® ; 5 > > , , » 1 Fst Sight This was th time of day when wished Twerabetosleep. High school Or was purgatory the sight word? I here war any way tone fr my sis, this ought o count owed th lyin some measure. The ium wah at someone {ees sede evecy day seemed more impossibly monotone th he a {suppose this wae my form of sleep—ifslep was dfned athe net state between active pero 1 cared athe eck running troop the plaster nthe far comer of the cafeteria, ieniginng patens into tem tat weco nt thece.Iewas on way to tne ant tic von that babble ik the gush af sve id my hea. Sevecl hunted ofthese voies ignored en of boredom. ‘When it came to the human mind, I'd heard it all before and then sonne. Today; a thoughts were consumed with the vil Uramacf anew adton othe ual sage. * Body ere. 100k 30 litt work them all up. seen the now fae repented in trove erthough from every angle. Just an ordinary human gi. Theeellenentovechor autnl was Uresoelyprditble—lie flashing ashny objet a sd Til te ‘ sheep like males were alieay imagining themselves in ove wlth he, usbeceoe cs ‘as tomething new to lookat, Teed harder to tae lear ot Only fou: vices di black ou of couresy rather han ast: my Fail, my vo bothers and wo sisters, who were so need toto lack of pavacyinmy tases tat hey racy gave ia thought gave them what acy Teale, Te oe ete ft could help it. “Try a may, il Line Rosalie was hkl, a usual, about heel. She'd caughi sight ke oie in the rection of somedne's lasts, ad she-was muling over ones perteton, Rosale's hind was a shallow pool wih fow surpaes Eumet was forming oveca resting mite e's to Tagger dug the night. 1 would ake all his liited patience to make tthe end of tho schol day fo erste ¢ sematch, I never fal flt intrusive hearing Einpo's thougts, Dees he ees ‘houghtone thing that he woud yt sy loud or pt into action, Pesos Ly fle filly reading the others minds becaae Thnew tte wees things the tha oy ould’t want met know. If Rosales mind was a shallow pou then nan wasa lake with n0 shadows, glass clear ‘And Jasper as..sfring. suppressed asigh Eabward, Ale clled my name inher hea and had my ateation at once Je was jut the same as having my name ald alo. Iwas ad my given nae ‘ad fallen ou of stl ately—it had been annoying: mytime anyone though of aay Edvard, my head would tum automataly My head didn’t tum now. Alice andT wre good a hie pivate conversations. Teas ae that anyone caught us. Tkept my eyes on he las inthe pases, How ise holding ip? she askfrowned, just asinell change inthe cet of my mouth. Nothing that would tip the thers off. Leould easily be ftowning out of boredom. “Alice's mental tone Was alarmed now, and [saw in hee raid that she was svatching Jatperin hee peripheral vision. Iethere any danger? She seteched ahead, ito the immediate ftuc, skimming trough visions of monotony forthe source behind my frown. ‘nomied my head slowly tothe left, as if looking atthe bricks ofthe wall, sighed, and then tothe sight, back to the cracks in the ceiling. Only Alice knew Twas shaking my head. ‘She relaxed. Let me Inow if it gets 100 bad. moved only my eyes, up (othe ceiling above, and back down, Thanks for doing tis. {Tas glad I cbbldn’tanewer hee aloud. What. would Isay? “My pleasure"? Tt ‘as hardly that. [didn’t enjoy listening to Jaspers struggles. Was itreally necessary to ‘cxperiment like this? Wouldn't the safer path be to just amit that he might never be able to handle the thirst the way the rest of us could, and not push his limits? Why fist with isaster? “thad been two weeks since ov last hunting trip. That was not an immensely iffcut tine span for the restof us. A Lt uncomfortable oceasionaly—if a homan ‘walled too clos, if the wind blew the wrong way. But humans rarely walked too close. "Their instincts told them what theicconscious minds would never understand: we Were ‘dangerous. Tasper was very dangerous sight now. ‘Ae tat moment, smell gi paused at the end ofthe closest table t6 ours, stopping to tall: toa friend. She tossed her short, sandy hair, running her fingers throvgh it The heaters blew her scent in our direction. Tas used to the way that scent made me ealthe dry ache in my throt, che hollow eam in my stomach, the eutomatic tightening of my museles, the exoess flow of venom in my mouth. "This wad all quite notnel, usually easy to ignore. Tt was harder just now, with the {feelings stronger, doubled, as I monitored Jasper'seaction. Twin thirsts, rather than just “Tasper was letting his imagination get away from him. He was picturing it— picturing immself geting up from his seat next to Alice snd going to stand beside the lit (Bi. Thinking of ening down and t, as ifhe were going to whisper inher ear, end. letting his lips touch the arch af her throat. Imagining how the hot flow of ber pulse, ‘beneath the fine ckin would feel under his movth, kicked his chair ‘He met my gaze fora minute; and then looked dovwn, Teould hear shame and rebellion war inhis head. "Sony." Jasper muttered. Ishiugged. “You weren't going todo anything,” Alice iurmored to him, soothing his chagrin, “Toul see that* “fought back the grimace that would giveher ie away. We had wostick together, ‘Alice and 1. It was’teasy, hearing voices r seeing visions ofthe foture, Bath freaks. atnong those who wece already feaks. We protected each other's secrets. ee| Tehelps a lite if you think of them as people,” Alice suggested, her high, ‘musical voie too fast for human ears to understand, if any had been close enough to hhear. “Hername is Whitney. She has a baby sister she adores. Her mother invited Esme to that garden paty, do you remember?" “Tknow who she is," Jasper said curly. He tured away to stare out one of the ‘all windows that were spaced just under the eaves around the long coven. His tone ended the conversation, 2 ee ee Mould have fo hunt tonight. was tiiculous to take risks like this, ying to {est hig stength, to build his endgrance. Jasper should just aovept his limitations and ‘woik within them. His former habits were not conducive to our chosen lifestyle; he shoulda’t push himsel in his way. Alice sighed silently and stood, taking her tray of food-—her prop, as it were-— With hee and leaving hin alone, She knew when he'd had enough of her encouragement. ‘Though Resilie and Emmett were more flagrant about thet elationship; twas Alice and Jasper who knew each other's every mood as well as their own, Asif they could read "minds, too—only just each other's Eéward Cullen, Reflex reaction, [tamed o the sound of my.nsme being calied, though it wasn’t: being called, jst thought, - My eyes locked fora small portion of «second witha pair of wide, chocolate. brown human eyes set is pale, heat-shaped face, Thmew the face, haugh I'd never geen it mytelf before this moment. It had been foremost in every human head today. The "ew student, Iabella Swén. Daughter ofthe town’s chief of police, bouht to live here by some nev custody situation, Vella. She'd corrected everyone who'd used het fall Looked avay, bored..It took me a second to realize that she had not been the one to think my name, Ofcourse she's already crushing on the Cullens, Uheacd the fist thought * continue. Now Isecognized the ‘voice." jessica Stanley —it had been a while since she'd bothered me with her intemal chater. What a relief t had been when she'd goten over hee misplaced infatuation. 1 used to be nearly impossible to escape her constant, Ficiculous daydreams, I'd wished, atthe time, that Leould explain to hee exactly what ould have happened if my lips, and the teeth behind them, had gotten anyowtee near her, That would have silenced those annoying fantasies. ‘The thought of her reaction almost imade me smile Fat lo of good it ill do her, Jessica went on, She's really not even pretty. 1 ‘don’t know why Eric is staring 80 much..or Mike. ‘She winced mientally on the last name. Heraew infatuation, the gevesically Popular Mike Newion, was completely oblivious t ber, Apparently, he was no as ‘Oblivion to the new girl, Like the child with the shiny object again. "This put a mean ‘edge to Jessica's thoughts, though she was outwazdly cordial to the neweomet as she ‘explained to her the commonly beld knowledge aboat my family. ‘The new student raust have asked aboutus Everyone's looking at me today, too; Jessica thought smugly in an aside. Lent it lucky Bella had too classes with me...'t bet Mike vill want to ask me wl she"{ed boc the inane chater ot of my head befor the ety sod the tal could drive me mad. att Sterley i giving he new Swan ial the ty andy on the Callen len,” Trurmored to Emmaet as a distraction, Hhapuclled under his breath, Thope she's makin it god, he thought ‘Tees umimaginave, actully: It the bars ht of senda, Nes ounce of hocros. I'm atl disappointed ™ 5 cs sort of my responsibilty to know her eacton, Tacted aba lookout, for >, for my family. To protect us, Teanyone ever grew suspicious, T Ick ofa beter wo ihe eae erkeon tose same wide brown eyes. She waiting ight rene Read ben before and looking aus, anal hing tbe done, supposed, as ‘Tesrea ya il egaling her withthe loca gossip shout the alin ‘Thinking about us, too, would be natural, But Leoulda’t hese a whispec sri warm red stained he chesks as she ooked down, away fom the sar gratting Ente of geting caught staring ata sttanger, I wee good that Jasper was sontrate te window. Tidn' tke w imagine wha tate pooling of blood ‘would do to his contol, sergio had ben as ler on her faze aif they wee spelled atin words dine foehead: surprises she unknowingly absorbed the aig ote cae ‘Btereces between her kind and min, cuit, ashe listened hens tale, and inn tzs thing 'd ever encountered before. Was ther something wrong with 7m? Tfeucxacty tho same as Lalways did, Word, llsemed havea ‘Ailth voices Y'd been blocking were suddeny showing in my head. re aga music she lites..maybe could mention that new CD. Mike Newton was thinking, tw tables asvay—finated on Bella aceLook at him staring at her. I's it enough hat he has half the girls in school Apaitng for him to... ie Yorkie was thinking sulfwous thoughts, also revolving sround the gh 0 disgusting. You'd think she was famous or something... Even Edward Callen staring... Lauren Mallory was so jealous that her face, by al sights, should be ark ade in color. And Jessica flaunting her new bestfriend What a joke . Vitool continued to spew from the gitl's thoughts, Abeteveryone has asked her that. But I'élike to alk to her. Tl think ofa ‘more original question... Ashley Dowling mused, smaybe she'll be in.my Spanish... June Richardson hoped, tons tet to dotonight!. Tri, andthe English tet. Thope my mom... Angela ‘Weber, a quiet gic, whose thoughts ere unusually kind, was the only one a the table: ‘who wasn't obsessed with this Bella ‘ould hea them all, hear every insignificant thing they were thinking as it passed tuough theic minds. But nothing a al rom the new student with the deceptively ‘communicative eyes. ° ‘And, ofcourse, Toould hear what the girl said when she spoke to Jessica, I didn’t have to read minds to be able to hear her low, clear voice on the fc side ofthe long root. “Which one isthe boy with the reddish brown halt?" [heard her ask, sealing a {ook at me from the comer of her eye, only to look quickly away when she saw tat es still staring. * JET a had tine to hope that hearing the sound of her voice would help me pinpoint the tone of her thoughts, lost somewhere where Teouldn’t access them. { was instantly