I do not own Stephanie Meyer's work. I hope this chapter didn't repeat itself too much. Tell me what you think by reviewing!

I stared at Quil's face, the moonlight giving him an eerie shadow across one side. His age was one of the more pressing issues that I had come up with, and I had a silent hope that the answer would unravel the secret that had been eluding me all day. What he said next would hopefully help me understand what Emily was trying to keep from me.

But Quil didn't seem to eager to let me know. His lips curved down into a scowl and his eyebrows furrowed. My patience dwindled until I finally gave up, letting out a huff of annoyance. Quil's gaze shot up to my face and his expression changed from troubled to amused within a second.

"They don't want me to tell you," he laughed, almost as if he were talking to himself. I felt the angry set to my mouth as I glared up at him.

"Who's they?"

Quil shrugged it off, ignoring my question. "Do you have a dog, Claire?"

I narrowed my eyes, "Stop trying to distract me."

Quil's laugh was boisterous. "It's completely relevant," he assured me.

Liar. How could my pet history pertain to his age of all things? He was definitely trying to get me off subject, but that wouldn't prove easy to do. "If I answer this for you, will you answer a question for me?" I doubted I could trap him this easily, especially since I didn't know what questions to ask.

Quil shrugged good-naturedly.

"No, I don't have a dog," I said matter-of-factly. "My turn."

Quil held up both hands. "Whoa, that hardly counts as a question."

I rolled my eyes. "And why not?"

"Because we started the game after I asked you my question," Quil grinned.

I scowled. So he thought it was a game. Maybe it would be better if he thought of it that way, that might make it easier to get my questions answered. "Fine," I replied bitterly.

Quil stuck a finger to his chin, mocking deep concentration. Finally, he looked back in my eyes. "Do you like La Push?" Great, just the question I was wanting.

I decided to answer truthfully and as quickly as possible. "No."

"Why?"

"No way, that counts as two questions!" I wouldn't let him cheat at my game.

Quil sighed. "Okay, so what's your question?"

I looked up at the sky, trying to think of one of the more important questions. I decided to go with the same one I had asked earlier. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

I started. Was he being serious? Sixteen! That couldn't be possible. He had been at least twenty when I had last seen him. Then again, he and all of his friends were pretty big. But he should be thirty or older. Quil seemed to recognize the bewilderment plastered on my face, because he quickly covered up his answer with a question for me, "Do you play any sports?"

I sighed, letting my head settle in my hands. "Not really." I decided that arguing about his answer wasn't going to get me anywhere. I looked up at him. "What's been going on? What secret has everyone been keeping from me?" There's one way to get an answer, just blurt my question out there.

Quil's head shot up and he looked around apprehensively. He shut his eyes tight and I noticed his hands were balled into shaking fists.

"Quil? Quil, are you okay?" His whole body was shaking now, rocking him back and forth.

"I can't believe you followed me, Jacob! Just because you didn't get your-" suddenly, Quil stopped. He glared at me. "I think you should leave, Claire," he hissed through clenched jaws.

Fear coursed through me, but behind that, anger. He brought me all the way out here, just to start yelling at nobody. He was probably trying to make me go even crazier with the suspense of their secret. And why did he say Jacob's name?

I stood up stiffly, my mouth shut tightly and my head hot with anger. It was unreasonable, I knew that, but my rational thoughts were blotted out with the irrational ones. I considered throwing one of the many pebbles were on the ground, but decided against it. Without a word, and dashed up the uneven path back to Quil's car.

My anger flared as I realized he meant for me to walk home! Now I wished I had chosen to throw the rock at him. The reasonable thing to do would be to wait until Quil's anger ran out and he came back to his car to drive me home. Reasonable didn't describe me lately. Without thinking about it, I stomped in the direction I thought was Emily's house. I hadn't been paying much attention when we drove up here, too consumed in my thoughts of what events would unfold throughout the night. I hadn't guessed that stomping through the rain would be my night activity.

The moon and the light it provided had been consumed by a giant storm cloud. The light drizzle that had begun soon after I started my trek quickly turned into a fierce thunderstorm.

My anger supplied enough energy for me to walk longer than I would have been able to normally. I looked down at my watch, which read 11:53. I had been walking for almost two hours. I looked around, but whether from the storm or from my lack of attention, I had no idea where I was. None of this looked familiar, and when I turned around, I realized I was surrounded by only squishy green foliage.

A new kind of fear ran cold through my veins. I was lost, utterly and completely lost. I had seen these forests on my drive to La Push, and knew that they weren't just little man-made parks set up for toddlers to romp in. This were fierce, untamed wilderness.

I sat down on the ground, burying my head in my hands and grimacing at the uncomfortable feeling of the rainwater seeping into my pants. I tried to think logically. If I had been gone for two hours, and Quil actually came looking for me (which I desperately hoped was true), then he probably gave up about an hour ago and called the police.

I tried to get my bearings, trying to guess how far I was away from civilization. I considered continuing to walk and look for the highway, a town, or something, but I knew this would only get me deeper into the trees. If my logic was correct and the police had been looking for me for an hour, then I assumed I had a good two or three hours until I would be found. That is, if I was lucky. And luck didn't seem to be on my side.

I sat at the base of a tree, wallowing in regret and remorse. If I had been thinking straight, I would have at least stayed on the street, where I would have been found by Quil. I kept glancing at my watch. 12:09, 12:14, 12:20. The minutes ticked away painfully slow, and soon I was drenched, soaked to my bones. I shivered involuntarily and a new problem revealed. it's ugly face. What if I caught hypothermia. I fleetingly remembered wondering how Quil and his friends had avoided it in the downpour, and now I faced it as a real problem.

Tears began to trickle down my face, mixing with the rain until I couldn't see a foot in front of me. Complete despair enveloped me. "I'm never going to get out of here!" I sobbed.

Suddenly, I felt a freezing cold hand touch my shoulder. I whipped around, wiping my eyes of tears and rain. I found myself looking into the face of the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. "Lost?" His angelic voice made all of my fear go away. A tiny spark of hope ignited inside me.

And then, I heard the snarling.