Chapter Six

We arrived at the Quillayute River, and as I stepped out of the van all my muscles loosened. I stepped forward onto the manmade beach, my shoes crunching the black pebbles that were underneath the soles. The wind came and played with my hair, my light brown irises taking in the scenery around me. It might be California, but it was close enough. I was near a body of water and that was what mattered now. I could get away from the strangeness that emitted from the town, though I had to admit there was something else that was emitting from these sacred lands, something that was old and powerful and unexplainable.

Everyone else got out of the van and gathered all their things before they began to put chairs out onto the beach along with different assortment of beach things. I dismissed them, instead noticing there was a bleached tree trunk that was off in the distance, the perfect place for me to sit by myself and not have to converse with people the whole time I was here. I went in that direction, thankful that no one else seemed to be paying attention to me. It was a saving grace to me, to be honest.

I had barely sat down on the trunk when footsteps came in my direction. I brought my head up, noticing a young Native boy, with deep red skin and obsidian hair that fell a little past his shoulders in soft waves. He had the same kind of boyish fat that Mike had, but then again, this boy looked like he was fifteen. He was wearing a t-shirt and khaki shorts, and some black leather flipflops. He had a black leather necklace hanging around his neck with a small wolf fang resting in the middle, along with some feathers that were surrounding them in a light brownish tint.

The boy blushed, "sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I normally sit there when I'm here." I patted the spot next to me and he sat down, his head turned to the side, as he studied me. I arched my eyebrow up, "yes, may I help you?"

The boy snapped his eyes away from me and looked out at the water in front of him, "you must be new here. I've been hearing about there being a new black family coming to town." I nodded my head, "obviously, but yeah….it's odd. Back in Phoenix no one really thought that much about that kind of stuff, there were many people of color there. Here….that's different…"

The boy nodded his head this time, "I know what you mean. My people have been here far longer than the 'pale faces' have. We got to keep a good significant amount of our land. We are still stared at when we come onto their land. That is why most of us stay here on the Reservation, where we are not stared at because of the color of our skin or the beliefs our people hold."

I picked up one of the rock pebbles and rolled it around in my palm, it was cold and slimy, wet. It shimmered a mixture of blacks and blues, never a true shade. It was almost luminescent to me. I smiled before I thew it with such precision it skipped across the water in front of us for a few feet before it fell into the water with a plunk.

"Anyway…I'm Jacob Black, you can call me Jake if you want," Jake told me, smiling more when I indulged him by telling him my name. In the distance I could hear giggling, and turning I noticed how some of my friends were sitting around a campfire they had made, their camping chairs were circulated around the firepit and were conversing freely with each other.

My eyes went towards the other side of the beach, my eyes landing on the high cliffs off in the distance. There were a few men standing on the top of the cliff, they are far enough I could only tell they were Natives by the shade of their skin. They left before they came running forward and jumped off the cliff, diving perfectly into the cold waters below them.

"Okay that's kind of badass," I couldn't help but remark, making Jake laugh behind me. I turned towards him and he kindly explained, "it's a tradition for our people, the boys always go and jump the cliffs when they become men, so that they can start the new phase of their lives. They are striping away the bad and bringing in the good. The girls do it too, though originally it used to be just the boys. We've had a few weddings where the bride and groom jump into the water together."

"Can townspeople come, and do it?" I turned away from the cliff as someone cannonballed into the waters below, noticing that Jake seemed as though he was occupied. I let my eyes wander up to where he was looking, where a man stood on the top of the cliff and seemed to be faced in our direction. I barely mumbled, "someone you know?" before Jake blinked a few times and looked back at me, "ah, nothing you should worry about, it's Sam Uley, he's nineteen. He has his own group, most of the boys my age end up under his guidance."

"You don't sound like you're very happy about that," I mused, earning an odd look from Jake. He reached over and picked up a twig before he began to mess with the pebbles around him. He took a deep breath and looked up at me, "I'm not allowed to talk about it."

I frowned, before I began to assure him, "I'm not going to tell anyone about what you are talking about, because honestly there's no one I would want to tell about it to. I already know about the whole thing of Dr. Cullen's ancestor having a bad reputation with your chief—"

Jake straightened up immediately, his eyes widening as he peered at me, "what did you just say? Who told you?" I thought back to Angela and knew I wouldn't tell on her; I wasn't that kind of friend. So instead, I shrugged, "things get told around, it's a small town. New girl. New audience."

Irritation appeared in his eyes briefly, before he shook his head, "another reason why it's hard to build relations with the townspeople. They show no respect towards things that need to be upheld in the highest respect. We hold our beliefs close to our chests, and there is no reason why the townspeople should just use it as mindless gossip."

I didn't say anything, for a moment before I asked, "I'm not trying to be rude or dismiss what you just said, but is it true? Was there an actual ancestral argument with your ancestors and the Cullens'?" Jake picked up a rock from the beach, tossing it in his hand with a good amount of balance and speed, before a flick of a wrist sent it skidding across the water. It landed in the same loud plop mine had made.

He didn't say anything, wondering probably if it was worth the risk to do so. I glanced around before picking up three rocks for each of us. I handed three of them to him, "if I win you tell me. If I don't win you don't have to tell me anything, and I won't bring it up again. You game?"

Jake shot me a grateful smile as he nodded his head, "sure, I'm game." We both looked at each other for a moment before we skipped our first rocks. His was only shorter than mine by two inches. The next one he beat me by three inches. And the last one, I had beat him by one inch.

"Alright, story time," I sang before I turned and focused my attention on Jake. He cleared his throat before he began to play with his fingers, "well, my people have many different beliefs and many legends. As I said before we hold them dear to our hearts. Only those who we find worthy to know our legends can learn them, for we must know they respect us as a people before we even think about giving them some of our history."

Wind came and played with our hair, Jake grumbled as he pulled the ponytail holder he had around his wrist off and pulled his hair up in a sloppy bun, pieces of his onyx hair fell in front of his face. He rolled his eyes in exasperation. He gave me a half smile in amused annoyance before he dropped his hands down again. "Anyway, my people claim we are descended from wolves, which in return means we are not allowed to hunt wolves. The wolf fang you see around my neck is from a wolf that had gotten injured when I was out in the woods with some of my friends. I sat there with it as it slowly died, when it died, I noticed one of its fangs had come loose enough it was almost falling out of his mouth. I took it and I have kept it ever since."

Jake fiddled with the wolf fang for a second, before his eyes went back upwards and he straightened so that he was focused on me again. "My great-grandfather was the chief of this tribe, and word soon traveled to our tribe there were strange creatures out there who were hunting our animals. They were inhumanly beautiful, and when my great-grandfather came across them, he learnt they were what your people would call vampires—" my heart dropped into my stomach, at what I was hearing. Vampires. Who would have imagined that vampires were real?

"My great-grandfather confronted them, asked them why they were hunting and killing our animals. They claimed they did not drink the blood of humans, they rely on the blood of animals, which in return made them be able to be around people for longer periods of times. My great-grandfather was a wise, intuitive man, and knew the leader of the vampires was telling the truth, he knew the vampire had a true heart and so he allowed them to stay. There were restrictions of course, for a treaty they had made, the vampires had to stay off my people's land, and they could not expose themselves to anyone. They were not allowed to turn anyone into a vampire either."

"And what about the whole odd thing about your people and the Cullens?" I probed, in the background someone tripped over something, cussing, which in return sent a loud echoing of laughter to appear. I rolled my eyes at the scenery behind me before focusing my attention back on Jake, this was a lot more interesting to be honest.

"Well, some of my people believe the vampires that were here over a century ago are the Cullens, that they are one and the same," Jake finished with mystery to his speech, I jumped some when a twig broke in the distance. I turned my head, my heart stopping when I saw the group of teenage boys and the leader appear from the water, all of them were soaking wet.

The leader, Sam Uley, was shaking his long onyx hair around, and he pulled his hair up in a high bun on his head, pausing when he saw me. His eyes landed on Jake a moment later, which in return made Jake dip his head down as though he was showing the utmost of respect, before his eyes went back towards me. He was taller than an average man, and his muscular body could almost rival Emmett Cullen's build. He came towards me, after he picked up a pair of cut off jean shorts from a backpack on the shore and put them on. He reached us, "I thought I saw you down here, Jake. I see you got a new friend, what's your name?"

I let my eyes wander up to Sam, studying him more. There was this strange aura around him, one that almost made me completely uncomfortable. He seemed to be studying me too, as though he was trying to figure me out. Neither of us looked away from each other, we were waiting to see who the champion of the stare would be.

"Elaine," I merely remarked, earning a nod from Sam as he digested my name. He came forward and reached his hand out to shake my hand. I reached my hand out and shook his hand, as he introduced himself, "Sam Uley. What do you think about our beach?"

"It's not San Francisco but it will do," I commented, earning an intrigued look from him. "Oh, I saw you and the others cliff dive, do you think I could do that too sometime?"

Amusement lit upon Sam's face, and he chuckled a moment later. "Ever been cliff diving before?"

I shook my head, "I've always wanted to though. My aunt would kill me if she found out I did." It was true, that was a topic that made Aunt Zayna freak out, she was afraid something would happen to me if I tried to cliff drive, she would think the waves would take over me and I would end up drowning to death. Though if I ever did go cliff diving, I would never tell her.

Sam went to respond to me only for my name to be called. I turned around, noticing that Mike was heading towards me with his surfboard, pausing when he saw Jake and Sam next to me. A flash of jealously came over him and caution, weariness ever-present. It was obvious he didn't know how to feel about them being around me. I gave him an assuring smile and he loosened up some, before he spoke, "I was wondering if you wanted to go change into your wetsuit and we could go surfboarding?"

I thought for a moment, only to realize that I wasn't in the mood to go surfing. Maybe when the weather was a little bit warmer, I would come here, but I wasn't in the mood to get sick and must spend the next few days in bed while recovering. I said as much, which in return made his shoulders slump as disappointment overcame him.

"Anyway, it was nice to meet you Jake and Sam. Maybe we'll hang out again." I got up from the trunk and followed Mike, noticing that everyone perked up when they saw me coming towards them, except for Lauren of course, but when was that anything new?

I was handed a hot chocolate from Angela, who gave me a warm smile. I hadn't expected one, but I took it gladly, letting my hands wrap around the cup so I could take warm, long sip. My muscles began to loosen some as those around me began to talk about funny things that had happened when they were in middle school or grade school. Of course, I couldn't sit there and talk to them about it, because I had just moved here a few months ago.

"What about you, Elaine? Got any interesting stories from when you were in Phoenix?" Eric probed to me, and I shook my head, "no. My aunt on the other hand was a wild card when she was my age. One of her friends was having her boyfriend try to peer pressure her into having sex with him but when my aunt found out she beat the living shit out of the guy."

Respect appeared in the girls' faces when I said this, though a few of the guys shifted uneasily as though they wondered if I had gotten the kind of wrath my aunt had. I would have rolled my eyes and assured them I wasn't my aunt if I knew them better, but then again why not let them think I was a wild card too? I already had proven I stuck up for myself when it came to not letting people push me around, so why not let them think I would punch the living day lights out of someone if they tested me?

I took another sip of my hot chocolate, only to turn my attention to the water to the river in front of me, noticing that there were more teenagers that had arrived on the beach. A few of them were surfing, and these were ones that had come from the high school. Someone had bought a radio to the beach and some of the top charts' songs were playing in the background. It was nothing more than white noise to me, nothing really stood out to me.

We stayed for a good while but eventually we left the beach, I couldn't help but look over my shoulder one last time to see Jake standing over closer to the cliff, discomfort appearing upon him as Sam was speaking to him. Obviously, it was something Jake didn't like, for he bowed his head as though he was letting him know that he understood what Sam wanted from him. It only made me shiver some from the intensity I could see even from here.

That night I dreamt of me standing near the woods that lined the sides of the beach, where Jake was coming towards me from inside the woods. He reached his hand out to me, as though he was asking me to come see him. It only lasted a second before Edward appeared beside me, pushing me behind him almost roughly, before he bent down in a low crouch and sent a deep rumble towards Jake as though letting him know it would be best for him to not come any closer.

I woke sweating from the dream, my eyes flickering towards my laptop that was sitting off to the side of my desk, where my sewing machine was. I went over and turned on the lamp before I opened my laptop and looked through search engines about vampires. I didn't know much about them, other than me reading Dracula, but even then, my knowledge was limited. I wasn't someone who was interested in the supernatural. Other girls would swoon at the thought of them being whisked away into the arms of some supernatural creature.

It was around 5:30 in the morning, and as I brought up the website A-Z (Vampires) I was welcomed with quotes, one of them being from Rev. Montague Summers, Rousseau: "In all the darkest pages of the malign supernatural, there is no more terrible tradition than that of a vampire—a pariah even among demons." I shivered involuntarily at the quote that was in front of me. I didn't want to imagine what made Rev. Montague Summers say this, nor did I wish to know what it was that had made him tell everyone about it.

I looked at the information of the creatures that had interested me.

Danag from Filipino were known to be venerated as Gods before they became vampires. A farmer had gotten a bamboo stick lodged under his fingernail. A Danag had come down to help him only to taste the blood, finding it sweet. He informed the others of the taste before they began to consume human blood. They had turned from Gods to adversaries in the end. The Estrie were Hebrew female vampires, who were known to chose males as their prey. They were remarkably like Succubi, but Succubi were ones that were interested in drinking the blood of infants. The Polish Upier were basically the ghosts of dead people or even the living dead (a mix of the two, a corpse animated by its ghost, was also possible), and often drinking or sucking the blood from the veins of family members, or even household pets. The Romanian Varacolaci were when a baby who was never baptized died, or when a person committed suicide. When they rose from their grave as a vampire, it looked like it did in life except now they were noticeably pale and had dried out skin. There was the Slovak Nelapsi, which had two hearts and two souls who was so fast and strong it was able to destroy a village in a single night.

I quickly turned off the search engine, my mind running over all the different creatures I had come across with. It shouldn't surprise me that vampires had been around for thousands of years, but when I saw how many different myths and legends there were it was overwhelming. There was too many similarities and evidence which supported vampires being real. Edward and his family had some of these characteristics, but they didn't have others.

By the time I was finished researching about vampires and bookstores to find a book about the Quileute legends, I had to get ready for school. I dressed in one of my hoodies, my leggings, and some fur lined boots. My hair was natural again, and I had added more natural oils into my hair, so it became a little wilder. My waves were larger, and more dramatic than usual. I didn't put any makeup on me today since I was exhausted.

I arrived at the high school earlier than I was used to, finding a bench that was near Mr. Mason's classroom, I sat down and leant back so that I could let the sunlight warm my skin some. I sighed and sat upright before I pulled my homework, which was currently Macbeth, and I was making an essay about whether or not Shakespeare's treatment of the female characters were misogynistic. The essay wasn't due for another few weeks, but I was already going through my second version of the essay, having had Mr. Mason already look at it for me before I would turn it in.

I only popped my head up when I heard my name being called. Jessica was making her way towards me with a light weight quarter length shirt, dark washed jeans, and some stylish sandals. Her messy curls were piled high on her head and she smiled brightly when she saw me. She did though groan when she noticed the paperwork in front of me. "Girl, I don't know why you didn't just write one essay and just keep it. Why did you decide to keep working on it when it's not due for another two weeks?"

I shrugged, giving a sheepish smile towards her before she sat down next to me. I studied her for a moment before I shut my notebook closed and put my essay away, before I zipped my backpack up all the way. She nervously moved around on the bench, earning that I sighed, "what is it, Jess? I can tell that you're hiding something from me."

"We're going to have to reschedule for tomorrow when it comes to our dress shopping with Lauren and Angela," Jessica finally stated, while my mind went to how Jessica and Lauren (Tyler finally said yes to going to the dance with her) were going with guys, Angela was going by herself. She had assured everyone this was fine, that she just didn't like any of the guys at school. She never told me if she had found a girl cute but if she did like someone, I felt sorry for her, because she couldn't go dancing with another girl—it would cause too much of protests.

Nothing interesting happened for the rest of the day, but the next day the Cullens were gone. None of them were at school, and it was unusually sunny. Again, I remembered the research I had gotten from vampires, and how a common trait happened to be them not being able to be out in the sunlight. Yet, the Cullens could come out during the day, the cliché stereotype of vampires was them perishing in the day (so they usually slept in coffins during the day) and being out in the open during nightfall so they could go and get their meals.

Jessica ended up following me home after school, Angela was in the passenger seat of the car—they had carpooled this morning for it to be convenient (Lauren wasn't here because she had managed to get a date from Tyler finally). I went upstairs and grabbed a switchblade I had in a nightstand of mine (Aunt Zayna had bought it for me when she learnt I would end up spending most of my night in a city), along with some pepper spray. I rushed back downstairs and got into the old, white Mercury.

Angela was sitting in the front passenger seat, while I had gotten into the back. Jessica pulled out a mixed music disc and put into the disc drive. The high, poppy music that radiated throughout the car made me almost groan and roll my eyes. I wasn't someone who was into this music, I couldn't help but giggle in my mind when I noticed Angela wasn't someone who was interested in the music genre Jessica happened to be into.

The hour drive to Port Angeles seemed as though it was going both slow but fast at the same time. When we arrived in the city, Jessica pulled up into the parking lot of the dress shop she had gone to numerous times in the past for events. I got out and wrapped my coat around myself even more, my arms crossed over the coat. My eyes wandered around, this being the first time I had really been in this city, I hoped to explore it more in the future.

"Come on Elaine! We better get in there before the good dresses are taken!" Jessica mandated, before she went forward to the front doors of the establishment. I followed her, Angela walking next to me. Neither of us had the same enthusiasm she did.

There was a nice amount of teenagers flocking around the store, looking at the different dresses that were in front of them. I went up to some of the dress racks and took some pictures for inspiration when it came to dresses in the future. Jessica looked confused, though when I had explained I was a seamstress she pouted, "if you told me, you were a seamstress, I would have asked you if you could make me my dress! Maybe you can see about making me one for Prom?"

Prom? That was the last thing on my mind. I wasn't someone who was looking forward to these dances schools had. Sure, I was someone who went to them when I was back in Phoenix, mainly because they were a lot more interesting there than they could ever be here. I didn't even know if I would go to Prom here, maybe I would. Maybe I wouldn't. It all depended on how I felt about the whole ordeal when I came closer to the date.

"Well, I don't know about prom, but you can come over to my house sometime and I can get your measurements. You can give me an idea of what you are thinking about wanting," I offered, earning a beaming smile from Jessica. She reached over and hugged me, I awkwardly hugged her back. I still didn't know how to feel about the enthusiasm Jessica Stanley had.

"Thanks, that means a lot to me. Anyway…" Jessica went forward, and I went over to the chairs that were near the dressing rooms before sitting down. I had pulled out my sketchbook from my large satchel I had brought with me and began to sketch out a random blouse I was just inspired to do, hearing the giggling from Jessica as she began to look through the dresses again.

Angela and Jessica went towards the dressing rooms eventually, with two dresses each. I sat upright and waited patiently for them to come out of the dressing rooms. It didn't take long for Jessica to come bounding out dressed in a long, strapless black number, where it fit her curves perfectly. Her curves were softer than mine, and barely a little more than on the smaller side, but it still brought them out. She spun around in front of the mirror and went back into the dressing room to change into her other dress, explaining she wanted to try on the other dress before she would get my opinion on both.

Angela came out nervously, pushing her glasses up on her nose, as she showed off a pale pink dress, she stood in front of the mirror and smoothed down the dress. She turned to me, "how do I look? I didn't really like the other dress when I tried it on. I didn't think it was worth coming out for you to see because there would be no point."

I smiled, and spoke, "I think you look beautiful. The pink looks perfect with you, and the fit doesn't look too tight or too loose. I hope you're not too upset with me not coming to the dance with you and the others. I'm just not in the mood to go."

Angela's eyes widened as she shook her head, "no, no, don't feel bad about that. I'm okay without you coming. I mean it would be nice to go with a friend, since I can't…you know." I nodded my head, knowing what she meant. Her own parents didn't know about her sexuality, she was terrified if she told them of her sexuality, she would end up being disowned.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, anyway, I think I'm going to get this. I'm happy you liked it. I would rather have your opinion on it than Jessica's," Angela whispered as Jessica came bounding out of the dressing room again, this time wearing a knee length electric blue dress with spaghetti straps.

It didn't surprise me when Jessica fished for compliments and ended up getting the blue dress, instead of the black one. She went over to where the high heels were, and Angela and I followed. I sat down on one of the benches that were provided for customers to sit on while they tried on their shoes, observing the girls in front of me. I stared at them and thought of nothing more than when I was back in Phoenix and I would go to stores with my friends, all of us trying on different dresses and shoes and giggling, though sometimes we would just go to these shops to try them on and never buy them—just because we were in the mood to try on high class dresses (I was certain we must have been blacklisted from these stores for not buying anything).

"So….is it really common for the Cullens to not come to school on sunny days?" I couldn't help but ask Angela as she was putting on silver high heels, ones that weren't too high but high enough for her height. She popped her head up and nodded her head, "yes. Dr. Cullen and his wife take them out during sunny days, and they go camping."

I thought back on Edward telling me about him and Emmett going hunting and how the girls went camping, though there seemed to be more to the story. I wondered if her saying they all went together to go camping meant more than that. Did they go hunting, for something that wasn't just for game? Did they go hunt for something more sinister? I inwardly shivered at that thought, not wanting to think about dark thoughts as that.

I tucked that into the back of my mind, knowing the last thing I needed to think about the Cullens. I decided to come here so I could support Jessica and Angela, not bombard them with questions about the strange family. I knew Angela wouldn't think about it, while Jessica would be excited to tell me everything, she and the rest of the town knew about them. Then again Jessica was one of the gossipiest girls I knew, which said a lot, since I had been living in a city where gossip was in full reign. She would have been right at home with all the other gossipers.

Angela rolled her ankle this way and that, showing her feet in the mirrors in front of her. I waited patiently as she thought for a moment before she nodded her head, "I'm picking these. They aren't too tight or high and I can well them with other outfits. Of course…I'd have to hide them from my dad, he's not someone who likes having these kind of shoes around his house."

My eyes widened at what she had just told me. "Are you serious? Is your dad very controlling, tells you what to wear?" Angela shifted uneasily as she nodded her head, she sat down next to me on the bench, her eyes showing nothing more than embarrassment.

"Has he always been this way?" I whispered, earning a shake of the head from her. She mumbled, "when I hit puberty. He doesn't want me showing off any unnecessary skin nor wear too high heels. Mom doesn't go against him, she's aloud to show a little more skin and have a little more height to her heels but not really."

I reached over and hugged her, assuring her everything was fine. Thankfully, Jessica was away, she was too busy trying on as many shoes as she wanted. She was tossing some of them into the wrong shoe boxes and I sighed before rolling my eyes at her. I felt sorry for the workers here, they would probably be aggravated at Jessica. She was someone who wouldn't pick up a shirt when it fell from the rack, partly because she wouldn't be able to notice it, and another being it was just a shirt—it wasn't as though she was one who was throwing a bunch of shirts on the floor.

Eventually Jessica came towards us with some high, strappy luminescent silver heels that went perfectly with her dress. She put them on quickly and showed off how they brought out the shape of feet. I almost wanted to mock applaud her but knew she didn't deserve that. Now if Lauren had been here with us instead of tricking Tyler into having a date with her, then I would have totally done that. Instead, I had to admit the shoes fit Jessica perfectly, both with its shape and its aesthetic. She beamed brightly at us, wanting an honest opinion.

"I like them," Angela assured her as she was sitting at the bench with me still, she was putting her regular shoes on and stopped so she could see how Jessica looked. I added, "I like how they are luminescent. It's kind of an odd color for me, due to my skin tone, but I think it looks lovely with your pale skin."

Jessica kept her beaming smile until she heard about me not liking the shade due to my skin tone. She put her heels off her a moment later, put them into their box, before she rushed off down the aisle where she had found them. "What shoe size are you?"

I looked over at Angela, she giggled some behind her hand she had brought up, she mouthed for me to humor Jessica, and telling the brunette my shoe size she came rushing back to me with the shoe box in her hands. She sat them down in front of me and opened them, revealing the exact same shoes she had chosen to wear with her dress. She gave an encouraging smile to me and humoring her I took off my shoes and put the heels on.

I stood up from the bench and went over to where the mirrors were, noticing how the shiny, metallic, rainbow aesthetic looked beautiful against my feet. My feet were long and slender, and as I moved my feet around, I couldn't help but smile as I got encouraging smiles and comments from Jessica and Angela. They were the first ones that had encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone when it came to this. My friends in Phoenix were amazing but none of them tried to get me out of my comfort zone, they were fine with me not liking something or not thinking of something positive and they would leave it be. I could tell that wasn't going to be how it was when it came to Jessica Stanley.

Tears began to rise in my tear ducts and without hesitation I turned around and hugged Jessica, making her almost squeak from the sudden hug she had gotten. She hugged me back, "I'm buying them for you. And that's final."

I took off my heels and put them into a shoe box before handing it over to Jessica, she smiled at me warmer than before. It wasn't as large and brilliant but soft and understanding. She put the box on top of her box before she headed to the checkout counter, with us trailing after her. I noticed how there were a good amount of people that were checking in and out, since it was nearing the time of the year where teenagers and preteens were going to school dances. Again, I was happy that I was not part of most of the girls at my school that were going to this dance.

We were leaving the store when I thought of the Quileute legends and myths, and how I had looked it up shortly after I had come home from the beach, searching for a place where I could go and find a book to look more into the legends and myths. I brought the piece of paper out of my satchel and looked down at the slip of paper, seeing the name written and the address.

Turning to the girls I informed them, "I'm heading to a bookstore to get a book on the Quileute. Why don't you guys go down the pier? I'll text you the place where I'm at and you can help me find my way to you before we go to the restaurant."

The girls agreed, though wearily at first, since this was the first time, I would be by myself in Port Angeles. If I were out with Aunt Zayna she wouldn't have left me by myself, but here with the girls I managed to let them go. If only I knew what would happen after I went to the bookstore, then maybe I wouldn't have gone after all.

I want to show respect towards the Native American Culture, and so I found out some of the traditions of the Native Americans. The reason why Sam and the other wolf shifters have kept their long hair is because it is considered a part of the soul for them. Cutting, burning, or burying it holds a big significance for them. It is tradition for the tribe to cut your hair and bury it with the deceased when someone you know dies.

Next chapter will be the attempted sex trafficking ploy. I will put the warning on the top of the chapter for those who don't want to read the chapter and put a summary of the chapter in the next chapter of that on the top for those who weren't comfortable with reading it. As for the rape, I have decided who it will be. The rape scene will not be overly detailed, because I'm not that kind of person to put more detail in it than it needs to be.

I want to thank each and every one of you who has continued to read this. I want you to read this and love it as much as you do the real saga series. I'm putting hard work it in and bringing in serious subject material but I wish to be respectful in everything I write. Again, thank you all who will continue to read this.

-Emmy