*by Stephenie Meyer*



TWILIGHT - chapter 17 - THE GAME


"All right," Esme called in a clear voice, which I knew even Edward would hear, as far out as he was. "Batter up."
Alice stood straight, deceptively motionless. Her style seemed to be stealth rather than an intimidating windup. She held the ball in both hands at her waist, and then, like the strike of a cobra, her right hand flicked out and the ball smacked into Jasper's hand.
"Was that a strike?" I whispered to Esme.
"If they don't hit it, it's a strike," she told me.
Jasper hurled the ball back to Alice's wating hand. She permitted herself a brief grin. And then her hand spun out again.
This time the bat somehow made it around in time to smash into the invisible ball. The crack of inmpact was shattering, thunderous; it echoed off the mountains - I immediately understood the necessity of the thunderstorm.
The ball shot like a meteor above the field, flying deep into the surrounding forest.
"Home run," I murmured.
"Wait," Esme cautioned, listening intently, one hand raised. Emmett was a blur around the bases, Carlisle shadowing him. I realized Edward was missing.
"Out!" Esme cried in a clear voice. I stared in disbelief as Edward sprang from the fringe of the trees, ball in his upraised hand, his wide grin visible even to me.
"Emmett hits the hardest," Esme explained. "but Edward runs the fastest."
The inning continued before my incredulous eyes. It was impossible to keep up with the speed at which the ball flew, the rate at which their bodies raced around the field.
I learned the other reason they waited for a thunderstorm to play when Jasper, trying to avoid Edward's infallible fielding, hit a ground ball toward Carlisle. Carlisle ran into the ball, and then raced Jasper to first base. When they collided, the sound was like a crash of two massive falling boulders. I jumped up in concern, but they were somehow unscathed.
"Safe," Esme called in a calm voice.
Emmett's team was up par one - Rosalie managed to flit around the bases after tagging up on one of Emmett's long flies - when Edward caught the third out. He sprinted to my side, sparkling with excitement.
"What do toi think?" he asked.
"One thing's for sure, I'll never be able to sit through dull old Major League Baseball again."
"And it sounds like toi did so much of that before," he laughed.
"I am a little disappointed," I teased.
"Why?" he asked, puzzled.
"Well, it would be nice if I could find just one thing toi didn't do better than everyone else on the planet."
He flashed his special crooked smile, leaving me breathless.
"I'm up," he said, heading for the plate.
He played intelligently, keeping the ball low, out of the reach of Rosalie's always-ready hand in the outfield, gaining two bases like lightning before Emmett could get the ball back in play. Carlisle knocked one so far out of the field - with a boom the hurt my ears - that he and Edward both made it in. Alice slapped them dainty high fives.
The score constantly changed as the game continued, and they razzed each other like any rue ballplayers as they took turns with the lead. Occadionally Esme would call them to order. The thunder rumbled on, but we stayed dry, as Alice had predicted.
Carlisle was up to bat, Edward catching, when Alice suddenly gasped. My eyes were on Edward, as usual, and I saw his head snap up to look at her. Their eyes met and something flowed between them in an instant. He was at my side before the others could ask Alice what was wrong.
"Alice?" Esme's voice was intense.
"I didn't see - I couldn't tell," she whispered.
All the others were gatherd par this time.
"What is it, Alice?" Carlisle asked with the calm voice of authority.
"They were traveling much quicker than I thought. I can see I had the prespective wrong before," she murmured.
Jasper leaned over her, his posture protective. "What changed?" he asked.
"They heard us playing, and it changed their path," she said, contrite, as if she felt responsible for whatever had frightened her.
Seven pairs of quick eyes flashed to my face and away.
"How soon?" Carlisle said, turning toward Edward.
A look of intense concentration crossed his face.
"Less than five minutes. They're running - they want to play." He scowled.
"Can toi make it?" Carlisle asked him, his eyes flickered toward me again.
"No, not carrying - " He cut short. "Besides, that last thing we need is for them to catch the scent and start hunting."
"How many?" Emmett asked Alice.
"Three," she answered tersely.
"Three!" he scoffed. "Let them come." The steel bands of muscle flexed along his massive arms.
For a divisé, split seconde that seemed much longer than it really was, Carlisle deliberated. Only Emmett seemed unperturbed; the rest stared at Carlisle's face with anxious eyes.
"Let's just continue the game," Carlisle finally decided. His voice was cool and level. "Alice a dit they were simply curious."
All this was a dit in a flurry of words that lasted only a few seconds. I had listened carefully and caught most of it, though I couldn't hear what Esme now asked Edward with a silent vibration of her lips. I only saw the slight shake of his head and the look of relief on her face.
"You catch, Esme," he said. "I'll call it now." And he planted himself in front of me.
The others returned to the field, warily sweeping the dark forest with their sharp eyes. Alice and Esme seemed to orient themselves around where I stood.
"Take your hair down," Edward a dit in a low, even voice.
I obediently slid the rubber band out of my hair and shook it out around me.
I stated the obvious. "The others are coming now."
"Yes, stay very still, keep quiet, and don't déplacer from my side, please." He hid the stress in his voice well, but I could hear it. He pulled my long hair forward, around my face.
"That won't help," Alice a dit softly. "I could smell her scross the field."
"I know." A hint of frustration colored his tone.
Carlisle stood at the plate, and the others joined the game halfheartedly.
"What did Esme aske you?" I whispered.
He hesitated for a seconde before he answered. "Whether they were thirsty," he muttered unwillingly.
The secondes ticked by; the game progressed with apathy now. No one dared to hit harder than a bunt, and Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper hovered in the infield. Now and again despite the fear that numbed my brain, I was aware of Rosalie's eyes on me. They were expressionless, but something about the way she held her mouth made me think she was angry.
Edward paid no attention to the game at all, eyes and mind ranging the forest.
"I'm sorry, Bella," he muttered fiercly. "It was stupid, irresponsible, to expose toi like this. I'm so sorry."
I heard his breath stop, and his eyes zeroed in on right field. He took half a step, angling himself between me and what was coming.
Carlisle, Emmett, and the others turned in the same direction, hearing sounds of passage much too faint for my ears.