I sat in one of the chairs on the balcony. The sun was burning my face, and I wondered if I could get a tan. It had been quite hard getting a tan in La Push, so I didn’t even know if it was possible for me. Well, maybe not at this time of the day...
Jacob sat in the other chair. It looked like he was sleeping, but I wasn’t sure. I could only be certain when he was snoring, which he wasn’t right now.
A strange noise came from my stomach. Jacob opened one eye slightly, and then he sighed and smiled. “Sorry, we should get something to eat, right?”
I hadn’t thought of that until he mentioned it, but yes, I was very hungry. And as I thought about food, I realized I was thirsty too.
My eyes widened, and my mouth fell open. There was a very strong scent from somewhere near us, below I thought.
“Renesmee. No.” His voice was distinct and firm.
But all I could think about was the fire in my throat. It was unbearable. I couldn’t stand it. Though there was still a part of me that wanted food. Real food. Unfortunately that part was too small.
A low hiss came from my lips. And then I was inside.
“Renesmee. No,” Jacob said again.
There was a buzzing sound from my purse.
“Don’t breathe,” he ordered. He didn’t take his eyes from me as he took the phone in his hand. “It’s Carlisle. Do you want me to answer?”
I hadn’t moved a muscle since he told me not to breathe. It seemed like I didn’t move now either, but the phone was in my hand. I held it there for three seconds, long as years.
I put the phone slowly to my ear, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t breathe.
“Renesmee?” he asked on the other side.
I squealed and took a deep breath.
Pain.
Fire.
Flames.
“Hhh...” I breathed. My eyes were bulging.
“Renesmee, you have to hold your breath!” Jacob reminded me.
“Renesmee, could you give the phone to Jacob?” Carlisle ordered calmly.
Jacob heard and grabbed the phone out of my hand, which was left behind at my ear.
“Carlisle?” He took my hand that still was at my ear and caressed it.
I probably could have heard their conversation, but I didn’t listen. I had to focus on gaining control of myself. I didn’t even hear what Jacob said.
I didn’t know how I got there, but after a few minutes or so we were in a forest.
“Can I breathe now?” I mouthed.
He put his hands on my shoulders and studied my face carefully, like he was waiting for my wild reaction. “Yes. Careful...”
I closed my eyes. My hand were at my sides, clenched into fists. I inhaled slowly.
“Are you okay?” Jake whispered.
I felt like screaming. This just wasn’t fair. “Where are we?” My voice was almost inaudible.
“In a forest.” He smiled wryly.
I nodded. “Can I scream?”
“What?”
“How deep is the forest?” I have to scream.”
“It depends on how loud—”
I screamed. Loudly. Jacob winced.
My screaming became more of a howl, all mixed up with pain, fear and tears.
My knees couldn’t take it. I fell softly to the ground. I didn’t stop screaming. Or howling, whatever it was I did.
Jacob lifted me up and embraced me tightly. I swung my legs around him. My scream was not much of a scream anymore, the sobs took over.
“Nessie, Nessie...” He stroke my hair.
I was confused. I wouldn’t tell Jacob about my dream, I just couldn’t do that. But on the other hand, he thought I was just scared of myself and a baby. And that wasn’t exactly the truth.
“Nessie, you need to hunt,” Jake whispered in my ear.
Since I already had my hands around his neck, I decided to ask him about the phone call. I showed him a picture of Carlisle.
“I’ll tell you later. You need to get some blood. Now”
I groaned, but I also searched the air for any scents. My nostrils flared, and I put my feet back on the ground.
Jacob let go of me. “Go. I’ll come right after you.”
I followed the delicious scent until I saw a stream of light through the trees.
There it was. A full-grown deer, standing right beside the brightness.
I walked closer in a circle, moving soundlessly behind the trees. The deer was feeding on grass. The fire was burning in my throat. I swallowed once, and then I attacked the creature’s neck.
The warmth of the blood made me want even more of it. And the taste. It was like I’d never tasted anything like it, though I knew I had.
As I fed, I heard a crack, and I immediately turned around and growled.
“Woah, Jake! Don’t scare me like that!”
He tilted his head to one side, as if to say I’m sorry.
“Apology accepted. Just don’t do it again.” I turned back to the lifeless animal in my hands. “Whatever, it’s dead already,” I sighed. Then my stomach reminded me of how I’d figured out I was thirsty in the first place. The sound was very odd; I grimaced at it.
I thought about Jacob. He had just shifted, so it felt quite pointless to make him shift back and get some real food at once. At least that was what I thought. I wondered if Sam was telling Jacob anything. I didn’t know what he would want to talk about at the moment,  but since I didn’t know what else to say I figured I might as well ask. “Did you hear anything from Sam?”
Jacob shook his head slightly. So Sam wasn’t wolf right now, then. Good. They hadn’t noticed that we were gone yet.
“Okay. Maybe we should get back...” I proposed.
Jake shifted. “Maybe we should,” he said as he put his sweats back on. “Or we could just go to a restaurant,” he offered.
I thought about that for a moment. “Did you have any special restaurant in mind?” I grinned.
“I don’t know. I just thought that since we are in a big city—or a city at all—maybe we could do something different. Plus I think it’s a little difficult to cook in the hotel room...”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. So, you never answered my question.”
“What question?”
“About the size of the forest.” I smiled.
“Oh, that question. Well, I mean, it’s pretty big—”
“What direction?” I asked eagerly; I wanted to race him.
“The hotel?”
I nodded, probably a little too excited.
He pointed out the direction.
I grinned. “Last one there’s a human!” I took off through the trees. The wind was blowing in my hair, and I really enjoyed that feeling. I thought I could hear Jacob behind me, but I wasn’t sure.
I sped up; I couldn’t lose my own bet. My breathing was even, just as usual. The forest didn’t have quite the same scent as the one around Forks and La Push. This was still musky, but a somewhat drier version of musky. I would almost say a little sweeter. Yes, definitely sweeter. I thought I recognized it a little.
Nah, I was probably thinking about it too much. I listened after Jacob instead. Strange, I could only hear my own footsteps. Until I heard him growl.
I stopped immediately and turned around to see what he was growling at.
That’s when I saw her for the third time.

”Vancouver?” I shouted in surprise. ”I thought we said Seattle!”
”We were in Seattle, and then we flew here,” he tried to calm me. ”You slept like a rock, and I didn’t want to wake you up.”
Wow, I must have been driving on the road in the desert for a very long time. I decided I didn’t want to tell Jacob about that dream. He would freak out.
”But how?” I started.
”I carried you,” he said and smiled wryly.
”But how did we get through the security?” Don’t you have to show some signs of life to get through?
”We’re here now, and that’s what matters, right?”
”Right. Thanks.”
”No problem.”
I looked around the room. The walls were of some color between yellow and beige. It reminded me of something I didn’t want to think about.
I sat in a couch with flower patterns. Ugly, I thought. In front of me was a table with a flower on it. On the wall to my right was a painting of flowers. Behind the table was a flat-screen TV on a small desk.
There was a wall-to-wall carpet on the floor. It was dust gray. Ugly, too.
I turned to see what was behind me. The first thing I noticed was the bedspread. It had a flower pattern.
”What’s with all of these flowers?” I asked.
Jacob just laughed.
I chuckled. ”I mean, it’s really ugly.”
He laughed even harder.
Behind the bed was a panoramic window and a glass door that led to a balcony. My very impression of the room was that it was very small, and it looked like the furniture had been pushed inside.
Beside the TV was a door, and to my left was another one.
”Where are we anyway?” I asked, still sleepy.
”I told you, remember? Vancouver.” He sat down beside me and stroke my cheek.
”Yes but where in Vancouver?”
He smiled secretly. ”What do I get for it?” His teeth showed behind his lips; he enjoyed this.
”Hey!” I complained and punched his stomach. He laughed at me.
”That’s not fair!”
”So what do I get?”
”You know I could just go out that door and see.”
He took a firm grip around me. ”Really? You can? Good luck with getting inside again, if you get out that is.” He was so smug I wanted to hit him, but I couldn’t since he held me so tight.
I growled.
He continued laughing. ”What do I get, huh? What?”
I knew that if I didn’t say anything soon he would start tickling me, and I couldn’t handle that. ”Kiss?”
”I guess that’s fair enough.” He leaned in and closed his eyes.
”But I want to know where we are first”
He groaned.
I laughed. ”Fine.”
I kissed him. Long. He kissed me back.
He was just beginning to lower his hands when I stopped. He growled playfully and was just about to tickle me, but I caught his hands before he got so far.
”Now it’s your turn to answer my question.”
He laughed at my expression. ”Guess.”
”I don’t know, a hotel?”
”You’re smarter than you think. Or maybe more stupid than you think, since you gave up although you knew the answer.” He seemed pleased with his conclusion.
”What if I just wanted to kiss you?”
”Then feel free to do it again.”
Now I was the one to laugh at his expression.
”What?”
”You should have seen your face!” I just couldn’t stop laughing at his lips and eyebrows being curved exactly the same way. ”I think I should invent a camera that is placed in your head, so that you can take a picture anytime you’d like. Smart huh?”
”Very. Just one question. How were you planning to get the pictures out of your head?”
I laughed even harder than before. ”So you don’t think it’s a problem to get the camera into your head?”
”No,” he said smugly.
”Why not?”
”Because I have a photographic memory.”
”Ah, I see! Smart! Then we’ll just have to invent the wire from the brain to the computer. Great!”
”Or maybe bluetooth.”
We both laughed at our crazy conversation. Then we didn’t say anything for a while. As we sat there in the sofa, staring at each other’s faces, I started thinking about my dream. I was careful not to touch Jake with my hands; I really didn’t want him to know about it. Or at least what I thought of it.
The two babies had been very beautiful, and they had looked similar, though still not similar at all. I couldn’t remember right now, but somehow I’d known it had been a boy and a girl. I guess I knew it in the dream-way; you always knew things in dreams, though you couldn’t explain them later.
I tried to clear out the vision of the two babies. The girl had been dark-skinned, though not African. Kind of like Jacob. Actually, when I thought about it, she looked a lot like him. The cheekbones were exactly the same. But her eyes. They were golden, like topaz. And in the next second, they were red.
A vampire’s eyes.
I moved on to the boy. His skin was anything but dark. It was pale like snow. And I recognized his face, too. It looked a lot like the girl’s but more like...me.
I winced. The boy was the one who had called my name, and I remembered looking into his eyes as well. His eyes had been brown like Jacob’s.
I gasped as I understood.
”Hey, what are you thinking?” Jacob asked me quietly.
What was I supposed to tell him? ”Nothing.” Okay, that gave me more time to think.
He took my chin in his big, warm hand and forced me to meet his gaze. ”You know I don’t like it when you lie. Because I can see that you are.” Just like my mother, I was a terrible liar. At least when I lied to Jacob.
”I just thought of a nightmare I had a few nights ago. It was a mistake to bring it up to myself.” At least there was something true in that sentence.
”Want to talk about it?”
”Nope. Absolutely not.”
”Okay.”
I rose and went over to the glass-door. I opened it and went outside to the balcony.
There was a light breeze, and I stretched my arms. There was an afternoon-light over the city and I started to wonder what time it actually was. I took a look on my left wrist, but then I realized I had forgot my watch on the kitchen table; I had pulled it off during our dramatic dinner.
”Damn,” I muttered to myself.
”What’s wrong?” Jacob asked from one and a half step behind me. This shouldn’t have startled me, but it did.
”Forgot my watch at home,” I told him.
”I’m sure you can manage without. I never wear one.”
”Maybe because it’s just a liability for you.” I wasn’t sure how close our nearest balcony-neighbors were, so I tried to avoid mythological words, like werewolf for instance.
He chuckled at my statement. ”You really need to know the time?”
I nodded.
”Don’t move,” he told me. Three seconds later he was back again. ”Ten to five.”
”Ten to five?!” I really wasn’t prepared for that. ”Whoa!”
”What did you expect?” He smiled at my reaction.
I sighed. ”I don’t know. Just...nah, I don’t know.”
He took my hands, and I intertwined his fingers with mine.
Thank you, I thought.
He smiled, bent his neck, and kissed my nose.
Thank you, I thought again.
He continued smiling.