New Moon

They reach the city gates, where the lot is full, and cars are turned away. Alice bribes the guard to let her through. They wind their way among crowds and through narrow streets to the edge of the main plaza. Following Alice’s instructions, Bella shoves through the crowd toward a clock tower; as she hurries, the clock begins to strike noon. In the alley beneath the tower, she sees Edward, shirtless, eyes closed, preparing to walk into the sun.

Crying his name, she plows into him. He looks at her, bemused, and says, “Carlisle was right” (452). He thinks he’s already gone to the afterworld, and she’s there, waiting for him. Desperately, she warns him to stay in the shadows. He quotes Romeo’s praise of Juliet’s beauty in the tomb.

Bella says over and over that they’re still alive and in danger. Reality clicks in, and Edward turns suddenly and faces two voices in the alley. They’re members of the Volturi, sent to stop Edward. They insist he return to their leader, Aro, to talk. He accepts only if Bella can leave, but they refuse and prepare to fight him.

Alice appears in the alley, and the two Volturi hesitate. Then another Volturi appears, Jane, small and androgynous, and Edward sags in defeat. Surrounded, they follow Jane down the alley. Alice quickly updates Edward, saying Bella did jump off a cliff but for fun: “Bella’s all about the extreme sports these days” (457). The rest of Alice’s report, covering werewolves and Victoria, Edward reads from her mind.

The alley ends at a wall; beneath it is a hole in the ground. Alice jumps in; Edward takes Bella by the wrists, drops her in, and Alice catches her at the bottom. They walk along a gloomy, dank passageway through gates that lock behind them and arrive at a low, thick, wooden doorway that stands open.

Beyond the door is a hallway carpeted and lit with fluorescent fixtures. At the end is an elevator, which takes them to an elegant reception area hung with scenic paintings. A human woman greets them from behind the counter. They walk past and through double doors where a small vampire named Alec, who looks like a male version of Jane, greets her with cheek kisses and says, “They send you out for one and you come back with two… and a half […]. Nice work” (464).

The group continues down another hallway to a panel that opens to a large, circular room with walls of stone and slits that let in the afternoon light. Throne-like chairs line the walls. Several vampires stand about, chatting. The leader, Aro, clad in a long, black robe, with black hair, papery skin, and cloudy red eyes, floats toward them, attended by guards. He greets Jane fondly and thanks her for bringing the three guests.

He meets Alice and compliments her on her forecasting ability. Politely, he adds that he also envies Edward’s ability to hear thoughts. Edward quickly tells Alice that Aro must touch a person to read their minds, but he can instantly learn every thought they’ve ever had. Two more vampires appear; Marcus is black-haired, and the other, with snow-white locks, is Caius. Both have the same papery skin as Aro.

Marcus can sense relationships; he touches Aro’s hand, and Aro says that Edward and Bella’s connection is “amazing.” Aro wonders how Edward can resist a human with so alluring a scent of blood; Edward calls it “a price.” Aro admits he admires Edward and Carlisle’s restraint and applauds their non-violent experiment because it’s so surprising and interesting.

He also wonders how Bella can block Edward’s mind-reading ability. He touches Bella’s hand, but he, too, cannot read her thoughts. He turns to Jane, wondering if she can penetrate the block. Edward lunges at her but drops to the floor, writhing in pain. Aro has Jane release him and turn to Bella. Jane focuses, but Bella feels nothing. Aro is delighted, calling the demonstration “wonderful!”

He repeats his offer to Edward to join them; Edward declines again. Alice also turns him down. Aro asks Bella, saying she’d be a wonderful addition to the Volturi. Bella, too, politely declines. Aro and Caius argue with Edward that she’s a liability because she might decide to reveal their secret. If Edward is unwilling to kill her, then she should be disposed of now.

Aro suggests that if Edward turns Bella into a vampire, they’d both be free to go. Edward looks tortured, but Alice steps forward, puts her hand up, and Aro grasps it, listening to her thoughts. He laughs and says Bella’s future contains much potential. He tells his guests they can leave.

As they exit, they pass a crowd of tourists being funneled toward the circular room. Before they can exit the hallway, they hear the tourists begin to scream.

In the reception room, Bella feels herself shaking. She hears a strange ripping sound that turns out to be her sobbing. Edward soothes her as she cries for the doomed tourists and for herself and Edward, who no longer are doomed. She’s happy just to be in his arms, if only for a short while until he leaves her again.

They leave the Volturi building at night and walk through the still-busy street festival. Alice steals another car, and they drive to Florence, then fly to Rome, and take a plane to Atlanta and another to Seattle. Not wanting to miss a moment with Edward, Bella fights exhaustion by drinking Cokes. It’s enough simply to be awake and in his arms.

At Sea-Tac Airport, Jasper, Carlisle, and Esme meet them. Esme hugs Bella fiercely and thanks her, then hugs Edward and orders him never to put her through such an ordeal again (496). Carlisle thanks Bella, and they all walk to the Cullens’ cars, where Emmet and Rosalie wait. Rosalie apologizes to Bella for her message to Edward that caused the near disaster.

Emmet and Rosalie drive Edward and Bella to Forks, where Edward listens patiently as Charlie yells at him for causing his daughter so much pain. He carries Bella upstairs; she doesn’t want him to leave, but she finally falls asleep.

Bella’s dreams are vivid: “The horrible and the heavenly, all mixed together into a bizarre jumble” (500). She wakes to find Edward with her; thinking it’s a hallucination, she basks in it, then realizes she’s awake. Edward says Charlie told him he was “never to walk through his door again” (503), so he snuck in through the window.

He apologizes for leaving her to Victoria and the werewolves. He seems to have contempt for both. Bella says he shouldn’t take responsibility for her actions and that his death would devastate Esme and Carlisle. He replies that he did feel guilty, but he would have gone to the Volturi if Bella were dead for any reason. He won’t live in a world that doesn’t contain her.

Edward explains that he lied when he broke up with her and said he didn’t want her anymore, hoping that would be easier on her. He was stunned that she believed him right away. He asks why she believes his lie and not when he tells the truth; she says it makes more sense that he doesn’t love her. He asks if she’s moved on; she answers that she’ll always love him, and that can never change.

He kisses her, and she collapses into it eagerly but remains skeptical. He says staying away didn’t keep her safe at all. His life was a dark night until she soared like a meteor through it, and when she was gone, all was even darker (514). He was in agony without her and was at the point of returning, prepared to beg her to have him back when he heard about the cliff jump.

Bella listens but fears his words will inspire her to hope, something that might kill her when it fails. He says he recently tracked Victoria but lost her when she went to Forks. Bella doesn’t want him facing her in a fight. She points out that the Volturi are a worse long-term threat; Edward says they work slowly and probably won’t even think about her until she’s 30. Bella says he won’t want her when she’s old, and they argue again about turning her into a vampire. Edward insists that he’ll always be with her, and when she dies, he’ll follow her.

Bella decides to go to the Cullen house. She wants to talk to them about her mortality: “I’m putting it to a vote” (521).

Reluctantly, Edward agrees to a Cullen meeting. Before dawn, she climbs on his back, and they run to the Cullen house; she finds it much more exhilarating than riding a motorcycle. On the way, Edward wonders aloud how he can win back Bella’s trust; he fears he has no real hold on her. She says the worst thing that can happen to her, worse even than death by Victoria or the Volturi, is if he leaves her. He insists it’s no longer possible for him to walk away from her.

For starters, she wants her CDs and pictures back. He tells her they’re under her floorboards. She says that, in a way, he never left her because she heard his voice when she did dangerous things. Somehow, that voice was her signal that he still loved her. She realizes he can’t prove himself to her because she already knows he loves her.

Edward confesses that she did a much better job than he did in being apart. She got things done, but other than tracking Victoria, he was almost entirely useless.

They enter the Cullen house—inside, it’s unchanged—and the entire family sits at the dining room table and listens as Bella makes her case to become a vampire. If they don’t want her, she’ll go to Volterra and end things, so they’re not at risk. Edward counters that the Volturi can’t find her if she hides because she blocks mind readers.

Bella asks for a vote. All except two—Edward and Rosalie—vote yes to her joining the family. Rosalie explains that no one gave her a choice when she was changed, and she wanted to offer that to Bella. When Carlisle, the final vote, agrees, Edward stalks out and breaks something in the living room. Bella thanks the family for wanting her: “I feel exactly the same way about all of you, too” (535).

Bella asks how they wish to go about doing it. Edward is back in a flash, saying, “No! NO!” Bella reminds Alice of her promise, but Alice quails, saying she’s worried she might accidentally kill Bella. Carlisle says he can do it with no risk. Edward insists it’s better to wait until Bella finishes high school and moves out of Charlie’s house; Carlisle agrees, and Bella concedes the point.

Edward takes Bella back to her house. In her room, they agree to wait at least a year before transforming Bella. He offers to change her himself if she agrees to marry him. Bella balks, remembering how marriage ruined Charlie and Renée’s relationship.

Charlie wakes up and checks on her—Edward hides in the closet—and tells her she scared him silly by disappearing for three days. Bella says it was a misunderstanding that started when she went cliff diving with Jacob, and she had to go with Alice to talk Edward down. Charlie says he’s thinking about sending her back to her mother, but Bella refuses to go. He then says he doesn’t want her seeing Edward, but she warns that she and he are a “package deal.” Angry, he settles for grounding her and not allowing Edward in the house, then leaves in a huff.

Edward exits the closet and asks her not to get into a fight with Charlie over him. She says she can always move over to the Cullens’. He laments her eagerness to lose her soul; she reminds him that, when she ran to him in Volterra, he’d believed he was seeing her in the afterlife, which proves he doesn’t think all vampires are damned. Besides, “If you stay, I don’t need heaven” (547).

While grounded, Bella catches up with overdue college applications provided by Edward, who now has limited visitation rights. The town is grateful to have Dr. Cullen back at the hospital, and the Cullen adoptees resume their schooling alongside Bella.

At night, she tries to contact Jacob, but he won’t answer her calls. He goes so far as to return her motorcycle to Charlie’s house, breaking his and Bella’s pact about their secret project. Bella and Edward find him waiting in the woods. She says trying to get her grounded is fruitless because she’s already grounded. Jacob warns Edward that the treaty is broken if a Cullen even bites a human. Struggling with his emotions, Jacob tells Bella he can’t be her friend anymore.

Bella realizes she’s in more danger than ever. Victoria still stalks her; the Volturi may soon try to kill her; and the Quileute werewolves will likely go to war with the Cullens when Edward bites her during her vampire transformation.

What’s more, Charlie is furious about the motorcycle: “I squared my shoulders and walked forward to meet my fate, with my destiny solidly at my side” (564).