"Go ahead," I encouraged.
Her voice was small. "I don't know how to start."
"Why don't you start at the beginning?" I remembered her words before dinner.
"You said you didn't come up with this on your own."
"No," she agreed, and then was silent again.
I thought about things that might have inspired her. "What got you started - book? A movie?"
I should have looked through her collections when she was out of the house. I had no idea if Bram Stoker or Anne Rice was there in her stack of worn paperbacks...
"Nope," Bella shook her head, she was pretty sure that she wouldn't have been able to figure out what Edward was by what she knew about vampires.
"No," she said again. "It was Saturday, at the beach."
Jacob groaned that; his first fear was confirmed and the second was sure to come true any second now.
I hadn't expected that. The local gossip about us had never strayed into anything too bizarre - or too precise. Was there a new rumor I'd missed? Bella peeked up from her hands and saw the surprise on my face.
"He knows what beach you were at... how could he not figure this out?" Jacob hissed, in a foul mood because of what he was sure was going to happen and he wanted it out there already.
"I ran into an old family friend - Jacob Black,"
Jacob sighed again, it was true then... great.
"I'm sorry," Bella said.
she went on. "His dad and Charlie have been friends since I was a baby."
Jacob Black - the name was not familiar, and yet it reminded me of something...some time, long ago... I stared out of the windshield, flipping through memories to find the connection.
Again there was a tense, almost angry quality to Jacob's voice as he read this.
"His dad is one of the Quileute elders," she said.
Jacob Black. Ephraim Black. A descendant, no doubt.
"Who's Ephraim Black?" Bella questioned, really wanting to know the answer to that, but mostly asking because she hoped it would calm Jacob down a little.
"He was the chief of our tribe the last time the Cullens were here," Jacob said. "He's the one who made the treaty... the one I apparently broke when I told you about the vampires... Er... and I think I broke it too yesterday, when I told..."
"You didn't really break it," Bella shook her head. "Um... I mean, I don't really know what this treaty says, but if it had something to do with telling me about the Cullens you didn't really do that... well, not yesterday at least. I knew there was something wrong with them... and the number of times that the book said it... I was going to know anyway, you just helped me to understand sooner."
"Thanks," Jacob said. "But that doesn't seem to help me out in this book."
"Sorry," Bella said, but Jacob did look slightly better now.
It was as bad as it could get.
She knew the truth.
My mind was flying through the ramifications as the car flew around the dark curves in the road, my body rigid with anguish - motionless except for the small, automatic actions it took to steer the car.
She knew the truth.
"Yes, yes, I know the truth... now talk to me about it," Bella said and Jacob had to smile at her childish behavior since she rarely acted this way.
But...if she'd learned the truth Saturday...then she'd known it all evening long...and yet...
"We went for a walk," she went on. "And he was telling me about some old legends - trying to scare me, I think. He told me one..."
"I would not just tell you about these things," Jacob hissed, looking angry and Bella wasn't sure if he was angry at what her book self just said or if he was angry because he thought his book self would have said that.
"Um... We're not sure what happened on the beach," Bella said, hoping that would calm him down a bit... it didn't work.
She stopped short, but there was no need for her qualms now; I knew what she was going to say. The only mystery left was why she was here with me now.
"Go on," I said.
"About vampires," she breathed, the words less than a whisper.
Somehow, it was even worse than knowing that she knew, hearing her speak the word aloud. I flinched at the sound of it, and then controlled myself again.
"He didn't seem to mind calling himself a vampire," Bella mumbled to herself.
"And you immediately thought of me?" I asked.
"No. He...mentioned your family."
"Argh," Jacob groaned, how could he be so stupid?
How ironic that it would be Ephraim's own progeny that would violate the treaty he'd vowed to uphold. A grandson, or great-grandson perhaps. How many years had it been? Seventy?
I should have realized that it was not the old men who believed in the legends that would be the danger. Of course, the younger generation - those who would have been warned, but would have thought the ancient superstitions laughable - of course that was where the danger of exposure would lie.