Twilight and all its cool characters belong to lucky lady Ms. Stephenie Meyer!
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10 Step Checklist for a bad day…
1)Sleep through your alarm. 2) Realize that you slept through a test. 3)Find pimple the size of China on face. 4)Be bloated. 5) Tear hole in favorite shirt. 6) Slip in the mud, landing on butt. 7) Get in a fight with bf. 8) Loose memory-stick containing rough draft of a paper due tomorrow. 9) Find EXPENSIVE oil leak in car. 10) Roomie's new cat pees on purse.
I thought things were supposed to go wrong in threes! Good news for you all, I did squeeze in a chapter between things going wrong. My song of the day is definitely 'Can't get it right today' by Joe Purdy!
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My nap earlier was a terribly bad idea. Once again I lay awake staring at the ceiling while Jake was snoring away. And laying here besides him, half-naked was, well, distracting. I could not help my mind from straying to the idea of him being without any clothes. I had to stop myself though, we weren't quite there yet.
I sighed in frustration and sat up, moving Jake's arm from around my waist. Sleep was not happening tonight. And this torture of lying next to Jake like this was getting to me. There was only about an hour before the alarm I had set went off, so I decided to just get up.
Careful not to move the bed I got up and headed downstairs. I thought about breakfast, but kept going downstairs till I was in the room below the stairs. I wasn't sure what I was planning on doing, so I paced around for a few minutes.
I settled on some research, and began browsing the books on the ornate bookshelf. A small unmarked book on the bottom shelf caught my eye. It was covered in worn suede leather, with a small tie, holding together the covers.
I gently undid the strained leather ties and opened the antiqued pages. The script on the first page was messier than I was used to, but still recognizable as Aunt Mary's.
I scanned the date along the top of the page. June 1st 1958. It was the day she turned twenty-four, and if everything I was reading was right, it was also the day she came into her power. I felt goose bumps begin to rise at the discovery I had made. Finally I could hear more about this from Aunt Mary.
I read through the first dozen or so entries easily, each was no longer than a page or two. They talked of how she coped with everything, and how the other members helped her. She wrote about how she was suddenly an expert swordswoman, and became incredibly strong. There was no mention of Louis though, which was surprising, because in the first year that was covered in her scattered entries she described all the other members of Les Chasseurs.
Then there was a year gap between entries, and at when she returned to writing Louis made his appearance there. She spoke of his arrogance first, and how she could not stand him. There was a four page rant on how he annoyed her, the longest of any entry. She said that he had not shown up before because he preferred working alone, and was the oldest of the members. That was something I did not understand until I made the most shocking discovery in her writing.
The next entry several months later, she was obviously becoming smitten with Louis, and spoke of his 'ageless beauty'. That would explain how he still appeared so young, but how was he ageless? I continued reading and found exactly how. Aunt Mary then went into detail about the other secret the necklace had held.
Apparently, while the pendant touched the hunter's skin, it protected from more than just venom. The pendant stopped the body from aging, and would not allow itself to be taken off until the owner was ready. And Louis was never ready. According to Aunt Mary's journal, Louis was now at least a hundred years old.
I was baffled, and just for the heck of it I reached my hand around the necklace searching again for a clasp, coming up empty again.
I put my eyes back down to start reading again when I heard the light sound of Jake walking down the stairs. How he could be so quiet when he was so large amazed me. I looked up to see him assessing my expression; he smiled when our eyes met.
"Hey, good morning." I said as I closed the book and stood up to greet him.
He yawned absentmindedly and wrapped a bare arm around me. "I'm hungry."
"You want some oatmeal?" I offered jokingly.
He laughed remembering that was all I had to offer. "Do I have a choice?"
I shook my head, "Why don't we get breakfast out, and then we can get some food for here?"
He agreed and we headed upstairs. Jake ruffled my hair when we got to the top of the stairs. "You're cute when you're concentrating. What were you reading?"
I closed the door and slipped the key under the loose banister I had been using as a hiding spot, before turning to face Jake. "Umm, Aunt Mary's journal, I found it this morning. It had some interesting stuff about what I should be expecting."
Jake stared at me intensely. "Like what?"
"You know, basically I'll be freakishly strong, amazing with a sword. Oh yea, and as long as I wear the pendant, I'm never going to grow up." I smiled at the last part, so did Jake.
Then his face fell a bit, barely enough for someone to notice, but I caught it. "What?"
He shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing."
I thought for a second and realized something. "Wait, are you upset that I'm never going to get old? Are you going to outgrow me?"
Jake smiled at me like I was insane. "No! Leila… werewolf remember? I'm not exactly getting any older either lately."
I nodded my head as I remembered, but there was still that look on his face. "Then what then?"
He shook his head and blushed lightly. "It's just, the sword thing is pretty awesome…"
We both laughed at the statement. Jake wasn't upset, he was jealous. "Oh yea? Well I kinda wish that I could turn into a giant wolf. I definitely think you have me slightly outdone."
His smile beamed down at me, and I smiled back at him. After a minute I caught myself and looked away. "Let me go get dressed, so we can leave."
I pulled Jake down to me and swiftly pecked his cheek, running upstairs before he could react.
Once safely inside the purple walls I sighed contently and headed for my all too skimpy supply of clothes. I settled on a pair of borrowed khaki shorts and a light blue halter top, hoping the weather would work with me today.
I ran to the bathroom and smiled at the new face that greeted me. The stranger reflecting back did look a lot like Aunt Mary, I guess I had never realized how much.
I thought of the journal. Something inside me told me that there were other secrets about Aunt Mary I would soon find out, and that they somehow involved Louis.
