43 Revelation in Slow Motion

The chapter belongs to Count Five

Rose held Emmett's arm in place as the edges healed back together. Bella and Charlie had crept in to watch, and both looked on in fascination as the puckered edges smoothes and knitted. Emmett tentatively moved his shoulder and flexed his fingers as Carlisle directed him.

Emmett smiled at Rose, who looked stricken at what the wolves had done to her man.

I'd never seen the family as such odds over anything. Alice wanted to jump ship and tow Jasper to Alaska, Rose and Emmett wanted to take submachine guns into the woods and blast the wolves' stinking carcasses to the moon and Esme wanted Carlisle to go to the Quileute council and lodge a formal protest.

My anger at what they'd done zigged and zagged in my head. I felt a bubbling, festering hatred rekindle and burn with an intensity that was frightening. I could easily dismember every last one of them and leave their putrid flesh to slowly rot. It couldn't possibly smell any worse.

Bella and Charlie were quiet through it all. Of course, I couldn't tell what Bella was thinking but Charlie was a mix of confusion and divided loyalties. He watched the wolves from the comfort of a warm house, feeling tugged in two opposing directions. I thought he might join them before daybreak.

A wicked wind had whipped through the trees all night but had recently calmed. As Bella and I stood at the window, a fine snow began to fall, coating the ground in a fine blanket of snowy white. It settled on the shaggy wolves like a magical frosting, making them all look, for the first time, the same, and strangely enough, relatively harmless.

Carlisle had Emmett doing some physical therapy to help the stiffness in his arm and the entire family had gathered in the large office. They discussed what had happened. Their conversation was generally civilized but their thoughts betrayed them.

Without voicing it or even seeming aware that I could pick the information out of their heads, they began to make plans.

Lay low. Stay in the house. Then, venture out and pick them off, one by one, and bury their body so deep it would take a fucking bulldozer to dig it up.

Poison them with some food left outside. Something painful and slow acting. Watch as they writhe in agony, then pull them apart and burn the pieces.

I listened in with alarm while realizing the tendrils of those thoughts were creeping into my brain, too. Trying to shake it off, I had an epiphany.

Something was happening to make the wolves crazy. Jacob had said it himself. They'll be okay, and then something will set them off. The family was also manifesting symptoms. Maybe it took the vampires a little longer to succumb to whatever it was, maybe because we were older, or just less susceptible.

What could it be?

After the last thought from Emmett that involved a crossbow and flaming arrows, I left the window and walked into the office.

"We have to talk about what's going on here."

When I told them what I'd heard in their thoughts, Bella looked over to me in surprise.

"I don't feel any...hostility toward the wolves. I mean, I'm angry that they cornered Alice and hurt Emmett and you, but...I haven't been devising strategy to kill them or anything."

Half an hour later we all sat in the office, speechless. Alice, the computer whiz in the family, had gone online to research anything that might have an effect on us and the wolves. What she found was startling.

A rare planetary alignment was forecast to complete in the coming days. The data showed that the earth had been receiving increased electromagnetic energy from this alignment, which wasn't expected to affect most life on earth.

But, then again, we and the wolves weren't like most life on earth.

Was this the reason for the madness? Would the mania and hostility fade back to normal levels once the planets moved out of alignment? Or was there another reason altogether for the odd behaviors?

Would we kill each other off before we found out?

And why was Bella the only one not affected?

We needed help.

As I pondered these questions, Bella nudged me.

"Quil's awake."

Jasper had carried him upstairs to sleep in the guest bedroom where Charlie had undergone his change. Bella and I ran up the stairs and I opened the door a crack to see that he was awake but still lying down.

He tried to sit up but was still too weak. "I need Jacob and Charlie. It is very important."

"Um, well, there's a problem," I began slowly. "Emmett's arm has been reattached but my family is feeling...very angry about what happened. There are six wolves outside the house right now but Jacob and Seth aren't with them."

He sighed heavily and put his arm over his eyes. "We must hurry. Do you know where Jacob is?"

"I can't get him on the phone but it could be because of the storm."

The old guy found his strength and sat straight up in the bed, peering at the window. "It is raining?" he said.

"Snowing. Hard."

"Two of the four," he muttered. "I must speak to Carlisle."

Bella waited in the hall as I helped him get dressed. His old clothes had been thrown away and some of Jasper's left for him to put on. He seemed pleased with the cotton sweats and heavy socks, feeling awe at the comfort and warmth of the soft sweatshirt. He hadn't had new clothes in many years and sighed contentedly as he slipped on a pair of soft bedroom slippers.

A narrow brown box had been removed from his pants pocket and placed on the bedside table. He looked relieved when he saw it and placed it reverently in his lap.

"Thank you for letting me borrow these fine items."

"They're yours," I said simply.

He nodded. I helped him down the stairs and soon we were all in Carlisle's office, looking out at the wolves. They were still standing as they were before, as if on guard. It was disquieting.

As we watched, a large reddish-brown wolf and his smaller, sandy colored counterpart loped up the take their place on the line. Seth had fallen under the influence of the planetary anomaly and Jacob was struggling against the madness.

Jacob hung his shaggy head in relief as he spied Old Quil's weathered face in the window. After conveying to the others to wait, he trotted up the house, eager to communicate with me.

Going out the glass doors in the living room, I met him around back of the house, about a mile into the woods. He phased to human, pulling a ragged pair of cut-off sweats on.

"I've been to the Quileute council, telling them all that's happened."

"What did they say?"

He shook his head and spit on the ground. "I'm on my own, apparently." He paused, and then softened. "It's not their fault. They don't have any idea how to proceed."

The hard edge crept back into his voice. "And let's not forget. I'm the Alpha, so it's my responsibility to keep up with my pack."

For the first time I truly appreciated the burden he carried. His life wasn't his anymore, not really.

Running a huge hand through his hair, he sighed. "And whatever is making them crazy is starting to affect me, I'm afraid. My thinking has become...fragmented and fractured."

"Well, Quil just woke up, so you haven't missed anything. He says you need to be present when he reveals what he learned about the prophecy."

Jacob rubbed his forehead intently. "I'm fighting this—whatever it is, but it's really hard."

"Astronomical event, we think," I said.

"Whatever," he said wearily. "Just...let's keep separated until we hear about the prophecy and Charlie's truth." He turned to leave. "Oh, and...I'll stay phased outside with the pack. I can hear. We all can. And...it's safer this way. They're descending to a deep place, a place of no reason, with no rules."

He turned to go but stopped. "The car is just over the line, on the same side of the road. They got a couple of the local boys to help them push it." He paused and scratched his head. "I think they thought Emmett and Jasper might cross the line for it and then they could attack."

Before I could blink my eyes he had ripped the shorts off and phased. I watched him silently bound through the wooded area, amazed that something that big could land on crunchy, leaf and debris-strewn ground without making a sound.

Bella was waiting for me at the door and grasped my hand as I told Quil what Jacob had said. Quil nodded and said, "It is time to begin. I will first speak with Charlie." He turned away from the window and the snow, gesturing for Charlie to join him.

"I will look at your hands, Charlie Swan."

Charlie drew his eyebrows together but extended both hands to Quil, who turned them over to consider Charlie's palms. Grasping the left hand, he ran a shaky finger over Charlie's scar.

As he did, a scene began to play out in his head. Charlie, as a man, running into the wind. He feels a tingling move through his body. It is not unpleasant.

As he runs it spreads, grows and magnifies, until it reaches all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes.

His entire body hums with it. He feels like a song that the Universe is playing. The build up reminds him of his first sexual climax.

He hears a voice. It is familiar but seems far away.

'Everything you're feeling is normal, Keep running and when you feel full of the energy, jump into it. Don't fight it. Let it overtake you.'

He runs faster, hopping over branches and veering around bends in the path. And with every breath he takes, he feels more.

More aware, more alive. More.

The tingling turns to heat. It feels spiky, like his blood is pricking his veins.

Soon his heart is racing, pumping the hot, sharp blood faster and faster.

He feels his breath catch, then hears the voice again. It is beside him.

'Now! Jump into it now, Charlie!'

Leaping forward, he feels his body changing at the speed of light. Clothing explodes off of him, blown into a thousand shreds. Leather, cotton, snaps and buttons all go flying.

He's aware of voices in his head. There's cheering, then silence. He looks around to see nine wolves lying with their head on their paws, as if in worship.

Glancing to the left he sees himself reflected in a small stream. He's enormous, with snowy white fur. On his left flank is a darker area, shaped like a star.

Their leader, a great red-brown wolf, nods his head and the wolves stand. They form a circle around the white wolf. He's communicated something to them that they didn't want to hear but it saved them.

It saved everyone.

The fling back their great shaggy heads and howl—not a lament, or a salutation, or even a victory.

It was gratitude.

We extend our thanks to the Universe for sending the White Wolf in our time of need.

He is our brother.

I opened my eyes to find I'd collapsed to my knees. Bella stood beside me, rubbing my shoulder.

Sitting back on my feet, I thought about what I'd just seen. The exhilaration that Charlie felt as he phased was extremely powerful. "I've never experienced anything like that before," I confessed, realizing everyone was looking at me. "I could actually feel the sensations that Charlie was feeling."

Charlie frowned and Quil smiled, patting his hand before releasing it.

Sitting up straight, he pulled the box from his pocket and opened it, revealing a perfect black crow's feather. It was bound with flat leather and adorned with white beads. It hung on a long leather cord.

"Charlie Swan, you are the White Wolf, for whom my people have waited." He reached out trembling hands and Charlie bent his head. When Charlie sat up we saw the amulet hanging on his chest.

The black feather lay in sharp juxtaposition to beads of a snowy white.

"Welcome to the Quileute Nation." We all stood as they shook hands. The only sound was the soft tick tick tick of snow on the roof of the house and Charlie and Quil's deep, slow breathing.

"Charlie has something to share with us but I would prefer to discuss the prophecy first." He looked around absently for his Ziploc bag and I handed it to him from the desk.

He began to shiver so we retired to the comfort of the living room. Soon a friendly fire was blazing. I was initially uncomfortable leaving the office and its large window. We had a perfect view of the shapeshifters along the tree line. As we vacated the room, however, they anticipated our move and reformed their line on the other side of the house. Their red eyes shown eerily through the snow, reminding each of us quite forcefully that we were not alone.

Quil carefully removed his notebook from the big plastic bag. He opened it to the first page and gestured for us to look at it if we liked. "Please save the last page for me to explain."

We had never seen the notebook or the drawings he'd made. The first one, The unwanted return, Quil had interpreted as our return from Alaska. He'd drawn the family standing in front of the Forks City Limit sign, wearing parkas and heavy boots.

At the return of the white fawn, war drums will sound in the valley had been interpreted as Bella's arrival in Forks and the conflict between our family and James, Victoria and Laurent.

And I was shown a clearing where stood the white fawn, and a warrior from each clan fought to claim her. This one clearly meant the triangle of Bella, Jacob and myself. It showed the fawn standing between a tall, muscular brown man with shaggy hair and a taller white man with wild, unruly hair.

On they went. There was a prophecy for the first time I met Bella, when we professed our love for each other, my departure and her timely arrival in Volterra, my lapse in the forest when I fed on the biker, Matt, our marriage and her change.

The last page we were allowed to look at was the prophecy that predicted Charlie's attack and the subsequent ritual to change him.

My brothers and sisters hovered around the table and talked about each prophecy and the drawing that accompanied it, which was dated. Sometimes Quil had drawn the picture before he'd deciphered the prophecy, sometimes after. He told us it was always like that. He hadn't been able to 'see' what every one of them meant ahead of time. Sometimes the catalyst was the event itself.

When we'd come to the prophecy about Charlie, we handed the book to Carlisle and Esme who looked at it for a few minutes. Esme was the artist in the house and was amazed at the detail Quil had achieved on each sketch.

When the book made its way back to Quil he closed it and thought for a moment.

"There are two prophecies that remain. The last was easy and required nothing special from me—just my knowledge of what had come before. It was the logical conclusion.

"But the next-to-last," he patted the book, "was very difficult. The wording suggested danger," he looked around absently, "and conflict. But I could make no sense of it. Some of the earlier prophecies were particularly tricky to interpret, so I would go into the woods and eat the mushroom, as Ephraim Black did."

"And that's what you were doing when Emmett and I found you?" Jasper was making a valiant effort to calm down but wasn't really succeeding.

"Yes. I met with the council before I left and told them that I felt this prophecy was possibly the most important of the string. I understand it now and I have drawn it."

The snow came down harder outside, partially obscuring our view of the line of wolves from time to time. Jasper made sure to keep the fire burning brightly for Quil but we all enjoyed the warmth.

Quil turned the pages of the notebook until they came to the proper page. The original prophecy was printed across the top:

The red eye looks through the Mother to the bright sister, sending pain and torment. A sign of four shall there be: hot spoils cold; winter when green; putrid flows over the land, causing suffering; blood spills on new snow.

If realized, thunder meets lightning. The White Fawn remains.

Only the truth of the White Wolf will see a new generation.

I was interested to see if the prophecy pointed to the astronomical event that Alice had run across on the Internet.

Alice looked up from the notebook, intrigued. "How does the mushroom help?"

"It takes me to the time of the original prophecies, to the time of Ephraim Black. While I am there, I share Ephraim's visions with him." He paused, frowning. "It does not always work," he conceded. "Sometimes I cannot find him and I will only walk in darkness. In those instances, I feel that I am not meant to know the prophecy for some reason.

"Other times, he is waiting for me. He leads me by the hand and we watch events unfold together."

"And this time?" Jasper sat up straight with interest.

"This time," Quil began, "I saw it all. The good and the bad. I saw both outcomes."

He turned to his drawing. Across both pages he had drawn three circles. The first, a medium-sized red one, was in the top right corner. The next, a larger circle, was blue and green. It was diagonal to the first, near the middle of the notebook. The last was the smallest and was red and yellow. It was on the far left corner. Through them Quil had drawn an arrow with a flaming tip.

This was the planetary alignment that Alice had read about.

Against the backdrop of the planets, Quil had drawn the greens and browns of the forest. On the left side, red splashes stained the paper. Upon closer inspection, the red represented body parts that had been scattered as if by a casual swipe of a giant hand. Vacant eyes stared at no one and faces were contorted with confusion and pain, the heads ripped from their bodies before expressions could fade.

Amidst the ruined landscape stood a single figure—the White Fawn. Tears dripped from her face. She stood alone.

"Whoa," Charlie said, clearly troubled by this. "The White Fawn—it's Bella. And what...we're all...dead?"

Quil nodded slowly. "That is one outcome. If the vampires and the wolves enter into a confrontation, they will kill each other off, all except Bella."

"We know why."

Quil sat back and listened with interest as I told him about the wolves' hostility and the family's growing unrest with the situation. "But Bella seems the only one who hasn't succumbed to the power of the alignment. She's unaffected."

He gestured to the page on the right. Here he had drawn battle lines—wolves fully phased on one side, teeth dripping, fur bristling, and on the other side, eight vampires poised for battle. Between them stood the White Wolf. Neither side dared cross him.

We all looked up at him for an explanation.

"There are four markers that show how close the confrontation is to becoming a reality. First," he turned the page back and pointed, "is this: Hot spoils cold. This is the conflict between Emmett and Brady, where Emmett lost an arm."

I looked around to see everyone frowning.

"The next, Winter when green," he gestured to the window, "is the unseasonable snow."

Okay, I was now officially freaked out. We'd already had two of the four come to pass.

"The third: Putrid flows over the land, causing suffering. I am not sure what this means. I saw several of the wolves very sick, vomiting, and miserable. I think that we will know when this event occurs, no matter what it is."

Quil had the undivided attention of every person in the room as he explained the fourth marker in a series of four.

"Blood spills on new snow."

Alarmed faces looked to Quil. He shook his head, saying, "Alas, I could not see this one. All I saw was the blood. It stained the snow. I think it is safe to say that any event that falls on the snow may be the catalyst for the battle to begin."

Esme got up and walked to the sliding glass door. It was nearly daybreak and we could be attacked at any moment, so splintered and disorganized were the wolves' thoughts.

We all lapsed into silence as each one of us considered Quil's interpretation of the all-important next-to-the-last prophecy. Finally Jasper jumped up and pulled Alice to her feet. "Let's make Charlie and Quil something to eat."

Charlie and Quil were pretty excited about that, even if no one else was. Soon we all stood by the open glass doors in the living room as the smell of sizzling bacon, frying eggs and hot coffee filled the house. Charlie told Quil his dreams during transformation in detail. Quil soaked up every word.

As morning dawned, the snow finally stopped falling. A chilly wind whipped the clouds out to sea, leaving a bright and rare sun shining down. As I looked out I saw a sight that disturbed me. Several wolves were digging a deep hole in the spot where we buried the perishable food that we couldn't donate to the shelter.

I watched in horror as a big brown wolf hopped in the pit they'd dug and pull out a black plastic garbage bag. He and the others tore into it frantically, spilling the spoiled contents over the frozen ground. The stench rolled through the house, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look up, appalled.

Bella stood beside me, her mouth open in shock. "It's the third marker," she whispered. I bolted out the door, running through the snow, waving my arms like a madman.

Holding my hands up, I yelled, "Don't eat that! It's rotten!"

Before I could take a breath I was surrounded by angry, crazy wolves. The stench of decaying meat permeated the air as they formed a circle around me, their putrid, hot breath hovering above us in a heavy, stinking cloud.

Their thoughts were colorful and disjointed. No cohesive action was shared amongst them, just a general hatred of the vampires and a need to rid the world of that pestilence. I represented to them a vermin that was to be exterminated.

My family appeared but wisely didn't intervene. As they frantically tried to figure out how to extricate me, the circle began to shrink as the wolves, snarling and growling, slowly tightened ranks.

I could jump straight up and then over them but they were probably as proficient at aerial leaps as I was. The reality was that I could lose a leg that way, or worse.

"Jacob! Do something, for God Sake!"

Bella's scream reached Jacob, who was patrolling the perimeter of my enclosure, but he didn't respond, instead just hung his head and growled.

Just over the wolves' massive backs I could see Charlie hurrying up to us, Old Quil tottering beside him.

As the wolf nearest me snapped his massive teeth, Bella whimpered and ran toward us. Just as she reached the circle, a massive brown wolf turned and snapped at her, just missing her shoulder as Jasper pulled her back.

Bella's shriek of surprise motivated Charlie. He took a deep breath and broke into a frantic run, an unbounded energy flowing through him. He leapt into the air and burst into a magnificent white animal with deep brown eyes.

Thecircle of wolves around me staggered and separated as he landed in front of them.

He threw his enormous white head back and howled, long and loud. It was an admonition. It was a warning.

She may be a vampire, but if you value your life, you will leave my daughter alone.