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

off of my ankle. I felt a sudden pop, but as I looked down, there was no blood. But my foot wouldn’t move, no matter how much I willed it. I was scared, and limped behind a tree. The tearing and shredding of stone and metal sounds rang through the woods. I breathed quickly, and was extremely tired. I suddenly felt so heavy, I couldn’t stand. My feet would slip off the mud every time I’d attempt to stand. Cinnamon and smoke suddenly stung my nose. I looked up, exhausted, to see Seth in a pair of black shorts lifting me into his arms. I could barely lock my hands around his neck to see around me. The tearing sounds still shot through the atmosphere. It felt like nails on a chalkboard. I shivered, and Seth tightened his grip on me and he walked steadily back to Sam’s. Seth sharply breathed in, and it almost sounded like a gasp. I looked up from his arms, to find a fuming steam-roller walking towards us. But this was worse. This big, tan tractor on two legs (surprising since he was so mad I expected four legs), and his face seemed intent on yelling. His hands were balled up in fists, and I looked up at Seth with enough strength to mutter, “If he kills you, please don’t get blood on my shirt.”

Seth grinned and chuckled before I felt thicker, tighter hand grab me. I was transferred into his arms, and I almost smacked my head into his chest. His heart beat faster than a mouse, and the heat radiating off of him was startling. I looked up into his deep brown eyes, and though he was mad, he half smiled.

“Suspicions confirmed,” I whispered. His face was still angry, but he looked more disappointed than mad. And I wished he was mad instead.

“You’re in a hell of a lot of trouble,” he said. I felt the bounce of his step as he carried me into the house.

“Crap,” I muttered, fluttering my eyes in exhaustion. I heard Jake laugh, but I couldn’t stay awake long enough to see if Seth would live through Jake’s yelling and anger. Frankly, I didn’t care at the moment. I wanted sleep. And Jacob. And sleep…

Jake set me down on Emily’s couch. I shivered, and as Jake looked around slowly (tortuously) for a blanket for me, I motioned for him to come and lay down next to me. He came and lifted me up. Sitting down on the couch, he cradling my like a baby. But then, still half asleep, I felt his warm, soft lips against mine. I moved mine nervously, waiting for his response to my recklessness. I put my hand on his chest, and he pulled back slightly. His chin sat on my head as I huddled closer to his chest. I tucked myself into a ball, and Jake’s arms wrapped around my entire body. I felt so small, nuzzled up to him like that. But I was too tired to care. My heart, which beat a million times a minute, began to slow to a normal pace, and I began to breathe. Jake’s cinnamon smell made me thirsty, but I ignored food. I was still in trouble.

“Trying to walk and chew gum Ness?” Sam’s booming voice shouted from outside. He sounded mad. But Jake just held me tighter. Bracing me. I shut my eyes.

“Sam, she was helping. We got the bloodsuckers didn’t we?” Jake said softly. He knew not to scare me with his rage and defensiveness, which was obviously welling up inside. He was on Sam’s side, thinking “What the hell were you doing?’, but he’d never tell Sam that. With me sitting on his lap, all helpless looking, he couldn’t get too angry.

“That doesn’t make the point. She got hurt,” Sam said angrily.

“Well, I’ve told her, she’s in a hell of a lot of trouble,” Jake said. I felt his gaze on me, but I just kept quiet. I moved my fisted hand, and Jake sighed. Then I flashed back. I was “four” and it had only been two months since the Volturi’s “visit”. I was at home, racing around the backyard, my hands cupped and ready to catch the floating seeds and winged butterflies. Alice sat outside, soaking in the sun. Pretending it would show. I would grabbed little stones and squeeze them as hard as I possibly could, but only a few little grains would be juiced from the rock. My mother called to me, and we’d sit on the green grass outside, looking around and sharing. Bella had shown me the rock exercise, to test my strength. She said that I’d do it in my sleep. She and Jake would watch me sleep at times, and they’d see my palm and fingers open and close. I had no recollection, but the conversation with my mother wasn’t forgotten.

“You better have a great excuse for the Cullens,” Sam whispered before stomping away. I couldn’t tell which one of us he was talking to, but I simply stayed quiet. I felt Jake’s chin again rest again on my head. He sigh.

“So, how did you plan this out? Get killed in time for me not to find out?” he whispered angrily.

“I planned to be home in time for lunch,” I said, talking in a normal tone. I sat up, laying my legs over Jake’s lap.

“Not funny.”

“Maybe a little,” I said as I pinched my fingers together, representing littleness. I looked at my ankle, which was now swollen. “Ouch,” I grumbled, rubbing my ankle.

“That’s why it’s not funny,” Jake said, staring to the floor in front of him. He put his hand on my ankle, sending a surge of comforting heat through the painful veins. I sighed thankfully.

“You know how stupid you can be. How dangerous the situation was? Dammit, Nessie, you could’ve been killed!”

I wanted to laugh. Like it was a joke. But Jake’s face was a red alert not to laugh or joke at all.

“Jake, I’m not a little defenseless human. I knew the stakes I was up against, and I was aware of the danger,” I said, slowly slipping off of his lap to put my feet on the floor. Pain began swelling in my foot, but I tried to focus on speaking. “I knew what I was doing. I needed to do this to make sure my family would be safe. And they could’ve killed more people. We stopped them.”

“Stop playing super hero Nessie,” Jake mumbled. His hands began to shake, but so were mine.

“Why? So you can?” I hissed before walking out to the yard. I didn’t care that my ankle throbbed in agony. I didn’t want to have to sit there while Jake walks away, making me feel guilty.

“What are you talking about now?” he yelled, walking outside with me.

“It’s always about keeping me safe and protected! Did you ever, even once, think I might want to protect myself! I just don’t want to be taken care of like a child anymore! I…I just don’t care. I’m just gonna go out there and kill something!” I screamed, ranting around, pacing in circles. Jake tried to stop my spinning, especially on my broken foot. I needed air, and Jake was taking it.

“Stop, Nessie,” he commanded. No response for him. “Please, stop? Renesmee? Please?”

“Stop telling me that. I’m not going to kill anything,” I said with tears streaming down my face. I slumped to crisscross my legs on the soft dirt. My foot hurt like hell.

“Ness…?” Jake asked quietly. He sat down next to me.

“I just want to be helpful. I’m sorry Jacob, but I’m not a cheerleader. I don’t think I could ever be,” I wept.

“Nessie, you’re the most important person in my world. You can be whatever you want to be. You’re the sun,” he said, wiping his warm hand across my hot, wet face.

“And you’re the moon,” I whispered. I couldn’t stand us fighting. It emotionally, and physically hurt me. My chest burned and my heart bruised when we fought. I’ll admit, I gave up. I pressed my lips against Jacob’s. He was surprise, but found it a pleasant surprise. I broke away (reluctantly) and stroked Jake’s head. He looked at me, more lovingly than ever before.

“I love you,” he whispered. The faint feeling of his breath sent a tremble down my spine.

“I love you, Jacob,” I repeated back to him. With a wide smile, he lifted me up and carried me through the woods. The howls in the distance soothed the pale, grayish-blue sky. Jake was the only warm thing around us in the October air, so I clung to him for warmth. My ankle still seared in pain, but not thinking about it was pretty easy. Jake told me stories about the tribe. Though after being at the bonfire/Council meetings, I’d memorized every single one.

“Jake, tell me the one about the story. The Put…Put…” I struggled to pronounce the difficult word. The tribe always had fancy words lying around.

“Puwotya ,” he corrected. I rolled my eyes and continued laying my head on his chest, listening intently.

“Well, the Puwotya were a tribe in Canada. For hundreds of years, they lived in fear of everything outside of their village. One day, they stumbled upon a great shell, of blue like the sky, and orange like the fruits of the trees,” he said whimsically. I always loved the deep concentration in his voice when he told these stories. It made him seem so wise, even though Jake was usually…well…yeah…

“So the Puwotya took the shell and began trying to figure out how it worked. After many days and nights of testing and attempting to reveal the purpose of the shell, one man named Pio picked up the shell and blew it like a horn. The birds flew high above the trees, and our people, the Quileutes, in their spirit forms, followed the velvet tone of the shell. The Puwotya thought that they’d been given this shell to summon wolf slaves, so they began whipping the wolves and using them for work. The Quileutes tried to take the shell,, but the chief, Pio, kept the shell hidden. One night, the only wolf left in the village that wasn’t enslaved went to the tent that hid the shell. The wolf smashed the shell with its teeth, but then, great spirits burst from the shell, awaking the village. The spirits, in their booming voices, commanded that the sacred shells remains be used as whistles to summon the wolves in times of crisis involving the Cold Ones. They also silenced the village of the Puwotya, and all its inhabitants, for enslaving the spirit walkers. The wolves were given one special ability for their sufferings. This ability had since then faded from the genes,” he said. I was puzzled. I’d only heard the story up to the point where the spirits destroyed the village. What was this about a gift?

“Gift?” I asked.

“The gift of the spirit water. Or, in our today terms, venom,” Jake whispered. I gasped quietly. He continued bitterly.

“The venom allowed other people of the Quileutes to become werewolves. Soon, after proving their worthiness, the men of the tribe would undergo the painful transformation. Numbers of the pack grew. Leah’s ancestor was the only female ever bitten, and that was by accident. Her husband got angry and bit her, giving her the power of the spirit walkers. She left him and her home village, and began a small tribe of her own a few miles off the border of Canada. That’s how Leah came to be…” he paused and smirked. “Fun, isn’t she?”

“Thrilling,” I mumbled, still staring intently at Jacob’s lips. I was listening, and longing for a kiss the whole time.

“Most of the gene has faded. Only three great chiefs held the gene that still made it through to today. Ram Kosay, Thomas Leek, and…”

“And?” I said, braking Jake’s painful pause.

“Ephraim Black.”

My jaw dropped.

“You’re…”

He shot me a look. A look that said