You'd Better Sit Down for This Sis
Monday, the 21st (Feat. the Blacks)
Monday was spent in and out of the water. Mala and Rachel had the Kalua Pig roasting before they left. The ocean waves truly were spectacular. Every time Paul saw Rachel in a swimsuit, he would give her a wolf whistle and a kiss or two. Clouds were gathering and it looked like rain. At each place they went they scanned the air and the area for the vampire stink, but there was no trace of it. If it had been there the evidence of it was gone long ago. They even visited the two parks where the people had been taken, finding no odd smells. They were getting a bit anxious because the time was passing them by. The rain did not. They let it fall on their faces and enjoyed it. The rain was familiar, but it was warm here.
They went back to the shop in Haleiwa for Mala's surfboard, and they drove down to the beach that was calm enough for beginners. Jacob and Paul worked with Mala until they could stay up on a wave. Rachel worked with the girls, and Leah was quick, as usual. She paddled out fearlessly after instructions, and did pretty well. Billy even liked getting into the water when Mala and Jacob carried him out into the water. They were surprised that Billy liked it as well as he did. "I used to be a good swimmer," he told them. "I wasn't always in the chair."
Mala brought out a Frisbee and the boys were off. They were all strong and good at it. One time Paul threw it to Jacob, who missed it and it flew behind the girls. The three of them pretended to race each other to the sand, but swooped down from where it landed, grabbed the unsuspecting girls and tore off with them toward the waves. Before they had time to do more than scream the guys had them in the water. Thus began the splashing war. However, the guys had the advantage, and won. After a while they all just played in the waves, until dinnertime.
Finally, Billy whistled to them, and they came in. They had big smiles on their faces, the games having erased the worry from their faces for that hour. They quickly toweled off, packed it in, and drove to the next beach, and then the next beach…
They finally went back to the house. Rebecca went into the kitchen to prepare the new food, and to teach Leah and Rachel how to fix it. Billy sat down in the common room and turned on the TV. Mala dug out the pig in the pit, which had withstood the rain.
The luau was wonderful. The food was great. Everyone ate with gusto after a busy day. Evening was deepening. The guys cleaned up the mess, and the girls took care of the food clean-up.
"I'm going to go check the perimeter to see what I can see, wanna come?" Jacob challenged Paul when they were done.
Paul took the challenge, "I'm on it." They stripped down to their shorts and ran outside and out of sight from the kitchen. They ran to the bushes and tied their shorts to their leg before phasing. The wolves went back and around the area to make sure that everything was all right. Mala and Rebecca were too busy cleaning up to notice them.
"Race you to that tree at the end of the fence!" Paul thought, and was off.
Jacob joined the race, and ran full out. He beat Paul to the fencepost and began to laugh/bark. But the laugh stopped in his first breath. The forbidden scent that they had come to Hawaii for was on the fence. It matched the faded scent near Rebecca's house, but was fresh, only hours old. His hackles went straight up and he trembled. Paul saw and felt everything and was only a step behind him. They looked each other in the eye. There was amazement, anger and they were both on the alert. "Can you smell it?" Jacob asked.
"Of course I can smell it!" replied Paul.
The stench was unmistakable to their wolf noses. It burned them. They pulled back their lips and growled to the unknown menace. They followed it up the slope and into the forest. They scoured the surrounding yard and inside the fence. The scent followed the fence until it got closer to the house, then turned the other way and went on. It was headed toward the beaches. The scent stopped suddenly at a stream, and the wolves couldn't tell where or if it got out. They sped to the house, phased back, got dressed and rushed into the house. They hurried into the bedroom, closed the door and called Carlisle immediately. He described where they had found the scent, and where they had lost the scent. He spoke low, to not alert the family, but it didn't work. There was no fooling Leah. She had wolf ears.
She rushed into the bedroom, almost taking it off of the hinges. "What did you find?" she demanded.
Paul whispered to her, "Be calm, don't get Rebecca upset," but Leah wasn't the only one who was alarmed by their behavior upon returning. It didn't take long for Rachel and Billy to crowd the hall around the door.
"We were running the fence line and found the scent by the Northwest corner fencepost. It was unmistakable. It wasn't exactly the same odor as the Cullens but it was wilder. It wasn't very old, only a couple of hours. I wish we had been here so we could take care of it once and for all," Paul explained, reaching out to take Rachel's hand, and then pulling her to him, protectively.
"Where is Rebecca?" Jacob asked. "We have to keep her inside until we check this trail out."
"She was going outside to help Mala and get everything cleaned up," answered Rachel. They were going to fill in the…"
"Rachel, Jacob!" came Mala's urgent voice from outside.
"Coming! What's wrong?" shouted Jacob.
"What do you need?" called Rachel as the stampede began. If it hadn't seemed so urgent, it would have looked funny, like slapstick. Billy was in his wheelchair in the hall, and Jacob, Leah and Paul got to the door all at once, knocking Rachel onto Billy's lap. They were all arms and legs trying to get out.
"Come and help me with Rebecca! She's sick or something!" came another call.
Leah burst through first, then Jacob, then Paul, who stopped to pick up Rachel. They all left Billy to fend for himself to navigate outside. They managed to make it outside without a repeat performance. "Where are you?" called Jacob.
"I'm over here by the fence." They followed his voice over to the fence, not far from where the scent stopped. Mala was holding on to Rebecca, who was shaking all over, and her skin was flushed. "She came over here to pick some of these flowers, but she suddenly cried out to me and started shaking. I ran over to her and grabbed her to keep her from falling. I'll bet her temperature has shot up just while I held her. She is so hot! And just look at her face!"
Leah and Paul ran over to them and grabbed Rebecca away from Mala. They tried to calm her down, but she wasn't hearing them. Jacob restrained Mala from going back to her. "Let me go! I have to help my wife!"
"No, we can't let you! We have seen this before, and you do not want to be too near to her. Calm down, Mala, we're trying to help her. Calm, be calm."
"You expect me to just let Rebecca be sick and not help her?" yelled Mala.
"Yes, I do. Now you calm down so that she can calm down," commanded Jacob, but not roughly. "We have to calm her down."
But it was too late. When Leah felt the shivering go down Rebecca's back, getting worse, she called out to Paul, "Move away, I think she's going to blow!" Everyone scrambled, just in time. In that moment there was a loud ripping sound as she grew in size and anger. Her clothes shredded and in her place stood a wild beast. Her eyes were confused and afraid, full of pain. She had very dark brown, long shaggy hair and was huge. "Oh, no! Oh, no!" Leah cried. The new wolf looked around and then suddenly bolted.
"Well, the wolf is out of the bag now!" Paul yelled, and in a second she was gone.
A second flutter of shredded clothes fell to the ground and the second wolf ran after the first. The gray one was fast, though. She was catching up before the long-haired wolf jumped the fence and off they went.
Jacob looked sternly into Mala's stricken, frozen face and said, "Mala, stay here at the peril of your health and hers. Stay with him, Rachel. Don't go anywhere. We will bring her back. She will be fine." He turned and murmured to himself, "This might take some time. Good thing it's dark."
He and Paul ran after the other two, adding to the trail of torn cloth. Mala stood there with his eyes bulging and his mouth open. His eyes were full of terror and pain. He was incredulous. Rachel was hard pressed to get him to sit down so that he wouldn't collapse. They had their work cut out for them, but so did Jacob, Paul and Leah. How could she explain this to him? She tried to remember what they told her when it was her turn. She looked to Billy. "We must talk with you, Mala," he whispered.
"You think?" Mala replied.
. . .
A/N - It has been fun writing. Please review and tell me what you think!
