“As I took another breath, I saw the three stars again. They were not calling to me; they were letting me go, leaving me to the black universe I had wandered for so many lifetimes. I drifted into the black, and it got brighter and brighter. It wasn't black at all - it was blue. Warm, vibrant, brilliant blue...I floated into it with no fear at all.”

“I pushed my legs faster, letting Jacob Black disappear behind me.”

“So, how come Jacob Black gets togive you a gift and I don't? Because I have nothingto give back to you. Bella, you give me everythingjust by breathing.”

“If the silence in my head lasted, I would never go back. I wouldn’t be the first one to choose this form over the other. Maybe, if I ran far enough away, I would never have to hear again… I pushed my legs faster, letting Jacob Black disappear behind me.”

“Ian stood above me, his chest heaving with exertion and fury. For a second he turned away and put the door back in place with one swift wrench. And then he was glowering again.I took a deep breath and rolled up onto my knees, holding my hands out, palms up, wishing that some magic would appear in them. Something I could give him, something I could say. But my hands were empty."You. Are. Not. Leaving. Me." His eyes blazed - burning brighter than I had ever seen them, blue fires."Ian," I whispered. "You have to see that... that I can't stay. You must se that.""No!" he shouted at me.I cringed back, and, abruptly, Ian crumpled forward, falling to his knees, falling into me. He buried his head in my stomach, and his arms locked around my waist. He was shaking, shaking hard, and loud, desperate sobs were breaking out of his chest."No, Ian, no," I begged. This was so much worse than his anger. "Don't, please. Please, don't.""Wanda," he moaned."Ian, please. Don't feel this way. Don't. I'm so sorry. Please."I was crying too, shaking too, though that might have been him shaking me."You can't leave.""I have to, I have to," I sobbed.And then we cried wordlessly for a long time.”

“For one brief, never-ending second, an entirely different path expanded behind the lids of my tear-wet eyes. As if I were looking through the filter of Jacob's thoughts, I could see exactly what I was going to give up, exactly what this new self-knowledge would not save me from losing. I could see Charlie and Renée mixed into a strange collage with Billy and Sam and La Push. I could see years passing, and meaning something as they passed, changing me. I could see the enormous red-brown wolf that I loved, always standing as protector if I needed him. For the tiniest fragment of a second, I saw the bobbing heads of two small, black-haired children, running away from me into the familiar forest. When they disappeared, they took the rest of the vision with them.”

“The morning brought with it, if not a brighter outlook, at least a measure of control, some acceptance. Instinctively, I knew that the new tear in my heart would always ache. That was just going to be a part of me now.”