Let’s Re-Read Breaking Dawn Together! Chapter 38

Welcome to the BreakingDawnMovie.org’s Community Re-read!

While we impatiently wait for Breaking Dawn part 2 to be released, we continue with our highly-popular Community Re-Read!

Every Tuesday & Friday, I’ll post a breakdown for each chapter in the book, counting down the days until the official release of the film on November 16th. Let’s get started, dig out your copy of Breaking Dawn, read the chapters together with us, and discuss anything you may find of interest that you might have missed the first or twentieth time around. Let’s continue our journey into FOREVER. 1 CHAPTER TO GO!

Chapter 38: Power

“The moment that he had said her name, a dozen pointed attacks hit in a second, stabbing all over the elastic shield, aimed at twelve different bright spots.”

I have no opening introduction for what is about to go down…let’s get started!!!

Pg. 725-725 “Chelsea is trying to break our bindings,” Edward whispered. “But she can’t find them. She can’t feel us here…are you doing that?” I smiled grimly at him. “I am all over this.” “Carlisle? Are you all right?” Edward gasped frantically. “Yes. Why?” “Jane,” Edward answered. “Incredible,” Edward said. “Why aren’t they waiting for the decision?” Tonya hissed. “Normal procedure,” Edward answered brusquely. “They usually incapacitate those on trial so they can’t escape.” I looked across at Jane, who was staring at our group with furious disbelief. I was pretty sure that, besides me, she’d never seen anyone remain standing through her fiery assault. I already had a big target on my forehead and there was really no point in trying to keep the extent of what I could do a secret. So I grinned a huge, smug smile right at Jane. Her eyes narrowed, and I felt another stab of pressure, this time directed at me. I pulled my lips wider, showing my teeth. Jane let out a high-pitched scream of a snarl. Her twin caught her arm as she crouched to spring. He turned his face to us, perfectly smooth, completely angelic. He continued to stare in our direction, his pretty face composed. “Are you okay?” I choked out. “Yes,” he whispered. “Is Alec trying?” Edward nodded. “His gift is slower than Jane’s. It creeps. It will touch us in a few seconds.” A low rumbling murmured through the ground under our feet, and a gust of wind blew the snow into sudden flurries between our position and the Volturi’s. Benjamin had seen the creeping threat too, and now he tried to blow the mist away from us. The triangular formation of the ancients finally broke apart when, a raking groan, a deep, narrow fissure opened in a long zigzag across the middle of the clearing. The earth rocked under my feet for a moment. Aro and Caius watched the opening earth with wide eyes. Marcus looked in the same direction without emotion. They didn’t speak; they waited, too, as the mist approached us. Jane was smiling now. And then the mist hit a wall. The mist curled upward, seeking a breach, a weakness. It found none. “Well done, Bella!” Benjamin cheered in a low voice. My smile returned. I could see Alec’s narrowed eyes, doubt on his face for the first time as his mist swirled harmlessly around the edges of my shield. And then I knew that I could do this.

Pg 729-732 What’s left of our little family and its witnesses prepare a plan of attack.  “I’m going to have to concentrate,” I whispered to Edward. “When it comes to hand to hand, it’s going to be harder to keep the shield around the right people.” “I’ll keep them off you.” “No. You have to get Demetri. Zafrina will keep them away from me.” Zafrina nodded solemnly. “No one will touch this young one,” she promised Edward. “I’d go after Jane and Alec myself, but I can do more good here.” “Jane’s mine,” Kate hissed. “She needs a taste of her own medicine.” “And Alec owes me many lives, but I will settle for his,” Vladimir growled from the other side. “He’s mine.” “I just want Caius,”  Tanya said evenly. The others started divvying up opponents, too, but they were quickly interrupted. Aro, staring calmly at Alec’s ineffective mist, finally spoke. “Let me remind you. Whatever the council’s decision, there need be no violence here.” Edward let out a snarled laugh. Aro stared at him sadly. “It will be a regrettable waste to our kind to lose any of you. But you especially, young Edward, and your newborn mate. The Volturi would be glad to welcome many of you into our ranks. Bella, Benjamin, Zafrina, Kate. There are many choices before you. Consider them.”  Sidebar-is this guy for real?    Chelsea’s attempt to sway us fluttered impotently against my shield. Aro’s gaze swept across our hard eyes, looking for any indication of hesitation. From his expression, he found none. “Let us vote, then.” Caius spoke with eager haste. “The child is an unknown quantity. There is no reason to allow such a risk to exist. It must be destroyed along with all who protect it.” Marcus lifted his uncaring eyes, seeming to look through us as he voted. “I see no immediate danger. The child is safe enough for now. We can always reevaluate later. Let us leave in peace.”  “I must make the deciding vote, it seems,” Aro mused. “Aro?”  Edward called, nearly shouted, undisguised victory in his voice. “Yes, Edward? You have something further…?” ”Perhaps. First if I could clarify one point?” “Certainly,” Aro said. “The danger you foresee from my daughter-this stems entirely from our inability to guess how she will develop? That is the crux of the matter?” “Yes, friend Edward,” Aro agreed. “So if we could only know for sure exactly what she will become…then there would be no need for a council at all?” “If there was some way to be absolutely sure. Then yes, then there would be no question to debate.” “And we would part in peace, good friends once again?” “Of course, my young friend. Nothing would please me more.”  “Then I do have something more to offer.”  Aro’s eyes narrowed. “She is absolutely unique. Her future can only be guessed at.” “Not absolutely unique. Rare certainly, but not one of a kind.” I fought the shock, the sudden hope springing to life, as it threatened to distract me. The sickly-looking mist still swirled around the edges of my shield. And, as I struggled to focus, I felt the sharp, stabbing pressure against my protective shield. “Aro, would you ask Jane to stop attacking my wife? We are still discussing evidence.” Aro raised one hand. ”Peace, dear ones. Let us hear him out.” “Why don’t you join us, Alice?” Edward called loudly. “Alice,”  Esme whispered in shock. Alice! Alice, Alice, Alice! “Alice!” “Alice!” other voices murmured around me. “Alice,” Aro breathed.  Sidebar-OMG SHES BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!! I’d nearly forgotten!!! *faints* our little family is reunited!   And then I heard them running through the forest, flying, closing the distance as quickly as they could with no slowing effort at silence.

Pg. 733 Then Alice danced into the clearing from the southwest, and I felt like the bliss of seeing her face again might knock me off my feet. Jasper was only inches behind her, his sharp eyes fierce. Close after them ran three strangers; the first was a tall, muscular female with wild dark hair-obviously Kachiri. The next was a small olive-toned female vampire with a long braid of black hair bobbing against her back. And the last was a young man…not quite as fast nor quite as fluid in his run. As he neared us, a new sound sent shock waves through the watching crowd-the sound of another heartbeat, accelerated with exertion. Alice leaped lightly over the edges of the dissipating mist that lapped at my shield and came to a sinuous stop at Edward’s side. I reached out to touch her arm, and so did Edward, Esme,Carlisle. Jasper and the others followed her through the shield.

Pg. 734-738   20 pages to go! Edward makes a huge game-changing announcement!  “Alice has been searching for her own witnesses these last weeks. And she does not come back empty-handed. Alice, why don’t you introduce the witnesses you’ve brought?” Alice stepped forward lightly and introduced the strangers. “This is Huilen and her nephew, Nahuel.”  The crowd listens to Huilen tell her story of their human lives and how they came to be. Huilen’s sister Pire fell in love with a vampire and soon after she became pregnant with Nahuel. Just as Renesmee attempted to do with Bella, Nahuel ripped his way from his mother’s womb and of course Pire died in the process. As Huilen lifted Nahuel from the womb he too, bit Huilen as Renesmee did Bella. Of course Huilen was turned immortal and she raised Nahuel as she promised her sister she would. “I cared for him until he was able to hunt for himself. We hunted the villages around our forest, staying to ourselves. We have never come so far from our home, but Nahuel wished to see the child here.”  Aro’s lips were pursed. He stared at the dark-skinned youth. “Nahuel, you are one hundred and fifty years old?” “Give or take a decade. We don’t keep track.” “And you reached maturity at what age?” “About seven years after my birth, more or less, I was full grown.” “And your diet?” “Mostly blood, but some human food, too. I can survive on either.” “You were able to create an immortal?” “Yes, but none of the rest can.” Aro’s eyebrows shot up. “The rest?” “My sisters.” “Perhaps you would tell us the rest of your story, for there seems to be more.” Nahuel frowned. “My father came looking for me a few years after my mother’s death. He was pleased to find me. He had two daughters, but no sons. He expected me to join him, as my sisters had. He was surprised I was not alone. My sisters are not venomous but whether that’s due to gender or a random chance…who knows? I already had my family with Huilen, and I was not interested in making a change. I have a new sister; she reached maturity about ten years back.” “Your father’s name?” Caius asked though gritted teeth. “Joham. He considers himself a scientist. He thinks he’s creating a new super-race.” He made no attempt to disguise the disgust in his tone. Caius looked at me. “You daughter, is she venomous?”  he demanded harshly. “No,”  I responded. Caius growled. “We take care of the aberration here, and then follow it south,” he urged Aro. “Brother. There appears to be no danger. These Half-vampire children are much like us, it appears.” “Is that your vote?” Caius demanded. “It is.” Caius scowled. “And this Joham? This immortal so fond of experimentation?” “Perhaps we should speak with him,” Aro agreed. “Stop Joham if you will. But leave my sisters be. They are innocent.” Aro nodded, his expression solemn. “Dear ones. We do not fight today.”

Pg. 739-741 This exhilarating chapter ends with the Volturi’s final goodbyes…for now.  Aro held his hands out to us, almost apologetic, behind him, the larger part of the guard, along with Caius, Marcus, and the silent, mysterious wives, were already drifting quickly away, their formation precise once again. “I’m so glad this could be resolved without violence. My friend Carlisle-how pleased I am to call you friend again! I hope there are no hard feelings.” “Leave in peace, Aro.” Carlisle said stiffly. “Please remember that we have anonymity to protect here, and keep your guard from hunting in this region.” “Of course, Carlisle. I am sorry to earn your disapproval, my dear friend. Perhaps, in time, you will forgive me.” “Perhaps, in time, if you prove a friend to us again.” We watched in silence as the last four Volturi disappeared into the trees. It was very quiet. I did not drop my shield. “Is it really over?” I whispered to Edward. His smile was huge. “They’ve given up. Like all bullies, they’re cowards underneath the swagger.” Alice laughed with him. “Seriously, people. They’re not coming back. Everybody can relax now.” Cheers erupted. Deafening howls filled the clearing. As all the remaining vampires cheer and embrace their mates, Bella has her mind on one thing.  And I half-climbed the giant russet wolf to rip my daughter off his back and then crushed her to my chest. Edward’s arms were around us in the same second. “Nessie, Nessie, Nessie,”  I crooned. “I get to stay with you?” Nessie demanded. “Forever,” I promised her. We had forever. And Nessie was going to be fine and healthy and strong. Like the half-human Nahuel, in a hundred and fifty years she would be still be young. And we would all be together. “Forever,” Edward whispered in my ear. I lifted my head and kissed him with a passion that might possibly set the forest on fire.

*Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is the end yet I feel so excited! And that Volturi are just a bunch of old decrepit bullies…but I adore them lol…and my boo Marcus of course lol. So what are your feelings about this chapter? Did you expect at least one person to die? Or at least Aro to take Alice as a parting gift? Weird since he wants her most of all.

Tags: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 Re-Read, Breaking Dawn Re-Read

Category: Breaking Dawn Book