Leah Clearwater
Some bullshit was playing on the ancient tube TV in our way-too-small family room. I don't know what was on - you could hardly tell anyway. The signal kept cutting out, due in no small part to the crude antenna made out of a wire hanger with some tin foil on top. Even if I could tell what we were watching, I was in no state to pay attention. I was only there to keep my parents from worrying about me. I hadn't been myself for the last couple of weeks, and my thoughts were consumed by what happened to me during that time.
Two weeks ago, he fiancee disappeared. No one could get a hold of him and no one had a clue where he might have gone. The last time I saw Sam, he was leaving the bonfire at First Beach, where my whole extended family were gathered to celebrate one of my cousins in the Makah tribe getting engaged. He'd left without saying goodbye. It was like one second he was there, I turned my back to talk to somebody else, and when I turned back around he was just...gone.
I didn't see him again until last Thursday.
He called me that morning, his voice tight, his tone curt, asking me to meet him at our old make out spot in the woods. It was a quiet, secluded spot where we would hide out when we first started seeing each other and we didn't want my parents to know I was dating an older boy.
It appeared that he'd seen my cousin Emily at the party, and had been so taken with her, he followed her back home to Makah lands. At first, she resisted his advances, but then she'd given in. He'd been with her this whole week, while I was home, worried sick. Essentially, he'd broken our engagement and broken up with me entirely. It had been three days since then and every time I saw him— which wasn't often, but it's a small reservation— Emily was by his side, smiling away, looking gorgeous of course. The level of disrespect they showed me, the speed with which their newfound relationship was moving, was unfathomable to me. I walked around in a daze of shock and confusion.
But tonight, I was done feeling sorry for myself. I was fucking pissed off. How dare they treat me this way. My fiancee. My cousin! It was disgusting and creepy and just fucking evil. I was so angry I felt a rush of fire flood through every vein in my body. I realized I was suddenly sweating profusely. My mom was sitting next to me, and she noticed. "Honey, what's wrong?" The back of her hand on the skin of my forehead felt like ice. "Oh honey, you're burning up! Sethie, get the thermometer."
Seth got up, looking annoyed, and went off toward the bathroom. I was trembling now, the shaking getting more violent by the second. My vision was tinged with red, and my lips curled back from my teeth, baring them. I felt myself drool a little as I seethed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my father perched on the edge of the seat of his old La-Z-Boy, staring at me with a look that was both horror and awe.
Suddenly, the fire surged and my back arched painfully. I let out a cry and then my bones felt like they were stretching, about to crack with the tension. My joints popped out and rearranged themselves, my skin prickled and I felt like little needles were poking through from the inside. There was a strange kind of pressure on my face, like someone was grabbing my cheeks and squishing them to make my nose form a point.
The air around me crackled and my vision went white for a moment. I felt like I was in the air, but I couldn't see. I landed with a loud thud on the palms of my hands and the balls of my feet. I didn't feel so hot anymore, I felt like me again, but somehow not.
It's okay, Leah.
A male voice filled my whole head, it felt like. My brain zeroed in on it.
Who's that?
It's Jared.
Why the fuck are you in my head.
It's okay, just a sec.
I heard a long howl off in the distance.
Okay, I let Sam know to join us.
What? Where are you? Why is Sam coming?
Leah, you changed.
I was silent, not understanding what he meant.
You're like the rest of us now. Me and Sam and Jake and Paul… Shit, you're the first girl I ever heard of.
First girl what? I thought, exasperated.
Wolf.
Wolf?
My brow furrowed and I looked down at myself, but all I saw were furry, silvery grey legs and paws. Horrified, my eyes lifted and I saw myself in the reflection of the now darkened TV. My wolf face stared back at me. It was then that I registered the screams all around me. I focused on the room and my mother was clutching at my father, who was now collapsed on the floor.
"Harry! Harry, can you hear me?!"
My father clutched at his chest weakly and struggled to breathe. He was looking directly at me and managed to rasp out, "You...you…"
But that was all. His chest exhaled mightily and the light left his eyes. His empty eyes stared directly at me. The shock of what he'd seen happen right in front of him had been too much for his already damaged heart. I did this. I killed my father.
My mom wailed and laid over him, clutching at my father's shirt and burying her face in it as she sobbed against him. I looked over at Seth as he stood in the doorway with the thermometer in his hand and he was the angriest I'd ever seen him. His forehead dripping with sweat, his body shook much like mine did, and he started to morph before my eyes. I saw his body elongate, the fur sprout, his face transform. He stumbled a little on his first landing as a wolf.
Whoa, what the heck just happened?
You changed, Sethie. Like me.
Really? Oh my god, I'm a wolf too? Wow. … I was so mad. I'm sorry, Leah, but I was. What happened killed Dad.
I know, I'm sorry.
I know you didn't mean to, Lee.
Mom looked up from Dad and saw Seth. She wailed impossibly louder and collapsed on top of Dad again. Then, a voice I was all too familiar with resounded in my head.
Leah. Seth. Meet me at the clearing by the river in five.
There was no choice to be had. I didn't want to see the likes of Samuel Uley ever again, but my body was compelled to run, and Seth and I let our new bodies take us where they knew they needed to go. My mind took note of the soft grass and damp earth beneath my massive paws and the scent of the trees filled my nostrils. Running through the woods, I found I didn't need to focus on avoiding branches or roots that might get in my way; my new wolf body easily navigated the forest without any input from me.
When we got to the clearing, there were seven other wolves waiting there, forming a semicircle. They were all enormous, the size of bears.
Holy shit.
Yup. There's a bunch of us.
Quil?
Yup, that's me. A tan wolf stepped forward. Each wolf stepped forward in turn and spoke their names in their minds. Paul. Jacob. Embry. Jared.
Sam. Of course he would be the biggest, darkest wolf. His appearance was quite imposing and even a little fearsome.
Leah. Seth. You have been chosen to serve this tribe with us. We are the new generation of the shifters of legend. It is in the blood of the Clearwater lineage to be one of us. We have become this way so that we can protect our land and it's people against the cold ones.
I scoffed, but it came out as a wuff. The cold ones? That's an old folk story.
It's not. I've been this way since the Cullens moved here.
The Cullens are VAMPIRES?
Yes. The tribe has a treaty with their coven. They lived in the area once before, in the 1930s.
This was blowing my mind. Seth and I were rapt in attention.
Recently, there has been new vampire activity in the area, and more of you have become like me. The threat to the tribe is rising.
Shit, this was serious. I felt an obligation to take my place in the pack, but I didn't want to be around Sam all the time.
I know, Leah. I am so sorry for what I did. Now that we share a mental link, I can show you what happened.
My mind was flooded with images of Sam and Emily, snippets of his memories, until he focused on when he first caught sight of her.
Seeing her through his eyes as he saw her for the first time, it was like the earth had dropped away from beneath his feet, golden threads stretching from his heart and entwining around her body. She was backlit in a strange glow that made her look like an angel, even more beautiful than she already was. I felt the strength of it, like chains binding him to her, unbreakable.
Feeling Sam's emotions, feeling the tug and pull inside his chest, it was undeniable. I understood why he couldn't just walk away. I could understand why it happened now, but It still hurt like hell. I still hated him for betraying me so painfully, and I wasn't sure I would ever be okay with following him within the pack.
Then, I remembered what was waiting for us at home.
Paul spoke up. Your mom and dad, they knew about Sam. They've known he's a wolf for a long time now.
But, my dad...he died. He died because he saw me become this beast!
Sam interjected. No, Leah. It's not your fault. If you want to blame someone, blame the Cullens. I'm sure it was a shock to your dad though, as we don't have any history of ever having a female wolf. You're the first.
Yeah, he was probably really proud of you, Leah. Embry piped up.
Yeah. Maybe.
You guys go see what we can do to help Sue. I'll stay and help these two learn to phase back.
Seth and I watched as the other wolves loped off in the direction of our home. For better or worse, this is what I was now. Seeing my peers this way made it all the more real. Their easy acceptance of the beast gave me hope that one day I'd be comfortable in this skin as well.
But for now, I couldn't wait to just be in my own body again.
