[Elizabeth]

When I woke up, it took me a while to realize where I was. The rose-framed bed, the delicate shades of blue, yellow and green on the walls, drapes and covers… lovely, but completely unfamiliar. Then Edward knocked at my door. Pretending to be still asleep was useless with a mind reader in the house, so I sat on the bed and told him to come in.

"I had a feeling you could be awake. Do you feel like eating something?"

"To see it again after a couple of hours? No, thanks. Coffee, maybe."

"Caffeine will just increase your pain. It'd better…"

"I understand you can't believe I can be more of a bitch than I already am, but unless you want to meet someone new and royally pissed I suggest you let me drink my morning coffee."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Thanks. Where is Bella?"

Edward took a grim expression. "She went to the reservation."

"Alone? You let her go face a pack of werewolves alone?"

"Listen, I'm not happy either, but Bella would've never accepted my help. Or yours. She wants to do that on her own."

"I don't like werewolves. I don't trust them."

"They're not exactly werewolves. More like shapeshifters."

"Same thing. Worse, actually."

Edward smiled. "Another of your grandmother's stories?"

"What else?"

I smiled as well, remembering all the times my Grandma told me those stories. Now it was like I was inside one of them. I wondered what she would've said about my new friends if we just had arrived sooner…

"Don't torture yourself. We can't change the past."

"Didn't I already tell you to stay the hell out of my head?"

"As I've already explained you tons of times: I can't. Get used to it."

I tried and narrowed the eyes to shoot him a death glare, but all I got was a grimace of pain.

"And I'm not bringing you coffee either. Painkillers and caffeine don't go well together. And you obviously need the former."

"Don't you dare!" I said, throwing a pillow against him. He moved so fast he was already in the kitchen by the time the pillow touched the floor. With a deep sigh, I let myself fall on the pillows I had left, wondering how in the hell I was going to survive in Edward Cullen's ex girlfriend's house, with just Edward around.

Out of boredom after a few minutes, I grabbed the phone from the nightstand and called Bella. I didn't expect her to reply immediately, but when she did I felt relieved to hear her voice. At least, she was still alive and well. But definitely unhappy.

"Bella, spit it out. What's wrong? Except the obvious, that is."

"Nothing… Just a twist I wasn't expecting, that's all. I can handle it. Really."

"Yeah, well… we're here. And I'd do anything just to escape Edward's grasp…"

"No way in hell."

"Famous last words…"

"I'll try and stop by later, but no promises. And give E… him a chance, K? He's not the ogre you think."

"You're not alone, aren't you?"

"Gotta go. Take care, Liz."

My reply was silenced by the dial tone. Damn you, Bella. I couldn't help but worry. She was older, stronger, even wiser than me… but you couldn't look at her without feeling the need to be there for her every time. Jasper must feel that sensation every single day of his life.

Again, I hoped she wasn't lying to me. Werewolves and shapeshifters weren't always pictured as good guys in my tribe's legends. Especially shapeshifters. I was more than willing to put my judgment on hold for the time being, but my instinctive, inner distrust wasn't something easy to ignore.

[Bella]

Elizabeth was worried, and I tried my best not to give away the truth. I was worried too. Even a little scared. Facing my father and Charlie – and Josh, Leah and the child Dave told me they had after I 'died' – wasn't something I had planned to do.

"Friends of yours? That girl… Liz."

"Yep. She's human, though."

"Risky."

"Maybe, but we both need each other and our friendship. And the family loves her… most of the family, anyway. And don't think I changed my mind. Dave? Spit it out. All I missed."

"It's a long story."

"Make it short. There no chance in hell I'm going to face my father without knowing how he became the Alpha."

He lowered his eyes, and took a sad expression.

"Dave, what's wrong?"

"As you wish, Bella. I'm not sure you're gonna like it, though."

And he began his tale. Oh God. I so didn't want to hear it, he was right.

When I got back for the funeral, things were already bad. Dave had imprinted on Grace Uley, Dave's fiancée's best friend. But to make things worse, Grace, a new addition to the pack, had imprinted on him too, and way before Dave did. That explained why Grace didn't want to help the pregnant bride-to-be with the wedding plans and spent all the time locked in her room crying. She fought it the hardest she could, she even ran away from the pack, but eventually she confessed everything to Dave. Unable to stay away from each other, the two started an affair, and when Julie found out all hell broke loose. Sam and Embry stood up in defense of the couple, against Quil, Paul and the other friends of the Atearas. They would work things out, but Julie, filled with anger and hate, just wanted Dave and Grace to pay. She had no chance against the female werewolf in a direct fight, so she chose the best way to be sure to be never forgotten by the couple. Julie went to the cliff on First Beach during a storm, and jumped in the ocean, killing herself and her unborn child.

That tragedy weighted on Sam's heart, as much as the hate of his friends. Grace and Dave went away from the reservation, to live in the woods for a while, but when they came back they were still watched with disdain, even if it wasn't their fault. Sam welcomed the couple to live with them, but to prevent another fracture within the pack he decided to leave the pack and his position of leader to Jacob, reminding to everyone ready to discuss that choice that Jacob had been the true Alpha all along as the last member of Ephraim Black's bloodline. It took some years, but in the end things got back to what they were before I became a vampire. Leah and Jacob married, they had a daughter, Faith. Dave became Jacob's second-in-command and married Grace. Quil left the pack to live a normal life, and died in a car crash a couple of years later, leaving Claire distraught. The young widow left the reservation and no one ever saw her again. But the worst was just about to happen. My brother, Charlie… he transferred the hate he felt for me on Faith, his little step-sister. Another intruder, as Josh and Leah had become as well. But Faith had a big brother and a mother ready to defend her… and a father too, something I never had. Something he couldn't fight against… and that just increased the hate inside of him. Charlie became a danger to the pack because of his erratic, violent behavior and was banned first by the other werewolves, and then by the tribe. He came back during one of the bonfire nights, and blamed everyone and me for everything that went wrong in his life. He also confessed he had really tried to kill me twice. And he was proud of that.

"Your father didn't believe you when you accused Charlie at the funeral. But hearing this coming from him… Bella, I can't even describe it to you."

I was trying my best to choke my sobs now.

"Try."

Jacob, Dave told me, attacked Charlie with such rage and fury it took five men to restrain him. He shouted him it was his fault he had lost me. That he would never forgive himself for not seeing the truth sooner. And that until he lived he would never see him again.

The same night Charlie went to the Cullen mansion, and set the house on fire. I don't know why, the house had been abandoned for years, and the treaty was broken… we would've never come back. He probably didn't plan to die in the fire, but that was what happened.

God. Of all things… I would've never expected that. I didn't exactly live in blissful joy either, with all that happened with Edward's return, but I had never imagined something like that to happen not even in my nightmares. I didn't love my brother, but I never wished him to die such a horrible, painful death.

"Bella…. No one obliges you to go see your father immediately."

"I have to."

"No you don't. Why don't we go at my house? I'm sure Sam and Grace will be pleased to see you. And my parents, too."

The offer was more than tempting, and I said yes. Truth was, I wanted to see the former leader of the pack. I wanted to know more of what had happened.

[Elizabeth]

I wanted to know more of what had happened.

I didn't know where that thought came from, but it just didn't want to go away. That was her house, I was lying in a bed one door away from her room, and when Edward wasn't talking or fighting with me, I could see it in his eyes… I wasn't the only one living in a nightmare.

Bella told me something, but she never went into detail. Not that I ever asked her to. And I would've never asked Edward. So… just one option left: my tarots, and that freaky thing I discovered I could do.

Bella, being Bella, knew how the tarots were important to me and left them on the nightstand near my phone. I took them and silently mixed the card, concentrating on the one whose name I would've never said aloud.

Bella Swan.

For every card I took in my hand, I could see something new. Bella arriving in Forks. Bella meeting Edward for the first time. Bella and Edward in the meadow…

I didn't even notice Edward coming in the room. I didn't even notice the door open, it was all too fast. One second I sat on the bed surrounded by cards, a quarter of second later I was lying flat on my back and my tarots were floating in the air all around me. I could just stare at Edward's face a few inches away from mine… and the hateful glare in his eyes.

"You want me to stay out of your head. Stay out of mine, too," he hissed.

Just then I realized the big mistake I had done. I tried not to shiver when I felt the cast on my wrist crack under his grasp. For a second or two, his face disappeared and I saw Gabriel's face instead, a hallucination so real I began shiver and my eyes filled with tears. I might have even whispered 'don't hurt me, please…'. Or maybe I just thought it. I didn't know. One second later I was alone once more, still hearing in my ear Edward's whispered excuses. I hugged my casted wrist and followed with a finger the slight rift on its surface. He went for that because I was holding a card with the right hand…

I dried my eyes with the back of the other hand and took a deep breath. I couldn't blame him, it had been my fault, and I had completely underestimated the situation and the entity of the wound in Edward's soul. Stupid, curious, careless girl. I would stab in the neck whoever dared to talk ill about my parents and I didn't stop thinking that for him it could be the same.

I got up, slowly and ignoring the pain, and I went downstairs. The door was still open; Edward had to have run outside to clear his mind. Swallowing my pride, I would make sure to present him with some decent excuses by the time he would come back home.

[Bella]

Everything was the same, but at the same time it wasn't. Kim and Embry were happy to see me, but they couldn't bring themselves to look at my sparkling skin and golden eyes. I was still Bella, but I was also one of their tribe's sworn enemy. A walking contradiction.

Sam had gotten older since the last time I had seen him. Emily's death had taken a toll on him, but living with Dave and Grace (and the Calls were there so often it was like they were living there too) seemed to have given him back the will to live. I wondered if my father was now as old as he looked, or if he and Leah had decided to keep phasing and stay young.

He smiled to me when I sat next to him. "Sounds like I'm the outcast now."

"You stood up for your daughter, it's something my father never did for me."

"You're still bitter, even after all this time."

"I wasn't. Then Dave begged me to come back, and all my old feelings came back as well. Guess that they will never change."

"Your father did. He never forgave himself for what he has done to you, for believing Charlie's word instead of yours.

"Charlie is dead, and so am I. It's a little late, don't you think?"

"Charlie can't talk to him, you still can. It's never too late to make things right."

Sam was still too wise for my liking, so I changed topic and I asked him about the strange things happening in the tribe.

"A few months after Charlie's death, we started finding dead animals in the woods, some trees died without an explanation… we didn't think it was important until people started disappearing. Men mostly. They all disappeared in the woods, and we found them at First Beach, all drowned."

"Someone here is very angry at you Quileutes. And according to my experience, and my friend Eamonn's experience… we're dealing with a vengeful ghost. Or more than one. Resentment is something powerful, can keep you tied up to this world even after death… what's wrong?"

Sam was looking at me with a strange expression, something between astonishment and pride.

"Nothing, Bella… it's just the way you talk about it. I just wished for a second that things had gone differently."

"If things had gone like you and my father wanted, I would've killed myself sooner or later. I can sustain this thing just because I'm a vampire. And I can't postpone this any longer, I have to meet Jacob. Is he going to make a scene or something?"

"We're going to find it out. I told Kim and Embry to stop by his house and alert him of your coming."

I sighed and hid my face in my hands. "Nice. So freaking nice! Why you didn't tell me, for God's sake?"

"I had a feeling that your body might have changed, but not your mind. Your primary instinct is still to avoid your father at all costs. Even when you don't want to."

I shot him a death glare a couple of seconds before someone knocked at the door.

"Who's there?" asked Dave, already behind the door.

"Who do you think, Call? Let me in!"

Dave gave me a pained look but Sam nodded and told him to open the door.

"Sounds like we're receiving the avant-garde…" he said with an amused smile. I had no idea of what he was talking about until the girl that had spoken earlier was right in front of me. Not that I needed a clue on her mother's identity. Like me, she was the spitting image of hers. And that would make her… Oh. My. God.

"Bella, I'd like you to meet Faith Black. Faith, this is Bella."

"My supposedly dead half-sister," she replied looking at Sam. Then her black eyes set on me. "About time you came here."

"I was busy."

"Faith, what are you doing here?" asked Sam.

"Mom and Dad weren't at home, I left them a message."

"Leah will kill you."

Faith shrugged and sat next to me. She looked fifteen… I wondered if she was a werewolf too.

"I'm the human of the family if you are wondering that. No wolf gene or strange stuff. Quite a disappointment, after two wolf brothers and a vampire sister."

Well, now I could tell without a doubt where my wits came from. Faith and I just had a parent in common, after all. I was going to say something, when the door almost fell down under a vigorous knocking.

Faith sighed. "Here they come…"

The first to enter was an older Leah, still clutching in her fist the message Faith had written. She didn't even look at me, and I felt somewhat relieved. Being at the receiving end of Leah Clearwater's wrath wasn't something pleasant. But Faith was demonstrating that not only she could handle it, but she could fight back really well. Kudos to my kid sister. But when I stopped looking at the two arguing, I ended up staring at my father. He had looked at me since he came inside the house, and I ignored it the best I could… but now I couldn't anymore.

I silently got up, and he preceded me out of the house. Just Sam and Dave noticed, but they did nothing to stop us. Oh God. The moment had come.

He phased into a wolf, and ran in the forest. I followed him, until we were in the middle of the forest, where no one would've heard our discussion. When he phased back (with his clothes, even I knew how remarkable that was), he gave me a long look, probably trying to reconcile once again the last mental image he had of the human me with the vampire he had in front of his eyes. He was trying to talk, but he couldn't find the words, or the courage, so I broke the ice myself.

"I take Dave really didn't mention his idea to save the reservation to you."

"He was talking about an expert… I didn't imagine he was talking about you."

"Well… surprise."

"What's happening then?"

"Angry spirits that have finally found a way to get back at the living. And it's going to be much worse, before it gets better. I've seen it before."

"You've seen it before."

"It's what I do. I'm Melinda freaking Gordon, remember?"

"Kind difficult not to. Bella…"

I raised a hand to silence him. "Don't. You. Dare. It's been twenty years, Jacob. I don't care what Sam might think. It's too late. For everything."

"I've never been a good father to you."

"You've never been a father, period. Look, I'm sorry for Charlie, but…"

That clearly had surprised him. "You're sorry… for the brother that tried to kill you?"

"Still my brother, I suppose. I would have never wished him to die like that."

"Someone up there clearly did."

"Isn't a bit late to change idea on your favorite child, Jacob?" I hissed. "Enjoy your new family and stop bothering me!"

Jacob flinched like I hit him in the face. I didn't plan on using that tone – really – but everything I said… well, it was true. I had a new family, brothers and a loving husband. He had a new wife and a new daughter. Our paths diverged twenty years earlier and I didn't see a reason to make them cross again after solving that ghost problem.

It was true… you can't never go home again. The weak link keeping me tied up to that place was severing itself, at last. The Cullens were my roots, they had always been... Talk about destiny.

I don't even remember what I told him after that. Probably nothing… I realized I wasn't in the reservation anymore when I caught a glimpse of the graveyard in which my mother was buried. I immediately slowed down, so to stop there and visit my mom's grave. Coming closer, I saw a guy with red-brown hair standing in front of it. I wasn't surprised, but I couldn't believe he would've left Elizabeth alone… Then I saw her, and judging by their faces I had just missed something big.

I definitely wasn't the only one having problems at the moment…