a/n- sorry this took so long. My classes have been taking over my soul, and I myself have been heartbroken that Kherrington got voted off of So You Think You Can Dance. This is the last of the exposition chapters, soon all of the drama will begin. Please read and review!

Starsong

Chapter 3

After driving a full day of driving, Nory and I decided to rest in Chicago overnight. The lights of the city were beautiful; either that or I was a lot more tired than I thought I was. After driving upwards of twelve hours, one tends to get a little dazed.

I walked into the motel room we rented for the night, and Nory was sitting on her bed with the laptop sitting in front of her. Walking over, I asked to check my email considering I was waiting to hear back from the conservation society.

"Wait," she said, "You mean to tell me you aren't sure yet where in Alaska we're going?" Nory raised an eyebrow at me, "Bree, for all you know we could end up at the North Pole!"

I tried to calm her down, saying that the chances of that were highly unlikely. I opened my email and surely enough there was an inbox message from the conservation society. "Welcome to Alaska… blah blah blah…" I read aloud, scrolling through it, "We have stationed you in the city of Gustavus." I paused, looking up with a smile, "Located in southeastern Alaska, right on Glacier Bay National Park." I read the rest in my head, basically telling me about what I would be doing, and that they looked forward to meeting me.

Sighing as I shut down the computer, I laid back on the bed, and broke Fred free from his camouflaged kitty carrier.

"That's a relief." Nory said, "I didn't want to have to ship you out of an ice block every morning."

"Why must you always point out the fact that I will freeze? I'm not that bad!" I said, pulling a blanket over my body.

Nory gave me a look, "Bree, this room is 68 degrees."

"There's a draft!" I defended myself, focusing my attention on Fred. I snuggled up with him, suddenly feeling very much at ease in this alien city. Nory stretched and turned off the lights, knowing we had another long day ahead of us tomorrow.

The moon was high in the sky as I let the rays bathe me. I stripped off my shirt and laid in the grass, for once letting myself calm in the middle of these foreign woods. Where was I? North somewhere… Canada? Probably. Stretching my limbs, I felt my mind begin to wander. Running free, no boundaries, Bella… shit. No, get over her. She didn't choose you. She chose that… creature. Get away. Far away from Forks, LaPush, the pack. They didn't need me.

After another day and a half of driving, I came to the conclusion that I hate driving. The freedom of the open road before you in enthralling, yes, but the knowledge that you are on a journey and it could roughly take eight years to get to your destination is enough to make one turn to heavy drugs. I looked over to Nory sleeping in the passenger seat and Fred the Cat sleeping in his kitty carrier. Sleep. If only. A much as I enjoy my cat naps, I tended to have unusual sleep patterns when it came to different times of the day.

I let my mind wander as I drove the deserted road. A daydream came to me, and I was thankful that the road was straight and desolate as I let the vision overtake my mind.

I was alone yet not; the mists cocooning me within their protection. Someone called out my name. A warm gentle voice and I giggled in response. The voice called again, beckoning me to join it. Looking around, I saw nothing near me yet the voice continued. Fly. My own thought took me by surprise. Fly. Now I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I couldn't fly; I'm only… fly... Fly…

"Bree!" Nory screamed and I jerked back to reality in time to swerve the car from driving off the side of the road. I let out a squeak of surprise as I righted myself, and sighed in relief after the moment had passed. Nory glared at me, "I was in the middle of the greatest dream involved me and a 10 things I hate about you era Heath Ledger."

"Yo… necrophilia." I replied, trying not to giggle. She got a disdained look on her face.

"He's not allowed to be dead; we were supposed to get married." She sighed.

"Let's change the subject, shall we?" I suggested, knowing we'd soon get into an awkward discussion about the life and death of Heath Ledger which would result in me putting on the Ben Harper album that we would listen to and cry. No crying should be allowed while driving to Alaska.

"Where are we?" Nory asked, pulling out a map from the glove compartment. She unfolded the paper and gazed through it. "Canada."

"Well that's kind of broad." I responded with a glance over to her. Nory shrugged, further looking at the likes of the map. "We're in Alberta… close to British Columbia." She let out a thoughtful sound, "If my calculations are correct, if we keep driving we should get there by tomorrow night." I almost let out a squeal of joy.

"Thank God, I'm getting so antsy." I said with a sigh. Nory nodded in agreement.

"Good thing you barely sleep." She noted, a major reason as to why I was okay with driving through the night. I nodded in agreement, not caring enough to note the fact that I do sleep; I just am a serial cat napper.

It wasn't long before Nory fell back asleep, and I continued to drive along the country road. Every now and then I would look up to the stars through the non existent roof on the jeep (we decided to wait until we got to Alaska to put the add ons on WallE). The millions of stars danced around the inky black sky. I never felt so tiny, yet apart of something so large. Ever since I was a little girl I loved to stargaze, but tonight I swore the stars began to sing to me.

The stars swam above my head as I looked for a place to rest my head. I hadn't eaten in a while and knew I should hunt. Thoughts plagued my mind no matter how far I tried to run from them. My fur billowed in the cool wind as I laid down, trying to focus on nothing.

A growl interrupted my bliss. I turned my head and saw a huge grizzly bear eyeing me down. Apparently I had lain in her spot.

The fur on my neck stood on end as I prepared to fight. I needed this… this wrath… to fight for what is mine. No holds bar. I lifted myself onto my hind legs.

And her cub came up from behind her. Shit. I guess I still do have a soul. Easing my stance I eased away a bit. The grizzly must have thought I had other intentions because she lunged right then and there.

Thank God I'm nearly indestructible.

We sparred for a few minutes until I had her pinned to the ground. I should have gone in for the kill, but my humane side made me walk away. I began to run more, not even caring that I haven't slept. I thought I had completely surrendered to my wolf, but I guess there still was a bit of Jacob in me. And I still hadn't eaten.

Shit.

We had to be close to Alaska. There was no way in hell it was this cold in late June and we were not near Alaska. I also knew that no matter how great your friend are, spending 4 straight days in a car alone with them make you question relationships. Everything was getting on my nerves as I longed for solitude. Alone in the beauty of nature.

I was shaken out of my reverie, but the emotion that replaced was unprecedented joy as we approached the Canada/ Alaska border. I nudged Nory awake to grab our passports.

Such glee. Such anticipation. I gave our passports and other paperwork to the man working the booth, and was soon off.

For the past few hours I had been ignoring the hunger deep in my stomach, but now my stomach was beginning to get quite vocal with emptiness. Nory looked to me and giggled, "There's a McDonald's coming up… WallE needs fuel anyway." She explained, pointing to the exit sign on the highway. I nodded, merging into the right lane to get off at the next exit.

I wasn't sure if it was a lifetime of living near Baltimore or the fact that Alaska is such a desolate place, but I had never been to a more immaculate McDonalds in my entire life. Nory was even wide eyed as she sat down with her Big Mac, the employees dumping their old oil into WallE's tank.

"Look at this, Bree." She said, holding up her sandwich as I dunked my chicken nugget into some ketchup, "This actually looks like the picture they advertise. And look! I actually don't think I run the risk of salmonella from eating this."

"Well, if there was any doubt that we weren't from around here before this." I giggled before getting up to refill my Hi-C. I was such a little kid at times. I walked to the soda fountain and tried to pop of my lid. Unfortunately, the lid popped off a little too excitedly and flew right into the elderly man's face that stood beside me. My eyes widened and I gasped, reaching for a napkin.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry, sir… I think lids have a mind of their own, and they're very sadistic things, lids…" I rambled on, blushing furiously as I handed him the napkin.

The old man paused, looking at me with a curious expression, "Well aren't you a little pixie." My blush grew at his comment, but he continued with a smile that not all of his teeth were there for, "We don't have your type up here… yes little pixie, you've traveled far from home." I crossed my arms, closing myself off in discomfort as the old man button a button on his light brown trench coat. I realized then that he looked tattered: not in a homeless way, just worn, "But you have to beware, my pixie, there are creatures who don't want you to live in peace." My eye widened and Nory came over to see what the hold-up was. "The creatures who live from blood find you a special delicacy."

I gasped as his innuendo, and Nory raised a hand in pause, "Live from blood? Like vampires?" The old man gave an assuring look, "Shit no, man! Vampires are from Transylvania. Besides, we're going on a wildlife conservation. I doubt that it's a big hangout spot for the undead." She grabbed by hand, not caring that my empty cup now lay on the floor, droplets of orange scattered around it.

We quickly walked to the car and sped out of the parking lot, thankful WallE was now full of vegetable oil. I ran my fingers through my hair, for a second forgetful that I cut it to a little past chin length a few weeks ago. A couple of hairs came out with my fingers, and I pulled the dark red strands from my hand, flinging them into the wind. Nory pulled back her dark hair into a ponytail, her red highlights catching the sun's rays.

I sighed, my stomach beginning to release the knots the old man created, "What was up with that old guy? Is he on heavy drugs or something? I mean… I know I spilled some juice drops on him and hit him with some synthetic plastic, but to say that vampires want me dead?" I curled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them.

"He might have a point though… I mean where better to live as a vampire than a desolate place where the sun doesn't shine for 3 months. Like that Josh Hartnett movie." She pointed at me to make her point.

"I thought that's 30 Days of Night… 30 days is only a month." I rebutted with a smirk.

"They only called it that because 3 months give or take a few days doesn't have the same ring. And he was a foreboding old man. Classic slasher story getup." She said with finality.

I rolled my eyes at that. "Please, the foreboding old man plug in is usually in the middle f the woods or at an old hotel. When was he ever at a McDonald's in the middle of the day?"

Nory gave me a look, "My point remains valid."I shook my head and let her drive, knowing we were near our destination. It was uncharacteristically warm that day at around seventy or so degrees. I took off my sweater and unzipped WallE's covers. The sun felt amazing on my face, and I knew soon some freckles would appear on the bridge of my nose.

I didn't even need to day dream; I already knew that this was where I needed to be. The sun bathed me with her rays and the wind sang to me and massaged my hair. I absentmindedly played with my pendant: a silver triple moon symbol with a moonstone as the full moon. I never knew where I got it; I just always remembered having it.

My reverie was broken by an excited squee coming from Nory. Looked to her with an eyebrow raised and Fred the cat meowed in annoyance, obviously having been awoken from his nap. Nory gestured ahead and I followed with my gaze… landing on a Welcome to Gustavus. I grinned and began bouncing a bit in my seat, thrilled that our journey was over.

We pulled into the driveway of the Glacier National Park Wildlife Conservatory of Gustavus, and I hoped it had a shorter nickname. I jumped out of WallE and grabbed Fred's kitty carrier, knowing he'd want to walk around and maybe catch a chipmunk. I looked around at the beautiful scenery surrounding us to notice that it must've been at least late afternoon. I went to grab my sweater again, the breeze making me chilly. I felt comfort at the soft cotton enveloping my skin as a girl not too much older than I walked out to greet us. She wasn't too much taller than Nory; obviously quite a bit taller than my slight five foot frame. Well, I was fiver feet according to my driver's license but I was very lenient with the measuring tape.

She smiled a small smile and shook my hand, her chocolate eyes glimmering in the sunlight. She pushed a piece of her dark blonde hair behind her ear and greeted us, "You must be Bree. I'm Nicola Patterson, and it really is a pleasure to meet you. We need all of the help we can get, especially someone with your experience with animals."

I smiled sheepishly, "I take it Dr. Ellershaw called." I fiddled more with my pendant, getting embarrassed but nonetheless flattered that the vet I worked for spoke so highly of me.

"I'm glad she did!" Nicola responded, "Calming and handling an injured mare while he was in heat… I know grown men who shudder at the thought." I giggled a bit and bent down to pick Fred up from his spot rubbing against my leg. "I'm sure you and your company are tired. Your house is already made up… you're actually going to be working mainly with me and with Bobby, he's another college intern. Anyway, you're right down that path around a mile away. Lovely little cabin. 2 bedrooms and right by the bay. It's in the woods so there may be thing that go bump in the night…" She said with a hint of foreboding. My stomach tightened and I thought back to the old man. Nicola giggled a bit, "But I'm sure you can handle yourself.

I grinned and said my farewells to Nicola, walking back to WallE and Nory who was already zooming out. I snapped her back at attention to drive the mile to our cabin and unload.

To say the cabin was beautiful would have seriously been an understatement. It was made of wood and the paneling showed. There was a tiny porch with a swing on it that I knew much reading would take place there. It was beautiful, and humble, and cozy. It was the house that made me think of hot chocolate and fuzzy blankets, of dancing in the rain and one of Nory's famous dinners. I grinned as I unpacked, Fred already taking out his spot in my room. It didn't take me too long to put everything away; I was a light packer and I wouldn't be needing many luxuries here.

I stepped out onto the front porch and walked the few hundred feet to the bay. It was so chilly outside, but I didn't mind. The stars called me and my gaze turned up. I gasped, never seeing so many stars in my life. I laid back and let them dance and sing for me, loosing myself in my surroundings. I didn't realize just how tired I was until that moment, and as the stars began to sing me their beautiful lullaby, I knew I was home.

For the first time in weeks, I had quiet. I went further North and West, knowing I had to be back in the states somewhere. I didn't care. For once, my mind wasn't plagued with ideas and guilt and remorse. The woods gave me a sense of calm, like there was a presence that knew my pain and soothed me. I gave up my wolf form a few miles back, and was completely content walking around in my cutoffs. No one was around. Just me, the trees, and the stars. I laid on the ground, hearing the distant sound of water, and looked up at the inky night sky. I never noticed how beautiful the stars were, and I suddenly felt small, like a child who's parent jut placated him. I didn't mind. I needed this rest, and as the stars began to sing me their beautiful lullaby, for some reason I knew I found home.