You & I Collide

Rachel

We all ate at the Uleys’ house that night. Kim, the girl Jared had imprinted upon (I guess you could call her an imprintee), brought over seven strawberry pies, knowing that the boys had humungous appetites. Police Chief Charlie Swan, Bella Cullen’s father, came, along with Sue Clearwater, Seth and Leah’s mother.

Emily had made delicious spaghetti with warm juicy meatballs, crispy garlic bread, and creamy Caesar salad. Occasionally, Sue would place a hand on Charlie’s arm, and I began to silently wonder if they were becoming more than ‘good friends’. Charlie had been divorced from his ex-wife Renée for quite a long time now, and Sue was the widow of Harry Clearwater. Perhaps the fact that Harry and Charlie had been good friends might draw them together. But I wasn’t at all sure if it would happen or not.

After supper, everyone but Sue went home, because she was staying to help Emily clean up. Sam had errands to run in Forks, so he would be out of La Push for the evening. Paul lead me away from the table, taking my hand and urging me outside. I followed along beside him to a small clearing at the edge of the woods. He pulled me down to the grass, where a few crumpled leaves were scattered here and there.

“So, do you have any plans for this weekend?” he asked. “Because I was kinda thinking that we could go out for supper.”

“That sounds nice,” I said. “Friday night would be best. I can’t Saturday – Alice and Rosalie are taking me, Bella, and Renesmee shopping.”

Paul grimaced, but tried to hide it. He didn’t approve of me spending so much time with the Cullens. With vampires. But I saw nothing wrong with being friends with the Cullens. Alice was always so cheerful and bubbly, Emmett so funny and playful. Esme was considerate, Carlisle wise, and Jasper understanding. Rosalie could be a little harsh, but most of the time she was great to be around. Bella was selfless and kind, and Edward was very generous. Renesmee was sweet and easy to love.

“Rach…” he began in a pleading tone.

“Don’t start. You know that there’s nothing wrong with the Cullens. They’re perfectly fine to be around.”

He frowned. “So when they decide to suck your blood if you get a paper cut from your receipt at the mall, does that still make them ‘perfectly fine’?”

“That may have happened to Bella, but it won’t happen to me. Besides, I’m far more careful and none of the Cullens would ever do that. Not even little Renesmee.”

Paul’s eyes lit up, like he had just remembered something. “Oh! That’s right. I was supposed to give you a message from Jake to take to Renesmee.” He traced invisible patterns in the grass, then looked up at me. His expression made it seem like he knew he had to say something, but didn’t want to. He did, anyway. “He wants her to know that he’ll see her as soon as he can, and that he promises he’ll bring her home a present. He wants her to know that he’s sorry he can’t be with her at the moment, but that he’ll be back soon.”

I was befuddled. “As so as he can…present…can’t be with her…back soon? What? Paul, what are you talking about?”

He sighed, and I wasn’t sure if I was imagining the tears in his eyes or not. “Rachel, I’m so sorry. I hate lying to you, I really do. But I…I felt like…like I had to. It was stupid. I’m sorry.”

“Shh, Paul. It’s okay. I’ll forgive you, as long as you tell me what you lied to me about and what’s going on with Jake.”

Paul took a deep breath. “I lied to you when I said that there wasn’t a vampire in Forks. There is, Rach, but I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to be scared. I tried to hard not to let you see that I was lying, and I guess it worked. His name is Amun, from the Egyptian coven. He was a friend of Carlisle’s but now he has joined the Volturi. We don’t know what he wants, but he’s here for a reason. Until we figure out what he wants and if what he wants is bad, Amun is top priority for both packs.”

I was more than afraid – I was terrified. I snuggled into Paul’s chest, now clad with a grey t-shirt, and let him hold me close. Holding me together.

When I felt like I could speak again and not faint from fear, I sat up straighter and looked Paul in the eyes.

“But…why does Jake have to be away? Why will he be gone for so long?”

Paul bit down on his lower lip, hesitating.

“Paul, please! Tell me! Jacob is my brother! I deserve to know this”

He sighed in defeat. “All right, look. Jacob is one of our top fighters. He’s the Alpha. We need him big time, full-time for this. Amun could be dangerous, Rachel. Really dangerous. I don’t want him getting anywhere near you. We really need Jacob’s help with this guy, and until he’s stopped – because if he’s working with the Volturi and is in Forks, that can’t be good – until he’s gone, we need as much of an effort from Jake as we can get. This guy is probably bad news, and he has to be stopped. But don’t say anything to Renesmee, and tell all the Cullens not to, either. We don’t want to scare her by telling her that one of the Volturi is in Forks.”