How It All Goes Down
Company
- The Cullen house starts to crowd with arriving friends. The traditional vampires promise not to hunt in Forks and in La Push, but go to hunt out-of-state, yet it still makes Bella uncomfortable. Jacob is very upset, too, because he sees his mission as a werewolf is protecting humans.
- After meeting Renesmee, the Cullen friends agree to witness that she's not an immortal child, with just a few exceptions.
- Amun, the leader of the Egyptian coven, remains skeptical. He seems very protective of Benjamin, a young vampire in his coven, who can influence the elements – earth, wind, water, and fire.
- Garret, one of the Cullens' nomad friends, sees facing the Volturi as a welcome dare. He immediately takes to the Denali sisters and wants to try vegetarianism.
- Another couple, Mary and Randall, also agrees to witness.
- Lastly, there are the Amazon contacts, Zafrina and Senna. They take to Renesmee immediately. Zafrina can make people see whatever she wants them to see. She conjures up pretty pictures for Renesmee and they befriend each other.
- Since Edward refuses to teach Bella how to fight, because he can't handle looking at her as a target, she practices with Emmett and other friends. She spends the rest of the time with Kate, trying to push her internal shield outside of her own brain to protect someone else. Bella only has sporadic success. "It was just so hard. There was nothing to get a hold of, nothing solid to work with" (32.68).
- Edward agrees to play guinea pig (getting shocked by Kate and Bella has to try to block that), but Kate decides to give Bella an even better incentive: Renesmee. The rage at imagining her daughter getting hurt causes Bella's shield to expand to cover Renesmee:
The rage brought every aspect of my being into sharper focus. I could even feel the elasticity of my shield… I had a better sense of it, a tighter hold on it. (32.98) - Bella finally manages to draw the shield around Edward and a couple more friends before it recoils like a rubber band.
- Two more unexpected visitors arrive – the Romanians. Traditional, ancient vampires like the Volturi, the Romanians hate the other clan for overthrowing their empire. They've come for a chance at revenge. Carlisle assures them that there's not going to be a fight with the Volturi.
- In the end, the Cullens count seventeen witnesses – probably the largest friendly gathering of mature vampires in mortal history.
- Again, Bella feels hopeful that if Renesmee has won over so many in such a brief time, maybe the Volturi will listen.