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Chapter 1

First Day at School 1


Bella


After the birth of my darlings, I had stayed with Renée for a while. She had supported me as much as she could babysitting the kids so I could go to college which Charlie helped me pay for since my college savings were microscopic. When I finished my studies, I wanted to stand on my own two feet as soon as possible, to provide a home for the twins, and never again be dependent on outside help - even if it was from my parents.

I was really lucky at that. With no work experience, I had found a job in Saco, Maine, that paid relatively well. The East Coast of the USA was just far enough away from Forks and La Push that I could leave my past behind.

Saco was a pretty little town of just 20,000 people and was directly adjacent to its sister city, Biddeford, with about the same population. Everything you needed was here, without having to live in the hustle and bustle of a big city.

The children loved nature so I rented a cottage on the outskirts of town. I didn't want to cut them off from it. I didn't want to become one of those mothers who forbade her children to do anything that could come close to being seen as even remotely dangerous. They should be able to play in the forest (if they don't go too far from the house), get dirty (mud washes off) and be allowed to get hurt (as long as they don't lose any body parts in the process). Besides, I could never forget that they were Native American. Quileutes. Wolves!

I was very proud of them both. They got excellent grades, were popular in school, and had lots of friends. I taught them decent manners. Even still they were not always well-behaved. They'd played a few tricks on me over the past seventeen years, and they were very inventive. They had definitely inherited that from Jacob. Thankfully neither of them had received my sense of balance. You can't pass something on if it didn't exist in the first place. Leah had my eyes, but her father's bronze skin and black hair that fell in long curls over her shoulders. She was taller than me and had an elegant athletic figure, which was certainly due to all the sports she played. Leah was never shy and always spoke her mind. Sometimes she'd shout her mouth off. Being wrong every now and then didn't change that. She was hot-headed. Like her father had been.

She already had a boyfriend.

Already? She's seventeen! Geez, Bella. Just two years later, you were pregnant yourself!

His name was Ben and, in a way, he was her exact opposite. As quick-tempered and explosive as Leah sometimes could be, Ben was calm. They mirrored each other. I got along very well with Ben. He was nice and courteous. She had made a good choice, but high school relationships rarely lasted long.

Her brother's Native American ancestry was undeniable, but Jake's skin was very fair. He had his father's dark eyes, but not quite the same hair. It was straight black and came down to his shoulders, which he wore free most of the time. He was the same height as his sister and had a stature that reminded me a lot of his father before he became a wolf. His muscular body was very athletically defined, but not bulky. He was as passionate about sports as Leah and played on the school's basketball team. He was the more conscientious of the two and considered every step he took, but not shy, just like Leah.

And myself?

I had hardly changed. Petite, pale, long hair, clumsy. But I had grown up. I'm thirty-six years old. Soon to be thirty-seven. In just under two weeks, it was my birthday. My life was defined by my children and I lived only for them. I did everything for them and they let me be a part of their lives. More than might be considered normal in this day and age.

Maybe it was because I had had them so young. When they were in kindergarten, I'd noticed that the other parents were mostly older than me - ten to fifteen years older. They cried on my shoulder, came to me with their problems, asked me for advice, told me almost everything, and confided in me. I knew their fears and how to make them happy again. We'd even gotten through the unavoidable puberty talk without it being too embarrassing.

And love?

There was a man, once, when I had first moved here. But it had felt wrong. I felt like I was neglecting my children. So, I ended it.

Currently I was dating Andrew. Like me, he was a single parent who had lost his wife to complications during surgery several years ago. We'd gone out twice. It was very nice.

Every year I spent the last week of their summer vacation exclusively with my children, not letting anything or anyone else disturb me. It was a ritual we'd started when they were in kindergarten.

We had been in Canada for a few days, but had not made a side trip to Niagara Falls like we planned. We'd wanted to go so many times, but it had never fit into our travel plans. Every year we spent Christmas in Forks, and Thanksgiving at Renée's.

Today, the last day of their vacation, we'd spent the first part of day at the beach and now as the sun was setting were sitting on our terrace playing cards.

Tomorrow school would start again. It was a special year. Their graduation year. My last year with them. Next year they would be in college. How quickly time flies. No matter how old they were, I would never be able to see them as anything other than those little innocent babies I held in my arms. I started crying - tears of happiness. And sadness. Because Jacob Black, their father, I recognized him in both of them.

"Mom? Are you still with us?" Leah asked me.

"Yeah sure... I'm just reminiscing," I smiled at her.

"Cradling us as babies in your arms again?" asked Jake more closely with a grin.

I nodded.

This was part of this ritual.

I got up, stood between the two of them, and with an arm around each of their shoulders, pulled them towards me and gave them both a kiss on the cheek.

"You'll always be my babies. Even if you have children of your own one day," I said overemotionally.

Like every year.

Then I went into the house. It was time for dinner.

As we ate, I went over the final points of this annual tradition: Have you packed your school supplies yet? Don't go to bed too late! Behave yourselves at school! Is everything okay with the car? Do you have everything you need? And any other questions.


The next morning – I could have actually slept longer - I got up with the two of them.

With a coffee in hand, I asked my questions from the previous evening again. Their eyes rolled in annoyance, but they replied satisfactorily. This was also tradition.

I was nervous today for some reason. I didn't really know where this feeling came from. I had no reason to worry about anything. No more than usual. My children left home without me. What mother did not have some basic concerns about this? Maybe it was just because this was the last time, I would send them out of the house for their first day of school. I could still see them sitting on the carpet at three years old, bickering over the toys. Or when Leah was playing tea party at six and Jake absolutely had to put on a dress, or Jake was a superhero at seven who saved Leah - the damsel in distress. Inline skating at ten. Or the jump from the sixteen-foot diving board into the swimming pool at twelve. Their first school dance at fourteen. Driving a car at sixteen. And now their last first day of school. At seventeen. Today. Where the hell had the time gone? I often asked myself that.

With a kiss on the cheek, they said goodbye for today.

I still had time to get ready for work.

I was a biology lab technician in a research institute.

The Portland Veterinary Department had been tagging local elk and deer with transmitters for some time. But since about the beginning of the summer vacations, many animals had died or left the area. My institute was commissioned to investigate possible biological causes for this in nature. To do this, a few of us had to drive out and picked up various samples every morning. Earth, water, plants, carcasses and so on. But the samples wouldn't be in the laboratory until 9:00 a.m., so we lab technicians could not start work until then either. I still had no idea what could be the cause. But maybe my colleague, Peter, had an idea by now. I hadn't been at work for a week.

I turned on the radio and cranked it up so loud that it boomed throughout the house. Elated by the happy music, I went back upstairs to my bedroom and took my time with my morning routine.

Wash my face, brush my teeth, shower.

In the end, I had to hurry so I wouldn't be late.

Quickly grabbing my jacket and helmet, I went to the garage and rode my 'Honda CB 1100' to work.

I haven't heard any voices for a long time when I was riding my bike. It reminded me of Jake in a pleasant way.


"Good morning, Peter. How's your fiancé?" I greeted my colleague.

"Hi, Bella ... Stan is going a little crazy right now, but otherwise everything's great. How was your vacation?" he replied cheerfully.

Stan and he would be getting married in a few weeks and Stan were fully immersed in preparing for the festivities.

Peter told me - in order of his personal priorities - what I had missed during the past week. The wedding was taking more and more shape, but the invitations had yet another printing error and could not be sent. One of the younger Vets had a new tattoo on his muscular, well-tanned upper arm, which Peter described to me down to the very last detail.

The man, not the tattoo.

"Peter! You're getting married soon!" I accusingly teased him.

"First, he's straight. Second, a thing like that is just something to look at, not to marry," he defended himself and continued to update me with the latest gossip, which only interested me moderately.

He began with our colleagues, then talked about the city. At the end, he casually mentioned that there were no new findings about the unusual behavior/death of the animals.

During the morning, my boss showed some important people around the building and bragged about the excellent work HE was doing here.

Like you've ever held a pipette in your hands, the thought humorously went through my head.

But I really didn't mean any offense. He was a very good boss. He really knew what he was talking about with his considerable expertise and treated all his employees fairly. He was even very generous in terms of time off and salary. I saved every penny I could spare without letting us lack a certain standard of living to be able to send my two children to college.

So far, my plan was working - thanks to generous bonuses at work combined with my advisor at the bank. This was also owed to the kid's grandparents. Each of them had opened a savings account for their grandchildren at birth and paid a small amount into it every month. I hadn't been able to stop them. I was far from rich, but we were doing really well. But I only had one more year. What was that about time?

The day passed uneventfully. Work kept my mind occupied.

A solution had not yet been found, but I had the feeling that it was within reach.

For lunch, I got a tuna sandwich from the cafeteria and sat under a tree next to the building with Amber - a colleague on another team. So, everything as always. My life was pretty boring. The only exciting thing was my work, which I really enjoyed and offered variety. But I liked my life just as boring as it was!

Suddenly my children were standing in front of me, as if out of nowhere.

They looked pale and shocked. They were talking too rapidly; I couldn't understand a single word.

It was still school time. What were they doing here? What had happened?

Just then my boss just came in.

He had gone to the best restaurant in town for lunch, but noticed my children, who had no business here, and came over to us.

"Mrs. Black? ... Is there a special reason for their visit?" he asked skeptically, but also sounded a bit concerned.

Yes. I had taken Jake's name. With Charlie's help as sheriff, it hadn't been a problem. I felt like I owed it to Jake to have his children bear his name. And there were still people who didn't like it if children had a different family name than the mother. I wanted to spare them any strange questions or unfair treatment because their parents obviously were not married. So now my name was also Black.

It was forbidden to enter this area for security reasons. My boss, Mr. Prescott, knew my kids. There was a big picnic every year as well as a Christmas party for all employees and all family members. In addition, for the past two years, Jake has always worked here during school vacations, helping those who were responsible for obtaining the samples. Mostly students. So, he assumed my children were aware of the regulations.

"Excuse me, Mr. Prescott," I said promptly, looking desperately into my children's eyes.

Of course, they were here for a reason. They knew the strict regulations. I don't know what they had told the security guard at the gate to even get into the compound. But I didn't know what had made them come here.

Leah was very nervous. She babbled incessantly, but seemed to omit the most essential terms so I couldn't understand what she was trying to say.

I tried to calm her down and gently put my hands to her cheeks.

"Leah ..." I said thoughtfully and stopped immediately again.

She was so hot. She was burning up inside. She was sick!

I half turned to Jake.

His cheeks also seemed to be on the verge of burning up.

My eyes widened.

Leah threw herself into my arms in despair.

"Vampires!" she whispered to me, barely audible.


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