Chapter 20
I couldn't see it coming through my closed eyes, but I could certainly imagine it in my head. It had to be walking slow, waiting to make the kill, torturing us just a little longer or at the speed it had been moving earlier it would have been upon us by now. I felt Sarah press her face into my back out of fear undoubtedly. Not that I could blame her. I couldn't believe it was going to like this, here and now. What choice did we really have? Whatever this thing was I'm pretty sure I couldn't just wrestle it to the ground. Sure, we could have leapt headfirst off the cliffs and into the ocean, but I'm pretty sure with the hastily approaching storm it probably wasn't a good idea to begin our cliff diving careers.
A growl more ferocious than the first one (that might have just been due to the fact that this one was about a billion times closer) ripped through the air. I could have sworn it even shook the cliff some. I couldn't help but peek open one eye to see why my death was taking so long when I saw another one, this one slightly smaller and black in color, throwing itself upon the silver one. I reached behind me giving Sarah's arm a shake so that she might see this as well. Taken by surprise the black one especially pinned the silver one beneath it. I watched as the silver one then glanced around looking confused and disorientated as if suffering from a sudden case of amnesia. The black one climbed off of the silver one and the silver one came to its feet still looking incredibly befuddled as it headed down the cliff, away from us. The black one then turned its gaze on Sarah who was now straining to see over my shoulder with the very interested gaze of someone watching a horror film in which the scary part had just ended. From there it looked to me, the look in its eye reminding me first of something wise and knowing until the bewilderment too filled its eyes. It seemed to watch me with increasing alarm before turning and running down the cliff.
As it did so I took a step or two towards it, but my human steps could hardly keep up with its running. Though even if I could have caught up with it I'm not exactly sure what I would have done with it. It wasn't like I could just thank it for saving my life, after all. So from the top of the cliff I watched it descend onto the beach and then run into the forest from where the other one had come. Sarah came up beside me, reaching up and placing one hand on my shoulder. When I glanced over at her those green eyes were dancing excitedly and the smile on her face suggested that she had found the whole situation immensely fun and hadn't been in danger of being ripped to shreds by a giant God-knows-what at one point in time.
What the hell had just happened?
"Well, I think that was enough adventure for one night," She concluded grabbing my arm once more and pulling me along behind her again. I didn't protest because that certainly had been more than enough near death experience for me. More than anything I just wanted to go home and fall into my bed and never get back up again. This was the last time I followed my crazy cousin anywhere ever again, she was too much of a trouble magnet. After all, I'd lived in La Push my entire life and never seen or heard of anything like that until she came. I replayed the scene in my mind over and over again in the quick walk back to my house. In fact, I was so absorbed in it that I didn't realize Sarah was pulling me in through the front door until we were already inside.
"Sarah, my dad's gonna kill us!"
She just rolled her eyes and opened her big mouth, "Uncle Jake!"
My dad appeared from his bedroom looking tired and still half-asleep. He blinked and ran his hand through his long hair, trying to process exactly what was happening. "You won't believe what happened!"
Poor Dad still didn't look like he knew what was happening, but Sarah Kemp didn't wait for anybody. Instead she launched immediately into a very vivid story about what had happened tonight. With every word that she uttered his brown eyes seemed to grow bigger and bigger until I was sure they were going to burst right out of their sockets. As she finished with an absolutely thrilling conclusion I couldn't believe this was only my first night with her. That meant there were still six left. What kind of other trouble was she going to get us into? As I was contemplating the magnitude of our punishment for sneaking out of the house my father turned around and headed for the phone as if it were his only lifeline.
I glanced confusedly over at Sarah. We weren't in trouble? She just shrugged and headed back to my room as if nothing had happened leaving me gaping in the hallway. We really weren't in trouble? He was going to let us off the hook just like that? I heard my father's frantic voice on the telephone in the kitchen. Still a little stunned that he'd completely forgotten about punishing us for what we'd done, I decided to follow Sarah's example and not ask for a punishment. Besides, he seemed a little too preoccupied with providing a recount of Sarah's story.
Animal control was going to need a big net.
Author's Note: It struck me this morning that this would have been an opportune time to let Sadie make the first transformation, but it wasn't the time I'd chosen. See when I originally got this idea I had a very particular scene in mind that she would phase in for the first time and I'm sticking to my guns on this one I do like this scene though, provides a little action and whatnot. On another note, any guesses as to who the werewolves are? I'm pretty sure you guys can figure it out.