"You jumped to the wrong conclusion last night," Edward murmured. "He asked about school because he knew that I would be where you were. He was looking for a safe place to talk to me. A place with witnesses."
So I'd misinterpreted Jacob's motives last night. Missing information, that was the problem. Information like why in the world Jacob would want to talk to Edward.
"I'm not staying in the car," I said.
Edward groaned quietly. "Of course not. Well, let's get this over with."
Jacob's face hardened as we walked toward him, hand in hand.
I noticed other faces, too - the faces of my classmates. I noticed how their eyes widened as they took in all six foot seven inches of Jacob's long body, muscled up the way no normal sixteen-and-a-half-year-old ever had been. I saw those eyes rake over his tight black t-shirt - short-sleeved, though the day was unseasonably cool - his ragged, grease-smeared jeans, and the glossy black bike he leaned against. Their eyes didn't linger on his face - something about his expression had them glancing quickly away. And I noticed the wide berth everyone gave him, the bubble of space that no one dared to encroach on.
With a sense of astonishment, I realized that Jacob looked dangerous to them. How odd.
Edward stopped a few yards away from Jacob, and I could tell that he was uncomfortable having me so close to a werewolf. He drew his hand back slightly, pulling me halfway behind his body.
"You could have called us," Edward said in a steel-hard voice.
"Sorry," Jacob answered, his face twisting into a sneer. "I don't have any leeches on my speed dial."
"You could have reached me at Bella's house, of course."
Jacob's jaw flexed, and his brows pulled together. He didn't answer.
"This is hardly the place, Jacob. Could we discuss this later?"
"Sure, sure. I'll stop by your crypt after school." Jacob snorted. "What's wrong with now?"
Edward looked around pointedly, his eyes resting on the witnesses who were just barely out of hearing range. A few people were hesitating on the sidewalk, their eyes bright with expectation. Like they were hoping a fight might break out to alleviate the tedium of another Monday morning. I saw Tyler Crowley nudge Austin Marks, and they both paused on their way to class.
"I already know what you came to say," Edward reminded Jacob in voice so low that I could barely make it out. "Message delivered. Consider us warned."
Edward glanced down at me for a fleeting second with worried eyes.
"Warned?" I asked blankly. "What are you talking about?"
"You didn't tell her?" Jacob asked, his eyes widening with disbelief. "What, were you afraid she'd take our side?"
"Please drop it, Jacob," Edward said in an even voice.
"Why?" Jacob challenged.
I frowned in confusion. "What don't I know? Edward?"
Edward just glared at Jacob as if he hadn't heard me.
"Jake?"
Jacob raised his eyebrow at me. "He didn't tell you that his big . . . brother crossed the line Saturday night?" he asked, his tone thickly layered with sarcasm. Then his eyes flickered back to Edward. "Paul was totally justified in -"
"It was no-man's land!" Edward hissed.
"Was not!"
Jacob was fuming visibly. His hands trembled. He shook his head and sucked in two deep lungfuls of air.
"Emmett and Paul?" I whispered. Paul was Jacob's most volatile pack brother. He was the one who'd lost control that day in the woods - the memory of the snarling gray wolf was suddenly vividin my head.
"What happened? Were they fighting?" My voice strained higher in panic. "Why? Did Paul get hurt?"
"No one fought," Edward said quietly, only to me. "No one got hurt. Don't be anxious."
Jacob was staring at us with incredulous eyes. "You didn't tell her anything at all, did you? Is that why you took her away? So she wouldn't know that -?"
"Leave now." Edward cut him off mid-sentence, and his face was abruptly frightening - truly frightening. For a second, he looked like . . . like a vampire. He glared at Jacob with vicious, unveiled loathing.
Jacob raised his eyebrows, but made no other move. "Why haven't you told her?"
They faced each other in silence for a long moment. More students gathered behind Tyler and Austin. I saw Mike next to Ben - Mike had one hand on Ben's shoulder, like he was holding him in place.
In the dead silence, all the details suddenly fell into place for me with a burst of intuition.
Something Edward didn't want me to know.
Something that Jacob wouldn't have kept from me.
Something that had the Cullens and the wolves both in the woods, moving in hazardous proximity to each other.
Something that would cause Edward to insist that I fly across the country.
Something that Alice had seen in a vision last week - a vision Edward had lied to me about.
Something I'd been waiting for anyway. Something I knew would happen again, as much as I might wish it never would. It was never going to end, was it?
I heard the quick gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp of the air dragging through my lips, but I couldn't stop it. It looked like the school was shaking, like there was an earthquake, but I knew it was my own trembling that caused the illusion.
"She came back for me," I choked out.
Victoria was never going to give up till I was dead. She would keep repeating the same pattern - feint and run, feint and run - until she found a hole through my defenders.
Maybe I'd get lucky. Maybe the Volturi would come for me first - they'd kill me quicker, at least.
Edward held me tight to his side, angling his body so that he was still between me and Jacob, and stroked my face with anxious hands. "It's fine," he whispered to me. "It's fine. I'll never let her get close to you, it's fine."