Charlie's not stupid.

Oh, this just got better and better.

"See. Charlie." I finally looked at him, my eyes bugging. "Afterwards. See Charlie when she's all sparkly
white with the bright red eyes. I'm not a bloodsucker, so maybe I'm missing something, but Charlie
seems like kind of a strange choice for her first meal."

Edward sighed. "She knows she won't be able to be near him for at least a year. She thinks she can stall.
Tell Charlie she has to go to a special hospital on the other side of the world. Keep in contact through
phone calls___"

"That's insane."

"Yes."

"Charlie's not stupid. Even if she doesn't kill him, he's going to notice a difference."

"She's sort of banking on that."

I continued to stare, waiting for him to explain.

"She wouldn't be aging, of course, so that would set a time limit, even if Charlie accepted whatever
excuse she comes up with for the changes." He smiled faintly. "Do you remember when you tried to tell
her about your transformation? How you made her guess?"

My free hand flexed into a fist. "She told you about that?"

"Yes. She was explaining her... idea. You see, she's not allowed totell Charlie the truth—it would be
very dangerous for him. But he's a smart, practical man. She thinks he'll come up with his own
explanation. She assumes he'll get it wrong." Edward snorted. "After all, we hardly adhere to vampire
canon. He'll make some wrong assumption about us, like she did in the beginning, and we'll go along with

it. She thinks she'll be able to see him... from time to time."

"Insane," I repeated.

"Yes," he agreed again.