A/N: Big apologies that you've had to wait so long for this chapter! But I was in hospital a few weeks back, having major spinal surgery, which went wrong. I'm okay now though! I know I said this was gonna be the last chapter, but this would have been probably the longest chapter in the history of long chapters, so there will be one more chapter after this!

By the way, I have met: Peter Facinelli, Kellan Lutz, Ashley Greene, Justin Chon and Christian Serratos! And what lovely people they are. Peter smells darn amazing btw.

Chapter 13 – Revelation

The return journey to Prudhoe Bay was completed in a deadly silence. No one had anything to say. I think that for the most part, we were still in shock. Misery hung in the air like an infectious disease; lethal and impossible to escape.

Occasionally, I would turn around to face my family, but all I found was my expression, mirrored in each and every one of their beautiful faces. I thought about Jacob, how he would be feeling, what was going through his mind. I could have just asked Jasper and Edward, but breaking the ongoing silence would have been like the breaking of ice across a frozen lake.

And it felt wrong, to pry into Jacob's head like that. He needed some alone time, I knew that, but it didn't stop me worrying. Nessie was still in pieces. She had never experienced a loss like this. The majority of her family were immortal, after all. She had lost her best friend. I imagined what it would be like for me to lose Alice, but I knew all too well because I thought I had lost her. Once I heard that Maria had her, I didn't expect Alice to come back. But Leah had saved her. Leah had saved us all...

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3 weeks later

"Mom, I'm seriously worried about Jacob." I heard Nessie's quiet footsteps as she entered the kitchen and sat down at the table, her head in her hands.

"Why? What's wrong Ness?" I knew my daughter inside out and something bad was definitely troubling her.

"Well, ever since, you know... in the graveyard," Three weeks had passed and yet none of us could still bring ourselves to talk aloud about it. "Jake's been hiding away in our room. Whenever I try and talk to him, he simply shrugs or answers with 'yes' or 'no'. Do you know he hasn't phased once since we came back?" I could see the concern and fear shimmering in her large brown eyes.

Then it clicked. I put two and two together and ended up with... "He's started aging again, hasn't he?"

The tears started trickling down Nessie's perfect face like glistening diamonds. "Yes," she whispered. "Oh Mom, what am I going to do? I won't lose Jake as well! If he goes, I go!"

"Nessie, please be reasonable. Jake isn't going anywhere. We just have to persuade him to phase. Besides, what about Seth, Quil and Embry? He's still the Alpha of his pack, you know. He can't abandon them. He just can't."

Jacob's POV

I don't want to talk to anyone. Ever. I might as well die. There's no point trying to be happy, carrying on as if everything perfect and normal. Normal, ha! What a joke. As if any of us would ever be classed as normal. We're all freaks. Stupid, hideous, disgusting freaks. Because of what we are, Leah is dead. Dead. And it's my entire fault. If I hadn't told her to stay behind, she'd still be here. Seth would still have a sister. Sue would still have a daughter. I felt sick. Sick and angry and...Confused.

I looked around, up at the sky just trying to break through the trees. Why couldn't I phase? Not that I particularly wanted to become a monster again, but I had to admit, I was worried. I could feel myself slowly aging again. And I can't leave Nessie. She is my entire world, probably the reason that I haven't topped myself yet.

Come on Jake! Phase already! Damn it! Whatever I was doing was clearly not working.

Jacob...

"Hello? Who's there? Look Quil, if that's you, please stop pissing around!"

Jacob...

There it is again. The ghostly voice. It's weird; I think I recognise it...

"Guys, this is so not funny! Just stop it!"

"Take a chill pill Jake." Embry, Quil and Brady appeared from the trees.

"What the hell was all that about?"

"What?" Embry looked confused.

"All the Jacob business!" I was getting tired of them playing the innocent act.

"Come again?"

"I was standing right here, on my own and someone was calling my name! Which one of you was it?"

"Um, Jake dude, are you okay? I mean, up top?"

"Are you questioning my sanity, Quil? And you haven't answered my question. Who was it?"

"Er, Jake, none of us called your name. We were in wolf form pretty much up to five seconds before we walked out from behind the trees. It wasn't us."

"But then who..." I gasped. I recognised the ghostly voice now. It couldn't be. This was insane. There was no way...

Emotion overwhelmed me and before I knew it I was racing through the forest on four legs. Relief swept over me as I realised that I had managed to phase again. But that still doesn't explain...