We are hiding in the shadows
We are silent, we have nerve
Like to think out loud
We just don't think out loud
And the shadows grow
And the shadows play
And we all cast shadows
And shadows know
Who is standing in the shadows
Who is lying, lying in the shade
Lying to their shadow
And the shadows grow
Shadows, by Joe Walsh, from the album You Bought It- You Name It, released in 1983
The journey was far too long for my tastes, and I was glad when we touched the cold ground of Russia. Leech had landed in a far off airstrip owned by them (seriously, do they own a private airstrip in every country or something?), meaning we were nowhere near civilisation. It definitely played to our advantage, because four giant-ass wolves could walk off the plane without trying to hide ourselves. Doctor Leech and Psychic Leech followed behind us, their footsteps only making light indents in the snow.
Our footsteps were making deep indents, clawed and their usual odd shape, but with the current snowfall, they would be masked in no time. As we sat down in the snow, they all looked at me, silently questioning me. I was their leader.. and I could feel my wolf rumbling in satisfaction. It felt wrong for all of them looking at me for instruction.. but I forced myself to shake it off. Qualms about hierarchies of power could wait until Bella was safe in my arms. Still, it was time to light our signal.
I raised up on my hind legs in an awkward balance, and howled loudly into the air. Currents of power were underlying in my voice, and my howl was a wolf song- wordless, commanding, but also sad. I had no intentions to put those emotions in my howl, but apparently I managed to do it without being aware. After almost running out of breath, I ceased my howl, while the after echoes continued to bounced around the air like it was a game of pinball. We all looked at one another, as I glanced backwards, watching the Cullens with a wary glance.
"Who or what do you think it is?"
Seth was the one to ask the question, as he shook out his fur in an attempt to dislodge the snow making its home there. I shrugged- or at least, the wolf equivalent of the action- and yawned, listening hard for any signs of company. There was nothing out of the ordinary- nattering birds, the wind whispering, the chatter of various other animals.
"Could be anything Seth. Bella did say 'Pup' though, which could suggest a small, natural born animal. It could also be a shifter, but there aren't any Tribes in Russia are there?"
I shook my head in agreement. To my knowledge, there were no Tribes who had shifter blood this far out. Of course, there were reportedly Tribes with other shifter blood, much younger then our own shifting nature. It depended a lot on the area they were living, the circumstances, things like that.
Like in Siberia, there was a Pack (Pride? What do you call a group of Tigers?) of Siberian Tiger shifters. We didn't know their numbers, hell, we didn't even know them personally, but there was an unspoken law amongst shifter kind: we help our own. Within reason of course.
"Not to my knowledge. I can always be wrong though. If I had to guess, I would guess a small animal like you suggested Embry."
We waited roughly five more minutes, before their was a smooth movement into our pack mind, and it wasn't anyone who'd we'd left in Washington. We looked at one another, with a comical look mirroring itself on all of our faces, before we turned to look as we heard the sound of paw against snow. Against the stark whiteness of the snow, you could see the bottom part of the paw resting on the snow. Dark purple bubble things were gathering at the stumps, building up straight for a short while, before expanding and beginning to form a body.
It was..peculiar..but let's face it, it's hardly the weirdest thing I've seen. It looked like he had some form of ability.. Still, in case this wasn't our expected guest, we all tensed, and bared our teeth, bunching together so that we couldn't be sneak attacked. Once the shape of a wolf appeared, the purple bubbles disappeared, leaving a small, furred wolf with different coloured eyes looking at us. His posture, while not aggressive in any form, wasn't submissive either, reassuring me because him being forced to bow down to me wasn't the best way to meet. Plus, I knew he was a he, was because of his scent. It can tell you a lot of things, believe you me.
"Are you Strawberry-Honey-Forest's friend?"
For a minute, I was very confused. I say for a minute, because there were two things I realised. One, the image he was projecting into the pack mind was of Bella's wolf- chained up like a wild animal. She didn't look well at all- her fur having lost its unique shine and being matted with blur, she had clearly lost weight, there were other serious injuries- it looked like her paw was bent the wrong way.
But the minute I saw her eyes, in their chocolate brown glory, I knew instantly that it was my Bella. Two, there was something about wolves that not many people knew. Mainly because wolves couldn't speak English and Human's couldn't speak wolf, but it was a true statement all the same. While we couldn't speak to any other species of animal, we could speak to those apart of the canine family. But only in wolf form. So yes, technically I could be a dog whisperer. Anyway, canines referred to one another by their scent. I did say we could tell a lot by one's scent. While the name could be lost to interpretation by us sometimes- wolves didn't call the smell of cars the smell of cars, for example- it was easy enough to interpret sometimes.
Of course, this practise could tell us a lot about a wolf. For example, I could tell that this Pup was a shifter. Why? He called a strawberry a strawberry. Every wild-born wolf that I'd ever met- which was quite a few by this point, some travelled through La Push on occasion, and there were the ones we'd met going for our runs- had referred to them as 'sweet red mush berry'. I cocked my head, but nodded. It seemed like this was our ally. And Bella was right- he was definitely on the young side. But then again, since our ages freeze when we become wolves- we had no idea how old he actually was.
"We are."
His head turned to look at the two accompanying Leeches, with hardened eyes. His ears spread back in a sign of aggression, and his teeth were revealed by the curl of his lip. The Pup must have good instincts if he was so aggressive towards the Leeches.
"You trust them?"
He seemed curious, but also appalled. I didn't take offence, mainly because it was pretty rare, but also because I didn't trust them. It sounded bad, but I was only working with them because I had to. I was suddenly grateful that they weren't the ones with mind reading powers. Mirroring his look, but more discretely, I shook his head as his eyes returned to me.
"Not as far as I could hunt."
That was the wolf equivalent of 'as far as I could throw them', so there's a fun fact. Wolves couldn't throw… so the expression as we knew it would go over their heads. Plus it meant more when phrased like that, because you can hunt extremely far, almost infinitely so, yet you can only throw so far. I think I got far too into that explanation. The wolf nodded, before hiding his teeth. He was still on edge though.
"Good. What is your name?"
"Are you human born?"
His eyes almost hardened, and his fur raised. Sensing that it was perhaps a bad question to ask, and a bad topic to bring up, Embry went into damaged control almost immediately. He was good at placating people, even when he himself was riled up. He gave me a sideways glance though, telling me with his eyes that I probably shouldn't have been so blunt.
"What he means is that would you rather our human-born names or our scent-names?"
He visibly relaxed a little bit, but was still tense. He turned around and started a slow walk, as I turned around to face the Leeches, gently flicking my head after him to hint to them to follow. If they didn't, well it was hardly my fault. I'd kinda rather they didn't but it hardly mattered. We did need transport back, and I'd rather not try to explain to Russian Authorities how we slightly illegally invaded their countries borders.
"You speak remarkably like wolves for human-borns. Your scent-name please."
"Curved-Blackened-Tree"
I translated. Similarly to Sam, I happened to have the scent of oil around me. Of course, they didn't know it as oil, so they referred to it as the 'Burning Black'. I also smelt like rubber, but they referred to that as 'Curved Small Tree'. To complicate things further, the name 'Burning-Black Curved Small Tree' was rather long winded and difficult to say. So, if we heeded a few slightly complicated grammar rules, my name ended up being what it was. If we looked at the original words and translations, the final name ended up being a far cry from what it was. Just trust me, it was the right name.
"Timber-Pine-Forest"
That was Seth's scent. The smell of cut timber and pine leaves, surrounded by the natural aroma of a forest. Evidently, whatever caused our scents were influenced by other factors, because Seth always worked with wood, as evidenced by the little charms and decorations that decorated Sue and Harry's cottage.
"Rain-Bark-Sky"
That was Jared, having one of the weirdest scents of the entire pack. See, 'sky' was because his scent was clear, not blended together like some of ours. Bark was after tree bark, not the noise bark, and, well, we hadn't quite deciphered the rain yet. It wasn't because he smelt of wet dog- he didn't, not to us anyway- but we theorised the rain came from how his scent had a sort of stormy, rainy scent around it. It was hard to explain, really.
"Blueberry-Summer-Wind"
Finally, Embry. Oddly akin to Bella, his scent was the most...fruity of our own. The scent of, well blueberries, lingered around him, as did the light breeziness of wind- if you could describe that as a scent, that is. With various other fruits mixed in, that was where the Summer came from- because many fruits that were associated with Summer took place in his scent. Hence, Summer. Our mysterious friend, who hadn't named himself, nodded, before beginning to pick up his pace, heading North.
"My name is Shadow-Dark-Sin. You may call me Shadow if you prefer. Follow me, and I shall take you to Strawberry-Honey-Forest."
That was a very.. unique name to say the least. His scent was dark, shrouded and hidden, so faint it was difficult to pick out. 'Sin'.. I wasn't going to ask. I'd never heard of a wolf with a name like his though..but I definitely wasn't going to ask due to his last reaction. A brief moment later, he broke into a fast run, causing my pack to flock behind me, and the Leeches behind them as he took us to Bella- and I was thirsting for vengeance.
We skidded to a stop on a small hill, and upon looking over it, there was a small facility. It had grey stone bricked walls, and was built quite high, with a flat roof. The snow surrounding it was pristine, almost untouched, but judging by the whiffs of Leech that I kept getting (The other Leeches were downwind from me, so their scent was flowing away from me), they were here, or had been recently.
"What's the plan?"
Storming in could cause risk to Bella, so that wasn't an option. There were nods and senses of agreements, so I knew they agreed with me there. As much as I wanted to storm in immediately, and tear apart whatever got in front of me, both the rational side of me and my wolf knew that it was a very bad idea.
"So we need to sneak in."
The Cullens had gone to 'scout' they said, but I had no idea if they were actually doing what they said they were doing or not. In which case, we had to move quickly in case they dropped us in it, or got us into some situation that made stealth impossible.
"How many entrances are there?"
"Two"
Shadow replied- that nickname seemed the least offensive then his entire name- pawing the dirt with his claws as the wind whipped around us. Bella was so close..
"Front main entrance, and a side staircase that leads up to the second floor. Strawberry-Honey-Forest was on the ground floor when I saw her, which you can only get down to by taking the stairs which are accessible on the first floor."
So either way, we had to get in the building before we could get anywhere near Bella. That also meant there was a hidden floor that we couldn't see. I stood tall over the cliff, turning my head away from the pack as I looked once more at the place where Bella was. Or where she could be. No, it wasn't worth thinking about. They continued to discuss the plan of attack behind me, and while I was still paying attention to what they were saying, my mind couldn't help but drift.
You know the time to be Alpha is nearing.
It was almost phrased as a question, but there was no question about it. It was a statement. A fact. Something that was inevitable. It didn't matter what I thought about it or what I had to say about it, it was going to happen, one way or another. It was in my blood, that I knew… but did I even want to be Alpha? I'd shrugged it off for so long now, not thinking I was ready, not thinking that I was a good leader. But despite that, something was forcing me to become Alpha, instinctive or not.
"I possess the power to manipulate shadows. I can use them to hide you as we sneak in. It will also hide your scent so you do not need to worry about that."
It is not that I wish to force the position on you, despite my own instincts to lead. It is that I, and the other wolves, sense oncoming danger. We do not know what. It is our hope to prepare you all for the coming danger.
The over-arching thoughts took a minute to process. Turns out, I was right in my suspicions of Shadow having a power, much like Bella. Why do certain wolves have abilities? It wasn't something that was exactly common- and as far as I was aware, Bella was the only one to possess an ability in our pack. And she'd had that before she'd become one of us- so was it really a wolf thing? Anyway, the second thought was 'the oncoming danger' that my wolf was referring to. What on earth was it? That's rhetorical. Was it something to do with Bella? God, I hoped not. She was strong.. but she'd been through enough. Putting the thoughts of impending danger at the back of my mind as something to concentrate on later, I instead focussed on Bella, which I should've been doing from the first place.
"I think we should go with that. What entrance is the best entrance?"
"Front."
"Side-Staircase."
Jared and Embry both called out at the same time, before looking at one another comically. Seth was just watching the ensuing word debate with amusement, but they were about fifteen seconds away from escalating to yelling. A low growl, quiet but commanding, erupted from my throat, warning them to calm down. I was effectively being steam rolled over, forcing me to call them to heel before they either gave our position away, or became louder and louder until we might as well be sneak attacked, because we would never hear them coming.
"Quiet. Stop Arguing."
They shut up faster then I could say Quileute. I had been paying attention to their various arguments, but I wanted another perspective. Luckily, I had two wolves who would be willing to give their perspective, and likely wouldn't break into an argument.
"Seth? Shadow? Your views?"
"I think the side entrance would be the best way. It is likely to be less guarded, and while we enter through the second floor, it is a lot less open and sneakier in the long run."
"I agree with Timber. I entered through the stairwell, and it is largely cluttered, making it easier to manoeuvre throughout. The main entrance is small, but open, so that even with being hidden in the shadows, it takes one mistake to be noticed."
With the argument largely settled, Shadow nodded as we began to walk down and around the cliff, with the purple bubble things building up around our paws, and slowly obscuring us from sight.
We're coming Bella.
Author's Note
Hiii!
How are you all today? My Nan went home today, and I just came back from bowling and eating out with my friends. So, I've had fun.
Other then that, I'm kinda sad but also happy about returning to school on Wednesday. I'll miss my lie ins, but I'm getting to that point where I'm just ridiculously bored most of the time.
But anyway, last thing to mention before I go to the question of the week. I'M SORRY ABOUT LYING. I had every intention to have the rescue this chapter... but I started writing... and well, battle analysis happened? And character defining? And Jake stepping into his role of Alpha? But it will be next week. Of this, I promise.
Trust me, this is the last precluding chapter. We'll have our two love birds- err, wolves, back together, and the Edward & Victoria shall be resolved, one way or another.
Anyway, here is this week's question. What is a movie that you normally wouldn't like, but do? By this I mean, say you dislike comedy, but like a specific comedy movie. My example would be Misery, or the Final Destination series. Normally, as a general rule, I despise horror, but after reading Misery the book and learning the concept of Final Destination, I was curious. And such, my two favourite horror films (well, one favourite and favourite series) are them.
Anyway, I've got to skedaddle. I've got some school prep to do (at 21:07, meh) and some coffee to inhale because I'm tired.
See you all next time!
~Cait