Edward wasn’t happy.

     “I waited in the road to die. It was cold, though there was so much pain that I was surprised it bothered
me. It started to snow, and I wondered why I wasn’t dying. I was impatient for death to come, to end the
pain. It was taking so long. . . .
     “Carlisle found me then. He’d smelled the blood, and come to investigate. I remember being vaguely
irritated as he worked over me, trying to save my life. I’d never liked Dr. Cullen or his wife and her brother —
as Edward pretended to be then. It had upset me that they were all more beautiful than I was, especially that
the men were. But they didn’t mingle in society, so I’d only seen them once or twice.
     “I thought I’d died when he pulled me from the ground and ran with me — because of the speed — it felt
like I was flying. I remembered being horrified that the pain didn’t stop. . . .
     “Then I was in a bright room, and it was warm. I was slipping away, and I was grateful as the pain began
to dull. But suddenly something sharp was cutting me, my throat, my wrists, my ankles. I screamed in shock,
thinking he’d brought me there to hurt me more. Then fire started burning through me, and I didn’t care about
anything else. I begged him to kill me. When Esme and Edward returned home, I begged them to kill me, too.
Carlisle sat with me. He held my hand and said that he was so sorry, promising that it would end. He told me
everything, and sometimes I listened. He told me what he was, what I was becoming. I didn’t believe him. He

apologized each time I screamed.
    “Edward wasn’t happy. I remember hearing them discuss me. I stopped screaming sometimes. It did no
good to scream.
    “‘What were you thinking, Carlisle?’ Edward said. ‘Rosalie Hale?’” Rosalie imitated Edward’s irritated
tone to perfection. “I didn’t like the way he said my name, like there was something wrong with me.
    “‘I couldn’t just let her die,’ Carlisle said quietly. ‘It was too much — too horrible, too much waste.’
    “‘I know,’ Edward said, and I thought he sounded dismissive. It angered me. I didn’t know then that he
really could see exactly what Carlisle had seen.
    “‘It was too much waste. I couldn’t leave her,’ Carlisle repeated in a whisper.
    “‘Of course you couldn’t,’ Esme agreed.
    “‘People die all the time,’ Edward reminded him in a hard voice. ‘Don’t you think she’s just a little
recognizable, though? The Kings will have to put up a huge search — not that anyone suspects the fiend,’ he
growled.
    “It pleased me that they seemed to know that Royce was guilty.
    “I didn’t realize that it was almost over — that I was getting stronger and that was why I was able to
concentrate on what they were saying. The pain was beginning to fade from my fingertips.
    “‘What are we going to do with her?’ Edward said disgustedly — or that’s how it sounded to me, at least.
    “Carlisle sighed. ‘That’s up to her, of course. She may want to go her own way.’