That car ride was ugly, no way around it. Our caravan of trailers had to stop several times to feed the horses and let them move their legs, so the whole trip stretched out into two and a half days. Worst of all, my brother refused to relinquish control on "his" radio (I don't even get that part, it's my truck) so I was forced to listen to 1,300 miles of the tasteless yodelling known as country music. I would've been happy driving in silence because my uncle loved to sing and music is another painful reminder of him, but no, my brother wouldn't have that. Personally, I don't even consider country a form of music so it didn't cause me any more grief, and my usually successful persuasion had no effect on his descision to slowly drive me insane. That's how I spent my last two and a half days, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles as my sanity slowly flew out the window along the state highway.

I could tell we were in Forks as soon as we crossed the border because it almost perfectly matched the description my dad gave us. Crummy roads walled in by a fortitude of green pine and enough clouds to suffocate on. "Perfect" I mumbled too low for my passenger to hear. Well, I thought it was too low. His sarcasm detecter must've alerted him because he took a safe peek at my murderous expression and snickered. So help me God if I wasn't driving I would've throttled that boy by now. He's almost as annoying as Adam was when he was his age. A memory of one of Adam's embarrassing exploits floated through my head and I shuddered delicately. Almost, but not quite.

I was so distracted by this train of thought and the brain-numbing trash I was listening to that I didn't hear the howl.

Ben shot up straight in the seat as if he had been zapped, and turned to look at me with wide eyes. "Did you hear that Nat?"

I, being slightly crazy at this point really wanted to say: No of course I didn't, your pathetic excuse for music made sure of that. Instead, I listened to my desire to comfort him and just said "No, what did you hear?"

"It sounded like wolves! But really close and way too loud."

My grip tightened on the steering wheel and I eased into the acceleration. I was going to have to scope out the area as soon as possible. I didn't like the idea of wolves coming close to my horses.

"Ben, we are just going to have to get used to living in Washington. We had sharks and mountain lions in California, this is just something new to watch out for. Okay?"

He nodded but his jaw remained tight and he stared straight ahead, no doubt seeing a new nightmare inspired from the moment. Poor kid.

"Hey" I said a little gentler, forgetting about the torture he and Brad Paisley were putting me through for a second. "How about you and me hit the trails after we get the horses settled, huh? We used to make quite the adventuring pair back home, and that way we can put this wolf business to rest."

He gave me a soft smile, and even turned down the volume out of thanks. Progress!

When we pulled into our new dirt driveway, the breath I had been holding in anticipation left my lungs. I turned grinning to my brother. "Almost worth the 1,300 mile drive eh?"

He just snorted and pulled me out of the car.

"Come on let's check out the new crib!"

I rolled my eyes, but let him pull me towards our new palace in the pines anyways. I have to admit, the house makes my new move here slightly less uncomfortable.

It's a lumberjack's dream home. The building had three domed roofs, the biggest being the largest by far. Windows of all sizes covered the sides, probably rivalling the log and stone work in surface area. The house sat on a hill, encased by two massive porches on both stories, and beautifully framed by a few pine trees and a willow further back. Breathtaking.

As soon as the immediate shock wore off, I guiltily compared the house in front of me and my home back in California. My old home was white and elegant with pillars, our California vineyard version of a much downsized mansion. It made me feel like a royal, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world to be blessed with that house. In comparison this place was all wood, stone, and interesting edges that captivated me. It was beautiful, yes, but was it home? I would have to wait and see.

The moving company was nice enough to bring all of our stuff inside, and so after taking a quick rest to meet up with the family we hopped back in the truck to move the horses without having to worry about settling in just yet. As we came around the curve of the hill, my heart joined my breathing in quitting on me. I think my jaw might've dropped too. The stable was not like anything I'd ever seen. I let my eyes wander from the huge, squarish building to the pasture on top of pasture, and to the path that leads to a riding ring in the distance. Beyond that was forest that I had no doubt contained trails for me to explore. I itched to be in them right now, but Charlie placed a constraining hold on my shoulder with a twinkle of mirth in his eyes just as soon as the desire entered my mind. Curse his stupid sibling telepathic abilities."Wait a second Nat. Don't start thinking that you can shirk your duties that easily."

I shrugged out of his grip but grudgingly opened the trailer door and grabbed the first horse, rushing to get moving. As I approached the building, I marvelled at the beauty I had first missed because of my earlier distractions. I saw blue walls, with a charming stone base that matched the house that sat above on the hill. All of the stalls made up the outer shell of the building, inside contained the tack and feed rooms, the wash stalls for winter months, and at the heart was an indoor ring equipped with a viewing room. I whistled lowly. No way we could've afforded this back in California. I silently thanked the much lower real estate market in Washington, and continued marching each horse inside.

"Benny let's go!" I whisper shouted at him while simultaneously tacking up Jazz on the crossties. We had already decided that we wouldn't unpack everything, just the necessaries, so there was no work to feel guilty about skipping. He just rolled his eyes at my enthusiasm, tacking up his own horse Jack. A few minutes later and we were galloping out to the edge of the fields, where we slowed to a shorter stride. As much as it was thrilling to fly through unknown woods on my favorite horse, I still wanted to keep my eyes peeled for any signs of wolves. I took him off the path to look at a river for deer tracks (we didn't find any) and towards some boulders to investigate a possible den (from a distance of course). We had been moving at a slow trot in a thick cluster of trees when all of a sudden the trees broke around us. We found ourselves on top of a tall cliff looking down some 3,000 feet. At first vertigo gripped my senses and I froze where I was. I hate heights. I don't know what it is, but I get anxiety being any higher than thirty feet. It seemed like forever, but a few seconds later my muscles relaxed and I wound my fingers through Jazzy's hair. Once I had thawed out a little, I could finally appreciate the view. It really was beautiful. The trees rippled below us and I could see a mass of fog moving in from the direction of the ocean. Then I realized with a start that the fog seemed a little too dark, and that the trees were being blown around too violently to pass off as just a summer breeze. Crap! "Hey Nat is that rain in the distance?"

I squinted at the rain in question a little longer before bringing my attention back to my brother's waiting gaze "STORM!"

Not wanting to get caught in unfamiliar territory with my little brother and my precious Jazz by rain, I urged Jazz into a gallop that made everything seem to blur past us. We barely made it back home before the rain washed over us, and after our horses were taken care of, we then had to run through it to get inside the house. I passed by a mirror in the doorway and sighed. My earlier prediction had come true, I did look like a drowned cat. My normally thick brown hair clung to my neck,even my natural golden highlights looked dull. My face was blank as a result of the grief that still battled inside me, and my dark caramel eyes seemed empty. But worst of all? My tan! My beautiful tan that marked me as a true Californian and held memories of my life before the horrible last few weeks looked like it had never been there! It almost seemed to have leached out of my skin. It probably was just the lighting, but this sent me over the edge. It was our family trademark, and reminded me of my home. I hated to see it go.

With a mood that matched the sky, I stomped up the stairs and past my boxes that were waiting to be unpacked, and heaved myself onto my new bed. I planned on taking a sleeping bag to the barn later to wait out the first night with Jazz. I didn't want him to feel as betrayed and lonely as I felt in this miserable town, but I couldn't say no to that nice looking bed after driving for so long. A little nap couldn't hurt, right? And with that, I drifted off to sleep.

So, what do you guys think? I would really love some feedback, this is all new for me :) This was mostly a chapter designed to give you guys an idea of where she is living and a tiny description fit in of what Natalie looks like. In a later chapter, I will make a note of her bedroom too. Maybe next chapter will be a little more exciting... I think that a party could really cheer Natalie up *wink wink* but who knows!

Later taters,

GreenxGold