[Bella]

"Bella, calm down."

"Calm down?" I almost shouted in my phone. "Eamonn, have you listened to a word I just said?"

"Darling, considering you just woke me up, I think I'm doing just fine."

I sighed, and sat against a tree. Eamonn was the first person I had to tell what I had just discovered. I wasn't still sure of what to do next… I could use the Professor's opinion.

"Bells, listen. Back to square one. What was the first thing you thought when your friend told you what happened?"

Lady in White. That was what I had thought. But no one had ever seen a woman resembling Julie Ateara walking around the woods. The victims seemed to be chosen at random. I told Eamonn that, and then I exposed him again my theory on Charlie. Basically, I blamed him for everything.

"From what you told me, he holds a big grudge against you, but especially against Jacob and the tribe. He would've never expected them to turn on him the way they did. Hate is a very powerful thing."

"And you think I'm dealing with both. Vengeful spirit and a Lady in White."

"Try to see if their agendas are separated. If they're not, I'm afraid you're in trouble. Big time."

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Bella, be careful. Tonight – 'my' tonight, just to be clear – I'll send you another mail with all I can find of cases like this. You sure you don't want me to deliver the results in person? I've never been in a Native American reservation."

"Maybe I'm wrong, but you still have an infant daughter to look after, right?"

"Infants travel free of charge."

"Don't you dare, Eamonn," I hissed. "Don't. You. Dare. Bring. Abby. Here."

"Ok, ok, don't go all mother hen on me! But if you need help, you call me. No buts."

"As you wish, Professor."

"Abby wants to say hello too, by the way," he said, and after a second I was hearing Abby making happy sounds and a little laugh. Enough to make my heart melt. I missed my little girl so much I thought my heart would break. I didn't care what Eamonn said, I would never ask him to come here and help. I ended the call closing my phone against my chest, and resumed watching what was left of what once was a beautiful house. All of sudden I felt depressed like hell. Twenty years after, I was still fighting against my father and brother. Would this never end?

The three shadows I was now used to see around me all the time moved closer to me, sort of an attempt to console me.

"Thanks for the effort, guys, but I'll need a little more than that. Still decided not to tell me who you are?"

The three shadows shook their heads.

"Fine. Just let me know when you're ready. We have all eternity to deal with this, after all."

"Talking to yourself?"

I jumped to my feet in one tenth of second and looked in the direction of the voice. My half-sister Faith was there, and she was getting closer to me. I hadn't even heard her coming, but I could see a battered truck parked nearby.

"Hi Faith. What are you doing here?"

"It depends, what are you doing here?"

"I just had a fight with Charlie, no big deal. We fight all the time."

God, what the hell was I thinking? Faith looked at me with a strange expression, like I was crazy or something. Could I blame her? I think not.

"I know you're supposed to… talk with the dead."

"Kind of weird, I know. Welcome to my world."

"And he's… he's still here?"

"And angry like hell. I thought he was the one responsible for all the things that happened here… but his hate is directed towards all the tribe, now. Not just me. It's like fuel… and someone is using it to harm the tribe."

"Sounds bad."

"It is. A friend of mine thinks there is more than one spirit involved in this, and that if their agendas are one and the same for everyone, then we're in trouble."

"Like an army of ghosts?"

The little sister was smart, I had to give her that.

"Ghosts are not supposed to form groups, except when we're talking about families. Faith… did the disappearances happen one at the time, or sometimes more men disappeared at once?"

Faith bit her lip. "I'm not sure… why?"

"Because I was thinking we were dealing with a couple of ghosts. But if the ghosts are more…"

"You said armies of ghosts don't exist."

"Unless someone forces them together. I've read of this… But I've never seen it happen."

"You mean… magic."

Her expression was so comical I could help but laugh. Nothing but a laugh to shake off bad thoughts.

"Faith, I'm a vampire. Ghosts exists. Your father is a werewolf and so is your brother. And you don't believe magic exists?"

"Come on, there have to be limits somewhere."

I shook my head. "Sorry. Magic exists."

"I'm almost afraid of asking you how much you know about magic."

How much? Well… I knew how to trace a devil's trap, I carried a bottle of holy water with me all the time – just in case – salt was good to keep spirits away, and I learned a few Latin exorcism rituals very effective during possessions. I was getting good as summoning spirits, too. And if Jasper only suspected half of that, he would probably kill me with his bare hands.

"Just a few tricks. Come on, I'll take you home. And by the way… shouldn't you be at school?"

"When your vampire sister shows up to exorcize the reservation, you're allowed to skip school, I think."

I laughed again, but then I became serious.

"Faith, why were you here?"

Faith lowered her eyes. "Don't tell Dad, ok? It's just… you lived here, Charlie died here… you are the big elephant in the room everyone pretend not to see. Maybe I was just trying to get some answers on my own."

"Did it work?"

"I don't understand how a brother can do something like that to his sister. Josh would never lay a finger on me. He's such a good guy!"

A good guy that helped Charlie manufacture my car accident, I thought, but I bit my tongue and decided not to say a word. Charlie had been a bad influence on many people, and Faith didn't need to know about her brother's mistakes. He saw the evil in Charlie and protected Faith from him, and that was enough for me.

Faith insisted on taking me back to Forks with her car, and I took advantage of the time to think about our conversation. About the 'army of ghosts', as Faith defined it. Charlie's rage was the energy the other spirits were feeding on, I knew that much. But what about the Lady in White? How many women killed themselves and their children after being betrayed by their men in the last forty years? Cause there was just one name that kept coming in my mind, and if it was really Julie we were talking about, she was probably as angry as Charlie, if not more…

Still, I needed proofs, and I had no idea of where to find them. But one thing I knew… I wouldn't find them in Forks.

"Faith, I've changed my mind. Do you mind taking me to the rez instead?"

"Not at all… why?"

"I need to speak with Sam."

***

[Edward]

A few hours after Elizabeth and I came back home, I distinctively felt Bella's presence outside the house. It was like she didn't have the courage to enter, and I didn't understand why. I checked on Elizabeth, making sure she was still sleeping peacefully, and then I went out to talk to my sister.

I wasn't prepared to see her like that. Bella was always smiling, always happy… I had never met that sad and somber creature in front of my eyes before, but I realized with a shiver that Jasper and the others did when Bella was alive. Staying here wasn't good for her, and now I could understand why Jasper so strongly opposed to Bella's decision to come back here.

I hugged my little sister, and we stayed that way for a while.

"Bella, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong… a billion things, apparently," said Bella. "Listen… I don't want to disturb Elizabeth, can we stay here and talk?"

I nodded. She was right not to disturb Elizabeth. Less than an hour after we got home she woke up screaming for a nightmare I had the misfortune of see in my head as well. Just then I understood how things between us had changed… Before this morning, she would have never allowed me to see her cry, or to get close enough to comfort her. She didn't exactly allow me the latter, but I stayed with her until she fell asleep again. Elizabeth was safer here than she was in Chicago, but this situation had to end… like with my sister, the toll she was paying was too high for her.

"Sure we can. What happened?"

[Bella]

What happened… oh well, Edward, where to start?

"It's Charlie, Edward. My brother is involved in this situation… and after talking with Sam, I think Julie Ateara might be involved too. The majority of the disappeared men betrayed their wives and girlfriends at least once in their lives… and a Lady in White is not forgiving with unfaithful men."

"Lady in White?"

"A betrayed woman that kills her child and then herself after being betrayed by the man she loves. Fits Julie's profile. She committed suicide at First Beach. But it still doesn't explain how multiple disappearances could've happened at the same time."

"What are you thinking of? An army of ghosts?"

"Funny, Faith had the same idea. But outside of family ties… I don't know, it's a rare thing and it usually involves dark magic."

Edward gave me a perplexed look, not different from the one Faith gave me earlier that day.

"Magic?"

"Yes, Edward, magic. We exist … why shouldn't magic exist too?"

"This world can't get any weirder…"

I laughed. "I hope it won't. I really hope it won't."

I was still laughing when I took my ringing phone out of my pocket and answered the call. It was my half-sister, calling from the reservation in tears.

Jacob had just vanished in the woods.