"Ailios, don't forget to mind Maggie; you know the current is still too strong for her," my mom shouted.
"Yes, Mom. It's not like I'm going to let the wolves get her," I shouted back as I walked to First Beach, my younger sister Margaret in tow. My name is Ailios Siobhan Wynne, but I'll answer to Ali, if I must. I'm a hereditary witch, descended from Airmid, the Celtic Goddess of Healing, Medicine, and spring, who specializes in bringing back the dead. I have long reddish brown curls, and ivory skin with bright green eyes. Maggie is like a miniature me. I was fifteen, and Maggie was twelve. We just moved to La Push, with our mother and step-father, Garry Munroe. We gained two new siblings, who were like us, but they were descended from the Morrigan, the Goddess of War, Death, and strangely enough, Fertility. The two raven haired witches were nice. Rory was nine years older than me, and Portia was the same age as Maggie. Those two looked so alike it was creepy. Rory was trying to be rebellious or something and growing this patchy, scratchy beard that looked awful. Portia was a beautiful girl, very feminine, always having her nails done and such. Her maternal grandmother encouraged it, along with these god awful beauty pageant things. She acted like a Step-ford child around her Grandmother. That was why Garry was having her come live with us. All of us were descended of two Gods, so we had immortality, unless we were killed. We didn't die of old age or sickness.
I was tall and slim, curvy in all the right places. Maggie was petite, and too skinny. We made it to the beach and I set my beach bag down on the sand. The water looked nice, but was probably cold. I stripped down to my mint colored ruffled bikini, which showcased my long legs and flat stomach. Maggie had on an emerald one piece and shorts. We walked down to the water, and stuck our feet in. Damn was it cold.
The water glowed with small golden lights: life forms that I could sense. I felt more coming in from the right, and I glanced over to see seven massive men and a few young women, and a pair of little girls.
"Maggie, go back up to the bags," I whispered. She scrambled up to the bags, knowing full well that she needed to listen to me. I quickly recited a spell for protection and grabbed a hold of the charm I kept around my necklace. It was a special link to Airmid; as soon as a baby was born descended from her, a necklace appeared. The charm had a pentagram on it for protection. It looked common enough for it to be worn without raising eyebrows, which was important; as fewer of us were born nowadays; we have to be especially careful about exposure.
"Hey," one of the women called, waving. I waved back, cautiously, as I edged up towards Maggie.
"Seth, what are you doing?" the tallest woman hissed. One of the younger looking men had stopped in his tracks and had gotten left behind by the very good-looking crowd of people. Seth was most definitely the best looking man there. He didn't seem to be overly connected to the world.
"Holy Shit," one of the men shouted.
"Paul, the children," scolded the woman who was holding his hand, and rubbing a hand over her stomach. She appeared to be about six or seven months along and even from this distance I could see a gold band and sparkler.
"Can't you see? He's imprinted. And besides Rachel, honey, Nessie's heard worse over at the Cullen's, I'll bet, haven't you?" he asked.
One of the little girls – the only one there who didn't look like a Native American – replied, her bronze curls bouncing, "Not really. Mama gets really mad. Especially when Uncle Emmett says, 'motherf'", it was as far as she got before the tallest man placed his hand over her mouth.
"Don't say that, Renesmee Carlie Masen-Cullen. Claire shouldn't hear that word, and I'll be talking to your mother about Emmett."
"Jake, you don't have to. Auntie Rosie slapped him upside the head and told him to quit whining." She smiled winningly at Jake.
They probably didn't think Maggie or I could hear them. I wasn't watching where I was walking and I stepped on a piece of glass. "Ow," I said, hopping around like an idiot.
Seth ran forward, with the tallest woman holding onto his arm. "Let me go, Leah. Now!"
"Let Emily look at her first. You might make it worse," Leah shouted. "Unless you want a nice young girl to go around footless, of course." Seth stopped to whip his head around to stare at the smallest woman, who appeared to be in her early twenties. She had long scars on one side of her face; they looked like an animal had dragged its paw against the side of her face. She probably would have died, had someone not taken immediate medical action.
Emily moved closer to me and said, "I'm Emily Uley. I'm a nurse. Let me take a look." She crouched besides me and looked at the bottom of my foot with sympathy. She had a pair of slim gold bands on her ring finger; one was decorated with a small but beautiful diamond and small sapphire stones. The other had delicate script on it that read, 'All My Love, Always Your Sam.
"It's really nothing," I said. My powers ran toward healing, which is why I could sense life. Emily had two lives in her body; one, of course, was hers, the other was her unborn child. She was newly pregnant, probably just conceived within the last week or so. "I'll be perfect by tomorrow."
Emily rolled her eyes and said, "Sam, can I have my backpack?" One of the men – presumably Sam – slid a backpack off his shoulders and placed it on the ground next to her.
She pulled out a bottle of water, and rinsed my foot off. She put a pair of rubber gloves on and got most of the fragments out of my foot. I winced when she pulled the largest shard out.
"Alright, that's the most I can do. Seth, take…what's your name?"
"Ailios."
"Seth, take Ailios over to the Cullen's house, so Carlisle can help her out."
"Grandpa?" Renesmee asked. "Jake, can we go with Seth and Ailios?"
"Of course, sweetie," Jake said, hoisting her into the air and spinning in a circle.
"What about Margaret?" I asked, my little sister coming to sit next to me.
"I'm Kimberly Wahalla," the other woman said. She appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties, maybe nineteen or twenty. "But please, call me Kim. She can either go with you, Seth, Jake, and Nessie to the Cullen's house or she could come with us to my house."
"I'll go with Ailios."
"Alright," Kim said, agreeably. "Well, stop by any time. I love having people over." She had a pair of rings on her finger too, that caught the sun's rays so it glowed. She was beautiful, seriously gorgeous. Wavy dark hair, perfect russet skin, straight white teeth, and big brown doe eyes, Kim Wahalla was a lovely young woman. Life seemed to pour from her, and the gold light associated with life shone even stronger from her abdomen. She was pregnant, probably didn't know it yet, either, maybe a month along.
Emily ordered, "Seth, pick her up and take her to Jake's car." All of a sudden, arms were picking me up as if I were less weight than a feather. Seth ran hotter than normal humans, but why? My powers were conducted by my hands, usually. If I wanted to know why he was running hot, I'd have to touch him. I felt a little uncomfortable; I was still in my bikini – a tiny one at that – and a half-naked man was carrying me around. He had abs of steel, and Goddess was he handsome.
He held me in one arm, and opened the door to Jake's car. Jake put Nessie in the car seat in the back seat, next to me. "Maggie, sit with me," I said. Maggie sat on me, while Jake and Seth climbed into the front seats.
I leaned forward, and put my hand on Seth's arm. "Umm, would you mind just dropping me off at home?" I asked. I let my powers flow and see what was up with Seth.
I felt a howl echo through my brain, and saw – like I was there, a third party observer – Seth turn from man to massive wolf. Oh my Goddess.
"No, we're taking you to see Dr. Cullen. Nessie's Grandpa."
"Well, he's not really my grandpa," she said, while taking a lollypop from Jake.
"That's enough squirt," Seth said.
"They have a complicated family dynamic," Jake added.
"Who is actually there?" Maggie asked.
"Well, Grandma and Grandpa, Mama, Daddy, Uncle Emmy, Uncle Jazz, Tante Alice, and Auntie Rosie." Tante? That was French, I knew, but Alice must be if she made her young niece call her that.
"Emmett and Rosalie are married, as are Bella and Edward – those are Nessie's parents – and Alice and Jasper. Bella married into the family and Emmett, Alice, and Edward are Carlisle and Esme's adoptive children. Rosalie and Jasper are twins and Esme's niece and nephew. Bella's Dad, Charlie, married my mom, Sue."
I took Maggie's hand and thought shared what I'd seen with Seth.
No way! That is so cool! I don't think they're Children of the Moon, just shape shifters.
That was intriguing. I asked her why.
They have mostly human characteristics, but only slight alterations in their genetic code. It's hereditary, and human is their base form. With Children of the Moon, wolf is the base form. Also, if they were Children of the Moon, it would be absolutely dangerous and we'd know. It didn't surprise me that she knew so much, she was on the bookish side. She lived for this research, and she was a champ at the spells and things.
The car took a turn sharply and Maggie braced a hand on Nessie's booster, accidentally touching her hand. Maggie gleaned some odd details. Nessie was a vampire, or half vampire, rather. And in Nessie's mind, Jake became a wolf too. This town had some weird stuff. Shape shifters, vampires, and half vampires. Wait a second. I was going to Nessie's grandfather, a vampire, for medical attention. Was I insane?
Maggie, on the count of three, I'm going to say I don't feel good and get them to stop the car. You're going to get out of the car and run for our house. Get Mom, Garry, and Rory and Portia if they're there. Tell them to get the circles going and I'll be back as soon as I can. I'll be right behind you, if I can manage it.
No. I'm not leaving you behind to go to a coven of vampires.
1. 2. 3. "Stop the car. I…I don't feel," I slapped a hand over my mouth. Jake screeched to a stop and unlocked the car. Maggie jumped off of me, and raced away. I jumped out and followed as fast as I could. I was chanting up a storm.
The boys seemed to realize what was happening and Seth bounded out. He ran swiftly after us, like he was a hunting wolf and now I was pretty freaked out. I ran a light current over my skin; it was sort of like a static shock you'd get from another person after they walked across carpet in socks. Not enough to really hurt someone, but enough to make them back off.
He touched my arm, and kept his hand there, though the voltage running through him had to hurt. I ceased the current, and the pain lines around his eyes disappeared.
"What the hell?" He muttered.
I knew it was time to lay my cards on the table, "Why is there so much supernatural activity here?"
Seth's eyes widened. "What? I don't know what you're," he began.
"Don't play dumb with me. Maggie, get back here. I know that you're a shifter, and that Jake is too. Your chosen form is wolf, too. Nessie is a half vamp."
"How do you know that?"
"I'm a hereditary witch, descended from the Airmid. Celtic Goddess of healing, medicine, and spring. Maggie is a witch too. My whole family is. Except my step dad, and step brother and sister are descended from the Morrigan, instead."
He looked at me funny.
"War Goddess. Their powers run more towards fighting, destruction, while Maggie, my mom, and mine, are the opposite. We have healer's skills. But descendents of the Morrigan are fertility deities, but only minor ones."
"Cool."
"So, how does the whole shifter thing work? Maggie thinks that you're not Children of the Moon, because your base form is human, not wolf."
"How did you even know? I couldn't tell that you're a witch."
"Part of the Goddess's protection. Even though we are Goddesses, and immortal barring an unfortunate accident or purposeful murder or suicide, I'll still be alive and kicking for forever. Same deal with the shifters right, you won't age as long as you shift?"
"Yeah."
Maggie finally made her way over to me, huffing and puffing. "What the hell, Ailios? Why did you tell me to run, if you're going to go half assed, and stop?"
"When did you tell her to run?"
"Car," we said together, as I leaned down to look her in the eye.
"I thought it was necessary, and I'd rather something happen to me, than to you."
"But, Ailios, you're supposed to be the next High Pr," she began, before I put a hand over her mouth.
"Shhh," I hissed at her.
"Next High what?" Seth asked suspiciously.
I sighed, "Next High Priestess of the Airmid. It rotates, my cousin Laurel is it now, until I am thirty. When I turn thirty, I go back to Ireland," Seth let out a sound that was sort of a whimper, "and for ten years, I am the Priestess. Then, it rotates to Maggie, and so on."
Jake got out of the car, and shouted, "Get back in the car. I have to get Nessie home in thirty minutes, or I can't take her out again for a month. I'd only have supervised visits with Blondie."
"That's Rosalie, to you. She and Jake can't stand each other. Nessie's mom, Bella, is my step-sister. Her husband, Edward, is a pretty cool guy." His face lit in hope. "Hey, how much do you two know about shifters? The women ones?"
"Why, do you guys have a girl in the pack?" Maggie asked eagerly.
"Yeah, my sister, Leah."
"I know it happens, quite commonly actually, back home."
"Is there anyway for her to not be a werewolf? She hates it."
"Well, most shifting is caused by extreme emotion, usually anger. She could learn to control it, and not shift. Or, and I'm not totally clear on this, I'd have to ask Rory. If the imprint is strong enough, his body I mean, to be able to handle the change, and wasn't predisposed to change himself, he could switch with her. Take the wolf aspect onto him. I'm not totally sure about it, like I said; I'd have to ask Rory."
"Who is that?" Seth asked.
"Our step-brother, descended from the Morrigan. Our step-sister is Portia. She's this scary step-ford child around her grandmother. It's why she's coming to live with us. Garry Munroe, our step-dad, has this bookshop he's opening around here. Rory is going to work there for a while, and sleep above the shop. I'm going to work there, after school, unless I get involved with something else."
"Is he looking for more workers?" Jake asked, just as Seth opened his mouth.
"Yeah. Some grown-people who can work during the school day, besides him, Mom, and Rory."
"My sister, Rachel, is a writer. R.E.B. Hunter. She writes those mystery novels."
"I know, I've read them. Your sister writes them? That's so cool. So R.E.B. stands for?"
"Rachel Elizabeth Black and Hunter is her married name," Seth answered.
"Right, well Rachel was looking for a little place to work at part time, while Paul is at work or running day patrol. So is Leah, when she's off patrol."
"Yeah, of course. Tell them to drop off an application, and I'll make sure Mom and Garry look at it. Any of the pack or wives needs a job; tell them to drop off a resume. We need people, and the boxes the books come in? Those suckers are heavy."
"Of course," Seth said. "Let's get you back to the car, so Carlisle can take a look at your foot."
"No need. Now that the cat is out of the bag, I'll just go home and have Mom look at it. Oh, by the way, tell Rachel, Emily, and Kim to stop by anytime if they need help at all with their pregnancies; the pack, too, if they get hurt. Leah should stop by tomorrow to talk to Maggie and Rory. I might even be able to help locate her imprint. Crystal gaze, or scry, even, if I'm open to enough energy."
"Kim and Emily? They aren't pregnant."
"Isn't he being too funny?" Maggie said, of Jake's statement.
"You seriously doubt the Witches with healing and life magic? I could see the gold light from their abdomens. They probably don't even know it yet. So don't say anything, just tell them to drop by and visit me."
"Back to the thing you said about the car? Telling her to run?"
"My hands are the conduits of my power. That's why I touched you early on in the car. I needed to know why you were running so warm. I couldn't see a reason for it, you're extraordinarily healthy. I saw through your mind that you are a werewolf."
"How?"
"We can read minds sometimes, if a guard isn't up. To heal mental illness. Not that you have any, except for an awful headache, but that can be fixed right promptly." I took his hand and applied pressure to the nerve between his thumb and index finger.
"Now, I must get home. I'll see you tomorrow," I smiled. "Maggie?"
She recited a moving spell, gripping my hand. We vanished and poofed back into existence in our house.
