A/N: Any wolves you recognize from The Twilight Saga belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Basically everything else, including past and present wolf pack members, imprints, wolf families, and additional characters in this story belong to the universe created by the amazing, brilliant, and wonderfully talented yay4shanghai!

Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, it means the world to me!

Sorry for the delay in updating. My computer crashed last week and I lost three and a half chapters for this story and half a chapter for Promises of Forever, so I spent the weekend rewriting them.

As always I recommend you read the other spin-offs by liljenrocks, ari11990, AsagariMelody, Guzhong, twihardcaligurl, and intiMACYx33. They are fantastic and worth taking the time to read.

Thank you so much for being such a wonderful beta yay4shangai! You're tremendously talented and I am so grateful that you've shared your gift and that you've let me play around with your characters.

Down The Rabbit Hole

30 August 2041

Something came up, can't make it anymore. Call you later.—Melody

That was the last thing I expected to wake up and see this morning. I was exhausted from staying up most of the night so I double checked to make sure I hadn't misread Melody's text. I hadn't.

The message was vague and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It was like hearing the start of a story, but getting interrupted before the end was told. I was disappointed that our plans fell through, but more than that, I was worried that something might have happened or was wrong with her, even though I didn't know what it could be.

We'd been hanging out since the bonfire, maybe once or twice a week, usually playing cards at my house or bumming around the sorry excuse for a town that Forks was. I loved spending time with Mel. She'd popped up as suddenly as a daisy out of a late spring snow and managed to become an intrinsic part of my life. She was like an unstoppable force of nature and one of the sweetest people I had ever met, always caring about everyone around her and trying to make sure everyone was happy. Melody made it impossible not to relax and have fun whenever I saw her. Bree typically joined us and we'd hung out with Jesse a couple times too, but a little over a week ago it had just been the two of us when we did dinner and a movie at her place.

That night was amazing. It was hard to believe that such an innocent interaction with Levi could be so intense, but that didn't mean it wasn't or that our every encounter wasn't turning out to have much of the same fire. I'd gone into the kitchen to get something to drink and he'd been in there cooking. Seeing his surprised face when I came in the room and his messy hair from when he'd been goofing off with his sister was altogether adorable.

I'd completely forgotten what I was looking for by the time I opened his fridge and seeing how full it was didn't rush to prompt my memory either. I recognized one of the clear plastic vegetable bags from my parents' store and it dawned on me that he really had been doing an awful lot of shopping there lately. From the looks of things, he could keep us in business all by himself.

Being this close to him changed my perception in a very peculiar, but stimulating way. Everything related to him was enhanced while the rest or our surroundings, and potentially the world, faded or disappeared entirely. If I closed my eyes I could swear I was standing in a forest, his pine scent assaulting my senses more strongly than the mouth water aroma coming from the food he was preparing.

Then when he'd come up behind me and I felt the thrilling press of his solid, burning body, I knew that nothing would ever feel as perfect as being this close to him again. The gentle press of his satin-tipped fingers blazed a trail down my arm like the brush of a thousand feathers dancing along my most sensitive regions of skin. The simple touch sapped my energy, leaving me faint as if drugged until I sagged back against him needing his body to keep me upright, but the firm, steady grip of his hand on my hip revitalized me.

The heat of his palm seeped through the thin fabric of my dress and it was like he was holding me skin to skin and I didn't dare miss a moment of the feeling. The heat of his touch was overwhelming, he was impossibly hot and it was heaven to be surrounded by it, to feel its welcome embrace when his large hand swallowed mine entirely within its grasp. It was better than feeling the sun's beautiful shimmering rays rain down on me.

The contrast between his heat and the wafting breeze of cold air being expelled from the refrigerator was doing crazy things to my head. His touch made me feel as if I had just run a marathon, I couldn't catch my breath, but I didn't care because each one I took felt like I was sucking in a bit of his very essence. He was a drug and I wanted, no, needed, actually craved more.

I was in awe that he'd known what I was looking for and not only that, but that he'd stopped what he was doing to get it for me. It was so sweet. When he stepped away, I couldn't stop myself from turning to stare at the Adonis he was or from stepping forward, wanting to be closer again. His intent expression drew me towards him like a magnet.

A muffled squelching sound burst the enchanted bubble that had enveloped us in a fantasy-like reality and Levi's attention was diverted by our snooping audience consisting of his sister. I was mortified that Melody caught us doing, well, I wasn't exactly sure what we were doing, but I knew we were doing something if the look on her face was anything to go by and I'd fled the room as fast as possible.

When Levi had offered me some of the food he'd made I was shocked. His kind generosity and thoughtfulness sent a warm pang to my heart and made my head spin. The food was probably the most delicious thing I had ever eaten and I regretted not being able to thank him and let him know how wonderful it was or how much I appreciated him making it. I was trying to mentally review all the sign language I had learned up to that point, but the thought of actually attempting a real conversation with him made me forget what little I had learned.

I had been so completely distracted by my musings about her brother that I can't remember what movie I watched with Melody, but I definitely remember making arrangements with her for us to get together the following weekend. Except that was supposed to be happening now and she just canceled even though I know she was looking forward to this.

The idea had been to stay over at Melody's tonight so that we could get an early start tomorrow and spend the day visiting the First Beach caves since I had never bothered to explore them, always opting to lay out under the open sunny skies on the warm sand instead. She had been teasingly scandalized when I confessed the transgression and enthusiastically insisted we go as soon as possible, before the weather turned cold since fall was nearly upon us.

We had to wait a week, because Mel already had plans with Taylor last weekend and school had started Monday, meaning this was our first opportunity. I had been looking forward to our outing ever since, but not for the caves. I was much more excited about getting to spend the night under the same roof as Levi and I was really hoping for another opportunity for something to happen like it did last week. Maybe it was unrealistically optimistic, but my anticipation had been mounting all week at the thought feeling his skin again or getting to see the look in his eyes when he gazed at me.

Tonight might have even provided an ideal opportunity to at least try talking to Levi. Perhaps say 'hello, how are you' or 'thank you' if he made dinner again, something like that. I should have at least be able to fumble my way through something that simple considering I had spent a vast amount of time, between two and four hours a day, over the last two months trying to learn sign language. I was using a website I found that had helpful video clips when I was at home and the book I had bought while I was waiting on Beth during her dance classes. Unfortunately, I was still awful, but it would have at least been worth a try.

Knowing that this was coming up this weekend, I had doubled up on my daily practice time, extending them further last night in order to continue drilling at least the basics into my head for today. I'd even asked my parents for this afternoon off in order to review one last time before heading over, hoping that would keep it all fresh in my mind.

Signing had turned out to be quite the challenge for me, but I kept at it like a dog with a bone and now I was finally starting to get the hang of it or at least I was starting to understand how to go about learning.

At first the problem was my impatience. I wanted to know everything immediately and went over so many words each day that I wasn't able to retain anything I covered; my mind wiped clean each night while I slept so I woke up again with a blank slate. It's only been in the last week or two that I have finally slowed down to a reasonable pace which allowed me to remember things from one day to the next when I practiced.

My time spent waiting on Beth during her dance lessons provided a perfect opportunity to review. I'd been surprised she stuck with the class, especially since Tara, the main reason she was so stubbornly determined to learn in the first place, was only around the first week and has been gone on maternity leave ever since. As for my hobby, it was still taking longer than I expected to learn anything.

Now I'm worried that at this rate it's going to take me months before I'm sufficiently fluent enough to be able to have any kind of intelligent conversation with him. That is if he even wants to talk to me and this isn't all for nothing. Either way, I intended to learn just in case I did get the chance one day.

~x~*~x~

4 November 2041

Nothing. It's been over two months and in that time I've neither seen nor heard anything from Melody. And Levi, The Phantom, had apparently vanished for good as well.

I waited a couple weeks, hoping she would call or he would randomly show up like he used to, but that never happened. I'm not sure why I felt the need to do so, but I managed to come up with legitimate excuses for Levi's absences. When he stopped taking Chloe and Ava to dance, I explained this as him simply not being available any longer now that school had started up. I was also able to justify not seeing him at my parents' store anymore by taking the blame upon myself because since school started back up and I was rarely there anymore. That made it extremely believable to assume that I was probably just missing him when he did show up. The reasons behind Melody's disappearance, however, weren't as easy to understand.

I'd waited as long as I could for her to contact me before finally giving in and calling her instead, but she didn't answer and another few weeks passed with no word from her. Regret didn't adequately describe my feelings on the matter. I missed Melody. I had really thought we had or at least were becoming friends, but then this happened and I didn't know what to think or do. I was beyond what someone would reasonably consider as being confused. Did I really mean so much less to her than she did to me?

As horrible as losing her friendship was to me, it was Levi's absence that affected me the most, although it really shouldn't have. The significance and value I had come to place on any sign of acknowledgement I received from him was rather staggering to realize once he was no longer a part of my life. His very presence had gifted me with a brief glance at the magnificence of heaven then I blinked and found myself cast out like a fallen angel that had committed an unknown sin.

I felt abandoned, betrayed, like an unwanted pet whose owner moved away, but left him behind in a dark alley. I didn't understand why or how it was possible to feel like this. All I knew for certain was that it hurt, that I hurt—all the time. Subconsciously, I knew I didn't have any actual claim on him, considering we had never spoken, but it felt like I did anyways and it hurt being away from him. It was completely irrational to feel this way, but that didn't make it any less true. Without him I was adrift, lost even.

At one point I began seriously wondering if I had made him up entirely. If Levi was just some unattainable guy I had dreamed up and I'd wanted so desperately to be with this manifestation, that I had reached through the ether to find. Either he was real and I was still waiting on him or I had woken up on my own to find myself in a world where he didn't exist. Both scenarios were heartbreaking to consider.

I had almost fully convinced myself that he and by association, Melody as well, really were nothing more than figments of my overactive imagination, until Bree ruined the illusion by asking if I'd heard from Mel since she couldn't get a hold of her. That pretty much shattered what was left of my sanity.

I caved and resorted to calling her again, but once more my call went unanswered and unreturned.

My life had turned into its very own version of Alice in Wonderland and I wasn't exactly thrilled about it. I never liked that tale as a child, thinking it proved my point that when you go searching for excitement, the only thing you find is trouble, and usually more than its worth.

That's why I was so baffled by my own decision to go down the rabbit hole. I'm not even sure when I made the decision to jump or if I was pushed, or possibly even pulled, which seemed more likely somehow, just like I somehow knew it was already too late for me to get out now. There were no exits in this adventure; I was stuck on this ride until it ended, if it hadn't already, left hoping I wouldn't crash along the way or that the ending didn't consist of me getting my heart broken, which is precisely what it looked like was going to happen.

Playing it safe, not letting myself get in too deep or falling too recklessly wasn't an option for me anymore. I'd ended up poised on a high wire anyways, risking it all in a gamble when I leaped before having a chance to look, and ended up a goner. Levi was it for me. I honestly knew nothing about him, but the frenzy he brought to life inside me with a simple look was undeniable and I was smart enough to realize how unlikely it was that I would ever meet someone else with the ability to affect me to such an alarming degree.

One thing no one who knew me would guess and something I had never admitted to anyone, not even Sabrina, was that I didn't want the sweet and comfortable kind of love that easily withstands hardships and lasts. Where you start out as best friends and when you're eighty, you're still best friends first and foremost, you just also happen to be married. That's what my parents have and yea they love each other, but I want more.

I want something epic, the kind of love told in legends, sung in ballads, and written in fairytales. A love that is extraordinary, consuming, unbreakable, a love so powerful it is transcendent. A love that never gets old or familiar and every kiss feels like the first. I want someone I would give up everything for and is capable of igniting my very soul.

I crave passion, scorching hot and nearly unbearable. I long to feel a rush that leaves me dizzy and gasping for breath every single time he walks in the room and I want electricity to sizzle and crackle the air whenever we get close followed by chills powerful enough to leave goosebumps in their wake when we finally touch.

Everyone always says a love like that can't last and that's why the tales are typically told in the great tragedies like The Odyssey or Romeo and Juliet, but I think it can and anything less is just settling, which is one of the reasons why I don't confess to wanting something like that. My family would automatically start in on how dangerous that would be, how it was the equivalent to playing Russian roulette, and how I was bound to end up destroyed beyond repair.

I never actually expected to find anything remotely close. I never put myself out there to look for it, but with Levi, I didn't really get a choice before it happened and that scares me more than I ever dreamed possible.

Even now when my world was in a constant state of flux where it shrank and grew, moving in every direction at once with blurred edges, I remained a hypocrite where my heart was concerned. The reasons I've always disliked Alice in Wonderland stare mockingly at me when I look at my reflection in the Cheshire Cat's mirror.

Alice wanted to be in a fantasy world, but found it to be unexpectedly more complicated than she anticipated once her wish was granted. The irony wasn't lost on me that while I thought she deserved that, I was dejected when my own wish was granted and it didn't turn out as expected. I wanted someone to make me feel these intense feelings, but hadn't anticipated him not returning them or only being around for a stolen season instead of a permanent figure in my life.

Only a few days went by after this realization before I began distancing myself from everyone even more than I already had been since school started up again. I knew I was doing it, but I couldn't bring myself to care. It was easier to be detached, remote, to cut off all ties with the people around me. There didn't really seem to be much point in faking happiness for others and it took more energy to even try with each passing day.

I was getting away with it too. Life was meaningless nowadays, tedious. Everything was in shades of grey as I went through the motions of living and the few times I slipped back into reality I felt utterly isolated and alone, making it easier to quickly fade out again.

It had been over six months since I last saw my sister Angie, but I still skipped going on the trip that my parents and Beth went on to see her over our school's fall break. I missed her, but increasing the distance separating me and Levi was unimaginable. It already seemed like an ocean and that was painful enough.

I was still diligent in my quest to master sign language, despite the gut wrenching fear that it was already too late to make a difference. Learning had become my only way to feel closer to him, a link that hadn't been severed. It also served as an intriguing and much needed diversion to fill the free time I suddenly had spades of now that Bree was seeing someone. We still talked like usual, but these days you were much more likely to find her with him than with me.

Bree's new boyfriend, Baz Wiel, was a transfer student, a Kiwi recently moved here from Wellington, New Zealand. His placement test put him in the same grade as us even though he was almost a year younger since the terms and grade system were different abroad. He was the very definition of mellow, unless Sabrina or rugby was mentioned and while he rarely spoke, he could talk about the All Blacks, the national rugby team, for hours. Baz used to play, but one too many knee injuries had put an end to that and explained the thick knee brace he now sported. His shaggy hair was black and it contrasted sharply with his alabaster skin, which served as an almost iridescent background, highlighting a few jagged scars he'd gotten from people's cleats while playing.

Baz was a really nice guy and he'd spent weeks tirelessly wearing Bree down so she'd agree to go on a date with him, which normally would have been enough for a guy to win my favor and approval, but I honestly didn't want to see them together. I truly desired Bree's happiness, but I knew that wasn't going to happen in a relationship with a guy that came with an expiration date.

His father was a biology professor and he was here on sabbatical for a year studying a local bird's mating and migration patterns, but once the year was up this coming April, they were heading back home and I was worried about how hard Sabrina would take it considering how close they had become in the last six weeks.

The only person that hadn't backed off during the two months since school started and wasn't letting me drift along was surprising Beth. For the last three weeks or so she's been bugging me nonstop about what was bothering me, refusing to let up. Every night she would corner me after dinner and bombard me with a string of pointed questions centered on what was going on and why Melody and I weren't friends anymore. Questions I did not feel up to discussing even if I did know the answers, which I didn't. She was worried about me, but lately she'd taken worried to a whole new extreme.

Last weekend she was staying at Chloe's after her Friday night class and Harley was going to stay over too. It was the first time since this summer they were hanging out outside of class if I remembered correctly and I fearfully wondered if I was the culprit behind her failing friendships.

She'd only been there for a few hours when she called me to come pick her up. I floored it to get there as fast as possible, scared something had happened to her because she sounded horrible on the phone, her nasally, muffled words nearly impossible to understand.

Phil opened the door before I had begun knocking, my hand poised in the knocking position looking like I was impersonating a mime. He was cradling his infant son against his broad chest, his gigantic hands forming a nearly complete cocoon around the sleeping baby's body. Opening the door a little wider so that I could enter, I found a crowd of people gathered in the entryway all staring at me.

I was so flustered by all of the attention and the flaming blush heating my cheeks, I almost missed seeing Beth standing closest to the door holding a tissue to her bloody nose as she glared at the very smug duo of Harley and Chloe standing farthest away by a visibly upset Tara. I watched Eli hand her a small bag of ice and Ava offer her more tissues before I managed to find my voice.

"Beth?! Oh my god, what happened," I exclaimed then bit my lip, wincing a little as I watched the red seeping outward, saturating the corner of the kleenex sticking out between two fingers of her bawled fist.

'They fought, because they wouldn't tell her what happened with you and Levi,' Eli slowly signed and I stared at him utterly stupefied, half because I understood what he was signing and half by what he said.

I was amazed that I managed to follow the fluid, distinct shapes his hands formed and interpret their meaning. This was the first time since I really started trying to learn that I had seen someone signing and not known beforehand what they were saying, which was actually nothing more than following along.

No one else spoke and I could feel everyone's eyes on me, but the most I could do was blink and continue to stare at him dumbfounded by what I should say or do. I watched him tap Ava then point at me and I assumed it was because he concluded I didn't understand and he wanted her to translate what he said, but Beth pushed off the wall she was slouched against and grabbing my arm, dragged me outside before Ava got the chance.

Beth got in the car without a word and remained silent the whole way home. She was clearly fuming, so I respected her wish for privacy and didn't push her, a courtesy I know she wouldn't have shown me. When we reached the house she stomped straight up to her room and dramatically slammed her door.

She hadn't spoken to me the rest of the weekend and refused to go to school Monday or Tuesday because she'd ended up with two black eyes. Her nose was also apparently broken, but Phil had reset it for her before I got there, so that she wouldn't need to go to the hospital to get it fixed. She was back today; no longer mad at me now that the damage to her face had mostly faded. There was only a slight discoloration, but she had effectively covered that with a skillful application of make-up.

This fall, her Monday ballet class had been switched to Wednesday nights and even with my fast driving we should have left five minutes ago if she wanted to get there on time, but she hadn't emerged from her room leaping and twirling in one of her colorful leotards like a rainbow sucked up by a twister as she usually did.

"Beth, come on, you're going to be late to class if we don't get going right now," I called casually through Beth's closed door wondering what could be keeping her.

Her door swung in immediately to reveal Beth standing in the faded, torn denims and stripped turtleneck sweater she had worn earlier to school. "I'm not going," she said seriously, crossing her arms over her chest and popping a hip out to give a little attitude to her declaration.

"Why not?" When she didn't answer, I prodded a little. "Is this to avoid Chloe because of the fight," I asked carefully, hoping not to rile her up, but honestly wanting to talk her out of this rash decision if that was the reason. I didn't want her to give up something she loved over a little disagreement between friends when Beth would likely be over it in another day or two; she had like a two second rebound rate.

"No," she said turning to walk back into her room and waving me to follow. I looked around her room as I walked over to sit on her bed.

Her bedroom was intense, almost volatile, but still sparkly and vibrant, much like her personality. It was painted a brilliant shade of dark red with swirls of metallic gold and silver as well as a flat black that acted as accents. It reminded me of something you might see in a club scene or as a stage backdrop used in a play.

"Then why are you quitting, I thought you loved dance this time around." I delicately prodded further as I watched her rapid, long-legged pacing that should have looked angry and manly, but she somehow still managed to make look like a graceful dance.

"I'm not quitting, I'm just not going back until you work things out with Melody and Levi," she said moodily with a heated glance in my direction before continuing her pacing from one end of the room to the other in front of me, wearing a path in the black rug she used to cover the neutral taupe carpeting we had throughout the house.

"What? I don't und—" I started incredulously, amazed at what she had just said, but she quickly cut me off to explain the statement.

"I'm sick of how awkward things have become for me with them. They're my friends and spending the summer with them was like, the best ever, but then it's suddenly like they can't seem to do anything and this kept on and kept on until Chloe finally fessed up and told me they weren't allowed to anymore. That's all she'd say… so I thought back to when it started, and I realized it was the same time you and Melody stopped hanging out…" her rant trailed off then as she came to stand in front of me with her hands on hips, glaring down at me like I'd been a naughty child then continued before I could say a word. "The two things must be related and I hate how things are, so this is me trying to change them!"

"Beth, I'm so sorry if I had something—" I started apologizing, but she cut me off again waving my words away.

"I'm not mad at you, Kris. I know you'd never purposely hurt anyone. Besides, I'm trying to help you here too," she said like it was the simplest thing in the world to understand her motives. She huffed when I just continued to stare at her in confusion, "look, you've been miserable since you stopped hanging out with them… so why aren't you doing something to fix it already!"

"Beth, no. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine." I stressed wanting this conversation to be over and regretting ever trying to help her.

"You're lying! God, Kris, have you looked in a mirror lately? You should see yourself, you look horrible." I stared at her absolutely shocked that she had said that. Seeing my expression, she quickly amended not sounding a bit contrite, "okay, fine! You don't look any different, but that's what I'm trying to get at. You were becoming this awesome person that I barely recognized this summer, taking chances and letting people in. Hell, you were even fun for a change out in public, instead of just here at home. But now… you've reverted back into the same timid little mouse that you used to be."

"Gee, thanks, but I still don't understand why you think Melody is the problem," I asked. Her words stung, but I knew she wasn't going to let this drop until she'd had her say so it was best if I just got through it now.

"And Levi, especially him," she eagerly added and I realized this was what she wanted to tell me about all along. "I don't know what happened exactly, but you were so happy this summer. I've never seen you happier, but then it went away when you stopped hanging out with Mel and don't forget I saw you on the Fourth, so I know Levi had something to do with it too."

"Beth, you're being ridiculous about this."

"Then why are they always talking about the two of you together?" Her eyes glowed with devilish light as she shared that, knowing exactly how it would spark my interest against my better judgment.

"Wait—what? Who?" I gasped thinking I must have misheard her.

"Everyone out there, all summer… Harley and her parents, her sister's boyfriend, Chloe and her parents, oh and the night of the Fourth, Mel and Taylor were with her parents when they came over to say goodnight, they all thought I was asleep," she bragged proudly before crowing a little more because she knew she could, "do you need more examples, cuz I've got 'em. They always stop when they notice me close by, but you know I've mastered the art of spying."

"I don't really—uh, know what to say… I'm confused…" I trailed off baffled by what she was implying and wishing it all made sense instead of just making me want to believe that it meant he returned at least a semblance of my feelings for him.

"How bout this then, talk to them, so you're happy again and I can have my friends back… I really do miss them, Kris," she pleaded earnestly and I could easily detect that she had done this out of concern and love even if she hadn't shown a modicum of tact.

"I'm not sure it's as simple as all that, Beth." I whispered truthfully not looking at her, afraid to see if she looked disappointed.

"So do whatever it is you have to do, just don't take easy way out… or you'll regret it," she said sagely, or it might have been if she wasn't just parroting something I know she copied from Bree, but it came with a hug that was all her and made it impossible for me to disregard this conversation as I would have like to.

~x~*~x~

6 November 2041

I hated that this, whatever this even was, had started to affect my sister's life. That was never supposed to happen, my relationship problems shouldn't hurt Beth too, and the fact that they were made me feel horrible. I'd tried calling Melody that night, but she hadn't picked up. I left a message, but I kept it vague since I wasn't even sure if she'd listen to it and only asked that she call me when she got a chance.

That was two days ago. I haven't heard from her yet and I honestly doubt I will either, but I needed some answers because I really wanted to fix things, for Beth and myself, because some of what she said was true.

She'd also managed to get my hopes up and make me wonder if I really did have a shot with Levi, because if I did, then I planned to do whatever was necessary to try.

The only other person's number I had was Jesse's, but she probably would have been my first choice after Mel anyways since the reason I had her number and no one else's was because she was really the only other person I knew in La Push. I was scared to call her, scared to hear what she thought, but I was starting to understand that, that meant it could be the most worthwhile.

It took four tries before I managed to build up my courage enough to finish dialing her number before chickening out and hanging up. Once I finally pushed the send button on my emerald green phone, I was too panicked to snap the phone shut before she picked up on the third ring and I heard her inquisitive voice float up to me.

"Hello?"

"Jesse… hi, this is, umm Krista," I said stammered nervously, nibbling on my lower lip and cringing as I blushed despite her not being able to see the deepening pink advancing to a shade on the borderline of red.

"Krista! Hi. Well this is a little unexpected… what's up?" She spoke overly loud, but cheerfully with surprise as well as genuine pleasure sounding from each word.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you about something… in person preferably," I timidly requested after taking a few calming breathes that positively failed to calm my spastic nerves.

"Umm… yea, I guess so." All former traces of happiness had vanished leaving her unsure response to ring hollowly.

"If it's a problem—" I began disappointedly, but she immediately cut me off.

"No, no it's fine. I'm just babysitting my nieces right now, that's all," she explained trying to sound reassuring and even though I honestly doubted the sincerity of her explanation or at least that being the only reason behind her hesitation, I was willing to accept it if it meant I would get some answers. "Why don't you come over here? I'm sure my brother won't mind," she offered excitedly, the abrupt change completely throwing me off after her reluctance a moment ago.

"Okay."

I quickly scribbled the directions she gave me after that and was in my car headed towards La Push a few minutes later, eager to get there before I could change my mind or talk myself out of going. This was too important to let that happen.

My conversation with Beth a couple days ago had got me thinking. I'd always been a passenger in my own story, the sidekick verses the leading lady, and for the first time ever I've met someone that inspired me to take control of my destiny and be in charge of my own fate. That's what this was about.

~*~ ∞ ~*~

Endnote: Tomorrow is my 24th birthday so please review! Thanks :)