In the last chapter, which we read a couple of weeks ago now, Bella was found badly injured and Edward had to suck out the venom from a vampire bite inflicted by the tracker. It was a very short chapter which was clearly just building up to this much longer one.
On with Chapter 24: An Impasse.
What Happens?
Bella comes round in hospital to find Edward there. Her parents have been fed a line about a nasty accident and Renee has even come to see her. The tracker has been disposed of, Renee and Phil are moving to Florida and Bella announces her plans to stay in Forks. She has an argument with Edward about whether or not he'll turn her into a vampire though in the end they agree to disagree on this one.
Thoughts as I read:
I've heard things about the next book and about Edward not being in it for a fair bit (which is a plus point for several readers) so I'm guessing something will happen in this last chapter which means he has to go. Perhaps sucking out another vampire's venom has done something to him. Or perhaps the tracker isn't actually dead yet and there's some sort of stalemate going on; perhaps he's agreed to leave Bella alone if he gets Alice back or something.
It wouldn't be a proper chapter of Twilight if it didn't begin with Bella coming round:
My eyes opened to a bright, white light. I was in an
unfamiliar room, a white room. The wall beside me was covered in long vertical
blinds; over my head, the glaring lights blinded me. I was propped up on a hard,
uneven bed – a bed with rails. The pillows were flat and lumpy. There was an
annoying beeping sound somewhere close by. I hoped that meant I was still alive.
Death shouldn't be this uncomfortable.
Did you get that? It's bright. And white. And there are lights.
Did we mention it was bright?
She's clearly in hospital. And Edward's there. Do her parents even
know what's happened to her yet?
Over the page Edward answers my question. Alice called Renee and
Charlie. Of the two of them, Renee came. Does that mean Charlie's not yet
forgiven Bella for the way she stormed out? I can't wait to hear how they
explain just how Bella came to be lying in a hospital bed with a broken leg and
minus several pints of blood.
"You fell down two flights of stairs and through a window."
He paused. "You have to admit, it could happen."
Hehe, he does have a point.
Bella, at least, is on the mend now. Despite the blood
transfusions that made her smell wrong to Edward. That's a nice touch actually
because I suppose if it's the smell of someone's blood that you're attracted to,
a transfusion would make them smell wrong. I want more stuff like that in these
books. I wonder if that would mean vampires could be like sniffer dogs for
things like leukaemia and diabetes.
Bella doesn't find any of this fascinating. She wants to know how
Edward did 'it'. I guess she means, how did he not get carried away when he was
sucking on her hand. Well, he claims it was 'impossible' and yet he managed it,
so clearly now as impossible as all that then.
There's an awkward moment because despite being happy Bella is now
conscious and not dead or anything, Edward's kind of peeved that she tried to
well and truly leave him by getting all dead and eaten. This doesn't last long
because then Bella changes the subject to ask what happened to James, who is the
tracker who they've avoided calling by name for something like the last eight
chapters!
"After I pulled him off you, Emmett and Jasper took care of
him." There was a fierce note of regret in his voice.
This confused me. "I didn't see Emmett and Jasper there."
"They had to leave the room… there was a lot of blood."
This confused me. "I didn't see Emmett and Jasper there."
"They had to leave the room… there was a lot of blood."
Ugh. We're getting answers without any real information. It's all.
'I fixed you', 'we got rid of him' without any of the hows or whys. That's so
frustrating. We also find out that Alice knows James created her, but we don't
get any of the reaction to that either. I actually wouldn't have minded the book
being longer if that could've been included here. I really hope we see more of
Alice's story in the future books, though I seriously doubt that we will.
After this Edward mocks Bella for not liking to have a needle in
her hand but feeling fine about facing certain death in the form of a vampire
who wants to eat her. He does have kind of a point, though when I was in
hospital for my egg retrieval I wasn't all that nervous about the actual op, but
getting the needle in my hand before it freaked me out, so I can't really
comment.
Changing the subject slightly, Bella quizzes Edward on what she's
supposed to say to her Mum. It sounds about as plausible as you'd expect:
"I came to Phoenix to talk some sense into you, to convince
you to come back to Forks." His wide eyes were so earnest and sincere, I almost
believed him myself. "You agreed to see me, and you drove me out to the hotel
where I was staying with Carlisle and Alice – of course I was here with parental
supervision," he inserted virtuously, "but you tripped on the stairs on the way
to my room and… well, you know the rest. You don't need to remember any details,
though; you have a good excuse to be a little muddled about the finer
points."
Personally it sounds like a cover up, perhaps for something like
Edward flipping out and throwing her down the stairs when she refused to get
back together with him.
Bella meanwhile is distracted by the lack of corroborating
evidence, but no fear, Alice has handled all that.
When Edward touches Bella it makes her heart monitor change.
That's kind of a fun game to play next time you're hooked up to one of those
monitors; picture different things (I'm talking relaxing scenes, people, not
getting felt up by a vampire, but y'know, whatever floats your boat) and then
see how it makes your heart monitor change. Personally I've never imagined
making out with a vampire. Just as well really because one kiss from Edward
seems to stop Bella's heart!
Then he hears Renee coming, so pretends to have a nap. Bella has to
reassure he mum everything's okay, because that's how the parent-child
relationship should work when you're a teenager. Bella's been out of it for a
while which has given Renee ample time to get to know Alice and Carlisle.
Renee has some news for Bella; Phil's been signed for whatever
sport it is he plays (is it golf?) so they'll be moving to Florida. Of course
Bella now has no plans to move anywhere, she's going to be staying in Forks.
Unsurprisingly Renee is shocked by this news. After all, Bella
hates Forks, she said as much to Charlie right before she left. But now she's
got Edward back and he's changed her mind. There's a discussion about how Bella
loves Edward and he obviously loves her. Renee makes out that she's all worried
about her daughter, but then hurries off because Phil's due to call soon. So
worried about her daughter, but husband gets top priority. Fair enough.
Before she goes Renee does mention that she's not too keen to go
home because there's been an increase in crime in the area; like the dance
studio that was burned down. Aha! I was right!
With Renee gone, Edward and Bella can chat again. Edward seems to
have changed his tune all of a sudden. Bella tells him he couldn't have gone to
Florida because of the whole sparkling in the sunlight thing, but Edward says
he'd have stayed away so he couldn't hurt her any more.
Bella makes Edward promise he won't leave, which he does, calms
her down and then points out that he's kind of the reason she's in hospital.
This is sort of true, though by the same token, what's to say that the tracker
wouldn't have found Bella when he came to Forks anyway, and that would've put
her in a worse situation because she wouldn't have known anything about
vampires. Instead Bella just reasons that he's the reason she's alive, but he's
also the reason she needed saving in the first place.
Seriously Edweird, what's with this mood swing? A minute ago he
seemed happy and was smiling about Bella coming back to Forks and now he's got
his panties in a knot. Part of the problem appears to have been the whole
'sucking Bella's blood to save her life' thing; he wanted to keep going. And
that's set off another mood swing.
I have no idea how all of this has escalated. They do keep talking
though, presumably because neither of them are in a position to storm off and
leave right now.
Bella starts on about why Edward didn't just let her turn into a
vampire. There's something here about how they need to save each other. Edward's
always saving Bella but he claims Bella has saved him. He's also pissed that
Alice actually told Bella so much about how vampires are made.
This is all because Bella has decided that she actually wants to
be turned into a vampire so she and Edward can truly be together forever. Needy
girlfriend much? I think I sense a break up coming on. She claims that she could
handle the pain and fobs Edward off with something about how her parents would
deal with it. He's still refusing. Stick to your guns, man! If you turn her,
you'll be stuck with her FOR-E-V-E-R!
Now Bella is annoyed because she's getting older. Edward is
annoyed because he's not.
Time to try a new approach; Alice might do it for Bella. This just
makes Edward angrier. Apparently one of the visions Alice saw was vampire!Bella.
Of course it doesn't necessarily mean anything because she also saw dead!Bella
and these things can change. Alice's visions have a touch of the Mirror of
Galadriel about them, don't they?
And so we come to the title. The pair of them are at an impasse.
And just like that the argument is over and Edward is ordering Bella more pain
relief. At least they have finally stopped the arguing and despite the earlier
conversation, Edward's promising to stay. Still, Bella gets one more dig in
before she passes out:
"I'm betting on Alice," I mumbled.
And then the night closed over me.
And then the night closed over me.
I'm really disappointed that we didn't get more fall out from the
tracker thing, especially with Alice. Unless that comes up in another book, I
think Stephenie Meyer missed a real opportunity there.
And also, why do Bella and Edward have to argue about every damn
thing?!
And now for today's questions:
-
Do Bella's parents know what's happened to her?Yes, or rather, they know a made up Cullen version of what happened. -
Has Charlie forgiven Bella for what she said before she left?
-
If vampires can smell changes in a person's blood, could they be used in the diagnosis of cancers and illnesses like diabetes?
-
Just how did the vampires get rid of James?
-
How did Alice react when she found out what James did to her?
-
What sport does Phil play again?
-
Why all the arguing between Bella and Edward?
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