AN: This chapter is for Noel Ardneck. We're even now, girlie!
Chapter 15
Kristen
AN: Notice I put Kristen rather than Kris...
I opened my eyes. It was morning, but I had no clue where I was. Was I outside my house?
Water trickled around me. Dazed, I picked myself up and brushed myself off. I had a few scrapes here and there, and my head hurt as if somebody hit me with a brick, but otherwise I was fine.
Ugh, where was I?
I was in some kind of trench, which had a little stream running down it. I guessed that a road had to be nearby somewhere, so I headed upstream in hopes to find a street.
I tried deperately to remember how I got here. I was too young to drink, that's for sure. Besides, how would I end up passed out in the middle of nowhere, anyways?
I remembered flickers. A brown wolf, for example. I felt strangely connected to that wolf. But I don't know why. I remembered my best boyfriend in the world, Dillan, being mad at me for some reason. I shuddered.
Great, Krissie, what happened to you?
I bent by the stream and cupped the water into my hands, splashing it into my face.
Remember, dammit...
I inspected my face. It had a scrape along my right cheek, and my hair was wild. I dug into my jeans pocket for my hairband.
I couldn't find one. I dug into my other pocket. No luck.
What was I dressed in?! I don't remember putting on these clothes! I touched my head in disbelief, hissing at the action.
There was a bruise under my hair, I could feel it. I groaned and got up.
"I always wear a hairband... Where is it?" I mumbled to myself. I looked up.
There was my silver hairband, dirty and torn, hanging from a tree root in the side of the trench. It swung around, taunting me. I jumped, but a breeze blew it into the air, cathing it on another tree's branch, outside of the trench.
"Dammit..."
I jumped and grabbed the tree root. I found a rock sticking out on the side and hoisted myself up.
Now for the tricky part.
I tugged on the root and hoisted my feet up, so that I was hanging upside down. I caught my legs on the muddy ledge, holding it firmly.
Praying that I won't slip and fall, I let go of the root and grabbed the ledge with my hands. I pulled myself up. Thank you, gymnastics training!
My head still hurt, though. I didn't know what to do. And I was hungry. Really hungry. I wanted to find my way back home, but there were no footprints around to tell me where I came from. It must've rained recently.
Cussing, I went up to the tree- which my hairband was still knotted up in- and pulled myself up. I scanned the horizon, but all I saw were trees. Where was I?
Brady
"Where is she?!" I yelled, picking up a rock in frustration and sending it hurtling towards an unsuspecting oak.
"Brady, calm down, we'll find her," Alice soothed me.
"Can you see that?!"
"No... No, I can't. But I'm positive that she's okay, Brady. That's what matters."
"Brady!" Emmett yelled from behind a large oak tree. He held up something black and chunky. Kris' ankle brace.
"It looks like Erin successfully healed her," Emmett said, approaching us with the brace under his arm.
Erin was in an oak tree right now, scanning the forest. Harry was zoning in and out of the forest, trying to find clues in every possible direction. Occasionally I saw his shimmering other figure run past some trees and disappear. Mai was sitting on a massive boulder, trying to find enough peace to search for Kris. There was a bit of charcoal on the ground, and it looked like she'd drawn hieroglyphs all over the boulder. She was chanting something in Mahkcep, her eyes half-closed so we could only see the white. Marigold took my hand and squeezed it.
"We'll find her, Brady," she whispered. Her hand was circling her engorged stomach, fluttering around to keep her busy. Mai's eyes opened.
"I saw a glimpse, but not much. She's by a stream... but then she disappeared. I think there's something wrong with her head."
"What makes you say that?" Marigold asked.
"Usually I see someone's future if they're on the same thought pattern as mine. As I was thinking about Brady, she thought of him, too, but only briefly. I need to meditate some more."
Mai's eyes closed and she began to chant again.
"Superstitious freak," Marigold muttered about her best friend in a teasing tone. She picked up the charcoal and drew on a tree with no bark on one side.
She drew a stream.
"We know there's a stream involved. We're going to need to find that thought pattern, Mai."
"Okay, let me think about something that may be on her mind after her incident. Umm, ooh! Edward!"
"Huh?" Edward appeared next to the boulder.
"No, not you, I mean Kris' thought pattern."
I could see Mai strain to look into the near future.
"No..."
"How about Emmett?" I asked.
Mai nodded. She chanted again. Then she shook her head.
"Try something insignificant, like the way she's dressed or if she's in pain," Erin said from the top branch of her oak tree.
"What?" I asked.
"If she's not thinking about you or the Cullens, then she must be thinking about something insignificant," Erin explained.
"Hmm, maybe she's lost?" Mai asked herself. "Bingo! She's pulling herself out of a trench! In a pretty impressive way, might I add."
"Where?"
"Well, I'm not exactly a map," Mai complained. "Do you Cullens know of any trenches?"
"Not really," Emmett mumbled.
"I saw one a few weeks ago, when I was hunting," Bella chimed in, appearing from nowhere.
"Where?!"
"Stop asking that," Marigold muttered.
"It was up North, close to Canada. Maybe she got a little too much speed from Brady," Bella answered.
Harry's form stopped shimmering.
"I can look for her," he offered.
"Good, please do," I said, itching to run up north myself.
Harry's form shimmered again, and then he was back.
"I saw her. She's climbing up a tree. But... I don't think she'll be up there for very long. She looked a little disappointed when she could see over the trees."
"What?!"
"She's lost," Edward explained. "She's concerned that she's not able to see any roads or anything."
"She needs to stay there!"
Harry grinned.
"You ready to go hunting?" he asked me.
AN: Oh, if you guys click on the number beside the word "reviews," you'll see that I've reviewed my own story. Why would I do that, you may ask?
BECAUSE YOU GUYS ARE TOO DAMN LAZY TO DO IT YOURSELVES!!!
This message is not directed at Noel Ardneck, snickerdoodle nessie, and blueblondie12, who actually DID review. Love you guys!
Noel, might I also mention you're my best online chum? JSYK.
