Chapter Twenty Five

I sat next to Lizzie and Logan on one of the couches. We were all at Emily's house, and it was past ten o'clock. Charlie had said I could stay until one, but I was too exhausted to even consider leaving at twelve.

"Hi, Bella," Lizzie greeted me, her cinnamon eyes taking in my face. She scooted over the slightest bit and I sank back against the couch, momentarily lost.

The cushions felt so soft. I could have easily fallen asleep in five minutes if they had all left me. I sighed in bliss and closed my eyes for a moment, feeling sleep enter my system. The nightmares came and gone since I had decided to be around Jacob more, but now the nightmares were always haunting me in the waking world, tiring me out. I wanted to close my eyes and attempt to sleep, but I knew it would be impossible for a while. I grimaced and made myself relax another second on Emily's lush couch before I sat back up and reluctantly opened my eyes.

I nearly blushed when I saw that everyone was looking at me with a sort of pity in their eyes. I turned my head to where Sam was, walking into the living room with a can of soda, and I said, "Everyone's here."

Sam surveyed the room with his dark eyes and smiled, almost timidly. "Right." Jacob and Paul both looked around the room as if they expected more people to arrive. Sam looked back at me, Lizzie, and Logan and said, "Emily wants to talk to you guys after, if you can stay that long."

At our synchronized nods, Sam put the soda can on the coffee table and joined Quil and Embry on the couch opposite of us. "I told you that we have to reset some boundaries. The Pack cannot go to Forks, everyone knows that. Mostly everyone." Sam eyed Lizzie and Logan. Both of them looked very uncomfortable to be here. I nudged Lizzie's knee with mine. They were probably nervous from being at one of their first Pack meetings.

"Victoria is in Forks, a huge problem. We were after her first, but now she's on their land." Sam made a face when he said the word 'their'. He meant the Cullens. The Pack's noses wrinkled and I was suddenly aware that Jacob was the farthest away from the group. He leaned against the doorframe that separated the kitchen from the living room.

Something dark made my heart shrink when Jacob met my gaze, sensing my eyes on him. I smiled shyly and Jacob smiled back. It wasn't Sam's smile, nor was it his own. Jacob smiled darkly, and it wasn't a smile at all. It was a grimace. Did Sam have bad news?

I cringed mentally and began to pay more attention. I blinked when I realized that Sam had been watching the two of us. "Bella," Sam said quietly when I glanced at him. "We're making a new treaty after the party."

I tipped my head to the side in confusion, shocked at Sam's words. Sam smiled ruefully. "In case you're wondering, Seth and Leah did break the treaty by telling Lizzie and Logan." Seth and Leah both cringed where they stood, leaning against walls, but otherwise were silent. "It is different for imprints, especially if the imprints are not part of the Pack. The world is different now. Before, the treaty was broken all the time, you could say. The entire village knew about the wolves. Now, the werewolves are a secret. People can't know because it endangers the Pack.

"Before, there wasn't a treaty. The treaty for us is different for the vampires. They can't bite someone, and we can't tell anyone." Sam grimaced. "It's hard, harder than it was before."

Sam finished his disappointed rant with a worried glance at the three of us. "You know what imprints are. You two," he looked at Logan and Lizzie, "are tied to Seth and Leah. It wasn't a decision, but it is something that cannot be undone."

Logan clenched his jaw and Lizzie bit her lip. I was filled with sad horror to realize that Lizzie and Logan didn't like this. I looked at Seth and Leah, feeling sympathetic for them. How cruel it was. Leah was finally free from Sam, only to imprint on someone who didn't want it, who didn't want her.

"What happens now?" Lizzie asked, her soft voice low. Her cinnamon eyes went to Seth, who had been looking at his bare feet. Seth immediately looked up, sensing Lizzie's eyes on him. Seth didn't smile, but I could see the pain in his eyes. He wanted Lizzie like Leah wanted Logan. He wanted someone to care about.

"Now," Sam made a small clap, probably to get Quil and Jared's attention; they both looked like they were zoning out. "We have make a new treaty, a temporary one," he emphasized, "with the Cullens. We can't take on the herd of vampires by ourselves." His words made the Pack grumble. "We need their help. Edward told Jacob that Jasper has experience with fighting newborn vampires. We'll need them to teach us. In a few weeks, we'll be back to our routine, vampires gone. After that, well, Bella graduates."

I nearly smiled at his casual words, but my mood soured when I thought of the coming weeks.

Paul snarled under his breath. "Vampires teaching us how to kill them. You're right, Sam. The world is different." He had obviously only heard a fraction of what Sam had said.

Sam scowled at Paul's tone but was otherwise silent. He looked at the three of us on the couch and then around the room. "Emily!" He called.

I blinked and suddenly realized that Emily hadn't been in the room the entire time. I heard a door close to the right of me and everyone looked over at her when she came from a hallway I hadn't been down.

I heard Lizzie and Logan both suck in a breath when Emily's scarred face came into few. Lizzie blinked hard and formed her pale pink lips into a smile.

Emily blushed, turning a light red under her russet skin, and waved shyly. "Hi."

Lizzie and Logan both spoke. "Hi."

I looked back at Sam in dismay. They haven't met her.

"I'm Emily."

"I'm Lizzie." Lizzie hopped off of the couch and all but ran to Emily, a strange look of sad relief lighting up her face. She held out her hand to Emily. "I've heard a lot about you."

Emily stepped around Lizzie to eye the Pack. "Oh, really?" Her smile was still pasted on her face, and only one side of her pretty face moved. Logan left the couch, looking moderately calm, and shook Emily's hand.

"Logan." He said and Emily smiled a little wider.

"Lizzie, Logan," she grinned and then she waved to me. "Bella, come on. It's for the three of you."

"What is?" I asked though I was already leaving my spot on the couch.

Emily looked at the three of us and her smile was suddenly gone.

"There are a lot of stories you haven't heard of." She said as she led us to the front door. "I'm about to share one with you."

I looked back at the crowded living room to see everyone look at Jacob. The door closed behind me and blocked my view.

"It was awkward between the three of us after the hospital released me." Emily started. Lizzie and I leaned forward, our eyes on Emily's scarred face. Emily looked down at her bowl of ice cream and gently stirred the melting glob with a silver spoon. "Sam's presence didn't bother me like it used to. We'd play games, though Leah didn't like it. I don't blame her." Emily frowned but her eyes brightened as she went on. "We'd do little things like that, especially in the beginning. We'd ask each other questions just to. . . Get to know each other."

"Like Twenty Questions?" I asked after Emily paused, thinking of the millions of questions I had asked Edward when I had first known him.

Emily glanced at me, half of her face glowing with a smile. "It has a name? Well, yes, Bella. Sam and I would play Twenty Questions."

Logan smiled softly at the drowsy bliss that clouded Emily's face as she leaned back against the booth. "I could ask him things for hours. Sometimes I'd ask him the same question just to see if he would change his answer. He'd catch me every time." Emily spoke with a low voice as she humorously imitated Sam, " 'Emily, you asked me that already!'"

Lizzie sipped her drink as Emily went on. "No one ever jumps into love. They have to know each other a little bit first."

"Romeo and Juliet didn't," Lizzie pointed out, smiling.

Emily scowled playfully. "Romeo and Juliet don't exist."

"Maybe." Logan chirped. "I mean, imprinting is like love at first sight, right?"

Emily smiled sadly. "I wouldn't know."

I spoke, thinking of what Jacob told me. "Jacob said that it was like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time."

"Hmm." Emily hummed in thought. "All you can see is that person." Emily said, and then she smiled, probably thinking of Sam, and wondering how Sam saw her.

Lizzie and Logan relaxed, looking more at ease, until Emily said,

"This isn't a happy story." Emily frowned at us. "I know, I know. It starts off gloomy because I was alone, and Leah had Sam and all was good, and it has a happy ending, but. . . When you first hear it, you won't feel very happy after wards."

I frowned and asked, "What is this about?"

Emily looked at me with somber almond brown eyes and one of her hands touched her face. "This story is about how I got. . ." she ran her hand over one of the thick, faded pink lines. Emily didn't need to go on. Darkness clouded our faces and I started to breathe deeply when my stomach began to churn.

This was about how she got her scars.

This was about how Sam attacked her. Maybe even why he attacked her.

Lizzie's voice trembled when she spoke. "Tell us."

Emily looked at her, fed herself a spoonful of ice cream, and started to speak.

"Sam and I weren't engaged when it happened, though he had imprinted on me. I didn't want Sam, even though I had been dating on and off. Sam had been dating Leah since high school, and I was her cousin. Family doesn't hurt each other that way." Emily said, and then forcefully, "Family never hurts family."

"I had been visiting the Makah reservation when Sam had imprinted on me. I told him to stay away. Sam wasn't impolite or anything; I didn't have to fight him off in that way. But there was something about imprinting that made not seeing me impossible for him.

"One day, I was fed up with Sam. He was always around me trying to get me to talk to him. I can't remember exactly what we said to each other, but I snapped, and it was bad. I called him a liar and said he was just like my father." Emily's eyes filled with tears. Did she still feel guilty about saying such a thing to Sam? "He phased the very next second. I was too close, and I had provoked him. You could say I deserved it."

"No," Lizzie snapped, "no, you didn't."

Emily smiled wanly at Lizzie. "Yeah, I suppose, right? He was too angry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"If Sam can't control his emotions, it's his own fault." Logan mumbled, and then cringed when Lizzie elbowed him.

"He hurt Emily," Logan defended himself, "and look, here's another example: Jacob." He eyed me worriedly, dark eyes gazing at me. "He nearly hurt you, too. It's unforgivable to hurt someone you care about."

"It was an accident." I snapped. First Edward blaming Jacob, and now Logan.

"It doesn't matter." Emily stopped Logan from replying. "Bella is safe. Sam did hurt me, but I'm fine. I'm healed, and I'm happy."

Lizzie and Logan both looked at Emily, identical expressions of confusion on their faces. "Sam hurt you-" Lizzie said and Emily interrupted.

"Everyone deserves a second chance." Her words made a strange knot fall to the pit of my stomach.

"Even vampires?" The words flew out of my mouth.

Emily looked over at me, as did Lizzie and Logan. Emily looked the least unsurprised at my words. "If you think Edward deserves a second chance, then give it to him."

"It's not that easy." I mumbled.

"Of course not." Emily nodded sympathetically. "As Lysander once said, 'the course of true love never did run smooth'."

"A Midsummer Night's Dream?" Lizzie guessed and Emily nodded. Lizzie smiled, red-gold hair bouncing as she bobbed her head in satisfaction. "That one is my favorite." Lizzie said.

"Why?" Logan turned to her, looking relieved at a new topic.

Lizzie beamed. "The four lovers are so confused by the fairies and Puck's flower that they don't see the real picture. They all want what they can't have, because the one they want loves another."

Her words were very profound. Logan said something, and it blew me away, much like how Emily and Lizzie had.

"Who says they can't have someone who loves another? If two of the lovers want the same person, surely one can give her or him up just for them to be happy? Can't both of them do that?"

"This is too deep." I moaned in mock exasperation though my head was spinning. "New subject."

Lizzie looked at Emily's amused face and put her cheek on her hand, gazing at me. In the middle of a war between werewolves and vampires, four humans chatted about a love story. I can't deal with this right now.

"What do you want to talk about, Bella?" Logan asked before Lizzie could.

I opened my mouth to reply when a waitress suddenly came up to the table. "Do any of you know a Bella Swan? Daughter of the chief up in Forks?"

I felt dread fill my stomach and I nodded. "I'm Bella."

The waitress turned to me, smiling. The smile was wrong. Her eyes were worried. "Your father is on the phone asking for you. Up at front," she pointed to the front of the diner.

I glanced at Lizzie, Logan, and Emily. "I'll be back."

"No rush." Emily's eyes were dark with concern. Lizzie and Logan watched me walk up to the front.

"Dad?" I asked when I held the phone to my ear.

"Bella, I need you to come home." Charlie breathed into the phone. "Wait for me at home. Alice is there. Don't go anywhere alone."

"Why?" I mumbled.

"Play along," Charlie whispered at the same moment I heard a familiar voice start shouting at Charlie. "All right, Bella?" Charlie spoke in a normal tone.

Play along with what? "Okay, Dad."

"Have someone drive you home. Alice will be there. Sam's orders."

Sam? Sam Uley?

No. "Sam from the accident?"

"That's the one. He wants you to be safe." Charlie said, and then not to me, "Give him one of those. No need for an overdose." And then to someone else entirely, he said, "She's safe now, Sam."

"Dad?"

"Sam thought you would know what I'm talking about. The woman with fire for hair, so Sam says. He wants to see you later, but for now, go home."

"What?" Charlie wasn't making sense.

"Bella, don't make me say this nonsense." Charlie huffed, and to someone else again, "One only. Take it with water."

What is going on? I screamed silently. "What nonsense?"

Charlie grumbled.

"What?"

"Sam says that there are vampires running around. Apparently, the one with fire for hair is looking for you."

I nearly dropped the phone.