I awoke that night to a loud howl. Wolves. Close.

My heart hammered as I leaped out of bed and ran down the hall to Emily's room. I pushed the door open quietly. "Emily..." I whispered, panic coloring my voice.

"Hm?" she said drowsily, not sitting up. "What is it?"

I felt like a small child afraid of thunderstorms. But thunderstorms had nothing on this. "There's wolves." I said, going up to the side of her bed.

This caused her to start. "What?" she said, sitting up. "Where?"

"I don't know. They sounded close. Like, right outside my window." I said breathlessly. "Get Sam."

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe he can chase them off. He's strong."

I heard her hold back a laugh. "Sam's working tonight, sweetie." she said gently. "Don't worry, they won't get in here."

"Won't they hurt someone, though? Like, if someone's taking a walk?"

"Nani, who would be taking a walk at... three twenty-two in the morning?"

"I don't know, but, Emily, there are massive wolves outside!"

"How do you know they're massive?"

"Because all wolves are! They're menacing creatures with giant teeth made for tearing flesh from bone so obviously they're scary huge!"

"Do you want to stay in here?"

"I – what?"

"Do you want to stay in here tonight, on this side of the house?" she repeated.

"What does the side of the house matter?"

"Your side is where the woods are. Do you want to stay in here for the rest of the night away from the woods?"

I debated for a moment, then figured she wouldn't tell anyone. "Yes." I whispered.

"Alright, then, get in." she said, lifting up the covers so I could crawl in next to her.

I was still uncertain about how sane she was, what with her scars and all, but I felt totally safe, away from he wolves, next to her. I went right to sleep.

. . .

The next day, I was sitting at the kitchen table before lunch when "the guys" showed up. This time, Seth sat right next to me.

"Hey," he said. "Sorry about being so antisocial yesterday. Like they said, pretty girls terrify me."

I grinned. "That's okay. I'm afraid of wolves."

This startled him so much he jerked upright and stared at me. "You – wait, what?"

I gave him an odd look. "Yeah. I mean, I don't know why more people aren't. They're terrifying, what with the fangs and the animosity... why are you all looking at me like that?"

Every one of the guys in the room was looking at me in disbelief. Like I'd just said I like to kick puppies.

"Well, there are a lot of wolves around here." Seth said slowly. "It's just weird that you'd come here if you're afraid of them."

Instantly, I knew something wasn't being said. He was scratching the back of his neck and wasn't looking at me. He wasn't lying, but there was something more.

"I didn't want to come here." I said quietly, slouching a little.

There was an awkward silence, then Jake called out, "Who wants to go see the Cullens with me?"

They all made exasperated, irritated, or amused noises, most walking out of the room. "Who are the Cullens?" I asked.

"Friends of ours." said Seth easily, making a few people snort. "Well, friends of Jake's. They're cool, though."

"I'll go." I told Jake. "If that's alright."

"Emily?" he asked, looking at her for permission.

She shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"Can I come, too?" Seth asked.

"Sure, bro." Jake said, already heading out of the house.

"Where do they live?" I asked Seth as we followed.

"They live in Forks, the city a few miles off the reservation." he said. "You'll see."

We all walked to Jake's house, then got in his car and he drove us to Forks. It wasn't a long drive, mostly because he was driving so fast, but about ten minutes later, we were pulling into the long driveway of a beautiful house in the woods. "Wow." I said as we walked up to it. "Are they rich or something?"

"Yes." said Jake simply.

He didn't even knock. Just opened the door. "Uh, isn't that illegal?" I asked.

"Nah, they're cool with it."

I raised an eyebrow at him, but before I could say anything, a stunningly pretty woman walked into the room. "Jake!" she said, a heartbreaking smile crossing her face. "You came early today."

"I was bored." he said, shrugging.

"Jakey!" squealed a little girl, about six, with long, curly hair. She ran up to Jacob, looking like she wanted him to pick her up.

"Hey, Nessie." he said, lifting her into his arms. "You bein' a good girl?"

"Uh huh!" she said happily.

"Who are you?" asked the woman, looking at me curiously. "I don't remember seeing you before. Are you a-"

"She just moved here." said Seth quickly.

"Oh." said the woman, looking surprised and like she understood something. "Well, I'm Bella. Bella Cullen."

"Hi." I said, shaking her ice-cold hand. "I'm Nani Young."

"It's nice to meet you." she said.

"Jacob?" said an incredibly good-looking man as he entered the room. "Early?"

"Just a little."

"And a girl. Hello, Seth." he said.

I don't why, but the tension in the room seemed to have mounted since the man walked in. There was a long silence, interrupted abruptly by my phone going off. The ringtone, oddly enough, Savages from Pocahontas.