In the Grip of Twilight

By: Olivia Tannis Moore

Chapter Six: The Forgotten

The meadow took longer to get to this time. A lot longer. Of course, I didn't have the luxury of riding on Edward's back as he raced the wind, or his sense of direction, just my own two feet and an over-grown trail that tunneled deep into the woods.

Twenty minutes into the hike, I suspected that I had somehow veered off on the wrong path. Maybe it was the slope into the valley, and the way the tree canopies were so thick that it stayed dark beneath the cover, like dusk. The air was much cooler here and I shivered inside my rain parka. The overgrowth of briars and hawthorn bushes were pushing in on the trail, making it narrower. In some places, I had to wedge myself through barricades of large rock and undergrowth. For the hundredth time I thought about turning around and going back, now absolutely convinced I was on the wrong path. And it was when I was standing there, facing the way I had come, when I heard the rustling of dead leaves, and then the snapping of twigs underfoot.

"Edward?" I called, my voice sounding alien in this forest of ancient trees and strange bird calls.

Silence. Even the birds seemed to stop their chattering.

"Edward?" I called again, but much lower. I looked at my wristwatch. It was now four o'clock. Surely he had begun to look for me—.

There was another rustle, closer this time. I was being followed. But if it were Edward, I reasoned, he would have made himself known by now. I took a few steps backwards, all the while keeping my eyes in the direction of the rustling; retracing my path back was not an option now.

I moved slowly, deliberately, down the trail that was leading me deeper into the darkness of the forest. One step forward, one fleeting glance over my shoulder.

I tried to step softly on the carpet of leaves and moss, tried not to leave boot prints in the soggy trail. And every few feet I had to untangle the thorny vines and shrubs from my hair and clothes. The air had begun to take on a dank, mildew smell. Huge, bulbous capped mushrooms were now competing with the brambles for space on the forest floor. They clustered in threes and fours, multiplying and erupting through the ferns and rotting tree trunks scattered on the ground. I'd never seen so many mushrooms in all my life. I noticed that many of them oozed a molasses-brown substance, putrid to the nose, like rotten eggs.

The winding path suddenly came to a fork. In the dwindling filtered light, I could see that the path I was on ended ahead with an impenetrable hedge of ivy and vine-covered trees. The other trail curved to the right. I wanted to keep traveling in what I thought was a northern track. But now I had no choice but to take the detour.

I peered over my shoulder. I'd not heard my unwelcome guest for several minutes. Perhaps it had been just an animal, a harmless deer or raccoon. I leaned against a tree trunk and listened to the heavy silence for a minute. No sound. Not even the strange clicks and wails of the birds of earlier. No frogs. No crickets. I shivered in this oppressing new quiet. My skin crawled with goose bumps. Now would be a nice time to intervene, Edward, I thought.

I gazed at the shadowy shapes of moss-covered boulders; they looked as if some mythical giant had bowled them down the hillside to wedge them between the trees. I couldn't remember ever being in such a primitive place as this, where the shadows danced, although there was no breeze. And I could feel the cold burn of eyes, yet I could see nothing along the wall of trees and rock that lined the path.

But then there was a whoosh…and a large shadow moved along the ground in front of me. I pressed my back into the tree. It had moved so fast that had I not heard it, I would have wondered if I really saw it at all. I pressed my back into the tree and dared not move. Only my eyes roamed the woods, waiting for the shadow to reappear, unable to stop my ragged deep gasps so I held my breath. But it did nothing to quiet the rush of blood against my eardrums.

And then suddenly I heard it again, like the creaking of wood under heavy weight. To my horror I realized that the sounds were not coming from the ground, as one would expect, but overhead. And I slowly lifted my head to see the dark beast that leapt from tree to tree above me, clenching my teeth together so as not to scream.

***

Edward often told me I was brave in the face of the danger he posed to me. Even after seeing the full force of his feral nature, I was never fearful for my life. Because no matter how menacing the beast snarled, it was Edward—and I knew Edward would never hurt me.

But this was different. As I stared at the creature above me, I couldn't accept that this was how it was going to end. With Edward and I in this awful gridlock. Angry with one another. I was weak with disappointment that he had not bothered to come. I wondered if he would feel guilty afterward for not showing up…and I hoped not. Because the fear did not come directly from above, but from within as I remembered his lips move against mine, and the gentle cradle of his arms as he held me—the fear came from never again knowing the rush of love we shared, and for being unable to put the pieces that were Us back together in time. I didn't want to die broken, a separate piece from him.

Because now I wasn't dying for something beautiful, an immortal life with Edward. I wasn't dying in the defense of anything. And it made me cower with sadness, with not even the will to shake my fist in the air and curse the monster that would take the last fragments of hope from me.

It was coming down now. Bark and small limbs rained down over me as the large tree groaned under the creature's weight. It would be over soon, I hoped. Perhaps so quickly I would not feel a thing…

The air stirred with the fowl stench of musk as it descended the branches, crouching and leaping from one large limb to another. It had the spring of a cat, but the dark silhouette was too bulky and clumsy to be feline. And in the last gray moments before full darkness, I could see that its dark head was overly large, even for its muscular body.

From the last fifteen or twenty feet it jumped and I flinched, thinking it would land on me and crush me against the ground. But instead, the ground shuddered from the impact, as the creature landed on its haunches a few feet from me. At first, it looked like part of the forest itself, long fur matted with leaves and twigs and every kind of brick-brack one would expect to find in this primordial place. But nothing could disguise the long wolf-like snout or the gleam of its impossibly long teeth. Or its glowing yellow eyes as it watched me cringe against the tree. I could hear it sniffing the air between us, great huffs of air from both its nose and mouth. It twitched with excitement and anticipation. Then it reared its head and howled so loud that I had to cover my ears.

And when it leaped at me, I closed my eyes and thought only of Edward's face.

***

If I took into account that I should've been killed instantly from the impact, it would be only one small miracle. The miracle of a clumsy beast whose weight knocked me from the tree I stood against, instead of crushing me to it. And as I lay there gasping for air under its press of muscle and damp fur—and although I had no intention of doing so—I found myself struggling. As the creature's tongue searched my throat for that frantic pulse, I flailed against it. My lungs burned from lack of air; the hum of unconsciousness was starting to fill my ears.

And then the earth beneath me shuddered a second time. And from what seemed like a great distance away, I heard him bellow my name. My arm reached out along the ground toward the sound of his voice; I felt I could close any distance between us with this one gesture. Edward. Edward had finally found me. But then the darkness swallowed me and I heard nothing more.

***

(I had to change the chapter's title as Edward and Bella have yet to reach the meadow and this chapter ran longer than I originally thought it would. The meadow scene will be next. And because so many of you are asking, I expect this story to have somewhere between 25 and 30 chapters when complete. Thanks for reading, and thanks for letting me know that you are reading. It means a lot. —Olivia)