AN: Here is the first actual chapter of Winter Solstice. I worked really hard on it and I hope that you like it. It's a realtively easy chapter, but the next one starts major plot movement. So, enjoy and please review. I don't care if you hate it or love it or don't really feel either, I just want to know what you think.

Disclaimer: I do not own the books or characters from the Twilight series. Mrs. Meyer does and she's awesome.


1 ~ Starting New

~EdwardJacob~

There are some things that I have learned are instinctual to vampires. Stillness is one of these qualities. They feel no need to move, no compulsions to do anything except feed. Even that compulsion can be suppressed. They have no sense of time. Life to them is a continual day that will only end with their death.

They are not human. Neither am I. Yet, I feel compulsions similar to humans. I have a heart beat. Blood flows through my body fluttering and quick. It makes me vulnerable. I can never become the marble-like statues who are completely free of human weaknesses like my parents. I require sleep. I tire. I am not a vampire.

I am not human. I am not vampire.

There are others who fit into this state of limbo. The werewolves. Though the similarities between us are smaller than the other two beings, we share a massive body heat and enhanced senses. They have always been near my family. Since I do share some of the characteristics of vampires, my memory was enhanced to complete recall of past events. The first one I met was the only female wolf that we know of. I remember the rage I felt coming off of her, but at the time I didn't know why she was so angry. In fact, as I child I felt comforted by her presence even if she was 'feisty' as Emmett put it. I got off track though. Another characteristic I share with my parents is the vastness of mental capabilities and enhanced senses. With the enhanced perception, we are easily overwhelmed and can loose focus. I do not share the sheer precision of a vampire, but my enhanced senses are enough for me to become lost if I do not focus.

I am not human. I am not vampire. I am not werewolf.

For the longest time, I was a confusing puzzle to my family. My sister was much easier to understand. Her ability was straight forward much like her personality. She could show any memory complete with emotions to any who touched her body. My grandfather and father could not explain my unique gifts. How could they have not noticed me during conception? Why had my father not heard my mental voice when he could clearly hear my sister's? Why had no one noticed my birth until Leah saw me below my mother's changing body?

The answer was simple in a way. My ability allows me to completely disappear from the sight, senses and abilities of others. It is like I never existed. In simple terms I was clocked. But it was a very strong gift. My grandfather had first thought it was a protection based skill. That it was activated by my sense of fear. But that was proved wrong. Even when only in the presence of my mother, I was usually clocked. It made it very difficult for my parents to raise me when I was young. They had tried to explain the strange sensation of holding me. They said it was like holding air.

It took a very long time to gain any sense of control over it because it was instinctively on. I inherited that from my parents whose gifts are continuously on as well. It takes intense mental focus to make myself visible as it goes against my instincts. Seven years were spent training my mind until I finally gained the control needed to remain visible while consciously awake. I had yet to master the other elements of my abilities, such as opening my mind to others' abilities. I wasn't exactly working hard on that either. I like my mother valued the privacy I had because of my unique gift. We have a name for it now, though it was not my family who named it. It was the Egyptians.

"Amun!" the hidden one.

I looked down from the tree limb that was my current resting place. I raised my eyebrow at my sister. Her shinning hair caught the early morning light. It had continued to grow as she did. Much to Alice's continual enjoyment, Renesmee loved having it long. I didn't understand the fascination Alice had with dolling her up, but she seemed to lighten up at the possibilities. Even I was not able to escape her whimsical desires, I had no stay in any item of my wardrobe. I gave up thoughts of rebellion long ago.

"Yes?"

"Come on! Today's the BIG day!" Her eyes were sinning with the shear excitement she held for today. Nessie was always a curious girl. It was only heightened now that we would be entering high school for the first time.

"I'm coming. Be there in a second." I looked back out to the trees. I had always liked nature. It seemed to invite one to merge with it. I liked it. It was like me.

I blinked as chocolate eyes, the exact replica of mine, suddenly filled my vision. A sigh escaped my lips at the frown on her face.

"Come on! You day dream too much. I wanna go already. Don't you want to see what the humans are like? I know you do. Come on. Come on." She tugged on my arm as she finished. Even after almost nine years of life with a mental age of seventeen, my sister still acted like a fledgling.

"Nessie, you already know what humans are like. Pops is one. We've known him from year one." I explained as she practically pulled me out of the tree.

"I know that," she said as we landed noiselessly on the forest floor. She looked back at me as if to emphasize the importance of the next words, "but not teenagers. They're supposed to be our age! Well, not our human ages. Our mental ages! Doesn't that sound so cool? Mamma can be so protective; I can't believe she wouldn't let us meet one before now. And she's the youngest member of the family apart from us! She's in her thirties."

"Not going to include Jake?" I teased her. I saw the subtle blush on her face. Dad said it reminded him of Mom when she was human. He said Mom could rarely hide her feeling from him even if he couldn't read her mind. Sis defiantly took after her.

"Oh hush! You know what I mean. Jake's different."

"Uh huh." I mused as we entered the house through the upper window. She tried to kick me back out the window, but I easily dogged. The family would usually meet in the kitchen in the morning. I could have smelled the eggs and bacon cooking from almost a half a mile away. The wolf members of the family must be here already and using the otherwise pointless kitchen.

"I found him!!" My sister's voice rang through the house. It wasn't necessary. Everyone would have heard her if she had whispered, but then in her words 'where's the fun in that?'

Jake's head popped around the door frame that lead to the upstairs kitchen. I tried to contain my smirk. He was really obvious.

"Hmh! Houwm urph ymn?" He tried to say as he devoured the breakfast that piled his plate.

"Jacob," I heard the twinkling sound of my mother's musical voice scold from inside the kitchen. "how many times to I have to tell you not to talk with your mouth full. Honestly, I'm not your mother."

I heard Jake's substantial gulp and sigh. "Aw, come on Bella. Lighten up."

"Hey! That was my piece. No fair, Leah. Geez, I thought girls weren't supposed to eat as much as guys."

I stepped into the kitchen and had a seat at the enormous dinner table. Leah was currently rolling her eyes at her brother.

"I'm a wolf too, you know. Bounding through the woods would make anyone hungry."

Jake's booming laugh almost hurt my ears. "You do have an abnormal appetite, Leah don't blame it on the running." Her death glare would have rivaled my father's.

"So, how are the transfer students feeling this morning?" Carlisle asked as he entered the room.

"I still wish I could have been adopted." Seth frowned.

"We could have forced you to stay back at the rez if we knew you were going to complain so much." Jake said to a disappointed Seth.

Carlisle merely shook his head. Seth understood that with Renesmee, me, and my mother the family couldn't grow any larger without attracting too many unwanted questions. The wolves were merely Rez students who were transferring to normal high school to complete their learning.

"I didn't mean it Jake. You wouldn't send me back would ya?"

"Nah, I don't want to share Leah's girly mind alone." He had to quickly dodge the pancake which was thrown like a bullet toward his head.

"Still playing with your food? Aren't you a little old for that?" My father's amused voice taunted as he intercepted the projectile/food before it could do damage to the house.

Leah rolled her eyes. Even after my birth, they had never been very close. I think it had a lot to do with his mind reading abilities. She didn't seem to like him seeing everything that passed through her thoughts. I had even seen him throw a dark glare at her occasionally. It made me curious as to what she was thinking. He usually saved those glares for Jacob.

"Your one to talk." She mumbled. "Least I didn't fall in love with it."

It was then that Alice's small body danced into the room. Jasper was following slowly in her wake.

"You're going to like high school, Nessie." She said as she started arranging my sister's hair as she always did in the morning. It looked like braids today. Her hands were moving a little too quickly for me to understand the complicated weave. Nessie looked back at her in confusion.

"I thought you couldn't see our future, Alice." I said voicing Nessie's unspoken question. She flashed an almost wicked smile at us.

"Oh, I can't. But, I do know you two. It's going to be great. I'm confident you won't bite anyone."

"I wonder if they will be as frightened of halfies as they are of full fledged vampires." Emmett mussed with a grin. "It might be cool to see them act like Bella did."

"What's that supposed to mean?" My mom fake glared at him. She could never really say mad at Emmett. It was a mystery to me why.

"Please, Bella, you could barely talk in his presence. Don't try to pretend you weren't entranced." Rosalie said with a flip of her hair.

Mom looked back over at Dad, her stare turned mushy as she moved over to him. He wrapped his arms around her and put his chin on the top of her head. "I was pretty irresistible. What did you call it, Bella?" His voice had dropped to an almost purr. "Dazzling? And I was worried about my control." He chuckled. "Bella was the wild one."

"Can you please not do that when I'm in the room?" I shivered as unwanted mental images played in my head. Mom gave a shy smile.

"Sorry, EJ."

"Don't forget you can't call me that at school. It would be hard to explain why Dad's supposed little brother's name was the merging of his and the transfer student who always hung around them."

"I won't dream of it, Amun." She said.

I personally like Amun better. EdwardJacob wasn't all that trilling of a name. Especially when you were in constant contact with the two people you were named after. And one of them had the hots for your sister. Emmett felt Amun was catchy. He was the first to actively use the nickname after the Egyptians. Most of the others followed suit, but my mother completely refused. She still called me EJ. Even that was better than full out EdwardJacob.

Carlisle looked down at his expensive watch. "I've got to be going. The early shift was in need of extra hands. Good luck." He looked specifically at me and Nessie. "I hope you have a good time."

"Don't worry. They will." Alice said in her normal no questions asked tone even if it was baseless when it came to me and my sister.

"Done!" Jacob bellowed. I looked away from Alice toward the wolves. The plates were suddenly gone as my Grandmother Esme appeared at the kitchen sink with clean dishes in her hands. She really was a fast cleaner. It was no wonder why there was never a stain in the house.

"Ready to leave?" Leah asked. I looked over at the female werewolf. She had her head resting in the open palm of her left hand. Her eyes were fixed on my chocolate ones.

"I think so."

"You're not worried are you?" She asked as the others went about their own conversations. I heard the faint tease behind her words even as I heard Alice explaining teenage fashion to my sister.

"What would I be worried about?" I said as I gave her my undivided attention.

She raised an eyebrow at me in disbelief. "You don't expect me to believe that do you?"

"Don't see why not." I said.

Leah confused me. She always seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. Like she was attuned to my feelings. I just figured it had something to do with the imprint that bound her to me. I had only gotten a vague explanation when I had asked Jacob about it. When I asked Dad, he had said she would explain it in time. Time turned out to be longer than I had expected it to be. I still didn't have answers.

Her lips quirked into a grin. I knew she didn't believe me, but I really didn't want to talk about it in a room of supersensitive hearing vampires and werewolves. Thanks to her, my unease had been brought back to the forefront of my mind. I was nervous about school. It wasn't that I felt I couldn't keep up intellectually. It was all the people. Potential enemies, threats. Even though they were human, I knew my body would interpret them that way. I would be fighting my instincts all day and wasn't looking foreword to it. Honestly, I wasn't as sure in my ability to keep control as Alice seemed to be. What if I got too overwhelmed and suddenly disappeared from the hall? That would go over real well with the humans. What if one of their scents was too strong for me to resist? I knew I didn't have my father's control and Alice would never see it coming. She never could with us.

My unease was growing, and I needed to relax again so I could keep under control. I let the subconscious part of my mind that was holding my abilities back drop. I felt the rush of safety envelope me and smiled. Finally, I could get some peace. Leah's eyes were still boring into mind, but I knew she couldn't see me. None of them could. She shook her head after a minute and turned to listen to the conversation between Seth and Jacob.

"I think we should do some extra scouting of the area just to be safe." Jacob was saying. Seth nodded obediently.

"You don't expect there to be any dangers here do you? Alice hasn't seen any visitors coming. There are no other permanent settlements in the Americas apart from ours." Leah argued. "It would be a waste of time. "

"If anything, it can help us better understand the animal patterns in these woods. Besides, we need to phase to make sure we don't start aging again. Scouting is a good use of the phase."

"Alright," Leah conceded. "When are you going to do this?"

I didn't really need to hear anymore and now that Leah was listening to Jacob intently I could slip away without her attention focused on me. She always did know how to find me even when I was cloaked. It was better to run while she was occupied.

I left swiftly back toward my tree. I had at least a couple of minutes before we had to leave. Jumping onto my favorite limp, I leaned my head back against the tree. The morning fog left the air damp. The scent of the forest seemed amplified by it. I inhaled its unique scent and allowed it to calm me further.

I heard the slight shifting of the grass before the branch dipped with another body. I growled under my breath but didn't open my eyes. I knew who it was. Her earthen smell almost blended in to the forest's sent. Almost. I would recognize it anywhere. She knew that.

"You seem even more moody than usual." Leah commented. "You missed the worried looks your mom threw at your empty chair after you disappeared."

I sighed again. Mom worried too much. "I'm fine." I repeated.

"What's really bothering you? Is it the smell or your ability?" My irritation was growing. Leah just wouldn't let it go. I snapped my eyes open to see her straddling the limb. A picture of ease with her hands behind her.

"Leah," I growled in a low voice. Leave it be. I didn't need to add that part. She understood.

Her face twisted into a challenging smirk. "What are you going to do? Bite me?"

I launched myself at her. Her laugh was interrupted by the boom of our colliding bodies. She twisted in the air trying to land on her feet, but I pinned her arms.

She let out a grunt as she connected with the ground. "Cheater." She said to the air above her as she rolled back. Her feet connected with my invisible stomach sending me over her body and onto the forest floor about ten feet from her. I touched my stomach. It didn't hurt at all. She was holding back.

I slowly circled around her. Her eyes followed my progress. A smug smile on her face. I darted to the side and then attacked her middle with my leg. The collision sent her back a few feet but she held her ground.

"That all you got?" She taunted.

"Hardly." I replied.

I pushed back my ability with relative ease. She grinned as I materialized in front of her and the next second I was blocking her hands at lighting speed as she tried to penetrate my defenses. I caught a slight opening and suddenly she was flying back against my favorite tree. I heard the tree groan in protest before it cracked and toppled backward with a crash to the forest floor.

"Aw, man."

Her laugh was more of a bark as she let her animal side take over. A low snarl came from between her teeth. I quirked my head to the side.

"Now I have to change again before school." She said as she looked back over her shoulder. "You know Alice will make me where something way too fancy. Thanks."

I laughed again. Women.

She moved to all fours and was almost at me when Alice appeared between us.

"Did I hear you were in need of a shirt?" She eyes twinkled with mirth and satisfaction. "You know I would gladly redo you wardrobe. I know just the thing-"

"No thank you, Alice. For the third time today, I don't want new clothes."

She grinned.

"But you do need a new shirt."

Leah sighed in defeat as Alice quickly whisked her toward her house-size closet. Leah sent me one last look as she disappeared into the house. A smug smile was on her face.

"What was that for?" I mused as I headed back into the house. She didn't have any reason to be so smug I had had the advantage this morning. Who was the one who went flying into the tree? I grinned. Definitely her.

"Who won today?" Emmett grinned as I walked back into the kitchen.

"Me."

"Hell yes!" He said as he patted me on the shoulder. I had to brace myself not to collapse under his strength.

Mom sighed. "Why do you two always fight?"

"I don't know but the score currently stands: Me: 543 wins; Leah: 541."

Jasper flashed a grin. He should be pleased. He had taught me all I knew about fighting as he was an expert. I had to admit, he was a beast. I was extremely glad he was on our side.

"Fine!" I heard Leah yell. I tried to focus my hearing, but she mumbled the last words too softly for me to hear. I did notice the rest of the family apart from Renesemee exchanged smiles. I wished I had their hearing.

"I hate you, Alice." I heard Leah growl as she rushed into the kitchen.

I saw Alice's satisfied smile. "I know."

I looked back over my shoulder to see Leah trying to hide behind her brother. I tried to suppress my laughter. Emmett didn't even try. He started laughing just as Jacob started too. I was so unlike Leah to cower behind anyone.

"Is it that bad?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

The look of sheer anger that came flying my way only made me want to laugh harder. I couldn't hold it back. I laughed. I was too busy laughing to notice the fist flying my way. Leah's hand connected with my head. Unprepared for her assault, I went skidding backwards into my father.

"Sorry, Dad."

He surged as he steadied me.

I turned to get a good look at what had Leah so riled up when I saw legs. Long legs. My brain wasn't really adding up what I saw. What happened to Leah's jeans? I looked up.

"You got Leah in a dress?" I said in dumbfound disbelief.

"How did you manage that?" Seth asked.

Alice teeth flashed, but she didn't answer. "Blackmail." My dad said.

"Wow that must be some good dirt." Seth said still looking at his sister. "I haven't seen her in a dress since, well. Never mind." He finished timidly as Leah advanced on him.

"It looks nice." I said. She turned around and raised her fist. But then she blinked like she was confused.

"What did you say?"

"It looks nice." I repeated. Her hand dropped slowly to her side.

"Oh." I shot her a confused look. Now who was the one acting weird?

"I wanna go now!!! Can't we leave for school now? Please!" Nessie said as she unleashed her puppy dog eyes at Dad. She had finished admiring Leah's dress.

"Yes we can." He said as he shot a small annoyed glance at Leah.

"YES!!!!!!" Nessie shouted. "Oh! Shotgun!"

"Which car?" Emmett asked. "Jeep or Volvo?"

Nessie shot him a mortified look. "Jeep! I can't ride in the Volvo. I want to look cool for the first day of school. I read on the internet that Volvo's were mainly driven by old people." She looked knowingly at my father who held the Volvo keys in his hand.

"Are you trying to say I'm old?" He asked amused.

Nessie nodded vigorously. "Yes. You are old, Dad."

Mom's chime-like laugh echoed through the house. "Don't worry, Edward. I still ride in the Volvo with you. I will even risk being seen as uncool."

"How considerate of you." He said wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

I rolled my eyes. They were at it again.

"I'm going in the Jeep too. I can't stand it when they act all lovely dovey."

"Nice!" Emmett said as he grabbed the jeep keys. "I'm driving."

"Let's go! Let's go!" Nessie said as she bounded toward the garage.

Emmett took off after her like a shot. I suddenly regretted my decision to go with them. They were really hyper.

"Come on, Amun! We're leaving you!" I heard Nessie shout from the garage. I sighed as the engine revved.

"See you at school guys." I said to the rest of the group as I raced toward the jeep. As soon as I was in, Emmett floored it and we were off. Nessie was practically bouncing up and down in her seat. I rolled my eyes towards the window and watched as my new home was quickly covered by the trees. Almost too quickly we arrived at the massive building that the humans called a school.

Nessie was out of the car almost too fast, but her eyes were too busy taking in the atmosphere to be bothered by my warning for her to slow down. I joined her beside the car to wait for the rest of the family to arrive.

"Oh my GOD!" Someone's voice reached my sensitive ears.

"What?" A girl asked.

"Look over there, by the Jeep." The first voice continued in hushed, awed voice.

"Oh. My. God." I heard the broken response from the second one.

"Are they models? He's so fine! I call dibs!"

"What?! No fair. I saw him first."

"You did not. I did. You wouldn't even have noticed him if I hadn't told you."

"Whatever. It won't matter because I'm prettier than you."

"As if."

"I'm going to go talk to him now."

"Like hell! Wait."

"What?"

"Do you see Damien? He's staring at the girl."

A gasp. "We have to tell Britney. He's practically undressing her with his eyes. That little cheater."

"You go tell Brit."

"Right."

"Sucker. Now, he's all mine." I heard the first girl mutter under her breath. A few seconds later, her voice was much closer than before. "Hi there. I'm Amanda."

I turned to look at the human girl. The smell of her blood was almost completely masked by some type of floral scent. It was way to strong and stung my noise.

"What's your name?" She asked as she leaned closer.

"Amun." I replied while trying not to choke on her strong perfume. I took a small step back to gain some breathable air.

"That's a weird name."

"Hey, Amun. You already making friends?" To my relief, I felt Emmett come up behind me. The girl whose name was Amanda looked frightened by the mammoth Emmett.

"Um, well, I have to go. See you later, Amun." She said as she darted away.

I shook my head and looked up at the still grinning Emmett.

"Alice thought I would like this?" I asked. If this was what high school was, I wasn't sure I really wanted to go anymore.

"What?" Nessie's head popped around Emmett's frame. "Didn't like her flirting. It meant she likes you."

"I'm not an idiot, Nessie."

I saw my parents' car arriving and let out as sigh of relief as I saw the wolves' SUV right behind it. Never was I happier to see them in my life.

"You little cheater!" I heard a familiar female voice exclaim.

"S'not my fault that you went to see Britney."

"You did it on purpose so you could talk to him alone."

"So what if I did?"

"I can't believe you!"

Leah got out of the car and turned to me. "What's the matter?"

I shook my head. "I don't think I'm going to like teenage girls."

I noticed my dad had that look on his face.

"I can't stand the girls or the boys."

Mom put a hand on his shoulder. "Play nice."

His eyes narrowed onto one in particular. "He had better not try that on my daughter." A low snarl ripped through his throat.

"Edward." Mom warned. "You aren't her father here."

Emmett stepped up. "Brothers can still kick their asses. Which one was it, Edward?" A grin on his face.

"Far corner of the lot. I'll go with you." He said in a dark voice.

They were moving away before my mother could do anything else. "Edward! Emmett! There's a rule against fighting!" She tried to persuade them to come back.

"What's got them all worked up?" Jacob asked as he rounded the car.

"I think one of the guys thought something about me that Dad didn't like." Nessie explained. I didn't think that was the best thing to tell Jacob. I sighed as realized I was right. His eyes darkened.

"Hey! Wait for me. I'll kick his ass!" Jake said as he went to catch up with my 'siblings.'

"Alice?" I said as I looked towards her.

She cocked her head to me. "Yes?"

"They don't do anything too stupid do they?" I asked.

"Nope. They don't have too. Your brother's intimidate them. Vampires tend to do that to humans."

"Can we go in then?" Nessie practically pulled Mom's sleeve off her shoulder.

"Yeh, we can."

"YES! Come on, Amun! Let's go!" Nessie said as she moved to the building with our mother.

I gave one last glance back to where Emmett, Dad, and Jake were cornering a group of high school boys then followed after my mom and sister.

"Hey, man, I wasn't going do anything…." I heard a faint voice from the far corner of the lot. I smirked. He had better not try anything. Nessie was my sister after all.