Jared blinked back a ray of light shining through his bedroom window. He gave an inward groan as he glanced over at his bedside table where a black clock sat facing him with the time in a bright red numbers.

Night had passed, morning went by while he was asleep and now it was the afternoon. He had made it through the night after all, slept through it as well. Slowly he sat up, testing his strength as he placed his feet on his wooden floor. He felt okay as far as feeling ill went. Not completely well though. He felt different in the inside. Almost alienated, as something had invaded his body somewhere deep inside of him. His muscles still quivered underneath his skin as if it were alive. Jared was not entirely sure how he developed those muscles so fast, though he did work out he cannot say that he actually worked out that much for these kind of results. He supposed it was like how some people could eat with out gaining weight while others had to watch everything they ate. Maybe that was how he was with muscle development; he hardly had to work at it.

He rubbed his right hand in his hair, messing up his just-out-of-bed style even more. With a deep sigh and another spasm of muscles twitching, Jared stood up and stretched his arms up in the air towards his ceiling. Jared smirked as his fingers glazed his high ceiling in his bedroom. Slowly he made his way towards his window, knowing his mother had already been in the room by the curtains hanging open. He jolted the window open smoothly and rested his arms against the windowsill as he looked out over the lawn. His room faced the dirt road, beyond that was a clear view of the forest, and beyond the forest was the sound of the ocean's wave smacking against the village grounds. A fog had rolled in sometime in the early mornings leaving everything wet. Now the fog was reaching up to an overcastting sky, tomorrow it would be back.

Jared turned from his window, rubbing the back of his neck. His parents are probably at his grandmother's small cottage helping her out with her weekend cleaning and yard grooming. Usually he would help as well but with the sudden illness catching him, it was better that he stayed away from his elderly grandmother.

Jared quickly showered and changed into a thin short sleeve shirt and into his jeans. He looked down at his feet more annoyed that once again another pair of jeans were too short. At first, he was amused and proud of his growth spurt. Secretly, every guy wanted to be taller then the other guy. This was not normal though, he knew that. These growth spurts seem to happen almost over night, more so in the past week then before. His muscles still jumped inside his skin as if they needed stretched so he thought that a good hike in the mountains might be what he needed. Surprisingly he did not feel weak from the fever of last night, which he was not completely sure the fever even went away. He still felt warm to his own touch. He grabbed a quick, large sandwich before leaving his house and heading into the woods.

Folks spoke about staying away from the forest because of Emily's attack with a grizzly but Jared felt the forest was calling to him. It was peaceful there. Besides, it was Washington and bears were extremely common and expected. One would just need to keep a sharp eye on their surroundings and know the signs.

Jared made his way up to an old trail that started to become over run with vines and roots. If he remembered correctly, the path should twist around the mountain's side before going southbound into a valley. That is where the river starts to turn wild, right before the rapids.

He could pick up the smell of the water and that confused him, as he was sure it was a few more miles until he reached the river. Still the smell was undeniable; he smelled the river as if he were only a few meters from its bank.

Jared felt eyes watching him and glanced behind his shoulder to scan the thick forest behind him. He titled his head and listen to the forest, to listen to the normal sounds. Then a twig broke then another and a flock of birds swam out from the trees and into the sky. Jared blinked back the ray of sunlight that filtered into the branches and spotted a form of a person staring back at him outlined by the sun.

"Are you heading for the river?" The tall figure came out of the tree lines and down the small slope, Jared stood in.

"Yeah, looks like it." Jared breathed easier on recognizing Sam's face.

Recently, Sam was the talk of the village. He had disappeared for a few weeks but no one knew where and Sam really didn't speak about it. He was supposed to be heading off to college, the elders were proud that another young tribe member was going off for educational purposes. After the disappearance, the leaders were speaking a different tune. They spoke how it was a better idea that Sam would remain inside the village. That caught a lot of the tribe's kids attention, after all the lectures about bettering themselves. To everyone else but the leaders, Sam acted strange. Though he seem to further himself from the community, he gave the impression that he was more apart of it then he had ever been.

Then, Emily and the bear attack happened. No one was sure how it happened but somehow Sam was there with her and that brought them together. Which would not have been a bad thing if it wasn't for the fact that Sam was planning a future with Leigh, Emily's second cousin.

"Are you heading in that direction too?" Jared asked of the older boy.

"Just to do some fishing, that's all." Sam gave a small grin as he tugged at his fishing pole. "What about you?"

Jared shook his head and started walking towards the river with Sam following him. "I just needed to breath." Jared gave a weak grin.

"Is there trouble at home?" Sam asked with a raise of his eyebrows. "Forget it, isn't any of my business."

"No, nothing to do with home." Jared bit his lower lip before adding, "Well not like that. I had not been feeling well and I felt trap being in my room all day. I just needed a break from the enclosure."

"Ah." Sam quickly ducked under a low branch. "My grandmother once said that fresh air makes a person breath better. Though, I don't think that applies to every case."

"No." Jared glanced at Sam's fishing gear. "You have two poles, is ah, Emily joining you?"

"Nope." Sam pushed the fishing pole into Jared's chest, "Just had a feeling to bring two."

Jared grinned at the old pole. "Can't grantee that I can catch anything so I hope you have other options for dinner. It's been awhile since I had been fishing." Jared pressed passed Sam on spotting the river's bend.

Sam stopped short with a frown as he watched Jared make it down a rocky incline and towards the river. The signs were all there, everything that he went through but never realised until he looked back on it. The elders were right when they told him about Jared's changes. There was no way Sam could let Jared go through this alone.