Chapter ten, woo! now as I'm in the double digits, and really putting thought into book four (the prophecy of the seven) in Meda's POV, I would like to remind everyone that the poll is at the top of my author profile page. please take a moment to vote, it is short and gives me valuable information!

happy reading!

"We can't take on an army," Esme said.

"I can teach you," Jasper promised. "But it will be difficult."

"I'll help," I added.

Everyone snapped their head around and looked at me. "Meda," Edward started, his hand on my elbow, "do you really think that's a good idea?"

"What are you talking about, of course it's a good idea," I said. "It's basically what I'm here for."

Their expressions went from surprised to confused in a split second. I sighed, readying myself to explain.

"We're here to protect the mortals from… stuff," I said. "And I don't know about you, but I totally classify a vampire army killing an obscene amount of humans as stuff. So… yeah. Besides, they're coming after you guys. What else are friends for if we can't kill each other's enemies?"

"Tanya's family is near, they could be going after them, not us," Esme reminded me.

"Oh yeah," I said dramatically. "Why didn't I think of that, that's totally the reason Alaska is going through a serial killer phase."

"But they're not coming after us…yet…" Alice said, her eyes closed and eyebrows drawn together.

"How do you know?" Jasper asked her.

She shook her head as if to clear it. "I just get these odd flickers. Someone's changing their mind, and quickly. I can't get a clear picture."

"Indecision," Jasper said.

"No," Edward butted in. "knowledge. They know how it works. Whoever is behind all this, they know how your gift works."

"Eh," I said, remembering how Rachel was before she became the oracle. That was not a gift.

"Who would know that?" Alice said.

Rosalie stepped forward. "Maybe it's someone else, from the South, who has to take care of this for forgiveness. It would explain why this isn't taken care of yet."

"They would never allow that, Aro's too much of a…control freak, for lack of a better term," Carlisle said.

There was a pause when everyone seemed to collect their thoughts. I took that as my chance to escape to the kitchen to see what I could eat. They did keep some cereal and pizza for me and I preheated the oven while looking over the directions for the pizza. After a few moments, Edward wandered in and prodded the pizza curiously.

"Hands off, it's mine," I said while cracking open a can of soda.

"But it looks so strange," he said. "I've never understood why humans, or half humans like pizza so much."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm from New York, sue me," I said.

"That may have something to do with it," he said while inspecting a piece of pepperoni. Abruptly he dropped it and groaned. "Damn Laurent. Damn him."

That was odd. "I thought that was already taken care of, but I'll see if I can call in a favor."

"No," he said. "Carlisle was talking to Tanya for help. Apparently, her sister Irina was romantically involved with Laurent."

'Gross," I said.

"Absolutely disgusting," he agreed with a nod. "Anyway, they said they will help, but only if they can take down the wolves."

"Don't you dare, Carlisle!" I called out.

"He won't," Edward assured me. "But it does leave us understaffed, in a way."

"Well," I said, poking him with a spatula, "I am the best kniveswoman Chiron said he's seen in a few centuries. So at least we've got that going for us."

"That is true," he said, just as the oven went off.

Alice and I were caught in a fierce battle. It raged on silently, while the rest of the student body unaware. The only people who could see it were not human.

"No," I repeated.

"Yes," Alice said. "I need it. I want it. It's going to happen."

It was then I decided to cut my losses. Getting in between Alice and a social event she could put on was a losing battle. That woman was terrifying when it came to picking out a cute shirt.

"Fine, you bitch," I said, and turned back to poking the glop that was on my tray.

She raised her hands in victory, so in retaliation I flicked a piece of the meat (was that really meat though?) from my tray at her shirt. she added, "I will be fixing your hair."

I sighed.

"Renee can't make it, Phil broke his leg," Alice said suddenly.

"How fortuitous," I said darkly.

Alice was right of course, and when I got home there was a couple messages from Renee, saying Phil did indeed break his leg. I wasn't too sad about her missing graduation, it's not like it was a big deal or anything. Well, it kind of was, but I didn't really care about it that much.

With a sigh, I looked at the pile of paper and books that were shoved to the edge of the table. I groaned, realizing that I had two finals tomorrow, math and history. I had to study, and study really hard. Luckily, for math we were allowed a page of notes, and I was mostly finished by the time Charlie got back.

"This is a sight for sore eyes," he joked while unloading his rifle.

"Talk to me when I'm human again," I groaned, rubbing my temples. "I need food," I said, suddenly looking at the clock. There was a delicious smell in the kitchen, and looking around, I saw the source.

"Food, my lady," Charlie said, unpacking the fried chicken and potato salad.

I reached over and took the cup of soup that was offered, taking a huge gulp. "Ah!" I said, swallowing around the burn in my mouth. I opened my mouth to fan my scalding tongue.

"There's this recent invention called a spoon, I think you'll find it useful," Charlie said, sliding one over.

I stared at him as I took another gulp straight from the cup, making sure to school my expression into a bored and uncaring mask.

"Why do I even bother?" he asked himself quietly.

"Because you and I both know that I'm the best daughter you've ever had in your life," I supplied.

"You're the only daughter I've ever had in my life," he said.

I shrugged. "Exactly."

Thankfully, that night I didn't have any strange dreams. Maybe it was because I was too tired, or whoever was sending me this weird stuff knew about my finals and decided to take pity on me. Either way, when I woke up well rested, I decided not to make a fuss about it, and focused instead on trying to pass my classes with decent grades.

"Fist bump me, bitch," I whispered as the math test was handed out.

"Did you just call me a bitch?" Alice whispered back.

"Yes, bitch, I did, now fist bump me," I said.

She did, and maybe that gave me a small, miniscule amount of good luck, because when I looked at the first problem, I knew how to solve it. The class schedules for finals were different than usual, so when it was time for lunch, there were only a few classes in the lunchroom. It was quiet, and I took a quick nap at the table, silently hoping Alice didn't take any blackmail worthy photos. She probably didn't, because she was a genuinely nice person, but also because she knew I was armed.

The shrill ringing of the bell woke me out of my half asleep state, and we all trudged to class, y intercepts and exponential functions still swimming in our minds. To my surprise, I was actually looking forward to the party Alice was throwing tomorrow night. It would take my mind off the stress of finals, and it would be nice to sit around and listening to the Cullen's vast collection of music and eating as much of their food as I could.

The invitations had already come in, through the mail, because Alice could never do things halfway, and they were on fancy gold and silver stationery, the edges decorated in a twisting design of lines and shapes. People were coming up to her and thanking her for them. She modestly said things like "it's no big deal" and "it's just something we threw together." Knowing Alice, she probably went overboard with the decorations. With our luck, someone would get tangled in the lights and kill themselves.

"One more day!" Alice chirped happily as I climbed into my car. Chemistry had gotten out early, due to the teacher noticing how tired and unfocused we all were, and she was waiting for Edward's class to get out as well.

I groaned in response. "I need to kill something, I'm so bored of school," I complained.

"I'm sure your chance will come sooner rather than later," Alice said, rubbing her temples.

"Headache?" I asked.

"Something like that," she replied. Turning around, she waved to Edward who was walking out to the parking lot with the rest of the other students.

"How did you do?" he asked me. "You said you hated the math class."

I stuck my thumb out toward Alice. "This bitch fist bumped me so I got all the good luck."

"This bitch made me fist bump her," Alice said, poking me in the shoulder.

Edward was looking at us with something like sadness on his face. "If I ever called her that I'd be so dead," he informed me.

"This bitch likes me more than she likes you!" I shouted, laughing when Alice feigned attacking me.

"What are you going to do this afternoon?" Edward asked me.

I sighed. "I'm going to surprise Jake, I haven't seen him in a while, and besides, the only tests I have tomorrow are chemistry and English, two of the easiest tests ever."

"Have fun," he said. "Please don't get yourself killed."

I smirked. "No promises. Besides, who said I won't be doing the killing in the first place?"

"Fair enough!" he called over the roar of the engine as I started the car.

The road to La Push was almost second nature by now. I was one of the few people traveling at this time of day so I could easily enjoy the scenery, smell the ocean air and relax. When I pulled up to Jake's house I was surprised to still see his VW still parked outside. I thought he'd be out doing something now that his classes were over. But Vicky was still out there, alive and up to who knows what so I supposed Sam would be making him do more work than he should.

When I knocked on the door I heard a crash before I saw Billy peeking around the door.

"Meda, come in, come in!" he said, backing away.

Walking in, I saw that the crash had come from the small end table that was lying on the floor.

"The wheels of this damn thing," Billy said. "Would you please pick it up, I'll straighten out the cloth."

I hoisted the table up and moved it back by the couch like it always was. The cloth covering it was only slightly twisted, so I straightened it quickly before Billy could get to it.

"Thank you so much, really. Damn these wheels," he said again.

"Maybe Jake could fix it up for you, or maybe you just need a new one," I said.

"He's busy, on patrol all day and night," Billy said. 'Kid only started his nap about two hours ago."

I sighed, realizing that my idea of Sam pushing everybody too hard was probably true. "I was going to surprise him, maybe I should be going?"

"Nah, you came all this way, I'm sure he'll be up soon. Last night he even got a full six hours," Billy said.

"Impressive," I answered.

He shook his head. "Right now, it is." Looking behind me, he visibly brightened up. "Jacob, Meda stopped by," he said.

I turned around and saw Jake, his hair sticking up at odd angles. "Morning," I said.

He grunted in response, punching the button of an ancient looking coffee machine. I laughed as he waited for the pot to brew. He eagerly poured the coffee into his mug and seemed to drain half of it in one gulp. "Good morning," he said.

"And an addict is born," I announced.

"Don't mention it, please. It gives me a headache," Billy grumbled as he made his way to his room.

"Sorry!" I called after him. He just waved in response and shut his door.

Jake was brewing yet another pot of coffee by the time I looked back at him.

"Whoa, you might want to slow down," I said. "That stuff can't be good for you."

He reluctantly turned the coffee maker off. "Fast metabolism, remember? Besides, it helps me wake up. I didn't know you were coming today," he added.

"I was planning on surprising you," I said. "I haven't been down here in a couple weeks and tomorrow is the official last day of my high school career."

He fist bumped me lightly. "Any plans to celebrate? Charlie invited Billy and me to your graduation, hope you don't mind."

That was something Charlie didn't mention. "I don't, and Alice is throwing a party for the senior class, everyone's invited."

"I wasn't," he said.

"Well now you are. Bring everyone, we can eat all the food together. It'll be a big bonding experience," I said. Based on the amount of food Alice had catered, she'd probably need a pack of hungry teenage werewolves to eat through it all.

He finished loading all the dishes into the dishwasher and kicked the door closed before starting it up. "Why don't we head out like normal?" he asked. I agreed, and we set off to our normal spot on the beach, the huge and ancient driftwood log that never changed or moved.