Disclaimer:

This world and most of the characters belong to Stephanie Meyers. My main character Cricket, is inspired by Tara Bray Smith's character Nix from her novel Betwixt.

Giving them the slip was harder than I thought it would be, but I did it. That Edward wouldn't leave me alone all afternoon and that strange girl, Alice, who practically wrestled me into neon pink silk pajamas, seemed to have a knack for popping up just when I was about to make my getaway. I wasn't sure how much Edward had told her or if he would wait for me to fall asleep before talking but I didn't allow myself to care.

I couldn't get rid of Nahuel either but I was surprised to find I didn't mind him as much. He was sweet, easy to talk to, and full of questions. He seemed to figure out pretty quickly which types of questions I wouldn't answer and he kept the conversation away from those. I didn't mind his staring anymore either. I finally put it together. Emmett's comment about Nahuel having a thing for strays plus the constant stream of questions multiplied by the number of times his eyes flicked down the length of my body when he thought I wasn't looking equals: Nahuel likes me.

Did I like him back? I didn't allow myself to answer that question. It didn't matter. Even if I did I could never have him. For starters I am to damn stubborn to ever allow myself to become a cliché girl meets boy rags to riches Cinderella story. Secondly, he might not be glowing now, but sooner or later everyone dies. I know this but I don't need to watch it unfold if I don't want to… Talk about heartache. Knowing someone you love is going to die and not being able to do anything about it.

So in order to get out I needed to find away around Edward. Meditation. I lay down in those nightmarish pjs and cleared my head of all thought. I made sure to position my body in a way that would be uncomfortable to sleep so I wouldn't go under by accident. When I finally moved I moved fast. I grabbed a set of my clothes in my arm and stuffed them under my shirt to keep them dry and ran, leaving my stuff behind. My bag. My money. My guitar. I would really miss my guitar.

I was halfway across the lawn when Alice spotted me. But thanks for small favors Charlie had gotten up, maybe to get a midnight snack or maybe to take a piss, and what could she say when he asked what she was doing up? "I'm trying to hold that homeless chick hostage because she can see people who are about to die…" The time it took her to come up with a convincing lie I was out in the trees and out of sight. I stripped and redressed as I walked through the woods thanking the heavy canopy above for keeping me from the worst of the rain.

I got to the highway and there was more good luck. An overworked truck driver in his rig was trying to brave the storm and make it to Seattle. He was kindhearted enough to make an exception on the no hitchhikers rule and allowed the bedraggled girl to ride with him. Another bonus: he didn't try to feel me up. He was normal. A picture of his wife and daughter on the dashboard. He asked me what the hell I was thinking wandering around in this weather. I worked up the fake tears said my mother lived in Seattle and was in the hospital and I was trying to make it home but the fates conspired against me yada yada yada…

It was a good lie. He dropped me off at the hospital.

I didn't bother heading to the squat where I stayed last time. I knew the schedule. They had probably moved on by now. Its like that a lot. They can stay in one area for a few weeks if they are careful but eventually they have to move or run the risk of getting raided.

Instead I sought out Fuller Hadley. Fuller was a dealer, and he wasn't about to lose track of potential clients. I found him in his usual haunt, sitting on a stoop of a building reading a newspaper. I walked right up to him not caring who saw.

His eyes flicked up and he appraised me silently. I waited. He folded the newspaper slowly and nodded to a space beside him. I sat down.

"You look like hell, Crick." He smirked at me. He and I weren't exactly best buds. I imagine he got satisfaction seeing I wasn't doing very well at the moment.

I eyed him too and my eyes widened with surprise as I caught the bulge in his windbreaker.

"Since when do you pack heat?" I asked, eyebrow raised.

"Dangerous times," He murmured shrugging.

"Where'd Ricky move to?" I asked jumping right to the point.

He snorted. "How the fuck should I know?"

I snorted too. "Don't bullshit me. I know your selling to Joanie and Skid."

"You know, somehow I doubt Skid is his real name?" He grinned.

I rolled my eyes.

"What do you care anyway, Crick? Last I heard, you were headin' up north."

"I came back after a run in with the Manson family. Now where'd Ricky move to?"

He smirked at me again the smartass.

"Damn it, Fuller, the location!"

"Twenty bucks and I'll sing it for you, babe." He held out a hand expectantly.

The no good, inbred, drug dealing, asinine, mother fucking hustler! How in the hell was it that he, of all people, wasn't glowing? How many people in this city must want him dead and what, none of them have the stones to attempt it? Has the world gone insane? Fuller has a long and inglorious future ahead of him, but those three relatively nice, if slightly freakish, people back in Forks are all going to die?

Fuller cleared his throat. "I don't have all fucking day. Pay up or take a walk."

Twenty bucks was all I had. I pulled it out of my sock, and held where he could see it but didn't offer to hand it to him.

"Where?" I asked.

He grinned victoriously and told me. I regretfully gave the twenty to him when all I really wanted to do was punch the scumbag in the face. I was now officially dirt poor.

I pulled my hair forward around my face and put my sweatshirt hood up. I cast my eyes downward and pocketed my hands. The universal look of "stay away". Nobody really took notice of me as I entered the warehouse which is exactly as I wanted it. I recognized most of the faces but Ricky's was the one I wanted and it was the one I couldn't find. I suppose I wasn't putting a lot of effort into the search though. Here there were plenty of lights and I hated looking at their faces.

I sat down against a wall and closed my eyes for a second…

I was staring into the pair of warm brown eyes that were staring into mine. His eyes were so hypnotizing… the depth of their sincerity, the brightness of their intelligence, and yet, there was a sad kind of glimmering hope in them. Like an orphan watching strangers sign the adoption papers… They held the promise of loneliness' end.

Nahuel.

His lips sprang to life, arching smoothly into a smile, breaking the trance.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"With me," He whispered.

"Where are we?" I repeated.

He didn't answer. He just smiled again. Smiled and stared.

I had the oddest urge. His skin just looked so soft… I longed to reach out and put my hand on his cheek, feel the softness for myself. What was I asking him? Did it matter?

I smiled back and his smile grew wider to reveal his glistening teeth. I froze. Not just teeth. Fangs. Fangs?

A pressure on my shoulder startled me awake and I lurched upright.

"Fucking fangs?!" I yelped slightly incoherent.

"Fangs?" A raspy male voice repeated.

My eyes snapped into focus.

I'd recognize those hideous dreadlocks anywhere.

"Ricky," I breathed, relaxing back against the wall.

"Fuck, Cricket, you're a mess." Ricky said sitting down beside me.

"So I've been told." I muttered. Like it really mattered that I was a mess. Everybody here was a mess.

"Did someone steal your shit?" He asked a little angrily.

It took me a second to figure out what he meant.

"No. I had to leave it behind."

He was silent for a moment.

"How'd you find us?"

"Fuller."

He snorted but with what emotion I couldn't tell. "Lowlife."

"I agree with you there, but he doesn't miss a trick."

"He's at least missed one." Ricky looked a little smug at this.

I lifted an eyebrow. Ricky was a bragger. Minimum encouragement barely necessary.

"He's been asking around about Dante's. It seems Fuller was left out of the loop this time around."

I snorted. "Dante's" was an annual underground rave. I had heard of it when I first arrived in Seattle, but seeing as this was my first time in this area I had never had the pleasure of attending. I had heard rumors though. Although drugs were a big part of the rave scene Dante's was supposedly clean. Drug dealers weren't on the list, not that they didn't occasionally find away in. The lack of drug dealers at the party meant little though, people still brought there own if they wanted to.

"Good thing too." I finally responded. "Did you know Fuller bought a piece?"

He snorted this time. "Good. Maybe the little shit'll shoot himself by accident and stop fucking up peoples lives…"

"Maybe…"

We sat in silence for a moment with our own thoughts. Ricky's good like that. He doesn't ask unnecessary questions. He knows better. Nor does he try fill up the silence with the "what's happening now" gossip. It doesn't pay to be a snitch.

"Ricky…" I called his attention back to the present, morbid curiosity getting the best of me.

"What?"

"Whatever happened to that goth… Jon?"

"Batman?"

I laughed. Jon had shaved his head bald and tattooed a huge bat on his scalp.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"He bounced after you did… Freaky shit though…"

"Why is that?"

"Well…" Ricky hesitated and then spoke quietly, "Joanie came back to base higher than a kite the night of the day he left…"

"And?"

"She said she was over on Lexus and Main… She said she saw the po-po there with a bag and tag team, if you know what I mean…"

My stomach plummeted about ten feet down.

"Don't get me wrong, she had enough of that poison in her system to make her think she could walk on water…"

"But?" I asked.

Ricky's darted around then he leaned in and whispered, "She was spoutin' off about how she caught a look at the stiff's face before they zipped 'im up… said it was Jon. Said she heard a cop talking to the M.E. about exsanguination… Do you know what it means? Basically to bleed to death."

"So Jon bled to death?" I whispered back.

"Well, that's sort of the freaky shit isn't it? My curiosity peaked, I circled back through the area real casual like to see if there could be any stock to her story… Well, one would think that bloodstains would be hard to get off the pavement, wouldn't you? But I'll be damned there wasn't a mark."

"You think she made it up? Hallucinated it maybe?"

"She was certainly high enough but… Well, where the fuck does someone like Joanie learn a word like exsanguination?"

He shook his head and receded back into silence.

Exsanguination. Ricky certainly had a point. Where would Joanie pick up that word. On a good day she was lucky if her words contained at least two syllables.

And Jon. What had happened to him? Don't get me wrong, I knew he didn't have much longer, that's why I left. He was a good guy all things considered. Sure he stole, who the fuck living this life didn't? But most of that money was sent home to his son. I didn't want to watch a good guy die so I ran like the coward I am. But was it believable that Joanie saw him being taken away after being… exsanguinated? No.

But then again, who am I to say what's believable. I see death. Edward Cullen reads minds. I just had a dream about--

"Narc!" Someone shouted.

Ricky and I leapt to our feet ready to flee the scene with the rest of the vagrants who were scrambling about. But before we could bail I caught sight of the "narc" in question.

"False alarm!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "False alarm! He's not a narc!"

The mad dash stopped and I now had more attention on me than I would have liked.

I narrowed my eyes.

Nahuel glanced around a little confusedly and shrugged. Then he stalked slowly toward me, a soft smile on his face, a smile that didn't reach his eyes. How the fuck did he find me?

"Cricket," he said.

"Nahuel," I snapped.

"You know him?" Ricky interfered.

I glanced at him. He was not looking happy.

"He isn't a narc, he's just an idiot." I told Ricky and returned my gaze to Nahuel. "How'd you find me and what do you want?"

"I tracked you. You left an easy trail. As far as what I want, I think you know."

Yes. I suppose I did know. Edward blabbed as I knew he would. He knew that three of his family were doomed to die. I knew that they wanted me to fix it. There would be no fixing it. It was what it was.

"They wanted to drag you back. I told them I could convince you to come with me."

I snorted. "Well, that was a stupid thing to tell them wasn't it?"

Ricky cleared his throat. "As interesting as this is… You broke the rules, Cricket."

"What?"

"You were followed. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."

"What!" I turned my attention back to Nahuel. "You got me kicked out?!"

"I won't apologize. Its more incentive for you to come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!"

He stared at me quietly measuring my expression. Then he smirked as a thought occurred to him.

"Fine," he said softly, "I'll just go with you."

What did he mean by that? "What does that mean?"

"Well, I just got you kicked out of your, um…" his eyes flicked around the unit as he searched for a word, "…home. I am certainly not going to let you wander the streets alone, you could get hurt."

"You are not coming anywhere with me. I gave you the slip once I can do it again."

"Ah, but I found you once I can do it again. And again. And again."

"I don't need you, I can handle myself."

"You needed me the other night, or was that your idea of handling yourself?"

I flinched at the memory but took a step toward him.

"You listen here--" I began but he cut me off.

"No, you listen. You can come with me and help us figure this thing out, in which case you will be free to go, or you can continue doing… well, whatever it is you do, and I will join you in your, um, ventures…"

I wanted to hit him. Hard. He was being cocky and I didn't like it. Where was the sweet, curious, foreigner who just wanted to get to know me? The worst part was there was nothing but smug certainty on his face. He wasn't challenging me, it was like there was no challenge. He meant what he said. He wasn't leaving me alone unless I went with him. I wasn't going with him.

A plan started formulating in my brain. It was incomplete but pleasing enough. I let a smile drift over my face and I grinned at Nahuel. His smirk slid off and he stared at me suspiciously. So, I might not be able to ditch him. But I sure is hell can make him regret his decision to stick to me.

A/N:

Is it really possibe to fool Alice and Edward with meditation? I dont know but i needed Cricket to escpae for the progression of the story. Don't hate.