Chapter 3 - Overshoot.

"What the hell do you mean you don't know?" I hissed. We had the barn door open slightly and were peering out into the moonlit woodland. "Doesn't the machine readout thingy tell you?"

He wheeled around, a slight look of embarrassment visible in the dim light. "Good point." He hissed as he hurried across to the machine. He started pushing buttons and twisting dials but nothing happened. He started to seem a little frantic so I took his hand.

"Jake, what is it?"

There was a short pause before he spoke, his eyes glinting in the darkness. "You know the machine needs power? Well I guess that was something my dad put in when he rebuilt it."

Now it was my turn to be shocked as the realisation of what he said sunk in. No power meant we were "Stranded?" He nodded. "Shit." Stuck someplace before the eighties? Or maybe in the eighties themselves? A thought hit me. If I couldn't see Edward then maybe I could at least have some fun by going to see Charlie and René. At least we could make our time entertaining while we were here. We went back to the door and slipped out into the cool air. It was no longer late at night, more early morning. The stars had begun to fade giving way to the blueish haze of dawn. The sun was still hours away but it was coming. "Jake, how are we going to find out when we are?"

"I have an idea. Come on, keep close." He shot across the clearing and hugged the tree line. From here we could make out the shape of his house, a low dark shadow easily visible amongst the trees thanks to it's straight lines. No lights were on inside, and there was no movement. He lead me along and to begin with I thought we were headed to the house until we began to veer away and onto the main road. Silently I followed, not wanting to break the wall of quiet we had built around us. But I wanted to speak so very badly. To ask what the hell we were up to. I was trying to drink in the surroundings but it was almost impossible in this light. Then we began to approach a building on the main road. I recognised it as the general store he had taken me to a few times when we had needed supplies such as soft drinks and junk food. Now the plan made sense. Go inside and buy a paper. Genius.

"Looks like it's closed." He whispered. Indeed the building was shuttered and there were no signs of life. "That's odd. Warren told me his dad had always opened well before dawn every day." I didn't know what to say so I just kept my mouth shut as he lead me into the cover of the trees. We sat on a tree trunk. "Bella, what supplies did you bring?" He was very serious now. And his concern was causing me great concern.

"Um, change of clothes. Some toiletries, some food, chocolate, tins, things like that. I was only expecting to be away a couple days tops."

His face was twisted with worry and the lightening sky did nothing to help my feeling of unease. "Yeah, same here. Did you bring much money? I have about a hundred bucks from the project fund."

I checked my pocket. "Uh, about sixty dollars. Again I wasn't exactly expecting to need anything." He just smiled, obviously trying to settle me. It didn't work.

We sat in silence for what must have been two hours. The sky took on a golden glow, then burst into a reddish hue before settling into a grey haze as the clouds rolled in from the ocean. I noticed that there was absolutely no movement at all. No cars, no people, nothing. I thought about mentioning it but since it wouldn't really help I decided to keep it to myself. It was really quiet. Too quiet. As the morning crawled on I became more uneasy. There was nothing going on. At all. I had never been up to La Push at this time of day but I would have thought there would be more activity than this.

Then there was some movement. A dark figure outside the store. I could now see the sign above the door read simply 'General Store.' I racked my brain but could not picture ever having seen that sign. The sky was light enough for us to see all around us. I couldn't be sure but I felt that quite a few buildings were missing. That couldn't be a good thing. Jacob was silent and his eyes were like saucers. This was really bad. Then he stood, seeing the light in the store window.

"Let's do this." He said, leading me to the door. From the moment I set foot inside I knew we had a major problem. During one of my summer visits with Charlie he had taken me to a museum, and there was a set of a native american reservation general store at the turn of the century. That is exactly what I had just walked into. The man behind the counter was dressed very simply in a poncho that looked like it had been worn by many men, and a wide brimmed hat, he eyed us suspiciously. Then he caught sight of Jacobs face properly in the lamplight. Yes, I said lamplight. I was taking in the items on the shelves. Bear traps, fishing gear. Candles, base ingredients like fats and sugar, and of course the skinned rabbits hanging by their hind legs above the counter. Yeah, there was no way I would ever sleep again. Then the man spoke.

"What brings you by so early Ephram?" Then a small lightbulb turned on in my head. Oh sweet holy shit. "And where did you get the clothes?" He was genuinely interested. Was he a friend of the real Ephram Black? From the pictures I had seen of Jacobs great grandfather they could easily pass for one another, and the lighting in here was provided by a single paraffin lamp, not really bright enough for an inspection.

"Oh, you know, couldn't sleep. Do you have a paper?" Jacob was trying to wing it and doing ok. Not exactly oscar winning but it would do.

"Sure we do Eph, over where I always keep them. Just brought them in from the pony." He pointed to a corner and we followed his finger, Jacob scooping up the single page of newspaper. My heart continued to sink like the titanic. "So who's the white girl Eph?" The guy asked. He couldn't be more than a year older than Jacob and he looked vey familiar. Jacob was silent, pointing with his forefinger at the date. June 12. 1918. I almost hit the floor. "Hey, Ephram? You ok"

"Uh, yeah, thanks." Jacob mumbled, taking me by the hand and almost bolting out of the door. It was now as light as it would get and mercifully the rain was holding off. Again we headed for the safety of the trees. Once we were undercover and out of sight he turned to me, his eyes wide. "Bella, it's 1918. Nineteen, fucking, eighteen!" He flopped to the ground dropping his rucksack and hanging his head.

"Jake, come on, keep it together, surely we can figure this out?"

"Oh sure. We need 220 volts and a tub of Nitrotrinadiuml any suggestions?"

"Well, let's go down to that store. The guy was pretty old, right?"

He chuckled mirthlessly. "Ok, that's a great plan, let's review. We are going to hope that an old guy is old enough to be around ninety years before we first met him. We also need to get all the way to Port Angeles, only cars don't seem to be very available right now. Oh yeah and one more thing, I don't know if you know your history but I'm gonna need a pass to get myself off the reservation. Not sure who's gonna issue that..." He fell silent, breathing heavily. I really needed him to not lose his head but it was too late. Then, before I could speak another word I heard a twig snap just a few feet away. Then several faces appeared in the trees. Oh and a few musket barrels and spears. Spears? What the hell? Then my whole world pretty much collapsed as the real Ephram Black, a dead ringer for his great grandson, stepped into the clearing and said "Come on, let's see Quill."

What really amazed me was how cool everyone seemed with the whole deal. The only person we had met thus far who had seemed even remotely freaked out was the guy in the store and he was so relaxed it didn't really seem like that big a deal to him. The posse that lead us out onto the road (I used the term road liberally, it was really more of a track,) were around our age group and they all looked so familiar. Ephram was undoubtedly the leader and his right hand man was the dead ringer of Sam Uley. I caught his name as Levi. They took us to a small house not far from Jacobs, and I was sure I had seen Quil walking off in this direction after stopping by the garage. Aside some quiet chatter amongst the locals our group was silent as we approached the building and went inside. It was remarkable that the houses seemed pretty much unchanged, except they didn't have such things as electric lights or TVs. As we got to the door a lanky boy broke from the group and lead us into the house.

"You guys wait out here, I'll let you know what he says." He directed to the group, then turned to us. "I don't know who you are but my dad will want to talk to you. I'm Quil, by the way. Quil Atera Junior." He mumbled the junior part as if he was ashamed to have to say it. Our day was getting stranger by the second. He took us inside where a lady possibly in her thirties greeted us and offered us cookies. "Mom!" Quil whined. "They are prisoners, on their way to see dad."

"Ok honey, whatever you say." He voice had a singsong list to it and her smile was warm and inviting.

"Through here." He directed us through a curtain into the main room. It was dark except for a single paraffin lamp burning in the corner. The aroma of burning scent filled my nostrils and made me want to cough, and tobacco smoke hung densely in the air. There, on a cushion in the middle of the room was the elder. He was wearing a headdress and stripy pj's. I guess whoever warned him we were coming didn't give him enough time to dress. He motioned for us to sit and waved his son away without much enthusiasm. Quil Junior stepped back into the shadows, making it clear he was going nowhere.

"Two travellers from far away." His voice was deep and rugged, nothing at all like his face. He looked to be in his mid to late thirties but the voice sounded decades older, hoarse from years of pipe smoke no doubt. The smell was somewhat oppressive. "What brings you here?"

Jacob took the lead. "Sorry sir but we are so not where we intended to be."

Quil the elder nodded. "Not where you intended to be indeed, but where the fates intended to put you, I think." He took a long pull on his pipe, a faint crackle the only sound. "You, the son of William, and you, white girl with whom I am not familiar." He chewed his pipe and narrowed his eyes at me.

"You know who I am?" Jacob sounded awed.

"I know a few things son. The gods share their secrets with me. They call me a mage." Jacob and I exchanged a skeptical glance. "Do you want my help or not?" We both nodded eagerly. "Then you must think of what has brought you to 1918."

I racked my brain until it hurt, and I could tell by his vacant expression that Jacob was doing the same. Then it hit me. "Did you say 1918?" Quil nodded slowly, his eyes half closed. "I know why we're here." Now they both stared at me. I could feel Quil junior's eyes on me from behind. "1918 is when Edward... Uh, died I guess?" Quil the elder coughed.

"Ah so it is you. The mists of time showed me a girl but I had trouble picturing your face." He held forth his pipe. "Sometimes the smoke gets a little much, if you get my meaning." He winked. "So the girl who walks with the cold ones. You dream of seeing this one again no matter how briefly? Very well. Return to me when you have done so. Junior, we need transport to... Oh remind me dear?"

"Chicago" I said after a short shocked pause.

"And you had better get a disguise for our friends here also."

Three hours later we were standing on the platform at Port Angelese train station. Jacob had on an old suit and lots of improvised makeup to lighten his skin. I was in an itchy dress that seriously restricted my movement. To say this was going to be a long train ride was something of an understatement.