Purple Sky by A. Teller (unputdownable books .TXT) 📕

“The far left,” I answered. I practically breathed my answer, more than whispered it. He slowly nodded, and turned back to the herd. He growled lowly. He barely breathed the growl, but he did so just enough so I could hear it.

We moved slowly towards the heard. A faint huff from the bull signaled the chase. The elk ran, bellowing the alarm to others who may not understand what was going on. We followed. The elk had no chance of escape, but who hasn’t played with their food once in a while? My hunting instinct took over and I took down a female without flinching. The blood was almost soothing down my throat. For a vampire, warm, fresh blood was the only cure. Like aloe on a sunburn.

When I was done, Chris devoured the carcass. The wolves preferred the meat over blood anyway. Once I finished off with a little more elk, I regained my civility. My eyes went from onyx to gold, and my sight came back to its full capacity.

We got back to Mathew’s house at three. I was so tired, and fell asleep on the couch, instantly. I could still hear and feel, but my eyes refused to open. I felt Jake picking me up, but I had no idea where we were going. I was placed gently on a bed and lost all consciousness, but not before I felt Jacob‘s furry head under my hand. He was sleeping on the floor next to me, wolf and all. But something didn’t feel right, like someone was staring at me. I couldn’t force my eyes open, but they flickered. Enough to see a shimmering, dark figure standing in the doorway. His yellow eyes stared at me, but I couldn’t fight myself to move. Whether it be out of terror or exhaustion, I couldn’t force myself to get up. But Jacob didn’t move, or growl, or even look. I guess he knew there was no danger. Or maybe he was just as tired as I was. Or he was already asleep.

I woke up to bright flashes of sunlight seeping from the windows. The room was dull, grey sheets, white walls, white pillows. It was quiet. I looked around the room, searching for that big lump of fur. Jake wasn’t here. I got up out of bed, still wondering where he was. His smell was still here, but it was stale. He’d been gone for a while. My feet were cold when they came in contact with the wood floor. I rubbed my eyes before standing. The air was cold, like there was a window open. I grabbed my sweatshirt and walked down the hallway. The kitchen was to the left of the hallway, the living room was to the right, and the front door was at the end of the hallway. I turned to the living room. Jaime was asleep in her room, Miya was sleeping in her room, and, on the couch, was Jake. He was sound asleep, snoring like a chainsaw. I touched his face while he slept, and gave him a good thought. His mouth made a small smile, and I laughed quietly. I walked outside, needing some fresh morning air. I breathed in heavily, but my feet were freezing. I shivered, going back inside. I went into the kitchen, getting breakfast. I figured it was the least I could do for Miya and Jaime, who opened their home to me. I made eggs, bacon, toast, waffles, fruit salad and cinnamon buns. Jake couldn’t get enough cinnamon buns, and I suppose he’d earned them.

After I was finished, I heard a disturbance on the couch. I didn’t look, knowing it was probably just Jake rolling over. But as I walked toward the couch, still curious, a sudden rush of warmth wrapped around my legs and back, and Jake picked me up from behind. My feet unfroze, and I was relieved.

“Morning sunshine,” I said, running my hand through his messy hair.

“Do I smell cinnamon buns?” was his first question.

“Yes, you do. But save some for the others,” I replied as he put me down and grabbed three of the dozen I’d made. I had some scramble eggs, but not much. After last night, I was full. Jaime and Miya followed, as well as Mathew and the others, who had just come back from patrols.

“Wow!” Mathew exclaimed, looking at my buffet.

“I cook in record time too,” I said, nibbling off of an orange.

Everyone dug in. I smiled, seeing that wolves here weren’t so different from the wolves back home. They ate. A LOT.

“So…” Jake began, his mouth still full of waffles.

“Chew your food,” I commanded, laughing and closing his mouth with my hand. He swallowed uncomfortably, then looked up.

“We’ll take the first flight out to Forks at noon.”

“Good. Uh, Jake, could I ask you something?” I asked gently as we sat back on the couch. Everyone was still eating in the kitchen. I sat towards Jake, who was sitting up on the couch. I put my feet across his lap, since they were cold again. He put his hands on my soft feet, and it was relief.

“Hmm?” he said, wanting to know my question.

“Did you notice anything strange when you moved to the couch from where I was sleeping?”

“No, why?” he asked, a small amount of worry in his voice.

“I just…before I went to sleep, I thought I saw…" I paused. I didn’t want him to know, in case he’d want to stay here to investigate. I wanted to go home, with him, back to Forks.

“What was it?” he asked, more interested.

“I don’t know. It was tall, and looked kind of like a person. It was probably just Mathew checking on us or something,” I reasoned.

“Or something?” he asked. He knew I was lying. I was like my mom, always bad at lying.

“Well, I didn’t really know what it was. I was just tired. You know, seeing things and going crazy,” I said, laughing awkwardly. He smiled, but was still skeptical. “Anyway, it’s almost ten-thirty. We should get ready to go,” I said, turning away from the previous subject.

He agreed and moved my feet to the floor. I got up and got ready to go, brushing my brownish-red hair. There were so many knots in my hair. I left it down, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and ran over my lashes with some brown mascara. I wore a plum colored, V-neck long sleeve shirt, dark blue jeans, and a black, puffy vest. I packed up my bag and walked outside to meet Jake, already ready and wearing his backpack. He wore a black, long sleeve shirt, jeans and sneakers. He never got cold, so what was the reason for wearing long sleeves? Oh right. Looking normal was essential. I’d never been out in public much before, so I wasn’t really used to looking the part of “normal” just yet.

“So, are we going to the airport by wolf back?” I asked sarcastically.

He laughing and shook his head. A white truck pulled up the driveway, and Mathew hopped out of it.

“You guys ready?” he called.

“Yeah,” Jake said, taking my bag into the truck.

I hopped into the backseat. Jake smiled and shut the door, running to the other side to sit next to me. I wave to Jaime as we pulled away onto the road. Miya just glared at me, glad I was gone. We drove for about an hour to the airport, which was busy for a Tuesday. I’d never been to an airport before. Quite the adventure for me. So many smells, so many…humans. It was uncomfortable, but I was able to swallow and hold my cool. Jake held my hand the whole way to the door of the airplane. We walked down the aisle and sat in our seats.

“How high are we going to go?” I asked nervously. He laughed, and I glared at him.

“About forty thousand feet. It’s not so bad,” he said, smiling tauntingly. I shut my eyes as tight as I could when the plane moved, and Jake laughed to himself. I had to let go of Jake’s hand, since my feelings of terror started to spin. My visualizations would go straight to Jake’s mind, had I kept my grip on him. And there’s no way I’m scaring him too. I looked out the window. There were so many people on the ground. So many cars, buildings and clouds. It was amazing! But I fell asleep on Jake’s shoulder before I could tell him about it. I was awoken, but remained quiet, keeping my eyes closed so I could sleep again. I was awake enough to hear a conversation between Jake and a flight attendant.

“So, she’s your sister?” the woman asked hopefully. She had to be desperate. Even a five year old could tell we were unrelated. Look at us! Giant tan guy with muscles, skinny pale girl with copper colored hair. It made me angry to think she’d even look at Jacob like that. I felt a hiss coming, but I tried to sink it into my sleep. It worked, and I stayed silent and still.

“No. She’s my girl,” Jake replied, looking at me. “My girl” wasn’t specific, but I’d hoped she take the hint. I could sense when I was being looked at. And his eyes were the warmest feeling. She shot a jealous glance at me, then turned to Jake.

“Can I get you anything?” she asked him. You can get me a large Never Talk to Him Again, I thought to myself. I prevented my instinctual growl from being heard and eagerly listening for Jake’s answer.

“No thanks. But when she wakes up, could I get a ginger ale for her? Please?” he asked, flashing his perfect smile. The women’s feet shook. I heard her breathing speed up. Jake took no notice, and continued to speak. “She’ll probably have a headache when she gets up.” I noticed he said when I get up, not when I wake up. Did he know I was awake? I tried not to think about it. I focused on how Ms. Nosy was feeling. Jake’s grin was mesmerizing, to everything and everyone. I sensed the flight attendant’s nervous and dazed nod and she walked off. It wasn’t cool when Jake did that. He always charmed people, and they had no control. I had experience with that myself.

I felt a small nudge on my shoulder.

“Nessie? Ness, wake up,” Jake whispered. I finally, unwillingly, opened my eyes. I saw Jake, holding a long delayed ginger ale. I had a moment of fear that he’d caught me, but no indication of that surfaced. I felt my shoulders lower a little in relaxation.

“We’re landing in about fifteen minutes. Here,” he said, giving the cup to me. I drank it all, not really thinking about it. The ginger ale was surprisingly not flat. The bubbles felt good in my stomach. I suddenly wanted to blow my cover. Maybe give Jake the hint that I was smarter than he thought.

“So, what else did Ms. No…flight attendant want?” I asked. He smiled, saying she’d asked a few questions, flirted a little, and left dissatisfied. I believed him, and we landed. I gripped Jake’s arm to the point of pain while the wheels of the airplane bounced back to the planet. I let go of his arm, leaving little, barely there bruises. “Sorry,” I said, kissing his cheek. He grinned, and the bruises faded instantly. My watch read 3:28. Just enough time to get home and make sure mom doesn’t panic. We got off the plane and walked down the long terminal. As we walked, the smells became more familiar. Pine trees and camping. Smoke from fires and water from the rain. There were less people here. It was more comforting than the Missoula airport. We walked through the sliding doors. Suddenly, we stopped in our tracks. The spiky, black hair, the glowing, golden eyes,