I'm extra careful when climbing into the black Mercedes Guardian, I feel like the shiny new car might become marred if I touch it. The leather seats squeak when I sit down and the new car smell takes over me. Keeping my feet together and my hands on my lap, I wait for Bella to get in. The driver's side door is open and Bella stands next to it. Edward is whispering something in her ear and she nods, a subtle frown on her lips. She kisses him and ducks into the car.
"Sorry about that," she says while buckling up. She waves to Edward and then drives down the driveway. She's a moderately slow driver, going the speed limit when we finally reach the main road.
My eyes focus on the forest that speeds by, the trees tall and evergreen. It's practically summer, but there is still a slight chill in the air. There is a pitter-pattering of rain hitting the car's exterior, it fills in the silence between Bella and I.
"I can't go past the border of Forks and La Push, Edward would be angry," she chimes in through the silence. "I hope you don't mind walking through the drizzle."
I shrug, even though she doesn't see it. "I don't mind, how far away is the border from Jacob's house?"
She gave me a poorly drawn map of what she remembers of La Push and where Jacob's house is, but I couldn't estimate the time with just looking at the paper.
"About thirty minutes on foot," she shyly smiles. "The last time you saw Jake was after that time we went to the movie theater, right?" She quickly changes the subject.
"Yeah, he got really sick, and almost couldn't drive home."
"After that night he was ignoring my calls for some time. I just want to warn you - he's not the same Jake. I am not even sure if I should be allowing you to go to see him."
"Why?"
"I can't tell you," she frowns. "Just don't be surprised if they turn you away immediately. Try to get to a phone and give us a call. Our phone number is on the back of the map."
It must be some big secret if Bella won't tell me what's going on. I am surprised to hear that he ignored her calls, out of anyone to ignore.
"Be careful," she mumbles under her breath. I barely hear her.
Bella drives in the grass and mud before taking a turn on the thin road to head back to the Cullens. I watch her with an umbrella over my head, and the map in my hand. It seems simple enough, follow this road down into the reservation and take a left turn. Amongst tiny houses, should be Jacob's.
I look back and forth on the side of the road before starting my journey in the grass, close to the forest. It's a short distance away from the road. Barely any cars pass by, but when they do, a wave of water spits at me. With my distance, I don't get hit.
Those men who took me away might be there, and they will most likely send me away again. This time I won't go down without a fight and now that I know how to use my ability slightly, I have a way to defend myself. I don't know why Jacob has been on my mind since I was taken, but I can't ignore the feelings I feel when I think about him.
There is a fluttering in my midsection, it threatens to fly me away, and I always feel a heat on my cheeks when my mind wanders to him. I wonder if he still has feelings for Bella, even though she's moved on, has he? I wonder what he's done all this time, where he thought I went - if he even thought of me at all.
I frown. What if he hasn't thought about me? What if he didn't care that I disappeared? I pause in the middle of a pile of mud. Should I even do this?
I traveled all this way, lived in terrible situations, worked my ass off, just to get here. I almost was captured by a crazed vampire and taken to a place full of even more of them.
I walk again.
Whether he wants to see me or not - I am going to see him one last time.
The familiar sight of the beach peeking through the tall, thick trees on the right reminds me of the first day I met Jacob. We were different then. I have changed, not by much, but I have, and I'm told Jacob has changed a great deal.
I take a left and walk along a dirt path that leads to the Black's house, and as I approach, Billy comes rolling out of the house with a beautiful native woman behind him. He wears a deep frown and it looks like he's paled a little.
"Furiae," he starts. He stops all his movement on the top of the ramp. "I wasn't expecting to ever see you again."
Again. He wasn't expecting to see me again. My heart sinks. He truly was a part of my disappearance.
"What did I do wrong?" I ask out loud, having thought I saved the words for my head.
He watches me with his elder eyes, wrinkled around the edges as they narrow thoughtfully. The woman looks at both of us, a frown on her gorgeous face.
"I'll leave you two, to talk," she says with a kind voice. She enters the house and slowly closes the door behind her.
"You helped with sending me away. You have no idea what I went through to get here today," I don't notice my hands are clenched until my nails dig into my palms.
Billy's eyes look down at my hands, and I follow, seeing the yellow light glowing around both fists. I glance up at him through my lashes and see that he's staring at me again.
"It's not like that," Billy says softly.
"Not like what? That I was trash you could throw away!" I hiss, feeling the power of the glow climb up my arms. "I am a human being for christ sakes!"
"Are you?" He asks.
My heart drops and a lump grows in my throat.
"Are you really human?" He continues.
"I-," without my control, tears well up in my eyes, burning them as they threaten to fall down my face. The world blurs around me, twisting colors together and making shapes indistinguishable. The rain pelts me harder than before and as it falls, colliding with my skin, the light around my arms evaporates. My hands run up my face, burying my fingers into my wet hair. "I-I don't know."
I step back, shaking my head as all the memories I have obtained so far go crashing through my mind. It's like a movie played in fast forward. It pauses when it reaches my mother whispering:
'He's different from you and I.'
"Furiae…." Billy mutters. Sharply, I look back up at him. My eyes narrowed, releasing the tears to mix with the rain on my cheeks, and my bottom lip quivers. "It was not like you think."
"Then….What was it like?"
His lips close shut and he leans back in his chair. His eyes are soft and understanding but no words dare leave his lips. He won't tell me. I went all this way for him not being able to tell me the truth.
I step back again, dropping the umbrella that hardly protected me from the rain.
"Furiae, don't," he says.
I don't listen. My heart panics in my chest and my mind swallows me whole into a darkness. I burst off down the trail of his house and run into the middle of the street where a car squeals to a stop. The man behind the wheel honks his horn. I stop in my tracks and narrow my eyes at the man and then the car. My brain hurts but as I look, the car starts to move back, squealing the wheels as they were not intended to go backwards yet.
The man looks confused, his hands up in the air as he looks back and forth out the windows. He's not controlling the car, so what is moving it? My brain heats up and I have to flicker my eyes away. The car stops moving and I am left just as stunned as the driver.
With my right hand touching my temple, I race off the road and into the forest. I evade trees and their grabby branches, and leap over rocks and roots. It takes seconds before I hear the relishing sound of waves colliding with the rocky shore. My feet become unbalanced as I reach the smooth, neutral colored stones below. I stop and stare at the cliff that I had fallen from. It's ominous against the gray background, dark even.
Every part of me aches but not from the run, or from my muscles hurting. It's from deep within. I fall to my knees, not caring about the scrapes I earn on my kneecaps from landing on the rocks. My whole body leans forward, my hands digging deep under the stones and into the cool, wet sand beneath.
"Who am I? What am I?" I mutter as I stare down at the rocks, trying to collect the thoughts and memories that flashed in my mind moments ago. None of it makes sense. The only truth I can conclude is that my father is the one that was different than us. He was the god that helped create me. But who was he?
Blonde hair, blue eyes, athletically built, and a flawless face.
I lose control over my tears and wail into myself as my hands lift from the sand and hug my midsection. "Why is this happening to me?" I cry.
"Furiae?"