Chapter Eighteen

Secrets

February 2005 La Push, Washington

A lot of secret whispered conversations took place at the Reservation after Emily's accident, none of which I was a party to. One thing was for sure, the general feeling was that she hadn't been attacked by a bear.

Quil was the main source of information, and he enjoyed being the centre of attention for it. Many secret meetings had taken place and he had overheard tiny snippets of conversations, enough to gather that the bear story was a cover up; and that the Tribal Elders didn't believe the bear existed. The supposed bear attack which had been discovered the same day up at the Ozette Lake provided a useful cover story.

Quil had been unable to uncover the truth about the real source of the attack though and to be honest we didn't really know what was going on, but there was uneasy edge to life on the Reservation. We were all told to expect another attack and be on our guard. None of it made much sense though. If they didn't think the bear story was real, what did they think it was and why wouldn't they tell us? All this secrecy was really beginning to bug me.

Sam had eventually returned the day following Emily's attack and had apparently been extremely remorseful towards Emily. And so he should have been for leaving her in that state. Emily didn't seem to mind and had forgiven him instantly. She spoke to no-one about it though. Sam had been co-operating by attending the Council Meetings and seemed to be leading the proceedings; calling the shots. Sam, who had disappeared for a month, ditching his long-term girlfriend in the process, acting in a bizarre and almost rude manner to everyone, and then finally leaving his new girlfriend in the forest with such horrific facial injuries and not returning until the following morning. And yet he was right at the centre of the Tribe now; seemingly forgiven for his misdemeanors.

This puzzled me more than anything. My father had always been the one to lead. Why was he sitting back and allowing Sam to take charge? My father wouldn't discuss it with me; he just said it was Sam's turn as the oldest one of the younger generation, the future of the tribe. One day, it would be my rightful position, as direct descendant of Ephraim Black but for the moment I was too young. He told me I would understand when the time came. What the hell did this mean and how would I know? More secrets!

"Does this have anything to do with the Cullens?" I asked him one day as we were sat down to dinner. I had been expecting more accusations but I hadn't heard their name mentioned once. Whatever the secretive predator might be, it apparently had nothing to do with the Cullens. I just mentioned the name because I wanted to see what reaction it provoked.

"What makes you think that?" he replied.

"Oh, just something Quil said," I told him.

"What did Quil say?" he asked with a hint of anger. He seemed to be answering every question with another question. Was he hoping I would give up?

"Oh, nothing really, just that Paul had said something about the return of the Cold Ones."

"And how does Paul know anything about the Cold Ones?"

I was getting tired of this. Another question! When was I going to get an answer?

"Dad, is it any wonder the young lads are gossiping? We are none of us being told anything. All these meetings going on in secret..."

"It is for your own protection Jacob," he said sternly.

"Yeah, right. I'm just a kid!"

"Yes Jacob, you are too young to get involved. Just leave it to us to deal with. Fortunately, all has gone quiet for now, but we are just being cautious, being prepared for what might come."

I pushed my plate away in exasperation and left the room. I hated being treated like a child.

"Jacob!" my father called out to me as I began tidying up the kitchen. "Jake!"

I walked back slowly into the living room, hovering in the doorway, "Yes," I replied, with exasperation.

"Jake, you will understand all of this one day. I can't tell you yet, trust me on this. All will become apparent, and soon. For the moment, just... well, just be careful. I'm sorry. All I can say is that we believe the Cold Ones have returned."

"Er, yes, we know that. They returned ages ago, didn't they? Why all the secrecy all of a sudden? I thought we trusted the Cullens now?"

"No, we will never trust the Cullens, not entirely, but they are not responsible for what happened to Emily. We know that much. There are others, besides the Cullens, others that are more dangerous . They don't abide by the rules. They are not aware of the treaty." He paused for a while and then sighed and told me, "There, I've said too much now, I can't tell you any more. Sorry Jake."

"Ok, dad, thanks, that helps a lot. That was all I wanted, thanks. So, it really wasn't a bear that attacked Emily?"

"No, but a word of caution Jake, please. For the moment, as far as any outsiders are concerned, we continue to believe it was a bear. We do not speak of this outside of the Res. Not even to Charlie. The police are investigating a bear attack and for the moment that suits us. We go along with the pretence, understand? "

I nodded. I knew from my father's tone there was no point in continuing the conversation, which left me a little infuriated. Why all the secrecy? I still didn't know exactly what we were up against or how to deal with it? I returned to the kitchen to finish off the dishes.

Well that explained why Charlie hadn't been called in to question the Cullens about any of this at least. They would be reluctant to upset the balance now. The Cullens had been exonerated from any blame about Sam's disappearance. I still didn't know the reason for Sam's disappearance, nor his obvious change in physical appearance and character, but my father had assured me it had nothing directly to do with Dr Cullen and his family and the accusations had stopped.

Something had attacked Emily, and scarred her for life. Was I really meant to believe that it was another of the Cold Ones? I had no other explanation. Why no other attacks? Were they gone now? Was it just an isolated incident? Was the body found up at the lake a bear attack or are they covering this up too? Of course, they have to – vampires don't really exist, right? It was far better appear to go along with the bear story. We couldn't exactly go to the police with the whole vampire attack theory, could we?

Charlie went fishing with my father and Harry that weekend and when they returned, with an abundance of fish, Charlie agreed to stay for tea. I felt a little reluctant to hang around. I didn't like lying to the police. Well, I told myself I wasn't exactly lying; I was just being a little conservative with the truth, and besides, we had no concrete evidence, it was all legend and speculation. I did kind of get why my father didn't want me to know too much though. It had been easier to be around Charlie when I knew nothing.

I busied myself in the kitchen with the fish they had caught. Harry had gone home but returned with his wife, Sue, and also young Seth. Leah had declined, unsurprisingly. She was rarely seen these days. It wasn't long before Seth appeared in the doorway asking if he could help. He didn't want to sit around listening to fishing trip tales any more than I did.

"Yeah, sure you can. You can help me gut these fish if you like. Have you done it before?"

He shook his head.

"Ok, well firstly, be careful. These knives are real sharp."

Seth took hold of the knife I gave him and one of the fish. He watched me intently, following what I was doing and copied me. I had to slow down so that he could keep up, but he was a fast learner and before long he had got the hang of it. He wasn't quite as neat as I was, wasting a lot of the flesh, but it didn't matter, there was plenty to go around.

"Not bad Seth, for a first attempt!" I encouraged him. "Try another one, and try not to waste so much this time."

He nodded and picked up another one. The second one was much better. I could leave him to it while I prepared the vegetables.

We soon had the meal under way. "Thanks for your help," I told him.

"No problem. Thanks for showing me...mum never lets me in the kitchen."

"Oh, well I guess my mum would have been the same if she was still around, but I have had to learn how to do things, especially since my dad has been confined to his chair."

"Yeah, I guess." He muttered.

We continued in silence for a while, concentrating on preparing the meal. The fishing party were still laughing heartily and telling stories in the living room. They were arguing about who had caught the biggest fish.

"Hey, Jacob?" Seth asked suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"What do you know about the secret meetings?"

"Not a lot. They won't tell me anything. It's really frustrating," I told him, raising my eyebrows. "You?"

He shook his head. "No, nothing really. Just that they don't think it was a bear."

"Shhhh," I nodded towards the living room reminding him that the Chief of Police was in there. "Yeah, that's about all I know too," I whispered.

"I met the Cullens the other day, well a couple of them," Seth announced, making the same connection as I had between the supposed bear incident and the Cullens. He was talking in little more than a whisper now.

"Really? Where?"

"In Forks, at the gas station. I went in with my dad and there they were."

"How did you know?"

"It was just kind of obvious. I knew from the way my father reacted too. They are just different. They had yellow eyes...and they kind of smell funny. My dad told me afterwards that was who they were. I kind of knew it already though."

"What do you mean they smell funny?"

"Don't know; it was sort of scented, a sickly sweet smell. I thought, at first the girl was wearing some kind of cheap over-powering perfume, but that was unlikely from the way she was dressed, all in fancy clothes, but then the male, he smelt the same. They stared at us...it was weird. My dad whisked me a way pretty quick."

"What else?" I asked. I was keen to learn as much as possible about our old adversaries.

Seth shrugged. "Not a lot really. They had a real neat car though. We watched them come out from the kiosk. Dad was keen to observe them from our car. He was pretending to look for something in the glove compartment, but he was watching them real close."

"What was it?"

"I don't know, it was nothing, he was only pretending to look I think."

"No, silly, I mean the car."

"Oh, yeah," Seth laughed, "It was a BMW M3 convertible, bright shiny red. The blonde girl was driving it."

"Cool!" I replied. "Yeah, that figures. Dad said they were loaded." My mind temporarily wandered. I fantasised myself behind the wheel of such a dream car. Seth was watching me and seemed to understand what I was doing. He nodded and grinned. Maybe he was doing the same?

"Yeah, dream on..." I said, with a huge sigh.

"How's the Rabbit coming along?" Seth asked suddenly, bringing us back down to earth.

"Oh, you know, slowly. I've stripped the engine but I am waiting for parts. I've run out of money now too, well, almost."

"Too bad," he replied.

"Well yeah, I guess I always knew it would be a long-term project."

"What are you two doing out here?" Sue suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Almost done now Sue," I replied, being grateful she hadn't interrupted our previous conversation.

"Good, we're getting hungry. Nothing I can do? I'm not used to having my meals cooked for me."

"Nah, it's all under control. I've been teaching Seth how to cook."

Sue eyed her son for a few seconds and then smiled. "Am I to be out of a job soon?"

"No, but I can gut the fish for you in future. I know you hate doing that. You always complain it's a messy job."

She smiled and patted her son affectionately on the head, before heading back into the living room to rejoin the others. "Almost ready," we heard her telling them.

We served up the fish on to one large plate and put the vegetables on another and carried them into the living room. The food was greeted with a round of applause and cheers.

"I'm ravenous!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Ha! That's too much talking. It makes you hungry!" Sue jested.

Seth and I took a plateful each and headed over to the sofa to eat. I wouldn't normally have been allowed to do this but there weren't enough chairs, nor was there enough space for us at the table. I was grateful though, because I was still feeling slightly uncomfortable about Charlie being there. It was silly, I knew Charlie wouldn't question me, certainly not today when he was off-duty and with all the others around, but it just felt awkward somehow.

"Hey," he announced suddenly. "We'll have to have the next meal round at my place."

"Not if you're cooking it," my father replied.

Charlie laughed. "No, I won't be doing that again. Jake can cook, or Sue, or...Bella?"

"When is she coming?" I asked. I hadn't heard any more about Bella's arrival so I had imagined maybe she had changed her mind, or it had been delayed.

"A couple of weeks time. The beginning of March."

"Oh ok cool."

"She's a little worried about not having any friends, and so I hope you will all give her a warm welcome."

"Hey, Charlie, that goes without saying. Of course we will," Sue replied.

"Yeah, sure," I added.

"And...well, I'd appreciate it if you could keep the bear attack stories to a minimum, if you don't mind. I don't want to scare her off."

"There have been more?" my father asked, looking at Harry and then eyeing Charlie suspiciously.

"Just a few reports I am getting in of incidents along the Western Seaboard; mostly in Oregon, an isolated attack in Northern California. But it appears that it may be heading north again. Just be on your guard, but I don't want Bella alarmed. I want her to feel safe and happy here."

"Yeah, sure thing Charlie. We won't say a word." Harry said, looking around at everyone else. We all nodded in confirmation.

Everyone had finished eating and so I stacked up the plates and headed to the kitchen. I didn't really want to be a part of this conversation with the direction it was heading. Seth followed me out and we began the clearing up.

I wondered how much Charlie knew. It seemed strange that he would mention it. Was he hoping for more information? Did he really believe it was a bear, or did he think it was something else? Was he, yet again, under the impression that my father was holding out on him? I know how that feels! It didn't seem that way somehow though. But I knew that Harry and my father would be keen for Charlie to leave now so they could hold another meeting to discuss what they had just been told. I was pretty sure this would have been news to them. Charlie only knew about it because of his Police status.

I also thought he was being a bit naive, thinking he could protect Bella from finding out. She would find out soon enough from the kids at school in any case if, indeed, the attacks started happening around here. There was no need for us to tell her anything.

"So, it's coming back then? The thing; whatever it is." Seth whispered to me.

"Yeah, it looks that way." I replied, absent-mindedly. I didn't want to mention what my father had told me about the Cold Ones. Seth was only thirteen and I didn't want to scare him. Besides, I didn't really believe the stories anyway. If it wasn't a bear, then it was some other wild animal no doubt. Had I not heard a wolf howling the night Emily got attacked? That seemed a much more likely explanation, but our tribe would never blame a wolf, they were sacred and the very idea that one of them would attack a human was unthinkable; except that it seemed perfectly logical to me, in the absence of any other tangible explanation.

"I wish I knew what it was, exactly. How are we supposed to be on our guard when we don't know what to look out for?"

"I guess we will know when it gets here." I sighed, choosing not to enlighten him any further. He was far too young and innocent. Besides, it would only encourage him to ask more questions, and I didn't have any answers for him.