The Gift of the Sea

Chapter 5

"Pleaseeee," I whine, tugging on Sam's arm, "No one will see us, and if Victoria comes across us, she won't know what will hit her."

"Come on, Sam," Leah called from the door with Jared, "You know she can hold her own. You've had her practice on us."

Leah and Jared were going on a run, and I wanted to join them. Since the Cullens have returned, Sam has had me on lockdown. He doesn't want them to know about me if it can be helped. I'm sure Bella has told them about Jacob's cousin. However, because one of them can read minds, Sam has kept me away, "Pleaseee."

"Stay clear of the border, and don't go looking for the leaches," Sam cracks a grin as me and Leah rush outside. 

She goes behind the trees to change before coming back out in her wolf. She is white with a bit of grey and lightly mixed in tan. She lowers herself to the ground, I settle myself on her back. We join Jared, who is waiting at the edge of the forest. They take off running along the cliffs that overlook the ocean before turning and heading farther north into the wild forest.  I laugh as they weave back and forth with one another and dodge past trees. 

I tell them stories from my childhood, from my mother to my trips to different pods. As we start making our way back, the call comes splitting the air. Victoria was back. Leah was torn on if she should take me back or join the hunt. With a nudge from me, we take off after Victoria. She stays on our side of the border, and I stay low on Leah's back. I strengthen the storm that was already coming. Rain pours down with lightning coming down, slowing down the vampire. 

A few yelps came from ahead of us, causing Leah and Embry both slow down. The rest of the pack race ahead, slowly starting our way home. The sound of people arguing and growls alert us of a fight. Ending up back at Emily and Sam's, we all wait outside for the rest to return. In the end, she got away.  Patrols are stepped up, so I end up spending a lot of time with the women of the pack. Most of the time, we cook for the pack and tell each other stories. 

After two weeks of this and not being able to go to the beach for my weekly trips, I end up at Billy's place with Rachel, his daughter.  As we are cooking dinner, I hear a car door shut. I see Jacob and Bella heading out for one of their walks outside. Jacob has been acting nervous over these past few weeks. Sam doesn't want anyone going out on their own. I follow behind them silently. I don't move to stop them or even Jacob as he starts talking about how he will keep fighting for her until her heart stops beating. Then he does something stupid. He kisses her, and anyone can tell that she doesn't like it.

"Ahhhhh," Bella yells after punching Jacob in the face. I make myself known as I race forward, wedging myself between them. 

"Let me see," I take her hand gently in mine. Jacob steps closer, "Don't make me Black."

"Ethne, just let me help he-"

He takes a step closer, and a ring of fire keeps him in his spot. Any movement forward or backward is stopped, "What the..."

"I would go to a hospital if I were you, Bella," I ignore her questioning looks, "It could be broken."

"How did you do that?"

"Jacob," I stare at him, "You will drive both of us back to her house so her father can take her to a doctor."

"I can take her," he states. The fire rises higher.

"We will both take her."

With a nod of his head, we set out to get Bella home.  I sit in the back seat, silent. When we pull up, we all get out to the sound of tires suddenly stopping as Edward gets out of his car. Well, that is my guess anyway, by the look on his face. I am right because Chief Swan comes out and separates the two guys, "She broke her hand," Jacob is ending, telling what happened, "punching me in the face."

After a tense standoff, we leave. After crossing the border, I ripped Jacob a new one to the point that Sam had to order me to unfreeze his legs when the pack found us just inside the tree line.   The real problem would come after two weeks when Jacob, Embry, and Quil end up at the Cullens' graduation party.

"What do you mean they want Ethne to come with us," Sam was ticked. The whole pack was sitting out on the porch in the middle of the night.

"They know that I am here thanks to Jacob kissing Bella," I state, picking at a candy bar.

"Yes, I am sure Bella was wondering who the girl that can summon fire really is," Sam was still tense about that.

"We can stick with the whole being Jacob's cousin," Seth suggested.

"No," I beat them all to the paunch, "we will not lie, but we will not tell them everything either."

"Everyone get some sleep. We meet them tomorrow at ten."

I don't know about the others, but I had a hard time sleeping. Erik should be calling me in the next day or so to let me know what is going on. Riding on the back of Paul, I get my first look of the Cullens. I know who Edward is, seeing him at Bella's house. The rest, I have no clue. Sam reminded me this morning that Edward can read people's thoughts. I stare straight at him, thinking about a blood bath from one of the old wars of my kind. I think for him to tell me the name of the fallen king, but Edward has a look of confusion on his face.

"Hello," a blonde man comes forward. He looks older than the rest but not by much, "I'm Carlisle. This is my wife, Esme," he motions for her to join him, "Jasper will be teaching us today, and Alice is his mate. Then we have Emmett and Rosalie."

"My name is Ethne," I nudge Paul to kneel down, "You are the Coven leader," with a nod of Carlisle's head, "May I greet your mate?"

"Of course," he moves his hand from hers and wraps it around her waist. 

Sliding off of Paul, I slowly move forward as I feel everyone's eyes on me. Once I am close enough, I take my right hand, touching her cheek. The coldness of her kind is calming to me, almost like home. Makine me shiver. Esme is close in height to me, only a few inches shorter. So I lower my forehead to hers and take a few breaths before slowly backing away. 

I watched the vampires practice and listen to Jasper teach about newborns. As we get ready to leave, I know that the Cullens have questions about me. Climbing back onto Paul, I call over my shoulder, "I will ask your questions after the newborns have been dealt with."

Paul takes me back to Emily's. He simply drops me off before joining the rest of the wolves as they go to the field that the fight will be on to find a good place to hind. Emily holds out a burner phone that Erik has been calling me on. It shows one message. 

Hey Ethne, the diphones we sent out said that they did not see you but that they saw Titus

 near the moonpool. About 50 miles out. Stay out of the ocean for now.  Sirena, Zac, and

 Lyla will be flying out at the end of the month to get ready for your birthmoon. Your family 

 also wanted me to tell you that they love you. See you soon and stay out of the ocean.