Preface

I'd never given much thought to how I would die — though I'd had reason enough in

the last few months — but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.

I stared without breathing across the long room, into the dark eyes of the hunter, and he

looked pleasantly back at me.

Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble,

even. That ought to count for something.

I knew that if I'd never gone to Forks, I wouldn't be facing death now. But, terrified as I

was, I couldn't bring myself to regret the decision. When life offers you a dream so far

beyond any of your expectations, it's not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.

The hunter smiled in a friendly way as he sauntered forward to kill me.