This story is set in the universe of Stephenie Meyer and I'm not her.

Please read 'Daybreak' first!! (at least through chapters 15-16) THIS STORY TAKES PLACE AT THE SAME TIME AS EVENTS IN DAYBREAK--starting with chapter 15 basically.

I hope you will enjoy this first short intro chapter. This story has been taking place for some time as those of you who have read my story 'Daybreak' will realize.

I also want to thank loopylinzee and diamondbutterflies for their excellent advice on rounding out this intro chapter! You guys rock!

ZENITH

(definition: the peak or highest point above the horizon)

1. Crossroads

"Sometimes in a case, just as in life, you might reach a crossroads of sorts. Winning or losing the day will largely depend on which path you take."--Special Agent Jonathan Reamer

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The snow had been beautiful...even welcoming after all the winter storms had passed. Almost a foot had fallen that one night and the next day the sun had shone on a white world...clean and pure with a sky so blue and clear it had taken my breath away. But I was glad that it was warming up a little. Arizona in winter was so different from in the north. When I was little it had been fairly normal to end up snowed in for months at a time...so long that the mere idea of the sun would cause giddy reactions of joy. It had been great being assigned to the field office in Albuquerque. To be able to escape the monotony of work and soak up all that sun and open sky had been a relief especially during those last few months. Feeling the the cold again had been a nice change, though. I guess I did miss experiencing a normal winter.

Hiking was a plus, too. I'd always loved being outdoors...in the mountains or the badlands...it didn't really matter. This last assignment had allowed me to experience a part of the country I'd never gotten to explore before. Getting to roam over all this ancient land, soaking up the sun, it was great. I'd already worked my way through the Tonto National Forest and up and around the Mescal Mountains. The variety of scenery...the vastness and quiet of the land was both soothing and exciting. I was grateful I'd been able to take the time to really enjoy the area before I eventually headed back home.

Home. It was hard to get excited about returning to my little one bedroom apartment in Minneapolis. It seemed a world away after this last year. I knew several of my friends were waiting to see me. I had been missed, and that was something. But...it was different now. I didn't want to think about it, but I knew that I didn't really feel that I had a home anymore.

Grandpa was gone. I ached to think that I would never see his face again. All those long talks. All of his strength when dad had died. He was my world! How do you just go on when the pillar of all you held dear was no longer there?

And his passing had also seriously disrupted my own goals in life. Did I really want to join the FBI and continue the family tradition? A tradition that had gotten my father killed? I knew that's what Grandpa would want. That wasn't even a question. How many times had I heard his prideful speech about how 'the Reamer's were company men...and women'? Listening to him boast to his friends at parties about how the family would always be tied to the service was something I had previously smiled at and agreed with. But not now.

Now I didn't know what I wanted. Had I ever really thought about that? What I wanted? No...I had to admit that my pride in both my father and grandfather had always swayed me in the direction of following in their footsteps. It was normal, I suppose, to feel that way. What else would a person do with such powerful personalities guiding your life. It wasn't like there was a dissenting vote out there, either. Or, rather, if there was, I would never know it.

Mom had left when I was a baby...she apparently couldn't handle being a mother any more than she'd been able to deal with being an FBI wife. I had seen her a few times when I was younger...but I didn't even know where she was, now. She hadn't bothered to come to grandpa's funeral. Not that that was a surprise.

Special Agent Jonathan Reamer, retired, had died a month before I was granted a second internship with the Bureau. I had gone ahead and taken the position, of course. I was still numb, but I had worked hard for the post and had wanted to make my grandfather proud. At the same time, though, I had a hard time concentrating on all I was given to do and learn. Partly because I probably already knew more about the inner workings of the FBI than most interns could imagine, courtesy of my family background. But also because I was slowly being overwhelmed with such a sense of...no longer belonging.

Even with all my family contacts in the service and elsewhere...I no longer felt that I ...fit into this world that my family had lived in for generations. Working with the members of the squad and the administrative staff had, at times, been exciting and fast-paced. There had been a few cases that were particularly fascinating and while working on those I'd been just as focused and involved as I could have wished. For a time I could forget the sorrow of losing not only my grandfather but also...losing my way. Unfortunately, most of the work was routine: typing up reports and tagging evidence, reviewing documents and handling complaints. Those duties allowed far too much time for reflection.

So, when my internship had ended I traveled over to Arizona. At first I had visited friends working at Biosphere 2. That had been a welcome distraction. I had been able to work with them on a few projects, getting my hands dirty and brushing up on my limited biology. All of the real world research that went on there...discovering how the planet works and all of the environmental issues that now, more than ever, demanded our understanding...it was amazing. Thanks to my friends at the facility, I'd had the privilege to help create a small-scale working model of the water cycle and how it's dynamically impacted by the earth's vegetation. All in all, I had found it easy to lose myself there for a few months.

"You should stay on for a while," my friend, Tim Hunt, one of the five staff scientists there at B2, had urged. "With your science background...I know it's not as strong as you'd like in biology...but you've got such a brain for all the math and physics we use here. Look at how useful you've been already. This might be just the place for you to...make some changes."

He was so sweet. I had voiced some of my concerns about my future with him and his wife Yevette. We'd gone to university together and even though they were a lot older than me, we'd always been pretty close. I knew they were concerned about me and I wished that I could just agree with them and stay on at that admittedly fascinating facility. But, I also somehow knew that this wasn't what I was looking for. At the moment I didn't even know what that was.

So, I'd left and started this crazy hiking expedition to nowhere. I wasn't in danger of getting lost. That was one thing the service and my grandpa had taught me. And it wasn't as though I'd wandered into the wilderness primitively equipped, either.

I had my satellite phone and laptop. And I also had a gun strapped to my ankle. Tim had laughed when he saw that.

"What do you think's going to happen out there, Lori? Planning on taking down the bad guys in the Arizona wilderness?" I laughed but still the gun was there. I guess that was something that hadn't changed. Grandpa had taught me the trick of concealing a gun instead of depending on the one in your hand.

"Lori," he'd said. "I don't know how many times I've been thankful just knowing I had a spare that no one else was aware of. It can come in handy, girl. Don't you forget it!"

And I hadn't. So there it was. I hoped I wouldn't be needing it anytime soon, though. It was still too cold for rattlesnakes to be coming out of their holes, thankfully. I'd seen some game but only a couple of smaller predators. Before heading out, I'd read up on the different hazards to be found out here and so I was grateful for the additional weight on my ankle.

I wasn't strictly hiking all the time, anyway. I would drive my rented truck for a while and park it. Then I'd hike for a few days before making my way back and moving on. The air was so clean here in the Arizona wilderness. I could see for miles...the sunsets and sunrises were spectacular, breathtaking. The area was so pristine that I kept kicking myself for not bringing a camera. The weather had kept me on my toes, too. A few times it had gotten so cold I'd been grateful to sleep in the truck's cab. But mostly I just camped out and pondered my very vague future.

I knew that the FBI was the most logical option. That was clear. With all my contacts and the favors owed my grandfather, I could get almost any post I wanted. If I chose to go that route. I didn't...and I didn't need to. The skills I had accumulated from early graduation from college, the multiple foreign languages I had worked so hard to acquire, coupled with the knowledge gained from years of being taught by my grandfather assured my place in that organization.

But that's what it felt like to me. An organization. At one point I'd really felt that it was a family of sorts. Grandpa's vibrant personality and keen abilities were so much a part of what the FBI meant to me that I had never bothered to truly see it for myself...with my own eyes. I realized, too, that no matter how pleased and proud Grandpa would be if I followed in his footsteps...the most important thing would be my happiness. Would it really make me happy to join the bureau?

I still admired the Bureau greatly. I don't think that could ever change. I kept arguing with myself that I should be proud to join the agency and willingly spend the rest of my life in it's service. That had been my goal for so long. At least—that's what I'd thought.

Sitting here on top of another crag overlooking the sunbathed hills and canyons before me...I wondered if any of those goals and ideals had truly ever been mine.

For a long time now, I'd been plagued by a sense of waiting. I'd always assumed that I was just anxious to finally be an official member of the FBI. Special Agent Lori Reamer. That made sense. But now...out here in all this vast wilderness, I realized that that waiting feeling was even stronger. I felt as though I was waiting for my life to begin...but where, how?

This was why I was here, I thought. To think about the hard stuff...to figure some things out.

So, just what did Lori Reamer want, anyway? That was the question. I could think of a few answers. I want...to belong to something important. The FBI could give me that, I thought. True. I also wanted...I wanted a family! I wanted to belong to something that brought warmth to my soul and I wanted to give that back to others, as well. That's what it was. I missed family. I missed that level of belonging. And you can't get that from an organization...no matter how noble it's purpose.

Well. Now I knew what I basically wanted and needed. This should be simple! I laughed at myself for a moment. I was really back to square one because the kind of belonging I was looking for wasn't something so easily found.

Perhaps I could go back to school? I could get another degree. Try a new path? That was one road in front of me, I supposed.

A new path, though. A new start. Something different. New people? I had lots of friends but...they all came from the same world. The one I was suddenly so discontent with. Then what? Move away? But to where?

All of these thought jostled one another endlessly...until I was distracted by a sudden glint of light speeding away in the distance. I frowned as I watched it race over the far hills and reached for my binoculars. I was thankful they were capable of high powered magnification because I could tell that whatever I was seeing was pretty far away. Must be some guy out in an ATV and the sun's reflecting of the windshield or something, I thought.

It took me a few moments to find the source of the light and then I was so startled I dropped the glasses and had to scramble to pick them back out and find it again.

What the heck was that? It definitely wasn't a vehicle. That was one thing I was positive about. I focused in again and realized that the light had stopped moving, making it easier to see...whatever it was that I was seeing.

This made no sense whatsoever! Leaning forward as though I could get closer to what I was witnessing, I continued to adjust the binoculars until I had a clear view. And what I saw almost made me drop the glasses again.

On the ground far away sat two people. A man and a woman. They were both wearing teeshirts and jeans and he was holding on to her with both arms. I kept watching and it was hard to tell but it looked as though he was holding her down. Like he was trying to keep her from taking off again. Perhaps I was wrong. After a while they both got up and stood looking at each other, maybe talking? Then they started walking hand in hand back in the direction I had first seen them. After a few minutes they started running. And the way they ran was like nothing I had ever seen before, unless I considered special effects. They were racing away, on foot, so fast that within seconds they were out of sight! Their speed was impossible, astounding. No one could run that fast. It wasn't possible. However, there was more on my mind than just their speed.

I stood for who knows how long staring in the direction they had disappeared, stunned. My mind could not seem to find a logical spot for calm reflection. It was jumping all over the place, refusing to settle down. I had watched a lot of science fiction in my time. I also had a good imagination. But this? This went completely beyond what my poor brain could handle at the moment.

I kept replaying everything I had seen, or thought I'd seen. Every tiny detail. I had seen light, the sun glinting off of a far off object...but it wasn't light reflecting off of glass that I'd seen. No...nothing that simple. Far from it!

The light I had seen had come from them...their skin.

They ...glittered!

I know it's short--forgive me. I will be tweaking it a bit later.

Please let me know what you think!