Many find keeping secrets a daunting task, but we know the true challenge: telling a lie when knowing the truth.

Mother Superior Shanna Davis

POV Jacob Black

School is out. As soon as the bell rings, I bolt for the classroom door without saying goodbye to Quil. I run through the hallways, leave school and sprint to the village. Villagers stare after me, but this is more important than my image, way more important. I need to talk to Ems, more than anything. She hasn't been to school for an entire week and she never skips a day. This can't go on. I need to talk to her.

My breathing's getting heavier as I race to my house. I push myself to go faster. I have to see her. My hair's waving in the cold wind. It reminds me of horses running through fields. I must look ridiculous right now, but I don't care. I have to see her.

I've finally reached my house. I open the door, throw my backpack inside without another word or look, and run towards Embry's house next. Her place is on the other side of the village. I have to see her.

I leave the inner circle of homes and see Embry's at the edge of the forest, near the beach. Her house has the perfect vantage point over the entire reservation and a view on the rocky shore. There's no way to get close to it without being seen by the Calls, but that's exactly what they wanted. At least that's what Ems told me.

I can already see her sitting on the front porch. She must have spotted me too, without a doubt. Yet she doesn't seem to give any sign that she did. Normally, she stands up and waits for someone to arrive. Now she's just sitting there, staring.

I speed up to cross those final yards and quickly find myself standing on her front porch, gasping for air. I lean against a red-painted, wooden wall and catch my breath as Embry continues to gaze at the shore. Does she even know I'm here?

She has to, it's impossible for her to have missed me. Still she doesn't move or make the slightest effort to let me know she noticed me. I cough. Only now does she turn her head and I see genuine surprise sweep across her face. Holy crow, she absolutely didn't see me!

POV Embry

"O hey Jake. When did you get here?" I'm completely amazed. When did he get here? It's impossible to miss anyone advancing on our house, so how did I not see him? He seems to have stood there for a while and has worked himself up quite a sweat. He's soaking wet! His long, nasty hairs are sticking to his face and sweat's dripping from his nose. By The Great Mother, he ran towards here and I didn't see him!

I must have been really distracted to have missed him. How can anyone blame me after what I've been through this week? The trail had been the least of my concerns. My assignment was the real trouble-maker.

After the Reverend Mother's humanity test, she talked about my new training. Nothing wrong with it at all. Some subjects even intrigued me, like the Voice. I call still hear her words resonating through my brain:

"The Voice may be our Order's second greatest accomplishment so far. Through complicated changes in voice patterns, a Sister can use her vocal cords as a weapon in itself. She can apply it in combat as well as when courting an assigned mate. The options are limitless when we have fully mastered the Voice."

"Courting an assigned mate"...that's how she casually transitioned to the most important point on her agenda, that which she had come to do here all along. She told me I had to conceive a child by the end of this year. Again, I saw no issues. I knew it was expected of me. The problem, on the other hand, was my 'assigned mate'. It would be no one other than Quil, my best friend.

"Why Quil?" I asked. Although I was boiling inside, I kept my emotionless face up and controlled my voice and breathing. "Why not Paul, or Jacob? Jared or Sam? Hell, why not even Seth?"

Reverend Mother Mira looked at my mother and said: "You're sure you haven't told her anything? She picked out almost all of them."

Mother shook her head and made a gesture which meant as much as 'bitch please'.

"What have you heard about the legends of the Quileute tribe?" she asked me. At the time, I didn't have a clue what she meant, but it would soon be all clear.

"Not much, just the usual stories of days past," both women remained quiet; they needed to hear exactly what I knew, "I've heard Jake's dad talk about it sometimes. How the Quileutes are descendant from wolves and they have to protect us all from 'the Cold Ones'. I just thought it was gibberish from a sentimental old fool."

That last part made Mother giggle, but Mira was impenetrable. She was dead serious:

"It was far from that, you arrogant girl! The Quileutes have always had this certain magic coursing through their veins. We'd like it to run through the Sisterhood's too, yet in diminutive form. That's why you'll have to mate with one of the Shapeshifters," so that's what they are, "in this case the boy called Quil Ateara."

"You still haven't told me why he specifically."

I guessed it wasn't an aesthetic feature the Order was looking for, because then they could have paired me with any of the boys I mentioned. I'd soon wish I hadn't mentioned a few of them.

"Well, let's go over them, shall we?" Mira was getting quite annoyed with me. "First, Sam Uley would be impossible since you're his half-sister," shock number who knows how many, "Your mother slept with his father and conceived you. That was step two of the Bene Gesserit plans. Step one was your grandmother's integration in this society, but enough about that.

Second, your other friend," she said it with a tone that cut through marrow and bone, "Jacob Black would be possible, but useless for our plans. His genes carry the alpha-treat. In other words, he's a natural-born leader, not what we want. We want an army of super soldiers to fight the battles we can't ourselves. A leader is of no use to us."

Because you wouldn't be able to control him, I thought. But Mira wasn't done yet.

"Third, Seth Clearwater is far too young. He has barely hit puberty and we're already threading on dangerous boundaries as it is with your youthful age. Lastly, Paul Lahote and Jared Cameron. By the time we'd be done training you, they'd already be transitioning and those changing genes can only mean trouble.

In conclusion, Quil is the only Shapeshifter who'd be mature, but undeveloped enough to pair you with. The fact that he's your friend doesn't matter."

And that was that. I will be getting special sexual training to make 'my job' easier, and practice of the Voice too, as she had already mentioned. Whatever argument I could have thought of against these plans, she would have shot it down saying I'm too emotionally involved and that it was all my mother's fault.

"Didn't you see me?" Jake's surprised answer pulls me out of my flashbacks. I didn't even remember he was still standing there. How long had I drifted away? How much of my 'precious time' had I lost? I sigh.

POV Jacob

I suddenly notice how upset she is. I forgot how she always stares into nothingness when she's shook up. I want to ask her about Quil's 'test' earlier this week and if her mood has anything to do with it. Then again, I don't want to seem too bold by asking. However, would that really distract her so much? She has proven time and time again that she's more than capable of shielding those things off. Finally, I decide to take my chances.

"I can see how you're really upset. Is it because of Quil's questions?" I see her close her eyes when I mention his name. "So it is his fault?" I spew out before she can answer. She turns her head and looks at me anxiously. I've never seen her look at me like that.

"Jake, please, you don't need to be mad at him. I'm not upset because of him. I'm just...distracted. I can't tell you anything, but there's a lot going on in my life right now."

I want to disagree with her, shout at her that she can tell me whatever she wants, as long as she just gives me a heads up before she decides to drop out for an entire week. Instead, I try to grasp what she just said.

It wasn't Quil's fault, but considering her reaction, it could affect him. A lot of things are distracting her too, but she can't explain them. Or someone's making her keep quiet. Suddenly, it hits me.

"Has it got somethin' to do with that cult you and your mom belong to?" this time she keeps her emotionless face intact, but I feel as if I've hit the nail on the head. For the first time, I also notice she isn't wearing her usual white cloak. The one she's wearing now is gray.

"Is that a new cloak?"

POV Embry

So many questions, such long and complicated answers, yet no time or permission to talk. It's at least a good thing Jake's so observant. He made all the right connections and I didn't have to give him too many clues. Time to quench his thirst for answers.

I move over on our porch-bench and pat the area next to me as a universal sign of 'sit down please'. He immediately gets the hint and seats himself beside me, sneakily sliding closer to me than I normally would have allowed, especially now that he stinks of sweat. Yuk!

"Jacob, what I'm about to tell you is top secret. Please, don't tell anyone," he nods, "Good. Earlier this week, a woman was here to test me for...that cult. I passed her test, so I was promoted, which my cloak symbolizes. It also means my training with my mother will increase. That's why I haven't been to school all week."

"So, if your mom's gonna train y'a more, does that mean we're not gonna see you at all?" he asks. I asked Mother the same question and she allowed me to have some spare time to spend with Jake and Quil.

"Not completely. I'm dropping out of high school, but you'll see me, rest assured. Whenever I'm available, I'll let you guys know, okay?"

He nods and changes the subject: "Okay then. Well, do you want me to catch you up with the latest news?"

"Sure."

"You remember Charlie talking 'bout his daughter, right?", he's talking about Charlie Swan, the Chief of Police of Forks, "Just last Wednesday, he said that she's gonna move here in a few weeks. Wouldn't that be great?"

"How?" I highly doubt that some spoiled brat coming here is 'great'.

"Wouldn't it be great if there was someone new we could hang out with? She could totally be our new friend. I wonder if she still remembers me from when I was younger," I'd be really surprised if she did. Last time Charlie's daughter Isabella was here, she was about eleven years old, so we must have been like nine.

"I think you're being overenthusiastic. You don't know if she'll even set foot on La Push, let alone talk to us," I see Jake smiling at me. Whatever I would have said, it wouldn't have mattered. He just wanted to distract me.

You can say a lot about Jacob, but not that he's a lousy friend. I smile back at him, wriggle myself even closer to him and rest my head on his shoulder. He immediately throws his arm over my shoulder and pulls me closer.

POV Jacob

"Jake, I want you to know that we'll always be friends, no matter what," she whispers.

"I know," I whisper back. We sat there for another hour, quietly, simply enjoying each other's company without any cares in the world. Or so I hoped.