The gravity of the earth no longer tied me to the place where I stood.
It was the baby girl in the blond vampire‘s arms that held me here now.
Renesmee.
Breaking Dawn BOOK THREE
19. SMASHING PUMPKINS, ―TODAY‖
Chapter 20 Everything was so clear.
Sharp. Defined.
The brilliant light overhead was still blinding-bright, and yet I could plainly see the glowing strands of the filaments inside the bulb. I could see each color of the rainbow in the white light, and, at the very edge of the spectrum, an eighth color I had no name for.
20. RIGHT SAID FRED, ―I‘M TOO SEXY‖
Chapter 20 My first reaction was an unthinking pleasure. The alien creature in the glass was indisputably beautiful, every bit as beautiful as Alice or Esme. She was fluid even in stillness, and her flawless face was pale as the moon against the frame of her dark, heavy hair.
Her limbs were smooth and strong, skin glistening subtly, luminous as a pearl.
21. THE TEMPER TRAP, ―SWEET DISPOSITION‖
Chapter 27 And I was euphoric the vast majority of the time. The days were not long enough for me to get my fill of adoring my daughter; the nights did not have enough hours to satisfy my need for Edward.
22. LINKIN PARK, ―PTS.OF.ATHRTY‖
Chapter 28 ―The Volturi,‖ Alice moaned.
―All of them,‖ Edward groaned at the same time.
―Why?‖ Alice whispered to herself. ―How?‖
―When?‖ Edward whispered.
―Why?‖ Esme echoed.
―When?‖ Jasper repeated in a voice like splintering ice.
Alice‘s eyes didn‘t blink, but it was as if a veil covered them; they became perfectly blank. Only her mouth held on to her expression of horror.
―Not long,‖ she and Edward said together. Then she spoke alone. ―There‘s snow on the forest, snow on the town. Little more than a month.‖
23. 3 DOORS DOWN, ―DUCK AND RUN‖
Chapter 29 ―I‘m not going down without a fight,‖ Emmett snarled low under his breath.
―Alice told us what to do. Let‘s get it done.‖
The others nodded with determined expressions, and I realized that they were banking on whatever chance Alice had given us. That they were not going to give in to hopelessness and wait to die.
Yes, we all would fight. What else was there? And apparently we would involve others, because Alice had said so before she‘d left us. How could we not follow Alice‘s last warning?
The wolves, too, would fight with us for Renesmee.
We would fight, they would fight, and we all would die.
We would fight, they would fight, and we all would die.
24. SIMON AND GARFUNKEL, ―HAZY SHADE OF WINTER‖
Chapter 33 And then my smile faded. Alice had sent me here for a reason, and I was sure it was to protect Renesmee. Her last gift to me. The one thing she would know I needed…
It was as I had suspected. We couldn‘t win. But we must have a good shot at killing Demetri before we lost, giving Renesmee the chance to run.
My still heart felt like a boulder in my chest — a crushing weight. All my hope faded like fog in the sunshine. My eyes pricked.
25. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, ―I WILL FOLLOW YOU INTO THE
DARK‖
Chapter 35 Edward cocked one eyebrow as I approached, but otherwise did not remark on my accessory or Renesmee‘s. He just put his arms tight around us both for one long moment and then, with a deep sigh, let us go. I couldn‘t see a goodbye anywhere in his eyes. Maybe he had more hope for something after this life than he‘d let on.
26. MUSE, ―INTRO [ABSOLUTION]‖
Chapter 35 Another minute ticked by, and I found myself straining to hear some sound of approach.
And then Edward stiffened and hissed low between his clenched teeth. His eyes focused on the forest due north of where we stood.
We stared where he did, and waited as the last seconds passed.
27. MUSE, ―TAKE A BOW‖
Chapter 36 They came with pageantry, with a kind of beauty.
They came in a rigid, formal formation. They moved together, but it was not a march; they flowed in perfect synchronicity from the trees — a dark, unbroken shape that seemed to hover a few inches above the white snow, so smooth was the advance.
The outer perimeter was gray; the color darkened with each line of bodies until the heart of the formation was deepest black. Every face was cowled, shadowed. The faint brushing sound of their feet was so regular it was like music, a complicated beat that never faltered.
At some sign I did not see — or perhaps there was no sign, only millennia of practice — the configuration folded outward. The motion was too stiff, too square to resemble the opening of a flower, though the color suggested that; it was the opening of a fan, graceful but very angular.
The gray-cloaked figures spread to the flanks while the darker forms surged precisely forward in the center, each movement closely controlled.
Their progress was slow but deliberate, with no hurry, no tension, no anxiety.
Their progress was slow but deliberate, with no hurry, no tension, no anxiety. It was the pace of the invincible.
28. MUSE, ―ASSASSIN‖
Garrett‘s perspective
Chapter 37 ―We have the answer to all these questions. We heard it in Aro‘s lying words — we have one with a gift of knowing such things for certain — and we see it now in Caius‘s eager smile. Their guard is just a mindless weapon, a tool in their masters‘ quest for domination.
―So now there are more questions, questions that you must answer. Who rules you, nomads? Do you answer to someone‘s will besides your own? Are you free to choose your path, or will the Volturi decide how you will live?
―I came to witness. I stay to fight. The Volturi care nothing for the death of the child.
They seek the death of our free will.‖
He turned, then, to face the ancients. ―So come, I say! Let‘s hear no more lying rationalizations. Be honest in your intents as we will be honest in ours. We will defend our freedom. You will or will not attack it. Choose now, and let these witnesses see the true issue debated here.‖
29. OK GO, ―INVINCIBLE‖
Chapter 38 I could taste it as soon as it touched my shield — it had a dense, sweet, cloying flavor. It made me remember dimly the numbness of Novocain on my tongue.
The mist curled upward, seeking a breach, a weakness. It found none. The fingers of searching haze twisted upward and around, trying to find a way in, and in the process illustrating the astonishing size of the protective screen.
There were gasps on both sides of Benjamin‘s gorge.
―Well done, Bella!‖ Benjamin cheered in a low voice.
My smile returned.
I could see Alec‘s narrowed eyes, doubt on his face for the first time as his mist swirled harmlessly around the edges of my shield.