Chapter 40: True Test

~Lily~

Getting to the small island not far from where we needed to be had been hard. For one thing trying to move with Ness was tiring because she distracted me, but the bigger problem was him. He wanted us. He and my father fought over me, and he was scary because he just was. When we came out of moving Ness was crying because her head was hurting, and because she wanted me to take her back to her mommy and daddy. I'd do that, but now I was too afraid of what they were going to do to me if I did go back. Trying to get Ness to go to sleep was hard, but she finally did with her head resting on my lap while I ran my fingers through her hair. All I could hear now was the crash of the waves against the beach not far from where we were resting, and the wind while it blew through the trees.

Sometimes when I was alone I thought about what I'd heard Uncle Edward and Aunt Bella saying about the Volturi. Even my father knew of them, and sometimes I thought that if I tried to get their help with him, they would be able to make things safe, but now I wasn't so sure. They could see things and if they saw what I did I'd die faster than being here. Then again no one knew how to get rid of him. Sometimes I wished my father never would have gotten a way to bring him back.

"Thirsty," Nessie whimpered.

"I know, but we can't go out right now."

She blinked up at me and a second later she was crying. "Ness, you can't cry, okay. Crying doesn't help us, so take some breaths."

When she rolled away from me and continued to cry I wanted to yell at her, but I didn't. She wasn't like me because she'd never had to do things by herself. Everyone helped her, and if I let them they would help me too, but the problem was I didn't want them to get hurt, and they would if I stayed.

"If you promise to stop crying, I'll figure out a way for us to hunt."

What I told Ness didn't make a difference and I sighed as I lay down behind her. For a second she rolled away from me, but when we heard thunder rumbling some place she backed up against me. "Go back to sleep okay, and I'll see if I can't get someone to help us." Again, it took longer than we needed for her to go to sleep. When she was I took off my jacket and put it over her before shutting my eyes and letting the cold in. The paths opened up and I focused on where I wanted to go.

The small house below me was made up of grays and blacks and she was in there. She had helped me once before. No one was around so I let in the light and the warmth. Her room was the same and she blinked at me when I came out of hiding.

"What's wrong?"

"I need you to come with me," I told her.

Anna put her book down and I ran to her letting her hold me because right now all I needed was a friend. "You have to meet me where the island is and tell no one about it. Bring some food please," I whispered.

"Which island?"

"The one you can see from first beach, you can get there can't you?" I glanced up and she was frowning.

"Please?"

"It's not that easy."

"It will be, I'll make a way for you, but you have to because I took Ness there."

She hugged me tighter. "Bella and Edward's daughter?"

"It wasn't safe, he wants us and he can't get us here because the wolves make it so he can't, well the wolves and the spirits that protect this land. I can't say anymore just hurry," I told her before the coldness was back.

The next time I came back the wolves knew I was around again and the chase was on. Okay, so it was kind of fun making them mad at me, and I had a lot of fun getting them to chase me. Even Anna's boy friend was in on it while I went all over the place, hoping she would hurry up and go to the island and bring some food for Ness and me. We both needed blood, but that had to wait.

Sitting high up in a tree I waited for the wolves to catch up to me. One of the bigger ones, Paul I think found me first and ran right in my tree. That wasn't something I'd been ready for and when I began to fall I thought about how nice it would be if they'd just get rid of me. Hitting the ground hurt, but it hurt even more when he jumped on me holding me down with his big paws. "If you kill me I won't tell you where Anna is," I said not letting him see me afraid.

Not much later Jacob was standing over me. "What did you do with her?" He was mad.

"Nothing, she's helping me but I'm not saying where till you let me up."

He was shaking, but he didn't turn into a wolf. "Let her go Paul."

Big foot hesitated until Jake yelled at him to let go of me. When he did I let the cold take me and they all turned into blurs as I got back to Ness and our Island.

It hurt when I got back and Nessie was screaming for me when I ran to her. "It's okay, shh," I told her hugging her close. "I'm getting a friend to help us."

"Daddy, mommy, want my daddy," she yelled.

"They can't come here, and you need to be quiet or the big wolves that live here will eat us up."

That made her cry harder, though she did stop yelling at me. When she went back to sleep, I got up wondering if Anna would come like I wanted. If she told on us, it would be bad. I was so tired, but I couldn't sleep, because I had to keep guard. Even though I knew all of that I thought about my new mom and dad and how they must be worried about me like everyone else was. It made me feel sad that I'd never see them again, but it was time for me to be alone again so they wouldn't get hurt. That was the last thing I thought about before curling up by Ness and going to sleep.

Feeling someone rub my back made me feel safe right before I remembered where me and Ness were. I sat up fast, and my head spun before I saw Anna. The second I did, I hugged her close feeling tears going down my face. "You came?"

"Yes, but I had to bring Jake. He won't hurt you," Anna told me.

Somehow I had to know she was going to do that, mainly because the wolves got protective of their imprints. After Anna let me go I looked at Ness. She was still asleep with my coat over her. "Are you going to tell her mom and dad?"

"We have to."

"What are you going to do to me?"

"Nothing bad. We need to ask you a few things after we get you and Ness safe."

Maybe telling them wouldn't be such a bad thing. "Okay, but that big foot wolf has to stay away or I'll move again." Anna nodded and I rubbed Nessie's back. "Ness, our help is here."

My best friend rubbed her eyes before she sat up huddling close to me when she saw Anna. "She won't hurt you. She helped me get to your mommy."

"Mommy with you?" Nessie sounded excited and when Anna told her no, she started to cry.

Once Anna had her and I had Anna's hand, my new friend led us away from the trees to the beach. Jake was there and he didn't look mad or anything.

"How?" he asked but Anna shook her head which was nice. Right now I just wanted to eat and sleep, even if they did get mad at me for everything.

The ride back to the shore in the little boat was bumpy. When we got there, a man was there and a woman. Nessie knew him and cried more when he hugged her. He didn't even look at me as he walked back toward a SUV, and I was glad Anna hugged me telling me it would be alright. I got to ride with her and Jake in a smaller car and it was hard not to go to sleep while Anna held me on her lap.

When we stopped, the brown SUV was in front of a big white house with a porch. "Where are we?"

"This is where Sue lives and Nessie's grandpa." Anna got out and held my hand as we went to the porch and up the stairs. Jake let us inside and it smelled good even with the wolf smell. We went down a long hallway and ended up in a kitchen where the lady, Sue, was making food. Nessie was sitting on her grandpa's lap and she looked happier, but didn't say anything to me, which was okay I guess.

"You had no right to do this," the man said.

"Charlie," Sue told him but he shook his head.

"They trusted you," he told me, gruffly.

"And I did what was best to keep her safe. You don't know what it's like. You are human and you have a normal life. I was never human because of what my father did, and what he did to my mom to make me. He isn't like the rest of them or the wolves because he was brought back from being dead with a spell. He died a long time ago and his people and my father brought him back because they thought he would help them hurt the ones who tried to hurt them. He can't be controlled because he doesn't have a body. He's not a man but a devil brought back to try and hurt me and Ness." My words made Nessie cry, but I didn't care. They wanted to know so I was telling them how it was.

Charlie left to calm Nessie down and I sighed as I sat on the floor covering my face with my hands. "I just want to go away and be safe. I want to be like everyone else who is nine years old but I'm not like that. I'm as bad as my father because I do stupid stuff," I whispered to no one in particular.

Something warm draped over me before someone picked me up. Anna hugged me close and I shut my eyes. "I'm sorry for everything," I whispered knowing it wouldn't make a difference.

~Jacob~

If what Lily said was true, we had bigger problems than just the vampires. Since becoming a protector for my people my world seemed to be growing larger and more difficult to deal with. We not only had leeches to deal with, but now we had angry, evil spirits according to what the little spawn had said. It was hard to know what to feel about her because she was so young even though she was older than anyone in our pack. What did she mean about what he did to her mom and was he her vampire father or was she talking about the spirit. If she was talking about this spirit thing, that would likely explain how she could disappear and move around without us being able to find her.

"Hey," Anna said as she sat down beside me on the porch.

"Is she asleep?"

"With Nessie, yes. Charlie is calming down and he is talking to Bella."

I nodded. "We need to figure out what to do."

"About Lily?"

"And everything else. I want to keep you safe, everyone safe. I want to just deal with what is in front of us, but it may mean going off our land to do it."

When Anna was quiet I glanced at her. "What are you thinking?"

"That I don't want you to go away, but at the same time I understand. This thing she talked about is a threat not only to us but to anyone who it gets near. How do you fight something that doesn't have a body?"

That was the big question. "I need to check with our historian and see if there is anything about spirits, bad spirits." The thing was we had never dealt with the Children of the Moon, or maybe we had. "I need to get to work. Let me know when she wakes up."

When we stood up I pulled Anna into my arms and held her close. "Thank you for helping me understand."

After giving her a kiss, I headed out toward the forest shifting before I disappeared into the trees.

Paul, Leah and Seth saw into my thoughts and listened to what Lily had told Charlie. How do you know she isn't just making that up, Leah questioned.

Doesn't it explain why she can just disappear and reappear and how she was able to get Renesmee away from her family? Look at all of us. Until we all knew about the stories being true did any of us take our fathers and grandfathers seriously?

Everyone was silent as I ran toward the woods to the clearing where they were all gathered. When I got there the entire pack was waiting. We have problems more serious that the leeches and we have a obligation to our people and to the people around La Push to keep our world safe. It won't stay safe as long as Lily's father and this thing what ever it is creates beings for a war.

Do you think it's a war they want, Seth asked?

What else would it be, Sam inputted.

Until now I'd never taken my role as Alpha of both packs so seriously. We are going to have to double up on patrols. It's going to mean a lot of hard work watching out for our people. Under no circumstance are any of you to lay a paw or hand on Lily. I don't like what she has done, but considering what she's been through, she has more control than some of us. As my last thought came through, I glanced over at Paul. From his thoughts I knew he didn't like me pointing him out. I also knew that my pack wasn't happy about me not wanting them to hurt Lily, but we needed her. She knew about this thing we faced along with her Vampire father. Once everyone had the times they would be patrolling we broke up and I headed back toward Sue's with Leah and Seth not far behind.

So, how is mom dealing with her new house guests? Leah thought. It was clear from the tone of her thoughts she wasn't happy that the two children were there, but I really didn't care at this point.

She's doing a lot better than the Chief, though I can understand his anger. Look you two, I don't like this any better than the rest of you. As far as Renesmee, we owe the Cullens to keep her safe. They helped us when they didn't have to. With that I thought about the newborn battle and how they let us see what it was like to fight with them. My thoughts carried over to when I was hurt and Leah growled a little.

You could have let me take him you know. She had never quite let me live down pulling that vamp off of her and getting injured in the process. I could have, but I guess I had something to prove which at the time was getting my ass kicked by that leech.

The sun was coming up when we arrived at the house, all of us in human form. Midway up the stairs leading to the porch, Leah turned and headed back down the drive. "I'm going to stay with your dad. I'd rather deal with Paul and Rachel than the stench."

Seth passed me by and I heard his stomach growl.

In the kitchen Sue was making breakfast and already had buttermilk biscuits sitting out on the counter. Seth grabbed one and tossed one to me. "How is everyone?"

"Resting. Neither of the children of stirred since you left, and the Cullens are on their way."

"All of them?" I asked as I finished of the biscuit.

"From what I can tell."

"I'm sorry about all of this." I said softly as Seth and me got out the plates and silverware for breakfast.

"None of it is your fault nor is it Lily's. To have gone through what she must have, I can't imagine. Oh, Quil and some of the other Council members need to talk to you."

That wasn't surprising. I had a feeling they wouldn't like having the two vampire kids on our front lawn, but they would have to deal with it. After finishing off another biscuit and a few slices of smoked bacon, I headed out, jogging toward my fathers house first to check in, wondering if Sue was going or if it was just Quil and my father who really wanted a word with me.

AN

Ok, so you guys get an earlier update than what I expected. I know this chapter didn't have a whole lot of Edward and Bella, but I needed to let you see into how Lily thinks. Lots more to come and keep the reviews heading my way I love them and will try and respond to each of them. Till next chapter.

~Ella~