Elsa's POV

As I sat in my room, trying to concentrate on the third act of Macbeth, I was really listening for my truck. I would have thought, even over the pounding rain, I could have heard the engine's roar. But when I went to peek out the curtain – again – it was suddenly there.

I wasn't looking forward to Friday, and it was more than lived up to my non-expectations. Of course there were the fainting comments. Cinderella especially seemed to get a kick out of the story.

Luckily Jack had kept his mouth shut, and no one seemed to know about Anna's involvement. he did have a lot of questions about lunch, though.

"So what did Anna Cullen want yesterday?" Cinderella asked in Trig.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "She never really got to the point."

"You looked kind of mad," she fished.

"Did I?", I kept my expression blank.

"You know, I've never seen her sit with anyone but her family before. That was weird."

"Weird," I agreed. he seemed annoyed somehow; he'd flipped his dark curls impatiently – I guessed he'd been hoping to hear something that would make a good story for him to pass on.

The worst part about Friday was that even though I knew she wasn't going to be there, I still hoped. When I walked into the cafeteria with Cinderella and Jack, I couldn't keep from looking at her table, where Rapunzel , Alice, and Jasper sat talking, heads close together. And I couldn't stop the gloom that engulfed me as I realized I didn't know how long I would have to wait until I saw her again.

At my usual table, everyone was full of our plans for the next day. Jack was animated again, putting a great deal of trust in the local weatherman who promised sun tomorrow. I'd have to see that before I believed it. But it was warmer today – almost sixty. Maybe the outing wouldn't be completely miserable.

I intercepted a few unfriendly glances from Astrid during lunch, which I didn't understand until we were all walking out of the room together. I was right behind her, just a foot from her slick, blonde hair, and she was evidently unaware of that.

"...don't know why 'Elsa'" – She sneered my name – "Doesn't just sit with the Cullens from now on."

I heard her muttering to Jack. I'd never noticed what an unpleasant, nasal voice she had,

and I was surprised by the malice in it. I really didn't know her well at all, certainly not well enough for her to dislike me – or so I'd thought. "She's my friend; she sits with us," jack whispered back loyally,

but his tone was also territorial, and it made me uncomfortable. I paused to let Cinderella and Mirabel pass me. I didn't want to hear any more.

That night at dinner, Agnarr seemed enthusiastic about my trip to La Push in the morning. I think he felt guilty for leaving me home alone on the weekends, but he'd spent too many years building his habits to break them now. Of course he knew the names of all the kids going, and their parents,

and their great-grandparents too, probably. He seemed to approve. I wondered if he would approve of my plan to ride to Seattle with Anna Cullen. Not that I was going to tell him about it.

"Dad, do you know a place called Goat Rocks or something like that? I think it's south of Mount Rainier,", I asked casually.

"Yeah – why?"

I shrugged. "Some kids were talking about camping there."

"It's not a very good place for camping." He sounded surprised. "Too many bears. Most people go there during the hunting season."

"Oh," I murmured. "Maybe I got the name wrong." I meant to sleep in, but an unusual brightness woke me. I opened my eyes to see a clear yellow light streaming through my window. I couldn't believe it. I hurried to the window to check, and sure enough, there was the sun. It was in the wrong place in the sky, too low, and it didn't seem to be as close as it should be, but it was definitely the sun. Clouds ringed the horizon, but a large patch of blue was visible in the middle. I lingered by the window as long as I could, afraid that if I left the blue would disappear again.

The Frost's Olympic Outfitters store was just north of town. I'd seen the store, but I'd never stopped there – not having much need for any supplies required for being outdoors over an extended period of time.

In the parking lot I recognized Jack's Suburban and Hiccup's Sentra. As I pulled up next to their vehicles, I could see the group standing around in front of the Suburban. aladdin and jasmine was there, along with three other boys and a three girls had class with; I was fairly sure their names were Heather and tiana.

Cinderella was there, flanked by Ariel and Ruffnut her twin Tuffnut Three other girls stood with them, including one I remembered falling over in Gym on Friday. That one gave me a dirty look as I got out of the truck, and whispered something to Astrid Astrid shook out her cornsilk hair and eyed me scornfully. So it was going to be one of those days.

At least Jackson seemed happy to see me.

"You came!" se called, delighted. "And I said it would be sunny today, didn't I?"

"I told you I was coming," I reminded him.

"We're just waiting for Aster and Tooth..unless you invited someone," jack added.

"Nope," I lied lightly, hoping I wouldn't get caught in the lie. But also wishing that a miracle would occur, and Anna would appear. Jack looked satisfied.

"Will you ride in my car? It's that or Tooth's mom's Minivan."

"Sure."

he smiled blissfully. It was so easy to make Jack happy.

"You can have shotgun," he promised. I hid my chagrin. It wasn't as simple to make jack and Cinderella happy at the same time. I could see Cinderella glowering at us now.

The numbers worked out in my favor, though. Tooth brought two extra people, and suddenly every seat was necessary. I managed to wedge Cinderella in-between jack and me in the front seat of the Suburban. Jack could have been more graceful about it, but at least Cinderella seemed appeased.

It was only fifteen miles to La Push from Forks, with gorgeous, dense green forests edging the road most of the way and the wide Quillayute River snaking beneath it twice.

I was glad I had the window seat. We'd rolled the windows down – the Suburban was a bit claustrophobic with nine people in it – and I tried to absorb as much sunlight as possible.

I'd been to the beaches around La Push many times during my Forks summers with Agnarr, so the mile-long crescent of First Beach was familiar to me. It was still breathtaking. The water was dark gray,

even in the sunlight, white-capped and heaving to the gray, rocky shore. Islands rose out of the steel harbor waters with sheer cliff sides, reaching to uneven summits, and crowned with austere, soaring firs. The beach had only a thin border of actual sand at the water's edge, after which it grew into millions of large,

smooth stones that looked uniformly gray from a distance, but up closer were every shade a stone could be: terracotta, sea green, lavender, blue gray, dull gold. The

tide line was strewn with large driftwood trees, bleached bone white in the salt waves, some piled together against the edge of the forest fringe, some laying solitary, just out of reach of the waves.

There was a brisk wind coming off the waves, cool and briny.

Pelicans floated on the swells while seagulls and a lone eagle wheeled above them. The clouds still circled the sky, threatening to invade at any moment, but for now the sun shone bravely in its halo of blue sky. We picked our way down to the beach, jack leading the way to a ring of driftwood logs that had obviously been used for parties like ours before. There was a fire circle already in place, filled with black ashes.

Aladdin and the girl I thought was named anesthesia gathered broken branches of driftwood from the drier places along the forest edge, and soon had a teepee-shaped construction built atop the old cinders.

"Have you ever seen a driftwood fire?" Jack asked me. I was sitting on one of the bone-colored benches; the others clustered, gossiping excitedly, on either side of me. Jack knelt by the fire, lighting one of the smaller sticks with a cigarette lighter.

"No," I said as she placed the blazing twig carefully against the teepee of wood.

"You'll like this then – watch the colors." he lit another small branch and laid it alongside the first. The flames started to lick quickly up the sides of the dry wood.

"It's blue." I said in surprise.

"The salt does it. Pretty, isn't it?" She lit one more piece, placed it where the fire hadn't yet caught, and then came to sit by me. Thankfully, Jeremy was on her other side. he turned to her and claimed her attention. I watched the strange blue and green flames crackle towards the sky. After a half hour of chatter,

some of the boys wanted to hike to the nearby tidal pools. It was a dilemma. On the one hand, I loved the tide pools. They had fascinated me since I was a child;

they were one of the only things I ever looked forward to when it came to Forks. On the other hand, I'd also fallen into them a lot. Not a big deal when you're seven and with your dad. It reminded me of Anna's request – that I not fall into the ocean.

Astrid was the one who made my decision for me. She didn't want to hike, and she was definitely wearing the wrong shoes for it. Most of the others besides mirabel and Cinderella decided to stay on the beach as well. I waited until hiccup and aladdin had committed to remaining with them before I got up quietly to join the pro-hiking group. Jack gave me a huge smile when she saw that I was coming.

The hike wasn't too long, though I hated to lose the sky in the woods. The green light of the forest was strangely at odds with the adolescent laughter, too murky and ominous to be in harmony with the light banter around me. I had to watch each step I took very carefully,

avoiding roots below and the branches above, and I soon fell behind. Eventually I broke through the emerald confines of the forest and found the rocky shore again. It was low tide, and a tidal river flowed past us on its way to the sea. Along its pebbled banks, shallow pools that never completely drained were teeming with life.

I was very cautious not to lean too far over the little ocean ponds. The others were fearless, leaping over the rocks, perching precariously on the edges. I found a very stable-looking rock on the fringe od one of the largest pools and I sat there cautiously, spellbound by the natural aquarium below me.

The bouquets of brilliant anemones undulated ceaselessly in the invisible current, twisted shells scurried about the edges, obscuring the crabs within them, starfish stuck motionless to the rocks and each other, while one black eel with white racing stripes wove through the bright green weeds, waiting for the sea to return.

I was completely absorbed, except for one part of my mind that wondered what Anna was doing now, and trying to imagine what she would be saying if she were here with me.

Finally the boys were hungry, and I got up stiffly to follow them back.

I tried to keep up better this time through the woods, so naturally I fell a few times. I got some shallow scrapes on my palms, and the knees of my jeans were stained green, but it could have been worse.

When we got back to First beach, the group we'd left behind had multiplied. As we got closer we could see the shining, straight black hair and copper skin of the newcomers,

teenagers from the reservation come to socialize.

The food was already being passed around, and the boys hurried to claim a share while Snow White introduced us as we entered the driftwood circle. Mirabel and I were the last to arrive, and, as snow white said our names, I noticed a younger girl sitting on the stones near the fire glance up at me in interest.

I sat down next to mirabel and jack brought us sandwiches and an array of sodas to choose from, while a girl who looked to be the oldest of the visitors rattled off the names of the seven others with him. All I caught was that one of the girls was named Giselle, and the girl who noticed me was Honeymaren.

It was relaxing to sit with mirabel; she was a restful kind of person to be around – she didn't feel the need to fill every silence with chatter. She left me free to think undisturbed while we ate. And I was thinking about how disjointedly time seemed to flow in Forks, passing in a blur at times, with single images standing out more clearly than others. And then, at other times, every second was significant,

etched in my mind. I knew exactly what caused the difference, and it disturbed me. During lunch the clouds started to advance, slinking across the blue sky, darting in front of the sun momentarily, casting long shadows across the beach, and blackening the waves. As they finished eating, people started to drift away in twos and threes. Some walked down to the edge of the waves, trying to skip rocks across the choppy surface.

Others were gathering a second expedition to the tide pools. Jack – with tooth shadowing her – headed up to the one shop in the village. Some of the local kids went with them; others went along on the hike. By the time they all scattered,

I was sitting alone on my driftwood log, with Astrid and Hiccup occupying themselves by a CD player someone had thought to bring, and three teenagers from the reservation perched around the circle. Including the girl named Honeymaren and the oldest boy who had acted as a spokesperson.

A few minutes after Angela left with the hikers, Honeymaren sauntered over to take her place by my side. she looked fourteen, maybe fifteen, she was Slim, light tan skin, long glossy dark brown hair worn in braid, dark brown eyes

"You're Elsa Anderson, aren't you?"

She looked familiar .

"yes" I said smilling.

"I'm Honeymaren Black." She held out her hand in a friendly gesture. "You bought my dad's truck."

"Oh," I said, relieved, shaking her sleek hand. "You're Billy's youngest daughter. I probably should remember you."

"No, I'm the youngest of my family – you would remember my older sisters and Brother."

"Rachel and Rebecca and Ryder," I suddenly recalled. Agnarr and Billy had thrown us together a lot during my visits, to keep us busy while they fished.

We were all too shy to make much progress as friends. Of course, I'd kicked up enough tantrums to end the fishing trips by the time I was eleven.

"Are they here?" I examined the girls at the ocean's edge, wondering if I would recognize them now.

"No." Honeymaren shook her head. "Rachel and Ryder got a scholarship to Washington State, and Rebecca married a Samoan surfer – She lived in Hawaii now."

"Married. Wow." I was a little stunned. The twins and Ryder were only a little over a year older than I was.

"So how do you like the truck?" She asked.

"I love it, it runs great."

"Yeah, but it's really slow." she laughed. "I was so relieved when Agnarr bought it. My dad wouldn't let me work on building another car when we had a perfectly good vehicle right there."

"It's not that slow," I objected.

"Have you tried to go over sixty?"

"No." I admitted.

"Good. Don't." She grinned.

I couldn't help grinning back. "It does great in a collision," I offered in my truck's defense.

" don't think a tank could take out that old monster," she agreed with another laugh.

"So you build cars?" I asked, impressed.

"When I have free time, and parts. You wouldn't happen to know where I could get my hands on a master cylinder for a 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit?" She asked jokingly. she had a pleasant, husky voice.

"Sorry," I laughed, "I haven't seen any lately, but I'll keep my eyes open for you." As if I knew what that was. she was very easy to talk with. she flashed a brilliant smile, looking at me appreciatively in a way I was learning to recognize. I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"You know elsa, Honeymaren?" Astrid asked – in what I imagined was an insolent tone – from across the fire.

"We've sort of known each other since I was born," she laughed, smiling at me again.

"How nice," she didn't sound like she thought it was nice at all, and her pale, fishy eyes narrowed.

"Elsa," she called again, watching my face carefully, "I was just saying to hiccup that it was too bad none of the Cullens could come out today.

Didn't anyone think to invite them?" Her expression of concern was unconvincing.

"You mean Dr. Carlisle's Cullen's family? The tall, older boy asked before I could respond, much to Lauren's irritation. He was really closer to a man than a boy, and his voice was very deep.

"Yes, do you know them?" she asked condescendingly, turning halfway towards her.

"The Cullens don't come here,"

he said in a tone that closed the subject, ignoring his question wait why does then a flash came thought my hea there's was a man in a 19th century winter outfit. Running thought a snowstrom Okay now i'm having these weird flashbacks ,

Hiccup, trying to win back Astrid attention, asked her opinion on a CD he held. She was distracted.

I stared at the deep-voiced boy, taken aback, but he was looking away towards the dark forest behind us.

she'd said the Cullens didn't come here, but his tone had implied something more – that they weren't allowed; they were prohibited. her manner left a strange impression on me, and I tried to ignore it without success.

Honeymaren interrupted my meditation. "So is Forks driving you insane yet?"

"Oh, I'd say that's an understatement." I grimaced. she grinned understandingly.

I was still turning over the brief comment on the Cullens, and I had a sudden inspiration.

It was a stupid plan, but I didn't have any better ideas. I hoped that young Honeymaren was as yet inexperienced around girls, so that he wouldn't see through my sure-to-be-pitiful attempts at flirting.

"Do you want to walk down the beach with me?" I asked, trying to imitate the way Anna had of looking up from underneath her eyelashes. It couldn't have nearly the same effect, I was sure, but Honeymaren jumped up willingly enough.

As we walked north across the multi-hued stones towards the driftwood seawall, the clouds finally closed ranks across the sky, causing the sea to darken and the temperature to drop. I shoved my hands deep into the pockets of my jacket.

"So you're, what, sixteen?" I asked, trying not to look like an idiot as I fluttered my eyelids the way I'd seen girls do on the TV.

"I just turned fifteen," she confessed, flattered.

"Really?" My face was full of false surprise. "I would have thought you were older."

"I'm tall for my age," she explained.

"Do you come up to Forks much?" I asked archly, as if I was hoping for a yes. I sounded idiotic to myself. I was afraid he would turn on me with disgust and accuse me of my fraud, but he still seemed flattered.

"Not too much," she admitted with a frown. "But when I get the car finished I can go up as much as I want – after I get my license," she amended.

"Who was that other boy Astrid was talking to? He seemed a little old to be hanging out with us." I purposefully lumped myself in with the youngsters, trying to make it clear I preferred Honeymaren.

"That's Kristoff – he's nineteen," Honeymaren informed me.

"What was that se was saying about the doctor's family?" I asked innocently.

"The Cullens? Oh, they're not supposed to come onto the reservation." She looked away, out towards James Island, as

she confirmed what I thought I'd heard in Honeymaren's voice.

"Why not?"

she glanced back at me, biting his lip. "Oops. I'm not supposed to say anything about that."

"Oh, I won't tell anyone, I'm just curious." I tried to make my smile alluring, wondering if I was laying it on too thick.

she smiled back, though, looking allured. Then she lifted one eyebrow and her voice was even huskier than before.

"Do you like scary stories?" She asked ominously.

"I love them," I enthused, making an effort to smolder at her Honeymaren strolled to a nearby driftwood tree that had its roots sticking out like the attenuated legs of a huge, pale spider. Hesheperched lightly on one of the twisted roots while I sat beneath him on the body of the tree.

Heshestared down at the rocks, a smile hovering around the edges of his broad lips. I could see he was going to try to make this good. I focused on keeping the vital interest I felt out of my eyes.

"Do you know any of our old stories, about where we came from – the Quileutes, I mean?" She began.

"Not really," I admitted.

"Well, there are a lot of legends, some of them claiming to date back to the Flood – supposedly, the ancient Quileutes tied their canoes to the tallest trees on the mountain to survive like Noah and the ark." she smiled, to show me how little stock she put in the histories.

"Another legend claims that we descended from wolves – and that the wolves are our brothers still. It's against tribal law to kill them." She paused to take a breath.

"Then there are the stories about the 'cold ones'." her voice dropped a little lower.

"The cold ones?" I asked, not faking my intrigue now.

"Yes. There are the stories of the cold ones as old as the wolf legends, and some much more recent. According to legend, my own great-grandfather knew some of them.

she was the one who made the treaty that kept them off of our land." she rolled her eyes.

"Your great-grandfather?" I encouraged.

"He was a tribal elder, like my father. You see, the cold ones are the natural enemies of the wolf – well, not the wolf, really, but the wolves that turn into men, like our ancestors. You would call them werewolves."

"Werewolves have enemies?"

"Only one."

I stared at her earnestly, hoping to disguise my impatience as admiration.

"So you see," Honeymaren continued, "the cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territory during my great-grandfather's time was different.

They didn't hunt the way others of their kind did – they weren't supposed to be dangerous to the tribe. So my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they would promise to stay off our lands, we wouldn't expose them to the pale-faces." she winked at me.

"If they weren't dangerous, then why…?" I tried to understand, struggling not to let her see how seriously I was considering his ghost story.

"There's always a risk for humans to be around cold ones, even if they're civilized like this clan was. You never know when they might get too hungry to resist." she deliberately worked a thick edge of menace into her tone.

"What do you mean, 'civilized'?"

"They claimed that they didn't hunt humans. They supposedly were somehow able to prey on animals instead."

I tried to keep my voice casual. "So how does it fit in with the Cullens? Are they like the cold ones your great-grandfather met?"

"No." she paused dramatically. "They are the same ones." she must have thought the expression on my face was fear inspired by her story. she smiled, pleased, and continued.

"There are more of them now, a new female and a new male, but the rest are the same. In my great-grandfather's time they already knew of the leader, Carlisle. he'd been here and gone before your people had even arrived." she was fighting a smile.

"And what are they?" I finally asked. "What are the cold ones?" she smiled darkly.

"Blood drinkers," she replied in a chilling voice. "Your people call them vampires."

I stared out at the rough surf after she answered, not sure what my face was exposing.

"You have goosebumps." she laughed delightedly.

"You're a good storyteller." I complimented her, still staring into the waves.

"Pretty crazy stuff, though, isn't it? No wonder my dad doesn't want us to talk to anyone about it."

I couldn't control my expression enough to look at her yet. "Don't worry, I won't give you away."

"I guess I just violated the treaty," she laughed.

"I'll take it to my grave," I promised, and then I shivered.

"Seriously, though, don't say anything to Agnarr. He was pretty mad at my dad when he heard some of us weren't

going to the hospital since Dr. Cullen started working there."

"I won't, of course not."

"So do you think we're a bunch of superstitious natives or what?" She asked in a playful tone, but with a hint of worry. I still hadn't looked away from the ocean.

I turned and smiled at her as normally as I could.

"No. I think you're very good at telling scary stories though. I still have goosebumps, see.?" I held up my arm.

"Cool." She smiled.

And then the sound of the beach rocks clattering against each other warned us that someone was approaching. Our heads snapped up at the same time to see jack and Cinderella about fifty yards away, walking towards us.

"There you are, Elsa," jack called in relief, waving his arm over his head.

"Is that your Boyfriend?" Honeymaren asked, alerted by the jealous edge in Jack's voice. I was surprised it was so obvious.

"No, definitely not he's not he just a friend." I whispered. I was tremendously grateful to Honeymaren, and eager to make her as happy as possible. I winked at him, carefully turning away from jack to do so. he smiled, elated by my inept flirting.

"So when I get my license..." She began.

"You should come see me in Forks. We could hang out sometime." I felt guilty as I said this, knowing that I'd used him. But I really did like Honeymaren, she was someone I could easily be friends with.

Jack had reached us now, with Cinderella still a few paces back. I could see her eyes appraising Honeymaren, and looking satisfied by her obvious youth.

"Where have you been?" she asked, though the answer was right in front of her.

"Maren was just telling me some local stories," I volunteered. "It was really interesting."

I smiled at Honeymaren warmly, and she grinned back.

"Well," jack paused, carefully reassessing the situation as he watched our camaraderie. "We're packing up – it looks like it's going to rain soon."

We all looked up at the glowering sky, It certainly did look like rain.

"Okay." I jumped up. "I'm coming."

"It was nice to see you again," Honeymaren said, and I could tell she was taunting jack just a little bit.

"It really was. Next time Agnarr comes down to see Billy, I'll come, too." I promised.

Her grin stretched across her face. "That would be cool."

"And thanks." I added earnestly.

I pulled up my hood as we trampled across the rocks toward the parking lot. A few drops were beginning to fall, making black spots on the stones where they landed.

When we got back to the Suburban the others were already loading everything back in. I crawled into the backseat by mirabel and Hiccup, announcing that I'd already had my turn in the shotgun position,.

Mirbel just stared out the window at the escalating storm, and Astrid twisted around in the middle seat to occupy Hiccup's attention, so I could simply lay my head back on the seat and close my eyes and try very hard not to think.