A/N: Just so everyone is aware, I've already written the first 11 chapters of this fic and I'm still going. The only reason I'm going to be releasing them at regular intervals (I'm thinking every four or so days, not quite sure yet) is so that I have time to write more and keep ahead. I know this fic is pretty different compared to my other stuff in certain ways, and that it's going to take forever to get to the good stuff, so I want to thank everyone in advance for sticking with me on this one.

P.S. If you want, join my discord server. You can encourage me to write, talk out fics that I have and haven't published yet, get early access to said unpublished fics, and just mess around. /EX7yxfUhQf

Chapter 2

Riley woke up to a full body ache. It was like when she had first been struck by lightning all over again, only this time, her body was less achy and instead of hard and uncomfortable ground under her, it was definitely a warm and comfortable mattress. She took quick stock of herself, noticing how she had been cleaned up and her injured hand had been swaddled in bandages.

"Is the girl awake yet?" she heard a very grumpy girl's voice grumbled.

"Patience, Leah," a softer girl's voice murmured. "It looks like she was struck by lightning and who knows what else. She needs to rest."

"Well I want answers," Leah snapped. "No one could find out shit about the girl, and she just happened to be alone in the forest, on one of the clearest days in a while, at the same time Swan almost got munched on? She's lucky we were around to save her."

"Leah, I know you're worried-"

"I'm not worried!" Leah snapped.

"Mother?" Riley croaked theatrically, letting her eyelids flutter. She raised her hand upward, like she was reaching for the sky. "Is that you? It's so warm...so bright...go into the light, you say? Okay, Mother, I'll follow you...tell my annoyingly loud housemates I'm sorry...and that they need to shut the fuck up if they don't want to wake a poor, injured ho like me…"

"Okay, smartass," Leah said with a snort. "I get it. You're awake and it's our fault."

"Your fault," the other girl corrected.

"It's not just my fault!"

"Yes it is, loudmouth Mcgee," Riley let her hand fall back to the bed. "Anyone mind telling me where I am? Maybe why I'm wearing some huge ass clothes?" Seriously, it hadn't been the first thing Riley had noticed, but now she was aware of just how swaddled she was. The clothes were like three sizes too big for her.

"Only if you answer my questions first," Leah retorted.

"Leah, shush, that's not how you should talk to people," the other girl scolded. She started to move toward Riley, Riley felt it, and immediately her flight and fight instincts kicked in. Riley was on her feet, poised to hit and run if necessary, despite her current still injured state. Her eyes were locked on the two girls, taking them in. The three scars marring the right side of the shorter girl's face was just another detail Riley captured as she examined them. If this really was the Twilight universe-which she was horrifyingly sure of now-Riley knew how she got them. Those scars weren't an indicator of strength but an accident, no matter how fucked up the accident was, and that was all the reason Riley needed to move past them as she searched for any potential weapons. It was a pretty stupid thing to do, seeing as one of them could literally shift into a giant wolf, but it was an instinct of hers Riley would never question.

Speaking of shifting into a giant wolf...wasn't it way too early? From what Riley remembered, Leah didn't shift until way after the whole Laurent death scene. Yet there was no doubt in Riley's mind that Leah was wolf. Maybe this world was different from the books after all?

Fuck, Riley didn't know, but she didn't like it.

The two girls caught her sudden wariness, and as the shorter of the two put up her hands, trying to soothe Riley, the much taller one seemed to eye her with a mix of understanding and suspicion.

"It's okay," the shorter girl said. "No one is going to hurt you here. I'm Emily, and this is my cousin Leah. Leah found you in the woods and brought you here. She had to change your clothes because you were soaked through, and she only had her clothes to change you into at the time. I was the one who did my best to patch you up. You really should go to the hospital, but we didn't want to risk moving you more than necessary."

"Wait, you did all of that?" Riley asked, focusing on Leah. The taller girl reluctantly blushed, and did her best to glare at Riley, but that wasn't about to deter Riley in the slightest. "Wow, you sure are good at hiding your sweet side with that giant stick up your ass-"

"Shut up!" Leah growled as she blushed even darker, but didn't do that shaking thing like in the books. Either she had good control of her anger, she wasn't actually angry, or the books weren't accurate. It was definitely a tossup.

"You want to shut me up, you're going to have to get creative," Riley teased, giving the girl a saucy smirk.

If Leah could get any redder, she definitely did. "The fuck is wrong with you?"

"A lot of things, actually." At Riley's response, Emily had to stifle a giggle while Leah looked like she was contemplating throwing Riley out the window.

"Questions. You're going to answer them," Leah stated, glaring at Riley as if to dare her to do otherwise.

"Maybe?" Riley said with a shrug. For a moment, Leah just stared at her, but then she released a frustrated snarl and looked around for something to punch. It had better not end up being Riley's face, that's for damn sure. "Hey, calm down you tall drink of sexy, I'm just saying I don't know if I can."

"Who's a-"

"Right then," Emily said, stepping between Leah and Riley before anything else could happen. "You might not be able to answer everything, but you can answer some of our questions. Are you going to? Without possibly making my cousin explode?"

"Eh, it's the least I can do," Riley agreed after making a show of thinking about it for way too long. "Shoot."

"What's your name?" Emily asked.

Well that was an easy enough question to answer. "Riley Redwood."

Both girls arched their eyebrows at this. "Native American?" Leah asked, intrigued. Riley did have black hair and a bit of an exotic look to her, but besides that and the golden hue to her skin, she didn't show any other clues to her identity.

"I don't have a fucking clue," Riley replied cheerfully. "Parents never told me," the half lie slipped out with ease.

"Okay, age?"

"Eighteen." Probably. She was somewhere around that age, that was for sure. Riley just didn't know her real birthday.

"Where are you from?"

"Somewhere in the country, I'm sure." Although she apparently somehow ended up in a different dimension or some shit. Not that she really wanted to get into talking about that level of wild, she would get locked up in the looney bin for sure.

"Oh, for the love of-" Leah growled, speaking up for the first time. "Enough with the stupid questions. What were you doing in the forest?"

"No idea." Riley rolled her eyes when Leah glared at her response.

"Okay, how did you end up in the forest?" Emily asked, putting a hand on Leah to stop her from snapping at the smaller girl.

"No idea."

"If you want to be secretive-"

"I'm not being secretive, Leah," Riley replied dryly. "Last thing I remember, I was in a storm in Seattle. Passed out, then I woke up in the forest. Passed out again, now I'm here." She should probably leave the whole shit storm leading up to how she got struck by lightning alone for now. She really didn't want to get into the details more than she had to, mainly because she was still figuring it out herself. If they tried to press her about the lightning thing, she was just going to say she had no fucking clue.

Both girls looked at her in surprise, but Leah quickly schooled her features behind a scowl while Emily watched her with worry. "Is there anyone you want us to call? Maybe we should take you to the Forks hospital after all…"

"Emily," Leah snapped warningly. Some secret silent communication passed between them, but Riley was only concerned with a potential threat to herself.

"She probably needs more care than we can give her," Emily argued back. "Besides, they're not even here anymore, and-"

"Uh, hi, yeah," Riley interrupted, raising her hand. "Let's not take me to a hospital. I can't afford that shit."

Both girls exchanged another look filled with silent communication, before Emily spoke again. "I'm sure there's someone you can call…"

"No, there's not." Riley suddenly craved Sasha with a vengeance, but of course, she couldn't call her. She was dead. Riley was never going to see her again, even if she was still in her old world.

"Maybe your pare-"

"Emily," Leah said softly, interrupting her cousin. With one look at the sudden dark expression on Riley's face, she knew that was a place Emily shouldn't go. "So, Riley, what are you planning on doing now?"

The dark expression cleared, replaced by the mischievous light in her eyes again. "Oh, you know, heal up, rest, recover, find a way to pay you guys back for all that you've done…" Riley smirked at Leah, unable to stop herself from teasing her. "I know of a special way to pay you back, if you're interested," she purred, and got to enjoy another flush on the serious girl's face.

"Like hell I am," Leah snapped, putting her hand on Riley's face and shoving the girl lightly so she fell backward with a laugh. "Get your thoughts out of the gutter."

"No can do, the gutter is where I live," Riley sang, cracking up further. Other world or not, messing with Leah was fun. Eventually, she had to stop, muttering, "Ow, ow, fuck," as her body ached in response to the constant laughing.

"Are you okay?" Emily asked with concern.

"Yup I'm fine, my body just isn't up to laughing yet," Riley assured her.

"That's what you get," Leah grumbled, earning a scolding frown from Emily. "What?" Leah demanded defensively, but Emily just sighed before turning back to Riley.

"You don't need to pay us back, Riley," Emily assured the smaller girl. "We just did what any decent human being would do."

Oh, no. They were not putting Riley Redwood in any kind of bind, whether they knew it or not. Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared defiantly at Emily. "I never leave a debt unpaid. I'm paying you back and I'm not leaving until I do."

Leah frowned as Emily assured Riley she could actually pay her back after all, realizing how important it was to the girl. "Where are you going to stay?" she asked suspiciously.

"Hm, I don't know, any homeless camps around here?" Riley asked. At the look on both of the cousins' faces, Riley held up her hands defensively. "Kidding, I swear. I already have an idea of where I'm going to stay once I'm healed up."

"With us," Emily said with a nod of finality.

Too bad for her, but Riley wasn't going to let the conversation end there. "No. If I do that, I'll never pay you back."

"Then where?" Emily and Leah asked at the same time.

For a moment, Riley's grin took a troublemaking edge to it that worried both girls, but it quickly disappeared as Riley's stomach growled loudly. "Mind getting me some food first? I'm starving."

"Of course," Emily said. She started toward the door, and with one warning look at Leah and Riley, left to find something to feed Riley with.

"What are you up to?" Leah asked the second Emily was gone. "I can see those evil gears in your brain turning."

"Why Leah, how could you assume such a thing?" Riley asked, feigning innocence as she put the back of her hand to her brow. Damn was she sweaty. Without much thought, she took the hem of her shirt and pulled it up to wipe off her forehead. When she stopped, she noticed Leah staring at her exposed abs with a look in her eyes Riley knew all too well. "See something you like?" Riley teased, lifting the shirt higher.

Leah's eyes snapped to her face. "You better not be planning something that's going to cause us trouble." Riley almost laughed at how Leah obviously avoided the subject, but chose not to torture the girl too much. She was talking to a girl who could turn into a giant wolf after all, and she knew how hungry the wolves always were. Leah could totally eat all of Riley's food just to spite her.

"I promise you Leah, I don't plan on causing any trouble for you or any other person here," Riley said, and she meant it.

Riley wasn't going to cause trouble, she was simply going to take advantage of what was left behind.