Book 2:Alicia

Tiffany and I stopped immediately. I knew that scent anywhere. It was werewolf. Tiffany knew it too. But I was the only one that knew which werewolf it was. Leah.

"Well this can't be good," I said.

"You think it was Sam?" Tiffany asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. This is Leah, I know it." I considered this for a moment. "Go back to the house and tell everyone what we found."

"What are you gonna do?"

"I am going to go see what's actually going on. If Jasper and I aren't back within ten minutes, come for us. And don't let Alice come for any reason until the time is up."

Tiffany nodded. "Right. Be careful."

I looked at the ring on her hand. I just nodded and flew off to find Jasper.

Please be alright, I thought. Please.

Suddenly, I could hear snarling. Oh, no. It had turned into a fight.

I busted through the trees into a clearing. Jasper and Leah were going at each other again and again. Jasper had chosen wolf form to fight in. Well maybe he hadn't chosen. Neither one was quite getting the upper hand. Jasper had the speed but Leah had the knowledge. Jasper had no idea how to fight with skill in this form anymore than a newborn knew how to fight.

He needed help.

I started to shimmer and then I landed on four legs. Leah noticed me then. She stopped for a moment to stare at me. The black wolf that was Jasper, was breathing very hard and not taking advantage of her momentary distraction.

Jasper, are you alright? I asked.

Sort of. Even his mind voice sounded tired. Fighting in this form is harder than it looks. You make it look easy.

I guess I just had an instinct or something. But that's for a different conversation. You don't have any injuries do you?

Jasper snorted. I may be new to this, but I'm not completely unskilled. Stupid mutt couldn't get a scratch on me.

Leah snarled. Shut up. I'm not the mutt here. I'm full werewolf unlike you disgusting half breeds.

You know, that would have hurt more if we hadn't been so used to you hating us. We are really tired of the stupid remarks and names. Get some new material, I thought at her.

She snarled. Don't tell me what to do!

What did you even come after Jasper for? What exactly happened?

I was walking through the forest when Jasper suck up on me.

Why were you in the forest, on our territory?

Alicia, Jasper thought. It wasn't like that.

I never said it was but I just want to know what the hell she was doing out here.

Leah had no answer. I had caught her over the bounds and she had no excuse.

Maybe I don't. But Jasper did attack me.

You attacked me first! Besides, you interrupted me. I was hunting.

Hunting? That's a very interesting word for what you bloodsuckers do.

That's what it is. Hunting. We chase and track out food just like humans or wolves, I thought.

Whatever. Anyways, that is what happened.

I don't believe you, Leah.

She sighed. Okay I give up. I was walked around here-don't ask me why. And I ran across Jasper's scent. I decided to follow it- don't ask me why about that either. I don't know. And he was...hunting. I growled again, no idea why, and I guess his instincts kicked in and he attacked. So yes it was my fault.

I was surprised. Well. Just forget it. No one was hurt. Just go home, Leah.

Whatever, leeches. She crouched and bounded into the forest.

Jasper and I changed back and sighed.

"She gets tiring after a while," I said.

"Tell me," Jasper agreed.

"Well, c'mon. I told Tiffany if we weren't back in ten minutes to come with the family."

Jasper looked at me like, why?

"I was prepared for anything. I thought she might be leading you into an ambush. I was analyzing all the possibilities."

"Now where did you get that from?" Jasper asked sarcastically. He smiled.

I spoke in the same tone. "I don't know. I guess that is just one of life's mysteries."

We laughed.

We got home and Alice was pacing back and forth. She looked up at our approach and she emanated relief. She bounded over to Jasper and I.

"Are you two alright?" she asked as she hugged us tight.

"Yes," Jasper and I said.

She released us. "Thank God. What happened?"

"We'll explain inside. To everyone," Jasper said.

Alice nodded.

We had just finished telling everyone what had happened with Leah. Everyone was surprised and asking the same question. Why?

"You didn't catch anything in her mind?" Edward was asking.

"Nope," I said.

"Neither did I," Jasper said.

All the while we were having the discussion, Alice was sitting on the steps, listening, arms crossed. She was absolutely furious with Leah. It was almost making me mad. But she was far enough away that I only got slightly irritated.

"Um, Alicia?" Jasper said.

"What?" My voice sounded irritated too. That surprised me. I shook my head and let out a deep breath, closing my eyes. "I'm sorry. Alice is really mad at Leah and enough of it is getting to me that I'm irritated."

"Hmm. Jasper's ability doesn't do that to him," Edward said.

"Remember how Tiffany said it was close to his ability? When I test the mood, it makes me feel a little of the same emotion along with whatever I was feeling in the first place." When they all looked at me like what? I said, "Yeah, I don't know."

Alice tried to control her emotion. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's alright. No one did," I said.

"Except me and you," Tiffany said to me.

"Speaking of which. You have been surprising us a lot lately. You keep hiding stuff from us," Rosalie said accusingly.

"Auntie Rose, don't be rude, please," Renesmee said in her trilling voice.

Rosalie smiled at her. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be rude."

"Okay."

Liar, Tiffany thought to me.

I know. She was so trying to be mean. She doesn't like us, I thought back.

Tiffany and I snorted. Everyone looked at us. "Nothing," we said together.

"That is weird," Emmett said.

"Duh, we're twins," we said.

"I know, you said that. But you guys don't look anything alike," Emmett said.

"Biological twins, you moron," Tiffany and I said.

"Well, so we know that you don't anything else to hide, why don't you start from the beginning," Carlisle said.

"Okay," I said. I looked to Tiffany. "You want me to tell the story of our change?"

She nodded. "Yes, please."

I turned back to the family. "We were a family of three. Our mother, Tiffany, and I were very happy together. Our father had died when our mother was nine months pregnant." I was smiling.

Then my smile turned into a frown. "It was our seventeenth birthday. We had just finished blowing out the candles and began opening the presents. When we finished, we heard something outside.

"We heard it coming up the steps. Then the door busted open and one of the Children of the Moon came in. Our mother pushed us behind her. The werewolf...killed our mother right in front of our eyes. I don't want to go into specifics."

My voice got shaky. "We ran outside into the forest behind our house. We were screaming and tears were running down our faces. We would have stayed but we knew we couldn't do anything to help. The werewolf had already...murdered her beyond repair." I stopped.

"It's alright. Take your time," said Carlisle.

My voice got steadier and my sadness turned into pure hatred. "That's when he found us. We stopped as we gazed into the black eyes of the hunter. He was beautiful and very pale. He had blonde hair and it was pulled into a pony tail.

"There was a woman beside him. She was more beautiful than the man. I remember she had a feline like stance and fiery red hair."

I heard Edward and Bella gasp. I looked at them. They were staring at each other. When they noticed my pause, they turned to look at me. "Sorry," they said.

"It's alright. So anyways," I continued. "The man began talking. 'Hmm,' he'd said. 'You two are interesting. I have been tracking you for a long time. And you smell quiet delectable.' We had no idea what he had been talking about at the time. 'It's a shame...' He didn't finish the thought.

" 'Please don't hurt us,' I had said.

" 'Oh, don't worry. It won't hurt too much.'

"The woman spoke next. 'James, hurry up with your food.' Tiffany and I were scared beyond movement at this point.

" 'Enough Victoria,' he'd snapped. 'Now which one do you want?'

" 'You'll take neither,' a woman's voice had said. Suddenly in front of us appeared a woman with brown hair. She was average size and, again, very pale and beautiful.

" 'They're coming with me,' the woman said. She grabbed us both by the arm and jumped away with us. She ran so fast I almost passed out. I was still scared. I could hear the others following.

" 'Take care of them,' the woman carrying us had said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something fall back in the trees. I had no idea who she was talking about.

"She stopped in a small clearing. She released us and we both collapsed onto the ground. A few minutes later, something appeared in front of us. My eyes went up and I immediately flinched.

"Standing there was a blonde man, equally as pale as the other three people that we had just encountered, and just as beautiful. He met my eyes confidently. His expression made me drop my eyes in fright.

" 'This is Jasper Whitlock. He will be in charge of you,' she'd said. 'I am Maria. I'm in charge of Jasper so you will listen to me as well.' Sue turned to Jasper. 'Which one do you want first?'

"Jasper sighed. I could tell he didn't like us. He suddenly appeared at my side. 'It really doesn't matter to me.' He grabbed me by the arm and jerked me up. He then proceeded to drag me into the forest. He left there and went to get my sister. When he came back, he-well you get the idea." I didn't really want to go into specifics.

"I had lost consciousness sometime during the change process. Apparently so did Tiffany.

"About three days later, I woke up next to Tiffany. Jasper and Maria explained our new life and what had to be done. We didn't like it at all."

"We refused to go hunting," Tiffany said. "About a week later, we had grown weak with hunger. They took us to a hidden but public human place, but we made no move to attack any one of them. They brought us back.

"Another week after that, we just couldn't do anything. So...Maria sent us to talk to Jasper alone."

"Why?" Seth asked.

Tiffany looked around nercously.

"To be killed," Maria said simply.

When Seth opened his mouth to object, I spoke.

"Don't judge her Seth. We were absolutely useless, so she had a right to do that. Anyone in the south would have." He closed his mouth. I gestured for Tiffany to tell the rest.

Tiffany nodded. "So when Maria caught up to Jasper, he was about to go off and hunt.

" 'Maria, come on. I really need to hunt. So do you,' Jasper had said irritated.

" 'Ugh. I suppose you're right. I'll call our strongest newborns to hold them until we get back. Then we kill them."

Maria smacked her hand against her face. "Biggest. Mistake. Of that time." She dropped her hand and smiled. "But it turned out fine. Go on."

"So the newborns held us, our hands behind our backs. Maria and Jasper left to hunt. I was scared for my sister and I. That gave me the strength. Despite my weakness, I broke the newborns' hold on both me and my sister.

"She was scared for us too. That gave her the speed and will power. She was much faster than anyone there, so she picked me up and ran.

"Surprisingly, the newborns didn't chase us. We made it all the way to Tennessee.

"That was when Alicia finally got tired. She slowed and then stopped. She sat me down and we both fell.

"Then a herd of Elk walked past us, not even acknowledging our presence. We looked at each other and nodded. We ran after the Elk and caught one each. We quickly regained our strength.

"Then we thought, why go back? It isn't worth it. So we bought a house there and stayed until we thought people would start to notice. We had been there about five years.

"We found that we didn't really like having to stay inside most of the time. So we moved to a more cloudier state. Maine. We stayed there about six years. That is when we noticed we missed the country. But we needed the clouds. So we then moved to the cloudy part of West Virginia, where we are now.

"We had been there about a month I think, when you guys first walked in. That is when I started hiding our scent."

"Her fast thinking is what saved us from exposition," I said. "Then, one day, Tiffany was talking about 'maybe we should trust them.'"

"Then she said, 'Do you want Jasper to go on a killing spree? We were the ones that got away.' Or something like that," Tiffany said.

"What? Hey, I resent that!" Jasper looked at me accusingly.

"Hey. I didn't know you were different. When we left I could have sworn I heard you yelling at that newborn, 'Where the hell did they go?' What was I supposed to think? You were going to say, 'Nah, it's okay. Come on in, have a seat.' Uh, with my past experience with you, I don't think so," I said.

He didn't look accusing anymore. "Point taken."

"So anyways," Tiffany said. "She told me that she didn't want to hear it and she shut me out of her mind. Then the bell rang."

"On our way home, I considered it again. I said I had a good feeling and maybe we could trust them. What I didn't tell her, was that I also had a feeling that something bad would come out of this. Apparently that was meant for me, seeing as I'm the one of the two of us that is getting the short end of the stick." I eyed the ring of Tiffany's hand again.

I sighed. "So then she got all giddy and said something like, 'Finally we can have some friends!' Then I said, 'Yeah.' Though I wasn't sure what you all were going to do. So we dropped the car off at our house and came to your house. Then the past few weeks happened and, here we are."

"That's everything," Tiffany said.

"No it isn't," Maria said.

"What?" Tiffany and I said.

"Your animals? How in the hell did that happen?" Maria asked.

"Oh," Tiffany and I dragged out the word and smiled.

"We were very lonely before we met you guys. We had always wanted a dog but we couldn't have one because our mother was allergic. We made due with the wolves out back," I said.

"One of those wolves actually became our pet at home," Tiffany said.

"And the cat?" Maria said.

"The cat. Well I sort of found her on the side of the road. She was dying and I wanted to save her so I bit her," Tiffany said sheepishly.

"Oh yeah, and we bit the dog because he got sick," I said. "And then I was out walking one day when we lived in Tennessee when I heard a stampede. I followed the sound to a plain and there was a beautiful herd of wild horses. The leader was about to lead them over the edge.

"I stopped them and the leader wouldn't leave me alone." I laughed. "So we became the best of friends and I didn't want to lose him so I changed him."

"Names?" Alice asked.

Everyone looked over to her. She was calmed down. She was even smiling.

"So she speaks," Jasper said, appearing at her side.

She leaned her head against his stomach and laughed. "Shut up." She looked up to me. "Names?"

"The horse is Bandit," I said.

"The cat is Willow," Tiffany said.

"And the wolf is Rontu," we both said.

"Hmm. Bandit, Willow, and Rontu. That's interesting. Where did you get the names?" Alice asked.

"I got Bandit from the way I found him. He was running without paying attention like a bandit does when he is being chased by the cops," I said.

"My cat is pure black with green eyes. She has that name for the simple reason that I think it's pretty," Tiffany said.

"And Rontu means 'fox eyes' or 'yellow eyes.' Wolves have yellow eyes," I said.

"I beg to differ," Seth said. "Ours are black."

"Oh well," I said. "These are normal wolves. You're a shape shifter."

He rolled his eyes.

"So now, we know your background. Tell us about your gifts. Detail," Carlisle said.

Tiffany and I let out a breath. "Okay," we said.

"I'll go first," I said. "I can sense and change emotions like Jasper. But the way that mine is different is that the moods around me affect me. I actually take those in and they become a part of my mood. How much of it really depends on how close the person is.

"I can change our eye color and create a heartbeat. I don't really know how I got those two abilities. I know I got the mood ability because I have always been able to tell how people feel about me. Even as a human. Then of course I have the wolf thing. And I don't know why I have more than one gift either." I looked to Tiffany.

She nodded. "I can start conversations with someone in their mind. When I do, their mind is completely shielded.

"I can change anyone's scent and..." She spoke almost inaudibly. "I can hide the sparkles."

"Excuse me?" Jasper said.

"Ugh! I-ugh. Come. Let me show yall," Tiffany said. "And I need you." She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me down the steps into the lawn. Everyone followed.

She released my arm and walked over to a beam of sunlight. She stood just outside of it. "Watch."

Tiffany unzipped her hoodie. She was wearing a low cut shirt. She threw it on the ground and stepped into the sun.

She sparkled at first. Then all at once. She stopped. I heard the others gasp. Seth was staring.

"You can hide...the shine?" Carlisle asked.

"Yep. Not just on me either," Tiffany said. She gestured for me to come to her.

I walked to her side and stepped into the sunlight. I sparkled and then I stopped too. We looked like pale humans. Regular.

"That is amazing," Carlisle said.

Suddenly Tiffany was smug. She nodded. I elbowed her and she laughed.

"I only recently figured out I could do that," Tiffany said.

All at once I had an idea. "Hey Tiff. I have an idea. Talk to me."

What's up, Alicia? Tiffany asked in my mind.

I am going to make them all serious and then I want to make them laugh. Remember...? I trailed off showing her what we used to do to get mom to laugh.

An excited hiss came from her mouth. Everyone was confused but we kept staring at each other.

Great! Okay. Go for it, she thought to me.

I closed my eyes and concentrated.

"What are you doing?" Jasper asked, a little alarmed.

"Oh just go with it," I said. He calmed down some and took in the emotion. This surprised me because he had never done this before. I ignored the urge to gasp.

Once everyone was all serious, I looked at Tiffany. "Done."

"Okay. Go," Tiffany said.

We both bent into a defensive crouch.

I spoke with an English accent. "I am the toast murderer. I will murder you with a piece of toast!" I said.

Tiffany used the same accent. "I am the banana murderer. I will murder you with a banana!"

We ran at each other. We pretended to hit each other with a piece of toast and a banana. We were laughing. The others were too.

The sun shone very brightly on the rest of the Cullens. They sparkled and we stopped immediately.

Tiffany smiled. "Now, I am the sparkle murderer." She used the accent again. "I murder sparkles. Die sparkles!" All of a sudden the Cullens stopped sparkling.

Jasper and Alice were on the ground. Edward and Bella were bent over leaning against each other, holding their sides. Carlisle and Esme threw their heads back and laughed. Emmett's laugh boomed, almost drowning out Rosalie's laugh. Renesmee was in Jacob's arms and they were hugging and laughing. Seth was rolling on the ground. Maria was leaning against a tree laughing hard.

"And I am now the emotion murderer." I again used the accent. "I will murder your emotions. Die emotions!" They all stopped laughing at once. Then, once they noticed what I had done they laughed again. Tiffany and I leaned against each other and laughed. We fell onto our backs. We didn't stop laughing for a long time. None of us.

When we calmed down some-when we were just chuckling-Emmett spoke using the accent.

"And I am the fart murderer! I murder you with farts!" He made a fart noise. We all laughed again.

About and hour later, we were all calmed down. Well, I don't think we were very calm but we weren't laughing anymore. Everyone was serious. We needed to fabricate a story of why we missed a little more than two weeks of school.

"Maybe we could have been on vacation," Emmett said.

"No. Why would we take a vacation in the middle of the school year?" Edward said.

"Got any better ideas?"

"Ooh ooh! Me! I have an idea!" Tiffany said. She was jumping up and down.

"Oh. This'll be good," I said and crossed my arms.

"What's your idea Tiffany?" Carlisle asked.

Everyone looked her.

"Well. The Cullens could have had a relative that died. On the other side of the country," she said.

"Tiffany-" Edward began.

"It could happen!" Tiffany cut him off.

"Go on."

"Okay. So then you guys had to fly out there for the funeral. It could be in..." Tiffany trailed off thinking.

"California?" Emmett said.

"Yeah. And you were out there for two weeks making arrangements and other things."

"What about you two though?" Bella asked.

"Well of course, we could be sick," I said.

"For two weeks?"

"Yep. Swine Flu."

We all chuckled.

"Well you guys have such a weird family," Maria said. "But I feel comfortable here and I haven't felt that way in a long time. Not since..." Maria trailed off. Then she came back from her reverie. "Never mind."

"Good choice," Edward said coldly.

She was probably going to say 'Not since I had all of my territory with Jasper at my side, Tiffany thought to me.

I suppose so, I replied. I didn't want to talk to her too much so I blocked her out. She felt hurt but I ignored it. I stared at the ground.

"Alicia," Jasper said. "Calm down. You're practically making holes in your hand, stop it."

I hadn't realized that I had been digging my nails into my palms. I released them and calmed myself with a little help from Jasper. I let out a long and frustrated breath. "Okay."

Jasper stared at me with a worried look on his face and then let it drop. "So is that our story?"

"Yeah. The Cullens were in California because a relative died. We can say it was your aunt or something. And we were sick," my sister said.

"Alright."

My sister took my hand in hers. I looked down at our hands and it felt like a sword was stabbed through my heart. Her engagement ring was staring me in the face.

I pulled my hand away and walked out the door. I heard them talking faintly in the background.

Tiffany had tried to follow me and Jasper had stopped her.

The talking faded as I bolted into the forest. I changed to wolf form and ran for who knows how long.