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

“Hello. I’m Renesmee,” I said softly, crouching down to her eye level.

“I’m Jaime,” she said shyly. The little girl, Jaime, with her dark hair braided down the back and her twinkling, high-pitched voice reminded me of Claire. Claire was Quil’s imprint, though she was more his charge than his love. Me and Claire became fast friends when we were little. We were the same age for a short time, but since I’d outgrown her, we were still sister close. She was about thirteen now, and although I've got seven years on her maturity-wise, she was still my very good friend. Quil was still her overprotective, much-abused “brother”, but one day, he may be more to her. May be...

“Hi Jaime. Is your mother home?” I asked as politely as possibly. I didn’t want her to be scared. I may be part human, but I could still…shock.

“No, but Mimi is,” she said happily. She grabbed my hand as she hopped off the tire swing. She didn’t even flinch at my hard skin while she grabbed onto my hand and led me in the house. My whole body was dangerously cold, but I’d be alright. For the trip back… I wasn’t so sure.

It was quiet, besides the noises in the kitchen. The whole house had that smell of cinnamon and smoke. Could I have been wrong? Could this just be another packs house, and I was intruding on their turf? My jaw locked. I was so determined to find Jake I didn’t think of the possibility of walking into the wrong territory. What if I’d gotten Jake’s scent confused with another wolf? If I did, that would take days of backtracking, and who knows how I’ll get out of what I’m in now?

“Mimi! There’s a girl that wants to see you!” Jaime called. The house was dark, and there was wood carvings everywhere. The walls had pictures and paintings of what looked like old Quileute villages.

A tall, slender girl with pitch black hair and brown eyes turned around. Her jaw was small, and her hair was long, braided down the back. I was surprised, since the girl reminded me of Leah, but her hair was not cut as intensely as Leah’s. Both Jaime and this girl looked a bit similar, so I was given the impression they were sisters. But the taller, older sister didn’t exactly welcome me with open arms.

“Jaime! Who is she? What’s she doing here!” the girl shrieked. She had a slight tint of foreign accent in her voice. Her back stiffened when she saw me. “I told you not to talk to strangers! Ela e uma assassina! Um frio!”

The girl took Jaime and her hand was ripped from mine. I tried to explain, but she wouldn’t listen. She pulled out a small, wooden whistle and blew on it. It was quiet. I couldn’t hear anything, but her face turned red from the pressure of the whistle. She stopped, and soon, the smell of cinnamon and smoke hit me like a ton of bricks. Coming from the north. Four of them.

I ran outside. I guess she thought I was trying to run away; she blew the whistle again. Three huge, gray wolves bounded from the woods and surrounded me. They all growled and barked at me from all angles. Two had light grey fur and intense, brown eyes. They were almost identical, but one wolf had black-tipped grey fur, while the other had completely grey fur. The other one of the three was a dark brown wolf, with piercing dark green eyes. He was much bigger and taller than the others. The Alpha of this pack, I suspected. But then, there was another. This other wolf was just as tall as the supposed Alpha of this pack. A reddish-brown wolf, with the brown eyes I could look into and see the universe. My portals. The brown eyes that were always watching and protecting me.

“Jacob?” I whispered. My voice cracked with pain as the words rolled off. The wolf stared at me, then stood and protected me. He growled at the others, then stood silent in conversation. My heart pounding every waiting second. The others reluctantly moved along, glaring at me. They all went to the garage. The field we stood in was brown, dead grass, surrounded by green pine trees. It was like an arena surrounding the house. The only opening in the tree arena was the road to town attached to the garage. I heard three guys in the garage, complaining of my presence. Jacob turned to face me, still in his wolf form, and smiled. I could tell he was smiling. It was kind of like when you look at a dog and you just know their smiling at you.

“Jake, I…I just wanted to see you again. I don’t care if you’re mad, I don’t care if you don’t want me here, I just…”

I stumbled over my words until Jake nudged me with his nose. He put his head under my limp hand and I rubbed his head. I hugged his neck, and it felt like he was hugging me back, even though he was on all fours. The others came back, staring.

“So, who’s the chick?” one of the guys said. He was the tallest, but more slender than strong. I could tell. His hair was cut like Jake’s , but he had dark brown hair instead of black. His eyes were a mix of dark brown and green, and his wide smile reminded me of Paul. Paul was an obnoxious goof, but he was a good guy who was nice when he needed to be. I missed that. Being alone for days didn’t help with my sudden homesickness.

Jake huffed, and the guy was quiet. Jake walked past them, glaring. You could tell he was trying to tell them to be nice. Jacob disappeared inside the garage. And I was left alone with three, unknown werewolves. Not the most settling feeling…

“I’m Renesmee,” I said with a small smile.

“I’m Mathew,” said one of the guys. Mathew was medium height with black hair and chiseled facial features. He looked about a year or two older than Jake, and his teeth were chalk white. He had a grin and was much friendlier then the others.

“So, you’re the girl,” said Daniel. He was the tall one who had spoken to me before. He seemed a bit defensive, but I could tell he was looking at me when I looked away.

“No, she’s my girl,” I heard Jake call. He said it with authority, almost like he was claiming me as his own. He was walking towards me casually, but he had no idea how much I wanted to run to him and give him a hug. I guess I wanted the moment to be as dramatic as possible. He wore kaki cargo shorts and his usual sneakers. He reached my side, and gave me a hug. He breathed in deeply when he hugged me.

“I missed you,” I whispered. “Sam didn’t want me to come.”

“I knew you’d come anyway.”

Mathew cleared his throat and we both looked at him.

“Oh, right. Renesmee, these are my boys. Matty, my cousin, and his friends, Daniel and Chris,” Jacob said. “Boys, this is my imprint, Renesmee.”

They all looked at me with a mixture of fascination and predictability, like they knew who I was. Jacob must have talked about me fondly, since Daniel’s grin was all too uncomfortable. But I was suddenly burning. Not from the thirst. My eyes felt like they were bursting into fire. We needed to settle things.

“We need to talk. Like, now,” I pushed Jake. I had to practically pull him in the house. I’d forgotten about Jaime and the girl. The girl held Jaime behind her as they sat in the corner, cowering.

“Miya, it’s okay. This is Renesmee,” Jacob explained. The girl slowly stood up and in a flash, she ran into her room and slammed the door. Jaime, the little girl, came to Jacob and hugged him. “Jakey, can she come play with me?“ the girl begged. She pulled at my hand and took me into her room to show me her toys before Jake could answer. I wanted to go anyway. Even though I wanted to talk to Jake more than anything, I couldn’t say no to this sweet little girl. I suddenly forgot about talking with Jake and played with Jaime for almost an hour. Once Jaime fell asleep, I put her in her bed and walked back out to the living room.

“Back from Candy land?” Jake asked.

“I had fun playing with her. She’s cute,” I defended myself. Jake just laughed, but I still scowled at him. I saw Miya walk out of the front door to a waiting car. Probably one of her friends. “Sanguijuela estupido,” she muttered as she shut the door.

“Sorry about Miya, she’s a little skittish. When she was five, her family had an ‘accident’.”

“Accident?” I asked.

“Yeah, see… her mom was killed by a vampire right in front of her. She’s always been hostile since...can't blame her either."

My eyes bugged out for a moment, than I took out my mask and tried to veer away from the details of such a horrific story. “Why was her mother attacked?”

“Her father was the chief in a pack kinda like ours. They originated south of the border, but came here a few hundred years ago. The Malto tribe. One of the oldest spirit walker tribes, besides the Quileutes of course,” Jacob began. “He destroyed a vampire that killed four of their hunters. He could see that she’d done it, since her eyes were the worst shade of red. After her destruction, her mate took his revenge by destroying the chief’s human mate. Poleya never had a chance against the leech.” Jake’s teeth ground together.

I flinched.

Jacob knew I hated the term “bloodsucker”, but he was right in this case. I felt so bad for scaring Miya like that, even though I didn’t know. But I had to break his angry thoughts. His hands began to shiver. Tremble, even.

“When I walked in, she said something. She spoke, like, Spanish or something, and I couldn’t understand her. She said something…cold, I think.”

“Yeah, her grandma is from Portugal. Whenever she panics or gets angry, she starts speaking frantic Portuguese. She’s not exactly a thrill to be around when she’s calm though. She’s like Leah, but she has Mathew. Mathew’s her brother, and he keeps her…happy. At times. Unlike Leah, who couldn’t be happy even if you handed her an elk bone on a silver platter.”

I huffed a laugh, but felt sympathy for Leah instead.

Jake looked guilty, and happy. Happy that I was there, guilty that…well…he left. He shouldn’t have left. But why? Why had he chosen to leave me?

“Jake, why? Why did you leave?”

He looked at me, lost for words for a second. He looked like he was in pain.

“I…needed some time.”

“For what? For leaving me all alone? For making me feel like, for the first time in my life, I was scared and that it was my fault?”

I realized I was starting to go off on him, so I settled down.