Chapter 37 Chapter Notes

Jacob and the Quileute are fun and interesting to write. Because I didn't make Jacob a love interest for Bella, I went in-depth about his transformation.

This chapter is told from both Billy's and Jacob's point of view.

The chapter title belongs to Alice Cooper

Chapter 37 Hello Hurray Saturday, October 14th

Billy sits at his little kitchen table, waiting for the coffee to brew. He's an early riser, waking well before the sun shows her face. Usually, the aroma of the morning's first pot of coffee is enough to get Jacob up as well. Just as Billy stirs in the sugar, Jacob will pop out of his bedroom and bound into the kitchen, all smiles, hair hanging straight and shiny. Jacob will pour his own cup, spend a minute fixing it, and his face will fall into total relaxation as he takes his first sip.

Jacob loves coffee. It doesn't matter what brand; doesn't matter if it's powdered creamer or half-and-half; doesn't matter if it's real sugar or that fake stuff. He's an easy kid. Billy brews it; Jacob drinks it.

Billy can't help comparing Jacob to his twin sisters, Rachel and Rebeccah. The girls are three years older than Jacob, and of similar temperament. As long as the Billy and his wife, Roberta, were working and bringing in the money, they were content. It all started to go downhill when Roberta died in a car accident the year they started high school. Activities were curtailed as Billy called on them to help care for Jacob.

The situation, already tenuous, took a sharp dive toward dire the next year, when Billy stepped outside one rainy day and slipped on the muddy walk, injuring his spine to the degree that he could only move around with a walker. Since he was longer able to work at the grocery store, the family burned through its savings while Billy recuperated. He was well-liked in the community and was an Elder in the Council, so before things got desperate, he was offered several bookkeeping jobs for local businesses.

Instead of coming together as a family, the girls complained their way through Billy's stomach lining. They didn't seem to grasp that they lived on an Indian reservation, that there wasn't enough money to satisfy their greed for frivolous possessions.

They both got jobs when they were only fourteen years old, but did not use any of their wages to help the family. Didn't buy groceries; didn't help with the bills; didn't put gas in the car. When they graduated, got engaged, and decided to move away, Billy wasn't sorry to see the back of them. Rebeccah is in New York with her new husband, and Rachel lives in Hawaii with her fiancé.

They don't visit.

And then there's Jacob. Through it all—from his mother's death, Billy's accident, to the hateful attitude of his sisters—none of it fazed him. He was born smiling and happy, and he's been that way ever since. The one thing that has made Jake even happier than normal is the sudden appearance of Bella Swan in his life.

Now that she's single again, she's been up four or five times a week. Billy thinks that Bella is interested, if not yet ready to make a commitment. But Jacob is patient.

Billy finishes his coffee and looks to Jacob's door, waiting for him to emerge, but his room is quiet. As he rinses his cup, he looks at the calendar. Quil's prophecy said that fifteen would transform into Protectors. Eleven have changed so far, two in the last month, and according to tribal records, five more on the reservation are Ephraim Black's descendants. The problem is that the Cullens no longer live here, so no more should be transforming, now that the threat has gone.

Those numbers don't add up. Somebody won't be receiving the gift. The Council had debated who it might be. In a disappointment to Quil, who himself had just missed transforming by a few years the last time the Cullens were here, the Council's best guess is Emery, Quil's own grandson, who they believe is simply too young.

He gives a shiver and looks toward Jacob's room again. It's 8:00 am and Jacob is usually up no later than 5:00 am. Something is wrong. As he gets ready to wheel his chair to the door to check on him, Jacob stumbles out of his room and falls into his chair at the kitchen table.

"Good morning." Billy eyes Jacob closely. His skin is flushed and his hair hangs limp around his face. "Are you okay?"

Jacob puts his head down on the table, although his muffled voice is still audible. "I think I'm gonna die."

Billy wheels over to Jacob and feels his forehead. It is blazing. "Do you have a headache?" he asks in alarm. Jacob moans and nods, then finally sits up. He pulls at his fingers and tries to focus his vision, first closing his eyes, then squinting.

"Yes," he says petulantly. "Headache." His eyes fly open and he pushes back from the table and bolts for the bathroom. The sound of retching fills the house and Billy winces and opens the front door. After a few minutes, he hears flushing, water briefly running, and then Jacob re-emerges, weak and trembly.

He rubs his stomach gingerly. "What the hell did I eat?" He sinks into his chair again, and seeing the coffee pot, washed and drying on the drain mat, asks, "What time is it?"

Billy points to the clock and Jacob moans again. "I'm supposed to see Bella today."

"I think you should go back to bed."

Jacob gets up, still pulling at his fingers. "What's wrong with your hands?" Billy asks. He's not sure he wants an answer.

The phone rings but Jacob ignores it. He goes into his bedroom and Billy hears him fall onto his bed. When Billy answers, it's Bella, wanting to know what time Jake will expect her. Billy tells her that he thinks Jacob has the flu and can't have any visitors.

After he hangs up, Billy calls Chief Littlefoot and describes Jacob's symptoms. The Chief sends Sam Uley over to check on the boy. Sam stands in the doorway to Jacob's room for a moment, then goes inside. He emerges minutes later with a frown. "I think it's the initial manifestation, but I'm calling the doctor."

He steps out and makes a quick call. In less time than it takes for a fresh pot of coffee to brew, Dr. Pierce is knocking on the door. Sam lets him in; pleasantries are exchanged; the doctor is offered coffee but declines. Sam points to Jacob's room and Dr. Pierce steps in while Sam watches from the doorway.

After a few minutes, the doctor emerges. He goes to the little bathroom and washes his hands. He comes out with a grave expression. "It is the initial manifestation. With a temp of 107 degrees, combined with headache, malaise, aching fingers and upset stomach, I don't think it could be anything else. He'll be quite ill for three to five days. He won't want to eat, but make sure he stays hydrated. His temp could rise to over 110 degrees, but will decrease to 106 degrees when he nears the end of the process, and there it will stay."

Sam frowns. "The Cullens are gone. Why are we still transforming?"

The doctor's bushy eyebrows are drawn into a frown. "I don't know. But the process has started, and even if he were moved from the area, it would continue. Call me when his temp decreases to 106, or if he becomes violent or has hallucinations."

Sam sees the doctor out, and returns with a somber expression. "Have you ever been less reassured after a visit from a doctor?" he says, with a shake of his head.

Billy disregards the comment and says, "Has anyone ever died from this initial transformation?"

Sam nods slowly. "I spoke to the Chief about it last week. He said that according to tribal records, one guy died back when the Cullens first came to the area. Some kind of systemic failure, apparently. His fever kept rising, going past 114 degrees, and he lapsed into a coma and passed within days."

They both turn their attention to the moans emanating from Jacob's bedroom.

Billy's face is twisted into a tortured mask. "Why?" he whispers.

"I wish I knew. Just residual energy, maybe?" But it's a question, not an answer. And Billy knows, better than anybody, that you can't make predictions about the future, because she is an unreliable bitch.

Bella calls again to check on Jacob. She asks if he's seen the doctor, how high his fever is, and if he feels well enough to eat. Billy is trying to marshal enough concentration to work, and to answer her questions. Yes. Um, pretty high. (He can't tell her exactly how high.) And, no. Before she can ask three more questions, he begs off and tells her Jacob will let her know when he's well enough for a visit.

Billy hasn't forgotten old Quil's drawing of a dead swan in the surf at First Beach. He'd wanted to tell Jacob to keep Bella away from the water, but it wasn't possible. In this part of the world, there's water everywhere. All the time. In the end, the Council had decided to adopt a 'wait and see' attitude. Many of Quil's visions and prophecies never came true. Some were warnings. It was impossible to tell which were which.

Chief Littlefoot calls periodically throughout the day to check on Jacob but the news is always the same. He tells Billy to call immediately if there's a change.

Billy tries to work on the account that is due within a few days, but can't manage anything close to the concentration he needs to accomplish the task successfully. He won't let his mind go to a place where Jacob is dead. That would be the cruelest of all fates, worse than losing his ability to walk or saying a hasty goodbye to a wife who crashed her car into a phone pole during a rainstorm.

The three accounts that Billy manages are stored in color-coded folders. With a sigh, he pulls the blue folder onto the table, gathers his calculator and pens, and forces himself to work. He's frequently distracted, though, and frets that every truck he hears is Bella, come up from Forks to take charge of Jacob's illness. But she doesn't arrive and he finally finishes the accounts receivable for the dry cleaners.

Around lunchtime, he places some Sprite and crackers onto a tray and wheels toward Jacob's room. At the bedroom door, he realizes he needs the thermometer, and fetches it out of the bathroom.

He's looked in on Jacob several times during the morning, each time finding him out cold and raging with fever. This time, Billy tries to wake his son, but he seems almost comatose. After shaking him repeatedly, Jacob opens blood-red eyes. His face is tortured, and when he sits up, he takes a wild look around and bolts for the bathroom again.

Billy waits. Billy is very good at waiting. When you're confined to a wheelchair on an Indian reservation, you get really good at waiting. Finally, Jacob returns to the bedroom. He looks terrible. The thermometer is poked under his tongue and reads an astonishing 111 degrees. His father begins to panic, certain that this is an initial manifestation gone wrong and there is nothing he can do to stop it.

He wonders if Jacob will be pleased about this gift. Or will he feel cheated, a Protector without a foe. "Drink this." Billy hands over a plastic cup with a straw.

"I can't. Jacob moans and rolls over but Billy rolls him back and puts the straw to his mouth. He drinks. When the cold, fizzy Sprite hits his throat, Jacob pulls the cup into his hands and drinks it all, then falls back onto his pillow. "What is wrong with me?" he moans. "I feel all squirmy inside."

Two days later, Jacob is still suffering through the worst of the process. His temperature has soared to 112 degrees and both Sam and the doctor stand over his bed with grim expressions. Finally, the doctor comes out and slumps into a kitchen chair. He lights a cigarette and says, "There's nothing we can do but wait."

The doctor leaves but Sam stays. "I'll check his temp every hour. Hopefully it will be going down soon." He wants to sound hopeful, Billy knows, but it comes out sounding desperate. It's a long day, as Sam hovers in Jacob's doorway, thermometer in hand. Billy begins to see a future without his son. He wheels his chair into his own bedroom and cries.

Bella has started calling every few hours. She's always told the same thing: Jacob is sick with the flu. He'll be better in a few days and he'll call you as soon as he's back on his feet. Finally, Billy leaves the phone off the hook. He knows it might prompt Bella to roar up here in her truck, but he can't face lying to her anymore.

The hours drag on. Sam sleeps on the little sofa but checks on Jacob through the night. When Billy wakes the next morning, Sam looks hopeful. "His temp has gone down to 109. I think he's out of danger."

Billy sags in his chair. He feels wetness on his cheek and realizes he's shed another tear. He quickly wipes it away and goes to the kitchen to make some breakfast for Sam and himself. He plugs in a two-burner hotplate on the kitchen table and fries bacon and eggs. Sam eats, does the dishes and then goes home to clean up. He tells Billy he'll be back soon.

When Jacob wakes, he'll be ravenous, so Billy calls the Chief to get one of the teens to pick up some groceries for him. The Chief recommends Seth Clearwater, and Billy agrees. "Send him over. I've got a list and the money."

Sam comes to check on Jacob and after taking his temperature, pronounces him 'just about ready.' Billy thinks he sounds like a man announcing supper. The chicken is just about ready. Sam takes a seat beside Jacob's bed, and three hours and eighteen minutes later, Jacob Black opens his eyes.

Tuesday, October 17th

Jacob sits up and sees Sam, sitting next to his bed, and Billy, his chair in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" he croaks.

Sam smiles at him. "How do you feel?"

Jacob thinks for a moment. "Well, my head doesn't hurt anymore. Wow, that was awful." He gingerly moves his shoulders and arms. "The achy feeling is gone, too. What was wrong with me? Flu? My nose wasn't stuffy and I didn't have a cough."

Sam stands up. "Go take a shower." He tosses a bag onto Jacob's bed. "Put these on. Only these. Nothing else. No shoes." Billy wheels out of the doorway, and Sam joins him in the living room.

Jacob pulls open the plastic bag and finds a ragged pair of shorts. He holds them up. They look like they've been under the spare tire in somebody's trunk, but when he smells them, they're clean.

He stands slowly, not wanting to fall over. He remembers how weak he felt when he was sick, but he is fine. Strong. He nearly bumps his head on the door frame as he goes to the bathroom, and realizes he's grown some more. Dang. How tall is he now?

Jacob takes a moment to assess how he feels. His lungs seem more elastic, as if they could expand indefinitely. His legs are well-muscled and he's certain he could run a great distance without tiring. And he can smell things he wasn't able to before, like what Sam ate for breakfast and the soap he uses.

Jacob showers, which is difficult, as he's still learning how to navigate with this newer, bigger body. He then does as Sam had asked, and slips on the ragged shorts. Sam. What's he doing here? He and Bella both had been suspicious of him, and now he's here? To do what, an indoctrination?

He cleans his teeth and pulls a brush through his long hair before pulling it back with an elastic. He tidies the bathroom and walks out, feeling an amazing expanse as he takes a deep breath. His whole body is tingly. He feels a peace steal over him that he's never known before, as if he is a part of a greater, unseen whole.

Sam stands when Jacob appears. They're the same height now, Jacob sees. There is a solemnity in the room that Jacob doesn't understand, like there's going to be an announcement or something. He waits and Sam beckons him to the front door. Billy wheels behind them. "We're going for a ride," he says, and points to his truck, parked on the road in front of the house.

After helping Billy in and collapsing the chair, Jacob and Sam get in. The truck rumbles away, down the main street, taking a dirt road that winds up into a section of woods. When Sam stops the truck, Jacob sees that he's never been here before. A single picnic table sits before a path that meanders up into the dense cover of the forest.

When Billy is in his chair next to the table, Sam sits down motions for Jacob to do the same. As he sits across from Sam, he thinks he'll finally hear what's been going on with the other guys. One by one, they've joined Sam's club, or gang, or whatever. Cut their hair. Stopped talking to him. Grown. Jacob had been worried they were taking drugs or something, but that couldn't be the case if his dad was here. Billy would never sanction something like that.

Sam looks at Billy. They both look at Jacob. Sam says, "I have some things to tell you."

Sam begins the tale confidently, as if he'd told it many times. "You have heard that our tribe is descended from the wolf." Jacob nods, cutting his eyes at Billy, who looks stoically ahead. "It is the literal truth, Jacob. Our ancestors were proud braves who were strong and capable. They lived on this land. They took from it and gave back to it, and they had but one natural enemy."

Jacob scoffs. "Don't tell me. The 'cold ones'."

Sam and Billy glance at each other. Sam continues. "In the presence of this enemy, in order to protect the tribe and the surrounding community, the Quileute that are descended from your great-grandfather, Ephraim Black, have the ability to transform."

"What are you telling me?"

"You are descended from Ephraim Black." Sam blinks. "Actually, you are his closest living relative that is of the proper age to receive the gift," Sam says.

"Closest," Jacob says, "but not the only one, right?" There had always been a lot of talk on the reservation about the tribal members who were descended from Ephraim, although nobody ever explained it.

"Not the only one. The closest."

"And what does this all mean? Are you trying to tell me that the cold ones really exist? That when I told Bella that silly story, it was true?" He realizes immediately what this means. "I told her last March, when she was up here with her friends. I didn't believe the stories, but she kinda wheedled it out of me. I heard the other girls talking. She had her eye on Edward Cullen, and was fishing around for information about his family."

Jacob shakes his head. I knew I shouldn't have been talking about it, but she was kidding around with me, and we were walking on the beach…" What is left unsaid is more telling than the actual words uttered aloud. Jacob had fallen for Bella Swan that cold day, walking on the hard-packed sand of the beach. He would have told her anything.

"There was a treaty in place, forged by your great-grandfather Ephraim and the Cullens, over sixty-five years ago. It forbade the cold ones from coming onto our land. If they agreed to stay away and not harm any Quileute or humans in our area, we would keep their secret."

Jake looks at Billy, wide-eyed. "Oh god, I broke the treaty!" Jacob is distraught.

Billy nods slowly. "Yes, you broke the treaty. But it doesn't matter. We should have made all of you see the truth. You thought it was a silly story, and we knew that."

"So, the Cullens, they're vampires? Seriously?"

"The treaty was made because Ephraim didn't want them on our land, but they are exactly as represented. They don't drink human blood," Sam says. It's the same, spooky story that they'd all heard as rumor their whole lives, that none of them really believed was true.

"So, they are the natural enemy of the Quileute." Jacob looks heavenward. "And what gift am I supposed to have received? To protect the tribe?"

"You are a supernatural being now, Jacob Black," Sam says reverently. "With the power to transform into a Wolf."

Jacob peers into Sam's earnest face. "Bullshit."

"The others weren't so pig headed," he mutters. "The ability is inside you. You simply…access it. You…you run into it. It's why I told you to wear those torn up shorts and no shoes. You will… explode into a Wolf, a huge Wolf. Your thoughts will be connected to every other Quileute that is in his or her Wolf form."

Jacob stands, arms folded, legs apart, in the classic, menacing stance. "Prove it."

Sam sighs as he pulls off his tee shirt, kicks off his shoes and walks to his truck. Jacob can't see what he's doing, as he's on the far side, but when he emerges, Sam has on only a ragged pair of what used to be shorts. "Run with me," he says. "Don't look away."

Sam begins to run up the path, and in one, blinding second, bursts into a tangle of hair and fur. In the blink of an eye there sits a wolf, a gigantic black Wolf, where Sam had stood only a moment before. Jacob's mouth falls open and he looks to Billy, who smiles and nods. "The illness that you just suffered was only this." He gestures to Sam, black and furry. "It was your body preparing you. For this."

So I just run and it will happen. "Does it hurt?"

Billy shakes his head. "Run, Jacob. Think about being the Wolf. Reach your body and your mind to that possibility. When you feel the tug in your middle, run into it. Go."

Jacob takes a deep breath and begins to run. Sam the Wolf is about fifty yards up the path, and as Jacob runs, he feels an exhilaration he scarcely believed was possible. The wind blows through his hair and the oxygen flows into his cells. He feels alive. He feels powerful. Deep in his core he feels a tightening, followed by an expansion.

Electricity zigs and zags all through his body, and the next deep breath he takes goes deeper than he ever thought possible. He takes one, last leap as a human and explodes into a russet Wolf. In shock and surprise, Jacob looks down and sees furry paws instead of bare feet, feels the astonishing tail, swishing behind him. He thinks he could run forever without tiring.

He throws his massive, shaggy head back and howls. Sam joins him. Jacob is aware that he can hear Sam's thoughts. Run with me, up the mountain, down a path, and then back. To become human, you reverse the process. Simply run into the feeling of being human, and you'll phase back into Jacob. Don't forget, when you turn back, you'll be naked. You can wear a leather thong around your ankle to hold your pants.

Sam and Jacob run up the trail and down the path, dodging trees and jumping ravines. They run for miles but Jacob never tires. Sam keeps up a litany in his head, and Jacob learns all about this new way of life. The friends that you were worried about, the ones who stopped returning your calls or hanging out with you? The ones who cut their hair? They've all phased. The haircut is a mark of those that have transformed.

Sam names all the ones who have phased, and tells Jacob about Quil and the prophecies. And Jacob finally learns why the Cullens had to leave. He's relieved that he wasn't the one who caused all the problems; it had been Jasper, snatching Emery. It all makes sense now.

Sam tells him that he will not age at all in Wolf form, and even in human form the aging process will be greatly delayed. He will enjoy good health for his entire life, will recover from injury in minutes, and his body will not be susceptible to illness of any kind.

Well, if we never age, where is Ephraim Black and the four that transformed with him? Shouldn't they all still be alive?"

Sam stops running and looks at Jacob seriously. They were all drowned. They'd gone off on a boat together, and a storm came up, capsized the vessel. As a Wolf, you won't age, but you can still perish from being tossed into a roiling sea with no way to swim to shore.

They drive back to Jacob and Billy's house. Jacob sits in the back of the pickup, making up his mind to stay off of boats. He relishes the feeling of his hair blowing in the wind, knowing it is destined for the dustpan.

When they arrive, Sam takes out a pair of clippers and shaves it off, leaving less than an inch. "This is just between the members of the Pack," Sam says seriously. He tells him about Quil's prophecy, that he makes the twelfth to phase with only three remaining, per the vision, but four in the tribe are of the bloodline.

"Somebody isn't transforming? No idea who it might be?" Jacob asks, as he ruefully rubs his hand over his what's left of his hair.

Sam shakes his head. "No idea. Someone might move away from the area, may become too ill to endure the grueling initial manifestation, or will die. Or, for a reason that is not clear to us, will simply not receive the gift.

"But, here's the thing. With the Cullens gone, we thought the transformations would cease. And yet." He gestures to Jacob, a foot taller than he'd been a month ago. "We don't know why we're still phasing, but we think that there has to be a cold one in the area. If all the cold ones left, then the transformations would truly stop."

Jacob nods absently. Sam looks at him with a serious expression. "You are to tell no one. We don't know if the transformations will continue. Only the ones who have received the gift are to know about it, until all who are of the bloodline have phased per Quil's prophecy. Then it can become common knowledge."

Jacob nods as he sweeps up his hair and sadly tosses it in the trash. Suddenly, he realizes he is famished. Billy smiles and points to the full refrigerator. Jacob makes a plate of sandwiches and fixes Billy and Sam some lunch as well.

"Bella has called about a hundred times," Billy says, as he eats.

"What did you tell her?"

"That you were sick. I was afraid she was going to come up here and take over your care." Billy raises his eyebrows as he says this.

"She'll freak when she sees how much I've grown!" Jacob pats his head. "I need some new clothes. Nothing that I have will fit me anymore."

Billy hands him twenty dollars. "Go to the second-hand store. You won't get cold, so don't buy a coat. Shorts, underwear, and tee shirts." Jacob smiles and pockets the money. He does dishes and is then off, ducking as he goes through the front door. Billy is finally able to draw a breath, and he gives thanks to his guardian spirit for Jacob, walking down the street to buy some ragged clothes with all the money Billy had to give him.