Chapter 1: Insight

I tapped my pencil rhythmically on my small desk. The images in my head flowed like colors, but it was notes that I was hearing. I looked down at the sheet of paper in front of me, wishing Edward were here to help me interpret all this. It's so strange to think of your Grandfather by his first name, but when he only looked seventeen what do you do? I shrugged slightly, thinking, I could show him, and he would help me translate these notes in my head onto paper. It was so clear, but Intangible at the same time? I sighed, trying to commit it all to memory, so I could ask him when I saw him again; after all, he could see it directly from my mind.

It was early in the morning. I looked around my room, what had once been my Grandmother's room, my Mia Bella. I smiled to myself at the name that I had given her when I was younger. My Aunt Rosalie would sing to me in Italian when I was small and I picked up Mia, Mia Bella that what I would call my grandmother-- now I just call her Mia, while everyone else calls her Bella. The room had undergone some changes since her time living in this house, Charlie's house. The walls were now a sage green. There were piles of papers all over the desk. There were bookcases along the wall behind the desk filled to the brim with CDs and books that spanned the ages. Edward insisted on this even though I had read every one of them and all the music on the CDs was stored in the most up to date iPod one could afford.

My parents were on a long trip through the Amazon. My mother, Renesmee (who goes by Nessie) and my father Jacob were visiting Zafrina and her coven. They did this as often as they could. It'd been two years since they had gone, so I was not angry with them for taking off-it just meant that I got to spend more time with my great grandfather, Charlie Swan, the now-retired police chief in Forks, WA. Due to my not-so-long life I only just now got to start staying here; I was really only almost seven years old as far as actual age, but I passed very easily as a fifteen year old, maybe even sixteen. I smiled at the thought, I loved how I made everyone on the outside keep guessing and make assumptions, and they were never right. So, since it felt really weird to do so, I never referred to my great grandfather as such. He never really asked me any details or made any judgments, he just loved me and went along with everything in blissful ignorance. I called him Chief. I know he missed his days as Chief Swan, it just seemed to fit as a nickname for him, and he liked it. I got up and looked out the window that over-looked the front lawn; his car was not here. I knew what that meant: fishing with Billy, my paternal Grandfather. My nickname for him was Bila-Pa but has since been shortened to just Bila.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus again on the dream that had awakened me, my inspiration for the music I was hearing in my head and was unable to transcribe onto paper. I hummed the melody in my head and let myself be consumed by the colors as they spilled into my memory. I did not remember the whole dream, just the melody, and the colors the tune made in my mind; they were all dark and sad, almost cold.

WHAM!

Before I realized what was happening I was lying on my back on the floor.

As I tried to regain my vision, I sniffed the air. I knew instantly what had happened. I jumped to my feet in one fluid motion, hissing through my teeth, "Masen, what are you doing in MY ROOM?"

He threw his large hands back in mock surrender and laughed. If anyone who didn't know us had seen this, they would have been scared for my life. I was just barely 5'0" now and Masen, my HUGE older brother, towered over me by almost two feet now. He was already 6'7", but I could swear he was still growing. I glowered at him.

He stopped laughing, realizing I was really angry, his joke spoiled. "Oh, sorry, Ella," he huffed, not very sincerely.

I grumbled under my breath. He was the only one I let get away with calling me "Ella", as long as he wasn't calling me "Cinderella". I rolled my eyes at the thought, remembering all the fights we'd had in the past, him taunting me about my temper-tantrums and calling me Cinderella…me taunting him back, calling him the Shaggy Dog. Of course, he caught my reaction and dove for me again, quick as lightning, thinking I was rolling my eyes at the apology. I jumped out of his way and over his head, nimble as an acrobat. I landed lightly on my feet as he rolled head over heels on the floor and thumped into the wall with a thunderous crash. "Stop it, you'll wake up Nana-Sue!" I hissed.

He shrugged his huge broad shoulders at me carelessly and smiled. "She's already awake: Seth came over this morning."

I was surprised, Seth had been staying with his sister Leah for well over a month, while we were adding on to the Chief's house to help with all the extra family members who came and went. I looked at the clock by my bed: it was 6:32 in the morning. Seth was my brother's best friend and Nana-Sue's youngest son. My brother was only two years older than I was chronologically but could pass for more like five years older than myself. He hated that fact, but so did I, for different reasons: I looked like such a small child next to him and he never let me forget that.

I sighed. "Did Leah kick him out again?"

Masen laughed and shook his head no, but offered no more explanation.

I raised a quizzical eyebrow. Masen stood up and looked down at me, towering like a wall; I squinted up at him and grumbled, "Why do you do that?" It was like he was trying to intimidate me, make me feel even smaller than I already am. Like I needed any more reminders about my height!

He smiled down at me. He looked exactly like my father, they could pass as twins, and he knew that. There were only a few things that gave away who was who, such as their eyes: Masen had my mother's eyes, a milk-chocolate kind of brown, whereas my dad's eyes are dark brown, almost black. My father also kept his hair shorter, and his skin was just a shade darker than Masen's, but other than that, they were the same. Seth could also pass as a sibling.

I heard a tap on the door and it opened a crack. Seth peered in the room through the narrow opening and smiled his huge, goofy smile at me. I smiled back and waved him in, happy to see him for a few reasons; mainly, I knew I would get a better answer from him about why he was here than I ever could from Masen. Seth jumped into the room and grabbed me up, hugging me tightly in his huge arms; I felt like a little doll, all tiny and helpless, my feet dangling far above the floor.

My skin next to his looked like paper lying in a mud puddle. I was pale. That was the long and short of it, and it would never change, no matter how long I baked myself in the sun. I took after my mother that way. I was not as pale as Bella or the rest of the Cullen's, but they had a reason to be that pale. I guess if you don't have a heartbeat like my mother's family, there is nothing to stimulate the color of your skin. Seth's radiant warmth as he hugged me felt like a summer wind, he was hot compared to me, but not so much it was uncomfortable; or maybe I was just used to it after all the time we had been friends. Masen was the same way, but he is annoying where Seth is comfortable and fun. I looked up at Seth; he was just as tall as Masen. I sighed. A pixie in the land of the giants.

"So, what did Leah do this time?" I asked him, grinning. "Why are you here so early?"

Seth's smile slowly faded into a frown, the corners of his broad lips turning down; he suddenly released his huge hug. He looked…heartbroken?

"You don't want me here, Sara?" he whispered.

I slapped his chest in disgust; it was like slapping a hot rock. "I can't believe you think that, you dumb dog, I was just making sure I don't have to go down to La Push and talk to her, again."

Leah was difficult, especially since my father was away and she had to run with Sam Uley's pack. That always made her prickly, or more prickly than usual, I should say, having to deal with Sam so directly—it was something she usually tried to avoid. Seth didn't mind having to run with Sam as much, but Leah has history, a long and painful history with Sam. They had loved each other, a long time ago, but due to some ancient Quileute Indian legend, he is now married to Emily (Leah's cousin and former best friend), and they are planning a wedding for one of their two children. You would think that since it's been over seventeen years since all that business with Sam that Leah would have been better about it by now, but I guess since they are part of the pack and they don't age (at least while still changing into wolf form frequently) that the mindset takes longer to get over. I loved Leah as a person, as a friend, but she could really be so difficult sometimes.

Seth sighed, resigned.

"Leah is so grumpy about the wedding. She gets grumpier as it gets closer, I can't even phase while she is in wolf form because I hate being inside her head! She is just so upset that she hasn't imprinted yet, I just needed to get away, and so I figured I could maybe help finish my room here so I could just get out of La Push faster."

I laughed, "It's the first day of spring break and you want to work on finishing your room?"

Seth smiled. "Well, either that or we can go to the beach?"

Masen bobbed his head behind me in excited agreement. You see, Sam and Emily's oldest son had imprinted on Jared and Kim's oldest daughter. I was excited about the coming wedding, but also sad for Leah. I still don't really understand this imprinting thing; I just know it happens to everyone around us who's Quileute, even my parents.

It wasn't as if we didn't want to finish the addition, it was just that it was the first day of spring break! We had been working so hard on it for weeks now. We had already finished Chief's room, which is now on the first floor, behind the kitchen: we made a hallway under the stairs, and Seth's room is to be to the right behind the living room. We had a lot of it completed, it really only needed the drywall finished and a door. The downstairs bathroom was already complete. I hated it for Bella, who had had to share a bathroom with her father back when she had lived here, but that couldn't possibly be as bad as sharing with Masen. I guessed finishing Seth's room could wait until later. Seth could always bunk with Masen for a while.

I shrugged off my song-writing for later. The chief's old room was now Masen's. We stayed here in Forks with the Chief and Nana-Sue because we wanted to go to school here. Masen needed to be near the reservation because he was one of the several protectors. We went to Forks High School. My brother and I had started our real school careers in high school, but we were far from being uneducated. We were not like other teenagers. We needed some normalcy. We had learned a lot from our families, who have been around for a long time and have learned a lot to pass down to us, not all of it to be found in books. Bella and Nessie are the youngest. Regarding actual age, Bella's human years plus her Vampire years she was only about thirty-four years old, but did not look a day over eighteen, and she never would. My mother, Nessie, was really only seventeen years old. She had reached her full maturity at seven years old, and has not changed a day since; she doesn't look a day over eighteen either. I am not aging the same way my mother had; that may have something to do with my father, who isn't vampire in any way, but his odd Quileute shape-shifter genes caused some acceleration in maturity and stopped aging as well. They think I could take up to nine years to get to the point that I will stop maturing, but Carlisle is really sure it's only going to be eight years. Masen turned out just like my father, but with my mother's brown eyes. It took him eight years to become fully-grown. I, on the other hand, took more after my mother, except for my green eyes. Edward says that I have his mother's eyes, and it brings him great joy to know the color wasn't lost after all.

I was ok to look at I guess. I had just about perfect skin, which was nice, no acne worries, just very pale. Bright green eyes the color of emeralds. I had full pouty lips that were a natural shade of pink, so makeup wasn't something I really needed to use; I have a crooked smile that was, to say the least, interesting. Bella loved it. I have high cheekbones that had a soft pink tint to them it almost Undetectable, unless I had recent fed on blood. I have long eyelashes that tickle my face and get stuck in my sunglasses. My hair is long, to my waist, slightly wavy and jet-black; I guess that is from my father.

Masen and I were given family names, Masen Ateara Black, and I am Sarabella Annalice Black. Masen was named after Edwards parents, whose last name was Masen, and Ateara comes from our father's side of the family. I just know the original Ateara was an elder and also a shape shifter, or werewolf depending on who you talked to about it. I was named after my father and mother's parents. Sarah was my father's mother who died when he was very young; the Bella part comes from my grandmother Bella. Her name is Isabella. My mother combined them and got Sarabella. I go by Sara unless you are Masen, than its Ella my middle name. Annalice, (pronounced Anna-lees) that came from Esme, my paternal great grandmother, who doesn't look a day over twenty five if even that; her middle name is Anne, and the Alice comes from my favorite aunt Alice (I would never admit that in front of Rosalie), who could barley pass as a seventeen year old.

I felt my shoulders slump in dejection at the thought of Alice. She was in Squamish, BC, Canada with the rest of the Cullen family. Since they could not stay in one place to long, due to their not aging, that's where home currently is. To say the least I have an interesting setup when it comes to my family.

I don't really know what you would call me, a hybrid? Forks just thought I was a normal teen that was living with her Grandfather because her parents, who were doctors, were in Africa saving the world, and they thought Bella and Edward were those parents. People think that Alice, Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie are my cousins from Squamish, and that Carlisle and Esme were their adoptive parents-- and I hoped no one asked for me to explain how exactly that all worked. Deception is confusing sometimes even to the one doing the deceiving. My mother Nessie played my older sister who was already in college, and my father is her boyfriend, and Masen a cousin to Seth or something, although no one cared what his story was, he resembled all the other kids on the reservation so they just accepted him…And Charlie was married to Seth's mom, Sue. This is how you have to live when you are immortal and want to be part of the mortal world; since I had been born, I knew nothing else.

I missed my family; that was the longest I had ever been away from them. Being the only blood-drinker town full of non-blood-drinkers can be lonely. I sighed.

Masen raised his eyebrow, noticing my sudden sullen mood. My face always gave my feelings away, but especially to him, who knew me so well.

I slapped Seth's chest. Sometimes I forget how fast I can go through details in my head: only seconds had passed, but Masen and Seth are not regular humans, so they picked up my delay in processing my thoughts. I smiled ruefully in apology and shook off the longing for the rest of our family, determined to enjoy the presence of the ones I actually had with me now. I looked at Masen and said, "So, the beach, but no work?" He smiled, just like my father, broad with shining white teeth; it made me warm inside. You can't miss the rest of your family too much when you have Masen staring at you. At that moment, I didn't find him very annoying.

Seth sniffed the air, shape shifter's senses not necessary with the obvious scents drifting up the stairs from the kitchen: eggs, bacon, bread…I supposed the smells were appetizing, but that wasn't what I was craving right now. I was much more thirsty than hungry.

"Mom's cooking!" He smiled big and goofy and rubbed his stomach. Masen took a larger whiff and nearly ran over Seth as they raced for the door. I just heard grunting and thumping as they went down the stairs, tumbling over each other madly in their competition to reach the table first.

I heard Nana-Sue yell, "I am not done yet, don't you even think about it!" followed by two loud smacking sounds. I giggled softly seeing the image in my head of Nana-Sue smacking both boys with whatever was in her had, probably a spatula. I doubted it would make any difference to the two huge, hungry wolf-boys.

I tidied up my desk and put my papers in order, then I got my stuff ready for a beach trip and jumped into the shower. I let the warm water run over my body and closed my eyes, relaxing, the warm water coursing down my cheeks and forehead as I braced myself against the shower wall with one hand. An image flashed into my mind suddenly, vividly; I almost fell over, my hand losing its purchase on the slick tiles. I stopped myself from opening my eyes as I realized I was recalling my dream. I had a strange ability, if that's what you call it. I can touch your face and let you see what I have seen, and in return, you can let me see what you have seen. My family has a friend, Eleazar, from the Denali Coven, whose ability is to tell what special power a vampire has, and even what a human may obtain if changed into an immortal. I was born in Healy, Alaska, which is near where the Denali's live. Eleazar attempted to read me, but was unable to get a read on me. He figures it's because I am a hybrid it makes me fuzzy, as if I am between the lines. He thinks that my ability is more than what it has shown itself to be, but we may never know. My mother has a similar ability, to be able to convey her thoughts through a touch, but she cannot take images from you. I can also talk to certain people without opening my mouth, through our thoughts. Well, actually only one person, Edward, my maternal grandfather, who can read minds. I can read his mind and he can read mine, so we can also carry on a whole conversation in silence. He is the only person I can do this with, but I have also never met anyone else who could read minds. This is one of the main reasons Eleazar thinks my ability is deeper than how it had already manifested itself.

I shook off the thought as I focused on the image in my head. It wasn't just colors and melody. There was someone there. I could feel the sadness suddenly pouring out of this person, the colors, music, sadness, and his clouded face all-swirling into one tangible, audible panorama. The image of him was so blurry I couldn't tell who it could possibly be. Was it someone I knew?

My chest tightened suddenly at the thought. "It was just a dream, Sara," I told myself as I opened my eyes, trying only to see the shower walls and to hear only the falling water.