Chapter 61 Chapter notes
Billy Black addresses the full Council, bringing each member up to speed on the events at the Pierce household.
The chapter title belongs to Maureen McGovern
Chapter 61 The Morning After Friday, November 3rd 7:00 am
The old men of the Council file into room 7, but instead of meekly taking their seats, they mill about restlessly at the coffee urn, not speaking, not making eye contact with anyone. They don't have words to process what has happened on their reservation.
Only two members weren't present the night before, as both were at work. They listen intently as the other Elders talk about the events on Sycamore Row.
Jonas Littlefoot hasn't arrived yet but an Elder named Tim, who was Gordon's older brother, walks in with hunched shoulders and an expression of the utmost sadness. The men crowd around him. Someone hands him a cup of coffee. They all seem hesitant to ask about how Lisle is faring.
He swallows and his eyes fill with tears. "By the time the boat docked, it was all over. When I got home, there was a message on my answering machine." He's led to a seat, and he collapses onto it. He looks over their heads as he speaks. "I went over to their house. She's destroyed. I-I wish she hadn't seen Gordon's body."
The Elders who had been on Sycamore the night before try to hide their wince, but they'd all seen the carnage first hand. Tim shakes his head. "I went to the clinic this morning and viewed the body. I mean, we'd always heard about the allergic reaction, but nothing could have prepared me for the way he reacted…" He searches for the words, "Blown up like a balloon. Almost unrecognizable."
He and Gordon had been inseparable. Their parents were dead and they had no other siblings, had grown up together. Shared everything.
"How is Darla?" Dave asks. "First, she sees poor Henry, laid out in the alley, then the attack. Gotta be hard on a six-year-old."
Tim nods. "Well, she's a plucky kid. Gordon told me that he and Lisle had spoken to her about Henry, about the fact that he had died. But Lisle couldn't talk about what happened last night, so I don't know what she's said to the child. But Darla was in the kitchen when her Nana and Daddy were killed, so…" He pulls out a wrinkled cloth from a pocket and wipes his face.
The old men sip coffee. The silence is deafening. Finally, Tim says, "Lisle said the doctor spoke to Billy and the Chief before he died?"
"He did." Billy wheels in, looking like he hasn't slept since summer. Dave rushes to make him a cup of coffee and the Council waits until he's situated before they ask any questions.
Billy stirs the coffee for a moment, then says, "I went to school with Julius. His wife, Maria, was my wife Roberta's cousin. Lisle went to school with the girls. Our families were close when the kids were coming up. Right about the time that Roberta died, his partner retired, and it seemed like he worked around the clock."
This starts a round robin, where every member of the Council shares an anecdote about the doctor. How he took Dave's son's tonsils out for free because Dave had just lost his job; when he stepped in to coach Little League after the coach broke his foot; how he always had peppermints in his pockets for the children.
An Elder named Luke says, "We used to ask him why he smoked so much. He had to know it wasn't good for him. He said that he knew that cigarettes wouldn't cause his death, so he wasn't worried about it."
"The Chief told us last night that old Quil was dying," Billy says to the Elders who had been at work last night. This starts a conversation about the Seer. He commands great respect among all the people of the tribe. Even though the Wolves are shapeshifters, supernatural creatures, Quil's ability to eat the fungus and see the visions, with an invisible animal who he says is Ephraim Black, is hard for some of them to swallow.
Billy's coffee sits untouched. He turns the cup this way and that, but doesn't bring it to his lips for a single sip. "Let's get on with this. I have some more troubling news." He rubs his head with two fingers, feeling one hell of a headache coming on. The Council waits patiently for him to speak.
"Okay. So the cold one named Victoria told Julius that she'd fed on Henry Upchurch, and showed him blisters that had formed everywhere his blood had touched her skin. She was obviously suffering from some mental decline, which the Chief thinks is proof that the magic protecting the tribe from the cold ones is valid. However, it is only a deterrent if the cold ones know about it. Victoria fed on Henry and he died a terrible death, something that she never would have done had she known the consequences."
"What is the answer, then?" Dave says.
"Jonas doesn't think there is one. Vampires are uncommon, after all. The odds that another will venture onto our land is remote." He looks out over their heads and his face hardens. "The thing that gets me is…if the Cullens had been free to come onto the reservation, Edward Cullen would surely have caught Victoria's scent, and could have dealt with her himself, before she lashed out.So it was all avoidable!"
The room is silent while the Indians digest this logic. Billy continues. "Victoria told Julius she was set upon by what she called a 'giant dog', which was obviously Brady, and he attacked her pretty good. Clawed an arm, bit off two fingers and took a couple of bites out of her calf, which he swallowed. That must have been what caused Brady to revert to the true wolf."
Tim says, "Darla told Lisle that her Nana threw the soup pot at the bad woman, who then got mad and threw it back at her and her Papa. It hit the doctor in the head. Is that what killed him?"
Billy nods his head slowly. "Blood loss and head trauma," he says with a sigh.
"It was a nightmare," Dave says to the Elders to the room at large. "I arrived with the Chief, and it seemed like half the reservation was there. Sam and most of the Pack, worried neighbors, frantic relatives, tribal police, paramedics and ambulance attendants…it was a madhouse. In the middle of it all was poor Lisle, just hysterical. She fell onto the bloody floor and they had to physically remove her and sit her down with a glass of whisky."
"What happened to the cold one named Victoria?" Tim asks. "I heard that Edward Cullen was back, and that there was a confrontation in front of Billy and Jacob's house."
Billy holds up a hand. "I was sitting in the Tempo when Victoria walked down E Street. I saw the whole thing." He tells his rapt audience what he saw and what Jacob told him. "When Jacob saw the little carved wolf around Victoria's neck, he destroyed her."
The side door creaks open, and Old Quil hobbles in. Emery must be at school, because the Seer arrives alone, with just a single notebook. He forgoes coffee and sits in his spot, but doesn't speak. His expression is grim. No one says anything to him about his illness.
"Next of kin have all been notified," Billy says. "Several lived off the res. We were able to contact them this morning. The tribe is paying for the burials and for any expenses that come up."
The room grows quiet and Billy Black says, "I prayed to my Guardian Spirit last night. I asked for guidance. I asked for strength. And I asked for wisdom to lead this Council toward a solution to the problem of the runaway magic."
Dave scoffs. "Did you get an answer?
Billy shakes his head sadly.
"I did." Quil's soft voice startles them. They all turn toward him but he says nothing more.
"What did you find out, Quil?" Billy says.
"First, where is our Chief?" he asks.
"I'm getting to that," Billy says. "First, please tell us what you've found."
Quil speaks as he shuffles through his papers. "I've hardly slept these last few weeks, as I've been going through the prophecies with Emery, trying to tie things together. We found nine drawings, that with their visions, might have been caused by the runaway spell. Only when I spoke to Wolf did I understand."
Billy says, "Show us, please, and tell us about the visions."
An hour later, the Council sits, stunned at the mystery of Quil, his visions, and his Wolf companion. He and Emery identified Emery's own abduction, the banishment of the Cullens, Bella's near suicide, Maya's transformation, Edward's trance, Alice's trance, Brady's rash decision to hunt down Edward Cullen and consuming vampire flesh, Victoria's slaughter of the residents on Sycamore Row, and the confrontation on E Street, where Edward Cullen was attacked by Brady and Charlie Swan almost lost his life.
"There were at least a hundred more," Quil says, "depicting petty crimes, fights, thefts, vandalism, and traffic mishaps, both here and in Forks. All over the place." He waves a gnarled hand around his head. After a moment, he spreads out another sheaf of papers on the table. The Elders rifle through them and compare stories about what they'd seen and heard.
Billy picks up the drawing of the dead swan, buffeted by the surf at First Beach. "Was this Bella?" he asks, "or Charlie?"
"Wolf wasn't specific about that one," Quil says. "It could have been either, or both." He turns to the Council. "Wolf agreed that the spell, which was done with the best intentions to protect the tribe, built on the residual energy of the two supernatural factions that reside around here, and simply used that energy to run amok."
Several Elders begin talking at once, blaming the Chief for all the problems that the reservation has endured, but Quil interrupts them with an upraised hand. "I've heard many of you muttering about the Chief for weeks. Are you angry because he used the ancient magic to protect the tribe without your consent? And if that answer is 'yes', then ask yourself this: What would you have done, if you were Chief? If the tribe's safety fell upon your shoulders?"
Dave speaks up. "We were angry because it was done without our knowledge. But you're right, Quil. The burden of protecting the tribe doesn't rest with us. The Chief didn't do anything to endanger anyone on purpose."
Billy says, "Okay. We're now all up to speed on the events of last night. And Tim, I offer my condolences on your loss. Gordon was a great man, and he will be sorely missed." Tim nods his thanks, and Billy says, "This morning, I received several disturbing phone calls. Three people are missing. Two brothers who own the salvage business, Ted and Barney. And tribal police called me after Sylvia Place's daughter called them to report her mother wasn't answering her phone."
A buzz of conversation breaks out and Billy lets it go on for a few minutes. When it subsides, he says, "I also got a call from Carmen, Chief Littlefoot's niece. Apparently, he has taken to his bed and will neither eat nor drink. He told her he feels responsible for all the deaths and disasters."
All the chatter ceases instantly. After a tense silence, Dave says, "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"He has lost the will to live," Billy says. "I'm not certain we should interfere." He looks to his Seer, who shakes his head. "Do you have something to tell us about this, Quil?" he asks.
"I am not certain," he says with a frown. "I had weeks to go through prophecies and speak to Wolf about them. I don't know…"
"Well, how hard can it be?" says Luke.
Quil's eyes flash. "I have been having visions every winter for decades," he snarls. "Up to ten a storm. They sometimes occur years before the event that they foretell. And like the dead swan, they never show exactly what will occur. They show what might occur. The future changes with every action that each of us take. It isn't carved in stone."
"What?" Luke says.
"Well, if I had found the prophecy of the dead swan floating in the surf and showed it to you all last year, what would it have meant? Nothing. Only when Bella Swan is desperate because you forced Edward Cullen and his family to depart after telling them lies, and Charlie is critically injured by a wolf, do they make sense." He gives Luke a disparaging look. "Don't question me, Luke. I know what I'm doing."
The silence in the room is absolute. Nobody knows what to say or what to do. Billy says, "I don't know what to do about our Chief, but I'm asking Edward Cullen to come and help us as we search for the bodies of those that are missing. If they're on the reservation, he may be able to find them."
Quil says, "That is tragic, but we need to disable this spell before we do anything else."
The old men look at each other, having no idea how the magic worked to begin with, as that information is only imparted to the Chief. "Don't worry," Quil says. "Wolf knows what to do."