Solstice

WORRIES

'That was... interesting.' Edward leant against a tree, legs crossed loosely at the ankle. His posture was relaxed, but his eyes were wary. 'Even after seven years, I have never quite overcome my anxiety when watching you wrestle with wild beasts.'

I stood upright – a sixteenth of a second and I went from horizontal to vertical – and grinned at him. 'Emmett got me curious. He said wrestling with anacondas was the greatest fun he'd had in decades. I had to try for myself.' I flung the remains of the smooth, muscled creature into the undergrowth and beamed at him, a coaxing look in my eyes. 'Mission accomplished. I have nothing else to achieve here. So – can we go home now?'

Edward rolled his eyes. 'So eager to leave. We've only been here a month –'

'And you know why I want to leave. I don't like it, Edward.' My smile faded; my voice was sharp with anxiety. Edward crossed the short gap between us and wrapped his arms around my waist, his cheek pressed against my neck. He allowed his teeth to graze the skin of my throat. I shivered and pulled back. 'Now is not the time for that, Edward.'

'You're right.' He released me. 'We need to talk.'

I looked from him to the little party across the river who chattered away, oblivious to my fears. 'Let's get out of here. Guys?' I raised my voice and Nessie and Jacob, standing over the body of a giant jungle cat, turned to look at me. 'We're going off for a bit – see you at home.' Jacob waved cheerfully, but Ness watched me, her chocolate-brown gaze unblinking. Finally, she nodded. I turned on my heel and sprinted through the Amazonian jungle where we'd travelled for a month-long vacation, staying with the vampires Kachiri, Senna and Zafrina. So very different from the woods and forests of home: the air was moist, almost thick enough to cut and soft as velvet against my skin, and the lush foliage overwhelmed me with its greenness. I could hear Edward hard on my heels. Gentlemanly as ever, he let me take the lead: he could easily outrun me, seeming to turn into a near-invisible blur when he really began to sprint. After twenty or so miles, we slowed and stopped. I could detect no hint of human activity or presence in the scented air. I dropped on to the trunk of a fallen tree, careless of my jeans – Alice never let us wear the same clothes twice, anyway – and stared up at Edward.

'You know why I'm worried.'

He only nodded, his lips tight, and stared into the distance.

The vacation had seemed like such a good idea. We'd lived up near Anchorage, close to the Denali clan, for six short months – part of the Cullens' usual subterfuge: it was unwise for so many of us to stay too long in any town, no matter how small and insignificant it might be. A family of physically perfect individuals, all with the same, strange gold eyes and ice-white, freezing cold skin who repelled the fragile humans around them, stood out like a sore thumb. We tried to be inconspicuous – we had to be; if the humans caught on to the fact that we weren't like them, that we were something more, the Volturi would come down on us... but the fact that we never aged, that if we weren't careful we did distinctly inhuman things, meant that we were always on the move. And then we moved again, for a job Carlisle was offered – a research job, one that involved caring for children with leukaemia. So back south we went: we were now only about a hundred miles from Forks. Ness, who had reached her full growth half a year ago, had complained endlessly about having to leave Forks. She had known nothing and nowhere else in her short, but hugely accelerated life: she didn't want to leave Charlie and Sue, now happily married, or Billy. And she certainly hadn't wanted to leave the wolf pack. The thought of being parted from Jacob had caused her actual physical pain.

Then. Had caused her actual physical pain then.

I bit my lip, sighing, and Edward's eyes flashed to my face.