Chapter 5: Jacob
Google turned up nothing. It's not like I was expecting a phone number or anything, but at least a little blurb about a talented doctor new to the hospital would have given me a general area to work with.
"What if they used different names when they moved on?" was Embry's suggestion one day when he was lounging on the couch and I was staring at the computer trying to think of other things to type into the search engine. The thought had occurred to me. After all, how were century-old bloodsuckers supposed to stay under the radar if someone from an old town could just look them up? The problem was, I had no clue where to start looking for different names. Bella had never mentioned anything, of course. She avoided saying the Cullen's names if at all possible anyway.
Embry, in true Embry fashion, couldn't help but get involved after all and he had taken to searching things like 'hiking doctor' and 'doctor adopts a bunch of kids'. "That's pretty impressive, someone had to have written about that," he said when I raised an eye at the search terms. But no one did and, once again, we were stuck. It was a small mercy that Embry and I had still managed to keep Sam in the dark about what was going on.
Bella had called twice more. The first time was at 3am and no one made it to the phone in time. I wanted to change the answering machine to leave a message for her, but Billy had rightfully pointed out that it would let Charlie know that she was contacting us. The next time she'd called the Clearwater house. This is when I had a sinking feeling that she was actively trying to avoid talking to us. Of course, it had been Leah who answered and she was no help. In fact, Bella's flight seemed to inspire Leah and she decided to go on her own soul-searching journey. Sue and Harry were worried of course, but this wasn't the first time Leah had run off on her own and she was always back within a few weeks.
She was due to call again the next day, and I was getting desperate. By now, the redhead leech had moved on. After three days since we last scented her, I finally had to admit that she was no longer around. I wasn't dumb enough to hope that maybe she had just gotten bored and left, but I could still hope that maybe a week enough was enough of a head start for Bella, especially if she was smart and didn't leave much of a paper trail.
Billy turned out to be a surprising ally in my quest to dig up dirt on the Cullens. He agreed with me that the Cullens likely would help Bella and, like me, his affection for his best friend's daughter overruled his disgust and fear of the creatures she was looking for. He didn't have much more than I did though. The phone number the doc had given him when they moved to the area was no longer in service and they hadn't left any sort of forwarding address.
When I emerged from the treeline behind my house, I was surprised to see Charlie's cruiser parked in front of the garage. In the past weeks, Harry and Billy had been over there several times but, to my knowledge this was the first time he'd been in La Push since he and Billy had fallen out. Charlie was kind of the last person I wanted to see because I knew from Billy that he thought I was the reason she left. I understood where he was coming from, but it was still hard to take.
Billy, Charlie, and Harry all looked up when I came in the door and I gave an awkward wave. "Hey Charlie, how're you holding up?"
"About as well as it looks like you are, kid," he said bitterly. "I was just telling your dad and Harry that I found Bella's truck today." A burst of hope flared in my chest and was dashed almost immediately when he glanced at me and said. "Don't get too excited. It was sold to a seedy little dealership in Wyoming. The kind of place that doesn't ask questions. Sounds like after she sold it, she left on foot. Maybe planning on taking a train or a bus from there." He groaned. "She could be in Alaska by now."
"Alaska?" Billy guffawed. "You're nuts Charlie. Bella hates the cold, why would she go to Alaska?"
"I dunno Billy. But if she's trying to find him…" Charlie disliked saying their name just as much as his daughter did. "...that's where I'd start. Apparently he has cousins up there."
"Oh do they?" Billy queried with a forced casualness. Harry, who had been reading a fishing magazine in the armchair straightened up and was looking at Charlie with rapt attention. Charlie didn't seem to notice.
"Yeah, in a little town called Denali Park." I leaned in towards him.
"Did she mention if the Cullens had any other relatives?" I asked eagerly. Charlie barked a laugh.
"We've got the same train of thought, kid. She didn't, but he mentioned that he'd been born in Chicago by the name Edward Masen. I have a friend of mine working for the city looking into birth records there." Harry and Billy shared a look.
"Charlie, I thought Bella asked you not to go digging," Harry said gently. Charlie rolled his eyes.
'You hypocritical son of a bitch. I know damn well that as soon as you found Leah's note you called around trying to find out where she was going even though she asked you not to." As Harry and Billy lapsed into the now-familiar speech about Charlie not knowing what he was getting himself into with this search, I slipped back out the door and started heading for Embry's house. The family's minivan wasn't home, so I let myself in with the spare key and flung open his bedroom door. Embry started upright, looking around his room wildly. When saw me, he groaned and rubbed his face.
"Jake, what the hell man, I just got to sleep."
"The Cullens have cousins in Alaska!" I crowed triumphantly. "And a connection to Chicago!" Embry's jaw dropped.
"Jake, you're not really thinking of…" he trailed off. I could guess what he saw in my face. The dread and misery that had only gotten worse since Bella's disappearance was probably replaced by determination and excitement. Certainly it had been weeks since I'd felt this alive.
"Sam just said that I couldn't follow Bella," I pointed out. "He said nothing about paying Cullen relatives a visit."
"Yeah, because we didn't expect to find Cullen relatives," Embry said. "We're already stretched thin enough on patrols. Besides, how would you get to Alaska?" I cocked an eyebrow.
"It would only be, like, a day of running." Embry chuckled.
"Yeah doofus, a day of running there, a day of running back, and what, two days there to find the trail and track them down? You can't just disappear for four days." He shook his head. "Jake, this is nuts. What if they're not like the Cullens. Like what if they eat people."
"Hadn't thought of that," I muttered. Embry nodded quickly.
"And we don't even know how many there are. You can't do this Jake. Chasing after the coven of leeches we have a treaty with is one thing. But going after another coven we have no info on by yourself? That's insanity."
"Well, love makes you do crazy things." I shrugged. "Now are you going to tell Sam so he can stop me? Or are you going to trust that I know what I'm doing and need a little vacation?" Embry groaned.
"There's no way we can keep this from him anymore," He warned. "Even if somehow I managed to not think about where you were, he'll notice once you stop turning up to patrols."
"Sure, sure," I flashed a grin at Embry. "But it's Sam, as long as I'm out of mind range before he notices, he won't ditch the reservation to come looking for me and I can deal with the fallout when I get back. Besides, if I can manage to get a message out to the Cullens so they can look for her too, then whatever Sam has me doing when I get back as punishment will be worth it."
As it turned out, Embry didn't need to keep this from Sam because he was waiting for me when I phased.
"Jake, you will NOT go to Alaska to find the other coven. In fact, you will NOT leave the Olympic peninsula at all to look for Bella, the Cullens, or anything else that might be related to Bella's disappearance. Is that clear?" The force of the Alpha command dropped me to the ground
"Fine," I thought sullenly. "How did you know?"
"Your dad called me as soon as you left the house. He told me what Charlie said to you. Jake, it's suicide to walk into a nest of Cold Ones when we don't know anything about them. We don't know how many there are or whether they share the Cullen's hunting habits."
"Yeah, Embry said the same thing."
"Go home Jake. Take a nap, and then be up at midnight to wait for Bella's call." As much as I wanted to be angry with Sam for interrupting my plans, I couldn't. He was being surprisingly helpful with all this. He didn't have to, but since Bella's second call, he'd given me every third day off patrol so I could wait for the next one. He did truly want to help her, he just didn't want to do it at the expense of one of his pack. He wasn't the one in love with Bella. He didn't think she was worth the risk.
"Sorry, Jake," Dad said as I came in the front door. I glared at him.
"How did you even know I was going to go?" I asked. He chuckled.
"I've been your dad for 16 years. I can tell when you're getting ready to sneak out." He patted the seat of the chair next to him and I sat down.
"This doesn't mean we won't act on this information," he said softly. "But we have to come up with a better plan than you sailing off on your own to Alaska." I nodded, a sudden lump in my throat.
"I don't know if she has enough time for us to do anything else," I whispered hoarsely. Billy pulled me into a rough hug.
"We'll find her, Jake. Don't worry."
A/N - As of tonight I've written to the end of Part 1, so we're celebrating by releasing Chapter 5 a few days early! It's a bit of a slow start but it will definitely ramp up soon. Thanks for all the love you gave the previous chapters!