We get ready for the fire by cleaning the house. It's pretty messy always. I spend like, an hour in the kitchen scrubbing. I don't mind. I haven't heard back from any of the job opportunities yet, but it's only been a few days. I still haven't taken the cast off, mostly to protect my arm.

After that, I go up to my room to get ready for the party. I'm not really one to care about appearances. I didn't bring any make-up here anyway, and my clothes are all second-hand. Not that second-hand clothes aren't nice. I just avoided the nice ones for what was cheapest.

In the room, I sit down on the bed, holding a hand mirror. My hearing aids are all charged so that they won't die tonight. Thankfully, there are extra batteries in the house, so we didn't have to go buy more. I don't want to be trouble besides room and board.

I put my hair up in a braid, to at least pretend to put myself together. I'm very familiar with braiding. I was never allowed to leave my bedroom without having my hair up.

There is a knock on my door and I answer it.

Embry is on the other side. He smiles at me. "We're going to pick up Jacob from Bella's. Shouldn't take more than half an hour."

I don't argue with him. He leads me to the car, and while Quil continues to finish off cleaning the house, we go off.

The ride in the car is mostly silent. Embry's grip is tight on the steering wheel, so tight that his knuckles turn white. We make our way through the heavily wooded Forks and into the area where the Cullens live.

"We might be a bit longer," Embry admits. "The Cullens like to chat."

If I thought that La Push was in the middle of nowhere, I was wrong. The Cullens' house is really in the middle of the forest. I look at their house out the window as we pull up. It's made of wood and windows. Actually, it's practically entirely windows. It's massive. It's dark inside, so I can't make out any shapes inside.

"How exactly do you know the Cullens?" I ask.

"Bella," Embry answers. "She's the wife of one of their kids. A family friend of Jacob's."

I accept this for what it is. The Cullens certainly live a very different lifestyle than the people of La Push. I mean, in a small town, it's not a surprise that people know each other. I guess it's just something to add to the eerie feeling I get by being here.

Once we pull up, Embry leads us up to the door. "Dr. Cullen is going to take a look at your arm. Make sure we didn't fuck it up. Just, don't be weirded out."

He doesn't elaborate before knocking on the door. I am startled and wait for someone to open the door.

A second passes and a girl arrives. She's got to be a bit younger than me and she practically jumps when she sees us.

"You must be Fawn!" she exclaims, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me in for a hug. I am stiff, not hugging her back. I hope she doesn't feel the lump of the switchblade in my pocket. "Dubois, right?"

I nod, pulling back from her.

She pats me on the arms. "It's nice to meet you. Any friend of Jacob's is a friend of ours. Oh, sorry, I shouldn't have hugged you. The arm, right?"

"Yeah," is all I can manage. The words are racing out of this girl's mouth a mile a minute.

"Alice," Embry says. He lowers his head, looking at his shoes. "We were hoping Dr. Cullen could take a look at it."

"Of course!" Alice, I guess, says.

She pulls us both into the house and leads us into the house. We follow along as I look at the art on the walls and the furniture that looks like it's straight out of a catalogue. Embry puts his hand on my good shoulder and offers a reassuring squeeze. I guess he can tell that I feel a little bit out of my element.

Eventually, we arrive in an office. At a desk sits a man, as pale as Alice, with slick blonde hair. Are they siblings? Is this her father? He barely looks old enough to be a child's father. The doctor gets up and walks over to me.

The first thing I notice is his eyes. They unsettle me. Golden, almost unnatural.

It could be worse. They could be red. Or something.

"You must be Fawn," he says. He smiles at me. "I'm Carlisle, and I'm a doctor. I've heard no one has tended to your arm?"

"Yes," I say.

"Sam tried his best," Embry cuts in.

Carlisle helps me out of my sling. I take off my jacket, wincing so he can get a better look at it.

"Sam put it back in place," Carlisle points out, rubbing his hands along my shoulder. "He did a good job, all things considered. Here, I can print you off some physiotherapy exercises."

He goes to his printer and begins to type things in. As he does, I get back into my jacket and my sling. It's much more comfortable now. Moving my arm is less painful than it was a few days ago, so maybe he's right. Things must be healing.

"Thank you, Carlisle," I manage as I look around the room. His degrees are posted on the wall. "You didn't have to help."

"Well, I am a doctor," he points out. The sheet comes out of the printer and he hands it to me.

"Thank you," Embry says again, for both of us. Alice begins to lead the pair of us out of the room.

We make our way back to the entrance of the house, where Jacob is waiting for us. I can't see his eyes behind his pitch-black sunglasses. He's holding a white cane with a red end, for the first time that I've noticed. I realize it might have been next to him on the floor at the party and I just didn't notice. I've never seen him standing before.

He's as big as the others. At least, the other men from La Push. He's got broad shoulders and short black hair. His free hand is in the pocket of his ripped jeans, but I can see how it shakes.

"Jacob, they're here," a woman says next to him.

She's just as pale as the others. I wonder if she is related to them, or if everyone is just so pale in this place from how much it rains. It's been almost a week that I've been here now, and I haven't seen a lick of sunshine. I doubt that her skin is the kind that could go out in the sun anyway.

"Alright, see you later, Bella," he answers.

So, this is the wife friend. Not related.

He embraces her in a hug, his cane nearly swinging and hitting her. Her reflexes are quick, knocking it out of harm's way. Then, she hugs him back, patting him gently. She makes eye contact with me and bows her head. When they pull away, Embry walks up and takes Jacob's arm.

Jacob finds Embry, and we walk out of the house. Jacob moves with the cane with ease. He's much less clumsy than the last time that I saw him. It seems he has gained some agility at the Cullens. Maybe falling off the chair was a one-time thing.

"Wait, Fawn," Alice calls out. She races after me, meeting me in the driveway.

She hands me a flip phone. "I heard you didn't have a cellphone. So, I figured I would get you one."

"Alice," I say, looking down at it. "I can't accept this."

"Please," she insists, folding it in my hands. I try to hand it back, but she yanks her fingers away, hiding them behind her back. "I programmed my number into it so you could text me if you need a friend. It might help you get a job too!"

I nod. These people must be close to Sam's La Push crew because they seem to know a lot about me. Any sense that I had that this is a cult is both gaining steam. Something odd is going on.

I'm not prepared to find out. I'm going to avoid it at all costs. Crazy theories got me here, poking my nose where things didn't belong. There aren't many places left to run except some small towns in Florida. I don't think I could stand the heat.

"I'll take the phone," I tell her, "but once I get a job, I'm paying you back."

"Fine by me," Alice smiles. She pulls me in for one last hug before waving me off.

~~~~~

Well. The atmosphere is getting deeper and darker. Finally, Jacob is back. I'm excited to see them doing things together. Ahh. Also sorry I'm late; the world has been getting ahead of me lately.