I dart through the trees, holding one of the two baseball bats. We run for less than five minutes, then stop in the middle of a huge clearing, surrounded by forest on all sides. Carlisle runs out and marks the bases, and the rest of us toss the ball to each other or swing the bats, or just go for a run. Within minutes we're ready to pick teams, and Emmett and Alice go up as captains.
"Violet," Alice says confidently.
"Edward," Emmett says with a smirk.
"Rosalie," Alice says after a moment of thought.
"Jasper," Emmett says immediately, countering her logic.
"Esme," Alice says.
"Bella," Emmett says, smirking at Alice's hurt expression.
"Carlisle," Alice says after thinking for second.
"Looks like I got you Nessie!" Emmett yells, swinging Renesmee up into a bear hug. She giggles and yells at him playfully.
"Put me down Emmett! Put me down!"
He puts her down and she punches his arm, making us all laugh. Emmett and Alice decide that Alice's team will bat first, so Emmett's team spreads out around the clearing. Carlisle steps up to bat first as the thunder begins. Jasper's pitching, and Renesmee's catcher. The ball flies from Jasper's hand, and I understand the need for thunder as it connects with Carlisle's bat. It sails into the trees and Edward darts after it. Within seconds Carlisle has reached third base and the ball is in Renesmee's hand. She tosses it back to Jasper, and Esme steps us to bat. We continue like this until it's my turn. It's loaded bases and I'm the last batter. As I step up, Emmett tries to put me off my game, but I ignore him and just raise my bat. Jasper pitches, and I miss, the ball smacking into Renesmee's hand. It happens again, and Emmett laughs.
"I thought you said you could play ball!" he laughs.
Jasper pitches once more, and I swing as hard as I can. This time I feel the satisfying connection of bat and ball, and the ball soars into the trees at an alarming pace. I drop the bat and run as fast as I can around the bases. I see the ball flying back over the pitcher's mound as I'm just passing third base. I start running faster, but Renesmee has the ball in her hand and a grin on her face. I'm about to reach her when I drop to the ground and slide. She isn't expecting this, and I go right under her and Esme calls it safe. The teams switch, and I go centre outfield. Emmett's the first batter, and Alice is pitching and Esme's catching. Alice flicks the ball at Emmett, and the boom that reaches my ears is astronomical. It races into the trees, and I follow. It's still in the air when I catch sight of it again, and I leap into the air after it. I feel it in my hand and turn in midair and throw it as hard as I can back into the clearing. I listen for the cry and hear it after a moment, and grin when I hear that Emmett's out. I start running back to the others, and Edward laughs. Of course. He knows exactly what I did, because he heard all my thoughts. I guess it's goodbye privacy.
As I enter the clearing, the laughing stops, and everyone looks to Alice. She's looking blankly at nothing, and Edward has the same look on his face. Alice looks up suddenly, and I'm confused until Rosalie speaks.
"Alice, what do you see?" she says, sounding worried.
"That's the thing Rose," she says. "I don't see anything.
"Renesmee?" Carlisle asks.
"No, I don't think it's her. Can you hear anything?"
Edward concentrates and looks up, confusion written all over his face.
"I can hear the wolves. But what would they want with us?"
Everyone looks at me, and I instinctively take a step back.
"It's no use, they already know we're here Esme," Edward says sadly. He must be answering one of her thoughts.
"Then all we can do is face them," Jasper says in a hard voice.
"They won't touch her," Emmett says in the same hard voice as Jasper.
"What's going on?" I say, almost yelling in frustration.
"We need to keep her out of this Carlisle," Edward says seriously.
Carlisle nods slowly. "How far away are they?"
"Less than a minute," Edward says flatly.
The boys run and pack up the gear before the wolves arrive. I still don't know what they're talking about though.
"They've phased. They're in their human forms. They've brought everyone," Edward says.
I still don't know what he means, but when everyone's back, they all stand in a tight half circle in front of me, even Renesmee. As one, they shift into a slight crouch, and I finally see what they've been talking about. But I smell them before I see them; almost twenty teenage boys, and one girl, step into the clearing. They're all tall and muscular, with tanned skin and dark hair, and the boys are only wearing shorts, the girl wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts, making the tattoos on their arms visible. They fan out into a line and seem to assess our position. One of them catches my eye and I gasp in shock, because I know his face. He's the boy that tried to kill me that night. As I look along the line I see a few other faces that I recognise from then, and Edward slowly turns to look at me. I simply nod, knowing that he knows too. I lock eyes with the one that cut me, and he meets my gaze with a look of incredulity. Clearly he thought I was dead. Edward nods again. I'm about to run at him when I find myself flanked by Alice on my right and Rosalie on my left, with their hands wrapped tightly around my upper arms. The biggest of the teenage boys raises an eyebrow at this. But he wasn't there that night. He still glares at me though.
"We thought something was out of place," he says in a deep voice.
"Jacob," Bella says quietly, "you're Alpha, you let it happen to me when I was dying, what's the difference with her?"
"How can I tell she was dying Bella?" he yells.
"If you're their Alpha," I say quietly, unsure exactly what I'm doing, "then you should know exactly why I'm like this."
"And what makes you say that, bloodsucker?" Jacob says in a dangerous voice.
"Because one of your pack tried to kill her," Edward says in an equally dangerous voice.
"They would never do such a thing," he spits.
"Well Paul did," Edward says angrily.
Paul takes a tiny step back, but it's enough for everyone to notice.
"Paul?" Jacob says in confusion.
Paul lowers his head in shame, and then speaks.
"I had reason to," is all he says, shrugging.
I wrench myself out of Alice and Rosalie's grip and march towards him.
"You attacked me!" I yell. "You punched me, and then you stabbed me and left me for dead!"
"You cut my face!" he yells, and starts quivering like he did before, but this time instead of back away from him, I step towards him.
"It was hardly a scratch!" I yell, stepping forwards again. "My stomach was nearly on the sidewalk!" I take another step, and by this time I'm right in front of him. "You tried to kill me!" I shove him, hard, trying to control my temper and not kill him.
This time he's the one to step back. He's shaking more violently than before, but I stand my ground. I notice the air shimmering slightly around him, and wonder what's happening.
"Violet, get back," Edward says slowly. The intensity of his voice convinces me to listen.
I slowly walk backwards, never taking my eyes off Paul. I don't go back behind the others though, I stand in the front, not wanting them to think that I'm weak. The boys from the other night crowd around him and try to calm him down. He slowly stops shaking and returns to normal.
"Paul," Jacob says calmly. Paul looks at him with an indifferent expression on his face. "You attacked her?"
"Yes," Paul says quietly.
"Were you alone?"
"No," he says, looking at the boys around him.
"Well we'll deal with that later," Jacob says impatiently. "Right now, we have to deal with what we came here to do." He glares at me pointedly and I back away to Alice and Rosalie again.
"And what was it that you came here to do Jacob?" Carlisle says calmly.
"We came here do deal with the newborn," he says stonily.
"Jake, no," Bella pleads. "She's only a kid!"
"Kid or not, we agreed that you wouldn't create another one, and we wouldn't bother you."
"We had no choice Jake!" Bella pleads again. "Please, let her be!"
"You caused this, Dog," Rosalie says in disgust, "so leave her alone."
"How did I cause this?" he yells.
"Because you couldn't control your pack," she retorts.
Jacob doesn't say anything for a moment, just glares coldly at her, and Esme takes the opportunity to speak.
"Please Jacob, we gave you food, and clothes. At least let us do this. We would have asked you, but we didn't have time. We were just trying to save an innocent life."
"Which one of you did it?" he says after a moment of thought.
"I did," Alice says in her tinkling voice.
Jacob looks at her for a moment before responding. "You changed her?"
"Yes."
"After what you did for us," he says after a minute of deliberation, "I guess you can have this one. But only this time. You won't can't it again."
"Thankyou Jacob," Carlisle says earnestly, holding out his hand. Jacob takes it, then turns back to the pack.
"Let's go," he says in a booming voice.
They all turn and walk back into the trees, leaving me wondering what all the fuss was about. Edward seems to have read my thoughts and calls out to Jacob.
"Jacob," he says, "Violet still doesn't know what you are."
I hear rustling, then gasp as I take in the sight that stands before me. Twenty horse-sized wolves have loped into the clearing and are now standing where before there were humans.
"Shapeshifters," Carlisle says. "When there is a presence of vampires, some Quileute boys turn into wolves. Leah is the only girl they've ever had."
A growl comes from a grey wolf, and I can only assume that it's Leah. Edward nods, answering my mental question.
"Thankyou Jacob," Edward says, "you can go now."
The biggest wolf, a rusty brown coloured one, dips his head as if he's nodding, and the wolves turn and lope back into the trees.
"Let's go home," Carlisle says. "I'm sure we've had enough drama for one day."
Everyone nods and grabs whatever gear they brought with them, then we all run back into the trees.
But we don't see the wolves again.