Thanks to Hidden Traces for the three reviews! If there were any other reviews or story alerts that happened, my lack of full access to the internet may have made it difficult for me to see them.

The next chapter after this will be up on Monday.

Fun in the Woods

As the days grew noticeably colder, Maureen found that time also passed quicker—the hours ceased to drag, especially during school. Except for the loss of daylight hours, it was a pleasant time. The air smelled of burnt leaves, and all the houses in the neighborhood had pumpkins on their front stoops.

"I can't decide what to be for Halloween." Jessica complained one morning. "It can't be something dorky, or predictable. Tyler Crowley is throwing a big party, and I have got to show up looking cute. Me and Beth were going to go to the Party Shop in Port Angeles—"

"If you buy one of those $40 slut costumes made from cheap polyester, I will cheerfully murder you." Maureen said to Jess across the breakfast table. "Tell me what you want to be, and I'll make you a costume for free."

"Holy shit. For real?"

"For real, Jess."

Jessica beamed. "Awesome! I knew you were good for something."

Maureen opened her mouth, then shut it again. I don't know if she's kidding or not, but I'm not dignifying that with a response.

Maureen ended up taking costume commissions for half a dozen people, Jessica included. She made the other five teens pay, but not much. The costumes were relatively simple…things like an angel, a sexy kitty cat, and an escaped convict.

"Are you and your family going to dress up during school hours?" Maureen asked Edward in class.

Edward gave Maureen his patronizing smirk.

"This year Halloween falls on a weekend, so we don't have to." He said. "But we usually do dress up, to blend in. Alice wears a pair of cat ears, and Emmett and Jasper bring out tuxedos that date from fifty years ago. But nothing more elaborate then that. We try not to—"

"Attract attention, yeah." Maureen nodded.

You could dress up as vampires, though. She thought gleefully, unable to stop herself. And it would actually be a change for you, given that you guys spend the other 364 days of the year dressing up as preppy douchebags.

Edward glared at Maureen. She ignored it, refusing to care about him taking offense. Most people couldn't control what they were thinking, including herself. And more to the point, no one should have to control his or her thoughts. It wasn't anyone's fault that Edward could see what was always believed to be private.

"Halloween costumes aside." Maureen said. "You can tell Rosalie that I've got one of her outfits done, and the second is already cut out."

"I'll be sure to give her the message."

Although the lack of daylight and Halloween commissions took up a lot of Maureen's time, she still managed to go foraging in the woods every once in a while. The plant dressing tools she'd cobbled together had proven effective, and she'd already spun a quantity of hemp and nettle into linen. It wasn't as fine as flax-spun thread, but it had its uses. And it was all hers, made from scratch.

One Saturday, Maureen woke up to the glare of sunlight blazing through her window. She grinned—it was so very rarely sunny here, this was definitely a day to be outside.

Maureen dressed warmly and headed for the forest, foraging pack securely strapped to her shoulders. The trees still had enough leaves that the forest floor was shaded, but the indirect sunlight made the woods look warmer.

Maureen kept a weather eye out for plants, not expecting much. This would likely be more of a walking adventure than a foraging one—between the colder weather and Maureen's previous searches, she'd cleared out almost every fiber plant in several square miles of forest. Still, one never knew what one might find.

Case in point: when Jasper Hale suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Yeargh!" Maureen leapt backwards, nearly slamming her back against a tree.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" Jasper said. He was wearing a gray button up shirt, and a pair of black trousers. He looked concerned, but also amused.

"Gee Sherlock, you figure that out all by yourself?" Maureen snapped.

She was about to continue with another acerbic remark, when she felt a wave of good-natured humor wash over her. The witty comeback seemed pointless—why be mean when things felt so pleasant?

"Yeah, you scared me. Good joke, though. " Maureen said, grinning.

"Jasper, don't do that." Rosalie said, stepping out from behind a tree. "Not if you don't want to do it all the time. I know Maureen won't take kindly to it."

"Kindly to what?" Maureen asked. She still felt amused and happy, but it was beginning to fade a little.

"Jasper can feel and manipulate people's emotions." Rosalie said.

Maureen's good humor vanished abruptly. It felt as if someone had removed a clenching hand from her throat, and fresh air was sweeping into her lungs. Jasper looked guilty.

"You're an empath?" Maureen asked.

"I just told you he was." Rosalie said, crossing her arms across her chest. She was wearing a dark red turtleneck sweater, her wind-tousled hair pulled back with a clip.

"It was a rhetorical question." Maureen said.

That good feeling was almost like a perspective. Maureen thought to herself. If he pushed hard enough, I imagine he could distort reality…actually change my point of view. That's the most subtle, powerful thing I've seen in this whole place.

Maureen looked Jasper in the eye. "So you manipulate emotions. Subtle…but ballsy."

Jasper looked serious, but his face twitched like he was trying not to laugh. "That's one way of putting it."

Maureen raised her hands. "And hey, between you, Alice and Edward the lot of you are pretty much set, aren't you? You three are like a gestalt organism designed to predict and fuck with people. Or does anyone else in your family have messed up overly-powerful abilities too?"

"We all carry gifts from our human lives, amplified." Rosalie said. "Emmett, for example, is incredibly strong."

"Yeah, I got that from when he mentioned bear wrestling for kicks." Maureen said. "Because you torture your food, but it's just an animal, so hey, it's humane! You guys may preach morality, but you still take a lot of liberties when it comes to the world around you."

"I'm sorry I replaced your anger with good humor." Jasper said. Maureen eyed him…unlike Edward, he sounded genuinely contrite. "I just didn't want you to hate me."

"You think I'd hate you for something as dumb as you accidentally scaring me?" Maureen said.

Jasper shrugged. "I'm not sure what to think. I haven't had enough contact with you. Before I realized your blood smelled sour, I avoided you like I avoid most humans. But Edward says your thoughts are frequently negative, or upset. And from what I can tell through sensing your feelings, he's right."

Maureen felt a chill run through her. She'd dismissed the Cullens as non-threatening, because they used their powers so foolishly—like for criticizing the thoughts of teenagers. But first and foremost, what telepathy, empathy and precognition all dealt with was perception—with seeing things. She should remember that.

"I may have a cynical, bitter mindset." Maureen said. "But I don't hate people for little things, especially when they apologize."

She headed down a slope, motioning to the two vampires. "Come on, walk with me. I wouldn't mind a little company, and you can help me look for stinging nettles."

Jasper sniffed, loudly. "The nearest stinging nettle plant is about a mile east of here."

"Well then I guess we'll go that way." Maureen said, tugging lightly on Jasper's sleeve. Rosalie smirked, as the three of them began walking.

"So, is there any particular reason why you two sought me out here?" Maureen asked.

"Oh, we were in the area, and decided to drop in." Jasper said.

Maureen gave him a look. "That sounds vague and evasive." She said.

"We were hunting deer, about fifty miles north of here." Rosalie said bluntly. "We caught your scent, and Jasper wanted to come and say hello."

Maureen grinned. "Better. Hello, Jasper, and how are you?"

"I'm as well as I ever am." Jasper said. "And a bit more cheerful, too, thanks to you."

"Did I say something meaningful?" Maureen asked.

"It's who you are that's meaningful." Jasper said. "I don't have the best control over my desire for human blood. It's very…encouraging for me that I don't want to eat you."

"Once again, you sure know how to sweet-talk someone." Maureen rolled her eyes. "Telling me I have bad B.O. is hardly endearing."

"It's not sweat so much as just your natural scent." Jasper said. "It makes me feel better, that I'm not hungry at all around a human."

"I thought we'd established that I wasn't human." Maureen said.

"You're human enough." Jasper explained. "Your blood smells human, just sour. Anyway, it's not like other supernatural creatures are as friendly as you."

She laughed. "I'd make a crack about how I'm not a good example of 'friendly', but given that I probably am lots friendlier than other 'magical' beings, I'll forego the comment."

Maureen glanced sidelong as Jasper. "Wait…is that why you always look constipated? Because you're resisting the temptation of human blood?"

Jasper had appeared fairly relaxed; now he tensed up again. "There's that." He said. "Also, I'm…" He trailed off.

"Hey, if it's a touchy subject we don't have to get in to it." Maureen said. "I don't share a lot of personal stuff with people."

"I'm covered with vampire bites."

Or we could dive right into the deep end. Maureen thought.

Jasper's expression was a mix of discomfort and catharsis. "Many years ago, I was responsible for training young vampires. I was bitten numerous times. They still hurt."

"Wait, don't you have amazing healing powers?" Maureen asked. "Like if you got cut, it would heal, right?"

"It's almost impossible to cut us." Rosalie said. "Slices and blows just glance off."

Yeesh. They're all lame-ass Supermen. Maureen grimaced.

"So vampire bites are different." Maureen said. "They keep hurting even when you're dead and feel like stone?"

Jasper nodded. "It's the venom."

Maureen slapped her forehead. "Ah, yes, the venom." She said. "That infinitely retarded—look, I understand the idea of vampirism as an infection, being transmitted into the bloodstream through the fangs. That's not weird. But you guys make it sound like some hideous acidic poison that drips copiously from the fangs, mingling with the saliva and bubbling in a constant chemical reaction of burning death."

Maureen nearly burst out laughing as Forks all but gave her a standing ovation for her description. Apparently this place liked the idea of poisonous saliva.

So did the vampires. "That's a valid description." Rosalie said.

"And venom in the bloodstream makes a human into a vampire." Maureen said, shaking her head. "I dislike that. There's no blood exchange, it's just bite and turn. To avoid an epidemic of vampirism you either have to kill your victims, or use a knife and a cup to get the blood from them to you."

Jasper inhaled deeply. "See, that's why I wanted to meet you properly." He said. "Because you can talk about things like that, but just a whiff of you kills my appetite. You should sit at our table at lunch."

Maureen did laugh out loud, then. "Hah! You lot sure have come a long way from 'stay the hell away'. Well Jasper, in all honesty I've gotten used to sitting by myself most of the time. But if you're ever having a bad day, I'd be glad to help out."

Jasper smiled. "Yes, and if there's anything I can do for you—"

"You could do me a small favor, and go stand over there." Maureen pointed. About twenty yards away there was a break in the trees, and a large patch of sunlight was beaming through.

"Rosalie said you guys sparkle in sunlight. I want to see if it looks as dumb as it sounds."

Rosalie looked angry. "It's a curse, Maureen, don't mock—"

"Sure, we'll both go stand there." Jasper said. He grabbed Rosalie's hand, and pulled her into the sunlight faster that Maureen's eyes could see.

The yellow light struck their faces and hands, scattering into a million glittering points of light. Even standing still, their skin was in motion, sparkling like diamonds.

Maureen was stupefied for a moment. Then she was on her knees, laughing uncontrollably.

"Ahhh-hah-hahhh! Yaaaaah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hahhh!"

Jasper still smiled, obviously amused. Rosalie looked livid.

Maureen wiped tears of laughter out of the corner of hers eyes.

"Hah-hahhh...I'm sorry, you guys. Bu-but…it's even worse than I imagined! Your skin does that? Hah! You both look like you rolled across the set of the movie Legend!"

"The 1980's film? " Jasper said. "I saw that. It had a lot of creativity, but very clichéd production values."

"Way to take the fun out of my wisecrack, Jasper." Maureen climbed to her feet. "Come on, let's keep going."

The three of them continued through the woods. While Maureen could sense the direction of a plant she wanted and travel aimlessly until she found it, both Rosalie and Jasper could detect its exact location by scent, and find it quickly.

"It's effective tracking, sure." Maureen said, cutting several nettles away from their roots. "But it sort of takes the fun out of it. I think I'm going to head back home. There won't be much to look for in the woods until spring."

Jasper and Rosalie walked back towards civilization with Maureen, conversing about this and that. Maureen threw in a sarcastic comment every now and again, to which Rosalie would frequently respond with annoyance. Jasper took offense only a few times. Mostly he just smiled and laughed. He was a sociable person—Maureen wondered if he wasn't lonely, only being close to six people on a regular basis.

"There's another favor I wanted to ask, actually." Maureen said. They were almost at the tree line.

"What is it?" Jasper asked.

"I want to meet the werewolves."

Both vampires were lost for words.

"…why?" Jasper finally spat out.

"It's not curiosity." Maureen said. "That's not the main reason, anyway. It's that I don't like unnecessary secrets, and them not knowing about me is unnecessary. You guys know them, and they know you, right? I think I should meet them too."

"They only know us because they caught us feeding on Quileute territory decades ago." Rosalie said. "And we have a treaty where we don't go on their land, and they don't tell everyone what we are."

"Quileute…they're Native Americans?" Maureen bit her lip. "Huh. That's not totally retarded. More natural and community-based than the average British-countryside-berserker werewolf, anyway."

"You don't want to meet them." Jasper insisted. "They're unpleasant at best, hostile at worst. And there's only one actual werewolf alive, currently. Maybe two. And both are young. Most of the Quileutes think it's just an old story about wolves. Only the tribal elders know the truth."

"Then I should probably meet with one of those guys." Maureen said. "It's only polite. I mean, I'm a not-quite-human creature, and I want to live next door. I should introduce myself, like a good neighbor."

"We can't go onto the reservation." Jasper said.

Maureen shrugged. "I don't need a babysitter. Just give me a name, and I'll go pay them a visit. I plan to be nice about it, so I don't think they'll get mad. And if they tell me not to come back, well it's their land, and that's their right. But I know about them being werewolves. They have a right to know about me."

Rosalie and Jasper looked at each other. Rosalie sighed.

"You'll want to look for a man named Harold Clearwater." Rosalie said. "Failing that, any older person by the name of Black would work."

"Thanks." Maureen said. "I appreciate it."

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