I walked into the house and was greeted by the smell of breakfast, my stomach grumbling and reminding me that I hadn't eaten yet. I eagerly walked up to the bar that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house. I pulled out a stool and sat staring at the mounds of food that were slowly growing bigger.

Bellamy looked over his shoulder and grinning, asked, "How was your run? You went through the northern side of the property, right?"

"I didn't dare run, but I loped. I made it past our territory and stopped at this ledge that overlooked a pocket valley. Don't worry, it wasn't in their territory," I said, nodding.

"And your shoulder?"

"I think I overextended my shoulder," I replied, glumly. "I'm never going to be able to run far and I'm only going to be able to raise my arm shoulder height."

"Your head," he asked, turning to look at me in concern.

"Headaches here and there, but nothing I can't handle. I think the nightmares are going to continue. Um, I did discover that whenever I sketch, the damn pond and mill show up unbidden. I'm not consciously doing it."

"That's not good," he replied. "You really need to think about getting some outside help. A psychiatrist or something. That'll be the only way to move passed it."

I sighed and laid a elbow on the bar and then my head on my hand, "I know. I'll start looking for one, swear."

He nodded, "Good. Now how bout some breakfast?"

I grinned and sat up straight, "Yes, please."

He chuckled and piled a plate full of eggs, bacon, sausage, and a second plate of pancakes. I eagerly dug into the food and moaned in pleasure making Bellamy laugh. I gave him a mock glare and chuckled.

"It's good, dude," I said after I swallowed a forkful of eggs. "Maybe you should consider being a short order cook."

"No way," he replied. "The pay sucks. Oh, speaking of jobs, both the college and high school want to hire me for the Spring semester. I can't decide. If I go to the college, it's almost a three hour drive. The school's roughly forty-five minutes."

"Well, if you choose the college, you can always get a small apartment. Stay there for the week and come home on the weekends. Give yourself a chance to experience life outside of a small town. Maybe date a couple of worldly women?"

"Worldly women," he said with a raised eyebrow. "Really, Clarke? And what about you?"

"I think I'm not ready to get myself out there again. Even if my relationship with Wells was horrible, I'm just not too keen on the idea," I said, sadly and shrugging.

"I understand," he said, sympathetically. "There's no rush. You're young still. And with our long lives, you've got plenty of time."

I chuckled, "That I have. That I have."

I finished breakfast and checked my email again. I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from the woman again. Opening it, I was floored by her words. They gave me a very warm fuzzy and a smile crept over my lips. She got exactly the emotions I was trying to convey. She was also scarily accurate in suggesting it was a pleasant memory. I sent her a quick reply, telling her that she got the emotions I was conveying and that she was right about it being a memory of my childhood. Of course, I didn't tell her that it was my friends and I playing in our wolf forms. That would send out red flags and I couldn't afford to slip up. I hit send and headed upstairs to take a very long shower in hopes of easing the tension and relaxing my shoulder.

"Well," I said to no one in particular, "I'm officially bored."

"We could always explore the town a bit more. Get used to where everything is," Nate suggested.

I sighed and looked up at the vaulted ceiling, replied, "I guess that better than nothing. Watching them work out back is like watching golf."

Octavia sat up straight and with a grin, "How about opening the crate? You said we could, Clarke."

I smiled and looking at her, said, "That is a good idea, O. It'll at kill a little bit of time."

So, we all got up and trooped into the garage. Nate bent down and snapped the very rusted padlock easily. He tried to lift the lid on his own, but it was too heavy. Bellamy joined in and with a very loud creak of the hinges, they got it open. We all leaned in to look and whatever it was, was covered in a tightly wrapped leather. Again, it took Nate and Bellamy to lift it out and then laid it gently on the ground. Bellamy pulled out a switchblade and cut through the leather bindings. He unwrapped it and revealed a very old stone tablet. The writing was very clear and looked as fresh as the day it was carved.

I knelt down and slowly traced the letters, not recognizing the language it was written in.

Leaning back and looking at them, I said, "I don't recognize the language, but it looks almost archaic. Maybe centuries old."

"It's in near perfect condition, too," Bellamy said, nodding his head. "You know, I've got a college friend that majored in dead languages. Maybe, I could send it to them to see if it can be translated."

I shook my head, "I don't like the idea of sending it out. Someone buried it for a reason and since it's so close to the pack's territory, there might be something about it that could blow up. I think, though, that it would be enough to either send pictures or a rubbing. Maybe both."

"If this is valuable," Nate said, thinking out loud, "It might be prudent to put it in a safe. We've got one in your studio, right, Clarke?"

"We do," I replied, standing up. "It's a floor safe. Should be enough. You guys are going to have to carry it, though."

They nodded and bending down, Nate and Bellamy lifted it up and I could see them straining at its weight. Octavia quickly ran to the door that separated my studio from the garage and I quickly walked over to the safe and opened it. I shifted the papers inside and held the door open for them to lower it. With tremendous effort the got it lowered carefully and flat at the bottom of the safe. It barely fit and Bellamy took some pictures of it before I covered it up with the papers and shut the door.

"You guys good," I asked with concern.

"Yeah," Nate groaned. "That sucker is heavy. Just don't ask us to pick it up out of there anytime soon and we'll be good."

I chuckled, "Deal. I wonder who it belonged to?"

"Well, we'll get an idea once I'll get these pictures to my friend. It might take her awhile," Bellamy said with a shrug.

I quirked an eyebrow, "Her?"

He blushed and ducked his head a little, "Yeah…we may have dated for a little while back in college."

"Interesting," I said with a mischievous smile.

"Shut up, Clarke," he said giving me glare.

I laughed, "No worries, Bell. I'm only messing with you. Now, how bout playing the tourist for a little while."

Everyone agreed and we piled into my Bronco. Driving into town was picturesque and I inhaled deeply the forest in autumn, which was probably my favorite time of year. Half an hour later, we pulled into town and parked in the parking lot of a restaurant that we thought we'd give a try later on. We walked slowly down Main Street, taking everything in and Octavia and I did a little window shopping. A lot of the stores were local run businesses that had probably been in the same family for generations. There was even an antique shop that caught my attention and I was determined to come back and explore that small space. We came to the end of the street and turned left towards their Town Hall. There was a huge open space, a park, to the right and we crossed the street to it. It was a park and there were statues here and there, peppering the grounds. There was an old bandstand at the far end of the field. We wandered the paths and stopped by each statue. In typical Virginia style, the statues memorialized those that had been killed in past wars. There was one statue that really got my attention. It was of a young man aiming a musket at an unknown enemy and by his side was a huge wolf, snarling and hackles raised. There was a bronze plaque and it read, "In Memoriam of Kristofer Huntsman and his wolf, Rasmus. They gave up their lives in the pursuit of freedom."

I stepped back and gazed more intently at the wolf. Knowing that the pack was so close, I had a feeling there was more to the wolf than probably the residents of Eden would have ever guessed. I smiled to myself and we continued our walk. We swung by, but it was so similar to Arcadia's that we didn't feel the need to linger. Heading back around, we stayed on the side of the park and discovered several empty stores and hole in the wall or mom and pop restaurants, including the pizza place Nate and I had gone to our first night.

We avoided going into the residential area and found ourself walking back down Main Street and headed to the restaurant. We were seated promptly and warmly by a waitress. There wasn't a lot of diners and we were pleasantly surprised at how much meat entrees were offered and the descriptions led us to believe that they were pretty big portions.

"You know," Octavia said quietly, looking over the menu, "It looks like this place might be geared to our kind. Just look at these portion sizes."

I nodded as I looked over it. I noticed that they had several Italian style dishes, but instead of it looking appetizing, it turned my stomach and made me feel a bit nauseous.

"Clarke, you okay," Bellamy asked, seeing me shudder and swallow thickly.

"Yeah," I replied, looking at him over the menu. "I suddenly find Italian food kind of revolting. I don't know why. I think I'll just order a burger and fries."

"They've got milkshakes and malts," Octavia said, excitedly.

I chuckled, "A milkshake sounds really good right now."

As soon as our menus were on the table, the waitress showed right back up and took our orders. She didn't bat an eye at the amount of food we ordered and it looked like Octavia's assumption might very well be correct. While we waited, I suddenly felt eyes on us and I turned my head as the bell over the door chimed. In walked a man and a woman and they both seemed to walk with an animalistic grace. The were escorted to a booth in the way back and partially out of our sight. When they had sat down, I could barely see the man glance our way and then look ahead at the woman seated in front of him.

I leaned into the table and said softly, "I think I just found our stalkers, Nate."

"Where," he said, knowing better than to look around and drawing more attention to ourselves.

I jerked my head slightly in their direction and replied, "In the far back corner booth. A man and a woman. I felt eyes on us and they came in soon after. There is something definitely different about them. The restaurant has too many scents, so I can't get a whiff of them."

"You guys have been watched the entire time you've been here," Bellamy asked, worried.

"Every time we come into town," Nate replied. "It might be the pack, but it could just be people curious about the new arrivals."

"Have you felt them by the house?"

I shook my head, "No, but then again I don't think I've hardly left the house, not even to take a run. Nate?"

"Occasionally I do and it's coming from across the the boundary," he said. "What I want to know is why they're interested in us."

"That is indeed the question," I said. "And one we're most likely not get an answer to."

"At least not without them coming up to our doorstep," Octavia replied.

We all nodded around the table and sat in silence as we waited for our food. When the waitress showed up with our food, we found out that the portions were indeed large. I greedily eyed my burger and chocolate shake as she laid them down in front of me. I fought the urge to immediately dig in and waited impatiently for her to go away. As soon as her back was turned, I started eating. I had to hold back a moan at how good it was. I couldn't help myself, I inhaled it and earned a chuckle from Octavia.

"It's good, O," I said as I took a breather. "I mean seriously, these people know how to cook. Those pizzas were damn good and now this place. Did we find food heaven accidentally."

That earned a laugh from everyone and grinning, I finished my meal. By the time the food was gone, I was actually feeling full and felt the need to take a nap. I grabbed a dessert menu and looked it over. There were a lot of enticing choices and I giggled in delight seeing that we could buy a whole pie. When the waitress came back to get our empty dinner plates, I ordered three apple pies to go. Again, she didn't bat an eye and left to get them and our check. I paid for the food and left a generous tip. With the pies clasped tightly in Octavia's lap, I drove us home and couldn't help but enjoy the shadows that were beginning to play across the windshield as the sun set.

We kept one pie out and put the other two in the fridge. We all went our separate ways for the night and I crawled into my bed and turned on the tv. I found an old movie on and watched it as I started to feel sleepy. I must have dozed off because a nightmare jolted me awake and I found myself bathed in light and the tv was still on. I didn't think I screamed this time, but my heart was pounding and my breath was coming in shallow gasps for air. I couldn't remember what I dreamt about, but I found myself rubbing my shoulder trying to get rid of the pain that was suddenly there. I sighed and got out of bed. I made my way downstairs and headed straight to the kitchen. I poured myself a large glass of milk and dug a fork out of the drawer. Pulling the pie closer to me, I started eating it without bothering to slice it.

"Couldn't sleep," I heard Bellamy ask from behind me, making me jump.

I nearly choked on the pie and took a huge swallow of the milk before I answered, "I had another nightmare. Only this time, I couldn't remember anything. When I woke up my shoulder was killing me. Still is. I'll take my medicine when I'm done eating the pie."

He chuckled as he got out his own fork and leaned over the bar and dug into the pie.

"You planning on eating this all by yourself," he teased.

I gave him a small smile and replied, "Possibly. I needed something comforting and the pie looked so tempting, that I just had to have it."

Chuckling, he said, "Than far be it for me to deny you comfort food."

I nodded and took one last bite and finished off the milk, "I actually think I'm good now."

I got off of the stool and rinsed out the glass and fork, before I placed them in the dishwasher.

"Goodnight, Bell," I said and turned to head upstairs.

"Are you going to be alright up there alone," he asked as I heard the box close and the water running as he rinsed off his fork.

I turned to look at him and shrugged, "Don't know, but I gotta try. I can't keep having Nate sleep with me. And once the pain killer is in my system, I shouldn't wake up for anything."

"Alright," he said and stepped closer, giving me a hug.

I hugged him back and breathed deeply his scent. It always reminded me of winter. Mistletoe and cinnamon. I looked up at him and he looked down at me. We stared in each other's eyes for a long moment and then he leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips. Returning the kiss, I reluctantly let him go and headed back up to my room. When I laid back in bed, his scent still surrounded me and I felt safe. Safer than I had felt these last couple of months. I slept easily for the rest of the night.