You & I Collide

Rachel

When I woke up Friday morning to the sound of nearby howling and yelping, I shot out of bed. The memories from last night flashed through my mind. Paul…Amun…Volturi. I shuddered involuntarily. But these wolf-like cries of distress echoed in my head. Had they found him? Cornered him outside my dad’s house, even? I shivered again; if they had cornered him here, then he was very, very close to getting to me.

My shock and fear froze me in place as more howls tore through the air. Should I run and hide, or run and help. Hiding would be safest…but then I wouldn’t know what was going on. Jacob…Paul. I nearly choked. Jacob and Paul. My brother and my boyfriend. They were out there, outside my house, fighting a vampire. I bolted for the front door.

“Jacob! Paul!” I screamed. It was foolish – that would only draw attention to myself. But it’s what I did. In a time of danger, the mind tends to make you act irrationally.

I rounded the house to the side, where I – thankfully – didn’t find a vampire. But I did find two huge, snarling werewolves. One was Paul, his silver fur shining like night. The other was Jacob, his reddish-brown fur standing up on edge as he leaned in defensively toward the Paul-wolf.

“Jake! Stop it, now! What do you think you’re doing?” I hollered at him, running over and positioning myself between them. If they wanted to get to the other side, they’d have to go through me first, and I was sure that neither of them would do that.

He looked at me with his big brown eyes. They were narrowed into slits. Then he barked at Paul, who was leaning back on his hind legs, but growling, too.

Suddenly, Paul darted into the forest. When he came back, he was wearing shorts and hurrying towards me.

“Paul!” I screamed, throwing my arms around him. “What was going on? You guys looked like you were gonna fight each other!”

“We were,” he spat, looking not at me, but at Jacob. “But then you came along, and I didn’t want you to see me tear your brother to shreds.”

I swatted him across the shoulder. “Don’t say things like that.”

He sighed remorsefully. “I know, I know. And I’m sorry.”

I hadn’t realized that Jake had run off to phase, too, until he came darting out of the woods. He wore only ripped jeans, and was showing off his set of muscles, as well. Paul sneered at him and looked like he was about to yell, but I spoke before he could.

“Jacob, what was the purpose of that? One of you guys could have been killed! Do you have any idea how much you both mean to me?"

"Of course I do. Duh. But how can I not get angry when he said that we could you use you as bait for Amun!?"

Me? Bait? I looked over at Paul.

"Just strategizing fighting tactics. You know I love you too much to do that to you, Rachel. I was just seeing how I could handle a head-on surprise attack. I knew that would strike a nerve."

"Strategizing," I repeated. "Hear that, Jacob? He wasn't going to do anything dangerous."

Jacob rolled his eyes.

"Sure, sure," he muttered.

The something else came back into mind, "And what about this whole going-away, vampire-fight business? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jacob gave Paul a furious look. “I thought that was supposed to be private,” he growled.

“Private?” Paul repeated. Then retorted, “Jacob, how is you being gone for almost a week supposed to stay private from your sister? So what if I told her. She needed to know not to tell Renesmee.”

Jake’s face crumpled into a look of pain at the mention of Nessie’s name. He would miss her for sure, and she would miss him. Being away from the one you imprinted on was tough. It would be tough for not just Jacob, but for Sam, Jared, and Quil, too.

Then something caught my attention. I turned to face Paul, who had his arm around my waist.

“A week?” I whispered to him. “Will it take that long for Jacob to fight the vampire?” another thing dawned on me, something that should have before. I turned to my brother. “And you! Are you seriously going to go after that vampire all by yourself? Surely one of the other main fighters will go with you. More than one, even, if that’s what it takes for no one to get hurt. Sam…or maybe Jared, even though they're in different packs. But you guys are coordinating for this, so that doesn’t matter. What about Embry? Or Quil? Or…”

It was then that I felt Paul’s arm stiffen around me. I glanced up at him, and met his worried, nervous expression. Then I looked over at Jacob, who was mirroring the look.

“What? What did I say?” I asked.

Paul was way past the point of being able to speak, so Jacob spoke for him.

“Rach, we’re all going," he reminded me.

My heart skipped a beat. Of course, I already knew that. Paul had explained it all last night. They were all needed, but Jacob would be needed the most and gone the longest because he was one of the top fighters. But I was too worried about my brother last night to really, truly take in the fact that Paul would be in grave danger, too. Now that the realization hit me, it was like getting struck by lightning that pierced my heart and caused it to ache with excruciating pain.

"If Amun’s part of the Volturi," Jake continued, but I hardly heard, "he’s going to be extremely powerful. Both packs are going to move in and take him down. Like you said, it’s best to have more than one, if that’s what it takes for no one to get hurt.”

I gaped at him. Jacob…and Paul? No. Impossible. No way. I would be an emotional wreck the whole time they were gone. I loved them both, but in different ways, and either way my heart would be broken if….

But I couldn’t think it.

“No! Paul, no!” I cried, clinging to his arm.

He looked at me carefully. “I have to, Rachel. Amun must be stopped.”

I scrambled for an excuse to make him stay. To make them both stay.

“But…but what if he’s not harmful?” what if he is? “What if he’s just looking for a rendezvous with Carlisle, and forgot where the house is?” yeah, right. “What if he means no harm?” what if he does and that’s why he’s here?

My inside voice argued with me as I voiced my excuses.

“That’s why we have to track him down,” Paul said. “To find out the answers to all of those questions.”

So they had to track him down, find him, and corner him. Then what? He wasn’t like Edward – he couldn’t read minds. So that meant that one of them would have to phase back to human in order to speak with him. And that meant that whoever phased would be the weakest at the time, making that person easy prey.

Jacob and Paul could see me working things out in my head. When I gasped, I looked back and forth between them swiftly.

“Who’s phasing to talk to him?” I asked slowly. I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer. I knew, I just knew. Someone with true leadership and authority. Someone who had been born with true leadership and authority. Of course.

“I am,” Jacob said.

I felt the blood leave my face as Paul held me close. I rested my head against his chest, sobbing.

“He won’t get hurt,” Paul promised. “No one will except Amun.”

And me. Because I would be privately hurting on my own. Hurting with the agony of wondering if my two favorite wolves would come back alive. And doubting that they would.