Across fictive worlds

Chapter 4

Leia POV

"Thank you all for coming", Leia said, looking at the group of teenage boys (and one girl) assembled in front of her. They were meeting in the forest halfway between Forks and the reservation, on a clearing with several tree trunks prepared for the boys to sit on. It was the first time for Leia to see most of them. She'd first called Jacob, using the excuse to want to reconnect with an old friend. Jake had predictably been quite eager to please and it had taken little persuasion for Leia to convince him to bring along a group of his closest friends as well as some other boys he knew from school.

Gathered in front of her now were Jacob, Embry, Jared, Seth, Leah and Quil. Leia had double-checked with Alice that Sam and Paul had already started shifting and the other wolves, Brady and Collin, were too young to get involved just yet. But these six would all shift within the next few years and Leia was convinced that they'd be better off doing it sooner rather than later.

"Why did you ask us all to come here?" Leah asked annoyed.

Leia took a deep breath. "I called you here because I wanted to make you an offer... and because I need your help. But first, let me show you something."

Leia held out both arms to either side of her and concentrated on the well of power inside of her. Her heart was at peace and her mind concentrated as calls of "Whoa!" and "What the fuck!?" became loud around her.

Leia opened her eyes to see the tree trunks floating about one to two meters in the air, some still with the young Quileute sitting on them. She lowered her hands and with them the trunks lowered down too.

"What you just saw... was magic", she said seriously. How strange was her situation that this explanation would be more believable than just calling it the Force. "I was born with magical talent, as a witch. It's not terribly unusual for people to be born with magic. It can take different forms. My talent is in telekinesis."

"No way! There must be some wires involved somewhere!" Seth exclaimed.

"I welcome you to check. There are none", she said. "I'm telling you this because the six of you were also born with a magical talent." She motioned to encompass the teenagers. "All of you have magical blood in you. Your elders even taught you about it, in your stories and legends. You have the ability to merge with the spirits of a wolf and take on its form."

Jacob laughed out aloud. "No way, Bella! You're kidding us!"

"I am not kidding", she said seriously. "Not everyone of you who carries the gene will necessarily activate it. It needs an outside factor to trigger it. I believe I know what that factor is. Your bodies react to the presence of threatening magic, magic that would harm yourself or your tribe. If such a threat comes close to you, your own inherit magic will be triggered and you'll gain the ability to shapeshift into wolves."

"She's crazy, isn't she?" Quil whispered towards Embry. "Isn't she?"

"I heard that", Leia made with a scowl. "And no, I am not crazy. I'm trying to warn you. There are other, powerful magical people in this world who want to collect talents like me or want to kill me. Three of them are going to come to Forks in a little more than a week. It's entirely possible that their mere presence in the vicinity of the reservation is going to trigger the change in one of you. What's even worse though is that these people are hunters. They will hunt and kill humans for their own enjoyment and to drink their blood - your legends also tell of these enemies. They call them the Cold Ones."

"Wait, you mean vampires?" Jared laughed. "That's just a fairy tale."

"They are not vampires as described in modern movies or novels. They don't burn in sunlight and can't be killed with something as simple as a wooden stake. Fire, other vampires and the Quileute shifters are about the only thing really effective against them", Leia explained calmly. "If these vampires come near here, there's a real chance they will kill someone on the reservation, someone you know. And even if they don't, if they just pass by, they're going to kill dozens, hundreds of more people away from here."