Skye's POV

Finally! We'd made it past the border without incident, mostly because Justin ran so fast that nobody noticed when a gust of wind tore through the trees. I didn't know why, but I felt a surge of relief the second we made it past the border. Maybe it was the fact that I was back on my turf now, that could have been it. But I didn't care. I was home.

We would have had another two hours or so to go if we'd been driving, but Justin cleared it without any effort at all. I liked those perks of having a vampire for a boyfriend. Travel time was quite literally cut down magnificently, it wasn't so bad knowing that your arm was wound into quite a handsome looking creature's instead of an average joe, and as for the happenings in the bedroom... Quite a perk, quite a perk.

He was still running, but I'd looked up now, naming the trees absently as they flashed by us with impressive speed. The wind didn't bother me, I rather liked how it whistled through my hair. I'd considered cutting it short again, maybe it'd finally seal my acceptance of going back to who I had been.

I nearly laughed snidely at myself. No. I still refused to respond to my given name and I doubted I'd ever really forgive myself for what I'd done. I was amazed how the Cullens had found it in them to forgive me, and they barely even knew me. I felt a bolt of pain hit my chest, and I had to remember to breathe.

I missed them already. We've been travelling for about a weeks now, we stopped in Alaska to room with Tanya's coven for a day or two to lay low. We continued to stop, travelling as fast as we dared the closer we got to the border. I was just glad we were finally back.

We raced through the woods now, the trees whipped by us at illegal speeds. I hugged him tightly, but my eyes wouldn't tear away from the green and brown mess we were flying through. Home. I was home.

I began to recognize the scenery after a few minutes, it was impossible to forget this place. Justin was moving slower now, well slower for him. He was basically jogging, which was still faster than me at my full out sprint. I was perversely proud of my speed, considering I was human after all, but the vampires' ability made me jealous. Damn it.

We were deep in the woods now, up in the real north. Or cottage country for the Canadian citizens. It was the perfect place to hide a coven of vampires. The forest stretched on for miles, literally. Well, kilometres, now that we're speaking Canadian. Snort.

If I remembered my geography right, we were around Sudbury now, northern Ontario at its finest. And Stephen's coven made their home there, at the deepest part of the forest, the farthest point away from the city. We were getting close, the signs were obvious for us.

"Can you smell them?" I asked quietly, almost whispering into Justin's ear as he continued to jog through the woods.

"Yeah... Faint, the trail's at least a week old." Justin answered me with a shrug that literally bumped me up his shoulders. "Guess they haven't been hunting."

"Or they've been taking new routes." I pointed out, poking him between the shoulders as he slowed his pace to a walk. He seemed content to let me ride with him, and I wasn't complaining. I quite enjoyed it.

"That could be true." Justin conceded with a chuckle, glancing over his shoulder at me. I grinned and he laughed quietly, kissing the tip of my nose. "Don't get wise on me, Stephen will think I'm whipped."

I giggled, toying with his hair absently as we strolled through the woods. If anybody was whipped, it was Stephen. He had been the only male in a home of three women, and I was sure if anyone, Sara had him trained. It was amusing to think of, Stephen didn't need to assert his position as leader, everybody naturally looked up to him. But as much as nobody would challenge his authority, the girls didn't put up with any of his crap either. It was amusing to watch him.

Justin continued with his long strides, occasionally glancing around, trying to catch a familiar scent. But from his ever further tensing body, he wasn't getting anything. That was starting to worry me, had they moved on without telling us? Or had the Volturi maybe caught up with them instead...?

I shuddered at the thought. I didn't want to imagine anything happening to them.

We finally stopped, shadowed by the massive trees that nearly blocked out the late afternoon sky. I was starving and a bit restless, so Justin set me down and sat beside me as I found an apple in my bag. I finished it quickly, savouring the natural sweet taste as I did so.

Watching Justin, I knew he was wishing he could run ahead and scout, but he didn't want to risk leaving me alone. He couldn't be so reckless when I was with him as well though, it wasn't a fun situation for him.

I sat up on a boulder that literally just sat between two ancient trees, watching Justin sitting on the ground below me, back against the rock. I hopped down beside him, not liking the expression on his face. I sat beside him, and leaned into his side. He glanced at me curiously for a moment, then smiled, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and shifting me closer.

I didn't mind the cold. I'd been adjusting well to it, now that we let ourselves do things like this. I could get used to anything these days, as long as he was there. He nuzzled into my neck and we sat there for a little, both wrapped up in our own thoughts.

I was really excited to see my girls again. I nearly laughed at myself, when had they become my girls? Sara wasn't anybody's girl, she'd made that clear a lot, she was her own woman at the frozen age of twenty-two. Technically since she was biologically older than Stephen, the coven should have been hers. But she'd gracefully bowed out when Stephen offered it to her, she wasn't the leader type.

And she made a good point in arguing that Stephen may have been younger, but he had much more experience than she did. She'd only been turned thirty years ago, in 1975. Stephen had been turned twenty years before that at the age of eighteen. He had fifty years under his belt, which outweighed her thirty. Stephen accepted the leadership after Melanie agreed, but not until Cait declined as well.

Cait. A walking enigma. No one was really sure when she was born, or created, she didn't really give anyone specifics. It was safe to assume that she was older, if not the same age, as Stephen, her control was amazing. But she had one flaw that made life very hard for her. She was mute.

We weren't sure if she just didn't speak, or couldn't. She was able to laugh, huff, and portray her emotions through wordless sounds, but that was it. She never spoke. She always carried around a small notepad with a pen or pencil stuck behind her ear, and she'd communicate that way if we couldn't read her face well enough. Her personality shone through even with the barrier, she may not have been able to speak, but she could damn well tell you what she was feeling anyway. A bubbly young woman frozen in time, with a spectacular sense of humour and a very cheerful smile.

She was my kindred spirit, my best friend, besides Bella of course. Bella was my best friend, the sister I never had, Cait was my sister. Cait balanced out Stephen and Sara wonderfully, being the middle ground between their attitudes.

Sara. Too many words could be used to explain Sara, and she'd happily insist that none of them were right. She peppered conversations with her sharp wit and good humour, and the occasional British cuss. She had a light feathery voice, which only over-emphasized her English accent, and made the woman seem like she was still a sweet seventeen. Ever the optimist, she abandoned her life in England when she was changed, and moved to America to start new. She'd been one of the few that I knew of to start her new life as a vegetarian without outside help.

Stephen was an insane opposite to Sara, but in ways that it left me puzzled to the point of wondering why they hadn't killed each other yet. She'd see a half-full cup of water, and he'd wonder why they bothered to leave it unfinished. She'd see hope in a useless situation, and he'd marvel at how they got there in the first place. He was quiet and open-minded, and hopeless when it came to women, even though he'd been surrounded by them for about twenty years now. But he was honest, honest to the fault where I thought it was impossible for him to lie.

Thinking about them now, wondering how they had been doing, it left an ache inside me. I missed Sara's pranks, Stephen's exasperation with the women, Cait's happy company. And I hadn't let myself feel it so strongly since I'd been in Forks. I kicked myself. Of course not, it was like I'd gone through a mirror and came out a new me. I forced myself to not gag, how stupid.

But it was true, Bella... Being around her again brought out the real me, the Christine me. I'd never be her again, but the odd bits of me that Bella tended to bring out were back with a vengeance. I sighed a little. I wasn't either Skye or Christine now, but a mix of the two. I smirked a bit at myself. Now I had double personalities and an odd third one that balanced them out. I really needed medication.

Justin was staring out into the woods, whenever a breeze blew by, he stiffened, trying to catch a familiar scent. Still nothing. He growled a little in irritation. It must have really been bothering him. He was a tracker, Stephen had taught him well, it helped that the boys were both pro at the skill. Being a tracker it should have been easy for him to find the coven.

If they hadn't been hunting for the past few weeks, the scents would have gone dead and covered. Stephen and Justin had explained it to me once, how even though our scents were the easiest thing to trace, if it had been too long, the scents of the live things, animals, plants or other humans, a trail could be effectively hidden or even destroyed.

So since Stephen and his lot hadn't been hunting, or travelling in the area for that matter, there wasn't a scent to go on. And that infuriated my lover to no end.

It was easy to tell what he wanted to do. His entire body was itching to track them out. But he couldn't do that so well with the extra baggage that was me, he needed the freedom to run around wild at full speed.

I finally sighed loudly, breaking the long silence that had engulfed the both of us. He looked at me, eyes curious and wide again. "Go on."

He raised his eyebrows, expression puzzled. It was cute, him wearing that boyish expression. I reached out, smoothing his mussed hair backwards where it belonged. He leaned into the treatment, still confused. "What?"

"Go, I'll wait here for you." I answered with a shrug. Why not? He needed to find them, and it'd be quicker if he was by himself. There weren't any wild animals around as far as I could tell, I could sit ten minutes and wait. "It's fine."

"I'm not leaving you by yourself here!" Justin protested immediately, and I'd have been lying if I said I didn't expect it. Months ago, he may have let me without a fight. I was glad that'd changed. "What if something comes round here thinking you'd make a decent lunch?"

"You'd hear me scream and I'd bolt up a tree." I answered without missing a beat, trying really hard to stop a laugh before it happened. If I laughed I knew he wouldn't leave me alone. "C'mon Justin, we need to find them and you work better when you're by yourself. I can wait, I'll be just fine."

He glared at me still, his expression hard. "And if a bear decides to come strolling by?"

I frowned. Good point, but not what I was hoping to hear. Dammit. It took me a few moments to gather my intelligent ideas, kicking myself in the ass every time I felt like saying something sarcastic. "I'll hide up in a the tree before you leave." That was all I had, I had to resist the urge to palm my face. I was such an idiot.

He still was glaring, but I was pretty sure by the twitch in his cheeks that he was trying to hide a smile. I was that stupid but I tried. He finally shook his head and pressed his cold lips against my cheek. "Fine. But I'm putting you in the tree, and I'll be back in ten minutes exactly. Don't you dare move."

I saluted like a soldier and he rolled his eyes. He had me in his arms in moments, handing me my bag before launching straight up in a very impressive jump. He set me down in the tree, and I sat as close to the trunk as I could, fighting off the instinctive fear of heights.

He kissed me again, this time gently on the lips. He broke away before I could get any ideas, and lovingly ruffled my hair. "I'll be back soon. Don't move, kay?" Another peck followed his words, he jumped down and took off.

I yelled in annoyance after him, "Where else am I gonna go you jackass?!" I heard his booming laugh and then it faded before I heard nothing but the sound of my own breathing.

Sitting up in a tree was somewhat normal for me, I used to do it all the time for privacy when I was reading at home or what not. But our trees were about half the height of these ones, trees I could easily climb up and out of without worrying about falling and breaking my leg. Well, considering how I was surprisingly athletic.

But these trees stretched higher than I liked for climbing, way too high for my liking. And currently, staring down at the ground, I was scared to fall because I'd probably break every bone in my fragile body if I hit the wrong way, or at all. The view was great, but not my taste when I wasn't secure.

The branch I was sitting on was thick, thick enough to support my weight without any strain. But it didn't stop me from basically hugging the tree trunk and nestling myself as close as I could. My legs swung over the edge, dangling there. I watched the ground in boredom.

That's when I saw it fly across my field of vision below me, if I hadn't been paying attention I probably would have missed it. But I saw it, a blur flying with impressive speed across the ground. I blinked and it was gone. What? I leaned over as far as I dared without upsetting my stomach, staring at the ground. Would it come again?

I wasn't disappointed, it flew across the ground again, much too fast for me to work out features. It was simply a blur. I frowned. This wasn't normal. I knew enough to say it probably wasn't a human and it probably wasn't friendly. Instincts screaming for me to stay huddled in the tree, my curiosity wanted me to shuffle down.

Curiosity won.

I hesitantly made my way to the ground, fully expecting to be knocked to the side by something incredibly strong. When my feet touched dirt, I sighed softly and glanced around hastily. What the hell was it?

A soft crack to my right caught my attention, and I whirled as fast as I possibly could to see what it was. I saw nothing but trees stretching on to the point of my vision. I swallowed nervously. This was a very stupid idea.

Another crack, louder this time, from behind me. I turned again, adrenalin surging through me and setting my heart motoring. Great, give whatever it was a target! Still nothing.

That's when I felt it, something soft touched my back, but when I whirled there was no one there. My heart was really motoring by this point, I had a half crazy urge to start running. But where? I wouldn't get far. A low growl echoed from the left of me, but when I turned it was at my right. I froze where I stood.

Was this it?

The growl ceased suddenly, and my heart stopped beating for a long moment. Then something heavy hit my back, and I lurched forward as two cold arms wound around my shoulders. I closed my eyes and prayed for a swift end.

AN

Lol, bad for a first chapter, huh? Yeah I know. I'll go hide under my bed now. (Hides)

Evie