An Indian Beauty.
Chapter One-Why do I have to be here?
"Are we there yet?" I asked my social worker for the tenth time that morning.
"Not yet. You could be a little more grateful of these people; they didn't have to take you in." She was annoyed with me, good.
"Why? They'll just turn me away like everyone else." I had been to hundreds of houses in the past year and a half, but they either turned me away at sight, or after a few days. The longest time I'd ever stayed with a foster family was about three weeks. "Why do I even have to live up here? This place hardly sees any sun, and if there's a beach, that's exactly what it needs."
"This is where they live Diane. You can't pick where you go."
"Whatever. I hate foster homes."
"Yes, I know that. But you need to be a bit kinder to the families." Then the car stopped, "We're here. Try to get along with this family. If you don't, your gonna be back at the orphanage."
"Fine." She got out, and then walked up the three small stairs to the door of the place I would soon call home. We were on the Quileute Reservation in Washington, and my soon to be called family were natives of the rez. When the door opened, it revealed a man that stood about a head and a half taller than my five foot five inches. That must be Sam Uley, my foster dad. He was huge, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of cut off shorts, but he had a kind face, even if it was a bit scary.
"Diane!" the social worker called, "Come out here." So I got out of the car and went up the porch.
"Ayqsocid, Diane?" He smiled at me.
"Hqvhli. Ayqsocha?" I knew a bit of Quileute myself. I figured he might want to teach me. Ayqsocid is "how are you?" (Feminine), Hqvhli is "I'm fine/good", and Ayqsocha is the same as Ayqsocid, but masculine.
"I was not expecting you to know Quileute. This is a nice surprise." He looked at me funny, "So, you're moving in with us?"
"Yes, sir." I stated flatly.
"Well then, let's get your bags and then you can get settled in."
"Alright." We went to the car and opened the trunk. I had two small duffle bags of clothes and two boxes of books, "You might want to be careful, though, those boxes are really…" but as I was saying it, Sam picked them both up at the same time, "heavy…"
"No problem. Come on in." so I just followed, speechless, "Emily, she's here."
"What does Emily do for a living?" I asked.
"I teach elementary school." Emily came into the kitchen, and I couldn't help but stare. She had three long scars down the right side of her face, and down her arm. "I know, not exactly what you were expecting."
"What happened?" the social worker asked.
"I got mauled by a bear a few years ago." She looked at Sam.
"Anyway, Em why don't you show Diane her room?" and Emily nodded. She motioned for me to follow her, so I did.
"Before I go, Mr. Uley, I'm going to need some paperwork signed. After that, I'll be out of your hair. Unless you call me, of course."
"Sure. I'll just set these in her room really quick." And he came after us.
The house was much more spacious than it looked on the outside. My room was the last one down the hall, and the had even put a sign on the door that had my name on it. When I opened the door, I could see that they had taken quite a bit of time to put the room, my room, together. The twin size bed had a very warm looking blanket with the image of a wolf on it; I had one window at the middle of the bed. A small bookcase sat in the corner of the room, and the closet had a pair of sliding double doors.
All in all, it was a very pleasant room. Then I noticed a box of little wall ornaments at the foot of the bed.
"What are those?" I asked.
"Decorations for you, if you want them. I was going to let you look through them while you unpacked, to see if you wanted to hang any of them on your walls." Emily explained.
"Thank you. This is, by far, the best room I've gotten from a foster family."
"Well, I'm glad you like it. I gotta go talk to the social worker though. So you get settled in, and by the time you're done, a couple of our friends are probably going to be here. We're going to have lunch with them, after that, I have to go. Alright?" Sam seemed to never run out of breath.
"Sure. I guess I'll get unpacked now." I chuckled nervously. Sam put my books down and they left, with Emily closing my door behind her.
Sam had been right, by the time I was finished unpacking, my social worker was gone and in her place were two guys, Paul and Jared, both as big as Sam and neither wearing shirts.
"Hey, hey, hey! Here comes the new girl!" Jared said very enthusiastically as he swept me up into a giant bear hug.
"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but you're suffocating me." I told him breathlessly.
He just laughed and set me down, "I'm Jared."
"Mmhmm. So I heard." I gasped, "You must be Paul." I addressed the guy sitting at the table. He had a mean look about him, as if the smallest thing would set him off.
"Yeah, and who are you?" If Jared was enthusiastic, then Paul was just rude, withdrawn maybe, but not someone I would want to be around if he got mad.
"Diane. I just got here. Literally. Do any of you know where the phone book is?"
"Why? You trying to get out of here already?" Emily joked.
"No, I was going to ask if you guys wanted some Chinese takeout, on me."
"I just made lunch."
"For dinner." I explained.
"Oh. Uh, sure, I'm up for that. What about you, Sam?"
"You know I love Chinese food. I'll be back around six, so if you could order before then, that would be great. Wait, you have money?"
"Yeah. My mother had set aside my inheritance, but I got it when she died. I haven't spent any yet, so…I suppose this is a special occasion." I looked down at my feet embarrassed.
"For just the three of us?" Sam asked.
"If Jared and Paul would like to join us, then I'll buy for all six of us." Then the guys burst out laughing. "What did I say?"
Paul answered me, "To feed just the three of us guys, would cost you a fortune on takeout. One of us eats more in one sitting than you do in a day." He gawffed.
"I very much doubt that. You aren't that much bigger than I am." That was a lie obviously, but I thought he was just being a guy.
"Em?" Jared looked at her pointedly.
"Unfortunately it's true. I feed them all the time, so I know how much they eat."
"Okay. Then maybe it would be a good idea if we went out to a buffet. Does that sound like fun?"
"I'm game. But we would probably be banned for eating all of everything." And they cracked up again. What is the joke?
"Am I missing something?" I asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, kinda- oof!" Paul elbowed Jared in the ribs, and then whispered in his ear. "Oops. Hehe, that wasn't supposed to come out. Um, do you like animals?"
"Yeah, actually I love animals," I smiled at them, "Animals have a tendency to surprise even the most experienced scientists. They're like people in a way. Each one has a different personality." I noticed that they were surprised about my statement.
Emily jumped in, "Why don't we sit down and eat now?"
"That is probably a good idea." Sam eyed the other guys. Something was not right. What are they hiding? I thought, I wonder what Sam needs to do that he's leaving after lunch. Maybe I can follow him. So it was decided, I would follow Sam to work. If he was going to work.
Paul POV
That girl was going to find out the our secret and Sam was going to let her. If I didn't do something, we were all going to be in deep trouble. After lunch we were planning to go running, just in case there were any leeches around our land.
Paul get back on track. You're going the wrong way. Sam mentally yelled at me.
Sorry Sam. But you need to get rid of that girl, she's gonna be the death of us.
How do you figure? This time it was Jared.
If she figures out what we are, we are going to have to go into hiding.
No we won't. Paul, don't be stupid. She's not going to find out.
She'd better not.
Diane POV
Oh. My. GOD! They were werewolves. I knew enough of mythology to know to a abnormal creature when I see one. But I had seen three.
"Emily?" I ran, yelling, into the house.
"What is it? Are you hurt?" She was in the kitchen (as I would come to find out, she almost always was).
"It's the guys! They're werewolves. I followed them to the woods, because I wanted to ask Sam something, and they turned into giant wolves." But she didn't looked surprised, more like a child who was caught doing something she knew she shouldn't have. "Emily? What's going on?"
"Diane." She sighed, "I didn't want to keep this from you, but the boys…they…I can't really tell you. But maybe Sam will in about an hour. Why don't you go to your room, honey." She got up, leaving me with more questions than answers.