Chapter four
I took a deep breath, gripped Jake's scorching hand tighter and jumped.
Adrenalin is more powerful than I thought. It's the sort of feeling that drives away every other emotion, like fire burning and destroying everything in its path. I didn't know what I feel as I dropped from the plane. It felt as though my body was falling down, but my insides were moving up in me. By far, this was way more thrilling than Cliff Diving.
We were further above the ground than I expected. The vicious cold wind blew through my hair and bit at my exposed skin.
"I'm going to let go of you," yelled Jake, his warm hand still burning mine.
"Why?" I yelled back, terrified. As thrilling as this was, he could NOT leave me. Not now. What if something happened?
"I'm heavier than you are," he replied, his fingers starting to loosen from my tight grip. "If I land before you do, I'll be able to catch you reach the ground."
"But-" I started to protest, but it was too late.
Jake let go of me and dropped like a stone, way faster than I did.
"JAKE!" I tried to scream, but my voice was drowned by the howling wind. The air rushed in a filled my lungs, leaving my throat dry.
Please don't let me die please don't let me die…
Land was getting nearer and nearer. I could see three snow white figures, which stood out quite brightly in the dark of the night, on the ground; Carlisle, Emmet and Dad. But where was Jake?
He couldn't have hurt himself or anything… could he?
"He is right here," yelled Dad, his voice urgent. "He is going to catch you."
"Yeah," replied Jacob. The sound of his voice sent a wave of relief through my body. "Umm… Just, uh, stay where you are," he added.
"Well, duh. Where else is she supposed to go?" asked Emmet amused.
I heard a huge banging noise, almost like thunder, like another round of Cullen baseball.
Four more white figures appeared on the ground; Mum, Rose, Alice and Jasper had gracefully landed. I wish I was as perfect as them. As perfect as my vampire family and my Jake. My Jake, who almost kissed me on the beach, in Africa. I closed my eyes and let my dream take over my thoughts…
Suddenly all the cold air was gone and my body felt hot. Little flame licked my skin where the wind had just been biting. It took me a while to realize I had just reached the ground, now safely in Jake's arms.
"She is a bit disorientated," murmured dad's voice, "but otherwise she is fine."
"It's alright sweetie," said mum, her cold hand rubbing my arm.
"You think we will be able to leave soon?" asked Jasper, "If we run…"
"Nessie is drained out," cut across Jacob, "I don't think she will be able to run any further this evening. We're going to have find somewhere to rest. For the evening at least."
Leave? Leave where? What on earth where they talking about?
"We're still in Botswana, Ness," answered Dad, "We need to get to South Africa this evening. But if you're not feeling well, we can do it early tomorrow mor-"
"I'm fine Dad," I said, getting out of Jake's arms, using his broad shoulders to steady me. "If we need to leave this evening, we will leave this evening."
I didn't want to cause any unnecessary delays.
"You're not causing and unnecessary delays, honey," replied Dad. "If you're not feeling up to-"
"I'm fine," I repeated.
"She is awake enough," said Uncle Jasper, "And Jacob too. I think we will make it."
I looked around to see where the others were. Rose and Emmet were looking for something in one of the bags; my grandparents were talking to each other, but a bit too low for me to hear and Alice a bit away from us, her face scrunched up in concentration again. Searching for our future, no doubt.
I looked back at Jake who had his eyes on me the whole time, filled with concern.
"Are you sure you're ready to run?" he asked.
Instead of saying anything, I sent him an image in response. It was of our little race earlier in the day. Then I sent him an image of him snoring on the couch a few days ago.
"I think you're the one who needs the sleep," I teased, "you're just scared I'll beat you again if we race."
"You're on," he shot back, my favourite wolfish grin creeping back onto his face.
I grinned back and gave him a reassuring hug. He returned it with a bear hug. I loved the feel of his strong arms around me, more now than before. He was my save harbour, my protector, my Jacob. I thought back to my dream on the plane…
"Well, if you're ready to leave," interrupted Dad, "then we'd better get going."
I shot Dad an annoyed look. Honestly, it was just a dream!
"I'll be back now," whispered Jake in my ear as he let go of me. A shiver ran down my spine as his breath tickled my skin.
Jasper smiled at me when Jake left, knowing my current feeling. Urgh, it's definitely not a good thing to have emotion feeling uncle around when you're a teenager with raging hormones.
"Hey Edward," called Emmet, "Think fast!" He tossed two bags in our direction. "You too, Jazz." More bags came our way. "Your wife's fault we've got this extra baggage," he chuckled.
"Well, I can't see much," sighed Alice, ignoring Emmet's comment, "But it looks like we'll be reaching the border in an hour and a half at the most. And we will be travelling-"
"South, yes," said Carlisle. "So just follow us. We'll be in front to make sure everyone reaches the right area of the border. We'll be heading towards the Limpopo border, so we'll have to turn east at some stage."
"But… What if we get lost?" I asked. Okay, it was a stupid question, I know, but what if I lost sight of them? Or if I started to run too slow? The rest of my family was faster than me, even Jacob.
Emmet and Jasper hooted with laughter. Aunt Rose whacked them both across the head, whilst Alice chuckled. Dad, Mum and my grandparents looked at me with concern.
"You won't get lost," soothed Mum.
"Ness, if you're not up to this," repeated Dad, "if you don't feel awake enough…"
I'm fine Dad.
"Just use your senses, Renesmee," advised Esme. "You will be able to find us if you get lost – which I highly doubt you will."
Right, I'm a half human half vampire, remember? These stupid teenage, human hormones were interfering with my feelings and thinking. I was being stupid. Argh.
"Yes, Jasper, that seems to be the case," said Dad arbitrarily.
Jasper nodded, not saying anything. A bark interrupted the awkward silence; Jake had come back.
"Jacob wants to know if we're going to leave or not?" translated Dad. "Yes, we are. Ness was just concerned about something."
Jake walked over to me and licked me chin to forehead. He then yelped with laughter as I wiped my face and got into the "race" position. The rest of my family laughed as they got into a line beside Jake.
I took mine on the other side of him.
"Three… Two… One… Half… one quarter…-"
"Stop getting technical! Let's go already!" argued Emmet.
"GO!"
