The Huntress [ Sam Uley ]

Chapter II

February, 2006                                                                                                                  Providence, Rhode Island and Forks, Washington

I drove to the airport with the windows rolled up, my best friend in the seat next to me. It was thirty-five degrees in Providence, and the air would've bit into our cheeks. I was wearing my favorite outfit—high waisted, black suit pants made with comfortable, stretchy fabric. A black tank top and a pair of high heeled, brown lace up boots completed the book.

In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this town more than any other place in the United States of America . It was from this town and its peaceful, dense forests that my mother ran with my sister and I when we were little. It was in this town that I'd escaped my life in Arizona a month every summer until I was eight.

Now, fresh out of Brown University, my mother had forced me to attend due to my superior intellect at fourteen, I was moving back to Forks— an action I had looked forward to for years. If Renée didn't have full custody over my sister and I, I'd have gone to live with Charlie a long time ago. I detested Phoenix and anything to do with my mother. I loved Forks. I loved the cloudy sky and the smell of petrichor after rain. I loved the small, quiet town.

"Arty," Vivienne said to me — gaining my attention — before I got on the plane. "I'll come visit you, promise."

My best friend looks at me, waiting and expectant. Something inside me warmed as the fifteen-year-old stared at me. Vivienne had never been deterred by our age gap, in fact she was more concerned about me never having watched Star Wars.

I brushed a stray red curl out of her eyes. Vivienne still had her childhood cuteness to her. Her freckled cheeks and dimpled smile only enhance her youthful glow. There was only one thing disrupting the image. I traced one of the many scars that marred her face; badly healed, pink and puckered.

I felt a jolt of sadness as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my sweet, innocent best friend to fend for herself? Of course she had managed for years before I came along, but things had changed since then.

"I can't wait," I said softly. "I'll try to convince the system to let me have custody. They let anybody have foster kids these days." Vivienne had been in the foster care system since she was nine. The girl had been relatively lucky, landing in households that mainly ignored her existence. Vivienne's current home was near the University and we ate breakfast together everyday, my treat, before she went to school.

She brightened significantly. "You'd do that?" Her eyes sparkled with glee. I nodded, and she giggled. "Have fun in Forks Arty. And you swear you'll call the system?"

"I pinky swear," I insisted and held out my pinky finger. She giggled and intertwined hers with mine, sealing the deal. "There's enough space for the both of us at the house."