A/N: So, next chapter. I hope people are still reading. Jacob is definitly in the next chapter, it's just taken a while to get Alex around to that point. But Bella makes an appearance this chapter, not much else to say. I don't own anything you recognise. Read, review (please), and enjoy!

Supernova

Chapter 6: "For I Am The First And The Last." – Translated by George W. MacRae, Nag Hammadi, Thunder: Perfect Mind.

I was stood with my back against the wooden fence at the bottom of Diana's garden staring out into the shady forest. It was raining softly, but that wasn't a problem in my mackintosh and Diana's wellies. The noisy patter of raindrops hitting the leaves above me was strangely relaxing and I enjoyed the freshness in the air, breathing deeper than usual to take it all in. The water had slicked my hair flat against my head where it hung in thick rat-tails about my face, but I didn't care. Mud and bits of bark splattered up the rubber boots and the bottom of my crutches (which I had brought merely as support because I could now manage to place a smidgen of weight onto my injured ankle without creasing up in agony).

I was struck by how very different this was to the woods back home. I had grown up in the countryside all my life and I was used to mucking about in the fields, leaping from hay bale to hay bale, and picking blackberries from the hedgerows of tangled brambles. Building forts with my friends in the small woodland areas during those long warm summer days, paddling in the meandering streams with no worries, and nothing to fear more than a scraped knee or bruised limb.

This was so much more. There was no feeling of comfort, no security in the knowledge that the fiercest creature out there was Freddie Manning with his slingshot and penchant for pulling girls hair. Somewhere in this great cathedral of trees lived a creature entirely too real, something that was stalking our houses as we slept.

It took me some time to build up the courage to take that first step forward away from the fence and I had gone barely two metres in when I heard her calling out my name.

"Alex! Hey are you out here? Alex!"

Leah's movements were as silent as ever, but I tracked her path closer across the garden by her voice. Diana must have told her I was out here. Rolling my eyes to the canopy above I swung about.

"I'm over here!" I called back, my voice sounding strange after the quiet of earlier. "Behind the fence!"

"Behind the…?" Leah muttered in bemusement. I heard a scuffle as she scaled the barrier with more grace than I had and her dark head popped up into vision. She paused, staring at me for a long second. "What the hell are you doing out here in the rain? What, you don't get enough of it back home?"

"Hardy har har," I grumbled.

She smirked and dropped down easily to the forest floor. It was a little surprising to see her so simply dressed in a damp t-shirt and shorts, but it was wet not cold and she was abnormally hot anyway so it shouldn't have caused any thought. "So?" she encouraged.

"Just going for a walk." I played it off as coolly as I could when considering the weather and the fact that I had to have leapt over a fence to get where I was I had obviously put some effort into my 'casual' walk.

It wasn't exactly shocking that she didn't buy it. "Uh huh. What were you really doing?"

Could I tell her? Should I tell her? Callum had insisted on not publicising, but it was Leah, she was trustworthy. "I, uh… I was looking for evidence." I was avoiding her eyes, which had narrowed. Why was I feeling guilty? I hadn't done anything wrong.

"Evidence?" She sounded like she knew I had attempted to fob her off and was now not only a bit pissed but also determined to get every last ounce of truth from me. Great. "Evidence about what exactly?"

"Nothing really," I shrugged – I suddenly had the feeling that I should have kept my mouth shut. "Just, I think I saw a coyote last night…"

I was cut off by her sharp laugh. "Alex… they're pretty common, and relatively harmless to humans."

"Oh." Now I just came off as stupid.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Can you stop with the games now? Why are you really out here?"

I took a deep breath in, filling my lungs, and lifted my eyes to meet Leah's. She wasn't angry just puzzled by my seemingly out of character behaviour and for a moment I wondered why I had been so reluctant to tell her the truth – so I did. "I was looking for evidence of the wolf."

The words hung in the air and everything went still. It almost felt like the wood behind me was holding its breath, waiting, silent.

With ever-growing confusion I watched my statement sink in. Where her eyes had held mere amused curiosity before they shut off, blank. Her back straightened defensively, pulling her up to her full and slightly intimidating height. Her expression was stony, none of the friendly concern for my sanity of mere seconds ago. "What did you just say?" It was gritted out between barely moving lips.

I floundered for a moment under the intensity of her stare. "Uh… wolf?"

There it was… flickering across those dark eyes… fear. She was scared. Strong, feisty Leah was frightened more than I was by the thought of a wolf – and she didn't even know the size of the beast yet.

"I don't think you need to be scared about it. I mean it's pretty darn big, but Callum reckons it's more scared of us than we are of it." I was trying my best to get her to relax again.

Leah was in no way relaxed; she just seemed to get tenser and tenser. "You saw it?"

"Uh, no."

She blinked, softening. "Then Jacob told you?"

Now it was my turn to blink stupidly. "Huh? I haven't spoken to Jacob in days. Why would he know about the wolf?"

In an instant she was frozen again. "He wouldn't," she snapped, harshly, as if I was stupid. "So how do you know it's real if you haven't seen it?"

Callum was going to tie me to the back of his car and drag me through town until I turned black and blue for this. "I saw a photo."

Fists clenched. "Someone took a picture? Who?"

"Callum."

"Callum?"

"Mallory. He works with me at the library, Enid's grandson. He likes photography and he was testing out his new camera and took a load of pictures of this huge wolf creeping about the woods behind his house. All in a series kind of thing." I explained in the vain hope it would calm her down. I had absolutely no idea what was going on in that head of hers or why the discovery of the wolf had her so freaked.

"So he has more than one picture? Are they clear?"

"Yes. And yes. He doesn't really want to show them. He thinks we should just leave it in peace because it hasn't hurt anyone." The scorn in my tone was hard to miss but Leah was focused on the facts.

"He's not going to sell them to a newspaper? Or take them to the police station?" She sounded caught halfway between hope and disbelief.

I shrugged. "That's what he said. He's a bit of a tree hugger to be honest."

"Right," she said to herself, ignoring my comments. "Right, that's good. That's ok." Then she was back to me, her countenance was businesslike. "Is he at the library today?"

It was my day off. "Yeah, I think so."

"Good. And are you here all day?"

"Diana said something about going food shopping."

"Alright. Ok. Good." She wasn't looking at me at all now, her gaze fixed somewhere behind me in the depths of the forest. "I'll, uh, I'll see you later – tomorrow – maybe." And she took off, just like that, into the trees all the while muttering: "Shit-shit-shit-shit-shit…"

"Leah?" I stared after her until her figure folded into the darkness. This place was so weird.

Then I faced the fence yet again. The moment was lost and I felt no desire to linger in the trees. So once more I tossed my crutches over into the garden and hopped up, hooking my hands on the roughly cut top, and began the un-lady-like scramble to get over.

When I reached the house I went straight to the front door and peered out. By the curb sat Leah's car.

Half an hour later when Diana and I set out for the shops it was gone.

Diana had driven us to a building on the edge of town called Forks Outfitters, or Thriftway. To most people such a name would conjure up racks of clothing – perhaps uniforms for different specialities, hobbies, like girl guiding. But here in Forks it meant Supermarket.

Once inside I had to admit the place was pretty impressive with it's coffee shop, bakery, clothing, groceries, and pharmaceuticals all under one tidy roof. My mother would have loved it as much as Diana seemed to with its organic feel.

I was armed with the trolley, finding myself strangely relishing the simple task that I hadn't performed in years. I trailed silently after my aunt as she scanned down her neatly order list (alphabetised by department and item), placing the heavier products at the bottom of the trolley to avoid crushing.

It was a vastly differing experience to the times I went with my mother who, in those days, would shove things in like a mad woman because we were late and Sainsbury's shut in half an hour. That was when she worked – she was a French teacher at the local high school. When she married David and had the girls she stopped working to look after them. Now her shopping was done methodically in the town with George during the time between dropping the girls off at first school and picking them up again for lunch. My mother was a different person with David, a person I hardly recognised most days. The only time I ever saw my old mum ghosting behind this new impostor was when she rushed through the school gates, hair flying from it's ties, to collect me from where I'd been sent to after getting caught smoking behind the bike sheds, or drinking in the girls toilets, or trying to sneak off campus. Then her eyes were wild, her voice strong, her cheeks flushed with rage, and then she was mum.

Diana disappeared down an isle and I was left alone, sandwiched between the shelves of pasta sauces and the noodles. I positioned myself at the far end, eyes checking the pathway was clear (this is very important as I once had an unfortunate collision with a moody gentleman because I hadn't looked twice). Then I shoved forward against the metal contraption, a hopping shove, and managed to make it to the carbonara in relatively quick steps. I leapt up, hooking my shoes onto the metal above the wheels – hoping they had dried off enough not to slip – and coasted along to the egg fried noodles before I jumped back down on my good ankle to turn into the next isle.

Still feeling a little rush I turned the corner too sharply and knocked a tin of baked-beans over that rolled across the smooth floor to a stop by a familiar pair of navy heals.

"Alexandra," Diana said by way of reprimand and warning, her face stern. Her eyes fell on the crutches stowed in the cart and she made a disapproving ticking sound with her tongue. "If I have to take you back to Dr Cullen and have that leg plastered up I will not be happy. He specifically said another few days off it to be sure."

She was still watching me so I held back the eye roll. "I keep telling you that it really doesn't hurt so much anymore." So long as I didn't put my full weight on it that was.

She didn't believe me but clearly decided that it wasn't worth the effort. "Just be careful."

I grunted at her retreating back and tugged my phone from my pocket. Leah was now dodging my calls and refusing to answer any of the many texts I had sent her way since this morning. I was beginning to think that there wasn't any point in pushing it when she obviously didn't want to speak with me. Maybe something far more serious was going on here than I could imagine, it wasn't like I knew Leah particularly well, for all I knew she could be mixed up in drugs, or another equally dodgy and highly unlikely mess. I had reasoned that maybe she was just as into Mother Nature as Callum, and that was why the news of the wolf's discovery had affected her so much. Not that she actually was part of a La Push Mafia. If it was drugs then that was her business but I wanted nothing to do with it. I drank, I smoked (occasionally), and I could be considered promiscuous, but I didn't do drugs and I had no intentions of doing so anytime soon. I had seen way too many friends on bad trips to find it appealing in any way.

Somehow it still just didn't seem to fit with them. I once heard Jared (I think) refer to them as protectors. But that begged the questions: protectors of what, from what?

It all made my head hurt. Somewhere deep down I knew that I probably didn't want to know what was going on, that I was safer in my ignorance. I was well aware of the nightmares life can bring; I didn't need to add to my already extensive list. But I was getting seriously curious.

The next morning I was back behind the front desk at the library. Home sweet home. Carol was sorting through returns in the back room, Enid and Diana were checking out the new stock we had just had delivered, Callum was ignoring me. It was starting to freak me out. When we arrived he acknowledge Diana and sent a vague nod in my direction but that was the last of our communication. The rest of the time he was shelving books with his back to me or carrying piles past me without a single glance my way. To be honest it was kind of feminine behaviour, the sort you got at school when you fell out with your mates, 'I'm not talking to Ellie any more because she said Amber was fat', that kind of thing. Which was why it was all the more disconcerting coming from a 24 year old guy I barely knew; and with Leah still not getting in contact with me I was starting to freak a little bit.

After lunch I decided that enough was enough. I was ready to hobble over to him (where he was conveniently cornered between the back wall and a shelf of cookery books) and demand to know what the hell was wrong with him when someone completely unexpected shuffled in the door.

It was a muggy day, hot but humid, the sun was intermittently popping out from behind the fluffy white clouds, and a storm could be felt in the air. She was dressed in a pretty blue shirt and shorts. In her arms she carried a stack of textbooks that she brought a little hesitantly over to me. She was beautiful. I knew that already, but with the bright warm light filling the room it was even clearer to see. Soft brown hair fell about her face, and coupled with her dark doe–eyes and creamy skin she looked like Snow White woken from her glass coffin by her true love's kiss.

I watched as apathetically as I could when all I could see was the image of her wrapped up safely in two strong russet arms and thinking: You're marrying another guy leave him alone already! With a shy smile and not meeting my eyes she slipped the books onto the counter.

"Returning?" I asked, a little insolently, even though the answer was obvious.

She nodded, not even wincing at my tone. "Yes."

Ugh! Even her voice was sweet and gentle. "Ok." I said, lifting them down and sorting through them. Glancing up I saw she was still standing there. "Can I help you?"

That time she caught the inexplicable animosity. She blushed. "No… I just…" she halted, fidgeting on the spot, clearly uncomfortable – which made two of us. "I'm Bella."

O…k. "Alex," I answered, wondering internally what the heck was going on, did she want to be friends or something?

She nodded. "Yes, I know." Finally she took a breath and brought her eyes up to meet mine. "How do you like Forks so far?"

Her eyes were mysterious, swirling with emotions that were hard to latch onto. "Uh, it's alright, I guess. It wasn't really my choice to come here."

A little smile tugged at the corners of her rosy lips. "Not mine either. You can grow to love it though… if you give it a chance."

I had the strangest impression that we were no longer talking about the little grey town. "Sure, I guess. But I'm not really here long enough for it to matter."

"Oh." She looked surprised. "When are you going home?"

"End of summer."

Her eyes turned sober. "Well, a lot can happen over a summer."

I stared at her. It was like we were having two separate conversations. Talking in code. There was plainly something more to the sub-text that I was missing. "Sure."

She smiled then, stepping back from the counter. "It was nice meeting you Alex."

"You too," I said automatically.

With a nod she turned to go, only she swung back at the last minute as if she'd forgotten something, fixing me with her gaze, stronger than before, certain. "Jacob's a really great guy." I stared back at her. She seemed completely sincere. "The best friend you could ever wish for." I think I was gaping. Was she for real? "Just…" she took a deep breath. "Just look after him, ok?"

"Uh…" Before I could formulate a reply – what do you say to that? – She was gone.

Callum. He was in my sights. I felt like a lioness creeping up on her prey trying not to alert them to her presence until the last moment. I snuck around the shelf, as well as I could sneak with my ankle not quite healed yet, to find him crouched on the floor his head in a box, searching. I leaned there, the picture of nonchalance, until he noticed me with a startled yelp and fell back on his arse. Laughing at him now was probably not the best idea so I held it in.

"Hey, Callum," I smiled. He looked flushed and uncomfortable. "What are you up to?"

"Working," he muttered, getting back to his feet, "unlike some people."

"Very mature." I folded my arms across my chest, watching him. The library was dead and had been for the past half an hour.

"Yeah, well." He shrugged, noticeably avoiding looking in my direction.

It was time for direct action. "So what is the deal with this?" I asked.

He scrubbed a hand over his hair, glaring intensely at the row of spines in front of him. "I don't know what you mean."

Was this really worth it? I wondered. "Yes you do. The silent treatment; the avoiding me; the not looking me in the eye."

His face lifted to mine then and our eyes met for a mere second before his fell away yet again. "It's nothing."

I pushed off the shelf to stand (more or less) straight. "It is obviously something. What have I done? Is this about the pictures? Did Leah do something?" It sounded ridiculous even as I said it.

"Leah?" He frowned. "What does Leah have to do with it?"

"So it is about the pictures."

He looked frustrated, and angry. "Yes it's about the photos."

"…Because I told Leah."

Now he was shocked, his eyes shooting up to mine. "You told Leah?"

"Yeah, isn't that why you're mad?" I was just as baffled as he was now.

"What? No. I… I thought…" He stared at the carpet. "They're missing."

Oh, crap. "You mean someone has taken your photos?"

"I thought it was you!" He was staring at the ceiling now, while my mind went numb. "I thought that maybe you decided to take them to the police anyway. You seemed so…" He looked at me then, soft and apologetic. "You didn't though, did you?"

"No." I barely whispered. How could he have believed that I would steal his photographs?

"Sorry."

I wasn't quite ready to forgive and forget such an accusation but I shrugged. "Whatever."

"I really am sorry, it's just that you're the only other person who knows about them…"

Shit. "Apart from Leah. I told her yesterday. She caught me in the woods looking for evidence and wouldn't let me go without the truth. But she wouldn't do that… she wouldn't."

He was staring at me with a raised eyebrow and a look that said 'wouldn't she?' He was right, how well did I know this girl?

"But why?" I puzzled. Thinking back on all the strange behaviour, the fact that she was now avoiding me.

Callum shrugged. "How should I know? I've never met the girl."

That was the last straw. I had had enough.

I managed to persuade Diana to let me out of work early. I told her my ankle was playing up again and she must have sensed my discomfort because she let me go without a fuss. I went straight to the transit centre and caught the last bus out to La Push. It had been a very long time since I felt fury like I did then burning through me. I stood at the bus stop, foot tapping against the pavement, arms locked across my chest. God help anyone in my way today. That included the mother of two brats standing next to me and shooting me wary glances in-between bouts of scolding her kids for thumping each other.

I could hardly believe it. I sat glaring out the bus window at the passing scenery for the entire 25-minute journey. The secrets I could handle when they had little effect on me, when no one appeared to be harmed by them. But now, now it had gone too far, it had pole-vaulted over the line and I was going to get the truth. You just don't do that stuff, not to friends, not to anyone. It was just wrong.

The bus stop was at the fisheries and when I climbed down it did occur to me that I had no idea where I needed to be. Luckily, or fatefully, as I stormed around the seaside settlement of La Push searching for a recognizable face I caught sight of a familiar looking battered car. A rabbit? Was that what it was called? It was parked outside of a small red house on the other side of the road.

Without thinking it through fully, without much else going through my mind other than Callum's missing photos, Bella's cryptic words, and Leah's vanishing act, I marched (hobbled purposefully) across the street and up to the front door. I rapped against the wood so sharply that my knuckles stung a bit, and waited.

When Jacob Black finally answered the door his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of me, he clearly hadn't been expecting my visit. "Alex?"

"I want to know what is going on and I want to know now."