The woods were dark and cooling, soothing to a mind on fire. Water dripped from the mossy trees, and their fragrance made Leah feel as though a quagmire of stinging poison had begun to wash from her thoughts.
She breathed deeply, drinking in the setting. Growing up, she had spent no more time outdoors than the other kids on the reservation, but she had always enjoyed the time she spent there. People rarely hazarded the carnivore-ridden woods, leaving her to her own devices. There were no eyes in the forest, or none with opinions.
The trail was one she had often trodden before, but not in years. It was refreshing to see it again, both more familiar than her home and less familiar than itself. Unlike humans, forests could not help but move on; they were in a constant state of change.
The moss filled her lungs, and green wood filled her eyes. The healing of the rain began to cleanse her soul. There was no dust; nothing was as clean as a forest, if rain was falling.
Her grey top was soaked, as were her jeans. That was how she knew she had been there for hours. It hardly mattered. She would wash away the tears before there were no more to wash. She had to do something before nature ran its course, or she would lose the chance to do so.
I will not say that I did nothing.
A motor sounded on the road, and she looked back. It was a quiet motor, and far away, but she could hear it. Jacob Black probably could have told her the make and model of the vehicle just from the sound, but Leah didn't care to know. Keep going she though.
The engine slowed, then cut. She groaned, and headed back. Her family's car was very old, but she still didn't need some punk messing around with it. One of the locks didn't work right.
As she walked, she realized how far she had come. It happened sometimes, when she had a heavy load on her mind, that tasks seemed to do themselves, and great hikes became quick jaunts.
"Clearwater, right?"
Leah's head whipped up from the ground she had been studying, and she stopped in her tracks. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, and the blood ran out of her face.
"Am I right?" asked Alice Cullen.
"Cold one" said Leah, the one phrase that would willingly come from her mouth.
"Yes yes," Alice said, fidgeting. She wore a blue top and black slacks.
Leah had to smirk. "Don't know how to dress for a hike?" she asked.
"Don't you?"
The smirk fell away. "Cullen, I'm not in the mood" she said. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be gone. My friends are celebrating your departure right now."
Alice smiled, and collapsed her white umbrella. The rain stopped, almost simultaneously. "I am supposed to be gone" she agreed. "In fact, my brother might be angry if he knew I wasn't."
Leah stared at her. "How did you do that?" she asked.
"Do what?"
She fought back a snarl. The bias around La push was that it was unwise to provoke a Cullen. If you make them feel like chewing your head off, they might just do it. "You put the umbrella down before it stopped raining, but you still didn't get wet."
"It's just the weather silly. Rain is easy to predict."
Leah glared. "Whatever," she said, "I need to get by you."
"Hold on." Alice put out her hands, and Leah stopped. "I wanted to ask you something."
"What?"
"If your friends are all dancing around their camp fires and celebrating my family's departure...where are you?"
Leah growled, but kept her distance. "Where do you think I am?" she asked.
"Moping in the woods."
That almost did it. "Girl," Leah measured a space between her thumb and forefinger, "you are this close to-"
"-getting the shit beaten out of me, I know."
Leah blinked. "You did it again" she said.
"I did, didn't I?"
"How? How the fuck did you do that?"
Alice's eyes flashed as she grinned. "What am I?" she asked.
"Annoying, unwanted, uninvited...other things."
"Maybe so, but I was referring to the Quileute legends."
"I'd say the same applies. Move."
Alice snarled; her teeth were whiter than pearls, and perfectly spaced, but that was not what surprised Leah. The length and sharpness of the incisors was incredible.
In a moment of panic, Leah took a step back, and then another.
"You really are frustrating. What am I?"
"Cold one; blood drinker."
"Bingo" Alice's voice was musical again, and no sign remained of the monster she had just been. "Right and right. And to answer your question, that is how I predict the rain. I...I have a gift for foretelling things. It just comes naturally."
Leah became aware that her eyes were wide, and her body tense. She had prepared herself to fight or fly, though she was suddenly possessed of the feeling that she could have succeeded in neither had she tried. "What do you want?" she asked.
"I was wondering if you could help me with something."
"Why should I help you? Don't you kill people?"
Alice tisked at her. "Really, you ought to pay closer attention to your heritage" she said. "You should have heard by now that our coven doesn't drink human blood. That would be inhumane."
"Whatever, are you going to kill me if I don't help you with your diabolical scheme?"
"Of course not, but I'm pretty sure you will, because I foresaw Charlie thanking Billy over the telephone."
"Who?"
"Charlie Swan thanking Billy Black. You know Billy, don't you?"
Leah groaned. "Yes," she said, "I know Billy. What does that have to do with me?"
"Nothing...and everything. I'm not sure why, but I need you to take a message."
Impassively, Leah stared at the snowy-skinned creature, trying to decide how much of her hostility she dared to show. "Now's not a good time" she said.
"Now is the only time, actually. My friend is in danger."
"Good."
The beautiful golden eyes flashed with fury, but only for a moment. Leah would have missed the reaction if she had blinked.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"Bella Swan, Charlie's daughter."
"Bella Swan?" Leah asked, incredulously. "Jacob's one true love?"
Alice crinkled her nose. "I guess so. Whatever floats your boat. Just tell Billy to plug his phone in."
"Plug his phone in?"
"Or you could just do it for him."
"Why is it unplugged in the first place?"
"I don't know. I see forward, not backward."
"So I just tell him to plug his phone in, and what? That's all?"
"All for you."
"What kind of danger is Bella in?"
Alice stepped closer, with sincerity in her eyes. "Leah, please; she's alone in the woods without the sense to come in out of the rain. She needs your help."
Leah shook her head. "Why should I help someone who doesn't have any sense?" she asked.
"Because she needs you."
"If she needs help, then she doesn't deserve it."
Alice frowned. "How can you say that?" she asked.
"Because it's not my problem."
"Well what is your problem?"
Leah growled, and edged past Alice. She had made it, she had won, when the vampire spoke again.
"Someone left you, didn't they?"
Leah stopped, and almost rounded to throw a punch, but decided that it would be a bad idea.
"Who was it?" the voice was honeyed, and caring.
"None of your business."
"And now you can't reach out and help someone who's going through exactly the same thing?"
"Of course not" Leah fairly shouted as she whirled around. "I'm pulling through this. God damn it, I'm pulling through. If someone tried to help me, then I couldn't fully heal. What if I came to need my rescuer as much as I needed the man who gave me the wound in the first place? I'd be setting myself up for another heartbreak, wouldn't I?" She was inches from Alice's face, and unafraid in her anger. "I need to heal myself" she said.
Alice thought for a moment before replying. "But at least your heart could be broken again" she said. "At least it would still be human. At least it would be whole."
"Well that may be fine and dandy for Bella Swan," Leah said, backpedaling away from her, "but I am perfectly content to be a monster, if monsters never need to cry. Help her yourself." She turned again to leave.
"Clearwater" said Alice. There was a tear in her voice. "Please...Edward won't let me help her. He wouldn't even let me say goodbye."
Leah sighed as she returned yet again. "My name is Leah" she said. "Who's Edward?"
"My brother. Bella's...her ex I suppose."
"Well that figures, doesn't it? He's ass enough to break her heart, she's too stupid to get dry, and you're too afraid of him to help her." Leah threw her hands into the air. "Just admit it, you people hate each-other."
"I'm trying to help her" Alice shouted. It was terrifying. There were decades in that shout; decades of pain and longing, and bittersweet love. Her tone softened, though her intensity remained the same. "I came to you."
Moments passed, then seconds, then a long, long minute. Finally, Leah relented. "I'll try," she said, "but I want something for it."
Alice was instantly on guard. "I don't give readings for amusement" she said. "Not usually anyhow."
"Then give one for a fee. You do your psychic medium thing, and give me one answer, and I go make sure Billy-fucking-Black has his blasted phone plugged in."
"Fine. What do you want to know?"
The words almost stuck in Leah's throat. Angry with herself, she stared at the ground, and tried again. "Will I always be alone?" she asked, at last.
Alice sighed. "Ok," she said, and closed her eyes.
Leah could hear her heartbeat in her ears as she waited. Cullen's expression first fell, then soured, then revolted.
When Alice opened her eyes, they were wild with fear. "What are you?" she asked.
It cut deeply. "I'm a woman, what do you think I am?"
Alice shook her head with growing intensity. "I don't see anything" she said.
"How can you see nothing? I thought you could see everything?"
"I don't see anything for you...anything at all." Alice's voice had grown frantic, and she put her fingers over her temples as she sank to sit on a wet root. "It's not supposed to be this way" she said.
"Am I going to die?" Leah asked. Her heart was rushing.
"No, if you were then I could see it. You just...are you even really there?" she asked.
"Of course I exist, don't I look like it?"
"You look like it, sound like it, smell...oh yes you definitely smell real." The beautiful golden eyes came open. "But I don't see any of that in the future." Alice's frown was a juggernaut of cunfusion.
"How can I not be there, Cullen?"
"Maybe you'll become a vampire with the ability to turn invisible?" Alice asked hopefully.
Leah's wide eyes narrowed sightly. Furiously, she turned on her heel and headed back to her car.
"Wait" Alice called.
"What good is a gift like that if you can't even see that I exist?"
"Leah!"
"Shut up" Leah spat over her shoulder without stopping. "I'll give the man your damned message. You didn't have to haze me first, bitch."
