Author's Note: Hey! I was looking at my reviews and it turns out that I'm getting close to the big 100! I'm kind of thinking of doing some sort of sweepstakes or something that involves the 100th reviewer (unless, of course, the 100th review is a lame; in that case it will be lucky 101!!!!). But all of this is strictly in the think tank still, but I'm open to ideas! I'll maybe even put the 100th (or 101st reviewer as the case may be) in the story for a guest appearance. Who knows? I've still got some time left. In other news, I'm getting a lot more reviews lately, and it makes me smile. :) See, a smile. Please keep it up! I love knowing you are out there and I love to hear that some of you like it. Thank you for all your support so far and, hopefully, in the future.

PS I'm brainstorming for future chapters and, as a little foreshadowing, one chapter involves a ceramic duck, and you don't want to miss that!

PPS On to the story! (Superman music)

Raechel stared at Zander's sleeping form and shifted nervously. Her father was pacing outside the door, and had been ever since Zander had fallen asleep again. Across the hall, Jacob, who had only arrived a few seconds prior, was leaned nonchalantly against the wall, but Raechel could tell that he was extremely alert. Although he seemed to be staring out the window at the end of the hall, every movement bade by Zander caught his immediate attention and caused him to go tense. Shifting again, Raechel looked back at Zander and sighed heavily. Who would ever think that this guy she met in the woods would create such a problem?

Someone laid their hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump and nearly knock over her chair, but the person caught it for her. "Did I scare you?" Raechel gaped at Jacob, who had apparently moved stealthily across the room to her side. "Sorry," he said, smiling openly, "I just wanted to check on you." A blush moved across Raechel's face like a wave of fire—not burning her, but torturing her with the knowledge that it was there and noticeable.

"Okay," she stuttered, unable to say anything more.

"Are you really?"

"Am I what?"

"Okay."

Jacob's gaze had shifted to Zander for a split second and Raechel realized how strained his smile was. He was worried for her, that was true; but the threat he saw was Zander, not the stress of the situation. Crestfallen and slightly angry, she returned his fake smile with one of her own and replied with an unbelievably cheery voice, "Yeah, I'm fine! As a matter of fact, I'm more than fine. I'm estatic!"

Jacob furrowed his brow in a response to the unexpected sarcasm, and dropped his smile. "That's… good."

"Did you need anything else?"

Jacob's façade dropped all at once and gave way to a grim shell of his former features. "Actually," he started, "I have a… a mission for you." Ignoring the cheesy James Bond cliché, the statement caught her attention. But before she was able to question him, he started talking again. "Raechel, I want you to think about this before you answer. Before this new… development, your father and I were talking about how to supervise the vampires without too much risk. And your name came up. Obviously, the bloodsucker feels comfortable around you, and he might actually confide in you some. One of the ideas we had was to send you to Forks for awhile. Now, it wouldn't be for long, and we would enroll you in the high school, but it would also be a good chance for you to monitor them."

"You mean spy on them."

"In a sense. But Raechel, isn't this what you've always wanted? Acknowledgement as one of the pack? This is probably the most important job right now, and it would not only prove to your dad that you're not just a little girl anymore—you could prove to everyone that you're not a child. So what do you say?"

Raechel stared into Jacob's dark brown needy eyes. What he said, although it was a harsh slap in the face to her, he was right. That was really all she wanted, and she couldn't really refuse the offer. Zander shifted in his sleep, but it seemed to Raechel that he was subconsciously disapproving the planning of his betrayal. "Well?" Jacob whispered, eyeing Zander nervously.

Raechel was quiet, but, after a moment, she lifted her head and stared at Jacob sternly. "I'll do it."

Edward walked over to the stunned Alice, dreading what Alice had pulled out of the box. If Alice had found a picture of Zander, they were in a lot of trouble. Alice turned towards him with a horrified look, transfixed on the picture hanging from her fingertips. "Who… who is this?" she asked with wide eyes. Jasper was hanging back stiffly, studying Edward with curious eyes. Bella, who had been stationary until then, reached over and took the picture. She hung her head, sweeping her eyes against Zander's portrait and sighed.

"Alice, I…"

"No time for anything more than what I've already asked for. Unless, of course, you could tell me where he is."

"Why?"

"How do I put this? Well, I kind of saw this boy fall off a cliff and I think that classifies as an emergency."

Her voice was rushed and panicked, but to Bella, everything was slowed down. Her knees shook precariously, nearly sending her crashing into Alice, but Edward caught her. "What do you mean, you saw him fall off a cliff?" Edward asked in a shocked, numbed tone.

"I meant what I said, Edward. Now do you have an answer?"

Before Alice could get an answer, Edward was rushing out the door. "Edward!" Alice called frantically. "You don't know which cliff!" But Edward was already running. He had to save his boy.

The truck rumbled uncertainly down the road, as if it was having a terrible time carting Zander, Raechel, and Sam down the road to forks. An uncomfortable silence had frozen over them and no matter how high they cranked up the heat on the wheezy interior, nothing could melt their frosted figures. Zander glanced at Sam, whose eyes were firmly transfixed on the road, and at Raechel, whose eyes were firmly transfixed on anything but him. Hail pelted the windows, and Zander, in an attempt to be transfixed on something other than his uncomfortable spot between the two cubes of ice, tried to count the balls of hail that nearly cracked the window shield that were obviously happier committing their suicides than he was sitting between the girl that was avoiding him for no apparent reason and said girl's father.

In an instant, the whole car was rocked viciously as Sam slammed on the break. Zander's head snapped up and his eyes were immediately glued to the man who appeared most abruptly in front of the car, and soon so were everyone else's. The man stepped to the passenger side window and Raechel was put face-to-face with Zander's father.

No one moved until Edward tapped the window and pointed at Zander. Raechel mindlessly opened the door into the pelting hail and Zander awkwardly half-crawled over Raechel and to his father. The door closed swiftly behind him and he barely had time to wave at Raechel before the car sped off. He gazed after the car with a confused cock of the head before he felt his father wrap a coat around him and move him into the shelter of nearby trees.

The trees filtered much of the falling debris, but the frigid air caused Zander to shiver and Edward to worry. "So," Edward asked, wrapping the coat tighter around his son, "what's this I hear about you falling off a cliff?"

Zander smirked in spite of the cold. "Yeah, you know me. Always looking to outdo my last heroic stunt. But how'd you know?"

"Does it matter? I just want to know if you're okay. By the way, are you okay?"

"Yes, Dad, I'm fine. I just nearly drowned, that's all."

"You almost drowned?!?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, it was either that, or my lungs were filling up with water. It was kind of hard to tell."

"That's… odd."

"Drowning?"

"No, not drowning in general. You drowning."

"Why?"

"Well, you didn't have to breathe when you were born."

A/N: Ooooooh… a mystery. Well, I hope you appreciate this chapter, because I completely ignored my Great Expectations reading for you guys. Oh well. Cheap metaphor this week, I'm tired.

You are the red kryptonite that makes Superman do bad things, but makes him happy while doing them. Well, there you go. I'll update next week, hopefully, if I don't die from all my final exams. Here's hoping! Please review—DAI.