No one else seemed to know quite what to say, as we had already covered our names and it was pretty obvious that everyone was aware that they wanted to eat me. And then Jasper was there—tall and leonine.304 A feeling of ease spread through me, a kind of vampire's soothing venom emitted from his essence, and I was suddenly comfortable despite where I was. Fredward glared at Jasper, raising one of his many eyebrows, and I remembered what Jasper could do...
"Hello, Bella," Jasper said. He kept his distance too, not offering to shake my hand. But it was impossible to feel awkward near him; I swooned.
"Hello, Casper," I smiled at him shyly, and then at all the others. "It's nice to meet you all. You have a very nice home.
"Thank you," Esme said. "We're so glad that you... came." She spoke with feeling, and I realized that she thought I was brave.
I also realized that Rosalie and Emmett were nowhere to be seen—at least by my human eyes—and I remembered Fredward's too-innocent denial when I'd asked him if the others didn't want to be my friends.
Carbomb's expression distracted me from this train of thought; he was gazing meaningfully at Fredward with an intense expression. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fredward nod once.
I looked away, trying to be polite. My eyes wandered again to the beautiful instrument on the platform by the door. I suddenly remembered being a child and having the fantasy that, should I ever win the lottery, I would buy a grand piano for my mother. She wasn't really good—she only played for herself on our secondhand upright—but I loved her; she was my mother.
304. Liony.