Saturday dawned almost sunny; sunny enough that they wouldn't freeze when they hit the surf – and so by midday, Alex found herself wetsuiting up in prospect of actually catching few waves.

Don't get her wrong – Alex was not great at surfing, but Quil was a fanatic, and on their second time hanging out, he'd forced her onto a board and out to sea. She had never been more grateful for anything.

She'd always been athletic; back in Colorado, she'd been on the cross-country track team in autumn, basketball in the spring, volleyball in the summer, skied and boarded in the winter, and had been doing gymnastics since she had been four years old. She knew her body and she knew her limits – and to her joy, surfing wasn't too far out of her comfort zone.

It was kind of like snowboarding; but with more variables, and more balance required.

And it was fucking fun.

"Do you need help?" Jacob's voice suddenly behind her made her start slightly – but she nodded, giving up her struggle with her zip, and letting him pull up the zip and fasten her clasp. The feeling of his fingers on the back of her neck made her shiver, the chill of his skin shocking against her heated skin. It wasn't until she looked over at Embry that she realised he'd been watching. He turned away from her to look out at the surf, jaw working.

Alex sighed, and hefted her board. She couldn't make things weird. She wouldn't. She gave Jacob a wave – and jogged down the sand to meet Quil, who was shaking hands with a couple of kids she vaguely recognized. They must have been from Forks High, off the reservation.

"Yo, Alex!" The blond guy obviously knew her, but she couldn't place his face. The girl beside him was wearing glasses, but looked comfortable with her surfboard. Alex just opted to smile.

"Hey man." She greeted with a nod, looking to Quil for some kind of hint.

"Mike and Angela here just got down. Bunch of their friends are up top." Quil supplied, and she gave him a grateful grin, turning to make out the other group of teens on the beach – too far for her to see their faces. They looked to be making a fire, a bunch of them at work dragging along chunks of driftwood.

"Nice – peak time, huh?" Alex turned her smile onto Angela, who smiled back, albeit shyly.

"Gotta catch the first waves of the season." Mike said cheerfully, and Alex hid her smirk as Quil clapped him on the back with his usual amount of force, making the skinnier boy wince.

"You said it, my man."

Alex hung back a little with Angela, letting Mike and Quil jostle each other for the lead in the water. She paddled lazily, taking a cross-legged seat on her board as she waited for the swell. Angela mirrored her, straddling her board and keeping one eye on the horizon. Something about her reminded Alex of Kitty's friend Kim. Both outwardly quiet – yet something told her Angela was a riot. "How many people came down with you?" Alex asked, squinting at the group of people.

"A bunch of us actually. It's a little early in the season," Angela began, and Alex agreed – she had nothing against the residents of Forks, but it was unusual to see their teen populace at La Push beach so early in the year. It was practically still winter. "But Mike and Eric wanted to show Bella La Push. She's new."

Alex had to hide her surprise. "Bella? Like, Bella Swan?" she asked, and Angela nodded bemusedly.

"How do you know her?"

Alex shrugged, catching sight of a growing swell. "I don't – my friend does though. Jacob." She nodded in the direction of the wave. "Heads up, by the way." Angela smiled at her.

"All yours, Alex."

Alex shot her a wink in thanks, and began to paddle out, and turned herself around to catch the wave.

After her 16th wave, and yet another total wipe-out, Alex dragged herself into shore. Jacob and Embry had apparently joined the other teens around the fire, and so she began to make her way over, Quil marching behind her, carrying both of their boards. She would have felt more guilty if her last wipe-out wasn't a result of him cutting across her like an idiot. For good measure, she turned around and scowled at him again, just as more seawater and snot came dribbling grossly out of her sore nose. He just laughed at her.

She made a beeline for her other friends, eyes locked on her towel in Embry's grip. Embry spotted her approaching, and stood up, holding out the towel for her. It was only after he wrapped her in it, arms lingering around her for a moment too long that she remembered she was supposed to be distancing herself, and she stepped away like she'd been burnt, smiling at him uneasily. Jacob scooted over easily, and she sat down, looking around him at the short, pale girl he'd been talking to.

She was pretty, in a soft, delicate sort of way – with long chocolate brown hair, and deep eyes so dark they were almost black. She reminded Alex a little of snow-white; just without the black hair, or like, ability to talk to animals.

"Al, this is Bella. Bella, this is my best friend; Alexandra." Jacob introduced them, but Alex wouldn't have needed him to – not with the way his eyes lingered on Bella's face.

Bella reached across him, holding out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Alexandra, I've heard a lot about you." She said a little crisply, but her smile was genuine. Alex resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose at her full name.

Alex took her hand, noting how soft her grip was. Soft was the right word to describe Bella, it seemed. "Like wise, Jacob's been waxing poetic."

Jacob shoved her roughly, and she went sprawling back into Embry, who righted her with a chuckle, as she kicked at Jacob.

Across from them, a slightly weaselly looking blonde girl gave a simpering laugh. "I think it's good that Bella's got company. Her date bailed." Alex couldn't help her knee-jerk scowl at the condescending sounding girl.

Bella coloured spectacularly. "He wasn't a date, I just thought it would be nice to invite him. I was being polite."

Angela chimed in, "I think it's nice. No one ever does." Bella nodded gratefully.

Jacob frowned slightly. "Who?"

"Edward Cullen." The blonde girl laughed scornfully.

Alex felt something drop in her stomach. Fear, maybe, but definitely – a note of alarm. "Ah, yeah." She said faintly. Bella looked at her in faint surprise.

"You know him?"

Alex clenched her jaw. Knowing about Paul, and Jared and Sam and the Pack meant she knew a lot of things she wasn't supposed to. It also meant she knew a lot of things that scared her. The Cullens were one of them. Every person on the Rez knew, the Cullens were not welcome. Whether or not they knew why depended on who they were. Unfortunately, Alex knew why. It was Quil however, who caught her. "The Cullens don't come here." He said lowly, with more than a little hostility.

Bella recoiled a little, and Alex looked away – staring into the fire. It wasn't long after that, when she heard Bella ask Jacob in an oddly sultry voice, if they could 'take a walk.' Alex hunkered down, leaning into Quil and Embry as the fire burned low, trying to ignore that odd pit in her stomach again, and the remnants of the dread still in her system.

The end of year exams began to loom a lot faster than any of them were prepared for, and Alex was feeling the heat.

She wasn't particularly academically inclined, and her general dumbness paired with her constant exhaustion began to kick her ass in more ways than one. Quil had always been her designated math study buddy, but he was starting to be more like her designated math tutor, with the amount of time he spent trying to teach her.

It didn't help that she kept falling asleep.

"ALEX!"

She jolted upright with an ugly snort, blinking her heavy eyes to try and clear her vision. Quil's unimpressed face next to Embry and Jacob's concerned ones made her pull a sheepish smile. "Did I drool?"

"Alex, seriously." Jacob gave her a pitying look. "It's not healthy."

She waved him off. "Dude, I'm fine. I just need, like, a couple more minutes, and then I'll be study-ready." Quil narrowed his eyes at her, and she glared back. "Just wake me in… five."

Alex's eyes were already closing before she finished speaking, and she lowered her head back onto her notes. Hopefully she'd absorb some knowledge through osmosis or something. Not… that… she… even knew… what… osmosis… was…

Her dreams were dark. They were always vaguely nightmarish, part of why she struggled to sleep.

She was in a grand hall, beautiful and cold. Marbled and intricately designed, it was all edged in gold leaf. It was the finest piece of architecture she'd ever seen.

But there was something about the shadows, in-between the statues of gods and warriors, under the eaves, behind the thrones lining a dais ahead of her. Something about the shadows that made her heartbeat pick up. They were thick – more like true darkness, than just the shade of the day. If she looked too hard, her eyes seemed to pick up a movement; like the writing of serpents, or the scurrying of rats.

Still, she walked towards the three thrones, despite the coalescing of the worst of the dark there, looming over the thrones, darkening the faces of the carved angels above the seats until they resembled demons.

It was a dream, she knew it was a dream, and yet she had no control – as she walked up the three steps, and knelt; knelt before the middle throne. Slowly, she reached out, fingers trembling – and touched the convolutedly carved ebony wood.

It was like touching ice, ice so cold that it burnt her. And yet, she couldn't take her hand away – as the darkness behind the chairs began to swirl again, whispers of things she couldn't understand beginning to echo from statues' mouths, distant screams coming from the halls behind her. And eyes.

Eyes watching her, on her face, on her hands, eyes looking into her soul.

Red as love, red as rage, red as blood.

The eyes of a Cold One.