Patches of Blue
CHAPTER ONE
From the very beginning, I knew that my future was set for me. I couldn't even begin to imagine a life without Quil. He was my life. This fact became very apparent to me as I walked into the cafeteria on the first day of my last week of high school. When I looked back on the last four years of my life, some moments had sped by lightning fast, and others had dragged dully. My times with Quil were always the fast memories, whereas the ones in this building were generally the slower ones.
There have been many changes in La Push. The 'original' wolf pack had nearly doubled in size. After Nessie was born, the Cullens had been through a major encounter with the Volturi. At that time, there had been a major outbreak of wolves on the La Push reservation. The names of the wolves were Caleb, Jeremy, Matt, Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, and Wyatt. About six months later, a new and very different kind of wolf had emerged. His name is Joel. Joel is different because he changed at the age of twenty-one, and not when he was a teenager. He was late because Jacob's dad's younger brother had been his father. Joel had never met his father, seeing as he died before he even knew the girl was pregnant. Joel had grown up not knowing any of his father's family, and none of his father's family knowing about him. Now this is where it gets really weird. Leah Clearwater imprinted upon him at the same moment that Joel imprinted upon her. It was the first time that this had happened, but certainly not the last. Joel and Leah were now married with four kids; Nicholas Sam, Alexis Jane, Cole Andrew, and Paige Olivia. Sam and Emily were also married with four kids; Jennifer Rose, Brandon Michael, Allison Grace, and Ryan Joel. All of these births had happened at the same time. The wolf gene in these kids was funny that way.
But that's just the beginning. There was also another new wolf in La Push. Her name was Brooke. She was Jared's little sister, and had changed when she was sixteen. She and Embry had imprinted upon each other, in the same way that Leah and Joel had. Brooke had given birth to twins seven years ago. Brooke and Embry had named their babies Madison Grace and Marcus John. Rachel and Paul had a son named Joshua Kyle, and their older daughter was named Kristen Skye. Kim and Jared had a daughter named Kelsey Renee, and their older son was named David Tyler.
Seth Clearwater had imprinted on a girl named Abbey eight years ago. They were now happily married with twins whose names were Elizabeth Grace and Evan Mitchell. A few months after Brooke had changed, twin girls named Lauren and Kaylie had also changed into wolves. Collin and Brady, the ones who used to be the 'kids' of the pack, had imprinted on these girls. And you guessed it, at the same time that they imprinted on them. Collin and Kaylie had a little girl named Anna Nicole, and Lauren and Brady had a little boy named Tyler Jonathon. Lauren and Kaylie also have a younger brother who is officially the newest member of the wolf pack, and whose name is Bryce.
Now here's where things start to get complicated. Jacob and Nessie had married about four years ago, and they now had a daughter named Eila and a son named Cade. They were both so adorable. We all loved them to death. Bryce, the newest wolf, had imprinted on Eila. Bryce was Lauren and Kaylie's younger brother. Jacob called in karma, but I knew it must be a little awkward to have Bryce imprint on his daughter.
If this wasn't enough, there was still more to come. Just a few months after the Cullens left Forks; the wolf world in La Push had been shaken up and almost destroyed. One night, Sam had found something mysterious in the woods. It had been a pair of bare human footprints just suddenly disappearing. Sam hadn't recognized the scent of these footprints, and had immediately called the rest of the wolves. They were gone for several hours, and Nessie eventually got worried and called Julia. You see, she has the talent of being able to find people. They work sort of like Alice's visions, only she can see all types of people, including werewolves. Julia had searched for the wolves, and had found them.
What she saw was horrendous. They had all been viciously attacked, and were left broken, bruised, and bleeding. I had been worried about Quil all night. I cried myself to sleep that night at Sam and Emily's. We hadn't known much then, but in the months that had followed that, we soon discovered more about these disappearing footprints. You see, the things that had attacked the wolves had been large, super natural eagles. This was all that the wolves had been able to capture about these things while they had been being attacked. But with this bit of information, we had set to work.
It had taken several weeks and almost nonstop work to finally reach a conclusion about these things, but the Cullens had found a legend concerning people that turned into eagles. The Achomawi Indians of Southern Oregon were the only culture that we could find that had a legend remotely relating to humans shape-shifting.
After a series of certain events, the leader of these eagles had come into our presence. He had explained to us about how he had been excluded from his family, and practically exiled from his community. The only reservation for Achomawi Indians was called Alturas, and was located near the Oregon state border in Northeastern California. Their leader's name was Dan, and he had told all the wolves about how he had ordered the others to attack out of pure fear, and intimidation; I had been inside with all of the wolves' kids. He was afraid of the wolves. He had apologized, and begged for their forgiveness.
Being the people that they were, not only had the wolves forgiven the eagles almost immediately, they had asked Dan to tell them about the rest of the eagles. Dan explained to them about how some of the eagles were very close to losing themselves. When you stayed eagles for as long as they did, he told us, it was sometimes hard to remember that somewhere inside of you was a real person. He told the wolves that there were about eight girls, and ten guys. After about an hour of talking with Dan, Sam had asked him to bring the rest of the eagles back to meet them. Sam had known that these people had nowhere to go, and Sam wasn't the type of guy who just let someone who needed help walk away.
After much arguing, Dan had agreed to bring the others back. Dan was feeling pretty guilty about his conscience at that time, and I had known that he must feel very undeserving of this act of generosity. No matter what he felt though, about an hour later, there were eighteen young men and woman standing in front of us.
That's when all hell broke loose. The weirdest of the weird things had happened. Caleb, Jeremy, Matt, Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, and Wyatt had imprinted on Mikayla, Natalie, Jocelyn, Amber, Kaitlyn, Nicole, and Ashley, the eagle girls. I almost couldn't believe it. But that wasn't the end of all of the craziness. The very next day, the oldest eagle girl, Lyssie, had imprinted on a brand new eagle named Michael. Michael was much like Joel in his genes at least, seeing as he was Dan's younger cousin. Just like Joel was Jacob's older cousin.
Also, some of the wolves and eagles who had imprinted on each other had had children about three years ago. Caleb and Mikayla had a son named Derek James. Jeremy and Natalie had a beautiful daughter named Alaina May. Matt and Jocelyn had a son named Christopher Phillip, and Lucas and Amber had a daughter named Miley Anne. Lyssie and Michael also had twins named Jon Kevin and Jayde Christine. The youngest of the wolf/eagle imprints had been married about a year ago.
So all together, the eagles were Dan, Adam, Ricky, Landon, Scott, Alex, Brian, Robert, Corey, Justin, Michael, Lyssie, Mikayla, Natalie, Jocelyn, Amber, Kaitlyn, Nicole, and Ashley.
At lunch, I sat at a table with a group of kids that I had gone to school with my whole life. We had been through two-wheelers, braces, and dating together. My experiences with these things were a little different than theirs had been though. Quil had always been there. Quil would always be there.
The rest of the school day went by fast and I headed out to the parking lot with the rest of the school kids. Since La Push was so small, no students were allowed to drive to school. So, I trudged home through the rain with the rest of the students. Some walked in packs, others stayed with their families. Neighbors talked, but I walked alone today. My hood was up, hiding from the rain. Since it was the last week of school for the seniors, I had no homework. I had been exempt from finals due to my good grades and attendance record.
I decided to try and find Quil. Lately, Quil had been hanging out with Jacob more, like they had when they were teenagers. I headed towards Nessie and Jacob's house, hoping to find him there.
"Hey, Claire," Nessie greeted me as she opened the door.
"Hi Ness. Is Quil here?"
"He and Jake are actually running patrol right now, but you're welcome to come in. Cade is napping right now, and Eila should be home soon."
All of the packs school aged children usually walked home together. The parents had it arranged that one or two of them would be there every day, to make sure everything went over smoothly and no one got lost on their walk home. Jenny and Nick were in seventh grade; Brandon, Alexis, Kristin, and David were in fifth; Allison, Joshua, Kelsey, Madison, Marcus, and Cole were in third; Ryan and Paige were in first; Elizabeth, Evan, Anna and Tyler, born just after the cutoff date were in kindergarten; Cade was in his second year of pre-school; and Derek, Alaina, Christopher, Miley, Jon, and Jayde were all in their first year of preschool.
Eila, though truly younger than both Ryan and Paige, was actually a year ahead of them in school. Eila began school just a few months after her second birthday, as did Cade. They entered their first years of preschool with kids who were a year older than them, but most definitely not smarter. Nessie had been allowed to start them only with special permission from the school. It helped that the principle of the school was Lauren and Kaylie's mom, and after a short meeting with the school board and a series of questions asked of Eila and Cade, they had accepted them without a problem. Eila's and Cade's rapid aging had slowed down drastically after their third birthdays, and now Eila's aging was at a normal pace. Cade's was still a bit above average, but it wouldn't be for much longer. Their learning though was noticeably faster, and I knew that Nessie and Jacob had had to explain to them why they had to pretend to learn a little more slowly than they actually were. Just like all of the pack children, Eila and Cade knew the secret, and knew the importance of keeping that secret. Just like I had all my life.
"So, how have you been?" I asked Nessie.
"Oh, you know; same old, same old. Jake's still not sleeping enough. He's always taking this Alpha thing so seriously."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"No, not at all," She said. "It's just hard sometimes. I know what he has to do, and he knows what he has to do, I just don't like having to see him do it. It exhausts him, you know?"
I nodded thoughtfully. I wondered what it would be like to have kids, not that I was planning on that any time soon, but still I wondered…what if Quil had been Alpha? What would that have meant for me? How often would he have been gone? How often would I have gotten to see him?
"What's it like?" I asked.
"What?" Ness asked; she looked like she needed as much sleep as Jacob.
"Jake being Alpha. Is it hard on you?"
She looked at me thoughtfully before speaking.
"Sometimes; there are things he misses out on with the kids and I know he really regrets that, but I'm sure it's the same for Sam. Neither one of them can be in two places at once, but that's the choice you make when you become Alpha, I guess." She sighed. "The only problem with that, Jacob was seventeen when he became Alpha. Sam was eighteen." She shook her head. "They couldn't've known this was what their lives would be like back then."
"They were my age," I commented.
Nessie nodded. "I know."
Eila was getting home about that time. She knew that it was her brother's naptime, so she was quiet. Nessie waved to Emily as she opened the door, and Emily waved back, shuffling the herd of kids toward Jared and Rachel's house. Jacob and Quil walked in at that time as well. They were quiet too. Quil smiled at me, and I grinned back.
Eila came back to see her daddy, and she jumped into his arms. "Hi," he said quietly.
"Hi," she said back.
"Did you have a good day at school?"
"Yes," she said. "I won the race we had at recess."
Jacob raised his eyebrows. "By how much?"
"Not much," she said. "I didn't want them to think I was different."
Jacob kissed her head. "I don't want you to have to pretend sweetheart. You know that, don't you?"
"I know," she said. "But we do what we gotta do." I'd heard Nessie say this phrase so many times, it was absolutely adorable to hear Eila say it. "And sometimes, it's fun."
Jacob laughed. "Okay," he said. He sat her down. Nessie was mixing something in a bottle at the kitchen counter. I had been over here enough to not be bothered by the sight of blood, but I wondered what it was.
"Hey," Jacob said to her.
"Hi," she said.
"How was work?"
Nessie only worked mornings on Mondays. She taught music at the school. Every other day of the week, she worked all day. She was frequently the parent who brought everyone home. "Alright," she said. "We have a concert this week."
"I heard about that," Jacob said.
"Oh you did, did you?" she asked with a smile.
"Yes," he said. "From someone I know. She told me about it last night."
Nessie slapped at him with her hand. "I'm just nervous about it," she said.
"Aw, don't worry," I said. I played saxophone for the high school band. "We'll be ready."
It was strange for me at school sometimes to call Nessie Mrs. Black. I had known her for her whole life. It was weird when she got her teaching degree and came back to teach us. I saw her so much outside of school, Nessie was more like my friend. Though when it came to school, she was first and foremost my teacher.
Nessie turned to me. "Believe it or not Claire, having my first chair saxophone tell me not to worry makes me worry more."
I laughed. "Hey," I said. "I'm working on Chelsea. She's not that bad." Chelsea was the other saxophone player, and she had had trouble with it from the very beginning.
Nessie raised her eyebrows. "As a teacher, I would have to agree with you. As a fellow musician, she sucks."
I laughed. "You're right," I said. "There's no denying it."
Nessie finished whatever she had been mixing and poured it into a cup. She handed it to Eila. "Drink up," she said.
Eila came and sat at the kitchen table.
"What are you drinking?" I asked her, hoping I wouldn't regret the question.
"Rabbit blood," she said.
"There's a calcium supplement mixed in," Nessie explained. "Carlisle and I agreed it would be a good idea for both of our kids."
Jacob came out holding Cade at that moment. Cade was still bleary eyed and sweet from his nap, but his resemblance to Jacob always astounded me.
"Hey buddy," Nessie said. She looked like she was mixing something similar for Cade.
"Hi," he said. He laid his head on Jacob's shoulder and smiled at his mother.
Quil came in and sat next to me, squeezing my hand to say hello. He had been quiet lately, and I planned on asking him why later.
"Hi," I said.
"Hey," he said back. His eyes were dancing, just like they always were when he was around me.
"Did you have a good run?" I asked.
"Yes ma'am," he told me. "How was school?"
"Lovely," I told him. He knew how bored I got at school, so the question had been a joke between us for the past several years. I smiled. "I have some news," I said. I was speaking to everyone in the room, but looking at Quil.
"Shoot," Quil said.
I took in a deep breath. "Today I was announced over the intercom as valedictorian."
"For real?" Quil said.
"For real," I answered. We knew that my name was among the top five in my class, but they hadn't told us anymore than that until today. I was really proud.
"That's awesome!" Quil said. He gave me a hug.
"I was so excited when I found out," Nessie said. "They told us last Thursday."
I laughed. "I feel like all the work was worth it."
"It was," Nessie said. "No wonder you got that scholarship."
A few months ago, I had been accepted at Peninsula College in Port Angeles. A few weeks later, I had gotten a phone call from the admissions office there. I had been given a very good scholarship for agreeing to play my saxophone in their band, and I had been offered another chunk of change for my grades. The lady at the admissions office said that she was happy to tell me that with both scholarships and being able to live at home, I would be paying nothing to attend the college. The college was only a two-year college, but that was enough for me. I had been planning on attending Peninsula College even without the scholarship, and then finishing up my degree in Sports Medicine at a school about two hours away from La Push. After four years of college, I would still have to do a lot of on-the-job training, but I was hoping to be able to set that up at the Forks High School. Their current athletic trainer was getting up there in years, and would be retiring right around the time that I would be a fully certified trainer. Whatever happened though, I would have to stay close to La Push. Quil had to be in La Push, and I had to be with Quil, and that was all that mattered.
Eila finished her drink then, and Nessie and Jacob went with their kids into the living room. Quil and I were left alone in the kitchen.
"Well," he said. He put his hand on my head and kissed me slowly. "I sure am proud of you."
I smiled at him, breathless. "You know," I said. "You didn't have to stop."
He laughed. "I think I did."
"Why?" I hadn't really ever questioned Quil about anything. It kind of took me by surprise when I asked why, even before I spoke, the thought surprised me.
He just looked at me sadly and said nothing. I didn't know why he had been so quiet around me lately.
"Hey, Quil?" I said.
"Yeah?"
"Let's go outside for a little while."
I'm sure he knew exactly why I wanted to be alone with him.
"Sure," he said. "Come on let's go." He took my hand and we told Ness and Jake that we would be back later. Once outside, we didn't go very deep into the forest before we sat down on the ground.
Quil was still quiet.
"What's wrong?" I asked him. "You seem upset."
"Why would you think that?"
"Because you've been so quiet lately… I just want to know why."
He sighed but said nothing as he put his arm around me. I wondered what he was thinking. I didn't know why he wouldn't talk to me. This never happened. He was looking off into the distance as if he was deep in thought.
"Please answer me."
After a few more minutes of silence he finally spoke.
"Ok, the truth?" he asked turning to look at me. I nodded.
"Here's the thing. I've been thinking a lot these past few months and I miss what life used to be like for us. I miss those carefree days that we used to have. I'm not ready for you to grow up yet. I'm not ready for you to graduate. I'm scared for what life will be like for us in the future." He sighed. "Claire… life is all the stuff that comes after high school, and life is hard. Life is going to college and getting married and having kids and I'm scared of that. I'm scared of living in the real world. I'm scared of what we're going to be like."
"Quil, it's okay, I…"
"I'm not done yet. Claire you are the best thing that ever happened to me and I…" He didn't seem to know what else to say.
"Quil," I said a few minutes later. "I know exactly what you're saying and I'm scared too. But we knew this would happen eventually."
"Yeah…I know…I just…I miss the little girl that you used to be." He sighed and looked away from me.
"I'm still that same little girl Quil. I won't ever change. I'll always need you in my life; and Quil?"
His gaze shifted towards me again.
"I'll always love you." He stared at me, shocked, but said nothing.
I had wanted to tell him this for a while now and I wasn't sure if now was the right time, but before I could stop myself the words were out of my mouth. I knew it was true though. Sitting here with his arm around me and my heart racing at his touch, I knew that I loved him. I always had and always would. We were both quiet for a little while, and then he spoke suddenly.
"Come on; let's head back to Jake and Ness's." I didn't say anything, but took his hand and we headed back to their house.
Despite Nessie's worries our band concert went really well. I could tell she was impressed by the progress that we had made throughout the year. The rest of the week flew by and before I knew it, I was standing on stage in front of my class giving my valedictorian speech.
"These past few years are some of the most memorable years that I have had. I won't ever forget a single moment of my time here. Friends may come and go, but I know that every moment here counted for something great. It was definitely worth the wait. I would like to thank all of the teachers here who have helped make this year and all the other ones so special. I would also like to thank my family for showing me what it means to be brave and to take every moment in life as a challenge or a new beginning." I saw Quil's face light up as I spoke. "So again, thank you to everyone, and I'd just like to say one more thing, congratulations to all of you!" Everyone applauded for me as I walked off stage and I saw Quil wink at me and I giggled.
Soon I was in line with the rest of my class. All of the wolves, the eagles, and their families were there. My eyes were fixed on Quil's and he smiled at me. As the principle called my name, I walked onstage, holding myself up very confidently. There was a huge applause in the audience from my family as my diploma was handed to me. I turned the tassel on my graduation cap and knew that this was the start of a new chapter in my life. It would be a time for new challenges, some I may not be ready to face, but with the strong will and determination I had, I knew that I was ready.
After graduation, I went out to dinner with my parents. Quil went home for this one; it was high time I spent some quality time with my parents. When we got home, I changed into a pair of jeans and a tank top, wearing a light sweater over the top of it. It was tribal custom for the graduating class of La Push High School to spend the night on the beach, celebrating our freedom and hanging out for one last night. No one ever slept much, but it was a good time for us.
At around two-thirty in the morning, the darkest, coldest time of the night, I was huddled around a fire with my seven classmates. The weather wasn't terrible, and I was warm while sitting amongst my friends. Of these seven kids, only two of us were girls. We had all been going to school together for thirteen years now, so this moment was pretty bitter sweet. We spoke mostly in Quileute, but we still didn't know how to say some things.
"So," one of the boys said. "This is it. This is what we've been anticipating since we were about eight." He looked around. "It's much quieter than I thought it would be."
I laughed, and the sound mixed with the crashing waves. "It's kind of nice."
"Yeah," Another of the boys said. "Kind of."
In the silence that followed, I heard a loud wolf howl go up from somewhere to our left. A few seconds later, a similar, yet slightly different sounding howl was heard from the same direction. The girl sitting next to me shivered. "That was weird," she said.
"Yeah," I said, just then hearing the anticipated eagle caw from somewhere in the trees. "Kind of creepy."
The subject passed, and I was thankful. Even after all these years, I wasn't very good at lying. It was just one of those talents that I did not possess. I tried not to worry about why all the wolves and eagles were being called together, but the feeling lodged in the back of my head like a poisonous bullet. The rest of my classmates kept right on talking about other things, with hardly a care in the world. None of them had ever fallen in love, at least not like I had. None of them had ever woken up in the middle of the night because they could just tell something was wrong. None of them had ever had to see someone they loved broken and bleeding. None of them had ever seen someone smile at the sound of your voice in their sleep.