If you recognize it, it's not mine. Except Stella, she's all mine. Major Bella and Edward bashing!

Greek is bold italics; mental conversations with Gods is italics.


Three days later

I sighed morosely as I shut my car door, looking up at the house. It had been three days since my family had left, leaving Edward behind since the little shit wanted to say goodbye to Bella.

Alice had called me during lunch with all the contact information, completing her oath on the Styx. She had told me that they had packed up and left our little farewell cookie party, and were still able to eat human food. I had laughed for the first time in a few days when she told me that Rosalie had resumed her human habit of eating chocolate daily, and that Emmett and Jasper had discovered pizza. I had texted her a few of my own recipes to give to Esme, and she had assured me that they would be trying the chicken gyros for dinner tonight.

I had told her of how Bella had been moping that Broodward was acting weird, and asked her if she knew when the selfish jerk would finally leave so I would be free from him. Sadly, she didn't know, but she did think it would be soon. In my sad thoughts, I had completely spaced off that Charlie's car was in the drive, right next to the rust bucket that Bella called a truck.

It was sounding even worse lately, and I knew Charlie would call the Blacks to have Jacob come fix it. I liked the Blacks, I honestly did, but Jacob was a toddler level mechanic compared to Rosalie, and Jacob never failed to ask me if he could look under the hood of my baby. I shuddered at the thought of that kid anywhere near my car as I went inside, seeing Charlie sitting on the couch watching a game. "What sport, and who's playing?" I asked in place of a greeting.

He looked over the back of the couch for a second to meet my eyes and give me a smile before turning back to the screen. "Baseball. Mariners versus the Yankees." He told me, making my eyes widen as I flung myself over the back of the couch to sit with him, taking my backpack off my shoulder only after I was settled. "What inning, and please tell me the Yankees are kicking Seattle's ass." I begged. He chuckled, shaking his head, but answered me anyway. "Bottom of the third. And yes, sadly the Yankees are in the lead, but that can change!" He said, pointing a finger at me.

I nodded, giving him a patronizing smile as I pulled out my homework to do while watching the game. About five minutes in, I noticed the lack of whining and complaining and looked over at Charlie. "Hey, I saw the rust bucket out there, but there's no sound of whining, where's Bella?" I asked.

He let out a grunt as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up note and handed it to me. 'Went for a walk with Edward up the path, be back later. B.' It read. I shrugged and handed the note back to him as I went back to my homework. "Maybe the bronze haired bozo is finally telling her about Carlisle getting a sudden job offer in L.A. that he had to answer immediately, and that the rest of them are already gone." I said, using their cover story as I wrote down my answer for French. "What?" Charlie asked, turning to face me.

I looked up, startled at his question. "What?" I repeated, before it dawned on me what he was talking about. "You mean, you didn't know the Cullens had left?" I asked, my eyes wide. He shook his head, looking concerned and surprised. "No, I didn't. Why did they leave?" He asked. "Carlisle got a call the day of Bella's birthday from a huge hospital in L.A., and they offered him a job as a surgeon there for double what he's making here. The only catch was, he had to answer by the next day, so they voted on it, and the rest of them voted for a little sunshine, even though Esme prefers small towns. It's why Alice wanted to spend some time with me after Bella left. She wanted to say goodbye, and she thought Edward would tell Bella when he brought her home. But since he hadn't left with them, I let them know that he hadn't told her yet." I informed him, using their cover story with my own spin.

He sighed, running a hand down his face, before resting it on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, kid. I know you viewed them as family, but I guess this could be good for them." He said. I smiled sadly before adding a bit more to the story, and giving him some of the truth. "It's alright. I understood why Alice wanted to go at least. It turns out that she's a legacy of daddy Apollo, and has some precognition powers. She can get visions of the future sometimes, but not often, and momma Hestia came to meet them and adopted them so I can actually call them family." I told him.

He looked shocked at the revelation before he smiled. "I'm happy for you, kiddo. I'm glad that Lady Hestia did that for you." He told me. I smiled at him before he returned his attention to the game, while I split mine between the game and my homework. I managed to complete it all just before the Yankees won with a four point lead, due to a grand slam. After the game was over, I went into the kitchen and got started on dinner, making chicken enchiladas from a recipe momma Athena gave me to try. After putting the enchiladas in the oven, I noticed Charlie looking out the window, and walked over to him. "You alright?" I asked.

He shrugged in response. "Bella's been gone a while, it must have been some walk up the path." He said, sounding concerned. I looked out the window with him, before putting a hand on his shoulder. "If she's not back by the time we finish eating, you can call for a search party. I'll go out myself, since momma Artemis' powers let me be a good tracker. I'll even burn an offering to get her blessing to make it easier for me to look." I told him.

I could see the relief in his eyes as he turned to face me before I found myself wrapped up in a hug. "Thank you. I know that you don't like her much, so thank you for being willing to do this." He said, before releasing me. I nodded and turned to head up to my room to grab the bronze brazier so I could sacrifice a portion of my meal to help find Bella. Finding it in the false drawer of my nightstand, I took it back downstairs and set it up on the table. The oven beeped a few minutes later, and I pulled out the enchiladas, quickly selecting the best one in the pan and putting it, and one other on my plate. Charlie looked curious at my selections, since he had never witnessed a food sacrifice before.

I caught his gaze as I lit a fire in the palm of my hand, and smiled kindly. "They like the smell, and the better the food you give them, the more inclined they are to help. The bigger one is easily the best in the pan, so I'm giving the whole thing to momma Artemis for her aid." I told him, flicking my hand at the braier which lit instantly. I picked up my plate, preparing to scrape the bigger enchilada into the fire, when I saw Charlie pick up a perfectly red apple from the counter. "So, how do we do this?" He asked. I gave him a knowing smile, since he wanted any extra help he could get finding Bella. "Just toss it into the fire while saying the name of the one you're offering it to, and any extra prayer you have after their name. Watch me, I'll show you." I told him, before scraping the enchilada into the fire. "Lady Artemis, please lend me aid as I help look for Bella in a little while." I requested.

I could see Charlie's surprise at the smoke not smelling horrible, but rather like the woods after a rainstorm. He took a deep breath before tossing the apple in, and speaking. "Lady Artemis, please help me find my daughter." He requested simply. I was slightly nervous about his offering being accepted, since momma Artemis was known for despising men, but luckily, the smoke changed scents to smell like he woods on a sunny day, showing that she accepted his offering. I sighed in relief, smiling a bit before sitting down to eat. "That's it, that's all we needed to do." I told him.

He nodded, and sat down to eat as well. We finished our food in record time, and I knew it was due to Charlie's worry for Bella that rushed us. The smoke and fire had dissipated somewhere in the middle of our meal, so I grabbed the brazier and dumped out the ash before going upstairs to change into appropriate clothes for tracking through the woods. I pulled on a pair of non-designer jeans, a flannel shirt, and hiking boots before putting my hair in a braid, and pulling a hat and jacket on. When I got back downstairs, Charlie was on the phone, calling everyone in town, and clear down to La Push for people to help search. "I've got a party coming, they all should be here in about fifteen minutes." He told me, taking in my attire.

I nodded, and emptied out my backpack of all my school things, and took it into the kitchen to put two water bottles and a box of granola bars in it. Once I had those set, I walked back out to the living room, my backpack on my shoulders. "I'm glad you have a party coming. I've got my phone, water, and a box of granola bars, I'm heading in. With my phone running on magic, it'll work even without a signal." I told him. He nodded and gave me a tight hug, before walking me to the door. "Good luck." He told me, coming outside with me. "Thanks, I wish you and your party luck as well." I told him before heading into the woods.

I reached up to touch the moon and stars necklace around my neck, feeling comforted in the fact that I had a weapon if needed, and smiled as I started to glow silver, just like momma Artemis' hunters. With the knowledge that she was watching over me, I allowed the instincts I had for hunting from her to take over. I knelt down and saw footprints in the dirt, one pair was shallow and barely there, while another pair was slightly smaller, and showed that someone had actually gone dead weight on their feet. I assumed that the ones showing dead weight were Bella's since Edward leaving had to equal the end of the world to her, and followed those.

I followed the footprints deeper into the woods, watching as the lighter ones had looped around and the others went straight. When the sun started going down not much later, I raised my hand and created a fire to give myself a light source. I walked like this for a little while, keeping the fire in my hand going, not only to give me light, but warmth as well now. It was when the footprints became stagger marks after another twenty minutes, that I heard snuffling noises. I quickly grabbed my phone to turn on the flashlight, and clenched my hand to extinguish the fire.

I was about to turn my necklace into a bow when I saw a tall russet skinned man come out of some of the trees. "Who are you?" I asked guardedly. "Sam Uley, Billy Black had me come with him to help look for Bella. I'm assuming you're Stella, Charlie's other daughter?" He asked, seeming to look for clarification that I wasn't just some crazy person roaming the woods. "I am. I'm a decent hunter, so I told Charlie I'd try to track her despite the fact that I don't like her. I've heard the search party calling for a while, but Charlie hasn't called me to let me know that someone's found her." I told him, before looking down and seeing more stagger marks. "She should be close by anyway. Looks like we're going to be the ones to find her." I told him. "How do you know that?" He asked, following me as I walked in the direction of the stagger marks. "Look down, Uley. These marks are different from footprints, she staggered, like she was losing energy. A person can stagger up to 100 feet before their legs give out, and I first saw them about 30 feet back. If I know Bella, she'd only go about half of what she could, and would have dropped right... here." I said, stopping in front of the prone form of Bella.

Sam stared at her for a moment, before speaking. "Bella." He said in acknowledgement of her being found. "Bella, can you hear me? My name is Sam Uley, Charlie sent me to find you. Are you hurt?" He asked, kneeling down beside her head. The girl looked catatonic, not that it surprised me, but managed to shake her head that she wasn't hurt, and managed to speak Charlie's name. Sam picked her up from her place on the ground, and nodded at me to lead the way out. I nodded back in response, pulling up my phone contacts and Calling Charlie. "Yeah?" He answered, his voice sounding rough. "Sam Uley and I got her, we're heading back now." I told him, not wasting any pleasantries. "Thank goodness. I owe you, Sam, and Her big time." He said, capitalizing the last one in reference to Momma Artemis. "It's cool, we should be back in a few minutes." I told him, checking to make sure Sam wasn't having any issues carrying Bella.

To my suspicions, he seemed to be having no problems carrying her. "Alright, see you in a few. Do I need to have Dr. Gerandy ready?" He asked. I looked back again, hearing Bella mumble once again, before looking ahead. "I'd go with that. She doesn't seem to be hurt, but she does appear to be catatonic because she keeps saying 'he's gone'. Not to mention, she's been out here for hours, so who knows if she's sick or not?" I said. I heard him speak away from the phone for a moment before returning to me. "Alright, he's waiting. See you in a minute." He said. "Yep." I replied before hanging up. "They're waiting for us, and the doctor is ready for her." I told Sam as I navigated us the last few yards out of the woods. "We've got her!" I called, seeing the search party surrounding Charlie's cruiser.

Charlie ran over to us and took Bella from Sam, staggering slightly under her weight, but brushed off Sam's offer of carrying her inside anyway. I noticed that the silver glow had left me, leaving me feeling exhausted now, since it was after one in the morning, and I stumbled a bit up the stairs. Charlie laid Bella down on the couch, while I collapsed in the recliner, putting my feet up and taking off my backpack, leaving it to plunk down on the floor. I heard Bella mumble something to Charlie, then I was out.


Damn, this one took a while to write. Sorry it took me so long to update, I've been really busy after my last update. I meant to post this on Thanksgiving, but I pretty much fell into a food coma after all the food I ate. As usual, I hope you all like the chapter, and I hope that all my American readers had an awesome Thanksgiving! Love ya, and remember to read and review!