Chapter V

Bonfire

"The meadow was small, perfectly round, and filled with wildflowers — violet, yellow, and soft white. Somewhere nearby, I could hear the bubbling music of a stream."

―Bella's description of the meadow

Suddenlyin front of mea large reddish-brown wolf, much larger than the average human, appears. His brown eyes meet mine as if to read my soul... "Remember," I heard. They seemed so familiar... We stood like that for a moment, staring at each other. Suddenly, the beast turned its eyes towards the forest, ears pricked up as if it was listening... A red-haired figure emerged from the darkness... Victoria. HerRed,hungryeyes stared at the two of us and after a moment they attack when I instinctively try to hide behind my wolf. From the other end of the clearing emergesmyselfthe second, smaller wolf catching the vampire in flight,tearing aparther neck. His greyhairshining in the glow of the setting sun. His gaze pierces through me and then disappears into the darkness of the forest.

"Time for the truth," I muttered as I pulled the book off the shelf. I made my way to my desk, my thoughts still occupied by this strange dream.

"The legend goes that one spirit warrior, Utlapa, wanted to use this power to enslave neighboring tribes, the Hohs and the Makahs. Unwilling to use the warriors' powers for such monstrous purposes, his chief, Taha Aki banished him from the tribe. One day, the chief left his body in a hiding place to sweep through the valley in his spirit form, searching the area for anything that may pose a threat to the tribe. Utlapa followed him and possessed his body, then cut his own body's throat to prevent Taha Aki's return. The chief wandered for a while in spirit form, watching the thief do horrible things to his people. One day, the chief's spirit found a large, beautiful wolf in the woods. Though jealous of the wolf's physical form, an idea came to him. He asked the wolf to share his body with him, and the wolf agreed. Rushing back to the village as the wolf, he met a party of warriors, and tried to make himself known by yelping Quileute songs. One of the warriors, an elderly man named Yut, realized that the wolf was under a spirit's control, and, disobeying the usurper Utlapa's orders not to enter the spirit world, left his body to talk to the beast. The false chief, alarmed at Yut entering the spirit world as he feared that his treachery would be revealed, killed the warrior. Taha Aki became enraged, and lunged to kill the man; his emotions were too much for the wolf, and it transformed into a magnificent human, the glorious flesh interpretation of Taha Aki's flawless spirit. The false chief was killed, and things were rapidly set right. Taha Aki sired many children, and found out that his sons, at the age of manhood,I read aloud.

"Werewolf, shapeshifter…"

Edward was right, I was like a magnet... attracting trouble... Wait... Last time I checked, they were supernatural beings. Jake is a werewolf? I expected everything but not this. I wasn't shocked because nothing else could surprise me or scare me anymore. After all, my ex-boyfriend was a 100-year-old vampire who, without his self-control, was able to kill me in just a few seconds.

"Don't think about HIM right now Bella." I scolded myself.

No matter who Jake was and is, he's still my best friend and I have to be there for him. He would do the same for me even when I didn't ask him to.

I was jolted out of my reverie by the sound of my phone vibrating.

Bells, this is Jake. Charlie gave me your number the last time he visited my dad. We're having a bonfire tonight at La Push, it's a good opportunity to talk about "you know what." I hope you remember. :)

...

Hi Jake, it's Bella. I would love to come to La Push, I will be around 18.

See you tonight :)

I glanced at my watch, it was only 1pm. So I had plenty of time to clean the house, eat breakfast and get ready before leaving for La Push.

I ate a quick breakfast, finishing my coffee on the run. I was extremely excited but I was afraid how Jake's friends would receive me. I wasn't a frequent visitor to the reserve, the last time I was there was exactly a few years ago. I was hoping that today he would explain everything to me, especially his strange behavior during our last visit to the Black house. Charlie has been angry with Billy and Jake to this day, I don't know how he will react to my trip to La Push.

"I'm 18 now, he'll have no choice but to let me go," I thought. I really didn't want to argue with my father about this, since I turned into a zombie, he's been very overprotective despite my regular doctor visits and a noticeable improvement in my self-esteem. I was proud of what I was able to achieve in these few months.

After doing the laundry, cleaning the bathroom, the kitchen, and the entire upper floor of the house, I pulled out all the supplies I needed and started making lasagna for Charlie. I didn't have the heart to leave my overworked father without a good dinner. Knowing him like no one else, I knew that sooner or later he would order pizza and eat it in front of the TV, drinking beer between breaks. Unfortunately, my old man was lucky enough to live with someone like me. Someone had to take care of him, even if he didn't see it himself.

After doing everything I had planned and a decent shower, I stood in front of the wardrobe in search of adequate clothes for the bonfire. I regret to say that over the last few months my wardrobe has become a bit poorer and I had nothing but typical casual clothes.

"Well a t-shirt and jeans will have to do"

I quickly put on what I had on hand and went downstairs. Charlie wasn't home at the time because he had a night shift at work. I was relieved. I didn't want another confrontation with my father, who had made it clear what he thought about Jake's behavior.

I got into the van and started the engine.

"You'll be fine Bells, don't be nervous. It's just a bonfire."

Stress and nerves were taking their toll on me. With trembling hands, I opened the car door, slowly stepping out of the van. The small red house still looked exactly as I remembered it. The garage where Jake had once tried to teach me how to tinker was still where it always was. Literally nothing has changed, as if time stood still here and did not want to move. The only thing that didn't stay the same was Jake walking towards me. I could have sworn that he was even bigger than a few days ago when we last spoke. What are they feeding them?

"Bella! I'm so glad you showed up." he chuckled, cradling me in his arms.

"Jake, I can't breathe."

"S-sorry Bells." he stammered, setting me down on the ground.

Despite my height and overly serious appearance, I still saw him as the old Jake. I was just wondering if being a werewolf could change someone's behavior that much... We were still teenagers and he acted like someone who was 30, not 18.

"I didn't mean to strangle you Bells, I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget my strength."

"It's nothing Jake. Don't torture yourself for something you had no control over." I said, walking with him to the side of the fire where the whole council was already seated, with Billy at the helm.

"Bella..." his eyes widened.

"We'll talk about it later, your dad is waiting for us."

"In the beginning, the tribe settled in this harbor and became skilled ship builders and fishermen. But the tribe was small, and the harbor was rich in fish. There were others who coveted our land, and we were too small to hold it. A larger tribe moved against us, and we took to our ships to escape them.

Kaheleha was not the first spirit warrior, but we do not remember the stories that came before his. We do not remember who was the first to discover this power, or how it had been used before this crisis.

Kahelehawas the first great Spirit Chief in our history. In this emergency, Kaheleha used the magic to defend our land.

He and all his warriors left the ship — not their bodies, but their spirits. Their women watched over the bodies and the waves, and the men took their spirits back to our harbor.

They could not physically touch the enemy tribe, but they had other ways. The stories tell us that they could blow fierce winds into their enemy's camps; they could make a great screaming in the wind that terrified their foes. The stories also tell us that the animals could see the spirit warriors and understand them; the animals would do their bidding.

Kaheleha took his spirit army and wreaked havoc on the intruders. This invading tribe had packs of big, thick-furred dogs that they used to pull their sleds in the frozen north.

The spirit warriors turned the dogs against their masters and then brought a mighty infestation of bats up from the cliff caverns. They used the screaming wind to aid the dogs in confusing the men. The dogs and bats won. The survivors scattered, calling our harbor a cursed place. The dogs ran wild when the spirit warriors released them. The Quileutes returned to their bodies and their wives, victorious.

The other tribes nearby, the Hohs and the Makahs, made treaties with the Quileutes. They wanted nothing to do with our magic. We lived in peace with them. When an enemy came against us, the spirit warriors would drive them off.

Generations passed. Then came the last great Spirit Chief, Taha Aki. He was known for his wisdom, and for being a man of peace. The people lived well and content in his care. But there was one man, Utlapa, who was not content.

A low hiss ran around the fire. I was too slow to see where it came from. Billy ignored it and went on with the legend.

Utlapa was one of Chief Taha Aki's strongest spirit warriors — a powerful man, but a grasping man,too. He thought the people should use their magic to expand their lands, to enslave the Hohs and the Makahs and build an empire.

Now, when the warriors were their spirit selves, they knew each other's thoughts. Taha Aki saw what Utlapa dreamed, and was angry with Utlapa. Utlapa was commanded to leave the people, and never use

his spirit self again.

Utlapa was a strong man, but the chief's warriors outnumbered him. He had npchoice but to leave. The furious outcast hid in the forest nearby, waiting for a chance to get revenge

against the chief.

Even in times of peace, the Spirit Chief was vigilant in protecting his people. Often, he would go to a sacred, secret place in the mountains. He would leave his body behind and sweep down through the

forests and along the coast, making sure no threat approached.

One day when Taha Aki left to perform this duty, Utlapa followed. At first, Utlapa simply planned to kill the chief, but this plan had its drawbacks. Surely the spirit warriors would seek to destroy him, and they could follow faster than he could escape. As he hid in the rocks and watched the chief prepare to leave his body, another plan occurred to him.

Taha Aki left his body in the secret place and flew with the winds to keep watch over his people.

Utlapa waited until he was sure the chief had traveled some distance with his spirit self.

Taha Aki knew it the instant that Utlapa had joined him in the spirit world, and he also knew Utlapa's murderous plan. He raced back to his secret place, but even the winds weren't fast enough to save him.

When he returned, his body was already gone. Utlapa's body lay abandoned, but Utlapa had not left.

Taha Aki with an escape — he had cut his own body's throat with Taha Aki's hands.

Taha Aki followed his body down the mountain. He screamed at Utlapa, but Utlapa ignored him as if he were more wind.

Taha Aki watched with despair as Utlapa took his place as chief of the Quileutes. For a few weeks, Utlapa did nothing but make sure that everyone believed he was Taha Aki. Then the changes began —

Utlapa's first edict was to forbid any warrior to enter the spirit world. He claimed that he'd had a vision of danger, but really he was afraid. He knew that Taha Aki would be waiting for the chance to tell his story.

Utlapa was also afraid to enter the spirit world himself, knowing Taha Aki would quickly claim his body. So his dreams of conquest with a spirit warrior army were impossible, and he sought to content

himself with ruling over the tribe.

He became a burden — seeking privileges that Taha Aki had never requested, refusing to work alongside his warriors, taking a young second wife and then a third, though Taha Aki's wife lived on — something unheard of in the tribe. Taha Aki watched in helpless fury.

Eventually, Taha Aki tried to kill his body to save the tribe from Utlapa's excesses. He brought a fierce wolf down from the mountains, but Utlapa hid behind his warriors. When the wolf killed a young man

who was protecting the false chief, Taha Aki felt horrible grief. He ordered the wolf away.

All the stories tell us that it was no easy thing to be a spirit warrior. It was more frightening than exhilarating to be freed from one's body. This is why they only used their magic in times of need. The chief's solitary journeys to keep watch were a burden and a sacrifice. Being bodiless was disorienting, uncomfortable, horrifying. Taha Aki had been away from his body for so long at this point that he was in agony. He felt he was doomed — never to cross over to the final land where his ancestors waited, stuck in this torturous nothingness forever.

The great wolf followed Taha Aki's spirit as he twisted and writhed in agony through the woods. The wolf was very large for its kind, and beautiful. Taha Aki was suddenly jealous of the dumb animal. At least it had a body. At least it had a life. Even life as an animal would be better than this horrible empty consciousness.

And then Taha Aki had the idea that changed us all. He asked the great wolf to make room for him, to share. The wolf complied. Taka Aki entered the wolf's body with relief and gratitude. It was not his human body, but it was better than the void of the spirit world.

As one, the man and the wolf returned to the village on the harbor. The people ran in fear, shouting for the warriors to come. The warriors ran to meet the wolf with their spears. Utlapa, of course, stayed safely hidden.

Taha Aki did not attack his warriors. He retreated slowly from them, speaking with his eyes and trying to yelp the songs of his people. The warriors began to realize that the wolf was no ordinary animal, that there was a spirit influencing it. One older warrior, a man name Yut, decided to disobey the false chief's order and try to communicate with the wolf.

As soon as Yut crossed to the spirit world, Taha Aki left the wolf — the animal waited tamely for his return — to speak to him. Yut gathered the truth in an instant, and welcomed his true chief home.

At this time, Utlapa came to see if the wolf had been defeated. When he saw Yut lying lifeless on the ground, surrounded by protective warriors, he realized what was happening. He drew his knife and raced forward to kill Yut before he could return to his body.

"'Traitor,' he screamed, and the warriors did not know what to do. The chief had forbidden spirit journeys, and it was the chief's decision how to punish those who disobeyed.

Yut jumped back into his body, but Utlapa had his knife at his throat and a hand covering his mouth.

Taha Aki's body was strong, and Yut was weak with age. Yut could not say even one word to warn the others before Utlapa silenced him forever.

Taha Aki watched as Yut's spirit slipped away to the final lands that were barred to Taha Aki for all eternity. He felt a great rage, more powerful than anything he'd felt before. He entered the big wolf again, meaning to rip Utlapa's throat out. But, as he joined the wolf, the greatest magic happened.

Taha Aki's anger was the anger of a man. The love he had for his people and the hatred he had for their oppressor were too vast for the wolf's body, too human. The wolf shuddered, and — before the eyes of the shocked warriors and Utlapa — transformed into a man.

The new man did not look like Taha Aki's bodysuit. He was far more glorious. He was the flesh interpretation of Taha Aki's spirit. The warriors recognized him at once, though, for they had flown with Taha Aki's spirit.

Utlapa tried to run, but Taha Aki had the strength of the wolf in his new body. He caught the thief and crushed the spirit from him before he could jump out of the stolen body.

The people rejoiced when they understood what had happened. Taha Aki quickly set everything right,working again with his people and giving the young wives back to their families. The only change he kept in place was the end of the spirit travels. He knew that it was too dangerous now that the idea of stealing a life was there. The spirit warriors were no more.

From that point on, Taha Aki was more than either wolf or man. They called him Taha Aki the Great Wolf, or Taha Aki the Spirit Man. He led the tribe for many, many years, for he did not age. When danger threatened, he would resume his wolf-self to fight or frighten the enemy. The people dwelt in peace.

Taha Aki fathered many sons, and some of these found that, after they had reached the age of manhood, they, too, could transform into wolves. The wolves were all different, because they were spirit wolves and reflected the man they were inside."

"So that's why Sam is all black," Quil muttered under his breath, grinning. "Black heart, black fur."

I was so involved in the story, it was a shock to come back to the present, to the circle around the dying fire. With another shock, I realized that the circle was made up of Taha Aki's great — to however many degrees — grandsons.

The fire threw a volley of sparks into the sky, and they shivered and danced, making shapes that were almost decipherable.

"And your chocolate fur reflects what?" Sam whispered back to Quil.

"How sweet are you?"

Billy ignored their jibes.

"Some of the sons became warriors with Taha Aki, and they no longer aged.

Others, who did not like the transformation, refused to join the pack of wolf-men. These began to age again, and the tribe discovered that the wolf-men could grow old like anyone else if they gave up their spirit wolves.

Taha Aki had lived the span of three old men's lives. He had married a third wife after the deaths of the first two, and found in her true spirit wife. Though he had loved the others, this was something else. He decided to give up his spirit wolf so that he would die when she did.

"That is how the magic came to us, but it is not the end of the story. . . ."

He looked at Old Quil Ateara, who shifted in his chair, straightening his frail shoulders. Billy took a drink from a bottle of water and wiped his forehead. Emily's pen never hesitated as she scribbled furiously on the paper.

"That was the story of the spirit warriors," Old Quil began in a thin tenor voice.

"This is the story of the third wife's sacrifice.

Many years after Taha Aki gave up his spirit wolf, when he was an old man, trouble began in the north, with the Makahs.

Several young women of their tribe had disappeared, and they blamed it on the neighboring wolves, who they feared and mistrusted. The wolf-men could still read each other's thoughts while in their wolf forms, just like their ancestors had while in their spirit forms. They knew that none of their number was to blame.

Taha Aki tried to pacify the Makah chief, but there was too much fear. Taha Aki did not want to have a war on his hands. He was no longer a warrior to lead his people. He charged his oldest wolf-son, Taha Wi, with finding the true culprit before hostilities began.

Taha Wi led the five other wolves in his pack on a search through the mountains, looking for any evidence of the missing Makahs. They came across something they had never encountered before — a strange, sweet scent in the forest that burned their noses to the point of pain."

I shrank a little closer to Jacob's side. I saw the corner of his mouth twitch with humor, and his arm tightened around me.

"They did not know what creature would leave such a scent, but they followed it," Old Quil continued.

His quavering voice did not have the majesty of Billy's, but it had a strange, fierce edge of urgency about it. My pulse jumped as his words came faster.

"They found faint traces of human scent, and human blood, along the trail. They were sure this was the enemy they were searching took them so far north that Taha Wi sent half the journey, the younger ones, back to the harbor to report to Taha Aki. Taha Wi and his two brothers did not return.

The younger brothers searched for their elders, but found only silence. Taha Aki mourned for his sons. He wished to avenge his sons' death, but he was old. He went to the Makah chief in his mourning clothes

and told him everything that had happened. The Makah chief believed his grief, and tensions ended between the tribes.

A year later, two Makah maidens disappeared from their homes on the same night. The Makahs called on the Quileute wolves at once, who found the same sweet stink all through the Makah village. The

wolves went on the hunt again.

Only one came back. He was Yaha Uta, the oldest son of Taka Aki's third wife, and the youngest in the pack. He brought something with him that had never been seen in all the days of the Quileutes — a strange, cold, stony corpse that he carried in pieces. All who were of Taha Aki's blood, even those who had never been wolves, could smell the piercing smell of the dead creature. This was the enemy of the Makahs.

Yaha Uta described what had happened: he and his brothers had found the creature, who looked like a man but was hard as a granite rock, with the two Makah daughters. One girl was already dead, white and bloodless on the ground. The other was in the creature's arms, his mouth at her throat. She may have been alive when they came upon the hideous scene, but the creature quickly snapped her neck and

tossed her lifeless body to the ground when they approached. His white lips were covered in her blood, and his eyes glowed red.

Yaha Uta described the fierce strength and speed of the creature. One of his brothers quickly became a victim when he underestimated that strength. The creature ripped him apart like a doll. Yaha Uta and his

other brother were more wary. They worked together, coming at the creature from the sides, outmaneuvering it. They had to reach the very limits of their wolf strength and speed, something that had

never been tested before. The creature was hard as stone and cold as ice. They found that only their teeth could damage it. They began to rip small pieces of the creature apart while it fought them.

But the creature learned quickly, and soon was matching their maneuvers. It got its hands on Yaha Uta's brother. Yaha Uta found an opening on the creature's throat, and he lunged. His teeth tore the

head off the creature, but the hands continued to mangle his brother.

Yaha Uta ripped the creature into unrecognizable chunks, tearing pieces apart in a desperate attempt to save his brother. He was too late, but, in the end, the creature was destroyed.

Or so they thought. Yaha Uta laid the reeking remains out to be examined by the elders. One severed and lay beside a piece of the creature's granite arm. The two pieces touched when the elders poked

them with sticks, and the hand reached out towards the arm piece, trying to reassemble itself.

Horrified, the elders set fire to the remains. A great cloud of choking, vile smoke polluted the air. When there was nothing but ashes, they separated the ashes into many small bags and spread them far and wide

— some in the ocean, some in the forest, some in the cliff caverns. Taha Aki wore one bag around his neck, so he would be warned if the creature ever tried to put himself together again.

Old Quil paused and looked at Billy. Billy pulled out a leather thong from around his neck. Hanging from the end was a small bag, blackened with age. A few people gasped. I might have been one of them.

"They called it The Cold One, the Blood Drinker, and lived in fear that it was not alone. They only had one wolf protector left, young Yaha Uta.

They did not have long to wait. The creature had a mate, another blood drinker, who came to the Quileutes seeking revenge.

The stories say that the Cold Woman was the most beautiful thing human eyes had ever seen. She looked like the goddess of the dawn when she entered the village that morning; the sun was shining for

once, and it glittered off her white skin and lit the golden hair that flowed down to her knees. Her face was magical in its beauty, her eyes black in her white face. Some fell to their knees to worship her.

She asked something in a high, piercing voice, in a language no one had ever heard. The people were dumbfounded, not knowing how to answer her. There was none of Taha Aki's blood among the witnesses but one small boy. He clung to his mother and screamed that the smell was hurting his nose. One of the elders, on his way to council, heard the boy and realized what had come among them. He yelled for the people to run. She killed him first.

There were twenty witnesses to the Cold Woman's approach. Two survived, only because she grew distracted by the blood, and paused to sate her thirst. They ran to Taha Aki, who sat in counsel with the

other elders, his sons, and his third wife.

Yaha Uta transformed into his spirit wolf as soon as he heard the news. He went to destroy the blood drinker alone. Taha Aki, his third wife, his sons, and his elders followed behind him.

"At first they could not find the creature, only the evidence of her attack. Bodies lay broken, a few drained of blood, strewn across the road where she'd appeared. Then they heard the screams andhurried to the harbor.

A handful of the Quileutes had run to the ships for refuge. She swam after them like a shark, and broke the bow of their boat with her incredible strength. When the ship sank, she caught those trying to swim away and broke them, too.

She saw the great wolf on the shore, and she forgot the fleeing swimmers. She swam so fast she was a blur and came, dripping and glorious, to stand before Yaha Uta. She pointed at him with one white finger and asked another incomprehensible question. Yaha Uta waited.

It was a close fight. She was not the warrior her mate had been. But Yaha Uta was alone — there was no one to distract her fury from him.

When Yaha Uta lost, Taha Aki screamed in defiance. He limped forward and shifted into an ancient, white-muzzled wolf. The wolf was old, but this was Taha Aki the Spirit Man, and his rage made him strong. The fight began again.

Taha Aki's third wife had just seen her son die before her. Now her husband fought, and she had no hope that he could win. She'd heard every word the witnesses to the slaughter had told the council.

She'd heard the story of Yaha Uta's first victory, and knew that his brother's diversion had saved him.

The third wife grabbed a knife from the belt of one of the sons who stood beside her. They were all young sons, not yet men, and she knew they would die when their father failed.

The third wife ran toward the Cold Woman with the dagger raised high. The Cold Woman smiled, barely distracted from her fight with the old wolf. She had no fear of the weak human woman or the knife that would not even scratch her skin, and she was about to deliver the death blow to Taha Aki.

And then the third wife did something the Cold Woman did not expect. She fell to her knees at the blood drinker's feet and plunged the knife into her own heart.

Blood spurted through the third wife's fingers and splashed against the Cold Woman. The blood drinker could not resist the lure of the fresh blood leaving the third wife's body. Instinctively, she turned

to the dying woman, for one second entirely consumed by thirst. Taha Aki's teeth closed around her neck.

That was not the end of the fight, but Taha Aki was not alone now. Watching their mother die, two young sons felt such rage that they sprang forth as their spirit wolves, though they were not yet men. With

their father, they finished the creature.

Taha Aki never rejoined the tribe. He never changed back to a man again. He lay for one day beside the body of the third wife, growling whenever anyone tried to touch her, and then he went into the forest

and never returned.

Trouble with the cold ones was rare from that time on. Taha Aki's sons guarded the tribe until their sons were old enough to take their places. There were never more than three wolves at a time. it was enough. Occasionally a blood drinker would come through these lands, but they were taken by surprise, not expecting the wolves. Sometimes a wolf would die, but they were never decimated again like that first time.

They'd learned how to fight the cold ones, and they passed the knowledge on, wolf mind to wolf mind, spirit to spirit, father to son.

Time passed, and the descendants of Taha Aki no longer became wolves when they reached manhood. Only in a great while, if a cold one was near, would the wolves return. The cold ones always came in ones and twos, and the pack stayed small.

A bigger coven came, and your own great-grandfathers prepared to fight them off. But the leader spoke to Ephraim Black as if he were a man, and promised not to harm the Quileutes. His strange yellow

eyes gave some proof to his claim that they were not the same as other blood drinkers. The wolves were outnumbered; there was no need for the cold ones to offer a treaty when they could have won the fight.

Ephraim accepted. They've stayed true to their side, though their presence does tend to draw in others."

"And their numbers have forced a larger pack than the tribe has ever seen," Old Quil said, and for one moment his black eyes, all but buried in the wrinkles of skin folded around them, seemed to rest on me.

"Except, of course, in Taha Aki's time," he said, and then he sighed. "And so the sons of our tribe again carry the burden and share the sacrifice their fathers ended before them."

All was silent for a long moment. The living descendants of magic and legend stared at one another across the fire with sadness in their eyes. All but one.

"Burden," he scoffed in a low voice. "I think it's cool." Quil's full lower lip pouted out a little bit. Across the dying fire, Seth Clearwater — his eyes wide with adulation for the fraternity of tribal

protectors — nodded his agreement.

Billy chuckled, low and long, and the magic seemed to fade into the glowing embers. Suddenly, it was just a circle of friends again. Jared flicked a small stone at Quil, and everyone laughed when it made him

jump. Low conversations murmured around us, teasing and casual.

Leah Clearwater's eyes did not open. I thought I saw something sparkling on her cheek like a tear, but when I looked back a moment later it was gone.

Neither Jacob nor I spoke. He was so still beside me, his breath so deep and even, that I thought he might be close to sleep.

My mind was a thousand years away. I was not thinking of Yaha Uta or the other wolves, or the beautiful Cold Woman — I could pictureher only too easily. Well, I was thinking of someone outside the magic altogether. I was trying to imagine the face of the unnamed woman who had saved the entire tribe,the third wife.

Just a human woman, with no special gifts or powers. Physically weaker and slower than any of the monsters in the story. But she had been the key, the solution. She'd saved her husband, her young sons, her tribe.

I wish they'd remembered her name. . . .

(Twilight Saga, Eclipse)