Midnight Sun(33)

Carlisle had a better sense of what was coming. His lips were pressed tightly together and his forehead
was creased. The expression looked too old for his young face.
As everyone else sat, I could see the lines being drawn.
Rosalie sat directly across from Carlisle, on the other end of the long table. She glared at me, never
looking away.
Emmett sat beside her, his face and thoughts both wry.
Jasper hesitated, and then went to stand against the wall behind Rosalie. He was decided, regardless of
the outcome of this discussion. My teeth locked together.
Alice was the last to come in, and her eyes were focused on something far away-the future, still too
indistinct for her to make use of it. Without seeming to think about it, she sat next to Esme. She rubbed
her forehead as if she had a headache. Jasper twitched uneasily and considered joining her, but he kept
his place.
I took a deep breath. I had started this-I should speak first.
"I'm sorry," I said, looking first at Rose, then Jasper and then Emmett. "I didn't mean to put any of you at
risk. It was thoughtless, and I take full responsibility for my hasty action."
Rosalie glared at me balefully. "What do you mean, 'take full responsibility'? Are you going to fix it?"
"Not the way you mean," I said, working to keep my voice even and quiet. "I'm willing to leave now, if
that makes things better." If I believe that the girl will be safe, if I believe that none of you will touch her,
I amended in my head.
"No," Esme murmured. "No, Edward."
I patted her hand. "It's just a few years."
"Esme's right, though," Emmett said. "You can't go anywhere now. That would be the opposite of
helpful. We have to know what people are thinking, now more than ever."
"Alice will catch anything major," I disagreed.
Carlisle shook his head. "I think Emmett is right, Edward. The girl will be more likely to talk if you
disappear. It's all of us leave, or none of us."
"She won't say anything," I insisted quickly. Rose was building up to the explosion, and I wanted this fact
out there first.
"You don't know her mind," Carlisle reminded me.
"I know this much. Alice, back me up."
Alice stared up at me wearily. "I can't see what will happen if we just ignore this." She glanced at Rose
and Jasper.
No, she couldn't see that future-not when Rosalie and Jasper were so decided against ignoring the
incident.
Rosalie's palm smacked down on the table with a loud bang. "We can't allow the human a chance to say
anything. Carlisle, you must see that. Even if we decided to all disappear, it's not safe to leave stories
behind us. We live so differently from the rest of our kind-you know there are those who would love an
excuse to point fingers. We have to be more careful than anyone else!"
"We've left rumors behind us before," I reminded her.
"Just rumors and suspicions, Edward. Not eyewitnesses and evidence!"
"Evidence!" I scoffed.
But Jasper was nodding, his eyes hard.
"Rose-" Carlisle began.
"Let me finish, Carlisle. It doesn't have to be any big production. The girl hit her head today. So maybe
that injury turns out to be more serious than it looked." Rosalie shrugged. "Every mortal goes to sleep
with the chance of never waking up. The others would expect us to clean up after ourselves. Technically,
that would make it Edward's job, but this is obviously beyond him. You know I'm capable of control. I
would leave no evidence behind me."
"Yes, Rosalie, we all know how proficient an assassin you are," I snarled.
She hissed at me, furious.
"Edward, please," Carlisle said. Then he turned to Rosalie. "Rosalie, I looked the other way in Rochester
because I felt that you were owed your justice. The men you killed had wronged you monstrously. This is
not the same situation. The Swan girl is an innocent."
"It's not personal, Carlisle," Rosalie said through her teeth. "It's to protect us all."
There was a brief moment of silence while Carlisle thought through his answer. When he nodded,
Rosalie's eyes lit up. She should have known better. Even if I hadn't been able to read his thoughts, I
could have anticipated his next words. Carlisle never compromised.
"I know you mean well, Rosalie, but...I'd like very much for our family to be worth protecting. The
occasional...accident or lapse in control is a regrettable part of who we are." It was very like him to
include himself in the plural, though he had never had such a lapse himself. "To murder a blameless
child in cold blood is another thing entirely. I believe the risk she presents, whether she speaks her
suspicions or not, is nothing to the greater risk. If we make exceptions to protect ourselves, we risk
something much more important. We risk losing the essence of who we are."