Lily decided that it was much harder to crochet than she had been let to believe. But she was determined. Her little baby hats looked more like hole filled doilies, and the socks she had made could be better compared to lumpy bits of fabric than actual socks. But she kept at it. Eventually, she would have to get better. Maybe she should have started with blankets first.
She had continued to go to the hospital throughout the week after school. She was beginning to be recognized as just another feature of the hospital, similar to the nurses and machines. The kids were always happy to see her, although Jamie in particular seemed to light up whenever he saw her. Jamie's treatment wasn't getting any better or worse, but his body was always so tired after a session. Most of the time Lily would just sit quietly, reading to him while he rested. His favorite stories were fairy tales.
He was the first to get a lumpy beanie made by Lily at the hospital. Once his doctor had approved it, Jamie wore it all the time. Lily had a suspicion he would have worn it through the summer if he ever got to go back outside. She decided to make him more with different designs to keep him happy and distracted.
She had met his dad, who was a single father. His wife had passed away a little over a year ago, but she didn't ask how and he didn't elaborate. Lily didn't feel the need to press for details when it wasn't wanted. She could tell it was a deeply emotional topic, so they focused back on Jamie.
Leah had been amazing at helping put together a plant experiment for Lily to try. They decided to focus on several groups. The first experiment involved growing plants from seed to sprout. One group she would give her full attention, talking to, touching, and attempting to glow around. The second group would get just the bare minimum needed to grow. The third group would be the control. This would be where Leah came in. Leah would grow the control group of plants.
Lily wasn't sure how scientific this actually was, but they were trying. The girls theorized that with Lily staying as far away as possible from the control group, they could measure just how much an impact Lily had on plants.
They also found several dead and dying plants from around local businesses in La Push. Even Billy donated his wilting orchid to the cause. He seemed more amused with the girl's willingness to take over his plants than anything else. He wasn't sure what they were planning, but if it made them happy who was he to judge?
They were currently observing the plants daily to see if there were any changes or improvements. If several plants came from the same household or were similar types of plants, they would split them up so that Leah had a few and Lily had the rest. That way they could again compare their results.
So far, Lily was thrilled having so many different types of plants growing in and around her house. Sarah and John just looked on amused as their house slowly filled up like a nursery. Every day Lily seemed to come home with another dying plant. They always thought they would have children who would find stay animals to bring home. Fostering a teenager with a penchant for adopting plants seemed reasonably tame in their minds.
By the end of the week Leah was losing her mind. She eventually had to beg Lily to stop bringing her so many plants. They were most decidedly not doing as well at her house. Whether the cause was her inability to really care for plants, her mother's tendency to overwater them, or Seth's over eagerness causing them to fall from their stands and windowsills they had managed to not only do worse while in Leah's care but seemed to have given up all inclination to grow.
Lily, in retrospect, realized maybe they had taken in more plants than what they could feasibly manage. It was Leah who came up with the idea on how to find them new homes. She thought that the hospital could use some of the flowers, especially the kids, to help distract them from everything. Sarah helped the girls draft the initiative, which was proposed to the hospital administrators and board of directors. They were just as happy with the idea, but put several safety rules in place to ensure their patients were not put at risk.
Once the approval came back with the attached safety protocols, the girls began their mission. They brought all the extra plants that were homeless and doing extraordinarily well to the hospital for the children in the inpatient wards to help take care of. The children, in turn, came up with their very own care chart for each of the plants ensuring everyone helped and nobody was left out. Lily was thrilled to see Jamie was even joining in on the fun.
It wasn't until they were leaving the hospital later that evening when Leah brought the subject up. "Lily, you go how often to see those kids?" she asked quietly, almost afraid that they would hear her even though they were already at the car.
"Well, I see them most days after school when I'm not out hunting plants down with you. They are cooped up there day in and day out. If I can help them feel better, even a little bit, I want to try. I know its not much, but their smiles are worth it to me."
Leah paused at that. "Would you mind if I joined you some days? It was the first time in a while where I wasn't so angry. It felt good, helping the kids. It made me feel like me again. I don't know if that makes sense."
"No, it makes complete sense. We can coordinate to go together next time! Besides, maybe the kids can give you pointers on how to keep plants alive." Leah shoved Lily playfully for bringing that back up.
As they started their drive back to La Push, they started comparing the notes they had for the week regarding project Tinkerbelle. The control plants were doing less than desired. Leah apologized, but other than following the exact technique Lily was doing they had no explanation. They even measured the water they used or amount of sunlight the plants received. They weren't doing horribly, just not as well as they had hoped. The plants at Lily's house were starkly different than the control plants at Leah's house.
The plants Lily did not focus on were growing at an average expected pace. No faster, stronger, or healthier than a regular group of plants that could be found at a nursery. The drastic change happened when examining the plants Lily spent most of her time with when she was home. They were flourishing! They had grown twice as fast as both other groups, had better sprouts, and seemed to overall be doing better when compared to the test group and control group. Lily was sure to emphasize that she didn't experience anything out of the ordinary while taking care of them, but the results were still astounding.
They had only been growing and testing for a little while, so more time was necessary to gather the data. It was a promising start to this experiment. Leah seemed fully enraptured by trying to trigger whatever it was that caused Lily to glow. She came up with several theories, each as unrealistic as the last. But the girls had fun while doing it.
They eventually started to gossip about the people in their lives. Leah brought up how Seth wouldn't stop complaining about Jacob hanging out with Bella all the time after school. Sam and a few other boys from the reservation had started growing abnormally quickly. They had also started getting worse attitudes than before. They began hanging around Sam, whom Leah was still adamantly ignoring along with Emily.
Leah thought they were doing steroids. It was the only thing the girls could come up with that explained the sudden growth spurts, bad tempers, muscle head mania, and disappearing from school for long periods at a time. She was getting worried for Seth, who she felt might follow in the trend if Jacob were to start. Her parents weren't taking her seriously. Instead, they told her not to worry about it and to just focus on school.
Lily tried to comfort Leah, pointing out that Seth wasn't stupid. He had a hero crush on Jacob, but he didn't seem like he was about to start shooting steroids any time soon. He had his father to take care of, and a girl to focus on. She felt that Jacob was safe from whatever this gang was doing.
Leah wasn't so sure, but without anything else to really support being worried with they decided to change topics to Bella and Jacob. They had noticed, especially with Seth's complaining, that Jacob and Bella had been almost inseparable. They even had a date coming up if Seth was to be believed. At this point Lily asked Leah what Bella's ex-boyfriend was like.
Leah wasn't kind in her statements. She mentioned that they were all foster children, but that they were hooking up together. Their father, Carlisle, was a famous surgeon who moved to Forks because his wife wanted a small town. Her name was Esme according to Leah. Lily thought her name was gorgeous, but Leah quickly moved onto describing the siblings. She was honest in saying she had never met them, her father not allowing her or Seth to go near the family. But she had heard that Edward, the one Bella had dated, had broken up with her because they moved. It didn't seem like that big a deal. Bella and he are seniors, so they were bound to be separated eventually. But their relationship had some weird drama in general. Bella had run away a one point to go visit her mother or something along those lines, but came back injured. Nobody believed she had fallen out of the window at the hotel she was staying at but who knows. Bella wasn't the reigning queen of grace.
Apparently, the father had gotten a huge job offering at a different hospital that he couldn't turn away. Lily could understand that, especially with five children to support. She wasn't sure why the family wasn't well received on the Res, but Leah wasn't being very forthcoming with it either.
Leah eventually broke down and told Lily when she wasn't understanding what the big deal was regarding the Cullen's.
"If I tell you, you have to be sworn to secrecy. Its some crazy tribal history that we aren't supposed to tell outsiders. So, if you can keep quiet about it, I'll tell you. But you legit cannot tell anyone ok?" Leah's face looked really tight while prefacing her story. After Lily promised not to say a word, Leah began her story.
"The tribal elders think that the Cullen's are cold ones. No, don't interrupt until I finish Lily or I'll never get started. Cold ones are the term they use for vampires. Apparently, some vampires had come to the area close to 100 years ago or something like that. They met with some of the tribal members who were alive at the time and told them they didn't eat humans. Or rather, they only drank the blood of animals. There were only two or three of them at the time. The made a pact with the tribe not to come onto our land, and we wouldn't hunt them down."
"What do you mean hunt them down?"
"Lily, I said don't interrupt me! Please! I'm already freaked out just saying this out loud. Apparently, some of our ancestors could transform into giant wolves. I don't know how or why, only what the legends say. The problem that the tribal elder's have with the Cullen's is that they think they are the same ones who came all that time ago. Obviously, that's ridiculous, but have you ever tried to change old men's minds about anything? They live, breathe, and die by these old tribal stories. None of the teenagers believe in this mind you, but we don't tell the elders that. They seriously get bent out of shape if we question it."
They sat in silence as Leah continued to drive. After a while Leah couldn't take it anymore. "Lily, you can talk now!" jumpstarting Lily into question mode.
"Can girls transform or only boys? How do you kill vampires? Aren't there like seven or eight family members in the family? Do you believe it? If they don't hurt people, why is everyone so worried near them still?" she asked one question right after another.
"Wow ok so you don't think this is nuts? Because it is. And its crazy that you don't think it is. But ok. No, apparently, it's a boy only club turning into giant guardian wolves. Its probably why nobody made a big fuss abut Emily getting hurt. I have no idea how they are supposed to guard us against vampires, because I have no idea how any of that works. The legends don't go into detail. Yes, there are or were several who lived in the area before they left. But the elders think they collected more vampires to build their numbers. I don't know. And honestly? Wouldn't you be concerned that a predator you can't protect yourself from claims they no longer want to eat you or your family? Wouldn't they have a slip up? Could you trust them around your children? No, the elders got that part right. Whether Vampires and giant wolves are real, I don't know. But you don't let threats, real or imagined near the ones you love. "
They had finally arrived at Lily's house not too long after that final statement. Lily wasn't sure what to think, but she hugged Leah before going inside. She promised again she wouldn't say a word about what Leah had said.
Lily was worried though. Maybe it was the small-town mentality finally hitting her. All these whispers of wolves, bears, and attacks were really starting to weigh down on her mind. Whatever tomorrow may bring, the thought to herself, at least she was content in knowing that she was safe in her bed at home.