Chapter-by-Chapter: Twilight, Chapter 19

I ran out of time to get this posted last week so to save myself from rushing, because I'm lazy and this is my blog so I can kind of do what I want, I decided not to worry, shared a random knitting-related post and held off posting this until this week.

It does mean there's been a bit of a gap since the last Twilight post, suffice to say it was a relatively short chapter with a plan being formulated to evacuate Bella from Forks with some help of the Cullens (some were more helpful than others). If you remember, the local tracker has taken a fancy to our favourite whiny, clumsy teenager. I'm sure he'd soon come to regret that.

So now we're finally on to Chapter 19 of Twilight: Goodbyes.

What Happens?

The plan is put into action with Bella packing, faking a break up and yelling at her dad to let her go. Bella, Edward and the others reconvene at the Cullen's house. The tracker is determined to get Bella so they divide up; a couple of them are accompanying Bella while the others are off to kill the tracker.

Thoughts as I read:

This chapter is called 'Goodbyes' so I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Bella will say goodbye in this chapter. Probably to Edward and Charlie. Maybe to someone else.
Charlie's been waiting for Bella but before they get out of the car Edward has to mentally check that the tracker's not anywhere close by. Luckily for them, he's not.

I felt moisture filling up my eyes as I looked at Emmett. I barely knew him, and yet, somehow, not knowing when I would see him again after tonight anguishing. I knew this was just a faint taste of the goodbyes I would have to survive in the next hour, and the thought made the tears begin to spill.

This means Bella is sad.

They've got fifteen minutes for Alice and Emmett to help get Bella out of there. Of course, first Bella has to waste some time telling Edward how much she loves him. Jeez Bella, get a move on, you're on the clock here! It turns out she's doing this because it's a ruse to make Charlie believe that the reason she's leaving is because she's having a raging argument with Edward. She does it wonderfully loudly so Charlie can't help but overhear.

Bella then storms into the house, starts packing her things and yelling that she's leaving. I guess this kind of works although I still can't imagine Charlie is going to let his daughter just drive off into the night in that state. Of course, Charlie immediately suspects that Edward did something to her. Bella's quick to disabuse him of that notion and announces that she has broken up with him.

Meanwhile, Edward's zoomed up the stairs to help her pack before zooming back out via the window to wait for her downstairs. That's definitely a handy skill to have in a pinch.

Right about now, Bella realises that I was right. Charlie might be a somewhat unconventional parent but he's not a terrible father. He's definitely not going to let Bella go like this, so first she has to break his heart:

"I do like him – that's the problem. I can't do this anymore! I can't put down any more roots here! I don't want to end up trapped in this stupid, boring town like Mom! I'm not going to make the same dumb mistake she did. I hate it – I can't stay here another minute!"

Nicely done, Bella.

It's not enough though. Charlie's obviously hurt by what she's said but pleads with her to wait a week. Renee's not having such a good time in Florida and so she and Phil will be heading home soon. Bella can go back to them then. Perhaps Bella would've known this if she ever actually made contact with her mother.

But Bella's not going to take no for an answer. She's got a key to the house in Phoenix. She doesn't need an adult to be waiting for her, so she's off. Having probably totally destroyed any ground she'd gained in her relationship with her father.

With that out the way, she gets in the car, crying. Edward's pleading with her to pull over. That's a bit of a role reversal, isn't it? Except, unlike previous journeys where Bella's been begging Edward to stop the car, Edward somehow manages to pull Bella out of the driver's seat and takes over driving, all without stopping the car. That's impressive.

Alice is following them. As is the tracker. That's a bit of a pain. At least it appears that the tracker has heard what Bella said to Charlie, meaning that it was a definite case of being cruel to be kind; Bella's broken his heart but saved his life.

There's a bit of a scary moment when a dark shape jumps on the truck. It's okay though, it's Emmett.

On the rest of the journey Edward tries to make small talk, attempting to reassure Bella that Charlie will forgive her for what she said. Bella's still worrying about the plan and Edward's blaming himself for putting her in danger. It's actually more than partially Bella's fault. It's just that she smells so good. Then again, Edward didn't exactly help matters by getting all Alpha and defending her. We do get a brief lesson in smelly humans. In short, Bella appeals to Edward but she smells like a nice roast chicken dinner to most other vampires.

It's bad news for the tracker though. Now he's after Bella, Edward's going to have to kill him. Does this mean we'll find out just how vampires die? Edward actually seems pretty sad that having to kill another vampire means he'll disappoint Carlisle.

I can't feel too sad about this though because Bella asks the very question I want to know the answer to:

"How can you kill a vampire?"
He glanced at me with unreadable eyes and his voice was suddenly harsh. "The only way to be sure is to tear him to shreds, and then burn the pieces."

That's… nice.

Unfortunately the woman is very likely to defend the tracker, James (I'm so glad he's finally been mentioned by name because I completely forgot his name). So while Edward's trying to kill James, his companions are likely to be trying to kill him right back. Bella freaks out a little at this.

At the house Bella is hustled inside where the Cullens are waiting with Laurent. He's dismayed to learn that James is after Bella. There's a little revelation here; James is actually Laurent's leader and nothing will stop him once he's got his sights set on something.

Laurent was shaking his head. He glanced at me, perplexed, and back to Carlisle. "Are you sure it's worth it?"

Eh, tough call.

Laurent is tempted to stay with Carlisle but he can't do battle against James. So he's offski. He's just not wanting to get involved, but I suppose it's something that he's not wanting to get involved with the whole trying to kill Edward thing.

Esme's activated the security barriers on the windows. The tracker's still hanging around with Victoria. The teens fill in Carlisle on the plan. They have to help hide the (irresistible) smell of Bella, so Edward tells Rosalie to go trade clothes with Bella. Rosalie refuses:

"Why should I?" she hissed. "What is she to me? Except a menace – a danger you've chosen to inflict on all of us."

I don't really blame her.

Esme does it instead. Why do they have to keep carrying her everywhere? At least swapping clothes will help confuse the Bella-scent and so keep the tracker at bay a little while longer. After this has been done Bella's 'half-carried' downstairs.

And despite Rosalie's hatred of Bella, she's taking the truck with Esme, so at least she's still happy to help. Alice and Jasper are taking Bella in some sports car (fast getaway), while Carlisle and Edward are in the Jeep. They're off hunting.

There's a brief moment with Bella and Edward and then they all separate. We get to see a sweet little moment when Jasper knows what she's feeling, apparently that's a sense of not being worth all this trouble. And then Alice shows up to carry Bella to the car.

They're all off.

This has been a short but fairly busy chapter. Bella's plan to get away from Charlie was obviously way more effective than I was expecting. I couldn't imagine Charlie letting her go so I'm expecting him to try following her. I'm curious about what will happen next because I'm not sure three teens can escape in a sports car without arousing suspicion.

Questions raised today:

• Are we really supposed to believe that Charlie is going to just let his daughter drive off after an argument?
• Just how is Edward able to swap seats with Bella without stopping the car?
• Why does Bella smell so good to vampires?
• Will we find out how vampires die soon? Yup.
• Why do they all keep carrying Bella everywhere?