"Hiding behind a rainbow's wall,
Slipping and sliding
All along the water fall, with you
My brown eyed girl,
You my brown eyed girl."

-Van Morrison

Amber's POV:

"Amber Cullen! What have you done to your dress?" I heard my mom shriek at me the second my father and I got in to view.

"But, Rose," my dad almost growled as he continued to give me a piggy back ride over to where she was standing in a fixed position. Her lips were pursed and her hands were tightly on her hips. Her golden hair rested on her shoulders and her topaz gaze rested on me.

"Don't you 'but, Rose' me! Emmett, you can't keep taking her out like that! Her clothes are constantly getting ruined and-" I tuned the rest of her lecture out and I inquired if dad was doing the same thing.

Rolling my eyes as she went to on to altercate, I kept my eyes on other things. Around me was thousands and thousands of trees that were hundreds and hundreds of feet tall. According to what my dad told me, we lived in a jungle. There were leopards, sizable insects, and brightly colored birds.

In fact, my dad had just taken me up near the canopies of the trees to see all the aviary life. He jumped branch from branch until we were all the way to the top and I could see miles around me.

"Cool, huh?" he had asked me, holding me in his lap as if I were still a young child.

I nodded, but my mind was somewhere else at the time. Contemplating everything.

"I see you've got your head in the clouds today, kiddo," he joked lightly while I smiled at his lame joke.

"How come you and mom are so strong and so fast and I'm not?" I questioned him, very interested in how he would answer it.

"You know that, hun. Mom explained to you what we are. We're what people call vampires and we like to suck blood. Lots of blood," he grinned as he pretended to bite in to my neck. I playfully swatted at his face.

"Well, I get that. But mom explained to me what genetics are. If you both are vampires, shouldn't I be one too? And how come I have dark skin when both of my parents have pale skin? Why are my eyes a dirty brown and you both have strong and yellow irises?" Of course I had asked these questions the moment I turned ten years old and I was starting to wonder why we lived in a jungle and away from civilization. Momma taught me all about the other places in the world but, how come we didn't visit them?

Out of nowhere dad tensed around me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders tightly. His muscles were flexed around me and I tried to turn around to see the expression on his face. But, before I knew it, he had swung me onto his back and was now jumping branch by branch down to the ground faster than ever.

"Dad!" His rushing was scaring me. "Is something wrong?" My head started to spin and I nearly fainted as he took off faster than he normally would with me.

He didn't answer me. I'm not sure I would have heard him anyways... with the way my head was reeling. It took us a lot less longer to get home than it should have. My head felt better as we got closer.

I turned my head back and forth, now in the present time. At first, when my mom had started to lecture me, I had forgotten about my dad being worried and rushing home so quick.

"Rose!" Dad cut her off in between her criticizing my messed up hair and my muddy white shoes. "Some one's here." He said through his teeth.

Abruptly, my mom stopped and grabbed me off his back and in her arms. "I'll take her inside. Go talk to them... they're probably just hunting in the area. I don't want them anywhere near her," she spoke as if I weren't right in front of her and I felt myself start to cling onto her arms as she dragged me in our house.

Once we got in, she didn't seem to care that I tracked mud on the floor as she led me to the basement. She held me close to her while slowly swaying me. "Now, you must be quiet, Amber," she whispered up at me.

It was actually just two weeks ago when I finally outgrew my mother. Now I was two inches taller than her, and only three inches shorter than dad. It kind of freaked me out, since I was only a teenager.

It felt like forever, my mom and I standing there, waiting for something to happen. I was beginning to worry about dad. Would he be all right?

After ten minutes my nose picked up the husky scent of my father along with two others that smelled sweet. Since when had I been able to sense smells from afar? Maybe I was becoming a vampire. It could happen.

I looked down as my mom sighed. "Alice," she said, sweetly, and ran out of the house. I followed behind her at a slower pace. When I reached the back doors I saw my parents along with the two others I had sniffed out.

One, the female, was very short. She had small hands and small feet and small everything. Her dark hair was almost to her shoulders and spiky and she had the same color of eyes as my parents. The other was a male, he was about the same height as my father and he had honey colored hair.

"Oh, Alice!" My mom squealed, wrapping the little female into a tight hug. Meanwhile, the male and my father seemed to be wrestling on the ground, chuckling.

"Rose, we're glad you two are all right!" Alice's tinkling voice rejoiced. Her and mom let go of each other and she stared at me, slightly tilting her head. "Amber?" She inquired to me.

I nodded my head slowly. Surely, I would remember if I had met her before. I couldn't recall though.

My mom turned around to look at me and exhaled before yelling. "Amber! Change out of that dress and those shoes! You're filthy... we have company, you know."

"Yes, mom." I felt myself roll my eyes at her as I turned to head into the house. How could my mom worry about my outfit right now? I ran up to my room. But instead of getting dressed, I opened my window and stuck my head out. I could hear their conversation, though they were on the other side of the house.

"What possessed you two to come and find us?" My mom asked, playfully. She wasn't mad. I could imagine her standing there with her breathtaking smile.

"We're not exactly here on a happy note, Rosalie..." the unknown male's voice said.

I heard a small sigh. "We need you both to come back to Washington."

"You're all still living in Forks, Jasper?" My dad asked, very incredulous. I didn't know where Forks was, but I knew that Washington was a Northwestern state in the United States of America.

"No, we live about twenty miles south of La Push in Kalaloch. It's far enough from Forks that we're not fearing anyone will recognize us," the vampire male, named Jasper, said.

My mom growled. "Afraid to stray away from the mongrel, are they?"

"Rose! Jacob is part of our family now. In fact, Nessie and Jake live on their own now, in Oil City. That way Jake is close to the pack and Nessie is close to us. It's a great compromise."

This all sounded like it was in Latin to me. Nessie? Jacob? Pack? My parents must have had a real life before they had me.

There was a second of silence before another one spoke. Jasper. "Your daughter. She's confused," he stated. Uh-oh... maybe somehow they knew I was eavesdropping. I was about to close my window when I heard him say, "You haven't told her the truth, have you?" I froze. The truth?

"Emmett," my mom whispered sweetly, but I could still hear her. "Why don't you take these two for a tour around our part of the jungle? I smell a jaguar not to far off into the East."

Before I could close my window, my mom was in my room, glaring at me. "Amber! Eavesdropping is not polite."

Usually I would have felt shameful for doing such a thing, but I just glared back at her. "What aren't you telling me? Who are these people they speak of?"

Her face looked defeated. "Amber, please change into some nice clothes. I'll make you some dinner... your dad and I will explain when he gets back, all right?" She frowned and came over to me. She hugged me tightly and looked like she wanted to cry. I suddenly felt bad for being so hostile. But, before I could apologize, she was gone downstairs.

To make her happy I dressed in a yellow knee-length dress that I knew would please my mother. I had trouble zipping up the back alone but managed it. I pulled on some hosiery since I hadn't shaved my legs in a few days, then slips on white flats to match my white flower necklace. I looked in the mirror and sighed. My hair was thin and flat. No matter how many times mama had tried to curl it, it never even waved. This was another thing I worried about... both of my parents had curly hair, how come I didn't?

"Amber! Dinner!" Mom's voice startled me but I rushed down the stairs and into our formal dining room. I saw my parents along with Alice and Jasper sitting around the table. In front of my mom was a chicken Cordon Bleu, and I licked my lips before taking a seat. Mom handed me my dinner and I began to eat.

Nobody took their eye off me until I finished. It was very uncomfortable, to say the least.

"Now, sweetie?" My dad looked over at my mom. They both had very sad faces. What was so wrong?

My mom nodded and grabbed an envelope from Alice. "Amber, honey," she reached over and cradled my chin with her hand. "Your father and I have something very important to tell you-"

"Please don't be mad," my father interrupted. I hated seeing my dad's face made so serious.

"Back when you were very young... only a few months old, actually..." my mom said, obviously beating around the bush.

"We found you inside a car that had just been wrecked. Both of your..." My mom gulped. I sat there like a fool with my mouth wide open and my hands gripping the table.

"Biological parents," my dad continued for her. "Had died."

"What!" I screamed, not caring if I didn't mind my manners.

Mom starting rubbing her hand through my hair. "You're... adopted, sweetie."

I pried myself away from her hands and threw myself against the wall behind me. My anger was so great I felt I could explode. They weren't my real parents? Why didn't they tell me sooner! My real mom and dad were dead!

"Jasper!" I heard Alice scream, and everyone started to back away from me. I growled at them, meaninglessly, and screamed some more. What was wrong with me? What was wrong with this woman and man who lied to me and told me I was their own!

And then it happened. It was indescribable. Hear I was, one moment, sitting against the was furious. Then, I was on all fours covered in fur that was to the floor. I screamed, very scared, and it only came out as a howl.