"That's Sam — he's nineteen," he informed me.
"What was that he was saying about the doctor's family?" I asked innocently.
"The Cullens? Oh, they're not supposed to come onto the reservation." He looked away, out toward James Island, as he confirmed what I'd thought I'd heard in Sam's voice.
"Why not?" He glanced back at me, biting his lip. "Oops. I'm not supposed to say anything about that."
"Oh, I won't tell anyone, I'm just curious." I tried to make my smile alluring, wondering if I was laying it on too thick.
He smiled back, though, looking allured. Then he lifted one eyebrow and his voice was even huskier than before.
"Do you like scary stories?" he asked ominously.
"I love them," I enthused, making an effort to smolder at him.
Jacob strolled to a nearby driftwood tree that had its roots sticking out like the attenuated legs of a huge, pale spider. He perched lightly on one of the twisted roots while I sat beneath him on the body of the tree.
He stared down at the rocks, a smile hovering around the edges of his broad lips. I could see he was going to try to make this good. I focused on keeping the vital interest I felt out of my eyes.
"Do you know any of our old stories, about where we came from — the Quileutes, I mean?" he began.
"Not really," I admitted.
"Well, there are lots of legends, some of them claiming to date back to the Flood — supposedly, the ancient Quileutes tied their canoes to the tops of the tallest trees on the mountain to survive like Noah and the ark." He smiled, to show me how little stock he put in the histories.
"Another legend claims that we descended from wolves — and that the wolves are our brothers still. It's against tribal law to kill them.
"Then there are the stories about the cold ones." His voice dropped a little lower.
Alluring 誘惑的
lay it on thick 過分吹捧
stroll 散步
attenuated 瘦長的
ark 方舟
tribal 種族的
“那是山姆——他十九歲了。”他告訴我。
“為什麼他要那樣說醫生一家呢？”我一臉天真地問。
“卡倫一家？哦，他們不被允許來保留區。”他看向別處，望著遠處的詹姆士島。但他已經證實了我所認為的自己從山姆的語氣裡聽出的東西。
“為什麼不能呢？”
他回過頭看著我，咬住了唇。“噢，我不應該說這些的。”
“哦，我不會告訴任何人的，我只是有點好奇而已。”我試圖讓自己的笑容顯得更誘人些，但想著自己是不是做得有些過火了。
但他向我微笑著，顯然已經上鉤了。然後他挑起一側眉頭，聲音變得比之前更為沙啞了。
“你喜歡聽驚悚故事嗎？”他用一種不祥的語氣問道。
“我太喜歡了。”我熱切地說著，竭力用眼神鼓勵著他。
雅克布溜達著向旁邊的一根浮木走去。這根浮木的根鬚張牙舞爪地伸展著，像是一隻巨大的蒼白的蜘蛛的無數只細腿。他輕巧地跳到其中一根扭曲的樹根上坐下來，我坐在他的下方，坐到了樹幹上。他俯視著岩礁，一抹笑意在他寬厚的唇邊上徘徊著。我看得出他正在努力組織語言。我專注地讓自己的眼睛流露出興致勃勃的神情。
“你聽說過我們的古老故事嗎？我是指，關於我們的來源——奎魯特族？”他開始了。
“沒有。”我承認道。
“嗯，這裡面有很多傳說，其中有些的內容可以追溯到大洪水時期——按照推測，古代的奎魯特族人把他們的獨木舟綁在了山上最高的一棵樹的樹頂，像諾亞方舟一樣倖存了下來。”他微笑著，向我表明了他並不太相信這些歷史。“另一個傳說則聲稱我們是狼的後裔——現在這些狼依然是我們的兄弟。捕殺狼是違背部落法律的行為。”
“然後是關於吸血鬼的故事。”他的聲音壓得更低了。
