What is Sent Out, Must Come Back

Monday, August 29, 2005

As soon as Leah barged into Emily's little house, the atmosphere changed. Jared nodded civilly, Paul didn't seem to notice she was there, but Sam and Emily gave her a look somewhere between expectant and disappointed. They were worse than her parents, and that thought alone skeeved her out.

Desperate to channel her energy into something, anything, Leah took a big bite of a brownie nearest her, then gagged on cue, dropping it back on a plate in disgust.

Paul laughed. She refused to smile at her partner in criminal acts of immature behavior.

"Leah - " Emily started.

"Who's this?" Leah pointed to the new addition, a kid who was almost as wide as he was .tall, built like a cube.

"I'm Quil," the boy grinned at her, sitting up straighter.

"Holy shit, man," she muttered. The Ateara kid was only a year below Jared and Paul. "When?"

"Last night."

She eyed him cautiously. "You already shifted back?"

Quil looked nervous, the macho facade cracking. "Sam alpha-ordered me."

Leah wheeled to cast a dark look to Sam who met her gaze with equal defiance and exasperation, if such a thing were possible. Frustrated, she turned back to Quil, her mind running through bloodlines and numbers and rules and legends. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen, next month."

The air went out of her lungs. "Too young."

Quil huffed. The outrage only hammered home her point.

Sam piped up. "Not much younger than Jared or Paul."

"Yes, but we've went from four to five overnight. The time between new wolves added is getting shorter. It's only so long before it happens again. To," she closed her eyes, withholding her brother's name, "other kids."

"Why are you so freaked out right now?" sighed Paul.

"Why aren't you?" She didn't look away from their alpha.

Jared shrugged. "We were all together so it wasn't so scary. Maybe if you left the Cullens' once in a while -"

"I wasn't at the Cullen house." For once in her life. "I've been staying at a friend's."

Technically, she'd been cowering at Echo's for a few days. She was a coward yet again. It seemed to be a recurring thing with her. But this was a special case. She didn't know what to say to Edward or even what he wanted her to say to him. Did he want her to justify his crimes or excuse him? What did he deserve? Moreover, was it even her duty to correct or forgive him? She knew how she felt about the whole thing - disgusted, sympathetic, afraid, and deep down, just the slightest bit impressed that he had the nerve. All these questions of morality were sickening at a time where she needed clarity and calm.

Paul said, "Yeah, okay. While you were at a friend's, things have been hell here."

"Anyone care to enlighten me?"

Sam nodded thoughtfully, then left for the back door. Leah followed him all the way past the shed which housed Emily's gardening tools. The lovely chill blew their spiky hair and brushed past their shoulders, but she was more preoccupied by the way Sam leaned forward, as if preparing to break into a sprint.

"They're out here somewhere. More are coming."

"That's the vaguest thing you've ever said."

He turned to her, and for all his regenerative healing, nothing could hide the dark circles under his eyes. "It's not just your friends anymore. Somehow this area has become a magnet."

She winced. "The only people that would want to come here would be those who knew about the wolves."

"I was thinking the same. But why would the queen want to hurt the pack? You went along with her plan and everything, didn't you?"

She didn't like the faint accusatory tone he took on. "Yes, we did. If anything it would be more of the dead vampire's friends. Ever think of that?"

Sam groaned. "I did, Leah. I did. Just examining all possibilities."

"Consider them examined. And that boy is going to need training up. In fact, we all will."

He frowned. "That's the thing."

"What?"

"You're going to have to make a choice."

Leah rubbed her cheek, refusing to look up at Sam. "I've just had a traumatic event."

She can hear the eye roll. "You don't have to tell me, Leah. We were all there for your almost-death. But you can't disappear into the fairytale world every time you have a fight with your boyfriend -"

"Shut up."

"When you should be here, with us, safe." He touches her shoulder with more authority than affection. "It's time you end your business with them for good, Leah. You are our protectress. You don't have equal responsibility toward them." He looked towards the woods, in the Cullens' direction. "Any of them."

"But Naomi. Sapphira -"

"That's a chapter you ought to close. Look, I'm not sure what all went down with all those folks in the past, but it's just that - the past. Either way, she was a bloodsucker and a monster. You - and I suppose, the Cullen, too - you did the right thing. Trust in that."

She didn't walk away from him, only stood there as he ventured out to the shed to fix something he said he'd fix for Emily. Her customary harsh remark dried up and crumbled as she nodded, lost to her thoughts.

There was something there between them, but it was not the delicate spring flowers of friendship or the strong sturdy oak-like bond that'd grown between them over the last year or even something intoxicating or fresh and unidentifiable. It was more like humidity. And Leah hated being hot, which meant she had to give him a wide berth.

Lately, she'd given him skittish looks, not quite bracing for an attack, but the appraisal you'd give a stranger that approached you in the street - a continuous assessment. Yet she was primarily concerned with three things: her pack, the realm, and her family. A small selfish pettiness in him pouted that he was not a top concern for her at the moment, but he squashed it down. He should be relieved she didn't count him as one of their problems. For now.

At the castle entrance, Leah muttered something to a castle guard about speaking to the queen.

He started to follow but she gave him a curt nod. He knew a dismissal when he saw one.

Reluctantly, he detached from her side and went for a walk in the castle gardens, admiring how new flowers were planted in the late summer, all dusty shades of orange and yellow in the center around the fountain. As he turned the corner, he saw the princess scribbling on a note.

"Hello, Echo."

She looked up at him in surprise, and quickly folded the note in three neat creases. Unlike the last time they met here, her face was passive and unreadable.

"Edward. I didn't hear you approach."

"I hope I'm not interrupting you."

She cleared her throat awkwardly. "I've been meaning to speak with you sometime this week."

"Does it concern Leah?" He knew she'd been spending some time here, but as far as he knew, the visit had been uneventful, as the queen had been away.

"Alright." He settled next to her on the edge of the fountain.

"What we talked about a few weeks ago. Before the mission."

"Yes?"

She reached into her satchel and laid a weighty book in his hands.

"Why - " It clicked. "You couldn't find anything."

"It's not that. Damn it, why do you always doubt me?"

"Sorry." He leafed through the pages, glimpsing lavender sticky notes and yellow highlighter and paper scraps tucked in-between pages.

"It's my research, so you don't wear yourself out trying to fact-check everything I tell you."

"Okay…" He faced her.

"I'd assumed the spell, if not reversible, could be countered by an opposing spell. But in order to do that, we'd need to be certain why it is happening to you."

"We already know that," he interrupted. "She said so herself."

"The day I granted your heart's wish," Ella had said, "to be unburdened by your vampirism, I did so with sympathy. I blinded your sense of smell in hopes of giving you love."

"Right." Echo nodded too slowly. "She wanted to play matchmaker. Not an unusual cause for her, but an unusual situation. She usually works with humans."

"Not a wild vampire that needs to be tamed."

"Right." Her voice lowered. "She needed to make you tame because you love - you seemed to love Leah. So she gave a little push with the sense of smell."

"Which escalated to its complete disappearance, and then to the blackouts."

"And why do you think it's escalating, Edward?" Her question had so little air it was barely a whisper.

"I don't know."

He said everything with his eyes. Because I love her. I love her, I love her, I love her.

"I don't know what to do for you. I don't know what I can. We are fighting against an invisible, elusive force." Her hands shook a little as she toyed with her dress's hem.

"Oh."

"I'm sorry."

He didn't hear the rest of what she said, mind already lost to the pages.

Finally, he broke the silence. "I'm going to die."

"We don't know that. It seems like you'll just weaken a little, only physically."

"Only?"

"I'm sorry."

He set down her work. "Well, it's not your fault."

"No, but it's Her Majesty's fault."

"That doesn't make it your problem."

"You being my friend makes it my problem." She closed the book in his hands.

"Even so..." The sentence was not worth finishing. "We can't tell Leah."

Echo stared through him. "She'll keep asking what I'm going to do for you. I couldn't lie."

"She has other things on her mind, thankfully." He refilled his host's teacup, trying to alleviate her reddening face. "Whatever will we do about the nomads in Forks? Another boy has shifted. And Naomi's child -"

"Is not her concern."

"As Guardian, she swore to protect everyone, should she need to." He waved a hand. "But we're not here to argue."

"No. And I will see to it myself that someone helps you."

"I'm hardly worth an assistant."

"A replacement is more like it. Someone with the experience and energy and above all, the time."

He bent his head, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that time was leaving him soon enough.

"How was your conversation with the queen?"

Leah rolled her eyes. "Like butting my head against the wall. She's as lost as I am about the growing pack. She insists I come live with her until I'm more stable."

"I won't have it."

She gave him a look that told him he was not in charge of her choices, but he was thoroughly unrepentant. "Anyway," she continued, "I told her she was wasting her time. She can't manipulate me or you into changing my mind. I've got other loyalties."

He smiled and started to pull her close before he thought better of it. "Maybe you'd be safer here."

"Ed, let's not get into that."

"I mean it."

She paused. 'You don't trust any of them.'

"Maybe…" His hands found his pockets. "Maybe I could stay with you."

"Hide?" A bit of life returned to her beautiful eyes.

"We don't have to call it that."

"You can't be by my side all the time."

"Maybe I should." He hoped for a patient answer.

"Don't be silly."

"Just promise me you'll be careful, okay? No staying up late patrolling alone? No solo trips anywhere, please?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

He wasn't convinced.

She looked at his sad face, her heart indecisive, then turned for the exit. "We ought to get you home. You're not looking so well."

Her code for 'thirsty'. His heart led him out of the magical world with the forbearance and grit of a woman in a stale marriage dragging her aging husband to a doctor's appointment.

He wondered if it would tear them apart for good if she knew he loved her so much it was slowly killing him.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Leah tugged on her dress, staring out at her backyard. She listened to her parents' voices in the distance.

"Every night she's out there," her mother sighed.

"It's her birthright," her father said, swelling with pride. "She's meant for great things."

"She's meant to live a full life, Harry." The clink of a spoon against a mug. Leah could picture her mother's pinched expression.

"What do you mean a full life? Just because she's not a pencil pusher in downtown Seattle doesn't mean she's a wayward child."

"Our daughter is out there guarding people from monsters! She's nineteen, Harry. She should be traveling and taking classes and dating and shopping. College, a career, all that's off the table."
"For now, honey. For now."

"You better be right."

"I am."

Sue snorted.

Leah shook her head and left her post.

Echo seemed to expect Leah. Leah did not expect Echo.

The fairy was wrapped in a slate gray jacket that looked rough as sandpaper and as bleak as the sky above them. Her eyes were shaded by a fraying hat. She squatted in the field, spreading dirt over freshly planted seeds. Dozens around her were doing the same, and more were raking or watering the ground. All the while, Echo worked with a small smile on her face. Leah would have passed right by her if the princess hadn't turned towards her at the last second with that smile.

"Echo?"

"Start working or the landowner will send you away."

Leah began planting, her motions sloppy but an effort was made. "Wouldn't this be easier with magic?"

Echo laughed bitterly. "Oh, it would. If only I could use my magic."

Leah dropped her hand shovel. "You don't have it anymore."

"It's banned for now, Leah. At least, for 'remedial' tasks. Saving our energy."

"For the wedding?" She'd never heard of such a practice til now. Then again, weddings were supposed to last for days here.

"No. We're all holding up the barrier."

"What?"

"An extra precaution from the queen. She's asked us to double down on our locks that keep the realm hidden. Every citizen must contribute, excepting the sick, elderly, and young. At least, untilt we can be certain Naomi's absence worked in dissuading other vampires."

Leah forced her eyes to blink again. "I guess that's good. But why do you look so dazed and not the others?"
"Wow, thanks. The spells we've put to keep the little girl locked away have been passed down through the Innes family tree. As such, only the royal family can practice them so they've taken everything out of me."

"It sounds dangerous."

Echo shook her head, eyes on a cloud. "Not for the girl, no. It's better this way. Better than the alternative."

"Does this have anything to do with why you're working a farm?"

"I volunteered. I just had to get out of the castle. Every room is full of daisies and cakes." She enunciated as if these were the two most vile things known to mankind. "There's only two weeks left until the wedding ceremony."

Leah placed a hand on her shaking shoulder. "Hey. Remember why you're doing this. You need to protect your people."

Echo smiled through teary eyes. "That's why I'm leaving."

That sentence snapped them into silence.

"You're joking." Leah looked around at the field for the hidden camera, but every other fairy was humming as they worked dutifully. She leaned down to whisper, "You won't just leave. That's against everything you stand for."

Echo huffed. "Look, Elias's people have been hesitant about helping us out of fear of the vampire attacks. They want to protect their own first and foremost. My marrying him will help a little, but not by much."

"You knew that months ago."

"Something's changed." She looked down at the soil. "Elias wants the child dead. And when he is my husband, he'll have the power to make that happen."

"So that's it? You're just going to leave the kingdom in limbo?"

She glared up at the wolf girl. "As long as I am here, I am under their control. His and my grandmother's."

Leah actually staggered backwards. She didn't know who she was even talking to anymore. The Echo she knew was all about duty and honor, whether that meant opposing her grandmother or even breaking the law. What had changed in the last few days? Or maybe this was the Echo always threatening to break through the surface.

Leah slumped a little, her defense weakening. "What if it doesn't work? What if he convinces your grandmother anyway?"

"If, if, if! I can't be tied to 'if' anymore, Leah. I have to do something!"

"Because I'll be the one to carry out your orders while you sit back."

"Had it my way, I'd be getting along just fine on my own, thank you."

Digging far deeper into the dirt than was necessary, Leah spoke to her seeds, muttering, "You're going to need one hell of a guide."

Echo dropped her shovel, dusting her hands pointedly.

Leah straightened, eyes wide. "Troy's going with you, isn't he?"

"Keep your voice down."

"I thought this was about Sapphira's daughter."

"I have decided," she started, very aloof, "that I can want many things."

"Like a Vegas wedding?"

"Not quite, I suppose."

"Are you running off with him or not?"

The two women worked in silence, unsure of what they wanted the other to say, but somehow irritated all the same.

Echo, pious as ever, and ever so sure she was right, broke first. "I love this kingdom and when I say I'm going to do all I can to protect it, I mean it. But I can't protect it if it means giving up part of myself. I need him by my side, Leah. As long as he'll have me, I'm his."

"It's a bad idea," Leah muttered, not even bothering to look up.

"How so?"

"I've been down this road before. One day he's crazy about you, the next day...you don't even know each other."

Echo stopped working. "Yeah, I get it. The werewolf broke your heart, you want to break the vampire's heart, love sucks, we're all gonna die, yadda yadda yadda." She threw down her tools and stomped toward the farmhouse.

Leah dug her nails into her palm, trying to calm down. The only way to worsen their lives would be to turn on Echo, too.

She wasn't wrong, was she?

Sometimes she felt that being with Edward was only going to make things worse...that he had the same edges as her, that they would never fit together because they were the same puzzle piece, not two interlocking parts. That his instincts were her instincts, that his flaws were her flaws, right down to the self-loathing and cynicism. Adding flames to flames only burnt down a house. Too similar despite all the stark, ever-so-important differences between them.

Hypocritical Echo, of all people, with her position and upbringing, should recognize that and support her! There was nobody to complain to, other than the pack, maybe, who would all say, "I told you so" if she was insane enough to open up to any of them. Not that she had the choice to open up - all her feelings came spilling out as easily as her thoughts did.

A scream rattled her.

Leah spun to see Echo seized by the throat, a shadow of a man smiling sadistically as he squeezed the life out of her.

"Help!" screamed a woman running past Leah.

The farm emptied in two seconds flat. No one was even brave enough to send a flash of light at the intruder.

Anxiety and outrage pricked her calf muscles, springing her forward as her fingers scraped at her hip, reaching for a sword that wasn't there. Instead, she released a battle cry and thrust a shaking hand, blue light flashing across the field.

The beast rasped, but didn't let up his grip on Echo. He turned to Leah with a cruel smirk and spoke in a harsh whisper, "Is that all you have, Guardian?"

Echo muttered something, and he squeezed so hard, she let out one pained gasp.

Leah swung out her arms, throwing up a shield and rolling the ground under feet, pushing her to new speed limits. The man started to grin, his hand inching forward to ensnare its second target - that is, until Leah deflected and crashed straight into Echo.

Leah scooped up the weakened princess and continued to run, her eyes wide and her mouth sucking in gulps of air, feeling once again that sinking defeat on her heels.

Especially, when she heard the wind and felt an unwelcome touch to her upper arm.

All it took was that one brush against her skin, though, and Echo was set down, and Leah had uncorked all she had, shedding her skin and exploding into fur, teeth, and claws. It was like everything turned to black and white after that.

She hacked away, haphazardly but with her full strength, never stopping until the vampire lay in shreds, his cold smile frozen in place.

On four limbs, she stumbled, her senses fading as she collapsed.

"Leah…" Echo reached out for her.

A burst of blue light and she was human again, groaning into the grass.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Leah woke with a start and immediately threw off her sheets, as if someone had just hit the play button on her life. She stumbled to a window and blinked until the view cleared - ah, she was back home, in her room with the twin XL bed shoved against the wall and the useless oscillating fan in the corner billowing out the tie-dye tapestry from ninth grade. Somehow she was home, but with no idea how she'd gotten there.

Wiping the crust from her eyes, she placed a foot on the ledge to launch herself out the window, when she caught the sticky note on the corner:

LAKE.

She scoffed, stuffing it into her pocket. Yes, she could recognize Edward's writing out of hundreds. No, she wasn't sure another standoff was what they needed right this moment. Yes, he likely held any answers about her mysterious return home. No, he might not be happy to see her after she traveled without him.

"Ugh." She groaned, pressing a finger to her temple.

Buzzing - wings - thin fairy wings -

"Lady Clearwater?"

"The Guardian's dead?"

"Couldn't be…"

Her eyes hurt, her throat hurt, everything hurts -

Leah tripped twice down the hall to the bathroom, where she splashed water on her face, over and over. When she looked up, Seth was gaping at her from the doorway.

"Are you okay?"

"Come here."

"What? Leah, you're so weird!"

She grabbed his shoulders and held him away, inspecting his face. "You're getting too tall."

"Sorry you won't be the only giraffe anymore." He shrugged her off with too much ease for a wiry teenager. "I'm going to go skateboard, try to do something besides stuff your face all day, yeah?"

She threw a bar of soap at his retreating back, then winced. Rolling up her sleeve, she saw nothing but smooth skin. If she had hurt herself, there was nothing to indicate it besides a lingering pain.

Downstairs, she smeared peanut butter onto microwaved sausage patties (much to her father's amusement), then tied on her running shoes.
She was only halfway through her typical course when she ran out of air, bending over and wheezing against a tree.

"Hey, girl!" called Mr. Beaker from his porch. "Get out of my yard!"

"Just...a...minute."

"I've got homeowners' rights!"

"Shut up, you old sack of bones!" she hissed, her body trembling. Her hands started to glow and she stuffed them under her shirt, where she could feel her sweating abdomen, burning up a thousand degrees.

Old man Beaker harrumphed, mumbling things about disrespectful children and entitlement.

Leah continued on, shaking out her hands as she kicked up the speed. She wasn't sure what would happen first to her, but it would be catastrophic if she didn't calm down.

She began to stray from her usual path around La Push, heading past the tree line and into the lush forest. Her feet knew how to evade rocks and debris with ease, but today she slowed and struggled, her vision growing hazy. Where was the lake? This was the path she always took.

Deeper in the woods, a shadow flashed past.

"Stop!" she called out, flicking out a hand.

Feet ran past her. Small shoes, most of them barefoot. Something hard crunched down on her hand, and she let out a groan.

"Her Majesty -"

"The search party has already left."

"They can't leave the realm, for nature's sake!"

"Well, where is she, then?"

"Where is she?" Leah said out loud to herself, holding onto the nearest trunk. "Where is she?!" she screeched, sending a flock of birds out of her reach. The words echoed, insistent.

Leah banged a fist against the bark, trying to force open a portal. After a minute, a light flashed, but with a pop and hiss, the pulp melted into something inky black and smelly. "No!" She dug two hands in, reaching for whatever light might be left in there, never mind the mess she had attached to her arms. "Please!" She slammed a hand on the trunk, cutting her palm. "Please…"

She didn't realize she was sweating until a hand brushed the hair from her face.

"I'm here now."

She closed her eyes, savoring his voice. "No, you're not."

He stepped away. "Do you hear the wind, and the lake just up ahead?"

"...Yes, I do."

"What else?"

"Little League game, I think. Too loud."

He stifled a laugh. "Keep going."

"I smell the forest. It's mine. And you." Edward was clean linen and library books and a hint of bleach with a bit of the earth.

"Open your eyes."

She let out a long breath as she did so. "I'm home."

"Yes."

"Don't be mad," she pleaded.

"How could I be?"

"I went to the realm without you. When you told me it was too dangerous."

"Granted, I was assuming the danger would find you out here, not in there."

Leah closed her eyes and allowed herself to remember clearly. As clearly as she could, really.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Edward asked gently.

"Someone broke into the realm. Vampire... It seems impossible, but he was there. And he went straight for Echo. Straight for her. I fought him and I told myself I won. I woke up and told myself I won and I went on with the morning."

"But…"

Her voice broke. "But I didn't. She's gone."

"How can she be missing, Leah? She's the heir. They will find her."

"Or he will kill her."

Edward said nothing.

"Or they will kill her," she repeated, losing patience.

"I hear you." He frowned. "I'm curious as to why they didn't kill her then and there."

"It's bait, it's got to be." Leah pulled her arms from the tree. The black tar was almost as hot as her skin. When it was free of her, the tree rebuilt itself into its former prime.

"You should rest," he urged her.

She smiled ruefully at this man who wanted her to rest at a time like this. "I can't."

He took her hand and they went to their lake. As she approached, she almost forgot she was supposed to be afraid of him. Her hand tightened around his when the sun fell on his exposed neck.

He turned to look at her. "Leah…"

"I'm fine." A weak smile. A disappointing smile.

He didn't like it, judging by his mournful eyes. "Look, I - wait, over there."

Leah released him and scampered over to the edge of the water. A small white note floated over to her, completely dry when she pulled it from the surface. It read:

Realm closed to visitors indefinitely. Apologies to all concerned.

For a long while, she mulled it over, allowing her mind time to accept the facts: Echo would not be running away. As ridiculous as it sounded, a vampire had kidnapped her. She was not confirmed yet as dead or alive. Leah was not allowed in the realm until further notice. Someone had to find the princess and keep both the pack safe from shifting and everyone safe from attacks.

Edward met her steely gaze.

"No time to rest," she declared.

"Absolutely none."