We sat quietly for a long time after that. I ran everything through my brain again and again, trying to fit it all together.

Quil was the voice. And the boy. And the wolf.

How did the forest and the beach tie into it all?

It was obvious he had closed the conversation earlier, but my curiosity got the better of me and I finally broke the silence.

"Did we ever go to the beach together?" I asked.

He smiled a little, though he didn't really look happy.

"Yeah, I used to take you all the time. You loved it." His tone was sad still. "Why?"

"Nothing. I– think I remember," I answered.

He just nodded.

"And what about the forest? Did you take me there too?"

He was shocked at this. "No. Never," he answered, curiously.

"Oh. Okay. I must have mixed it up with something else," I lied.

We sunk back into silence again. I'm not sure how much longer we sat there, but I knew Emily had awoken now, because I saw the curtains in the front window pull open before she called out.

"Claire? Are you out there? Breakfast is ready!"

He started to get up at this, and held his hand out to help me up. We walked back in silence all the way back to the house.

I entered the kitchen just as Emily's head popped out from behind the fridge door.

"Oh, Claire I didn't hear you come–" She ceased, when she saw who followed behind me.

"Oh," she let out, "I see you've met…Quil," she said, though she was looking at him and not me.

I didn't turn to see his reaction, but I'm pretty sure I could guess that he was looking at her with some sort of pointed accusation, or maybe the aching pained face that had equally grown to hurt me. I decided to save us all the meaningful exchange of facial expressions.

"I know. He told me."

She looked back to me with careful eyes. After a second of taking in my expression, there was no doubt she understood. She nodded silently, and then began to speak

"Well, if there's anything you want to talk about or ask about, you can talk to anyone, okay? I know it's…a lot," she offered.

I nodded, accepting this. In truth, I was fine. I felt a bit overwhelmed, but I was mostly concerned for Quil. He seemed really down.

The pensive silence was broken by the rumbling of approaching voices. As soon as we all turned around, Embry, Jared and Paul were marching in to take their seats at the table, still in the middle of conversation – not bothering to take notice of the ongoing awkward exchange. Emily cleared her throat and motioned to continue preparing breakfast. Silence fell, as the three boys' heads turned in our direction. Jared and Embry looked hesitant, just waiting for someone to say something. Paul…was beaming. He held his face in a manner as if anticipating one of us about to break out in song and dance.

"She knows," Quil said flatly.

Jared and Embry gasped.

"Well, about time!" Paul let out, relieved.

At first I was a little taken back, but then I couldn't help but at smile at his unexpected reaction. This eased me a little, and I finally moved to take a seat at the table ready to eat breakfast. Quil followed my lead, rolling his eyes at Paul and sat down across from me. We continued to go about getting ready for breakfast, loading up our plates.

"So, there are no more secrets then?" Jared enquired with his mouth half full.

"Nope," Quil answered.

My eyes tightened the slightest bit, as I knew this wasn't true. Though none of the boys seemed to notice, I'm sure it was not lost on Emily who had surreptitiously been watching me throughout the whole breakfast.

"Well that's good then," Embry added, "Because we got a good one yesterday and I don't wanna have to censor!"

Quil's eyes became urgent.

"A good what?" I asked, meekly.

Everyone stopped and looked at me.

"I…haven't told her…that part yet," Quil said, uneasily.

There's more?

Everyone seemed to be deep in concentration, perhaps sifting through their brains for the proper way to tell me what ever they were about to say. Except Paul, who was still chewing and swinging his legs under the table.

"We kill vampires," he stated casually, in between bites of his breakfast.

Everyone else locked into place, anticipating my reaction.

Vampires…

To be honest, I'd had so much information dumped on me already that I would have had a hard time not believing anything they told me now.

I remembered Jacob in the car yesterday, when he picked me up.

'We rotate shifts, taking turns to hunt down nomadic vampires,' he had said.

I rolled my eyes at the realization he had been telling the truth, and probably got a kick out of the inside joke that I was all too unaware of at the time.

Hilarious, Jacob.

I was still yet to even flinch while lost in thought, and I assumed they were all just waiting for me to run away screaming.

"Okay," I shrugged, and continued to eat.

I heard multiple breaths being let out all around me, and Embry picked up where he left off to describe in detail, the 'vampire' he took down by himself last night.

"So," Jared began when Embry had finished, "You moving out here now, Claire Bear?"

I hadn't realized he was talking to me until everyone else's face turned in my direction.

Quil looked anxious and uncomfortable as they all waited for my response.

"Oh…um," I stopped when I realized I had no idea what to say.

"No," Quil answered for me, "She's not. She's going back to school in Seattle."

The three boys looked confused at this, Quil looked emotionless now. Somehow this was worse than seeing him in pain. He looked empty.

"I–" I tried to begin, but still had nothing to say.

Emily seemed to sense the tension and tried to ease it.

"Well, we'll just see. She still has a couple of weeks before she starts. Maybe you could stay longer here before school?" she asked me.

"Yeah, of course. I'd like that," I assured, looking at Quil.

I was confused now. Jared's question had caught me off guard. Is that what I was supposed to do? Were Quil and I supposed to pick up where we left off all those years ago, now that I was here? Was I supposed to just leave Seattle, and set down my roots here in La Push? So he could be apart of my life, like he was supposed to?

Emily interrupted my confusing thoughts that must have been showing on my face when she spoke again.

"Claire, I noticed you didn't bring much with you here. Maybe I could drive you back to Seattle later today and we could pick up some more of your clothes, since you're planning to stay longer?" she offered.

She was right. I hadn't packed much and I really did underestimate the weather here. I could really use some more warm clothing. But something inside me didn't want to leave. Even if it was just to get my stuff and come back, I didn't want to be away from Quil. It felt as though we still had so much to talk about and I wasn't ready to be separated from him yet. He seemed to be feeling the same way I was. I could see his face grow even emptier after she said this.

"Actually," I mused, talking to him now, "Since you're supposed to be what ever I need you to be, I think I want you to be my chauffer today," I requested, smugly.

Everyone was smiling now; it even lifted his mood a little.

"Okay," he answered, almost smiling.

It wasn't a complete smile by any measure, but it was the most hopeful I'd seen him since our talk this morning.

The boys continued to tell me their hero stories about vampires and epic battles over the years, but I could still see Emily smiling to herself as she moved around the kitchen.