Her Final Days

Chapter 20

The storm soon spread to Forks.

Rosalie and Jill gasped in horror as they stared at the clouds. Baby Emmett laughed as he saw the clouds take the form of wolves. Just then, an old Indian came towards them.

Rosalie knew who it was.

Ephraim Black looked at Rosalie. He didn't see an old woman; instead, he saw a beautiful young woman staring at him. Rosalie said, "Ephraim?"

"Rosalie?" Ephraim said. "Why do you live this way? Why do you allow yourself to grow old and alone? Have you forgotten that I loved you?"

"So you did know my grandmother?" Jill cried out. "But this is impossible! If you met her, then she was a young girl. But how did you meet her?"

"At this spot many years ago," said Ephraim. "She was cold, cruel, and very stubborn. She was not pleased to live the life she was living. But I noticed her pain and fixed her broken heart. I put her back together again."

Jill said, "But why are you here?"

"My descendants are needing my wisdom," said Ephraim. "Jacob, his sons, Embry, Ezra, and Jacquelyn are at the edge of their lives. Evil threatens our people; an evil that should not have existed. An evil that should have been destroyed on sight."

"And yet, I made a terrible mistake," said Rosalie. "I was unaware that my choice to trust the witch would destroy my family. But I did. I destroyed my family. I hurt Emmett. I pushed Jacquelyn away from me. I was not thinking clearly when I wished to be mortal. I wanted to live a normal life, but I guess normal isn't for me."

"It is not for you, my dear," said Ephraim. "You have no idea that you have hurt my people as well as your family. I have seen your human family pay for your mistakes. Your husband died from poisoning as a result of normal living, your daughter has a health problem that threatens to destroy her and her family, and even your granddaughter has not been living a respectable life because of abuse and rejection. Rosalie, you must correct this mistake before it destroys you forever."

Rosalie gasped in horror as she stared at Ephraim. Jill said, "And how can grandma correct this mistake? She's an old lady; she's going to die soon enough. Can't you have someone else fix this?"

"I can't," said Ephraim. "Only Rosalie must correct this. And if she fails, then all of this..." he gestured to the woods, "could disappear forever."

Jill gasped in horror as she thought of the world disappearing. There was no way Rosalie could fail, as old as she was. But then came a perplexing question, even for her: "Where is Emmett?"

-----

The baby laughed as a wolf carried him in the direction of the Cullen house. Inside, Jacquelyn joined Ezra at the window and they stared out into the darkness. Ezra said, "What's going on, mom?"

Jacquelyn said, "This storm is not of nature's making; rather, the spirits of our ancestors have come to us. They come in the hundreds. They are not just Quileutes. They are German as well as English. They have come to warn us."

Sam stared at her. "Warn us about what?" he snapped.

"The witch is returning to collect what is hers," said Jacquelyn. "Which is Rosalie. She is alive and yet mortal. I believe the witch is about to make herself known soon. We must be ready."

Just then, Embry heard a baby's laugh outside the front door. He was a small boy with blond hair and green eyes. "I think we've found a lost baby," he said.

"Who is he?" said Sam with a strange look on his face.

"Me Emmett!" the baby laughed as he stared at the old wolves.

"Emmett?" Embry gasped as he saw the baby.

"Uh-oh, it's that baby we saw back at the nursing home!" Ezra said to himself.

Jacquelyn said, "But why would a baby be living at the nursing home? He's too young to live there."

"Or his mother could be living there, with her grandmother," Ezra said in turn. "Carter and Elena were there as well."

Embry said, "This is a bad omen; a baby is alone and his mother is not there." He picked up baby Emmett and said, "This is no natural storm; it is the work of evil."

"This is worse than we thought," said Sam. To Jacquelyn, he said, "Whatever skills you live by, now would be the best time to pass them onto us."

Jacquelyn said, "If you insist on fighting in your wolf forms, I can't help you there. But I did have an encounter with someone who can teach you to fight in your spirit forms."

"You don't mean..." Embry began.

"Taha Aki came to me in a dream before we came back to Forks," said Jacquelyn. "He told me to teach you all to fight in your spirit forms. Only in spirit can we win this fight."

Sam stared at her and said, "He came to you?"

"He is here now," said Jacquelyn. "He cannot appear to you in his mortal body, so he is here in the form of a wolf." They all turned around and saw a huge black wolf staring at them...

-----

Carlisle frowned as he faced the new wolves. Jacob said to them, "They are Charlie and Sue's grandchildren. How and why they are phasing when the Swan family wasn't originally Quileute, we may never know."

Edward said, "We have trouble in our own home; Jacquelyn claims that a wolf has brought a baby to her. Whose child it is, she won't say."

"Then let us go to the Cullen house and see this child," said Paul. "I have a bad feeling that the witch is here."

The Cullens nodded and set off for their house; they hoped that Jacquelyn would be able to hold off until they got there.

-----

Rosalie gasped as Ephraim said to her, "You and your granddaughter are in grave danger, for the witch is here. She wishes to harm you..."

Just then, a cackling voice was heard. "I have you two now," the witch laughed as she used vines to tie up Rosalie and Jill. Jill screamed in horror as she was being taken away...