Chapter 3
Meeting
Emmett Point of View
"Edward, stop asking me questions. You already know as much as I do about Claire, because you can read minds. We're almost there." We slowed our pace as we approached the cave. It looked as though wolves lived there. It sure smelled like it. That's when I saw Claire standing at the opening of the cave. To her right were four vampires and a girl who looked about two years older than her. And to her left, what do you know a wolf.
"Hi Emmett, this is Gabby, Haley, Haden, Anthony, and my cousin, Violet. This wolf is Katie." She said to me but then turned to the wolf. "We'll be back later and don't let Chris move. I'm not going to fix his leg again." The wolf nodded like it understood her. Weird. I guess it's part of the program. I looked at the other vampires. Nothing to special about them except oddly enough the girl named Gabby had similar features to Rosalie. Except she was extremely tall and her hair was closer to a platinum blonde.
"My name is Edward. It is nice to meet you all." He introduced himself.
"It's nice to meet you too. I'm almost ready, you guys go ahead, and we'll catch up." She said and gestured to the forest. The other vampires, Edward, and I started running at a slow pace. Shortly after I started running, I looked to my right and saw Violet riding on the back of a Siberian Tiger. Except this tiger was going the speed of a vampire. They went right past us and we all ran faster to catch up. Assuming the tiger was Claire, this girl was fast. That would be an extremely fun race. We slowed and started walking towards the house once we were close.
"You guys go ahead; we'll come inside in a minute." Violet said, getting off of Claire. That's when I noticed an old fashioned knapsack, which had to be centuries old, on Violet's back filled with something. I'll ask later, I thought. We walked up the stairs, across the porch and into the living room. I sat next to Rosalie, who was looking absolutely delicious. Nessie was sitting in Bella's lap, who was next to Rosalie. Edward went to sit down next to Bella. Jacob was sitting on the ground in front of Bella. Alice sat on Jasper's lap next to Edward. We took up that entire couch. Carlisle and Esme were sitting on the loveseat to the left of our couch. Gabby sat hand in hand with Haden on the couch across from us, and Haley did the same with Anthony. They were looking at all of us from right to left. Gabby stopped at Rosalie.
"Rosalie? Is that you?" She inquired.
"Yeah, who's asking?" My wife asked wondering why on earth these vampires would know her.
"You may not remember me. I'm your cousin, Gabrielle. But you always called me Gabby. And that's the reason I go by that name now." Rosalie let go of my hand and ran across the room and hugged Gabby, and they started crying tearless sobs. That was the only time I'd ever seen Rosalie show such extreme affection. Once they ended their crying Rosalie backed away from Gabby to get a better look at her.
"What happened to you?"
"About the same thing that happened to you, but a sadistic vampire was my attacker. Once he was done abusing me he bit me and left me in the forest behind my house. When I was done changing I hunted animals, knowing that what he did to me was wrong, and that taking life that wasn't mine to take was just as wrong. Once I built up some strength I hunted him down. Your ex-fiancé's best friend performed the same actions to Haley by which caused our fates. I arrived just prior to him finishing Haley off, quickly diminished his life, and changed Haley. We were best friends as humans and are as vampires."
"I thought there was one guy missing when I went back to fix them. Thanks for handling him for me. I've missed you so much; you were always the only person I could talk to that was going to the same thing." Rosalie said.
"I have missed you too. Oh, this is my husband, Haden; this is Haley, and her husband, Anthony. Anthony and Haden are brothers. That's another story for another time." She said and sat back down with Haden.
"This is my husband Emmett." Rosalie said and sat down next to me taking my hand. That's when Violet and Claire walked in. With and empty pack, I noticed. I'd have to ask about that later.
"Jacob!" Claire yelled and they ran to each other and he caught her in a bone crushing embrace.
"Okay, what's going on?" I complained.
"When I ran off before the wedding, I was looking for a place to sleep one night and I stumbled upon their cave."
"We came back later that night, after fishing in the river, to find an enormous wolf sleeping in our cave. He woke up and we gave him some trout because his stomach's growling was so loud it could be heard in Timbuktu. We talked about what was going on and then he went on his way a week later." She ended. It all made so much more sense now. Jacob then moved to Violet and gave her a hug as well.
"Nice to see you again Violet, are you still working on that shield?" Jacob asked and then sat back down in front of Bella.
"The charm is holding up actually. I'm practicing other things right now." She said smugly and sat down next to the other vampires, and Claire soon followed.
"I'm confused." Jasper commented. At least I wasn't the only one.
"I'm a witch. I found out right before we left. Did you really think that you were the only mythical creature out there? But I'm jumping the gun. Let Claire explain." Violet was a witch! Cool!
"Wait, can I get your names first?" Claire requested.
"I'm Alice, and this is my husband, Jasper."
"I'm Bella, you already know my husband Edward, and this is my daughter Renesmee."
"But you can call me Nessie, and that is my grandpa, Carlisle, and my grandma, Esme."
"And you know me, and this is my stunning wife, Rosalie. Who is apparently Gabby's cousin." I interjected.
"Thanks, that really helps. I hate telling people something extremely important before even knowing them enough to be graced with their names. I'd love to hear all of your stories, but I guess mine is first. Ummm…. Where to start? I guess at the beginning….
"I didn't feel at home when I was fourteen. I felt out of place. I had mapped out the trip I was going to take. I went to ask Violet to drive me around to get some supplies for living in the forest and so that one person would know where I was. She wanted to come too. She had just received her book of spells from an old neighbor who lived up the street, telling her she was a witch. We had five thousand dollars saved up and decided to use it for the trip. We had spent two months secretly buying supplies, and I stored them in the attic my parents had no idea existed. There was even a secret door from my room to the attic.
"My parents were going to New York for the weekend and my brother was on a school trip to Florida. I was supposed to be staying at a friend's house. Violet was supposed to be staying at her friend's house while her parents and her sister were on a business trip. She lived about an hour away from my house. She spent the night at my house the night prior and we left at five in the morning to beat traffic." Claire told.
"We switched off driving, and stayed in a cheap motel one night. And then finished the driving the second day. We dumped the unlocked car in the Seattle airport parking lot hoping someone would take it off our hands. We took a cab to the camping store called Newton's, and finished buying some supplies. We hiked to where there was a cave, and stayed there for a week." Violet added.
"I went to get some fish for lunch one day and while I was next to the stream, I was getting extremely annoyed with how long it was taking. I had been wishing that I could just be a grizzly bear and just catch some fish. The next thing I know I'm on all fours, in the middle of the stream, watching shreds of clothing float away in the water. I caught some enormous fish that day, shifted back, put on clothing, and we figured out that I had become a legendary shifter. And this creature isn't found in story books nor has stories that are told around the campfire. Well, I'm sure there are but you would have no idea the difference between what I am and a normal creature.
"I'm not sure if you have all heard the stories about the La Push Spirit Warriors. But the original person to end up in a wolf and then shift back into a man had kids. And that is the commonly told story but there is a second one only known to my pack of wolves. There was a female in the tribe long ago who also was trapped as a spirit and went into a wolf body. But she never changed back into a human. She felt closer to nature and the spirits than ever before and had no intention of changing back. The wolf that was with us at the cave, Edward and Emmett, is a descendent of that same wolf. The entire pack is actually. Their spirits are that of a human but in a wolf body. They aren't trapped in the bodies, they could change into humans, but they just don't want to.
"What I am is a creature that has been around as long as living creatures themselves. And my sole purpose it to protect. I maintain the natural order of things on this planet. Are you with me so far?" Everyone nodded. "Each changer, as I like to call it, doesn't age, once they turn twenty-one. Our hair and nails can still grow, and I could still get pregnant. I simply don't grow older. Every woman's dream." The entire room started chuckle. "There is only one changer at a time, when the previous one dies it is passed on. And the changer can choose to give their ability to the next changer or not. For instance, my power is the ability to heal any living thing. Other abilities that have been passed on remain in my possession but I have yet to discover them all. Being able to change into any living thing is part of my species, but one power I have discovered is that I can use abilities from one species in any state as long as I have changed into that species recently. For example, if I have recently been in the form of a chameleon but currently reside in the body of a lion I could change my fur to blend in with the surroundings, like a chameleon. It can be extremely advantageous to be able to change into any animal, plant, or other organism. I have even changed into some that have gone extinct."
"Hold on! You can change into something like a Tyrannosaurus Rex?" I had to know.
"Yeah, I changed into a Brontosaurus last Tuesday. There are species that are mythical legends to humans, but truly existed once, a long time ago. Sometimes people think they have seen something that doesn't exist now because a changer wasn't careful enough about their surroundings. I constantly make sure that if I'm alone without anyone to keep guard; I only change into things that are currently living.
"There are some other powers that have been passed on too. For instance, having the ability to exchange thoughts with spirit animals. Wolves aren't the only ones; many cultures have spirits that belong to an animal form. I can also talk to other animals that don't descend from a spirit. But those conversations have to be spoken aloud. I speak English and they speak whatever they are supposed to. It would sound like I am just rambling on but that animal and I understand each other."
"Seeing her have a full blown conversation with a Rottweiler was absolutely weird, but oddly cool." Violet commented.
"Wait, Jacob, you knew about Claire and never told us?" Bella inquired.
"She asked me to not tell anyone, she is the rarest creature to walk the planet. Imagine if the Volturi found out about her. And besides she wasn't ready for people to know about what she was, I just couldn't figure it out because she had no scent. Violet had a weird magical smell to her but Claire has no scent at all." Jacob replied.
"Do you know why that is?" Carlisle asked being the scientist all of the sudden.
"I have a theory, but no guarantees. I think it could be because I am changing state so often that I don't have a true DNA, therefore not a true scent. We haven't been able to test the DNA theory because we don't have a lab, and having someone test my DNA, which is most likely not human, would be a catastrophe. Not to mention I'd be the freak for eternity." Claire commented.
"I could run some tests here. If you don't mind." Carlisle offered.
"That'd be great. I have been curious for the longest time and it would be nice to have some answers. There are some other theories but none that good, or testable." Claire said, but then changed topics. "Do you have any more questions? I know it's a bit overwhelming, but anything that comes to mind?"
"I'm curious to how I can see your future, and even Jacob's and Nessie's now that you are in the room." Alice asked curiously.
"Your power is being able to see the future?" Alice nodded in response to Claire. "That is awesome. The reason is most likely because I was made to protect. Therefore you can see other species with in my range because they are protected no matter what happens. Some species are given abilities to protect their own, and you not being of that species, are blocked out." Claire reasoned.
"Make sense, thanks for clearing that up." Alice looked abnormally happy to finally have that mystery solved.
"I have a question. How are you guys so clean even after living in a cave out in the forest with a bunch of wolves?" Rosalie asked.
"That would be my doing. I was flipping through my spell book and found one for cleaning. Would you like a demonstration?" Everyone nodded. "Would you all like to accompany me to the backyard?" We all followed. "Does anyone here mind rolling around in that mud next to the stream?" Nessie ran in her pink, frilly dress and started jumping up and down in the mud. I saw Alice cringe out of the corner of my eye.
"Look Jakey! Mud angels!" She said making something similar to a snow angel in the mud.
"That's great Nessie, can you come here?" Violet asked. Nessie trotted over dripping in mud from head to toe.
"Will it hurt?"
"It will not hurt one bit. Dirt, bugs, and twigs, return to where you once lived." Violet said with a flick of her hands. The dirt just disappeared off of Nessie and reappeared next to the stream. Nessie giggled.
"That felt funny. Like a tingly feeling all over, but not bad, good actually." She commented.
"It is the more recent version of the spell. The alternate is in Latin. I don't mind using that kind it just makes more sense to do it in English. And it actually removed everything that was dirt or scum of any kind to where it was previously." Violet said.
"Getting sand off after going to the beach is so easy now." Claire added. We walked back inside to the couches, when Haden looked at his watch.
"Hey, C, it's getting late and you promised the cubs another story tonight." Haden said.
"You just want to hear it." Claire retorted.
"So what if I do? Come on, I can feel it's going to be good." Haden begged.
"Fine, I guess that means we have to leave, but you guys can stay, if the Cullens don't mind." Claire said.
"We don't mind at all. Stay as long as you'd like." Esme said.
"We'll stay, but you two can go and hear the story." Haley said.
"You know me so well." Anthony said and gave his wife a kiss.
"What story?" Nessie's ears perked up.
"Claire always tells these amazing stories to the cubs every night before bed." Anthony replied.
"Mom, Dad, can I go? Please!" Nessie begged. "Jacob can even take me to the cottage when it's over. Please?"
"Alright, you can go." Edward said.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Nessie said jumping up and down, giving Edward and Bella kisses on the cheeks.
"My stories aren't that great. I don't know why you guys get so excited." Claire down played.
"They're amazing and you know it." Violet retorted.
"Whatever, come on." They said and walked out the back door to the forest.
