The sun was beginning to rise by time there was a lull in the conversation. We had all been sitting in the living room, spending the night getting to know the newest member of the coven. I had not spoken much because everything I said seemed to sound wrong or awkward to me. Almost worse was the indulgent smile that Alice would give me every time I made a fool of myself. It was as though she knew something that I did not and she had no intention of telling me.

"I have to get home," Lily said, rising from her seat on the couch.

"But, you are home, dear," Esme said. "This is, after all, your home now."

"Oh, I will be spending most of my time here, it's true, but I technically already have a family here. My foster family took me in last year and it will draw attention if I ran away to a new family all of the sudden. I do believe attention is something we would all like to avoid. And, as such, I have to live with my foster family until I graduate. So, I need to get back before they come to wake me up. I'll be back though." With one last stunning grin, she was out the door.

I could not wait to get to school; it seemed as though the morning could not go by fast enough. And I was sure that speed-loving Emmett was driving at a snail's pace all the way to school. I would have gotten there quicker by walking.

However, when I arrived and went to my locker, Lily was leaning casually on her own, in perfect imitation of human posture, her hair falling in her face and a small smile on her lips.

"What do you say we skip Italian today? I don't know if I can handle two days of learning the alphabet in a row."

"Y-yeah. Sounds great to me," I stammered, silently cursing myself for suddenly not being able to talk without a stutter.

"I'll meet you out in the parking lot, then," she replied. With a quick wave, she headed off in the direction of her first class.

"See you," I replied, even though she was already gone. I just keep making such an awful fool of myself around her, I thought angrily as I headed toward my own first period class. What is wrong with me?

"Hey, there. You up for a run?"

"Sure!" Ugh, could I have said that with any more enthusiasm? Luckily, Lily just laughed lightly at my overzealousness over a run. Apparently, my ability to completely embarrass myself had not decreased over the past couple hours. I had spent the majority of the first three class periods trying to think of something suave or witty to say when we met up; I had managed to come up with a good half dozen lines, all of which I promptly forgot upon seeing her. So, once again, I sounded like a dork. "So, uh, where are we going?"

"My house," she responded, brightly, and started walking towards the woods on the other side of the parking lot.

"I thought you lived in town," I said, catching up with her. "Over that way."

"When have I ever mentioned where I live? Hunter Cullen, have you been stalking me?"

"Uh, um, no. I mean, it is a small town, uh-"

"Calm down," she said with a laugh, "I'm just kidding. Come on." We had reached the woods and she took off at a run. Cursing myself again for embarrassing myself for what I could only assume would be one of the first of many times today, I ran after her.

It was a short run, only twenty or so miles from Hartford, which took little time for us to cover. The entire run was through wooded areas and finally ended in a small clearing with a house in the center and a long driveway leading up to it.

"Welcome to my house," Lily said with a smile and a gesture towards the house. "Come on in." She led me up the porch stairs and into the living room. The house was nicely furnished in a way that gave it a comfortable, homey air.

"So, if you already have a house in Maine, what did you move into our house last night?"

"Oh, just some books and clothes for when I'm there with you all. Then at my foster family's house, I have clothes and other teenage girl stuff. Most of it I never even touch."

"How long have you been in Maine?"

"I bought this house about 10 years ago, when I first saw that this was where I would meet you. However, I have only been living here for the past two or three years and worked out the logistics of the foster family last year, in time to be enrolled in school."

"You knew that the Cullens would move here a decade ago?" I asked, disbelievingly.

"Of course I did. Practically all the possibilities pointed to you moving here. There were some chances that it would not happen, but it was pretty much guaranteed."

"Why did you pick here to meet with the Cullens? Why did you not meet them any other time if you known you were going to for the past ten years?"

Lily laughed. "It was just the time that it was supposed to happen. You cannot rush fate."

I nodded in assent. "Where did you live before you came to Hartford?"

"Anywhere I felt like, really. I have a couple dozen houses all over the world. After fifteen centuries, you want to make sure that you keep your options open," Lily responded with a smile. "I did not know this was to be an interrogation."

"Uh, sorry. I did not mean to," I apologized, cringing.

She laughed, "Don't worry. It is your turn for questioning now. So, why did you come to the Cullens?"

"This is not something you already know? I thought you saw everything."

Lily laughed in response. Yes! Finally I managed to say something clever. It only took forever for it to happen.

"Oh, I do if I want to," she assured me with a smile. "However, it is exhausting to follow everyone every moment of the day, particularly when you are following every possibility of every little thing that could happen. Most of the time, I just try to block it out so I can concentrate on my day."

"I can see how it would make it difficult."

"Ugh, you should feel lucky that you are a tracker and not a seer. There is nothing worse than being in the middle of doing something important or having a good time and then all of a sudden having all your thoughts taken over by other people's lives. But, enough about me. It is your turn now – we were on why you left the Volturi to live with the Cullens."

"Well, uh, it is pretty simple, really," I began, nervous to be talking about myself. It was a lot easier to ask the questions – there were fewer chances that I would make a fool of myself like I seemed so apt to do. "It mainly comes down to the fact that I do not like the taste of human blood. And the Volturi are rather fond of human blood, as you know. Uh, I mean, um-"

"I was wondering when someone was going to mention my somewhat checkered past. You were all so careful not to bring it up last night."

I shrugged sheepishly, "We did not want it to be awkward."

"Oh, no need to worry. Anyone who leaves the Volturi is exciting; I have come to accept that I am intriguing," she said with a laugh.

"Why did you leave the Volturi?" I asked. "No one there will talk about it."

"Now, now," she chided, "it is far more interesting to have everyone guessing. Laying the rumors to rest will just decrease my intrigue. Anyway, I asked you first."

I smiled, my confidence increasing now that I had not embarrassed myself for a few minutes. "It really comes down to the diet; being in the city during dinner was nauseating. I heard about the Cullens and then saw them when the Volturi came to attack them because they thought the Cullens had the vampire child. It put the thought in my mind; eventually, I decided to try my luck and see if they would let me join the family."

"And Carlisle being who he is, they naturally accepted you without a single qualm," she said with a smile.

"I think Alice pled my case well. How did you come to live on animals instead of humans? Each of the Cullens have their reasons; I am naturally repulsed by human blood. What is your story?"

"Oh, I love human blood, I think it is delicious. However, I knew I would come to adopt the vegetarian lifestyle eventually, so I began developing a taste for animals, oh, probably, a century or two ago? I officially switched about when I moved to Hartford, knowing that I would have to get used to it soon."

My phone started vibrating; pulling it out of my pocket, I saw a text from Alice. "Where r u?"

"Oh, wow, lunch is almost over already. They are all wondering where we are."

"We can go back if you want."

"I cannot honestly say that I really want to. Do you think missing a day of school will put us much behind?" I asked, putting as much fake worry into my tone as I could manage.

Lily smiled, "I'm sure we will manage to catch up."

I responded to Alice, letting her know where I was and what my plans were. It was strange to have to tell Alice about my decisions, but Lily's ability to shield had not decreased after joining our family. I looked up to see Lily scrutinizing me with narrowed eyes.

"You miss the Guard, don't you?"

"What would make you think that?" I asked, slightly unnerved that she was able to read me so well. Special talents or not, I thought I hid things pretty well.

"Everything about you. You are a tracker at heart; nothing will ever make you as happy as tracking did. It is the one time that you are always truly happy. It is how real trackers are."

"Real trackers?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," she responded. "There are two types of trackers: real trackers and those who want to be real trackers. Trust me, thanks to the Volturi, I have seen a lot of trackers over the years. The ones who simply wanted to be trackers never found me and returned empty-handed. The real trackers did not give up until they found me."

"Then what happened to them?"

"Naturally, I could not let them return after that; if I wanted to Volturi to know where I was I would never have left. It is unfortunate that they lost so many talented trackers trying."

"Understandable. I must say I am impressed that you managed to have every tracker in the Guard scared of you for centuries after you left. Everyone's worst nightmare was the day they would be sent after you. But, yes, I do miss it, every day. It was worth leaving though."

Her smile was hypnotic. It bothered me that talking to her I lost all track of time and where I was, but I chalked it up to being due to her talents as a shield. We talked for hours, but it seemed like it was barely any time at all. In that time, I embarrassed myself several times, but Lily thankfully either did not notice or was too gracious to acknowledge it. Despite this, I still cursed my seeming ability to make an utter fool of myself practically every time I opened my mouth.