behavior, something I almost didn't need to think about. That relieved me as well.
"I can …I can continue?"
She wasn't finished? Christ, how much more would I have to endure?
"Please, " I said politely, but still tense.
Bella reached for me again, her hands returning to my chest. She was even more meticulous than before, and I wondered what she was looking for.
It was then that her fingers starting unbuttoning my shirt.
What the hell! Had she lost her mind?
I already had.
Her audacity paralyzed me. I stood frozen, in a state of shock.
Bella undid four buttons and pulled open my shirt.
For God's sake, move away!
She leaned to me and laid her head on the center of my chest.
I was petrified.
She sighed, her exhalation irradiating my skin. I felt as if I was melting.
"Silence…"
Ah, that was the reason for her action. I should have understood earlier. Her ear against me, Bella was listening for my missing heartbeat.
"My heart stopped beating when I was changed," I said gruffly. "Everything inside is dead."
She stayed there, listening to the silence for … for I don't know long. It could have been an eternity, but I still found the time too short – never had I been so close to her as at this moment. Never had the lover been so near his reason for existing. I remained immobile even though my hands longed to wrap themselves around her and keep her next to me, next to my dead heart. It was a supreme effort in self-discipline.
Bella pulled away slowly. Perhaps I was taking my fantasies for reality, because I perceived a trace of disappointment, even regret, in her features, at detaching herself from me.
She smiled at me and I knew that her tactile journey was over. I had passed this test, though that really wasn't the right word. A test had a certain negative connotation, of something difficult and disagreeable. What I had just experienced was certainly difficult, but far, far from being disagreeable … I felt as if I was covered by a fine layer of flaming particles. Her fingers had left in their wake indelible marks that I wouldn't forget.
Bella, completely unaware of how she had unhinged me, responded to the words I had just said.
"Mine can beat for two."
She sought out my hand and put it over her own heart. My eyes widened. Under my palm, I felt the vibrations. They were soothing me already. And so I imitated my beloved, replacing my hand with my head. I didn't know how that had happened, it was so automatic, so involuntary.
"Don't move," I whispered, uncertain of myself, but longing so much to listen to the music of her heartbeat.
Bella complied, staying as still as a human could.
I had heard it said that you could hear the ocean in a seashell. For me, my temple against her heart, it was as if I could hear the entire world. Life, the universe, infinity.
Her chest rose and I followed the movement of each of her breaths. I closed my eyes and let them rock me.
We remained this way yet another measureless length of time. Statues surrounded by statues. "Stone and Flesh," that could have been our title. Or "Life and Death." "The Eternal and the Ephemeral."
"But what's going on? Why aren't the motion detectors on?"
I was brutally torn from my paradise. I jumped up, deploying my mental ear to its utmost and ignoring Bella's questions.
"What's happening?"
"Stupid computer," someone was thinking in the video surveillance office. "Why are the detectors off? Why is the image on the screen playing in a loop?"
Jasper had selected a part of the video recorded before our arrival showing the room empty of anything except statues. He had hacked into the computer system to make that part of video repeat again and again so that the guard wouldn't see anything unusual during our visit. But our subterfuge had just been discovered.
I took Bella's hand.
"We have to leave. Immediately," I said urgently.
"Oh, oh… Something's gone wrong? The Cullen magic has stopped working?"
She followed me with difficulty. I paid no attention to her teasing, in too much of a hurry to get out before the guard decided to come and see what was going on.
But instead of that, he turned on the motion detector – which was much worse.
I cursed as I heard the system start up. I grabbed Bella and jumped, reaching the ceiling just a millisecond before the detector begin transmitting.
"What are you playing at?" Bella said, seeming stunned by our abrupt movement.
"Shh!"
The ceiling was the only safe place in this room. The infrared rays scanned only the floors and walls, and if the guard managed to get the cameras to work, we would be outside their field of vision since they were mounted on the ceiling and pointed down.
I hung from a girder with one arm and with the other held my precious cargo.
"Hold on," I murmured.
"I don't have much choice!"
I suppressed the sensations provoked having her legs wrapped around me, and listened intently.
Unable to make the computer that controlled the video images work properly, the guard had decided to visit the room himself.
"The guard is coming!"
I knew that he wouldn't enter the room, since the now-operational motion detector would set off an alarm. But he'd be able to see in from the doorway. If he saw us….
"Not a word!" I ordered.
Bella obeyed, her heart beating furiously. Damn it to hell, I could hear it echoing off the walls. Thank God human hearing wasn't as developed as mine.
I could already imagine the unpleasantness if we were discovered. How was I going to get us out of this?
Steps rang in the corridor. Bella heard them and hiccupped. She was trembling and hiding her face in my shirt..
I gripped her more tightly. A vain gesture since it wouldn't conceal us any better from the guard if he happened to look up, but it at least slowed her heartbeat. She felt safe with me …
I wouldn't let anyone lay any of the responsibility for this on her. I would claim that I forced her to come here. I would confess to anything so that I would be the only one incriminated. It was out of the question that Bella would be punished for my actions.
Sheesh … I had feared that this outing would end badly because of the monster in me, but now we were being afflicted by quite different troubles. Would bad luck ever leave me alone?
But all was not lost. There was still a possibility that we would escape.
I looked down. I was too tall; the guard would immediately see my dangling feet when he looked into the room. I swung them up so I could wrap them around the girder. Now I looked like a monkey suspended from a tree branch. Or a sort of hammock for Bella who found herself lying on top of me, her legs entwined with mine. That could have been funny – or disconcerting – if our situation hadn't been so serious.
The guard arrived and pointed his flashlight into the room. He examined all the sculptures while Bella and I held our breath.
His thoughts were suspicious. He knew something wasn't right. I prayed that the beam of the flashlight would not hit us.
A screech unexpectedly came from the corridor. Analyzing the sound, I realized that it came from creaking door hinges. The guard heard it too, and ran off to see the cause.
I knew that no one else was in the museum. The door had thus opened all by itself … or maybe not.
We relaxed a little as the guard's footstep became fainter. Then Bella shook with laughter that she could barely repress.
"I don't see what's so funny!" I hissed.
"That sure was something else!"
She continued to giggle. Just then my cell phone vibrated. From his own computer, Jasper had no doubt figured out that his interference had been detected and he was trying to warn me. Unless Alice had seen our difficult situation.
Before I could twist myself to extract the phone from my back pocket, Bella, with more room to maneuver, took it out and opened it.
"You have reached the cell phone of Edward Cullen. How can I help you?" she said, her voice still shaking with laughter.
"Bella Swan?"
It was indeed Jasper, apparently taken aback that Bella was holding my phone.
I didn't bother to try to reach for it. My brother could hear me perfectly from here.
"If you're calling to warn me that the guard suspects something, you're 30 seconds late," I grumbled.
"Sorry. Calculation error," he replied with his usual calm.
"If you'd like to earn our forgiveness, then find us a way out of here."
Bella realized that it was my brother who had organized this adventure.
"Oh, it's you, Jasper, who's the man behind this illegal escapade?" I thought she would scold him, but she was grateful instead. "Thanks so much!"
Was this the same law-fearing girl who was so afraid of being caught when we had sneaked inside? She seemed to find our predicament a real hoot now.
Jasper didn't answer her. Gratitude from a human, sincere gratitude, seemed to disconcert him. I realized, belatedly, that this was the first conversation between Bella and my vampire brother. What would be the result of such contact?
Now is not the time to think of that!
"He doesn't deserve thanks," I grumbled. "He's put us in quite a fix."
Bella clucked in disapproval.
"Don't listen to him, Jasper. I think this is kind of exciting. I feel like Bonnie and Clyde."
I was perturbed. I had been the one who was confident and casual, while Bella had worried. Now our roles were reversed.
Jasper chuckled at the other end of the line. What, him too?
"So," I demanded, "have you found us that way out?"
He cleared his throat and got back to business.
"Where are you now?" he asked.
"I'm on the ceiling. In a rather compromising position."
"You have to find the ventilation ducts. Western wall. I'm going to switch off the motion detector again. And I just deactivated the lock of a door in the south wing to distract the guard."
"Huh, that's you also?" Bella said cheerfully, impressed that Jasper could control the systems of the museum from so far away.
"Yes, that was I. If you leave now, you have a clear path out. Follow the ducts to the roof."
"If we get caught, there's going to be hell for you to pay," I told him.
I whispered, more gently, to Bella, "Hang up."
I heard another mocking laugh from Jasper before Bella ended the call, after thanking my brother again.
"This might be a bit bumpy," I warned her, calculating the distance to the grille leading to the ventilation duct.
Some acrobatics were necessary, but I managed it. I pulled out one of the screws holding in the grille and told Bella to crawl into the dusty passageway. I could already hear the guard's mental decision to return to this exhibition space after closing the door that Jasper had opened.
"Off you go!"
Coughing in the dust, Bella groped her way along the passage.
"Where am I going?"
"Straight ahead."
"How am I supposed to know what 'straight ahead' is?
"Go into the passage that has the freshest air. That's the one leading to the exterior."
"I feel like I'm in a bad action movie."
"Go, go!"
I followed her, returning the grille to its place behind me.
I caught up to Bella, who was crawling neither fast nor silently enough. If the guard noticed the noises coming from the ceiling, that'd be it. And I had only myself to blame: it was my fault we were in this fix (well, it was Jasper's fault, a little).
Still, our luck held, and after several interminable minutes we made it to the roof. Without a word, I slung Bella on my back and leapt to the ground. I ran to the Volvo, deposited my cargo on her seat, jumped behind the wheel, and took off.
I drove in silence for a while before saying, "My apologies, Bella. That was my fault. It shouldn't have ended like that."
I watched my passenger to see if she had recovered from our flight. She was pursing her lips to stifle a laugh.
She wasn't angry with me?
I remarked that she was covered in grime. The tension in the car dissipated and I burst into laughter. Bella did the same.
"That was great! Can we do that again?" she got out between her giggles.
"Absolutely not! I had the fright of my life!"
"You, Edward Cullen, had the fright of your life? Pfft!"
She was still laughing. "Can you imagine my dad's reaction if I'd had to call him from a police station: 'Hey, Charlie, can you come bail me out? What crime did I commit? Oh, I touched some statues.'"
The Volvo was shaken again by our laughter.
After our hilarity chased away the vestiges of the stress of our experience, we were calm once more. Bella was overcome by fatigue and she rested her head on the seatback.
"I think I've never heard you laugh so much," she murmured.
I thought about her observation. It was true. It had been a long time since I had done that.
"See, so I'm good for something," she went on. "If you hadn't had the idea of taking me on this illegal expedition that nearly turned out badly, we wouldn't have had the chance to laugh at it afterward. I can at least say that I distracted you for a bit."
"Is that the impression I give you? That I don't enjoy myself with you?"
"No, that's not what I meant. I expressed myself badly, sorry." She paused for a moment – fatigue had made her mix up her thoughts. "You remember that melancholy I had detected in your voice?"
"Yes…"
"Well, today, I barely noticed it. It's that what I meant by 'distract.' I flattered myself into believing that I had … had a hand in reducing the sadness in your voice."
She gave a sleepy little smirk.
"It was conceited of me, you think?"
"No, not at all. To the contrary, being with you makes me feel … light."
Don't say too much. Don't reveal yourself.
I clenched the steering wheel as if that could keep me from speaking further.
Bella seemed touched and silence descended upon the car.
"Thanks for everything today," I heard after a while.
Her eyelids were blinking; she was fighting to stay awake.
"Sleep, Bella. I'll take you back home."
She closed her eyes and murmured, "Edward?"
"Yes?"
A smile crossed her tired face. "You are a work of art…"
Damn. That wasn't the first time I'd heard something like that. The female sex in general had similar thoughts. It was tedious. Now that Bella had seen me, would she join all those humans who went into ecstasies over my appearance? Not that the idea that I stunned her displeased, me, but …
"A unique work of art … forged in a strange material, because usually, it's the surface that makes a piece what it is. In your case, the exterior is magnificent, but the interior – what you don't see, what is hidden – is even more beautiful … It's what is on the inside that make it work what it is."
That, no one had ever said to me.
It was my turn to be touched.
Bella went to sleep for good. I drove for most of the night before reaching Forks. I didn't wake her when we arrived. I found the keys to her house, took her in my arms and lowered her to her bed. I pulled off her shoes and drew up her covers. Bella was so wiped out that she didn't wake for any of that.
I ended the night in her company, staring at her delicate fingers, her little transmitters of information. I still felt the tingles they left on my skin. Her scent was on my skin as well.
With a feeling of confidence, I unblocked my sense of smell and inhaled deeply.
My throat burst into flames, of course. I suffered, obviously. Her fragrance was tempting, certainly. But I managed to smile as I burned. I was even able to lean forward, take one of Bella's hands without waking her and breathe in the scent of her inquisitive fingers. I smiled even more when I felt the monster stay in his cage.
I had made great progress tonight.
At dawn, I reluctantly left her. I had inhaled her scent; I was almost immune to it. If I spent time away from her, I would have to restart my training. But not from the very beginning, at least.
I returned home, musing on my day – until I noticed eight minds in the vicinity instead of six.
I had known that this was going to happen. I had known for weeks, but my hackles rose nonetheless.
Peter and Charlotte had just arrived.
A/N: Thanks so much again for all your kind words.