CHAPTER 1—GONE

I cautiously walked into the tiny kitchenette, trying not to make a sound my parents could hear. As I rounded the doorway, a grin made its way to my face.

Bella and Edward Cullen, my teenaged parents, were so engrossed in kissing the life—haha—out of each other that they wouldn't have heard a herd of elephants, much less their six-year-old daughter coming in to say good morning. Not to mention that Dad's hand was in Mom's t-shirt.

"Jeez, guys. Get a room."

They broke apart like guilty school-children. It was fun to watch vampires squirm.

"Nessie!"

"No, guys," I mock-chastised them. "Seriously. I'm six. You're corrupting young minds. It's horrific."

"You look as old as your Dad," said Mom, pushing Dad away. "Never mind your age. And we'll be more careful now."

"One day I'm gonna look older than GeeZee. Right, Dad?"

Dad just chuckled. He found the name we had given my twenty-three-year-old grandpa odd. I mean, come on! I couldn't call him grandpa on the streets, and calling him Carlisle just feels gross! So we figured out a way. Mom thought GZ looked like Zeus' better-looking brother. So that's what I started calling him. He's now, officially, my Grandpa Zeus.

And Jake thinks the name is hilarious.

Speaking of Jake…

"Where's Jake?"

Dad looked up from his newspaper. "Sleeping in the woods again, I'd imagine. You going up to the main house?"

"Yeah," I shrugged. "Routine."

It was a routine, I thought as I walked. Every morning, sun, wind, rain or sleet, I walked up to main house first thing in the morning to get my measurements done. Height, weight, and so on and so forth. It was fun once, when it happened twice a day, but now it was just a routine.

I smiled and wished Grandma Esme good morning. She was standing in the newly restocked kitchen, and cooking for our resident werewolf pack. None of my aunts or uncles had come out their rooms at five-thirty in the morning. I tried not to hear them, concentrating instead on my erratic heartbeat, but failed slightly.

The silence coming from GZ's study felt strange after all the commotion in the house. Before I had the time to knock, he asked me to come on in.

He stood in the middle of the room, his lab coat already on, the stethoscope—a doctor prop—sticking out the front pocket. An early shift, I surmised. That explained why his wife was in the kitchen.

"Hey," I said. I really couldn't stop the smirk spreading on my face. He hated the next part. "GZ."

"Hey, Loch Ness monster," he replied in the same tone. "Ready?"

I nodded, moving over to the weighing machine, careful not to break it. GZ noted the measurements professionally, then moved me to the height scale at the far end of the room. It still caused me elation that I was taller than Aunt Alice.

"Nessie?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's Jake?"

"Dad thinks he's sleeping. It's strange not to say good morning to him first thing when I wake up."

GZ chuckled as he took out a measuring tape from his desk drawer. "Maybe he's hiding from you."

I grinned. Jake, the over-protective fool, was a daft wolf. Yep, he was. I was getting older each second, and in about a year my body would stop ageing. All I was asking him was that I wanted babies, but he thought I was too young to be physically intimate with him. Well, I kissed him good, didn't I?

So what do you think I was doing nowadays? Seducing him, of course, with Aunt Alice's help. She knew the best place in town to get kinky boots and the tiniest skirts on earth.

I don't think Jake's gonna last much longer. Poor sod.

Dad says he empathizes with Jake. Mum empathizes with me.

"Why did you name me…that?" GZ asked me, pulling me out of my reverie. I caught the slight distaste in his voice. "Nicknames are for youngsters."

"Jeez, you're so daft. You are a youngster GZ. You're twenty-three. No arguing," I said abruptly when he opened his mouth.

He sighed. "Fine. Get out of here, you little imp, so I can go to work."

I laughed and went back downstairs, where Seth was sitting on the living room sofa. The lingering laughter slid off my face at his question.

"You seen Jake?"

"No," I replied, a little worried. "Where is he? Haven't you seen him?"

"No," he looked puzzled too.

So we searched for him. Leah, Seth, Mum, Dad, and me. We looked over the house again, just to be sure, then checked the entire forest, then contacted the wolves on the Rez.

By eight o'clock, I was sobbing uncontrollably in my mom's cold embrace. None of us had heard his heart-beat, Aunt Alice couldn't see his future, and Dad couldn't hear his thoughts. Neither Sam nor anyone of his pack had seen him. Uncle Jasper and Uncle Emmett had followed his scent up to the sea, where they think he'd jumped in and swam to a boat, because his scent was abruptly lost.

Jake had gone.