It's getting to be about that time where I post on two or three of my stories, and this is the first one I got to when that time came! I know not a lot of people have read this particular story, but what can I say, I can always hope, can't I?

Things are moving along nicely in this story, and I must say I'm enjoying writing this one as much as any other before it. Whoever reads this, I really hope you like it, and I hope you tell me what you think.

But enough of me!

See you down below!

Lions & Bears

October, 1945

Keira

When I went back to school on Monday, it took barely a minute to remember that Edward wasn't going to be there. And I was perplexed by how strange it felt to be at school without him. My first reminder came when I got to Advanced Mathematics and had to sit at the back of the class under the watchful eyes of Mr. Clarence, who kept his attention on me even though he never said a word to me. I wasn't sure if he expected me to participate in class or not, but when he called on the boy in front of me, I could tell he'd wanted to ask me but was strangely afraid to even speak to me.

Abigail sat with me at lunch, and we tried avoid noticing how all the boys nearby kept staring at us like we were supposed to be doing something else other than eating now that we were left alone to our own devices without our "guard." Ethan watched us from across the cafeteria, and it looked like he was wanting to approach us, but then Fisher stood up from the table he'd settled at with his friends to come sit with us.

"You two look like you're enjoying yourselves," he said with a small smile.

Abigail blushed, and I laughed softly. "It looks like everyone is trying not to stare at us," I commented. "Even Ethan looks like he wanted to come over here before you."

Fisher glanced over his shoulder at Ethan, his smile fading slightly before he looked at us again. "Well, then it's a good thing I came over here," he decided. "Keira, you're not seriously worried about Edward, are you?" he asked.

I bowed my head over my food, sipping on my milk and thinking of how odd it was for anyone to go camping during school. "It's just not what I expected," I admitted. "And I can't understand it. It doesn't make sense."

"Well, they'll be back on Thursday, and then we'll all get back to normal. How about I walk both of you to your classes after lunch?"

I glanced at Abigail, wondering how much she was enjoying Fisher sitting with us, and I amended his offer. "You should walk Abigail to her class," I told him. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked, even though he also glanced at Abigail.

"Absolutely. I'm okay, really. My morning's actually been pretty boring."

Fisher grinned at Abigail, and then she did too. I smiled at them, continuing to eat my food and quietly pondering exactly what Edward could be doing camping on a Monday.

The whole thing had me confused. Carlisle and Esme didn't seem like the type of people who didn't want Edward or Emmett and Rosalie to be in school when they should've been, and just because it was nice outside, it still didn't make any sense for them to do it on such short notice. As far as I could remember, Edward hadn't even mentioned it until Saturday when he'd told me. The very next day, it had been sunny and the temperature had even climbed into the upper fifties. It was nice outside today too, and my dad was saying it could be like this all week, which was rare for this area.

French class was just as normal as any of my morning classes had been, and I took my assignments from Ms. Lockhart while doing everything in my power to avoid the boy on my right every time he tried to get my attention. It wasn't that any of the other boys weren't nice or anything, but most of them were still marveling over the fact that I was still new, despite me having been there two months. The only person other than Edward that I'd really talked to in the last few weeks was Abigail, and we only had a few classes together. So when I wasn't sitting next to her, I kept my head down. I'm not sure if I was going it on purpose, or if it was just something I felt like doing to keep people from noticing me like I'd done before. I just knew I didn't want to be the center of attention anymore, and I was going to be very glad when my newness wore off.

By the time I got to English at the end of the day, I'd done a fairly descent job of keeping my head down. I'd worked on my English paper on Sunday, and when I handed it in to Mr. Jennings, he looked at me like he expected me to be a little more involved in class than I had been the last few weeks. Even though I'd participated every day, Mr. Jennings made it seem like I'd only done so to keep from getting detention again. But he never said anything like that to me. I couldn't be sure if I was supposed to be the way I'd been while going to school in Seattle, but doing that just felt too different now. I knew I was adjusting to life here, but I didn't know if that had anything to do with Edward or not.

"I hope everyone had a nice weekend," Mr. Jennings called over the class. "I also hope you all devoted enough time to your assignments for me to tell the difference from your previous assignments last Monday. Everybody get your text books out, and get ready for your review session."

I opened my book to the chapter we'd been working on, and as he started going into the lesson for reviewing, I couldn't keep my mind from wandering as I'd been doing all day. It wasn't just that Edward and his family were going camping when they should've been in school or working that piqued my curiosity. And it wasn't just that there were days when he looked less involved in our work and then there were days when it was like all he wanted to do was work on our project. It wasn't even the fact that he seemed to gravitate toward being uncertain as the days passed, and then suddenly, he was perfectly capable of being decisive. I'd been working so closely with him the last few weeks, and I'd noticed more than just his behavior.

I'd noticed, for example, that his skin was always cold and pale. In fact, his whole family was pale, and I knew after having touched Emmett that his skin was cold too. And I'd also noticed after a week of working with him that his eyes had slowly changed from their vibrant green color to a distinctively charcoal black hue, almost like his pupil had totally overpowered the iris of his eye, and at the same time, dark circles had developed under his eyes the way they'd been when I'd seen him my first day of school.

While being at his house the last four Saturdays, I'd also noticed the behavior of his family, especially Rosalie. I hoped I was being paranoid, but I could count precisely how many times I'd seen her appear at the window to watch Edward and I catalogue our project pieces and then just as quickly disappear. And Carlisle always seemed to appear out of nowhere, even though I was sure I was just missing the fact that he might have been just a room away before he'd come into my eyesight. And they never ate anything, not at their house, not at school, or even when they happened to go out to mingle with kids from school. In fact, I couldn't remember ever seeing Edward, Emmett or Rosalie ever touch food despite always having some kind of it in front of them.

And when Edward and I had been exploring the woods near his house, I realized that he'd never gotten tired or needed to rest. I'd always been the one to request a resting period even while we'd been sitting out in the middle of the woods. He'd never been scared or worried about getting lost, guiding me through the trees and finding the strangest things that I couldn't even see despite his amazing ability to see, smell and feel everything around us. It always seemed like he had some way of knowing so much even though he was so young. I could explain the knowledge he seemed to have by saying he read all the time, but in all honesty, I'd never seen him open a book, not at school anyway.

What intrigued me the most was the way he sounded and acted, and he always had the most impeccable manners. He nearly never insulted anyone, except for the occasional time when he would seem to threaten Ethan or anyone else who behaved in a way he felt was inappropriate — when he'd deterred Ethan that day in the cafeteria, and then again when he'd insisted on Abigail sitting with us because she was having trouble getting through to Ethan when he approached her. I knew he hadn't done these things for any other reason than some deeply rooted behavior he'd developed over the course of his life. But he was only fifteen, like me. Right?

Despite having obviously expected me to participate more during class, Mr. Jennings never called on me, the same way none of the other teachers had, and it struck me as odd that they all seemed a little afraid to even ask me anything. I silently wondered exactly what their reasoning was to leave me alone, and when I stepped out of English at the end of the day to find Fisher there waiting, I was actually ready to get home.

"How was your day?" Fisher asked as we walked through school to the parking lot where Kyle was probably already waiting.

"Strangely ordinary," I admitted.

He slung his arm over my shoulder, holding me close and smiling. "Dare I say that we might have missed a certain science project partner who happened to not be in school today?" he teased.

I blushed as we walked, not really wanting to admit he was right but unable to deny the fact that I had noticed Edward's absence more than I was willing to admit. "And what if I did?" I shot back.

He smiled wider, squeezing me against him. "Nothing," he said shaking his head. "I'm just saying."

He didn't say anything else after that, pulling me through the parking lot to the car where Kyle was standing, and Fisher opened my door for me before he moved around to the passenger side silently. Kyle looked at him funny, but he didn't say anything as he slid into the driver's seat to start the car and get on our way back to the house. I looked around at the blue skies and the sun starting to set even though it was only three-fifteen. I thought about sitting on our back porch while I did my homework, and I decided to ask my mother if I could have some iced tea while I sifted through the lessons I would have to get done before dinner.

I realized something sitting in the back seat as I watched the few blocks between school and our house go by. I knew now that I'd never seen Edward actually in the sun, and I wondered silently what he would look like with the sun on his face. He was so pale that I was curious if he would still look pale, but since I'd never seen him that way, all I could do was wonder. I'd never really wondered about a boy like this before even though I'd liked other boys in Seattle. This one boy in particular, but then we'd moved away, and I hadn't seen him since. Now that Edward was in my life, even as just a friend, everyone else seemed to pale in comparison, no pun intended.

My mother carried a tray of lemon cakes and tea onto the porch, sitting with me while I did my homework and wondering aloud what was going on in my head.

"This is a nice change," she said as she sipped her tea. "We haven't done this in a long time. Is everything okay?"

I smiled over my Social Studies book. "Of course it is," I assured her. "And this is nice. We should do this again while it's still sunny."

While I was sitting on the lounge chair, she moved to my side, and when she made me look at her, I sighed softly, laying my pencil down.

"Honey, are you sure you're okay? Are you feeling all right? If you're not, you can stay home tomorrow. Maybe it would be a nice day for us to spend some time together. We haven't really had the chance since we moved here."

I listened to what she was saying, thinking it would maybe help take my mind off the fact that I was horribly distracted. "Do you mean that?" I asked, sort of pleading.

She moved her arm around me and squeezed me against her. "Of course I do, honey. I'll talk to your father when he comes in, and I'm sure he'll think it's okay. You stay out here and finish your homework. I'll go start dinner. How about a casserole? Do you feel like chicken?"

I smiled and nodded. "That sounds great."

She stood up then, moving around the lounge chair and stepping back into the house silently. I sat there and thought about what had just happened, and I wondered how easy it might have been for Edward and Emmett and Rosalie to convince Carlisle and Esme to keep them home from school to spend time together.

Was it possible they hadn't actually gone camping at all? Was it possible they were just at home?

I didn't do it intentionally at that point, but I started wondering how difficult it would be to find a way to Edward's house. I wasn't the kind of person who told on other people, but it struck me as a little insulting that he would lie about doing something he wasn't really doing, especially after the barrier we'd crossed the first few weeks we'd been in school together. Surely, he knew he could trust me. I didn't think of myself as a brown-noser, because everyone needed a break from school every now and then, but I wanted to know if I was right. So I thought about how I could get to his house without my mother worrying about me. I knew he lived a little way out of town, and I'd never gone that far by myself before. But that didn't scare me. I'm not sure what was scaring me, but I had to confirm my suspicions, and this was the only way I knew of to do it.

When I finished my homework, I sat on the porch thinking to myself about what I was going to say to my mother, and the only think I could think of was to lie to her even if I'd never done that before in my life. She'd ground me for a month when she found out, but for whatever reason I was doing this, I decided it was worth it. I wanted Edward to trust me, no matter what was going on or how he was dealing with it, and that was more important to me than my pseudo-freedom. After all my homework was finished and packed back up, I went back inside and carried my things to my room, looking in my closet and finding the clothes I usually wore to Edward's house, along with my light grey coat, pearl white hat and the red scarf my grandmother had given to me when I was thirteen. I laid these out in my room as nonchalantly as I could without my mother thinking it was odd for them to be out, and then I went down to help her with dinner.

My father still wasn't home since it was only five, and Kyle and Fisher were sitting in the front parlor going through their own homework papers while they waited for dinner. My mother smiled at me when I entered the kitchen, and I moved to her side to see what I could do for her.

"I was just about to cut up the vegetables," she said, and I offered to take over while she cleaned away the bits of chicken she wouldn't be cooking.

There were onions, celery, garlic and tomatoes, and I had all of that chopped up when my father made it home. He came into the kitchen just as we were putting everything together with a mixture of cornbread and chicken broth, and the smile on his face when he smelled what was already cooking told us he was in a good mood. I knew my mother would be able to talk to him about me staying home the next day, and that put me in an even better mood.

"Well, I hope you two beautiful ladies had a good day today," he crooned, kissing my mother's cheek and then mine.

"We both had a nice day," my mother assured him. "It sounds like you had a good day too."

He smiled. "I did have a good day," he stated happily.

My mother laughed softly, and he left the kitchen to set the table.

She was just taking the casserole out of the oven when the phone rang from the wall of the kitchen, and my father stepped into the kitchen while still holding a smile on his face to answer the phone.

"Jones Residence. This is Walter speaking. Yes." He paused, glancing at me and my mother. "Can you repeat that again please?"

The smile on his face faded, and he moved away from us while lowering his voice even though I could still hear him. "What does this have to do with me? I'm a legal advisor, not the chief of police. Well, how far outside town were they found?"

The smile on my face faded, and suddenly I was thinking about Edward and his family. I knew by the look on my father's face that something was wrong, and even though I didn't know what had happened, I knew it was serious enough for someone to be calling my father. We were in a small town in the middle of the woods, and the only thing I could think of was all the animals that resided in the woods around the town. Was it possible someone was calling my father about the animals? Or was it Edward? I was immediately concerned even though neither Edward nor any member of his family seemed the type to not be able to take care of themselves.

"All right," my father said to his caller. "Give me twenty minutes. Though I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll be there."

He hung up the phone then, looking at us even though he didn't say anything for a minute or two before my mother moved to his side.

"Walter," she said softly, "what's happened?"

"Some campers outside town were found dead," he replied just as softly. "The ranger who found them said it looked like they'd been mauled by a bear, but they need someone from the sheriff's station to be on the scene. I told them I'm just an advisor, but they can't reach the sheriff or any of the deputies, which is odd given the size of the town. I won't be long, I hope. Go on and eat. Save me a plate."

He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, glancing at me and then leaving the kitchen silently.

My heart leapt into my throat then, and I wanted to know who these campers were and how they could've been attacked by a bear. I'd never been this scared in my life, not even when my grandmother had been sick before she died.

I didn't want to eat dinner that night, taking a roll and sitting up in my room with one of my books, and my mother let me stay in my room until it was time for me to get to bed. By then, my father still hadn't come home, and even though my mother hadn't had a chance to talk to him about me staying home, she said she would still call the school in the morning. And she said that even if I wasn't going to school in the morning, I still needed a good night's sleep, so she made sure I was in bed on time even if I wasn't very tired.

I laid in bed for a long time without going to sleep, thinking and worrying and wondering and wishing I knew what was going on. I'd never really acted this way, and I was pretty sure I knew what was causing me to feel the way I felt right now. Even though I'd liked other boys, I was sure none of them were ever going to be like Edward. In fact, I knew I was never going to meet anyone like him ever again in my life, and it was for that reason that he'd made such an impression on me. His family was unlike any family I'd ever encountered, and it felt like they would always be like that even if time went by that would cause any other family to change the way they were supposed to.

I knew then that I wanted to know more about Edward's family than I already did, and I knew I would find out the next day, whether they turned out to be the campers who'd died or not. Something inside me was telling me there was no way it could be them, and my instincts never really led me astray.

I finally fell asleep after laying in bed for nearly two hours, and I had the strangest dream, about Edward and a day when we were walking through the woods around his house. I got lost even though I knew he would never let that happen, and when I found him again, he was kneeling over a dead deer. After a few seconds, he lifted his head to look at me, and even though he looked the way he always had with vibrant green eyes and pale skin, his lips were blood red as were his teeth, and as his eyes found mine, a snarl ripped through his chest and suddenly, he looked like a raging animal. I'd never seen another person look at me this way. It was like he wanted to kill me, and then without so much as a warning, he lunged toward me with a mad sneer on his face.

I opened my eyes then, seeing my room brightening from dawn and realizing I'd slept passed seven o'clock. I remembered my dream, and I suddenly wondered if my father had come home the night before. I laid in bed for a few minutes, and then my mother poked her head in my room.

"Good morning, sweetheart," she said softly. "How did you sleep?"

Even with my heart racing beneath my chest, I did my best to pretend I was just fine. "I slept great."

She smiled. "Good. I'm making pancakes, so when you're ready, just come down to the kitchen, okay?"

I smiled back. "Okay."

She left, and even though I thought about laying in bed a lot longer than I normally would, I decided it was time to start my day, so I got up and carried my clothes for the day to the bathroom to take a bath. I hoped she wouldn't say anything about what I was wearing, and I hoped she wouldn't be too suspicious about me leaving the house during the day. I realized she'd done this to spend time with me, but I'd been given an opportunity I couldn't pass up, and I knew we would have plenty of time to spend together once I'd figured out this puzzle forming in my head. What was going on with Edward Masen?

I could smell pancakes, bacon and eggs on my way down stairs, and my mother and father were both sitting at the kitchen table when I stepped in.

"Come sit down, sweetie," my mother said, smiling and nodding to the chair at her side.

I glanced at my father then, but I didn't say anything to him as I sat down and reached out to start filling my plate. I noticed Kyle and Fisher already gone, and when I started eating, my father spoke to me quietly.

"You mother tells me you weren't feeling well yesterday afternoon," he said. "She said it might be a good idea for you and her to spend a little time together."

I nodded. "Yes, that's what she said. And I wasn't feeling very good."

He glanced at my mother, and she bowed her head before he spoke again. "I'm sure you're curious about what happened last night."

I looked at my mother, but she didn't look at me.

"Well," my father began, "last night, one of the rangers in the local wildlife park found a group of campers about five miles south of town. There were five of them, and they were attacked just before dawn yesterday morning. I won't go into detail, and even though there wasn't a lot I could do, I had to file all the paperwork for the coroner's report when the medical examiner showed up. I haven't had to do that in almost six months. When the guy said they looked like they'd been mauled by a bear, he'd been exaggerating. All five of the campers were mangled up pretty badly, but there wasn't any blood to speak of in the whole site. It was like their bodies had been completely drained."

I felt sick immediately, putting my fork down and lifting my hands to my face as my cheeks warmed up with blood rushing to my head. Five campers. Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, Carlisle and Esme.

My father inhaled then, again glancing at my mother before he continued. "Now, I didn't recognize any of the campers," he went on, and I lifted my head to look at him, "so they probably weren't local, but since it happened close to our town, we're going to be helping with the investigation with the county police. I know you and Edward have been going off into the woods around his house, but with this happening just yesterday, I'm going to ask the two of you to not go back out until we know for sure what caused this. Okay?"

My mind was racing over his words, and all I could do was nod even though I hadn't gotten far from him saying he hadn't recognized any of the campers. That was good, wasn't it? It meant this group wasn't the one I'd feared, even if it was a little odd since Edward had said they were going camping and the next morning, a group of campers actually end up being attacked. And what did my father mean by there being no blood in any of the campers' bodies? How was that even possible?

After breakfast, my father left to get to the station, and my mother decided it was time for us to talk about Edward, since she'd guessed that was why I was so distracted. I hadn't really had the heart to tell her it wasn't how she was thinking, but talking about it kind of helped even if it was completely embarrassing.

"I met your father in college," she told me while we sat on the porch the way we'd done the afternoon before. "I wasn't sure about him when I first met him either, but he grew on me. Just like I can see that Edward has grown on you. He's a nice boy, Keira."

I blushed over my tea, smiling with my mouth closed. "Yes," I said. "He's nice."

"And he's courteous and has the manners of a real gentleman," she added suggestively.

"Mom," I said. "I'm fifteen. And you know I want to go to college first. Edward's a friend. That's all I need right now."

"Well, I'm just saying, honey," she nudged.

"I know," I promised.

She took another sip of her tea, and I look at the yard, thinking about what time it was and wondering how long it would take me to get to Edward's house.

"Can I go for a walk?" I asked her. "Maybe some fresh air will help, and I can go back to school tomorrow."

She barely hesitated. "That sounds like a wonderful idea," she agreed. "Just make sure you're back before dark."

"I will," I promised, rising slowly and then stepping into the house.

I couldn't believe it had been so easy, but I didn't wait for her to change her mind, hurrying up to my room for my coat, hat and scarf before I went into the garage to find my bicycle. I hadn't ridden it since we'd come to Hoquiam, but I knew I couldn't walk all the way to Edward's house, so this mode of transportation would just have to do. And it would be easier to get back if I didn't have to walk. With that, I walked my bike from the house and started off in the opposite direction of the school to the north side of town toward Edward's house. I wasn't sure what I would find, but I was determined to find something. Anything.

With it being the middle of the day, the sun was nice and high, and there was very little breeze, so my coat actually kept me quite warm while I rode my bike along the two-lane road out of town. I remembered the way since I'd taken it a few times with Emmett and Edward, and I took the turn-off that would carry me toward their house before slowing down so I wouldn't get too tired since I knew it would take me a little while to get to the house. By car, Emmett could get us to his house from town in less than twenty minutes, but with me on my bike, I knew it would take much longer. But it hadn't been too long since I'd ridden my bike, so I knew how to pace myself.

By the time I arrived at Edward's house, I was still ready to rest, and I was actually very thirsty. I set my bike down on the front walkway, moving to the front steps and sitting down for a few minutes before I started looking around. One of the first things I noticed was the fact that the car Emmett drove was sitting in the driveway. I knew that only meant he wasn't driving it, but still, it piqued my interest instantly, prompting me to move in that direction until I was on the west side of the house that faced the coast. Edward and I had always gone out in the east woods, since he said it was more familiar to him, so we hadn't been out this way.

I moved around to the front of the house again, moving up to the front door and knocking lightly. I remembered how Carlisle and Esme always seemed to know I was coming before I was even there, so surely if they were home, they'd hear me knocking. But even after three or four minutes, no one answered the door. I moved away from the front door to walk around the porch that stretched around the house to the side door where we usually spread out all our samples. Today, the porch was cleaned off without even any evidence anything had ever been there, and I stepped down the steps to the yard that led out into the woods. Something like a pained cry sounded through the air, and for a reason I wasn't sure of then, I stepped off the porch to follow it into the woods even though my father had asked me not to go into the woods until they'd found out what had killed those campers, whom I was certain now weren't Edward and his family.

I found the trail Edward and I usually took into the woods, looking around for the thing that had made that noise, but for several minutes, all I could see were trees and sky. Whatever had made it must have been close, but I couldn't see any evidence that anything had been attacked or shot. I hadn't heard a struggle or even a gunshot, just a cry for help. I glanced behind me, seeing Edward's house in the distance and guessing I was a good one or two hundred feet from the porch before I kept walking through the woods toward the sound I'd heard. Now that I thought about what I'd heard, it had sounded like a deer or a horse.

I suddenly remembered my dream, and I stopped immediately, thinking of Edward's face and what he'd been doing when I'd seen him. He'd looked so crazed, so out of control, and my appearance had only made it worse. It struck me as odd that I would see him like that in a dream when every time I'd ever seen him at school or my house or his house, he'd been such a gentleman with total control of himself in the way he moved and the way he reacted to me. I couldn't ever imagine him reacting that way toward me. Or anyone for that matter. My overactive imagination was really getting the better of me, especially if I was having dreams like that about someone.

Another few dozen feet passed me by, and I kept my eyes on everything, walking slowly and looking for anything that might appear to be a wounded animal. It wasn't that I thought I could do anything to help, but if it was a person, I couldn't just leave them out here. I thought I heard someone walking in the distance, and I moved toward that unconsciously. Maybe there was someone out here, and they would know what that sound was. It was possible the way this was going, they might actually be the person or thing making the noise.

It wasn't easy to get around the trees the further in I got, and I tried to keep my eyes on the trail behind me to make sure I could get back to Edward's house, but it was difficult, especially when I had to start climbing over fallen trees and large boulders that obscured the path. It was only a little at first and still easy to follow, but then I couldn't see the trail at all. I stopped as soon as that happened, turning around to go back but discovering the trail to be completely gone from my eyes. It was probably three o'clock now, and the sun was still relatively high in the sky, but the canopy had started to obscure the light. I was just about to start back when I heard another sound, but this wasn't a cry or a yelp the way an animal would sound if it were hurt. It sounded like a growl.

I stopped again, looking around and not recognizing any of the trees from any of the times when Edward and I had come out here. I realized I was lost, and I inwardly berated myself for doing something so stupid. What was I supposed to do now?

I tried to turn back west, to make it to Edward's house or at least the edge of the trees so I could find the house, but as I did, a bright glitter of sunlight shining through the trees caught my eyes. I was drawn to it slowly, thinking maybe it was a break in the trees that would lead me out of the woods, but when I stumbled onto it, it wasn't a break in the trees at all. It was a . . . a person. A big person. I was probably fifty or sixty feet from them, and they were kneeling over something. Their skin was glistening in the sunlight, throwing rays of the light off in every direction as they rose and then turned around to face me. I stood up, feeling the wind shift from behind me to blow around my face, and as it did, I watched whoever this was change their stance from one of relaxation to that of preparation. Preparation to run. Toward me.

I peered over the distance straining to see this person's face, and even though it was pretty far, I didn't really need to see their face to know they were huge and muscular, more muscular than any one person could ever hope to be. And as the wind picked up again, the space between us was closed slowly, and after a minute, I could see their face. I knew who it was. But this was impossible. Even if my mind, racing as it was at the moment, could comprehend what I was seeing, it wasn't supposed to be possible.

Emmett.

He was looking at me so crazed, so hungry, like he was hunting the most sought-after animal he'd ever hunted. I realized he was looking at me and not whatever he'd been kneeling over, and I tried to see what it had been. But it was so far away and almost completely obscured by the foliage that I had no chance of knowing what it had been. But it suddenly didn't matter. And I knew whatever it was, it was dead. Because Emmett had killed it. And now he was looking at me like he wanted to kill me. So I did the only thing my instincts were screaming at me to do.

I ran.

Now who in the world could've predicted this? And where is Edward?

Oh, okay, I knew this was going to happen, and I know where Edward is. But do you?

I'll leave you to that, and I'll see you next time!

Thanks for reading, and to all my reviewers. All four of them. ;-)