Chapter 18

Embry POV

I drove towards Ava's house, rain was coming down on my truck and I was thinking about what Ava had planned for tonight.

When I pulled up outside her house something didn't feel right. Her truck wasn't there. At first, I thought she was just picking Chaska up from school but when I looked at my watch, I saw it was well past pick up time. She must have had to go shopping for dinner, that had to be it.

Then my phone started ringing.

"Embry speaking."

"Hi Embry, it's Mrs Wilson here calling from the primary school-"

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm calling to see if you know where Ava is, she hasn't picked up Chaska yet. And she isn't answering her phone."

"What? I...umm… her car's not at her house, she must of got held up somewhere. I'm leaving her house now, I'll be there to pick him up in a few minutes," I assured her.

"Okay thank you, see you soon."

I had a bad feeling, a really bad feeling. I tried to call Ava but all I get was her message bank. I felt sick. She always answered her phone, why wasn't she answering her phone.

I had gotten to the school by the time I tried calling her a third time. Mrs Wilson, a lady in her fifty's with short grey hair and pale skin, was wanting outside the school doors, Chaska standing next to her with his small red school bag in hand. The phone call rang out and I was sent to her message bank again.

I got out of the car and tried my hardest to smile. Chaska gave me a smile in reply but Mrs Wilson didn't seem convinced.

"Thanks for calling me," I said as I reached the pair.

"No problem, I assume Ava just got held up somewhere?"

"Yeah she must have lost track of time." I didn't believe my own words, Ava was never late. "Hey buddy how was school?" I asked Chaska as the teacher said a quick goodbye and went back into the school.

"Good, I got a student of the week award and Joel invited me to his birthday party next weekend," Chaska seemed happy, completely unaware his mother was currently MIA.

"Oh cool, cool. Hey did your mum mention having to go anywhere today?" I asked as calmly as possible.

"No... she said you were coming over for dinner. Can we play Uno?" He seemed unaware I was freaking out.

I took him home, half expecting Ava's car to be waiting there. But the front of the house was empty. Maybe she left her phone inside and went shopping, that would explain why she wasn't answering and didn't know the time.

Chaska got out of the truck and ran instead like normal, I followed after him closely. Already calling Ava's phone again, listening out for her ring tone.

I waited, and waited, and waited. But the only sound in the house was Chaska running to his room. Even if the phone was on vibrate my ears would have picked up on the sound.

I was overreacting. The pack kept telling me I was too protective, there could be a million reasons why Ava wasn't answering her phone. So I waited. I made Chaska a sandwich and we sat and watched a cartoon. I waited till dark. Ava still hadn't come home, she still hadn't called.

I then called Sam and he told me he would be here soon with the pack but there was something off about his voice. As I waited I paced the room. I heard someone walking up to the house a few minutes latter. I went to open the door and found Jake waiting on the other side.

"Embry can you please come outside for a moment?" Jake asked, his face was hard and eyes didn't give anything away.

"What is it?" I asked stepping outside and shutting the door behind him.

"Seth found Ava's truck-" Jacob began but I quickly cut him off.

"Thank god, where is she?" I looked around, almost expecting her to appear from thin air.

"She wasn't with her truck," Jacob continued. "He found it down an embankment, looked like she crashed a few hours ago." My heart stopped, I wasn't breathing. "She wasn't in the truck Embry."

"She's in the hospital then," I say. Where else could she be after a car crash?

"We checked, she's not, no one even knew the truck had crashed."

"How long have you known this Jake?" I asked and saw guilt in his eyes.

"Seth found the truck around two hours ago-"

"Two hours!" I yelled. I was shaking now. They know she was missing and most likely hurt for two hours and didn't tell me.

...

Ava POV

He stood before me, a beast, worse than the one that used to chase me in my nightmares. He was larger then any creature I had ever seen, a beast wrapped in dark fur, his eyes black.

There was a fire in the corner of the cave now, I must have passed out, or fell asleep -like that would be possible- or the fire just appeared out of no where.

Now with the light from the fire I could see I was in a cave, it wasn't very wide but looked long. I couldn't see my natural light and it was very cold in here. My jumper was only thin, I hadn't planed on being outside for long.

I kept going over the facts in my head. I saw a beast, I crashed, I woke up cold, a fire appeared, the beast returned. Maybe I was just in hospital, unconscious from the car crash, this is all a dream. It felt so real though.

I closed my eyes. I was shaking, it was hard to breath and I could feel was tears staring to run down my face.

There was sound of movement, it was getting closer.

I tried to think of a happy place where I'm with Chaska and Embry, where my brother and sister are, my mother and friends. I could almost hear the ocean, imagining the day we all spent at beach last month. I swear I could smell the ocean air as I imagined everyone's faces, smiling and happy.

"Please don't cry," I gulped at the sound of the familiar voice.

This can't be real. It just can't.

AN: I know I haven't updated in ages! So sorrrry! Literally had writers block this whole time and only wrote this in the last week. Hope it's ok, will be trying to update a lot sooner. If you like it and want me to update ASAP please leave a review every word helps me keep trying.

Hope you have a good night/ day.