"Tel me about Riley," Jane said. "Why did he bring you here?"
I recited Riley's lies as quickly as I could. "Riley told us that we had to destroy the strange yel ow-eyes here. He said it would be easy. He said that the city was theirs, and they were coming to get us. He said once they were gone, al the blood would be ours. He gave us her scent." I pointed in the human's direction. "He said we would know that we had the right coven, because she would be with them. He said whoever got to her first could have her."
"It looks like Riley was wrong about the easy part," Jane said, a hint of teasing in her tone.
It seemed like Jane was pleased with my story. In a flash of insight, I understood that she was relieved Riley hadn't told me or the others about her little visit to our creator. Victoria. This was the story she wanted the yel ow-eyes to know - the story that didn't implicate Jane or the dark-cloaked Volturi. Wel, I could play along. Hopeful y the mind reader was already in the know.
I couldn't physical y take revenge on this monster, but I could tel the yel ow-eyes everything with my thoughts. I hoped. I nodded, agreeing with Jane's little joke, and sat up because I wanted the mind reader's attention, whoever that was. I continued with the version of the story that any other member of my coven would have been able to give. I pretended I was Kevin. Dumb as a bag of rocks and total y ignorant.
"I don't know what happened." That part was true. The mess on the battlefield was stil a mystery. I'd never seen any of Kristie's group. Did the secret howler vampires get them? I would keep that secret for the yel ow-eyes. "We split up, but the others never came. And Riley left us, and he didn't come to help like he promised. And then it was so confusing, and everybody was in pieces." I flinched at the memory of the torso I'd hurdled.
"I was afraid. I wanted to run away." I nodded at Carlisle. "That one said they wouldn't hurt me if I stopped fighting."
This wasn't betraying Carlisle in any way. He'd already told Jane as much.
"Ah, but that wasn't his gift to offer, young one," Jane said. She sounded like she was enjoying herself. "Broken rules demand a consequence."
Stil pretending I was Kevin, I just stared at her as if I were too stupid to understand.
Jane looked at Carlisle. "Are you sure you got al of them?
The other half that split off?"
Carlisle nodded. "We split up, too."
So it was the howlers that got Kristie. I hoped that, whatever else they were, the howlers were real y, real y terrifying. Kristie deserved that.
"I can't deny that I'm impressed," Jane said, sounding sincere, and I thought that this was probably the truth. Jane had been hopeful that Victoria's army would do some damage here, and we'd clearly failed.
"Yes," the three vampires behind Jane al agreed quietly.
"I've never seen a coven escape this magnitude of offensive intact," Jane continued. "Do you know what was behind it? It seems like extreme behavior, considering the way you live here. And why was the girl the key?" Her eyes flicked to the human for just a moment.
"Victoria held a grudge against Bel a," the redhead told her. So the strategy final y made sense. Riley just wanted the girl dead and didn't care how many of us died to get it done. Jane laughed happily. "This one" - and she smiled at the human the way she'd smiled at me - "seems to bring out bizarrely strong reactions in our kind."
Nothing happened to the girl. Maybe Jane didn't want to hurt her. Or maybe her horrible talent only worked on vampires.
"Would you please not do that?" the redhead asked in a control ed but furious voice.
Jane laughed again. "Just checking. No harm done, apparently."
I tried to keep my expression Kevin-ish and not betray my interest. So Jane couldn't hurt this girl the way she'd hurt me, and this was not a normal thing for Jane. Though Jane was laughing about it, I could tel it was driving her crazy. Was this why the human girl was tolerated by the yel ow-eyes? But if she was special in some way, why didn't they just change her into a vampire?
"Wel, it appears that there's not much left for us to do," Jane said, her voice a dead monotone again. "Odd. We're not used to being rendered unnecessary. It's too bad we missed the fight. It sounds like it would have been entertaining to watch."
"Yes," the redhead retorted. "And you were so close. It's a shame you didn't arrive just a half hour earlier. Perhaps then you could have fulfil ed your purpose here."
I fought a smile. So the redhead was the mind reader, and he'd heard everything I'd wanted him to hear. Jane wasn't getting away with anything.
Jane stared back at the mind reader with a blank expression. "Yes. Quite a pity how things turned out, isn't it?"