Just so everyone knows, the chapter before this one was my last flashback chapter. All the chapters after that one will be in the present. Hope you enjoy!

"You sure you don't want to go for a run?" Jet asked, raising his eyebrows, "first one to the edge of Hollister Avenue?" I threw my backpack in the back seat of my Jeep and sighed.

"I told you I can't, Jet," I said, "I actually have to get homework done now." I opened the driver's side door and began dusting the sand off my feet. And do a little research on mermaids, but I couldn't tell Jet that. I knew he didn't believe that I saw a mermaid. It didn't matter though, cause I was going to prove it to him.

"Yeah, you already told me what you have to do, but what do you want to do?" He asked as he took a few steps closer to me. I stared out at the trees, pursing my lips. He stopped about two feet away from me, waiting for an answer. Could I put off my work for another hour or two? Should I go with Jet? He was right—I did want to go.

I turned towards him and found myself face to…well, chest. I was a little taken aback by the proximity of his half-naked body. When did he get so muscular? But the better question was why did I care? Jet and I were just friends, we always have been. I forced my eyes to look at his face instead of his chest, trying to seem as innocent as possible. Of course, Jet was watching me curiously. Damn it. He had definitely caught me staring at him. I could feel my cheeks heat up and I quickly looked away from him and back to the forest.

"Fine," I said reluctantly, "but just a quick one." Jet shot me a cocky grin as I shut the car door again. I pulled my shirt up over my head and threw it through the open window. I unbuttoned my jean shorts and wiggled out of them, letting them drop down to my ankles. I picked my shorts up and placed them on the seat with my shirt. Glancing up, I noticed Jet watching me as he unbuttoned his own pants. I smiled to myself. "You just want to see me naked again." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. My smile disappeared. I froze. Had I really just said that? I sneaked a peek at Jet, his hands were frozen on the waist of his pants and his eyes were locked on me—wide with shock. He looked just as awkward and scared as I felt.

Hiding my face, I turned my back to him. I cringed—I couldn't believe I actually said that. I wasn't sure if he was watching me, but I quickly took off my bra and underwear again and shifted into my wolf form. When I turned back around, the familiar black wolf stood before me. Jet gave me a soft smile and nodded his head towards the forest—letting me lead the way. He didn't have to tell me twice.

I dashed off—wanting nothing more than to feel the weightless bliss of running through the tall trees—my second home. I ran faster than I had ever run before, hoping that I could outrun the awkward situation I had inadvertently created back by my Jeep. I could hear the familiar padded steps of Jet behind me. I wondered what he was thinking about. Probably concentrating on where he was going—something I should have been doing—I was slowing down and he would catch up soon.

Sure enough, the mass of black fur easily passed by me, pulling ahead, in the next few seconds. I pushed forward, trying to get in front of him again, but like he always did, he blocked my path. I cut left but he was there—our usual game. I tried to psych him out—go right then quickly dart to the left again—but he didn't fall for it. I growled. Fine. If he was going to be like that then I could play dirty too. I began snapping at his back ankles. The move shouldn't have caught him off guard—I had done it plenty of times before—but for some reason, this time was different. When I nipped his ankles he stumbled, tripping over his own feet. He tumbled down and I narrowly avoided him by jumping over his body. I watched him role off a cliff and disappear before I collided with the nearest tree truck and fell to the ground. I shook my head—trying to clear it—and jumped up. I ran over to the cliff and looked down. I shifted back into my human form.

"Jet!" I called, the worry in my voice echoing across the small canyon. He lay at the bottom, in a pile of dead leaves, unmoving. "Jet!" I shifted back into a wolf and carefully made my way to the bottom of the canyon. It was actually a very pretty area—the forest was less dense and there was a small brook that ran through the middle. When I was finally safe on the bottom, I shifted again and raced over to Jet.

There was a large gash in his side—most likely where a sharp edge of a boulder had cut into him as he fell—and it was bleeding profusely. If he didn't shift back into human form soon he was going to bleed out. The only problem was that he seemed to unconscious. "Jet!" I took his head in my hands, but he didn't wake. "Jet!" I said again, more desperately, "Jet, please!" His eyelids fluttered. "Jet! You have to shift back. Please! You're hurt, you're bleeding. You need to shift." He stirred and a gasp of pain escaped from his body. I gently stroked the fur on top of his head. "Come on, Jet. Shift!" He grimaced, and I watched as he body returned to its normal form. I looked at the gash in his side—it was closed, scabbed over—as if it were days, maybe even weeks old. I sighed with relief.

Another advantage to being a shapeshifter—any wound you obtain while in your animal form will heal once you return to your human form. Well, depending on the size of the wound, it won't heal completely, but it will definitely stop bleeding and most likely scab over. Cole swears this even holds true for broken bones—claiming he broke his ankle as a tiger and when he shifted back it was only a fracture—but I don't buy it. Cole tends to over exaggerate things.

"You okay?" I asked cautiously as Jet opened his eyes. He closed his eyes again and let out a long breath. He slowly sat up, putting a hand to his forehead.

"I think so," he said, rubbing his head a bit.

"I'm so sorry," I said.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked.

"I bit your ankle. I'm the reason you fell."

"You always do that. I'm the idiot who tripped over his own feet." He chuckled. I didn't say anything. Jet made to get up, groaning a little as the movement stretched his wound, but froze on his one knee.

"Jet?" I said. He didn't respond. "Jet? What's wrong?"

"Where are we, Mar?"

"We're in the woods." I said, confused.

"I know, but how deep? We're pretty far from any roads or hiking paths, right?" he asked, still not moving.

"Yeah. Why?" He held out his hand, pointing to the soil.

"Do you see that?"

"See what?" He pointed again and I leaned closer.

"Those," he whispered. He was pointing to footprints—footprints that came right out of the brook and disappeared at the edge of the hill I had just climbed down—human footprints.

"Maybe someone got lost?" I said, but even as I said it I didn't believe it. He shook his head.

"No, we're too far out." He frowned, "They start at the stream, and just vanish over there are the foot of the hill. It doesn't make any sense. What would someone be doing out here?" I didn't know. It was certainly strange. My thoughts wandered back to the mermaid I had seen. Was it possible for her to travel from the ocean to this tiny brook and then get out and walk around? It sounded crazy. "Does your family ever go out this way?" Jet asked, looking up at me. I shook my head.

"No, they usually keep to the east." Jet frowned again and stared back at the footprints. I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Come on. We should head back. It's going to get dark soon." He nodded and let his body follow the pull of my hand. We shifted and ran back to my Jeep—not racing this time—just running. When we reached the clearing where I had left my car we shifted back and got dressed. I was about to open my door when I thought I heard someone singing. I stopped—it sounded like it was coming from the beach. I glanced over at Jet and he gave me a puzzled look. There were no other cars nearby. Quietly, we both made our way down the steps to the small beach again. There was a girl with long, honey-blonde hair standing on the sand.

"Bella?" I said, incredulously. She jumped and turned—shocked to see both Jet and I standing on the isolated beach with her. "What are you doing here?" She smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, I just wanted to go for a swim." She smiled again, more confidently this time, as if she was trying to convince me.

"All the way out here? On a deserted beach?" Jet asked, suspiciously.

"Yeah, it's real quiet and peaceful, you know?" she said. I looked over to Jet. The way he was staring at me, I could tell exactly what he was thinking—he thought it was Bella who made those footprints back in the canyon. But that wasn't possible. The canyon was at least five miles away—she couldn't have gotten there and back before us. I shot him a look that told him "no way". Of course he ignored it.

"So, Bella, you like to hike?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Not really. I prefer the beach to the mountains."

"Then how'd you get here? We didn't notice another car." Jet asked, practically interrogating Bella. I stopped him, jumping in before Bella could even attempt to answer.

"What he means to say is that we noticed you don't have a car here, and we wanted to offer you a ride home." I spewed out.

"Yeah, sure. That'd be great. Thanks!" Bella said. I gestured for her to go up the half-hidden steps ahead of me. When Bella's back was to me, I turned and gave Jet an evil glare. He just stared right back at me. We both knew something was up with Bella, and Jet was determined to find out what.