分节阅读_137

  other her at all, and her cool, hard
  skin was oddly f to me. the frohin shirt was
  p with the tears that streamed from my eyes until, red and sore,
  they ran dry.
  sleep had evaded me; my ag eyes straihough the night
  finally ended and dawn broke over a low peak somewhere in ia. the
  gray light, streaking across the cloudless sky, stu i
  't ; when i did, the images that flashed all too vividly,
  like still slides behind my lids, were unbearable. charlie's broken
  expression — edward's brutal sh bared — rosalie's resentful
  glare — the keeiracker — the dead look in edward's
  eyes after he kissed me the last time… i 't stahem. so i
  fought against my wearihe sun rose higher.
  i was still ae came through a shalloass and the
  sun, behind us ed off the tiled rooftops of the valley of the
  sun. i didn't have eioo be surprised that we'd made a
  three-day jourared blankly at the anse laid
  out in front of me. phoerees, the scrubby creosote, the
  haphazard lierseg freeways, the green swaths of golf
  d turquoise sploting pools, all submerged in a
  thin smog ahe shes that weren't really big
  enough to be called mountains.
  the shadows of the palm trees slanted across the freeway — defined,
  sharper than i remembered, paler than they should be. nothing could hide
  in these shadows. the bright, open freeway seemed benign enough. but i
  felt no relief, no sense of homeing.
  ”which way to the airport, bella?” jasper had asked, and i flinched,
  though his voice was quite soft and un-alarming. it was the first sound,
  besides the purr of the car, to break the long night's silence.
  ”stay oen,” i'd aically. ”we'll pass right by it.”
  my brain had worked slh the fog of sleep deprivation.
  ”are we flying somewhere?” i'd asked alice.
  ”no, but it's better to be close, just in case.”
  i remembered beginning the loop around sky harbor iional… but not
  ending it. i suppose that must have been when i'd fallen asleep.
  though, now that i'd chased the memories down, i did have a vague
  impressiohe car — the sun was just fallihe
  horizon — my arm draped over alice's shoulder and her arm firm around my
  waist, dragging me along as i stumbled through the warm, dry shadows.
  i had his room.
  i looked at the digital the nightstand. the red numbers claimed
  it was three o'clock, but they gave no indi if it was night or day.
  escaped the this, but the rht with
  the light from the lamps.
  i rose stiffly ahe window, pulling back the drapes.
  it was dark outside. three in the m, then. my room looked out on a
  deserted se of the freeway aerm parking garage for
  the airport. it was slightly f to be able to pinpoint time and
  place.
  i looked down at myself. i was still wearing esme's clothes, and they
  didn't fit very well at all. i looked arlad when i
  disy duffel bag on top of the low dresser.
  i was on my way to fihes when a light tap on the door made me
  jump.
  ”e in?” alice asked.
  i took a deep breath. ”sure.”
  she walked in, and looked me over cautiously. ”you look like you could
  sleep longer,” she said.
  i just shook my head.
  she drifted silently to the s ahem securely before
  turning bae.
  ”we'll ay iold me.
  ”okay.” my voice was hoarse; it cracked.
  ”thirsty?” she asked.
  i shrugged. ”i'm okay. how about you?”
  ”nothing unmanageable.” she smiled. ”i ordered some food for you, it's in
  the front room. edward remi you have to eat a lot more
  frequently than we do.”
  i was insta. ”he called?”
  ”no,” she said, and watched as my face fell. ”it was before we left