Shifting Moon Ch 6

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it. To those that do not, well its a early chapter. Enjoy

Alice handed me the sheet of paper with all the ideas we came up with, she had a very business-like look on her face. "Here are the options we have selected. Now as we agreed we will think them over during the weekend and decide on Monday morning so we can start planning a schedule."

I was reading the paper over and admiring Alice's handwriting when Ms. Ross said the thing every student hated to hear. Pop Quiz. Though I found it fairly straightforward and easy, Alice still finished the 30-question test 15 minutes earlier than me. I noticed she was smiling a lot more than I had seen before, so I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote, {What has you so cheerful today, this is the first time I have seen you smile so much in the week I have been here.} I passed it to her and watched as she wrote back.

{I found out this morning that Edward and Edythe will be coming back to Forks this weekend. I don't like it when my family is separated.} I read when she pushed the paper towards me. Before I could write anything, she pulled the paper back and wrote more. {I told Edythe that you had asked about her, and she was very suspiciously quiet about the subject. Want to hear the quick details about her? Her likes and dislikes?}

When I read this, I flushed a little. {It's not like that Alice, she just looked upset with me the last time I saw her, and I wanted to clear it up.} Luckily, before Alice could comment further the bell rang. Time for Government class. As Alice and I exited the building I saw Jasper waiting as he sometimes does to walk Alice to her class.

After greeting Alice, Jasper turned to me, "Emmett tells me you are looking for a lift partner to help with your workouts a couple of times a week." His southern accent made the question more of a statement.

"I am. I have been at my current weight of 350 for longer than I like but no one at the station where I work out can spot me for more than that solo and getting two together just to help me seems too demanding on their time."

"I think I can help with that. If you give me a time and place, I would be happy to work out together. Only in the mornings though, I will need to get home to accompany my Hummingbird after school." Jasper smiled at Alice.

"That would be great Jasper. I can't thank you enough. I was getting afraid I would be backsliding on my training." I was beyond happy to have found a workout buddy. I may not like people in large groups but being alone sucked. I had brought up working out with Ben, but he was unenthused, to say the least when I told him I woke up at 4:30 in the morning.

Crap, that reminded me. "I usually start my workout around 5 am with a good hour of running, but if you want to skip that part then I usually get to the police station around 6 am and stretch out for 15-20 minutes before starting my lift routine. That sound ok to you?" I asked half expecting him to back out.

"Tis no problem at all, I can park my bike at the station and come find you on your run and we can go from there." Alice was absolutely beaming at Jasper, as if she were just as excited as I was to see Jasper working out. We exchanged numbers so we could communicate as we walked to Alice's classroom, I left them together and headed to my class. Bella was getting more comfortable with the new school and dealing with people who treated her like the new shiny toy in the toy box. The only one I truly thought she got along with was the girl, Angela.

I noticed that I had her in my biology class along with Ben and Eric. I had seen a few looks directed toward Angela by Ben, but I had yet to form a solid opinion on it. Eric made the mistake of coming to me almost demanding that I help him get together with Bella. His reasoning was that he was much better than Mike. I just told him that I stayed out of Bella's life in that regard, and she was the only one who had the right to decide who she liked. He was lucky that it wasn't one of the days I was struggling with my temper.

The rest of the day was nothing to speak of, just the normal heightened emotions of a Friday that the teachers tried to suppress with tons of homework. After the final bell of the day Bella and I went home, and I quickly did most of my homework before heading out to the police station for my workout. I found the packages I ordered on the steps when me and Bella got home and sure enough, they were the ones for the workout room at the station. Stopping at the kitchen table to tell Bella I was headed out, I noticed where she went wrong with her math homework. "You used the wrong theorem here." I showed her a list of theorems that were in the back of the book for reference and showed her a better theorem. She didn't seem very thankful, but it wasn't me who named that index (math for dummies).

I kept the posters in their tubes and just ran with them in my hands all the way to the police station. I was happy that most people had gotten used to seeing me run and greeted them with a wave or nod as I ran by. The station was getting fewer calls about me and that was helpful. Gerie came in to help me put up the posters as every man knows that they are incapable of putting something on the wall without female supervision. I really didn't mind as she treated me like I expected a grandmother would do. Never having one though, I wasn't entirely sure.

I rode home with Charlie as was my habit after my evening workouts and Bella had a filling dinner of spaghetti waiting for us. I knew she loved it when we were satisfied with her cooking, it was one of the few places she would seek compliments and approval without embarrassment. Charlie also had a conversation with us about his habit of working weekends to make sure his deputies all had time with their families. As he didn't have one here usually, he took the hours but if we wanted, he would rework it, so he had more time with us. We both told him again, that we didn't intend our stay to interrupt his schedule. Both me and Bella enjoyed alone time, now that we had been here a week, I planned on exploring the forest area as it was strangely inviting to me for some reason. Bella would use the time to read and relax away from anyone. It's just the way we were.

I texted Jasper to see if we were still on for the morning workout and he replied that we were. With nothing else to do, I went to my room and finished my homework then spent some time meditating. I wasn't sure why, but lately, I had been feeling a restlessness in my body. At first, I shrugged it off as being in a new place but when I started to get comfortable here, I knew there was more to it because my body just kept heating up and my energy was much more than usual.

Another weird thing was that I started having trouble watching TV. Any quick movement had me wanting to react. Even when running, if I saw a bird scare up into the air due to my running by, I felt like I wanted to chase after it. I also started having trouble focusing inside buildings again. I thought I had worked through that years ago. But at the same time, this felt a bit different. When I suffered from my claustrophobia before, it felt like the walls got closer to me and wanted to suffocate me making it hard to breathe. But now it was more like the walls were a cage, stopping me from moving as I wished. The rooms were too small, I felt like I needed more room to run around in even if I was just sitting still.

I also noticed that most all of my free-hand drawings lately were of wide-open landscapes or forest areas I had glimpsed near the town. It was the reason I planned to go hiking tomorrow after lunch. Something was calling to me out there, was all I could think as I fell asleep.

Morning came along and my alarm woke me up, I got up and did my usual morning routine, then headed out the door. It hadn't started raining yet so I was thankful for that, I hated running in wet shoes. I didn't even want to think about what I would do during next winter. I guess I have all this year to figure it out. Suddenly as I was running, I felt a threat approaching me. I didn't see anything, and I didn't hear it either, but my skin was crawling, and my instincts were telling me to escape. My eyes started going super active and I was checking out the tree line, the ditches, or any shadow in my path.

I picked up speed, but I could still feel it drawing closer. My anger started to build, and my fingers were clenched into claws, not fists like normal. I wasn't paying attention to that, but all my senses were turned out like I was getting ready to fight. Just a couple minutes later I heard a shout from behind, "Hey Thomas. You keep that pace up and you won't have much energy for lifting later."

I let out an explosive breath and yelled back, "Hey Jasper! How long have you been on my trail? I felt like I was being hunted for a while now. Amazing how the morning fog can twist your perspective right." My pulse started calming down and returning to normal as Jasper came up alongside me.

My anger and fear melted away faster than I thought possible, but I didn't really pay attention to that as I still felt like I was being watched from the tree line for some reason. Jasper and I continued at a good pace, but I just couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. "Hey Jasper, you get a feeling like we are being watched from that tree line over there?"

"Not as I can tell, though I am not really familiar with these parts, our house is a bit farther out of town. Think maybe it's a loose dog?"

"Could be. No matter, with the two of us here I don't think we will be in any danger." Thomas and Jasper continued the run and Thomas was again surprised at Jasper's movement. Everything he did just flowed like a stream, smooth and easy. Once they went to the Police station Thomas was amazed by the bike that was in the parking lot. It was a custom fat tire Harley, anything more than that was just too far above my knowledge level.

Jasper just watched me for a moment and said, "My sister had it modified for me."

"You mean Rosalie is behind the modifications of this beast? Man, that will teach me about judging people. I could never have envisioned her being a gearhead."

We made our way inside the station only to find that Charlie wasn't there. This had happened a few times and I was told not to worry about it. Just keep out of stuff and there would be no problems. So, I took Jasper to the workout room, went over my usual routine with him and asked what he preferred.

"I don't work out with any plan Thomas, my fitness level isn't from a gym schedule. Mostly from fighting and wrestling with Emmett. Though since Alice calmed me down, I haven't gotten to fight much lately. I will just follow your schedule and we can see what works from there."

"I didn't want to jump straight to increasing the weight until Jasper and I were more comfortable working out. Every once in a while, I would see him grimace and frown like he caught a smell he didn't like. But he would be normal a moment later. My curiosity didn't really kick in, so I did not think anything of his behavior. My anger calmed down a lot as well. I thought it was a very relaxing workout and Jasper was in great shape because he didn't struggle with any of the weight on the bar today.

When I pointed that out, he just said it was because he was well-rested and excited to try something new. He was sure he would struggle as the weight increased. He seemed amused when I went over the stretching routine with him, but I tried to impress on him the importance of it nonetheless.

As we were finishing up, I heard the door open and stuck my head out to see Charlie bringing in a cuffed kid who didn't look much older than me. I ducked back into the room and told Jasper we would head out as soon as Charlie put the guy in a cell. After a few minutes, we heard the loud clang of the drunk tank door and stepped out to see Charlie walking toward his desk.

"Hey Uncle Charlie, I wanted to introduce my new workout partner before we finish off for the day. This is Jasper Hale."

Jasper came out and held his hand out to Charlie, "Chief Swan sir, it's my pleasure to meet a lawman."

Charlie took his hand, "No need to be so formal Jasper, everyone gets a free pass to call me Charlie until the first time I arrest them. Give my regards to your father when you see him. It's this town's good luck your mother likes small-town living and Dr. Cullen graced us with your family's presence."

"Most of all, I would like to thank you for being this guy's workout partner. I don't think we could handle all the sick leave my deputies have to take after hurting themselves trying to keep up with this monster here. Well, you guys have a good day, I need to get the paperwork rolling for Eddie so his mother can bail him out when he sobers up."

We both gave our goodbyes and Jasper peaked out the door to see the sun coming up. For whatever reason he put on his helmet and gloves before going outside and heading to his bike. He waved at me and in no time, he had started his bike and was gone from the parking lot. I just walked home enjoying the sun as I went.

-(POV Jasper)-

As soon as I cleared town, I opened the throttle completely and reveled in the ride. It wasn't as personal as feeling a horse moving with you, but it was the best I would get ever again. Horses are smart enough to sense the threat of a vampire. If one tried to ride them, they just went into full panic mode, and nothing would stop them until they got away from the smell or died.

I contemplated riding past the turn for home and staying with the feeling the bike was giving me, but I knew that until the family saw me with brown eyes, they would still secretly be worried. After all, I was the newest vegetarian and still struggled at times. Mostly when emotions were high. I turned down the dirt road that led to the glass house in the woods we were calling home this time around. How I longed to give Alice one we didn't have to move away from.

The garage door opened to reveal my little piece of sanity in this insane world I had been drug into. "Hello my love, I do hope I didn't keep you waiting long."

"You could have taken that ride if you wanted Jazz, I knew you were strong enough to resist."

"You could see me with Thomas this time?"

"I don't need any visions to know you're a good man Jasper. Give me more credit than that."

After Edward and Edythe came back, Alice finally revealed her blind spot when it came to Thomas and those he interacted closely with. As near as she could tell, Thomas had to be in close proximity to block her visions of someone. For example, she was unable to see me while I was working out with Thomas, but as soon as I left his side I reappeared in her visions.

"Did you lose sight of anyone else this morning darlin?"

"I wasn't really thinking of anyone but you too hard, but now that you bring it up, I lost sight of Edythe for a time also. While she was out running in the woods. Why do you ask?"

"Thomas picked up on someone watching him just before I met up with him but as soon as I arrived, he said he couldn't feel it anymore. Even with me trying to keep his curiosity down, Thomas has very good senses. He even caught that the weight we were lifting was very light to me but him being twice my size found it a workout. I need to pay better attention next time we work out."

Alice smiled wickedly, "I wonder how long it's going to take Edythe to figure out what's happening to her?"

(Thomas POV)

I got home and moved around the house quietly. Bella was still asleep, and I didn't want to wake her. With my homework all done and any chores around the house needing to be done would wake Bella, I decided to get dressed and explore some of the surrounding forested area. Putting on a pair of pants with a t-shirt and then a sweater over that, I slipped downstairs to put on the hiking boots that had become my everyday shoes here in Forks.

Leaving a note on the kitchen table so no one would worry about me, I walked out to the backyard and just stared at the forest in front of me. Most of the trees are bare of their leaves but it still managed to convey the dark look of a forest from the pictures I had seen before. There were spots that still had snow on the ground and that was a surprise to me, with all the rain I thought for sure it would have all melted off.

The smell was clean, the earthy smell of damp soil and bark threatened to clog my nose. My eyes didn't like not being able to see very far into the distance, and my ears were constantly distracted by unfamiliar sounds. Despite all of this sound and smell I was unused to, I still felt… I was having trouble making sense of it myself but invited was the only word that came close.

If I imagined the forest to be alive, I would say it was watching me wearily. Inviting me in, but still unsure if I was a good thing or not. After walking for about an hour, I found a nice flat rock and took my parka off so I could sit on it and keep my butt from getting wet. Once I sat down, I started to meditate.

It was the easiest transition into meditation that I had ever had, my thoughts went still as soon as I closed my eyes. Silence enveloped me like a cocoon, I knew any unusual sound would carry to me instantly. When I meditated my anger wasn't going down like it usually did, I wasn't getting any calmer but the fire I felt inside was hotter, almost purified.

If I looked at my anger as a flame inside my mind, I would have once said it was a campfire red and yellow flame all-consuming and looking to burn its surroundings. But now it felt like a white-hot flame that just existed, it didn't flicker and reach out to catch other stuff on fire like before. A torch that sat in my mind and anything that got close just turned to ash. It was easier to control but much closer to the surface.

When I came to, I was sweating so much that my sweater was drenched, so I took it off and had just a light t-shirt on. I tried to stand up, but my legs were stiff from sitting for so long. I had to slowly straighten them and wait for the pins and needles feeling to go away before I could stand steady. When I started stretching my body out, I felt all my joints popping and crackling and enjoyed the feeling.

Checking my phone, I realized it was nearly 4 pm and I had been out here for over 6 hours. I picked up my parka and sweater and slung them over my shoulder and started walking back home. It surprised me a little on how easy it was to find my way, but I always had a good sense of direction.

I kicked off the mud from my boots on the porch and then used the boot brush before stepping into the house. I always thought the idea of a mud room to take your shoes off was stupid, and it is in Phoenix maybe but here in Forks, it was just as important as any room in the house.

As I walked into the house, I saw Bella relaxing on the couch with a book, she looked at me, "You were gone for quite a while, you get lost or something?"

"Not everyone has a sense of direction like you sis. Getting lost this close to home would be embarrassing. I was just caught up in my meditation and lost track of time. How was your day?"

"I got lots of stuff done that I had been meaning to. Looked up some good ideas to take my room out of my kindergarten phase but they will all have to wait for good enough weather to air the paint out and keep some furniture outside for a night or two. Charlie called to say he was eating at the lounge tonight, so his car was visible to the bar crowd if we wanted to join him."

"That sounds good to me. I will get cleaned up and we can go whenever you feel like it."

"Looking up at you from the couch, it looks like you grew a couple more inches. You ever plan to stop growing?"

I rubbed the back of my head, "Beats me, I didn't realize that was still going on. I thought I hit my peak height last year."

Dinner with Charlie wasn't a big affair, we met a couple more of the locals who came by the table. The most memorable was a guy who dressed as Santa during Christmas and laughingly recalled when Bella at 7 years old called him Butt Crack Santa. Bella flushed even though she couldn't remember the incident it was definitely something she would have said back then.

She was in her phase of making it known to Charlie just what she thought of this town and how much she didn't like being taken away from her mother. It wasn't long after that, Charlie started taking his vacation to go see her instead of insisting she come here.

I had talked with Jasper about Sunday being the one day I took off lifting to give my body a rest and he was good with meeting up before school on Monday for the next workout. I talked with Bella about needing to make a big city run for more weight and she said she wanted to get some shopping done for warmer clothes. We decided to make a full day of it starting when we woke up.

On our way back from Port Angeles, Bella's truck was letting us know what it thought of going 60 miles an hour and passing traffic was letting us know what they thought of her driving so slow. It was all entertainment for me, but Bella was flushing in embarrassment.

I had picked up 4 more 50-pound Iron plates for the gym and Bella got a sweater, but she wasn't happy with the prices there for the most part, so she didn't get much. Her big find was a cookbook dedicated to fish and game local to the area. I knew I was looking forward to putting a dent in Charlie's freezer full of wild game.

Sunday evening, I spent my time going over the art project ideas and worked up some things to discuss with Alice in the morning, then went to bed.

Monday morning of my second week of school was not off to a good start. I was woken up by a nightmare at around 2 am and it took forever to get back to sleep. Once I did it seemed like 5 minutes later my alarm woke me. I stumbled around and got myself together enough to get my school bag packed to leave in Charlie's cruiser and get my eggs down. Once I walked outside, I was surprised to see Jasper was waiting for me. "You're here earlier than I expected Jasper. Looking forward to the run?"

"Don't let it get to your head, but I do enjoy the company of someone outside my family more than I expected. Maybe it's because you're new here you don't look at anyone in my family wearily like the locals, so it's nice."

I started stretching out my back and legs as we talked, I discovered that he was a huge Louis Lamour (Western Author) fan, and it was something we had in common. As we started to run, we talked about our favorites. He liked the Iron Marshal and the Key Lock Man, while my favorites were The Daybreakers and Flint with Ryleys Luck running very close to the group. As we ran, I started to overheat again so I took my jacket off and wrapped it around my waist.

I decided we had gotten to know each other enough to ask questions, so long as it wasn't too personal of a nature. "So, Jasper. I have been kind of curious but didn't want to offend you, and if it is personal, you in no way have to answer, but. Well, what's with the scars all over your body?" He stiffened a bit at my question. "I don't know if it's the streetlights reflecting from the fog or what, but they are really sticking out this morning. You look a bit like you were mauled by a pack of dogs when you were young or something, but the scars have faded so much it's nearly impossible to tell they are there."

Jasper was lost in thought for a bit, but he finally answered me. "Now Thomas. I don't want to hurt you or anything, but staring at me so much that you pick up these little things has me a bit worried about your intentions. You're a fine person but Alice is the only one for me."

"Ohh that's nice, I never knew you had a sense of humor. All good man, like I said you are under no obligation to answer. We all have our histories."

Jasper ran a bit longer before saying anything. "You're right Thomas, my early years were very chaotic. You could very well say I was mauled. It's something I am learning to outgrow thanks to my family and especially my Alice."