CHAPTER EIGHT
It seemed an age before the door opened, but it could only have been a minute. Sam appeared wearing a pair of boxers with Homer Simpson on them, of all things. If I could have laughed, I would have.
"Paul?" he said. "God, what happened?"
I got to my feet again and whined miserably, then turned my head as I heard pounding feet coming towards the house. Another wolf, larger than me and with thick brown fur. He halted and climbed slowly up onto the porch beside me. I could hear his voice in my head and I guessed that must be the way they communicated; by some form of telepathy.
'Paul.' It was Jared's voice.
My own thoughts were a turmoil and I found I couldn't respond coherently.
'Come down off the porch, follow me,' Jared instructed, walking down the steps again backwards. 'Sam's going to join us; we'll help you.'
I followed him dumbly, shivering. Sam came out of the house and walked away from us a few yards. He changed so fast I could barely see it happen. One minute he was Sam, standing there in his innocuous Homer Simpson shorts and the next he was a huge black wolf, much bigger than both me and Jared.
'Let's walk.' Sam's rumbling voice came into my head and I found myself beginning to walk slowly around the meadow, Sam on one side of me and Jared on the other. They talked and I listened.
Sam told me about his own traumatic first phasing, prompting him to run away and hide in the woods for two weeks. No one had told him about the shape-shifters and when he suddenly found himself as a wolf, he was terrified. He had no idea what had happened and no idea how to turn back, or even if he could turn back.
Jared's story was similar although he already knew what to expect. A rapid and violent phasing following a fight with some other kid on the reservation, running away in a panic, hiding in the woods crying until Sam found him. I wondered now how Jared had known to turn up at the precise moment that he had and he answered me at once.
'If one of us howls, the others come running, wherever we are and whatever we might have been doing.'
As I listened to them, I gradually began to relax and after two circuits of the meadow, we halted outside the door of the house again. Lights were on now and I guessed Emily was up. I noticed a pile of clothes lying on the porch and thought it odd that she must have put them there, until Jared sat down on the steps and was suddenly human again and naked. He grabbed a pair of shorts from the pile and pulled them on quickly.
'Paul, all you have to do is relax; let go of the anger,' Sam's voice said. 'Imagine that everything's alright; no one's going to hurt you again. Picture yourself back in your human form.'
I did as he said and nothing happened. I was still a wolf. Maybe it was because I still couldn't get my thoughts in order and I did my best to put my Dad out of my mind and imagine myself free and happy. I looked up at Sam after a moment, realising he was human again, grabbing another pair of pants to put on and holding some cut off jeans out towards me. What did he think I was going to do with them? I looked down at myself and found I was kneeling on the ground, human just as he was.
"Shit," I gasped and took the jeans. I got up and put them on, my hands shaking. I seemed to be trembling all over and I was panting for breath.
"I'll leave you to it. You'll be ok, Paul." Jared turned and sprinted away and Sam ushered me into the house where Emily was waiting, dressed in a fluffy pink bathrobe and furry ankle boots.
"Come and sit down," she said, indicating the sofa.
I barely made it before my legs gave way and I sank onto the cushions. Suddenly everything was too much and I burst into tears and with them, out came all my anguish.
"My Dad hates me!" I sobbed. "He's been beating me since I was eight, first 'cause Mom left so he couldn't hurt her any more and he started drinking and taking it out on me, now he just hates me because I'm gay and he's ashamed to have a son who likes boys!"
I put my hands over my face and wept, half expecting Sam to throw me out after that revelation, but all that happened was that Emily sat down beside me and wrapped her arms around me while Sam dropped into an armchair opposite.
"It's alright, let it all out," Emily murmured. "You're ok now, we'll look after you."
She carried on cuddling me for the few minutes it took for me to get control of myself and then I straightened up and sniffed hard.
"Sorry," I said shakily.
"Nothing to be sorry for," grunted Sam.
"God, my Dad's going to kill me," I groaned suddenly, remembering his face after I phased. Stupidly all I could think about was what he would think of me.
"No, he won't. You don't even have to see him if you don't want," Sam said. "You can't go on living like that." He glanced at Emily then and she nodded slightly. "You can come and stay with us," he went on. "No parent has the right to treat their kids like that. Nobody's going to judge you here either. You've got to be what makes you happy."
I stared at him in amazement. "Are you serious?" I said.
"Yeah," he grinned now. "We'll go and get your stuff in the morning. If your Dad has anything to say about it, he can deal with me."
"You hardly even know me," I said.
"You're one of the pack," said Sam simply. "That makes us family; brothers. Em, show him the guest room, it's time we all got some sleep. We'll talk more tomorrow."
I couldn't quite believe my luck. Emily showed me into a large guest room with a double bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers and television, passed me a spare pair of cargo pants and a t-shirt of Sam's for the morning and then left me alone. With everything that had happened over the last couple of hours I didn't think I would be able to sleep, but the minute I got into the large comfortable bed, exhaustion took over and I was dead to the world.
When I woke several hours later I was completely disorientated for a moment until I remembered the events of the night. I had no idea what time it was, but daylight was pouring in through the window and I got up quickly. I could hear Sam and Emily talking in the kitchen so I slipped into the bathroom, took a quick shower and dressed and went to join them. As I headed into the room I could hear Sam on the phone.
"This is Mr Lahote, I'm just calling to let you know Paul won't be in school today; he's ill."
I grinned to myself and walked into the kitchen as Sam hung up the phone.
"Hey, how did you sleep?" Emily asked.
"Good, thanks. Actually better than I have in ages."
"Would you like some breakfast?"
"Yes, please."
She served up bacon, eggs, beans and toast for the three of us and Sam told me he had also called Jared to ask him to let my friends know I was sick and would be staying home. I immediately thought of Jacob. I should text him, but my phone was at home - at my Dad's house, I corrected.
"When does your Dad go to work?" asked Sam.
"He's gone already," I said, glancing at the clock. It was nine-fifteen.
"Do you have a key?"
"Not on me." I couldn't help grinning. "There's a spare under the porch though."
Sam shovelled the last forkful of beans into his mouth and got up. "Let's go and get your stuff. I'll call your Dad tonight."
"Ok."
We drove over to the house in Sam's truck. It was locked and empty and I got the spare key from under the porch to let us in. Within twenty minutes we had all my clothes, books, music and so on in the truck and I sent Jacob a text message to tell him I was ok as Sam drove back. A message came back within a minute to say Jared had told everyone I was as sick as a dog. I snorted and sent another.
'I'm fine, I'll talk to you after school.'
"Who's that?" Sam asked.
"Uh...a friend."
"Look, my house is a little different from your Dad's," said Sam. "If you want to bring friends - whatever kind they are - over to hang out or for dinner, it's cool. We don't have many rules. Only that after today you carry on going to school, you respect Emily and you come home by ten or you call to say why you're late. That's it."
"I can do that," I said at once. "I don't quite know how to thank you for all this."
"No need."
Sam parked the truck in front of the house and helped me carry my stuff inside. After I'd put it all away in my new room, we hung out and talked. He told me more about the shape-shifters, how it had all started for him, how he had Imprinted on Emily which meant she was his soul mate - he would spend the rest of his life doing everything to make her happy and die to protect her. He went on to explain Imprinting to me and I was fascinated.
"Will I Imprint on someone?" I asked.
"Some do, some don't. It's fate and sometimes it causes you problems because you can't choose who you Imprint on. I had another girlfriend, Leah Clearwater, but fate chose Emily for me. I broke Leah's heart and it's like a constant pain that I did that to her."
"Sounds complicated," I said with a sigh. It would be just my luck for fate to go and land Melissa on me again.
At lunch time I got another text from Jacob and then throughout the afternoon we carried on an intermittent text conversation, until suddenly he didn't answer something I said. I guessed he would be in class and it had become difficult to keep on doing it. My cellphone was almost out of juice anyway, so I plugged it into the charger and later went out to meet the school bus. It rolled up on time and the usual crowd climbed out and scattered, but there was no sign of Jacob. Embry, Quil and Jared came over to speak to me and after Jared briefly asked if I was ok, he said he had to get home and left us.
"Where's Jacob?" I asked the others.
"Detention," Quil said.
"Why? What's he done?" I said, disappointed. Now I'd have to wait another hour to see him.
"Sending you text messages in class. He got his phone confiscated too, until after detention."
"Shit," I muttered.
"What have you been doing anyway?" Embry said. "You don't look very sick."
"I'm not." I decided to give them a brief outline of a few things. "I got in a fight with my Dad last night; he likes to use me for a punchbag sometimes."
"Jesus," Quil muttered. "Why didn't you tell anyone before?"
"It's not something you want to boast about," I said. "It's over anyway, I moved out."
"On your own?" Embry's eyebrows rose. "Where to?"
"I'm not on my own, I guess you could say I got fostered," I said with a grin. "I'm staying with Sam Uley."
"You know Sam Uley?" Quil said in surprise. "No one knows him; we know of him, but he keeps to himself; him and his weird girlfriend. Even Embry doesn't know him that well and they're brothers!"
"Hey, Emily's not weird, she's awesome," I frowned. "Anyway, Jared knows them, he introduced us."
"Oh, ok." Embry shrugged. "Well, I guess that's better than living with your Dad, if he hits you. What are you doing now? Do you want to hang out for a while?"
"Sure," I said. It seemed they were beginning to accept me. "I've got an hour to kill."
We all went over to Embry's house and I met his mother, Tiffany. She was on her own and Embry explained later that she'd never married. She had a brief affair with Sam's Dad before he abandoned his family and moved out of state and the result was Embry. Therefore the relationship between Sam and Embry was somewhat strained and they didn't go out of their way to see each other.
We ate chips and played a computer game for a while, completely forgetting about the time. The next time I looked at my watch, I knew the town bus would be pulling up outside the gas station.
"Shit! Sorry, I have to go," I said, leaping off my chair.
"Aww. Don't you want to miss Jacob?" Embry teased.
"Shut up. I guess I'll see you Monday."
I hurried out of the house and set off in the direction of the gas station, taking a slight detour to bring myself onto the route Jacob would take from the bus stop to his house, just in case he was already walking back. I didn't see him along the road and when I reached the gas station, much to my surprise the lights were off and the shutters down. A note was pinned on the outside of one of the shutters.
'Closed due to power outage. Sorry for inconvenience.'
A single streetlight shone down on the bus shelter and I checked my wristwatch again. The bus was never this late; it must have been and gone already. I cursed myself for not bringing my cellphone with me and walked up and down in front of the gas station for a few minutes, wondering where Jacob could be. Maybe he missed the bus in Forks. All I could do really was run home to get my phone and then call him. Disappointed, I turned to head back the way I had come, shoving my hands into my pockets and kicking at a loose stone on the sidewalk.
As I passed the end of the gas station store, the part in the shadow of the streetlight, I heard a groan. I stopped walking and listened hard. I could hear my own heart thumping and I felt strangely nervous. Something wasn't right and I suddenly remembered the awful dream I'd had the previous night which had prompted everything that had happened to me since.
Another groan reached my ears and then a single word, guttural as if uttered through clenched teeth.
"Help."
Despite my intense body heat, I went cold all over. I peered into the darkness alongside the building and after a few seconds my eyes adjusted enough to see the two trash bins standing against the wall and someone lying on the ground in front of them. Jacob.
I rushed forward and dropped to my knees beside him, put my hand on his chest. He was wearing no jacket, only his school shirt and he was ice cold, the lower half of his face covered with blood. Now he flinched away from me and threw one arm up as if to ward off a punch.
"Jacob, it's me. It's alright. What happened?"
He lowered his arm and I reached out again to touch him again, resting my hand on his other shoulder. This time he yelled out in pain and I snatched my hand back. I felt sick. Those evil bastards I'd fought with the day before and made to look weak had decided to take it out on Jacob instead and because I was fooling about playing stupid computer games with Embry and Quil, I missed the bus arriving. If I'd been here on time I could have prevented it. Rage and anguish flooded into me, rolling inside my chest in a ball of heat and my body began to shake. I backed away from Jacob quickly, terrified I would phase and hurt him even more. I was torn between wanting to take care of him and running to Forks to tear Tom and his gang limb from limb. They could wait; I'd catch up with them when Jacob was safe.
'Calm down,' I told myself. 'Get mad later. You can't help him if you lose it. Deep breaths.'
I closed my eyes, panting, willing the wolf in me to subside. Sam had said it could be uncontrollable at first, but I was damned if I was going to let it out right now. Gradually I became calmer and I hurried to Jacob's side again. He wasn't moving and when I touched his face there was no response.
"Shit, shit," I gasped, laying my hand on his chest. His heart was thudding rapidly and I guessed he must have passed out or something. Maybe that was a good thing. I went around the other side of him to avoid touching his shoulder, slid my arms under him and scooped him up. He didn't weigh half as much as I expected, but that was probably just me not knowing my own strength yet. I cursed myself once again for leaving my phone at home. I couldn't even use the one in the gas station, since it was closed.
Jacob stirred in my arms and groaned as I stood there trying to decide what to do for the best.
"Paul?"
"Yeah. I'm going to take you home."
"No," he gasped. "My Dad...will be...upset."
"Then we're going to mine." I began to walk quickly, almost tripping in my haste to get across the street. Jacob groaned in pain again and I slowed down. That half mile walk back to Sam's was going to be the longest walk of my life.