The White Feather

Disclaimer; all characters and copyright belong to SM.

Chapter Nine

Jacob had familiarised himself with every room in the large house. It was dark and damp inside. The whole place needed to be aired. Dust motes made him sneeze as he wandered from room to room. There was a tall spiral staircase that led from the lower section of the house to the upper floors. Jacob kept expecting something to jump out at him from the shadows. He was glad that he could see in the gloomy atmosphere. His senses were on high alert. Every creak and groan the old house made set him on edge. But he instinctively knew that nothing roamed here now but the insects and animals that had infiltrated from outside. Whoever had owned the house was gone, although Jacob could still smell traces of them. The former occupants had distinct smells: sickly sweet and deathly. It burned Jacob's nostrils. He avoided the places where their scent trail was at its most potent. It made him feel nauseated. He was glad that the wolves had made his angel stay outside. He didn't want her to come in here. He didn't want her to see what he had seen, to smell what he had smelled. This place belonged to the dead, not to the living. The wolves had wanted to him see that, to make him understand.

Jacob was glad to leave. When he reached the underground garage he could breathe again. There was enough space to house multiple cars, the floor space was huge. Jacob walked around the edges of the garage, running his fingers along the cold walls. He thought about the garage his dad had built. It was really just two tin sheds bolted together, but it was big enough to house Billy's old truck and the one he had inherited from his father. It was an old red Chevy. The paint was peeling and it stood on bricks in the corner of the garage. His daddy kept promising that they would work on the old wreck together. Jacob was fascinated by engines. He had been ever since Billy had raised the hood on the old Chevy and showed Jacob the inner workings inside. His daddy had allowed him to watch while he pulled the old engine apart and then begin to reassemble it. That was before his mommy had been taken away.

It was time to go. Jacob choked down a sob as he tried to push the memory of his beautiful mother deep down inside. It hurt to think about her, to think about the day she had died. He wasn't a warrior prince anymore. He was just three year old Jacob Black, stuck in a body that was getting too big for him, trying to work out what and who he was. He didn't know anymore. His instincts told him one thing; his immature brain told him another. It was only his connection with his angel that was keeping his feet on the ground. Sometimes Jacob felt like he would float up into space if she wasn't there to hold his hand.


The two children returned to a scene of chaos. The wolves had escorted them nearly all the way home, but had only stayed long enough to make sure they reached the boundary with La Push. They had melted away into the shadow as soon as the sounds of human activity intruded on their reality. Jacob and Bella were left to complete the journey alone. The two children held hands as they emerged out of the forest and into the light.

There were people everywhere, milling about and calling for them. Four police cruisers, with blue lights flashing, were parked outside the Black's small redwood house. A table had been set up and a large map of the area spread across it. Charlie was leaning over the table, his brow furrowed, and face full of concentration as he marked out new places to search on the map. He was surrounded by a slew of other men, Harry Clearwater and Old Quil among them. It was Harry who spotted Jacob and Bella first.

"Chief, they're back. Look." Harry pointed excitedly toward the trees.

Charlie raised his head sharply and looked into the distance. Harry was right. It was Jacob and Bella. The two children appeared overwhelmed by the flurry of activity going on. They looked almost comical. Jacob towered over Bella now, despite the two year age difference. He looked more like seven then three. But Jacob's dark eyes betrayed his true age. This wasn't the confident boy who had left with his daughter to disappear with a pack of wolves; this was a young boy who looked lost, anxious. The magic that had surrounded them was gone now, leaving just a scared boy and girl, wondering what the heck was going on. Charlie could barely see his little girl's face. Bella was turned to the side gazing up at Jacob nervously. Her long hair was parted like a pair of curtains, hiding her from him.

A lump lodged in Charlie's throat. He felt such a rush of deep love for the two of them that he had trouble containing it. He wanted to protect them, to chase away the demons, to allow them to live a happy life with nothing around that could hurt them. But he knew now, he knew that wasn't going to happen. He couldn't deny what he had seen with his own eyes. Jacob and Bella were special. He didn't have any of the answers. He didn't understand why. Tragedy had touched both their lives within such a short space of time. First Sarah, then Renee had been taken from them. They were both motherless. But in that moment Charlie was determined that he would be strong for all of them. He would make sure that Billy came out of the hospital a well man. These two children needed them both to be strong.

It only took a few moments before Charlie reached the confused and bewildered children. He scooped his little girl up into his arms first, squeezing her tight as he hugged her, crying when her little arms slipped around his neck and clung on. His free hand found Jacob's. He felt the boy's warm fingers curl around his as he stood tensely by his side.

"Let's get you inside now." Charlie said gently as he squeezed Jacob's fingers. "It's gonna be alright. I promise."


Jacob and Bella sat at the kitchen table eating a plate of scrambled eggs. Two tall glasses of orange juice were set beside their plates. Charlie watched them eat, pleased that they seemed to have a hearty appetite. Everyone else was gone now, apart from Old Quil, who sat in front of the fire, staring into its fiery depths. Harry had returned to his own family. He had promised the twins that he would take them to see their father. No one had told Billy that his son had gone missing with Bella in tow. They knew he would have discharged himself from the hospital straight away. And no one wanted that.

"Do you need anything else? Do you have enough there?" Charlie asked eventually when both Jacob and Bella pushed their empty plates to one side. He held his breath, hoping that his little girl would finally speak.

"No, thank you. We full now." Jacob said for both of them as he lifted Bella's glass of orange juice and passed it to her. Bella took it from him and raised it to her lips.

"Let them be, Charlie. Come and sit in front of the fire." Old Quil motioned for Charlie to pull up a chair.

Charlie sighed, rubbing a hand over his face as he did the elder's bidding. He fell into the chair and sat forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "I haven't asked, Quil. I've held back from demanding answers for Billy's sake…for theirs." He glanced back at the two children. Bella had finished her juice and Jacob was in the midst of filling her glass up again from the big jug. Charlie swore that they were able to communicate with their eyes. He focused on Old Quil again. "What do you think is happening?"

Old Quil stared into the fire. He fancied he could see wolves dancing amongst the flickering flames. He tried to pull himself together, but he was becoming lost in the past, remembering himself as a young boy no older than Jacob. "I've lived a long time, Charlie. I am older than you know. Then anybody knows. I was already an old man when my son was born." He nodded as he saw Charlie raise his eyebrows in surprise. "Yes, I had my son very late. My wife, she was a good woman, but not very strong. She didn't live long enough to celebrate my son's first birthday."

Charlie swallowed thickly. "I'm sorry about that." He mumbled. He thought about his own parents, Bella's grandparents. They had lived long enough to see him grow from a boy into a man. They had seen him marry, have a child…but their lives had been wrought by illness. They had spent many years in pain, and in the end he had been the one looking after them.

Old Quil assessed Charlie keenly. "We've suffered many losses you and I." He continued gruffly. "And so have they." He adjusted his baseball cap on his head as he looked over at Jacob and Bella.

"I don't want them to suffer anymore, Quil." Charlie ran his fingers through his hair. "They're children."

"I know." Old Quil settled back in his chair. "I am going to tell you a story, Charlie. It's about Jacob's great grandfather, Ephraim Black and his friends, Levi Uley, and my own father, Quil Ateara II." He stopped for a moment as his eyes darted toward Jacob and Bella. The two children had finished their juice and were looking toward him nervously. "Come here, children. You should hear this, too." He gestured for them to join him and Charlie in front of the fire.

"Are they too young to hear this?" Charlie checked as he lifted Bella onto his lap. Jacob sprawled at his feet, stretching his long legs toward the fire.

"They've already seen far more than any child their age should see." Old Quil said sadly. "They need to know. Their future is bound up in what happened to these three men in the past."

Charlie cuddled his daughter close to his body. She was so tiny, so fragile. He couldn't equate this small girl with the one he had seen riding astride the Alpha wolf's back, with Jacob at the forefront of the pack, leading them into the forest. He still hadn't shared this titbit of information with anyone. He didn't know why but he held it back, it wasn't that he didn't trust Old Quil, Billy or Harry. And it wasn't because he didn't think they would believe him. He couldn't explain why really, but somehow when Jacob and Bella had headed off alone into the forest; it was like it wasn't them, but another version of themselves. It was like they had been under a spell, surrounded by magic and mysticism. They had left full of confidence and returned full of fear. They were older when they left, they had returned as themselves, as the children they were. Something had taken them over, but it was gone for now.

As the fire cast shadows on their faces, Charlie and the children listened as Old Quil spun his tales of the past. He spoke of wolves and shapeshifters, of warriors and the women who loved them, of hardship and love. The truth was mixed with magic, legend with fact. The old man talked long into the night until none of them could keep their eyes open and they drifted into an uneasy sleep.


"Your great grandfather, the Chief, found them hunting on our land. But they claimed to be something different, so he made a treaty with them. If they promised to stay off the Quileute lands, then he wouldn't expose them for what they really were... to the pale-faces."

Old Quil's words haunted Jacob's dreams. He tossed and turned restlessly, sweating. His skin was burning. He woke up, gasping and with a raging thirst. Jacob slipped out of bed. His long hair was damp and clung to his head. He padded down the hall, stopping outside his angel's room. Her door was ajar. He peered inside. In the sliver of light shining through the parted curtains he could see that her bed was empty. The covers had been thrown back, the sheets rumpled. Jacob tensed, his heart clinching in his chest. Where was his Bella Angel? He ran down the hall on silent feet, his eyes searching, breathing heavily through his nose as he followed her scent trail. It led outside. The front door was swinging lightly on its hinges. A light breeze ruffled Jacob's hair as he raced outside into the moonlight. The fresh air cooled his fevered skin. He could see Bella's footprints embedded in the wet mud. Jacob followed them easily right up to the garage.

She was sitting in the old Chevy, brown eyes full of anxiety and chewing on a tendril of hair. Jacob hastened to the old truck and pulled his body up beside her. Bella had used an old upturned crate as a stepping stone to climb inside. She looked at him as he settled down beside her.

"Bella Angel." He eased her hand away from her face, detangling the hair from her fingers. "No sleep?" He asked as he looked at her troubled face.

Bella hadn't spoken since her mommy had died. Words formed on her lips but got caught in her throat. Instead she opened up the palm of her other hand and showed him the crumpled white feather they had found on their surreal journey to the big house. It had turned black. A strangled moan escaped Jacob as he grabbed it with his free hand and smashed it on the bench seat of the truck. Bella's soft hand was on his face as he began to cry.

"Red wolf." Her breath was cool on his fevered skin as she whispered in his ear. "Red wolf is here."

The change was coming. Jacob knew he couldn't escape it now. His tortured gaze found his angel's. She looked at him sadly as the tears dried up on his hot cheeks. Then her fingers were in his hair as his head fell into her lap. Jacob Black wept as if his heart would break.

A/N-thanks for reading!