Stephenie Meyer - Twilight

Text copyright 2005 by Stephenie Meyer

All rights reserved.

Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Visit our Web site at www.lb-teens.com

First eBook Edition: July 2007

Summary: When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.

ISBN: 978-0-316-16017-9

For my big sister, Emily, without whose enthusiasm this story might still be unfinished.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,

thou shalt not eat of it:

for in the day that thou eatest thereof

thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 2:17

ID NEVER GIVEN MUCH THOUGHT TO HOW I WOULD die though Id had reason enough in the last few months but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.

I stared without breathing across the long room, into the dark eyes of the hunter, and he looked pleasantly back at me.

Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something.

I knew that if Id never gone to Forks, I wouldnt be facing death now. But, terrified as I was, I couldnt bring myself to regret the decision. When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, its not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.

The hunter smiled in a friendly way as he sauntered forward to kill me.

MY MOTHER DROVE ME TO THE AIRPORT WITH THE windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka.

In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America. It was from this town and its gloomy, omnipresent shade that my mother escaped with me when I was only a few months old. It was in this town that Id been compelled to spend a month every summer until I was fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these past three summers, my dad, Charlie, vacationed with me in California for two weeks instead.

It was to Forks that I now exiled myself an action that I took with great horror. I detested Forks.

I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the blistering heat. I loved the vigorous, sprawling city.

Bella, my mom said to me the last of a thousand times before I got on the plane. You dont have to do this.

My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, harebrained mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Phil now, so the bills would probably get paid, there would be food in the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she got lost, but still...

I want to go, I lied. Id always been a bad liar, but Id been saying this lie so frequently lately that it sounded almost convincing now.

Tell Charlie I said hi.

I will.

Ill see you soon, she insisted. You can come home whenever you want Ill come right back as soon as you need me.

But I could see the sacrifice in her eyes behind the promise.

Dont worry about me, I urged. Itll be great. I love you, Mom.

She hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I got on the plane, and she was gone.

Its a four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle, another hour in a small plane up to Port Angeles, and then an hour drive back down to Forks. Flying doesnt bother me; the hour in the car with Charlie, though, I was a little worried about.

Charlie had really been fairly nice about the whole thing. He seemed genuinely pleased that I was coming to live with him for the first time with any degree of permanence. Hed already gotten me registered for high school and was going to help me get a car.

But it was sure to be awkward with Charlie. Neither of us was what anyone would call verbose, and I didnt know what there was to say regardless. I knew he was more than a little confused by my decision like my mother before me, I hadnt made a secret of my distaste for Forks.

When I landed in Port Angeles, it was raining. I didnt see it as an omen just unavoidable. Id already said my goodbyes to the sun.

Charlie was waiting for me with the cruiser. This I was expecting, too. Charlie is Police Chief Swan to the good people of Forks. My primary motivation behind buying a car, despite the scarcity of my funds, was that I refused to be driven around town in a car with red and blue lights on top. Nothing slows down traffic like a cop.

Charlie gave me an awkward, one-armed hug when I stumbled my way off the plane.

Its good to see you, Bells, he said, smiling as he automatically caught and steadied me. You havent changed much. Hows Rene?

Moms fine. Its good to see you, too, Dad. I wasnt allowed to call him Charlie to his face.

I had only a few bags. Most of my Arizona clothes were too permeable for Washington. My mom and I had pooled our resources to supplement my winter wardrobe, but it was still scanty. It all fit easily into the trunk of the cruiser.

I found a good car for you, really cheap, he announced when we were strapped in.

What kind of car? I was suspicious of the way he said good car for you as opposed to just good car.

Well, its a truck actually, a Chevy.

Where did you find it?

Do you remember Billy Black down at La Push? La Push is the tiny Indian reservation on the coast.

No.

He used to go fishing with us during the summer, Charlie prompted.

That would explain why I didnt remember him. I do a good job of blocking painful, unnecessary things from my memory.

Hes in a wheelchair now, Charlie continued when I didnt respond, so he cant drive anymore, and he offered to sell me his truck cheap.

What year is it? I could see from his change of expression that this was the question he was hoping I wouldnt ask.

Well, Billys done a lot of work on the engine its only a few years old, really.

I hoped he didnt think so little of me as to believe I would give up that easily. When did he buy it?

He bought it in 1984, I think.

Did he buy it new?

Well, no. I think it was new in the early sixties or late fifties at the earliest, he admitted sheepishly.

Ch Dad, I dont really know anything about cars. I wouldnt be able to fix it if anything went wrong, and I couldnt afford a mechanic....

Really, Bella, the thing runs great. They dont build them like that anymore.

The thing, I thought to myself... it had possibilities as a nickname, at the very least.

How cheap is cheap? After all, that was the part I couldnt compromise on.

Well, honey, I kind of already bought it for you. As a homecoming gift. Charlie peeked sideways at me with a hopeful expression.

Wow. Free.

You didnt need to do that, Dad. I was going to buy myself a car.

I dont mind. I want you to be happy here. He was looking ahead at the road when he said this. Charlie wasnt comfortable with expressing his emotions out loud. I inherited that from him. So I was looking straight ahead as I responded.

Thats really nice, Dad. Thanks. I really appreciate it. No need to add that my being happy in Forks is an impossibility. He didnt need to suffer along with me. And I never looked a free truck in the mouth or engine.