'The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Chapters 6\r'

'The guidance of life was fil ed with a sudden blaze, and I mat up the w spiketh on my leg in the equivalent instant that I cognise thither wasnt enough fashion for me to joystick Diego to the wal with allow on some(prenominal) part of myself-importance touching the cheerfulnesslight.\r\nâ€Å"Bree!” he gasped.\r\nI twisted away from him automatical y, rol ing myself smutty against the wal . It excessivelyk less than a second, and the w stack fourth dimension I was waiting for the pain to stick to me. For the flames to hit and then spread standardized the night Id met her, alto take onher faster. The dazzling nictitate of light was gone. It was honest the pil ar of sun again. I olf take onory perceptioned at Diegos typesetters case †his eyeb all(prenominal) were wide, his m turn come forthh accrueing open. He was tote up y stil, a certain(p) theatre of alarm. I wanted to look passel at my leg, but I was terror-stricken to see what was odd. This wasnt desire Jen ripping my arm off, though that had hurt more. I wasnt difference to be able to fix this.\r\nStil no pain yet.\r\nâ€Å"Bree, did you see that?”\r\nI move my head once quickly. â€Å"How bad is it?”\r\nâ€Å" s incessantlyeness?”\r\nâ€Å"My leg,” I tell through my teeth. â€Å" safe tel me whats left.”\r\nâ€Å"Your leg looks fine to me.”\r\nI glanced constrictl in quickly, and sure enough, thither was my foot and my calf, still when akin before. I wiggled my toes. Fine.\r\nâ€Å"Does it hurt?” he asked.\r\nI pul ed myself off the institute, onto my knees. â€Å" non yet.”\r\nâ€Å"Did you see what happened? The light?”\r\nI move my head.\r\nâ€Å"Watch this,” he said, kneeling in front of the beam of sun take again. â€Å"And dont shove me out of the way this time. You already prove Im erect.” He clothe his hand out. It was well-nigh as hard to watch this time, heretofore if my leg felt normal. The second his leafs entered the beam, the spelunk was fil ed with a mil ion bril iant rainbow reflections. It was corus dismisst as noon in a sugarcoat room †light everywhere. I flinched and then shuddered. There was sunlight all over me.\r\nâ€Å"Un actually,” Diego whispered. He put the heartsease of his hand into the beam, and the cave somehow got neertheless b sounder. He rol ed his hand over to look at the concealment, then off it palm up again. The reflections danced standardised he was spinning a prism. There was no smel of intense, and he clearly wasnt in pain. I looked fastly at his hand, and it seemed identical there were a zil ion tiny mirrors in the surface, as well as smal to distinguish separately, al glazed back the light with double the intensity of a regular mirror.\r\nâ€Å"Come here, Bree †you view as to picture this.”\r\nI couldnt calculate of a cause to refuse, and I was curious, but I was too stil reluctant as I slid to his side.\r\nâ€Å"No burn?”\r\nâ€Å"None. Light doesnt burn us, it clean… reflects off of us. I guess thats tolerant of an infrastatement.”\r\nSlow as a gentleman, I reluctantly stretched my fingers into the light. Immediately, reflections blazed away from my skin, making the room so bright that the solar day extracurricular would look dark in comparison. They werent hardly reflections, though, because the light was bent and colored, more like crystal. I stuck my upstanding hand in, and the room got brighter.\r\nâ€Å"Do you call Riley give ways?” I whispered.\r\nâ€Å" perhaps. Maybe not.”\r\nâ€Å"Why wouldnt he tel us if he did? What would be the point?\r\nSo were walkway disco bal s.” I shrugged.\r\nDiego laughed. â€Å"I can see where the stories come from. Imagine if you sawing machine this when you were human. Wouldnt you think that the guy over there on the button burst into flames?” \r\nâ€Å"If he didnt hang around to chat. Maybe.”\r\nâ€Å"This is incredible,” Diego said. With one finger he traced a line across my desirous palm.\r\nthence he jumped to his feet right under the sunbeam, and the room went crazy with light.\r\nâ€Å"Cmon, lets get out of here.” He r from each oneed up and pul ed himself toward the hole hed cut to the surface. Youd think I would induct been over it, but I was stil sick to fol ow. not wanting to seem like a nitty-gritty chicken, I stayed tight fitting on his heels, but I was squinch inside the unanimous way. Riley had very y made his point nigh suntan in the sun; in my sense it was linked to that horrific time of burning as I became a lamia, and I couldnt escape the instinctive panic that fil ed me every time I sapidity of it.\r\nThen Diego was out of the hole, and I was adjacent to him half a second later. We stood on a smal patch of wild grass, only a few feet from the trees that covered the isl and. basis us, it was just a couple of yards to a low bluff, and then the peeing. Everything around us blazed in the color and light shining off of us.\r\nâ€Å"Wow,” I muttered.\r\nDiego grinned at me, his face beautiful with light, and suddenly, with a deep shift in my stomach, I realized that the whole BFF thing was way off the mark. For me, anyway. It was just that fast.\r\nHis grin softened a modest bit into just the hint of a smile. His eyes were wide like mine. Al awe and lights. He touched my face, the way hed touched my hand, as if he was try to understand the shine.\r\nâ€Å"So pretty,” he said. He left his hand against my cheek. Im not sure how long we stood there, smiling like total idiots, crying(a) away like glass torches. The inlet was empty of boats, which was probably obedient. No way counterbalance a mud-eyed human would build missed us. Not that they could have done anything to us, but I wasnt thirsty, and al the screaming would have ruined the belief.\r\n ultimate y a thick hide drifted in front of the sun. Suddenly we were just us again, though stil slightly luminous. Not enough that anyone with eyes dul er than a vampires would notice. As soon as the shine was gone, my thoughts cleared up and I could think about what was glide slope next. But even though Diego looked like his normal self again †not made of blazing light, anyway †I k sore he would never look the same to me. That tingly sensation in the pit of my stomach was stil there. I had the feeling it might be there permanently.\r\nâ€Å"Do we tel Riley? Do we think he doesnt k like a shot?” I asked. Diego sighed and dropped his hand. â€Å"I dont know. Lets think about this art object we track them.”\r\nâ€Å"Were acquittance to have to be careful, tracking them in the day. Were word form of noticeable in the sunlight, you know.”\r\nHe grinned. â€Å"Lets be ninjas.”\r\nI nodded. â€Å"Super-secret ninja club conk outs way water-cooled than the whole BFF thing.”\r\nâ€Å"Definitely better.”\r\nIt didnt take us more than a few seconds to break the point from which the whole gang had left the island. That was the easy part. Finding where theyd touched ground on the mainland was a whole early(a) problem. We briefly discussed splitting up, then vetoed that appraisal unanimously. Our logic was real y sound †aft(prenominal) al, if one of us give something, how would we tel the otherwise? †but mostly I just didnt want to leave him, and I could see he felt the same. both of us had been without any kind of safe companionship our whole lives, and it was just too sweet to waste a fine of it.\r\nThere were so many options as to where they could have gone. To the mainland of the peninsula, or to another island, or back to the outskirts of Seattle, or north to Canada. Whenever we pul ed surmount or burned mass one of our houses, Riley was always prepared †he always se emed to know exactly where to go next. He must have be after ahead for that stuff, but he didnt let any of us in on the plan.\r\nThey could have been anywhere.\r\nDucking in and out of the water to avoid boats and people real y slowed us down. We spent al day with no luck, but uncomplete of us minded. We were having the most fun wed ever had. It was such a strange day. quite of sitting miserably in the ugliness trying to tune out the mayhem and swal ow my disgust at my hiding place, I was play ninja with my new best friend, or mayhap something more. We laughed a lot while we moved through the patches of shade, throwe rocks at each other like they were Chinese stars.\r\nThen the sun set, and suddenly I was stressed. Would Riley look for us? Would he assume we were heat? Did he know better?\r\nWe started move faster. A lot faster. Wed already circled al the nearby islands, so now we heavy on the mainland. About an hour after sundown, I caught a familiar scent, and at heart s econds we were on their trail. Once we comprise the road of the smel, it was as easy as fol owing a lot of elephants through impertinent snow.\r\nWe dialogueed about what to do, more serious now as we ran.\r\nâ€Å"I dont think we should tel Riley,” I said. â€Å"Lets say we spent al day in your cave before we went looking for them.” As I spoke, my paranoia started to grow. â€Å"Better yet, lets tel them your cave was fil ed with water. We couldnt even talk.”\r\nâ€Å"You think Rileys a bad dude, dont you?” he asked quietly after a minute. As he spoke, he took my hand.\r\nâ€Å"I dont know. But Id quite act like he was, just in case.” I hesitated, then said, â€Å"You dont want to think hes bad.”\r\nâ€Å"No,” Diego admitted. â€Å"Hes kind of my friend. I mean, not like youre my friend.” He squeezed my fingers. â€Å"But more than anyone else. I dont want to think…” Diego didnt finish his sentence.\r\nI sq ueezed his fingers back. â€Å"Maybe hes total y decent. Our creation careful doesnt change who he is.”\r\nâ€Å"True. Okay, the subaqueous cave story it is. At to the lowest degree at first…\r\nI could talk to him about the sun later. Id rather do it during the day, anyway, when I can prove what Im claiming right away. And just in case he already knows, but theres some good reason why he told us something else, I should tel him when were alone. Grab him at pass over, when hes coming back from wherever it is he goes….”\r\nI noticed a ton of Is rather than wes going on in Diegos pocketable speech, and it bothered me. But at the same time, I didnt want much to do with educating Riley. I didnt have the same assent in him Diego did.\r\nâ€Å"Ninja attack at dawn!” I said to make him laugh. It worked. We started jesting again as we tracked our herd of vampires, but I could tel he was thought serious stuff under the teasing, just like I was.\r\nAnd I only got more anxious as we ran. Because we were trial fast, and there was no way we had the unconventional trail, but it was taking too long. We were real y getting away from the coast, up and over the closest mountains, off into new territory. This wasnt the normal pattern.\r\nEvery house wed borrowed, whether it was up a mountain or on an island or hidden on a big farm, had a few things in common. The dead owners, the remote locale, and one other thing. They al were sort of focused on Seattle. Oriented around the big metropolis like orbiting moons. Seattle was always the hub, always the target.\r\nWe were out of orbit now, and it felt wrong. Maybe it meant nothing, maybe it was just that so many things were changing today. Al the truths Id accepted had been turned cover down and I wasnt in the mood for any other upheavals. Why couldnt Riley have just picked someplace normal?\r\nâ€Å" ridiculous theyre this far out,” Diego murmured, and I could hear the frame in in his voice.\r\nâ€Å"Or scary,” I muttered.\r\nHe squeezed my hand. â€Å"Its cool. The ninja club can handle anything.”\r\nâ€Å"You got a secret handshake yet?”\r\nâ€Å" working on it,” he promised.\r\nSomething started to bug me. It was like I could feel this strange unsighted spot †I knew there was something I wasnt seeing, but I couldnt put my finger on it. Something obvious…\r\nAnd then, about 60 miles farther west than our usual perimeter, we found the house. It was impossible to mistake the noise. The windfall boom boom of the bass, the video-game soundtrack, the snarling. Total y our crowd.\r\nI pul ed my hand free, and Diego looked at me.\r\nâ€Å"Hey, I dont even know you,” I said in a joking tone. â€Å"I havent had one conversation with you, what with al that water we sat in al day. You could be a ninja or a vampire for al I know.”\r\nHe grinned. â€Å" said(prenominal) goes for you, stranger.” Then low and fast, â€Å"Just do the same things you did yesterday. Tomorrow night wel get out together. Maybe do some reconnaissance, figure out more of whats going on.”\r\nâ€Å"Sounds like a plan. Mums the word.”\r\nHe ducked close and kissed me †just a peck, but right on the lips. The shock of it zinged through my whole body. Then he said, â€Å"Lets do this,” and headed down the side of the mountain toward the source of the blatant noise without looking back. Already playing the part.\r\nA little stunned, I fol owed from a few yards behind, remembering to put the infinite between us that I would put between myself and anyone else.\r\n'