Edward is standing in an alleyway, about to step into the sunlight of the plaza at the stroke of noon. Bella rushes in on the other side after Alice drops her off. There are Volturi guards all around, waiting to kill Edward if he tries to reveal himself. Only Bella can stop him, but she's sooooo far away.
Guess how Bella saves Edward?
Oh come on, you know she does, guess how?
She can't reach him in time, of course. It's too far, remember? Huge square just stuffed full o' people.
- I knew I was too late - Prelude
- I knew I was too late - pg. 448
- I wasn't going to make it - pg. 448
- It was useless (her yelling) - pg. 449
Nothing.
She just gets there in the nick of time.
Oh, she crosses the square faster by cutting through a fountain, but she doesn't do it because of any bright ideas, she literally runs into it. It's in her way. She spots gaps and she rushes and whew! Wasn't that close, Ed? She almost didn't make it. Good thing it wasn't impossible or anything.
Edward thinks he died and found Bella's ghost or something, she tries to convince him they're both alive. As she argues with him the Volturi guards arrive: Felix and Demetri. They seem very insistent that Edward go visit the Volturi, he refuses, they threaten, Alice arrives to even the score and another pixie vampire arrives to unbalance it again. Jane is some sort of super-enforcer with clout, so they all go to some backdoor entrance to the grand whatnot.
Edward and Alice discuss the surprising existence of Bella while they walk through some underground crypt. Just as I was enjoying the view we end chapter.
SumUp F-
As per usual, the descriptions are nice. Lovely, in some cases. Bellas flight across the square is told vividly and I could easily see the people in Bella's way in my mind's eye. Even Edward is described in bold, flourished detail that I'm certain gave me exactly the mental image intended. But like the death of James, the buildup of Edward's blood-lust and so many other dramatic tensions in this series, Meyer loves to insist that something CANNOT happen only to tell you in the next breath that it simply DID.
That's not lazy writing, that's a fundamental and fatal flaw in Ms. Meyer's skillset and it truly confuses me. The woman can write. She can clearly afford to hire an editor or sixty, so why can't she craft a climax? THIS is supposed to be the ultimate moment in this book, the second in time that 19 chapters have led up to. HERE AND NOW is where you're supposed to feel jubilant because the protagonist overcame the great central problem. Then things will move forward into the resolution, where all sorts of happy events can happen. Yet here, again, we are told that the resolution came at no cost, no effort and really what were you so worried about? She just had to run a little bit faster than she thought and Edward is fine and their weird love can flourish just as soon as this whole meeting business is done with.
Worst of all, Bella is denied a chance to DO SOMETHING. Unleashed (pardon the pun) from her vampire handler, she's in control of her own fate for the first time since the Victoria nonsense started. Here, now, at this moment she can be anything the author wants. She is out of time. She is mere feet from the love of her life. She is resolute, determined, desperate! We the audience will forgive just about anything. We will accept a sudden burst of genius, a desperate gamble that pays off, we would just about kill for a moment of true self-sacrifice. This is your moment to instill in your heroine all of the traits and qualities you want! After chapters of build up, after insisting that no normal act can save him, no mere frail human can run fast enough or yell loud enough or do anything human to prevent this final second death. She's got tons of people around, use them! SHE's GOT A GIANT FOUNTAIN! Why not use it in some desperate, wild act of genius that Edward sees. Then you can have him trapped. Have him realize something is wrong. I don't know, but this is supposed to be the moment that nineteen chapters have built up to. And in that moment, what does Bella do? She screams and runs to Edward and grabs him in time to stop him from taking a step.
What's here? a cup, closed in my true love's hand?Romeo and Juliet. Act 5. Scene 3
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end:
O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after? I will kiss thy lips;
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make die with a restorative.
Kisses him
Thy lips are warm.
They are warm, Juliet. Because he was never a vampire.
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