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The hour was closing in on midnight in Venice, Italy, when Haley Cooper eased into the steamy, hotel bathwater and cracked open her copy of "Twilight," a teen-vampire romance.
Within three chapters, the tale of two star-crossed students in Forks, Wash., had grabbed her by the throat, banishing all sense of time.
"I remember sitting in the bathtub all night, reading the book," said the Florida teen, who has become an enraptured fan of "Twilight" and its author, Stephenie Meyer. "I couldn't put it down. My mom came in at 8 a.m. and said, 'Haley! Are you still up?!' "
Such is the power of true love -- especially true vampire love. For reasons as deep and unfathomable as the human heart, Meyer's teenage fans are willing to go that extra mile, whether it means enduring pruney skin or, quite literally, going that extra mile.
Meyer, an Arizona author, doesn't officially go on tour until fall, but she recently lined up a few casual appearances in Salt Lake City, Seattle and Forks to coincide with her personal travels.
To everyone's astonishment, the low-key events are attracting young fans from as far away as Hawaii, Southern California, British Columbia, Wisconsin, Missouri and New Brunswick.
"Some came from 3,000 miles away," said Meyer, who was agog when some long-distance fans showed up at her Salt Lake City reading on April 29. "I tell them I'm going to be (touring nationally) in the fall but they can't wait."
Libby Scott, 13, the New Brunswick fan, said she "begged and begged and begged" her parents to let her fly to Salt Lake City in April. Her parents e-mailed Meyer to scope out the event and make sure it would really take place. When Libby woke up on Easter morning, she found plane tickets for herself and her dad in her Easter basket.
"We bought the tickets and Libby had the time of her life," said her mother, Barbara Scott, adding that the trip ended up costing about $3,000. "She was so excited she didn't know what to do."
Now Libby is begging and begging and begging again -- to see Meyer next month at the tiny Forks Memorial Library and accompany her and other fans on a walk-about along coastal tide pools.
"I think it's every 'Twilight' fan's dream come true to go to Forks and see where the book takes place," Libby said wistfully.
Her mom says they'll try to make that trip work out too, even if it is 3,200 miles from home. Libby, an extremely articulate and studious teen, writes "Twilight" fan fiction, her mother explained, and they'd like to encourage her interest.
It's an astonishing show of loyalty for any book -- especially one that lasted only a week on The New York Times best-seller list.
"This is highly unusual," said Elizabeth Eulberg, publicity director for Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Meyer admits to being both "touched" and "intimidated" by the lengths to which her most ardent young readers will go.
For awhile, fans were even scouring eBay for advance galleys of her sequel, "New Moon." Early on, when sneak peeks were hard to come by, the galleys were selling for $100, Meyer said. To her discomfort -- because, really, what book is worth it? -- one copy reportedly fetched $370.
"They're not the largest group of fans out there," Meyer said of her loyal troupe, "but they seem to be the most fanatical."
But then, "Twilight" was an unusual project from the start. It was triggered by an arresting dream Meyer had several years ago -- a dream of two teens in a rainy woods, their passion thwarted by the fact that the boy was a vampire.
Though she had never written a book, Meyer -- who was an English lit major at Brigham Young University -- committed her vision to paper, fleshed out the story line and snagged a $750,000, multibook contract. "Twilight," published last October, is now in its fifth printing.
"New Moon," book two in what Meyer sees as an open-ended series, will have a first printing of 100,000 copies. It's due in stores the week of Aug. 21.
"Twilight" opens with 17-year-old Bella newly arrived from Phoenix to live with her divorced father in dreary, rainy Forks, on the sparsely populated Olympic Peninsula a hundred miles west of Seattle. Just as she grows resigned to her dull routine, she meets Edward Cullen, a mysterious and startlingly handsome student who keeps to a reclusive band of friends.
Bella eventually learns that Edward and his friends are vampires -- albeit of the nicest sort. Loath to harm humans, they try to satisfy their blood lust with the local wildlife. Even so, once Edward and Bella fall in love, every kiss, every caress, spells dangerous temptation.
The tension mounts when a less-principled band of vampires arrives on the scene and tries to put Bella on the menu.
As School Library Journal put it, "The novel's danger factor skyrockets as the excitement of secret love and hushed affection morphs into a terrifying race to stay alive."
Thrilling as that sounds, it's really the characters and their undying love that have girls hooked -- not to mention the slight edge of danger inherent in even well-mannered vampires.
Carolyn Rancour, a librarian at Chinook Middle School in SeaTac, said a lot of the eighth-grade girls at her school have gone moony over "Twilight." "I had a girl who refused to give it back for three months," Rancour said, "because she was rereading it again."
With its chaste but impassioned love, "Twilight" seems to herald the dawn of young girls' emerging interest in romance.
"It's a wonderful love story," Rancour said, "and it doesn't have sex. It's just so sweet. I think girls want to love and be loved."
The book's selfless, tormented hero, Edward, certainly accounts for a large part of the collective swoon. Meyer, in fact, refers to her Seattle and Forks events as "I Love Edward" parties.
As Libby Scott, the New Brunswick fan explained, "He's what every girl wants her boyfriend to be. He's handsome beyond belief, he's polite, he's old-fashioned -- he's a true gentleman."
And the fact that Edward and Bella are barred from consummating their passion?
That just heightens the palpitations.
"They love each other," Libby said, "and they don't need to do that for a relationship to last. I think it sends a good message."
No doubt the young fans' blood will be racing when they all converge Friday night in the event room at All for Kids Books & Music in Seattle.
Lauren Cody, 15, plans to take the ferry tonight from Victoria to Vancouver, B.C., where she and her mother will spend the night with friends. Friday morning they'll drive to Seattle and check into a hotel. Lauren's earnings from McDonald's will cover almost half the expenses, which she figures will total $500 Canadian.
"I know some people might think it's kind of weird to be spending all this time and money, just to meet an author for an hour," Lauren said, "but for me it's really exciting. This is like meeting some big star to me, because I really admire Stephenie Meyer, and I admire that she could create these people and this whole amazing story."
Brianna Painter, who lives in Alpine, Calif., near San Diego, hopes to make it to the Forks event on July 20 to learn more about the book's setting. She especially wants to meet Meyer because, she said, "Stephenie talks to her fans. She doesn't act like she's not in our league or something."
Unfortunately, no such happy ending awaits Haley Cooper, the Fort Lauderdale teen who read "Twilight" in the Venice bathtub. With "a very heavy heart," she acknowledged that her plans to attend Meyer's Seattle reading have proved as star-crossed as Bella and Edward themselves.
Earlier this month, she was set to accompany her friend's family on a cross-country vacation in their motorhome, which was due to hit Seattle just in time for Meyer's event. Then the itinerary changed, pushing the Seattle ETA two weeks too late.
Haley, who turns 18 on Sunday, offered to spend her graduation money to fly out by herself for the event, but her parents wouldn't bite.
"They still kind of think I'm 12," she fumed.
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