Your poor Edward...nothing is going right for him. I just want to take care of him - feed him, wash his clothes. I'm glad he found comfort in the tree and his piano.

The shower scene was erotic (understatement, that). I'm seeing that this isn't my sweet,virginal Canonward but a more mature and jaded (I think?) version. No problem, I'm adjusting just fine. :) I guess it worries me a little that he's not necessarily a one-woman man because I feel Marie/Bella deserves the very, very best (though he was young then and it might've been a one time thing). It does sound like he was forgiving of Tanya's difficulties and tried to work things out with her. I think it's that you've done such a superb job with Marie/Bella's pov, that I feel protective of her.

wow different kinda story but really good. i enjoyed it!

Ok, yes, I had to read one more and wow, I totally get why everyone has raved about this. It's so beautiful and poetic and...I'm lacking the words. Rose's love for her daughter and how fast she's grown up. This: "...not yet at a place from which squandered years can be mourned or coveted." The Pegasus metaphor. Bella's self-hatred. Wow, lady, can you ever wield a pen. Just...thank you. I'm now going to force myself to do stuff I need to do and hold this until later when it can be properly savored.

I've been so patiently wanting the Rider to return. The wait has been hard but perfect and just how I like it - a slow burn of sorts. Now he's here, and boy did you deliver! I thought we'd just get another peek at him or some bits of info, but no, we got a beautifully written, in-depth portrait. I'm captivated by your Edward, his life and surroundings. I want to quote the whole chapter! The descriptions of him and his home were stunning; I'll always think of an ebony wing when I see a grand piano.

Is Marie's mural on one of the outside walls of his home? Is he the "kid" the Watcher mentioned?

I've neglected RL and must return to it for awhile. Thanks so much for sharing your enthralling tale!

I can't tell you how happy I am that she has the tree, vine and mural to comfort her. You effectively write them as unlikely cohorts in her effort to maybe, just maybe, break out of her battered shell and make a new life for herself.

"It would be like manhandling a cadaver under a rug, then tripping over it for years to come." Great one!

"This is the same book that she knows and loves, just in a different skin." Ah, I see, just like Marie.

Wow, she's got plenty of money and she still does that job, allows herself to be treated that way. She really is in a shell, closed off from her herself and everyone else. Alec is her best friend and he's a fair weather one at best.

I've assumed that she was Bella and started using Marie when she ran away. Victoria saying her given name must've really freaked her out.

Thanks so much for sharing this!

You've most surely got the "show, don't tell" issue down pat! Her despair is alive; I felt it intensely and it broke my heart. I desperately wanted the Rider, or someone, anyone, to appear and help her and just take care of her.

I'm sure of this, I never would've entered that apartment after seeing someone in the window!

That was intense, frightening, and upsetting, just as it was meant to be. She's cracking into pieces. "Her skin feels like it's crawling off her bones and that creepy sneering leer starts to look increasingly like that of a predator bearing its teeth in a rabid rage." I'm not certain that he's the Watcher but he sure fits the bill.

Your writing really allows me to see how a person could continue in a situation like Marie's. You're also doing a wonderful job conveying her waking up to new possibilities: "Today, on the other hand, she's the perfectly messy mix of crushing regret and dangerous hope."

"It has been a long time since she was touched with love in this way." So she's had a boyfriend or someone in her past that loved her?

Goodness, the Rider certainty made an impression on her!

Terrific details: the laddered stockings and "She's all raven's wing black and fragile porcelain white..."

Wow, she doesn't even feel comfortable enough to take a walk down the street. Such a basic activity I take for granted.

"She might be Missing, but she's not Wanted." My heart breaks for her.

On a cheerier note, you've certainly taken motorcycles to a new level of sexy! Now let me make sure I have this correct - when you write that "his hands caress the metal naturally like it's his," I guess he used those long fingers you mentioned? (Please say yes!) And there's stubble and scruffy jawline involved? Hubba hubba! But...drats, he doesn't look up and see her! (Isn't there some sort of unwritten Twi rule whereby Edward magically senses Bella's presence if she's within ten feet? Perhaps I've been reading too much AU/vamp, lol.)

Sorry, I've skipped a few chapters ahead. We did some intensive work in the garden today & I was too tired to do anything other than sit & read.

Anyway, I've got to leave the story at this point (boots) & I'm aching to know what happens next, so you have revenge.

I'm always stunned when someone can read so much into thoughts, feelings and gestures of their characters. I can't think so deeply! It's fascinating.

I did love that he heard her & played to comfort her; as well as being phwoarh and *sigh* and umph, he's also sweet and kind. Melting here.

I don't think of graffiti as being beautiful but you made it so.

I hate that she's so beholden to someone as cold-hearted as Victoria. I'm interested in knowing how she got into this position and I desperately want to see her extract herself.

The Ghoul sounds Aro-like. Love your vivid descriptions! "...he dresses like a relic in ridiculous, dandified shirts that smell like mothballs."

What a terrific start! I'm so frightened for her! He keeps mentioning the deadline and it sounds like he's done something like this before. Then there's that foreboding quote and that little bit with her undies...ugh, that's such a violation! He couldn't be any creepier.

Ok, I have to wonder whether Nessie is Emmett's daughter.

Poor Bella, I know that draining feeling when you want someone & see something that shows you he's not for you. Trampled under glittering hooves indeed.

Tell Edward he should put some draught excluder round the edge of his visor & it'll stop the rain coming in.

I like it when we have Classic Edward - no girlfriend, a musician ¬hing in the fridge. You made me laugh with the streaker image, though I extended it to him jumping up & down and waving, with a big grin on his face, but there you go.

So, will he see Bella in the coffee shop & when she learns his name will she realise the book's his?

I hadn't realised even Victoria "didn't" know she was Bella. I want to just gallop on to the next chapter, but before I do - as the Watcher tries to book an appointment 10 days later, I'm trying to figure out whether Bella returns to the job, or Victoria's expecting her to do so.

Gotta go.