Chapter Twenty: I'm not a vampire, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

Bella and her vampire buddies make the trip from Forks to Phoenix in just one day, and thanks to Alice's visions, don't get a single ticket in the process! They settle into a hotel near the airport, just in case something goes wrong with this brilliant plan of theirs and they need to leave town in a hurry.

And they wait. For several pages, Bella, Alice and Jasper sit around in a hotel room, which is exactly as exciting as it sounds. Bella brings the proceedings down a notch when she goes on one of her patented whining sessions, moaning about how it's all her fault and how none of them should be doing this much for her, even after it's explained to her -- again -- that she doesn't need to worry about the rest of them getting hurt. You know, because they're godlike vampires. Her hysterics should be an invitation for Jasper to just eat her and end things right there...and yet, he instead uses his power to influence her and calm her just a bit instead. Trust your instincts, Jasper.

And then they wait some more. Really.

Bored out of her mind, Bella asks Alice to explain how one becomes a vampire. Alice reluctantly explains that a vampire has a lot of redundant weaponry, including venom that paralyzes the victim with pain on the rare occasion when the vampire has to do something else before coming back to finish a meal. The venom doesn't kill, but if it stays in the body for a few days, it'll eventually turn the victim into a vampire. Very painful, very slow, but at the end you come out way better looking -- it's basically major cosmetic surgery.

Eventually something has to happen in this chapter, and that function is served by Alice, who has a new vision of what James might be up to. She sees two rooms: one with a lot of mirrors, and another that's very dark. In both, James is with a VCR -- watching it in the dark room, playing with it in the mirrored room.

Then, Edward calls to deliver the bad news. Up around Vancouver, James lost them, and caught a flight...somewhere. They assume back to Forks, which seems totally likely. I mean, it's not like Bella told him exactly where she might be going, or anything. Edward and Bella spend a page saying goodbye, how much they miss each other, and how much they love each other. This chapter seriously has about two pages of content surrounded by 15 pages of waiting and fretting.

Alice sketches out the mirrored room she saw in her vision, which Bella recognizes as a ballet studio -- just like the one right near her mom's house here in Phoenix. Of course, Bella surmises, that could be any ballet studio...the stereo isn't even the same one that was there a decade ago! Not taking any chances, Bella calls her mom and reaches her voicemail. Bella asks her to call back, trying to warn her not to come back to Phoenix until they're sure James is out of the picture.

And then, Bella waits some more, shocked at how James could have possibly come to the conclusion that she was in Phoenix.