Chapter One

So What's with the new Chick?

So I was in the middle of staring my essay on Quilete stories (all of which I knew thanks to my mom and my Jacob) when I heard something that I really shouldn't have heard.

"I know you! You're like me!" came the overexcited voice in my head. I looked to my right and Jacob wasn't even paying attention to the teacher (who had suddenly stopped talking) and he wasn't even working on the essay. He would probably do it later. This was a guarenteed A+ for Jake: He lived those stories as one of the magical wolf shapeshifters.

I looked back to my paper and was telling myself to just forget about it (and trying to think of something to give my dad for letting me finally come to school with Jake) when the voice came again.

"If you can hear me all you need to do is think of a responce. I'll hear you but only if you want to tell me."

Okay, this was weird.

"What do you mean like you?" I asked in my head, just to see if it worked.

"We're both half- vampire!" came the reply.

I stopped writing and loooked up at the teacher. She wasn't talking to the class anymore but was speaking quietly to a girl with long black hair and violet colored eyes.

I casually grabbed Jacob's hand and showed him the image of her and aded the thought 'She's a half-vampire. Do you think I should invite her over tonight to meet my mom and dad?'

He looked up and gave the girl a long thoughtful stare. Then he very subtlely slipped me a piece of paper. A note.

I suddenly wished (as I so often did) that I had my dad's ability to read minds. It would make life just that much easier.

I read the note Jacob had slipped on my desk.

Not today. Tell them about it tonight and then invite her over tomorrow night. That way no one will freak out.

I rolled my eyes. I wrote back:

They already know that I'm not the only one. They'll be suprised that there's one so close nearby but they won't freak out about it.

I gave the paper back to Jake. I forgot all about my essay. If I don't pass the class, my dad will just bribe the teacher until I do get a pass, and my Aunt Alice could help me with the essay when I get home anyway.

Still. I don't think edward will appreciate it if we randomly brought someone home with us. Let's tell him first. If you want at lunch we can go to Seattle and tell him then you can bring her home tonight.

I thought about it. If I had Jacob run me down to my mom and dad's school to tell them something, I didn't think they would be very happy about it.

Instead of writing him back, I reached out for Jake's hand.

I showed him my favorite restaurant in Seattle. It was closer to the reservation then the school, but close enough that my dad would hear my thoughts if I projected them loud enough. Jake nodded and went back to doodling whatever it was he was working on. I leaned over to see what it was, but he covered it up with his enormous hands.

I looked at him suprised. He had never done that before.

"It's a suprise!" he mouthed to me.

"No fair!" I mouthed back.

Meanwhile he teacher stopped talking to the new girl and she came to sit in the empty seat next to me.

I decided to experiment.

"So you're half-vampire, huh?" I thought, they way I would put it into my father's mind to listen to my thoughts.

"Yes I am. I've been looking for somewhere to live, but I couldn't find any nomads that were going to stay in one place for very long until I stopped growing." The girl hadn't looked up from the book she was reading, but I still heard her voice all the same.

"So what brings you to the reservation?" I asked.

"I just got a feeling that there would be a good place to saty near by. I know that vampires can't go out in direct sunlight, and I knew that rainy areas would be my best bet to find someplace to live."

Well she was right about that. I've lived between La Push with Jake and Forks with my parents all of my six (almost seven) years and have rarely ever seen a properly sunny day. On they days that it's sunny, my mom and dad like to go away to a place where they can be inthe sun where there are no people to see them and get alarmed.

"There's a clan up in Alaska that will be willing to take you in. I don't know that my parents will let you live with us." I told her.

I thought about the coven in Alaska, or the pair, I should say. Tanya and Kate would likely take her in with open arms. They missed their sister Irna with a passion I could hardly think to explain. Maybe if they recieved a new member to take care of...

"How old are you?" She asked me, suddenly interrupting my thought processes.

"Six... seven tomorrow. Why?" I asked.

"Caouldn't tell. My name is Nathalie."

"I'm Renesemee." I looked over to her and she hadn't looked up from her book.

The bell rang for lunch just then and I grabbed Jake's hand as we left the classroom.

The girl went in the opposite direction from us.

"So what do you know about her so far... and how do you know that she's half-vampire like you?" Jacob asked as we headed out to the car. It was actually my mom's ferrari, but she doesn't like to drive it, so she gave it to me, and I don't like to drive at all so Jacob usually drove it. My dad prefered his awesome Aston Martin, The Vanquish (which is he only car I'll drive willingly).

"Well, she's a half -vampire, but she was abandoned by both of her parents and is trying to find somewhere stable to stay." I stopped as I saw my dad's volvo in the parking lot right next to where Jacob had parked the ferrari.

I ran to it, yanked open the passenger door, and jumped in mext to my dad. Jake followed me slowly and hopped into the backseat behind me.

"Hi Daddy!" I said kissing him on the cheek.

"Hey Edward." Jake said quieter.

"Hello Jacob. Nessie dearest. How about lunch and you can tell me about this other half-vampire?" So he had heard the entire conversation.

Instead of saying anything, as he started the car, I touched his face and showed him everything the girl had told me.

"Well, isn't this interesting. And you said she could tell you things, and hear your reply? You should invite her to dinner tonight."

"She's looking for somewhere to live. Do you think that she could go to Alaska and stay with Tanya and Kate?"

My dad was going 120 miles per hour, something he usually did when he was thinking deeply. Jacob was huddled in the backseat drawing again.

I touched Dad's face again, this time asking him to tell me what it was Jake was drawing. The moment I did, he chuckled.

"Okay, Dad. I bite. What's so funny?" I asked, irritated.

"I can't tell you. The requests have already been issued. I can't tell you anything about tomorrow."

"Aww, Dad, no way!" I whined. There was a rule in our house that if there was a suprise of some sort waiting for me and I my dad knew it, you had to have your request not to tell me in the day before you told me yourself. I hated it.

"Sorry, Nessie. I wish I could tell you but you know the rules."

"Please Daddy! Please, please, please, please! Please tell me!" I begged.

"No Nessie." His voice was firm now but there was a smile on his face. He was having fun. As usual.

I gave up and took out my MP3 player that he had given me on my first Christmas and listened to the Waltz of the Flowers.