Shetani, Shinda and I had been free of the labs for ten years as of last Tuesday. We all chose new nicknames and birthdays for ourselves the week we escaped. Shetani was now Tani, Shinda was Shy, and I became May. In all of our years of freedom, we'd traveled all over the world.
How we ended up in dreary Forks, Washington, I'll never know.
It was on a particularly stormy night that we got separated. We hadn't had our weekly feeding of blood that we all required, nor our daily human food intake, so we were easily disoriented. In one clap of thunder, we had all tried to take refuge in different places and I hadn't found either of my girls yet.
That was two days after the anniversary of our freedom.
I'd decided to shift into my wolf form- a gorgeous, rather large canine with a pure white coat, red and yellow flames on the front right foreleg and paw. My usual violet-golden eyes had superhuman sight, both in human and canine form. I was stronger and faster than any human, vampire or shifter, and my hearing was better.
It was so much easier to search as a wolf under the cover of the trees.
My sisters and I are not like normal shapeshifters. Rather than explode out of our skin and whatever clothing is on us, our clothes dissolve into our skin and fur. When we shift back, we ere not naked; we wore whatever we had been before we changed, accessories included. Our body temperature ran colder than a human's rather than hotter, though still warmer than vampire cold. We smelled like neither wet dog nor a Bath and Body Works. And we can shift into at least two other forms, in addition to some so-called 'gifts.'
A scent caught my attention. I cocked one ear up and lifted my head to catch the smell on the breeze again.
Something perfume-y was coming at me fast. I jumped three feet backwards and saw a form as pale as a full moon race by, then a dark, large, furry creature hurtle after it. Behind those two were even more animal-like blurs.
After weighing the pros and cons of helping the fluffies apprehend their prey, I shook my head and continued my own hunt.
Night turned to day, then to night again. I took no rest, ate no food, drank only enough blood to keep me alive enough to keep searching, determined to find Tani and Shy or die trying.
I howled for them, long and sorrowful, praying for us to be together again very, very soon.
Then I collapsed.
-
I suppose I must have morphed back when I passed out, for when I stretched, it was like a human would: arms far above the head and outwards, legs straight, fists clenched.
I lowered my arms and slowly opened my eyes, sitting up in the process. My gaze met three eager sets of eyes staring back at me expectantly. I yelped and started; the three guys groaned and leaned back, apparently disappointed. Just then, a woman with scars on one side of her face entered the room.
"Boys, don't be rude," she scolded, "and don't scare her." She turned to me with a smile. "Don't mind them, they don't bite. Well, Paul might..." she joked.
"I do not!" one of them- Paul, I assume- scoffed. While the four shared a laugh, I looked around.
I was in a small house. The living room was occupied by another girl around the age of the scarred lady, a fourth teenage boy, and a small child in addition to the five of us.
I jerked back to the conversation when the first woman told me, "My name is Emily. The three stalkers-" she ignored their loud protests and kept going- "are Embry, Paul and Seth. Over on the couch is Leah, and in the floor we have Quil and Claire." I tried to match each name to the correct face as she pointed them out. "Are you hungry?" My stomach growled in response. She laughed and simply led me to the kitchen.
She seated me at the table and gave me a plate loaded with bacon, eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns, and muffins. It was like she knew I hadn't eaten in almost a week. "If you want more, feel free to help yourself." With that, she went back to the living room and I stuffed my face with heavenly goodness.
Once my stomach was full and my plate was empty, I thought for the millionth time, 'Where are my sisters?'
I stood and made my way back to the living room to see four more bodies filling the already cramped space. Spotting Emily, I thanked her for the food and hospitality, then turned to leave.
"Wait." She grabbed my arm and I had to force myself not to growl defensively. "Who are you?"
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I must go," I replied sullenly. "I need to find someone."
The look on her face tipped her off that what was going on with me had to be bad. "Sit and tell us what happened. Maybe we can help." She tried to steer me toward the living room couch.
At that moment, I smelled it all over the place: shifters. I went rigid. Why hadn't I noticed it before? You'd think being among them would be comforting, right? Wrong. Every time my girls and I had tried living with them, or vampires, or even humans, they tried to kill us.
Emily noticed my sudden discomfort and released her hold on me, a concerned expression on her face. "Honey? Are you all right?"
"I have to go," I said, making my way back to the door. I was about to open it when it burst open. It would have hit me in the face had I not jumped backwards not a moment too soon. "Hey, watch it!" I shouted, my inner feistiness coming out.
A big guy- though not in this crowd; all the boys were huge here- stepped through the door. "You shouldn't have been behind the damn thing," he growled, not bothering to look at me.
Pissed, I walked out, leaving Mr. Grouchpants behind.
Now back to my search.
-
I was traipsing through the beach in my human form for the past ten minutes, trying to get the lay of the land and a feel for where I was in relation to where I had been when I'd conked out.
Not a clue to be given by the waves, the foliage, the sky, anything.
I heard voices, though none were my sisters', so I kept walking. I stopped paying attention to where I was and began trying to simply stumble upon them, seeing as searching like a spy was doing no good. My random, daydreaming walk led me right in to some guy's back. He turned around and I was about to apologize when I saw who it was.
Mr. Grouchpants from Emily's house. He was with a girl. I wouldn't have thought him capable of having a girlfriend, but hey, females are weird.
"Hey, watch it!" he snapped, still not looking me directly in the eye yet. I wish I could physically smack his arrogant face off.
"Hey, you watch it! I was just walking!" I shot back, not wanting to back down.
"Oh yeah? Well why-" His reply died on his lips when he looked me straight in the eye. His own eyes widened, his mouth fell open, and he just silently stared for a moment longer.
Feeling uncomfortable, I turned to the brunette gal. "Keep an eye on your boyfriend here. He's a jerk."
"Um, do you two know each other?" she asked.
"We had a brief encounter." I decided it was time for a change in subject. "How far are we from Forks?"
"Just a few miles that way." She pointed. "Why?"
"Thanks. Bye." I walked in the direction she'd pointed, approaching the forest, when suddenly I felt a warm arm grasp my arm. It may have been mid-autumn, but I wore my jeans and the only shirt I owned: a thin, short-sleeved T-shirt.
"Wait!" The dude sounded worried. Frantic even. What was wrong with him? "You can't go in there!"
"Uh huh. And who is going to stop me?" I turned to face him.
"Me. Jacob Black." He puffed up his chest and put on a stern face, like that was supposed to intimidate me. Pft.
"Sorry, Blackie, no can do. I'm kind of in a hurry." I jerked out of his grip and began walking again. "I have things to do, people to see."
He must have heard the determination in my voice because he let me go that time. I began my trek anew, hiking aimlessly and daydreaming, holding on to the hope that walking randomly would work since extreme, detailed searching had failed me.