Based on the characters created by Stephanie Meyer, in her Twilight Saga series of books

HOME BY TWILIGHT

CHAPTER TWO

Forks airport was small. Almost too small for the jet that waited for Bella and her family. All together there were ten of them. A large limo had come to pick them up from Carlisle Cullen's family home. The windows were dark, even the partition between the driver and the passenger section was a solid black. The drive to the airport was done in near silence. Carlisle used his cell phone to finalize the arrangements he had made for his coverage at the hospital. He was able to get 2-weeks off. When they reached the airport, Jacob was the first to break the silence.

"I don't know 'bout this," he eyed the jet suspiciously. "Looks a bit small, don't it?"

"Depends on how long the trip is," Bella responded.

The sun had just set, as they began to board the plane. The interior was larger than Bella expected. A tall slim man in white shirt, jeans and cowboy boots was inside, and helped them get organized and take their seats.

"Flight will take about 2 hours. Relax and enjoy," and he disappeared into the flight cabin.

"No reaction at all!" Emmett said quietly, as he smiled and grabbed Rosalie's hand and gave it a kiss.

Edward smiled at Emmett's ability to turn anything into an exciting adventure for him and Rosalie. But still, Edward was puzzled by the pilots reaction as well. "He knows we're different," he told the others, "but I can't get a full read on him. He just seems to expect the unusual."

"Two hours in this soup can?" Jacob was loud and annoyed.

Renesmee jumped out of her seat, next to her mother, and went to join Jacob.

"Shhh," she hushed him. "I'll be here with you," and she placed her palm against his cheek. Jacob sat back and enjoyed the images, colored by her emotions, that she shared with him.

"I'll never get tired of this," he sighed and smiled.

Renesmee giggled and relaxed next to her Jacob, while her father gave a low, short growl.

"I'll never get use to that," he told Bella, as she smiled at his annoyance. He remembered Bella facing the Volturi to save him. Bella was the bravest, most death defying human he had ever met. "To much like her mother," and he sat back as the plane taxied for a short distance. The engines roared loudly before the plane lurched forward and took flight.

"Oh hell!" Jacob squeezed out between clenched teeth. Renesmee grabbed his face tighter and calmed him.

"Perhaps, now that we are all committed to this trip," Carlisle began, "we should discuss some of the problems that may be involved in this venture."

"I got nothing," Alice started. "I haven't seen any of this. I even tried this morning. Nothing."

"If it comes to it," Jasper spoke up next, "I can fly this plane."

Carlisle's mouth lifted slightly on one side,"I doubt that will be necessary."

"I don't think any of you should have come," Bella was calm and composed. "There was no reason for all of you to put yourselves into danger. We don't know where we're going. We don't know who will be there. Alice can't see anything. None of which is a good sign. Now we have a pilot that can hide his thoughts from Edward. Someone please tell me, who would think nothing of seeing eight very pale people, one overly mature two-year old, and an Indian the size of this plane's wingspan, board their plane and say nothing but 'welcome'"

Edward reached for Bella's hand and did what he could to comfort her. "We take care of our own," he smiled at her. "I would never have let you do this alone."

"You bet, Emmett sounded excited."There just might be a fight coming. No way we let you do that alone." he smiled and winked at Bella. "Not without me, anyway."

Rosalie rolled her eyes at Emmett's enthusiasm and smiled. "I don't care what the rest of you do," Rose was always serious, "I'll see that Renesmee is safe." She glanced back at Jacob, who had given her a dirty look. "Jacob and I will," she corrected.

They finished the flight in silence, at least until the plane began to descend.

"Shitshitshitshit..." was Jacobs new mantra.

"Look at me" Renesmee demanded of him. Jacob opened his eyes, and for a while found himself lost in her large golden eyes. At least long enough for the plane to touch down.

"The landing seemed odd" Esme commented to Carlisle.

"I've had to get use to using small airfields," the pilot was standing at the plane door. He opened it and assisted the Cullens with their luggage. "There's a van on the side of the building," and he pointed to the hanger they had taxied up to.

It was closer to dark than twilight, as they headed for the van. Bella noticed some workers far to her left. "They seem to be working awfully hard not to notice us," she whispered to Edward, who had already spotted them.

"They're afraid."

"Of us?"

"Of the plane" Edward responded with a tinge of curiosity in his voice. "Of anything that comes out of it."

Emmett and Jasper loaded the luggage into the back of the van, while the others got in. Jacob walked around the van, sniffing here and there, for any sign of where, or who might have been near it. The pilot of the plane soon arrived and got behind the wheel. Jacob got into the passenger seat, next to the driver. For just a moment Edward and Jacob exchanged looks, and Edward nodded in assent.

"Well, for what it's worth,... Welcome to Wells, Nevada. We got about 40 miles left to go, so sit back and relax. You're almost there," he announced with a broad smile.

"Almost where?" Bella asked.

"I wasn't suppose to say until after we landed, just in case you didn't believe me. We're headed for a property a few miles into the mountains outside of Deeth."

"Deeth?" Jacob gave a small chuckle.

"Yeeeah, she said you might react something like that. Deeth is an old ghost town just over 20 miles from here. They say that it use to be called Death, 'cause so many people died from lack of water, tramping around in the desert, 'round here. We'll try to avoid Deeth. Kind of a round-a-bout way to get to the house, but the damn place is full of werewolves these days."

Every head, in unison, swung toward the driver, in disbelief.

"Werewolves?" Carlisle's calm demeanor allowed him the best chance to question the driver, without showing the wrong reaction. "You don't really believe in werewolves do you?" he smiled at the driver, so he could see it in his rear view mirror.

The driver looked up at his mirror, shook his head, and gave Carlisle a broad smile, then turned back to concentrate on the dark road. The broad easy smile continued. Carlisle glanced at Edward, but he only shrugged his shoulders and watched Bella's reflection in the window.

"Hey," Jacob began. "You got a name?"

"I'm Bill," he smiled. "When the boss lady gets mad, she calls me William the first. I do the flying and driving. You'll meet Tony when we get there. Boss never gets mad at him. He takes care of the animals. and her. Use to be a vet, I guess. His wife, we all call her Connie, came from the slums of Mexico City. She cooks, and man can she cook! She keeps house too. Don't cross her though. She's mean to anyone that tries to hurt the boss. Her and Tony got a girl. Nita is ...oh... 12 now I think. Smart kid. Cute as a button. Got a mean streak like her mother. You just don't see it as much." The driver turned off the interstate and headed cross-country. "Hang on," he told his passengers. "From here on out, it gets pretty rough."

The rest of the trip, the last 15 miles, took longer than the 25 before. The van climbed at a fairly steady rate, as they drove on into the mountains southeast of Deeth. When the van finally stopped, Bella was grateful for the reprieve. Jacob had been holding on to the dash so tightly that he had left finger indentations in it.

As they began to unload the van, Tony came running up to Bill. The two of them stepped away from the group, then Bill began to run for a long, garage type structure with several large bay doors. In less that a minute, he had opened one of the bay doors and drove off in a jeep, fast.

"Is something wrong?" Carlisle asked Tony.

"Bad timing," he responded. Tony grabbed a couple suitcases and headed for the house. "Please," he motioned for the others to follow him. "Let's get inside."

Once inside, Connie took over. She helped Alice separate the luggage, and showed everyone to there rooms.

"When you are ready, I will explain something..." she seemed at a loss for words.

"Orders?" Edward helped.

"Yes," she smiled. "The Lady, she wishes you to be comfortable. She has orders."

"Thank you," Edward waited for her to leave, then closed the door. After he and Bella had put some things away, they met the others in Carlisle and Esme's room.

"I can't get a read on any of these people," Edward was getting upset by his seeming loss of ability. "I can read that they are there. I get an emotion every now and then, but nothing solid."

"That's why we are here," came a small voice from the direction of the door.

Everyone turned to see the tall slim figure of a girl enter the room.

"I'm Juanita, but they all call me Nita." She also had a big smile on her face. Her eyes searched the crowd until they found Renesmee. "You're the granddaughter," Nita approached her slowly. "If you want, we can go do something until the others are done. We can't go outside alone. Not even you. Not until we find out what happened to the Lady."

"We can be friends?" Renesmee asked.

"Absolutely" Nita's excitement was evident.

"Wait," Bella started. "What did you mean when you came in."

"The Lady likes to come home to a quiet house. Everyone here has a natural ability to shield their thoughts."

Edward looked relieved. "And the "Lady" not being here?"

"There was some problem down toward Tent Mountain. Anyway the Lady took off in that direction. That was about four hours ago. Dad thought he heard a rifle shot about an hour ago. The Lady has not come back. Bill's a finder. He'll bring her in. Can Renesmee come to my room? She can look around while I finish my physics homework. I have almost the highest room in the house," she whispered to Renesmee.

Renesmee looked to her parents. Bella nodded and the two girls took off.

"Guess it's time," Edward listened to the response of the others, and the family went down the stairs together.

Connie was busying herself by dusting clean tables and straightening decorations as the Cullen's arrived in the large room. A fire was going in the fireplace and seating had been arranged for everyone. After they had all sat down, Connie produced a note from her apron pocket.

"The Lady wishes you welcome. She says to say that there is a troublesome mountain lion to the north. Between here and Chimney Rock. There may be more than one. She suggests that you keep your hunting to the north and east, at least until she gets this werewolf situation under control. Black bears are mostly to the south and at a higher elevation. She does not feel that you are interested, but small game and several spe...spe... kinds of sheep and deer are close to here." Connie had become flustered at her inability to pronounce the word on the paper, but she continued anyway. "You are NOT to harm any horse. The Lady says that the wolf should be especially careful so as not to be shot for a Deeth werewolf." Connie took a deep breath and smiled at her presentation. She pointed to the map on the wall to the right of the fireplace. It was a huge, textured map. "The blue areas are the property of the Lady. The red are danger zones; hikers, campers or werewolves roam these areas the most. The green are prime hunting grounds."

Emmett got up to study the map closer. "I thought this was all like some sort of tourist area?"

"It is the property of the Lady!" Connie held her head high as she said this.

"Why do you all call her "the Lady"," Bella took a step toward Connie.

"You are the prin..."

"Constance Maria!" Tony reprimanded is wife, a he entered the house.

"It is for her to tell you who she is. Until that time, she is the Lady."

"But you say it with such reverence," Edward was curious about this woman that commanded such respect and devotion.

"You will know," was all Connie had time to say, before the sound of a running horse brought fear to her eyes. " He is alone!" she yelled as she ran for the door.