Chapter 3: It's Them!

Chapter 3: It's Them!

My jaw dropped. Just last week, I’d commemorated the tenth anniversary of the day that I was convinced, despite Jake’s protests, my family had died. Now here they all were, not 20 feet from me, and looking exactly as I remembered them. They seemed oblivious to all the attention they were getting, choosing to ignore the whispers and stares.

Hannah was still chattering animatedly in my ear.

“Aren’t they gorgeous? Everybody’s jealous of them. Doctor Cullen is one of the most influential men in town, even though they’ve only been here a year. Mrs Cullen teaches the kindergarten class at Riverbend Elementary, and they absolutely adore her. The kids tend to keep to themselves, but you saw how much of a stir they create; I don’t think there’s anyone in Juneau who doesn’t recognise the name Cullen.”

“What are their names?” I asked, mostly because it would be odd not to, but also needing to be absolutely sure. I couldn’t take my eyes off them, afraid that the second I turned away they would vanish, and I would wake up, and it would all be a dream. They were leaning towards each other now, ignoring their lunch trays and talking in hushed whispers that I couldn’t make out, even with hearing more sensitive than a human’s.

“The big boy with the dark hair is Emmet. You’ll probably recognise Alice; she’s the little one in our music class. The blondes are the Hale twins, Rosalie and Jasper; they’re Mrs Cullen’s niece and nephew I think. The other girl is Bella, and the boy is Edward. You know, I’ve just realized why your hair looked familiar; it’s exactly like his. It’s a shame none of them are single, although they’d be snapped up in a second. You should have seen Bella when a senior tried to ask Edward to prom last year. Lucy was there, she swears Bella growled at the girl. Actually growled, like a lion.”

Hannah was fading into the background. My eyes were still fixed on my family; for I had no doubt now that it was them. Everything fit; the names, the story, and faces like that weren’t exactly common.

I watched as their hushed discussion got more heated. The volume rose, and I was able to hear snippets of what they were saying.

“Are you positive it was her, Alice?”

“You think I would lie about something this big Emmet? Or don’t you think I know my niece when I see her. Just look...”

Alice pulled out the sketch pad she had been using before and put it the middle of the table so they could all see. It suddenly dawned on me then; what she had been so furiously scribbling. It must be me. She had drawn me to prove that she was right.

Their heads all came up at once, eyes flicking from face to face, looking for something.

Looking for me.

I decided they needed a hand. But before I could act, a hand waved in front of my face, making me blink.

“Hellooo, earth to Nessie!” one of the girls, Sandra, said.

“You ok Ness?” Hannah asked. “You look kind of sick.”

Then, before I could stop her, she put a hand to my forehead. She snatched it back almost instantly.

“Jesus, Nessie, you’re HOT!” she squealed, then grabbed my hand and started dragging me towards the door. “I’m taking you to the nurse, right now! That temperature cannot be healthy.”

I let her lead me. I would take this opportunity; fake an illness, go home, and talk to Jake. Because I really needed to talk to him. I couldn’t wait through two more hours to tell him what I had seen.

The nurse accepted my bluff without much bother, clearly frightened by the unnaturally hot temperature of my skin. Jacob turned up just 15 minutes after the receptionist called him, looking very worried. He waited until we were in the car before he started asking questions.

“Are you alright? You never get sick.”

I sighed. “I’m fine. One of the girls thought I didn’t look well, then overreacted when she felt my forehead. No big deal... but I played along, because I need to talk to you.”

He relaxed visibly, still slightly tense as he waited for me to speak. When I didn’t, he peeked at me from the corner of his eye.

“What did you want to talk about?” he asked, looking worried.

“It can wait until we get home. You probably shouldn’t hear it while you’re driving; we don’t want to have an accident.” I smiled.

He winced. “That bad?”
“No, not bad.” I shook my head. “Just...surprising. And unexpected.”

Jacob looked at me speculatively for a moment, then shrugged and turned back to the road.

After he parked the car, he pulled me inside as fast as he could, considering the possibility we could be spotted, and sat me down on the couch in the living room.

“Alright,” he said, sitting beside me, “Spill.”

I giggled at how much like Hannah he sounded, then took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye.

“I found them.”

Jake looked confused. “Found who?”

I huffed. How he could be so clueless was beyond me. I took one of his hands in both of mine, and replayed the scene from earlier. I heard him gasp, but I had my eyes closed, focused on getting every detail perfect; the voices, the faces, the explanation Hannah had given me.

When I was finished, I looked at him, studying his face for any sign of a reaction. All I could see was blank shock and confusion. Then he blinked twice and seemed to come back to earth.

“Are you sure?”

That was exactly the question I had hoped he wouldn’t ask, not because I was unsure, but because it was annoying. I huffed again, thoroughly disgruntled.

“Do you think I would say anything about it if I wasn’t? You know me better than that Jake. It’s them, I’m certain.”

He seemed lost in thought for a moment. Just when I was beginning to get worried, he turned to look at me.

“Ok, this is what we’re gonna do. We take things slow; too much too fast could give us unwanted attention. We let them lead, do this at their pace and in their time. You are going to stay off school tomorrow, just to keep up the sick façade, but we are both going to that parent teacher conference on Wednesday after school. Most likely they’ll be there, and I can get a look at them. Until I am convinced this is safe, you are not leaving this house without me, understood?”

I nodded enthusiastically, thrilled that he seemed willing to accept what I had seen. House arrest was a small price to pay if it got me to my family.

________________________________________________________________________

Work with Jake the next day was actually kind of fun. The garage wasn’t big, 5 or 6 guys and the boss, Mike, working on various projects. Jake had a big silver motorbike that needed a complete refit, and I was happy just to sit and watch him work, handing him tools when he asked for them. I suddenly remembered a story he had told me once, from before I was born. I knew a little bit about the time my dad left my mom, but not much. So I was intrigued by the idea of my graceful, sensible mother deliberately deceiving Grandpa and messing around with motorbikes. In my current position, sitting a few feet back from Jake as he tinkered with the engine, chatting and laughing, I thought I could understand why she liked it so much.

My mind began to wander, spinning back to about two years ago. The only time we had been back to Forks since we left. Jake had, of course, kept in contact with his pack. He had been quick to establish that they were all safe; not one single wolf had been hurt, beyond a few cuts and scrapes that healed before they were even noticed.

One morning, I woke up to a horrendous howling outside my window. When I looked out, Jake was sprawled on the grass in his wolf form, fat tears spilling from his eyes. It turned out that his dad, Billy, had passed away, and Jacob had just got the news from Sam as he was arriving home.

We headed up north straight away, running rather than trying to arrange a flight. The funeral was a sombre affair, very small and select. I was the only one there that wasn’t Quileute, but I didn’t feel out of things. Everyone welcomed me with open arms. Grandpa was there, of course. He and Sue had gotten married while we were away, and he was in on every secret, making Momma’s letter to him almost irrelevant, but we delivered it again.

From what the pack could tell us, all our friends had made it out safely too, but none of them knew what had happened to my family. When they told us, I had burst into tears almost immediately. Unexpectedly, Leah was the one to try and comfort me, wrapping her arms around me and letting me sob into her shirt. When I asked her why later on, she just shrugged and said, “We’re family now.”

We took a quick detour before we went home, checking in with Tanya’s family. They were happy to see us, but couldn’t tell us much more than the wolves had, only adding that the last they saw, the others were chasing the last of the retreating guard into the mountains.

After dinner that night, I fell asleep quickly, my sleep filled with dreams rather than nightmares. The past, the present and the future were all mixed together in my unconscious mind; pleasant memories of my childhood, pre and post December 30^th; my happiness with Jacob; visions of being reunited with my parents. I had no doubt that everything was going to work out ok.

My life was heading for perfection.