The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (81 page)

A
s in moviemaking, during the process of writing and editing a book, some scenes are cut. This section includes several scenes that were once part of the Twilight Saga. Think of them as similar to the outtakes in the special-features section of a DVD. (Other outtakes and materials are available at
www.stepheniemeyer.com
.)

This is an outtake from chapter 11 of
Twilight
. The scene gives a vivid picture of Bella’s legendary clumsiness, and an extra peek at Mike Newton.

I walked into the gym, light-headed, wobbly. I drifted to the locker room, changing in a trancelike state, only vaguely aware that there were other people surrounding me. Reality didn’t fully set in until I was handed a racket. It wasn’t heavy, yet it felt very unsafe in my hand. I could see a few of the other kids in class eyeing me furtively. Coach Clapp ordered us to pair up into teams.

Mercifully, some vestiges of Mike’s chivalry still survived; he came to stand beside me.

“Do you want to be a team?” he asked cheerfully.

“Thanks, Mike—you don’t have to do this, you know.” I grimaced.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep out of your way.” He grinned. Sometimes it was so easy to be fond of Mike.

It didn’t go smoothly. I tried to stay clear of Mike so that he could keep the birdie in play, but Coach Clapp came by and ordered him to remain on his side of the court so I could participate. He stayed, watching, to enforce his words.

My racket bounced back from the net with surprising strength, popping out of my hand and glancing off my forehead before whacking Mike in the shoulder as he rushed forward to get the birdie I had completely missed.

With a sigh, I stepped into a more central place on
the court, holding my racket upright, if still gingerly. The girl on the other team sneered maliciously as she served the birdie—I must have injured her during the basketball section—lobbing it just a few feet past the net, directly toward me. I sprung gracelessly forward, aiming my swing in the direction of the little rubber pest, but I forgot to take the net into account. My racket bounced back from the net with surprising strength, popping out of my hand and glancing off my forehead before whacking Mike in the shoulder as he rushed forward to get the birdie I had completely missed.

Coach Clapp coughed, or muffled a laugh.

“Sorry, Newton,” he mumbled, ambling away so we could return to our former, less dangerous, positions.

“Are you okay?” Mike asked, massaging his shoulder, just as I was rubbing my forehead.

“Yeah, are you?” I asked meekly, retrieving my weapon.

“I think I’ll make it.” He swung his arm in a circle, making sure he still had full range of motion.

“I’ll just stay back here.” I walked to the back corner of the court, holding my racket carefully behind my back.

Originally this piece was to be in the
Twilight
epilogue. Although Emmett’s backstory is touched on in chapter 14 of
Twilight
, this scene gives Emmett’s take on his encounter with the bear—and first meeting with Rosalie—in his own words.

I was surprised to find a strange kinship growing between myself and Emmett, especially since he had once been the most frightening to me of them all. It had to do with how we had both been chosen to join the family; we’d both been loved—and had loved in return—while we were human, though very briefly for him. Only Emmett remembered—he alone really understood the miracle that Edward remained to me.

We spoke of it for the first time one evening as the three of us lounged on the light sofas of the front room, Emmett quietly regaling me with memories that were better than fairy tales, while Edward concentrated on the Food Network—he’d decided he needed to learn to cook, to my disbelief, and it was rough going without the proper sense of taste and smell. After all, there
was
something that didn’t come naturally to him. His perfect brow furrowed as the celebrity chef flavored yet another dish according to taste. I repressed a smile.

“He was finished playing with me then, and I knew I was about to die,” Emmett remembered softly, winding up the tale of his human years with the story of the bear. Edward paid us no attention; he’d heard it before. “I couldn’t move, and my consciousness was slipping away, when I heard what I thought was another bear, and a fight—over which would get my carcass, I supposed. Suddenly it felt like I was flying. I figured I’d died, but I tried to open my eyes anyway. And then I saw
her
”—his face was incredulous at the memory; I
empathized entirely—“and I
knew
I was dead. I didn’t even mind the pain. I fought to keep my eyelids open—I didn’t want to miss one second of the angel’s face. I was delirious, of course, wondering why we hadn’t gotten to heaven yet, thinking it must be farther away than I’d expected. I kept waiting for her to take flight. And then she brought me to God.” He laughed his deep, booming laugh. I could easily comprehend anyone making that assumption.

“I’d had a little too much fun in my twenty human years, so I wasn’t surprised by the fires of hell.”

“I thought what happened next was my judgment. I’d had a little too much fun in my twenty human years, so I wasn’t surprised by the fires of hell.” He laughed again, and I shivered; Edward’s arm tightened around me unconsciously. “What surprised me was that the angel didn’t leave. I couldn’t understand how something so beautiful would be allowed to stay in hell with me—but I was
grateful
. Every time God came to check on me, I was afraid he would take her away, but he never did. I started to think maybe those preachers who talked about a merciful God might have been right after all. And then the pain went away… and they explained things to me.

“
They
were surprised at how little disturbed I was over the vampire issue. But if Carlisle and Rosalie, my angel, were vampires, how bad could it be?” I nodded, agreeing completely, as he continued. “I had a bit more trouble with the rules…. ” He chuckled. “You had your hands full with me at first, didn’t you?” Emmett’s playful nudge to Edward’s shoulder set us both rocking.

Edward snorted without looking away from the TV.

“So you see, hell’s not so bad if you get to keep an angel
with you,” he assured me mischievously. “When he gets around to accepting the inevitable, you’ll do fine.”

Edward’s fist moved so swiftly that I didn’t see what knocked Emmett sprawling over the back of the couch. Edward’s eyes never left the screen.

“Edward!” I scolded, horrified.

“Don’t worry about it, Bella.” Emmett was unruffled, back in his seat. “I know where to find him.” He looked over me toward Edward’s profile. “You’ll have to put her down sometime,” he threatened. Edward merely snarled in response, without looking up.

“Boys!” Esme’s reproving voice called sharply down the stairs.

This quote was the original epigraph for
New Moon
. The quote actually used, also from
Romeo and Juliet
, foreshadows more of the danger and potential heartbreak in the book, while the original choice emphasized the romance of the story.

Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-browed night;

Give me my Romeo; and, when I shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night….

—
Romeo and Juliet
, Act III scene ii

The following excerpt was the original first introduction to Old Quil. It takes place in chapter 12 in
New Moon
after Jacob tells Bella to stay away from him (in the rough draft, Jacob didn’t come to her window that night).

Charlie was at the breakfast table with a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him. He looked up, seeming surprised to see me.

“You’re up early,” he said, examining my face carefully.

I glanced at the clock; I was actually running late. “I’ve only got fifteen minutes,” I disagreed.

His face was wary. “It’s Saturday, honey. You don’t have work for another hour.”

“Oh.” He was still scrutinizing my face. “Well, that’s good. I didn’t want to go to school much anyway.”

I turned away from him, feeling his eyes on my back, and went to search in the fridge. The pizza was right on top.

We ate in silence as I wondered what to do with my day. I regretted trading my Saturday hours at Newton’s. It would have been a nice distraction.

But I knew that I wasn’t giving up on Jacob, and I wondered what angle to approach him from.

“So you’re really worried about this Sam thing, aren’t you?” Charlie was done with his food before I was, and his thoughts were in the same place.

I swallowed. “Yes, I really am.”

“Do you think he’s involved with something bad? Drugs or crime or something?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think of anything else, but I just can’t see Jacob changing for something like that.” I shrugged.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you before,” he said quietly.