The Snow Moon


Year Four, Chapter Eight

Lots to Learn


Jacob's Point of View


"Where is it? It has to be here somewhere? No, no, no!"

"Renesmee? Honey what's wrong? Did you lose something?" She was on her hands and knees crawling around the living room.

"Jacob! It's horrible, I don't know how it happened. I'm so sorry," she started crying into my shoulder.

"Nessie, why don't you calm down and tell me what's wrong." Whatever it was really seemed to be bothering her.

"Look," she said holding up the light wood Alice chess piece I made her.

"Okay?" I didn't see what she was getting at. Did she lose the darker wood counterpart? Or maybe the light wood Jasper companion piece?

"Jacob, the credit cards she was holding have broken off. I don't know how I could have let this happen. I've always tried to be so careful with all of the chess pieces." She was on the verge of tears now. "They have to be here somewhere. If I can just find them, maybe I can glue them back on. You worked so hard on it."

"Here, I'll help you look for them," I said as I got down on the floor with her, "but even if we find them, we may not be able to fix it. They were very small to begin with."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's no problem, sweetheart. I can always carve you a new one." This wasn't something to get upset about. It was partially my fault for making the figure so delicate to begin with. It was almost inevitable it would get damaged.

"I don't see them anywhere."

"Neither do I honey. When did you notice it was broken?"

"Just over two hours ago."

"You've been searching for those tiny little credit cards for over two hours?"

"Yes. It's important. You made the chess set for me. I need to find them and can't stop looking until I do."

"But the cards might not even be here anymore." They were so small and delicate they could have gotten stepped on and crushed. They would have turned to nothing more than splinters. Or maybe the answer was simpler. "Has anyone vacuumed recently?"

"Oh, no!" she said, while collapsing onto the floor.

"Nessie its okay, really. Look it's still early. Let's take a walk outside and find the perfect piece of wood so I can carve you a new Alice knight."

"Alright," she perked up. "Um, what kind of wood should we look for?"

"I don't think they'll have the same wood I used back in Washington, here. But white birch grows somewhere around here, it should do the trick. You know what it looks like, right?"

"Yes of course. I think I saw some birch trees over there," she said pointing to an area a couple of miles away in the White Mountains. Luckily it was only mid November and the forest floor hadn't gotten covered with snow yet. A few suitable pieces of wood shouldn't be too hard to find.

"Come on, let's go then," I responded with a smile as I took off running in the direction she had indicated.

As we neared the edge of the Cullen property I needed to stop so I could strip off my clothes, minus Alice's special shorts. Before catching up to Nessie I balled them up and tucked them in between a gap between a group of rocks then phased. Twenty minutes later we found the birch trees Nessie had mentioned.

"Will this work Jacob?" Nessie asked, holding up a small branch. It was the right kind of wood, with few knots in it. It didn't appear to have any rot, even though Nessie had picked it up off the ground.

"Looks like it'll work. Let's grab a couple more pieces while we're here, in case I need to make any more replacements."

"Alright," Nessie said before she turned into a blur and a pile of wood was soon stacked at my feet. She was getting faster and stronger all the time. Not as much as a full Vampire, by any means, but the speed at which she moved was still impressive.

Soon the pile was up to my shins. "Nessie... Nessie... hold on. I think that's more than enough," I called to the haze moving away to find even more wood. "How many pieces are you planning on breaking?" I joked.

"Oh, right. I guess I got carried away."

"That's okay, but if you want to bring all of this back to the house we're going to have to make a couple of trips," I said, taking another look at the huge pile, "unless you have a bag hidden somewhere. I can't phase and carry things. There are some drawbacks to being a Wolf."

"I don't think so. I think you're perfect, Jacob," she said as she reached up and pulled me into a hug. It was nice. Without actually talking about it we had mutually both backed off from some of our normal closeness after the unfortunate movie incident last summer, but every once in a while we would hold hands or hug. Nothing too much. We both knew where to draw the line.

"Jacob, take off your shorts."

What!? "Um, Nessie -" My whole body stiffened, but I tried to not make it too noticeable as I gently pushed her back away from me.

"Just go behind a bush or tree, take off your shorts and phase, then I can use them to carry all of the wood in. The shorts have panels in them to expand. They'll be more than adequate to carry all of the wood."

"Oh, um, right. Good idea." What is wrong with me. Calm down.

Once we had run back to the Cullen's property, and I redressed, I sorted through the wood Nessie gathered and found a piece that would be perfect for a new Alice figurine.

"This might take a little while Nessie. Did you want to go in the house and do something else while I carve this?" I loved spending every minute of the day with her but didn't want her to be bored.

"Oorrrr," she said, dragging out the small word, "you could teach me how to do it myself."

"Sure, sure. I can teach you how to carve, if you want," I responded with a chuckle. She was so cute when she tried to convince me to do something, like I wouldn't almost always give her whatever she wanted anyway.

"Good. I should be the one to replace the piece since I broke it."

"Nessie that's not why I agreed to teach you. And how do you know you were the one who did it? Do you remember breaking it?" She didn't answer. "I didn't think so. I can easily make a new one for you, and as many more as you want. I'm happy to do it."

"Thanks Jacob, but I would also like to learn. I think it would be fun. You make these amazing things just with your hands and a little knife. I would love to be able to create something half as wonderful. And it would give me something to do all day long while you're at school."

"Aren't you taking classes online?"

"Yes, but half-vamp brain, remember," she said tapping the side of her head. "It hasn't been taking me that long to read and complete the assignments. I'm usually done with everything for the week within an hour or two."

"Yeah, I could see how you might get bored. But what about everyone else who's there with you while I'm at school? You're never home alone. Are you?" I didn't think so. Everyone had made their class schedules keeping Nessie in mind, so that she wouldn't be.

"No but they all have their own lives. It's not their job to entertain me. It's okay, I have the mind of a thirty year old adult, even if look like I'm sixteen, and have only been alive for three years, I'm not actually a child."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Were her family really just ignoring her? I was stuck in class, away from her four days a week, for up to seven hours at a time, when I factored in the commute. Was she really by herself that entire time?

"Jacob what's wrong?" Nessie started looking around frantically. "Did you see something? I don't smell anyone?"

What was she talking about? "What's do you mean honey?"

"Jacob, you were growling!"

"I was? I hadn't even realized. I'm sorry to scare you. Just the thought of you being neglected got me so upset, I guess I did it involuntarily."

"I'm not being neglected, school only started two months ago. In the beginning I would hang out with everyone, but then I was spending time with Nahuel more and more, while you were gone." WHAT! Calm down, calm down, calm down, I chanted over and over to myself. Getting upset now would not help anything. I would have heard if something had happened. "I think the family just got use to doing their own things without me, that first month of school. But once Nahuel was sent home, no one seemed to notice my only companion, other than you of course, was gone, and I was left alone. But I can take care of myself. I was never in any danger, other than loneliness. It's okay."

"No, sweetheart. It's not." Two months was a long time. I should have been paying more attention, even if she never mentioned a problem I should have known. "So are you ready to learn how to carve?" I asked, effectively changing the subject. I was going to have a long chat with the family after Nessie went to bed tonight. But right now I had something much more important to do.

"Yes, please. What should I do first?"

"Why don't we start off with something easy, like a heart. Go ahead and pick a couple pieces of wood that you think most resembles a heart shape to start with, while I run in the house and grab some knives and stuff."

When I returned Nessie had put two chunks of wood in her lap. Looking them over they seemed like they would work and we quickly sketched out the basic shape in pencil on the wood. Then I showed her how to begin by carving it out roughly, in three dimensions, looking at it from every angle, not just the front, making sure it looked correct all the way around,.

"Hey Jacob, I was wondering if you were able to talk to your Pack here when you phased?" Nessie asked me while she carved. "I know three thousand miles is a lot to hope for, but you never mentioned anything and I was just curious."

"No, honey, I can't. I didn't really think I would be able to. Three hundred miles was probably close to the limit."

"But if another Wolf came here, you would be able to hear them within three hundred miles of you right? Or does it just work within a three hundred miles proximity of La Push?"

"Hmmm? The Quileute magic must be tied to the Wolves, not the location, otherwise I don't think I'd be able to phase way out here. So that would mean that I should be able to hear them here. Right?" I never thought of it before, but it made sense I guess.

"Good point. Um... what do I do now?" she asked as she held up her heart.

She was just about done with the basic shape of it so I began to show her how to use the knife to gently soften, and start to smooth out the edges.

"So is it hard? The quiet I mean? When we were in Hoodsport you could still speak to your Pack when you were phased, even though we needed to separate ourselves physically from them. It must be strange not to hear them anymore when you're a Wolf."

Of course she had thought of all of this. It was sweet of her to care. Of course she did. She was the most caring person I knew.

"It's hard sometimes, I had gotten use to everyone in my head. When I first became a Wolf, I never thought I would get use to it. Now it seems strange that they're gone."

Nessie smirked as she touched my hand and used her gift. Well, if you miss having someone else's voice in your head I can help you with that.

"Thanks sweetheart."

"What about Skype, or some other video phone service. You could keep in touch with everyone back in La Push that way. I know it won't be the same as hearing them in your head, but it would be more personal than a regular phone call."

"That could be an idea, but I'm not sure how that would really work. Maybe someone in La Push has a computer with a camera that everyone could use." I doubted it though. It was a nice idea that Nessie had, but computers cost money and that was one of the things that people in La Push didn't have. Family, community, friendship, trust; those things were all in abundance, enough to compensate for a lack of money, most of the time.

Maybe I could work something out and find a way to get them a new laptop. They all seemed to contain cameras now. The stock Alice bought me should be worth a small fortune by now, I should do something with it. And if everyone in my Pack got to use the computer it could be very helpful for them, in addition to allowing me to see them, and my family.

It would be nice to see Billy, Rachel, my new nephew Jeremy, and even Paul.

Nessie had stopped working on her heart. Was she done? "How is your heart coming?" I asked before seeing that she was. The last thing to do was sand it smooth.

"Are you making friends at school at least?" Nessie asked as I handed her some sandpaper.

"Yeah, there are a few people I hang out with between classes." It wasn't like High School with the Cullens. Dartmouth was so big people didn't shun me like they did them, but they were Vampires and not only expected it, they were used to it, and seemed unbothered. Even Bella was dealing with it better than in high school. We were barely ever in the same section of the school anyway and I only had one class with any of them – Spanish with Jasper. I wasn't sure why he was even taking it, he was already fluent, but at least he was able to help me when I needed it during class.

"Would you tell me about them?"

"There's not much to tell. It's not like we're friends, just people I hang out with. I don't know much about them. But sure. Let's see... There's Justin and Mark, who seem to be competing for the title of class clown. If they don't start taking school more seriously I think they might flunk out. Andy seems nice, and loves cars almost as much as Rose, if you can believe it. And then there is Rob, who I think has a crush on Andy, but is either oblivious or... I don't know, exactly." I think that was it. I hadn't really talked to too many people. Was there anyone else? "Oh, and Jenny, she seems very smart, a little clumsy, and takes everything school related way too seriously. She kinda reminds me of Bella, when she was human, you know if Bella was an overgrown, six foot behemoth, with short curly red hair, freckles and a nasty overbite. "

"Jacob, are you making fun of the way this girl looks?"

I started laughing a little louder than I intended, much to Nessie's horror.

"No honey. That's how she actually describes herself. She's from this corner of Scotland where she's some sort of local celebrity, known for her size, and ability to toss a tree, or log, or something, while she's not busy reading, of course. I don't understand it exactly, but she's quite proud of all of it."

"Oh, okay." Nessie didn't seem exactly convinced but seemed to drop it.

"Here," I said handing Nessie another piece of wood. "Why don't you try carving a second heart while I start on the new Alice chess piece."


A couple of weeks later everything was going much better for Nessie. I talked to Bella and Edward about her being left alone too much, it was easily resolved. We set up a schedule so she would always have someone to talk to, share her day with, or just spend time near, to never be left alone again if she didn't want to be, at least while I was at school and couldn't be with her. Everyone was actually appalled that she was being neglected and were happy to spend time with her.

I had been studying for my math test when Bella poked her head into my bedroom. "Jacob, you wanted me to remind you when it was five minutes till seven." Dartmouth wasn't easy, but like they promised, the Cullen's helped me out whenever I needed it, but this was for something completely unrelated.

The Cullen's missed very little school here in New Hampshire. That had surprised me. It wasn't as rainy here as Washington was, but the sunlight didn't keep them away as much as I thought it would have. It snowed a lot here over the winter, but not constantly. But the cold helped. Even though it was sunny sometimes, the temperature was low enough that they could just bundle up, pretending to be as cold as everyone else, covering almost every inch of their body. Then they simply had to go from shadow to shadow, between the parking lot, into the buildings. Once inside, the rooms were practically windowless, Dartmouth was an old school, and the buildings hardly had any to begin with. And the ones they had were small. The risk of sunlight streaming through them was negligible. And Alice spotted any problems beforehand, anyway.

"Thanks, Bells," I said as I grabbed my laptop and set it up to wait for the Skype call from Billy. He was suppose to call at seven and I didn't want to miss it. I tried not to have my computer out while I was studying, since I knew I would get distracted, going online and surfing around instead of what I was supposed to be doing. Especially when Nessie wasn't here.

It wasn't that often that we were apart, but she was off for a girls night with Rose and Alice at their house. I guess it was the Vampire version of a sleepover. Since she never went to school and made normal friends this was the closest she was going to get. The three of them planned a whole night of silly teen movies, makeovers, facials, and mani's and pedi's.

"Hey, Dad. How's everything going?" The laptops that I were able to get my family and Pack were working out great. I managed to get a good deal on them, only having to buy two, in the end. And, thanks to Alice, they were easily affordable. Edward tried to pay for them, but this time I put my foot down. I got one for Billy, Rachel and Paul to use at Billy's house, and one for Quil and Embry to share. Bella insisted on paying for a couple for Leah and Seth, since they were technically her family now. She also got some for Charlie and Sue. I still missed them but seeing everyone on video calls made it easier.

Right after the laptops were set up in La Push Nessie had asked me if she could call Billy, alone. She didn't tell me why she wanted to talk to him, but said there was nothing to worry about and it was important. Whatever it was she seemed much happier after they spoke. I wish I knew what it was. I didn't like not being able to help her solve any problems she had, but I guess if I couldn't, I was glad that she was able to go to my dad for help.

That night I talked to my dad for over an hour before I had to go. I still had a lot of studying to do.


How was it already April? The school year was almost over and I still hadn't decided what I wanted to major in. My advisor said I needed to declare my major before the start of my sophomore year. I couldn't wait for that though, Nessie just got her acceptance letter and would be at Dartmouth too, and we could be together more.

This year I was just taking general studies classes. I knew they were important, but all of the required classes… some of them just seemed pointless. At least they made the time fly by.

Maybe I should talk to Nessie and see what she was interested in, then we could major in the same thing. I think everyone just assumed I would major in Native American Studies, but I wanted to study something new. Growing up on the Res, with the chief as your dad, I already had a pretty good grasp on MY Tribes history, at least. Well our Tribe was a bit different than others, since our myths and legends turned out to be true, it just made everything more real.

It was amusing to see the Doc and Esme going back to school. Apparently Carlisle (or Edward, or Rose) returned to medical school once every few decades to keep up to date on the new advances. Occasionally he also studied some of his other interests. I never realized he had any besides being a doctor but it turns out he also enjoyed art and music. Edward always seemed to monopolize the piano that I guess no one ever really bothered much anymore, except the occasional lesson he now gave to Bella and Nessie.

Maybe a Photography degree would be fun. Esme was going to major in that. She had studied photography before and now she thought it would be nice to learn of all of the possibilities of digital cameras. I really liked the photo present Nessie made me where she had photoshopped the images of my Pack in their Wolf and human forms into one image. It might be nice to learn how to do that.

Edward decided to major in physics with Rose. He thought it would be fun to take it with her. They hadn't taken classes together since the last medical degrees they received over twenty years ago. I was amazed to learn that Blondie already had a PhD in astrophysics. Getting another bachelor's degree in physics didn't seem like it would be much of a challenge, and she seemed upset to learn that there wasn't much discovered in the last thirty years; but she said she got to take lots of math and physics classes which is what she really enjoyed. I don't know how anyone would enjoy that but it wasn't my life, so whatever.

I always thought Bella would have majored in English or Literature, or whatever this school was calling it. She was always reading the same old books, over and over, but surprised everyone when she told us she decided to instead major in Art History. I think she also mentioned how she was excited that next year she would have some classes with Esme.

Jasper, our resident history buff, liked the idea of learning about history from a viewpoint other than militarily and was going to try his hand as an Art History major as well. I give him a year and a half at most, before he gets bored.

Alice was going to be majoring in Women and Gender Studies. She loves all things fashion, and I guess fashion and women go together, so I'm sure she knew what she was doing. But when Emmett heard she was taking classes about "women" and "gender", he thought it would be a hoot and decided to take it with her. I know I don't know what the major was really about, but I was pretty sure it's definitely not about whatever he thinks it is. Somehow I don't think it was going to work out well for him. But it would be hilarious in the meantime.