Our Battle Cry

Aria's POV

Two days later

I was running through the woods. I was being chased by something but couldn't tell what. All of a sudden I was in a giant clearing. I couldn't see anything beyond the clearing.

"Aria… Aria… You must be careful. Learn to trust yourself fully… Aria… Heed my warning," some voice was calling to me. I couldn't see anyone else near me when all of a sudden there was a passage of some kind in the clearing. I started running towards it. I was almost there when-

CRASH! "Quil! Be careful, you'll wake Aria up and then Emily will be pissed!" someone yelled.

Great, what a good way for me to wake up. Better than my dream I guess. Ugh. I so don't want to get up, I thought to myself. I looked over at my alarm clock and it read 8:49 am. I was ready to scream. It was summer and I had recently moved across the country and I was woken up before nine! I laid back down on my bed and just started thinking about what I could do.

I slowly got up, went to my closet and picked out my clothes for the day. It was a simple outfit; a pair of Bermuda shorts, a light blue camisole, and a tank top that faded from white to a light blue. After that, I took my clothes and went down the hall into the bathroom to take a shower.

Once I was done, I dried my hair and put on some light make up. As I was going back to my room I picked up my phone and checked the time. 9:30 am read back at me. I groaned and slowly made my way down the stairs and to the kitchen so I could get some food. For some reason I was nervous. I think that it had to do with Jacob. I haven't seen him since that night, well except for one time when he came over to tell Sam something. But after that he left without one glance at me. When I first saw him it was… like he could see everything about me. I never once thought that I would ever find my Vero Amante. It was a myth that was spread around so that way people would fear us. Maybe if I keep avoiding him, than the connection won't ever happen and I'll be good. I could be myself and not have to worry about him. Yes! I thought. By now I had reached the kitchen.

When I looked inside of it I saw five people. Emily was at the stove, while Quil, Embry, Jared and Sam sat at a table that was in the middle of the room. The boys seemed to be deep in conversation about something but I couldn't hear what. Over the past two days I've become pretty good friends with Embry and Jared. They remind me a lot of my friends back home. And apparently I'm meant to meet Jared's girlfriend sometime soon. Juju is also meant to show up within the next few days with the rest of my stuff.

I slowly walked into the room and sat down at the table. "Good morning Aria. How are you?" Sam asked me with a smile on his face. Since I got here Sam has been ublery kind to me. He doesn't try to be like my dad instead he acts like an older brother. Which for some reason despite what happened, is okay with me.

"Morning. I'm fine. I would be better if someone wouldn't have been loud and woke me up," I said while turning to mock glare at Quil. He tried to look innocent. Suddenly Emily came over and hit him upside the head with her spatula. Everyone started laughing at him while Embry muttered a 'told ya so'.

Slowly everyone in the kitchen started eating. By now I had gotten used to how all the guys around here scarf down their food like no other. A little bit after everyone finished (the guys had fourths, like usual) I had decided that I wanted to explore. I may have been here for a few days but sadly, I haven't left the house.

Gathering up my courage I looked at Sam and was about to ask him when the back door opened and in walked Paul, Seth, Brady, Colin (I met them the day after I arrived), and to my utter surprise Jacob. As soon as they all sat down the boys started talking. I was sitting in between Emily and Embry, with Sam on the other side of Emily. And next to Embry it went Quil, Seth, Brady, Jacob, Colin, Paul and then Jared who was on Sam's other side. Once it quieted down some I looked over at Sam.

"Hey Sam?" I asked.

Everyone turned to look at me all at once. "Yeah Aria?" he said as he looked back at me.

"Umm… I was wondering if I could go explore. I haven't really seen anything besides the house and yard," I said as I got a hopeful look on my face. I could see that Jared, Seth, and Embry tried to start up other conversations so I wouldn't feel so weird. Thanks you guys I thought as I saw Sam contemplating my question.

"Sure. I guess. But you have to promise me that you'll be careful when you're out okay? And try to be back by dinner," he said once he saw the look on my face and on Emily's. I was so happy that I got up and hugged him. Then I was out the door and off to explore the town.

I started out by heading toward the forest. As I walking I kept tripping over roots and bushes. But it was so beautiful. I wish that I had brought my camera along with me. Everywhere I looked had a tree that was huge compared to me, with run down trails and paths that you could tell that no one had been on in a while. I was climbing over fallen trees when I saw a small opening.

As I got closer I realized that I was at a small clearing. It looked similar to the one in my dream. There was a fallen log going through a part of the clearing but not enough to get into someone's way. There were a few flowers along the edge of trees. It looked like a wildflower meadow. Being in the field made me feel at peace with everything in the world. I could feel a slight breeze passing through like a whisper.

I stood on the log and put my arms out beside me. I embraced the wind and closed my eyes concentrating. I slowly moved my arms in a large circular motion, similar to one that you would see someone who does tai chi do, and I could feel the air around me moving with my arms. I brought my hands close to my face and blow on them as if I was blowing away dust. When I opened my eyes I saw a stream of air rush towards where I had blown. I smiled to myself, very pleased that my powers are still that strong even though I'm separated from the others.

Wanting to experiment I slowly raised my arms, crossed them and then pushed them so my palms were facing down. I was flung into the air. I did three front flips before I landed on the log in a squatting position. I looked around to make sure that no one saw that. I exhaled when I saw that I was still by myself. I decided to keep experimenting with my powers. I was lifting and picking flowers while making the branches on the trees sway as if they were dancing. I smiled as I started to leave the small meadow. I had decided that it was now my meadow; a place where I can escape from everything and be myself. Where I can practice my powers, or dance, or sing, or do gymnastics. Anything that I ever wanted to do I could.

As I was making my way back towards the house, I was suddenly very grateful for being connected with nature. If it wasn't for that than I knew that I would have been lost without a doubt. It's a powerful feeling to know that you are that connected with everything around you.

When I saw the house in my line of sight I looked at the sky and I barely saw the sun. However half of the sky was pink, while the rest was a nice light blue. It looked like someone had taken one of the fat paint brushes and ran in through the sky.

I decided to go through the front door. As I was heading there I saw three more cars out front than when I left. There was a Volkswagen Rabbit, a Jeep Wrangler, and a dark blue Hummer. For some reason the hummer stuck out to me the most, not because it was the most expensive one, but only because it seemed to be the most familiar. I walked to it and tried to peep into the windows. Sadly I was too short to see into the tinted windows. I finally gave up after trying to jump and look for a few minutes. I walked the short distance from the hummer to the front door. I opened the door and it was surprisingly quiet. It hasn't been this quiet since the first night that I had arrived and went downstairs. I heard a small cough, almost like someone was trying to alert me to where everyone was. Since I thought that it had come from the kitchen, I went in that direction. As I got closer I could finally hear some voices. I figured that it had to be around 6:30pm or so.

Once I reached the kitchen I walked in without even waiting a second. When everyone heard my footsteps they looked up at me. I could recognize everyone in the room. Emily and Sam were sitting beside each other, with Jared and Paul arm wrestling next to them. While on their other side were Seth, Leah and Quil in what looked like a heated discussion. And lastly there was Jacob, who looked oddly tense and like he didn't want to be here. What surprised me the most was who was sitting across from Emily and Sam, yet they were looking at me with a smile on their face, seeming to be completely at ease.

As soon as the person turned around I felt my world light up and it was like all of my prayers had been answered. Sitting and talking with Sam and Emily, was Juju. Aka Jordan Julius Odie, Mama Odie's grandson and my best friend's brother. Once it finally registered to me that he was sitting there I the only thing that I could think of at the time.

"JUJU!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I ran to him and he stood up and caught me, somehow meeting me halfway. I could hear laughter coming from around the room. I smiled into his chest as he put me down and held me in a bone crushing hug.

"Baby-cakes. I missed you so much. Oh so much," he said into my hair. I could tell from the tone of his voice that he meant every word.

"I missed you too, Juju," I told him as I pulled away to look up at his face. He smiled at me and pulled me over and into his lap as he sat down on his chair.

"Wow, Aria, you sure do have some lungs on you," Embry said while laughing and looking between me, Juju, Sam and for some reason Jacob. Everyone laughed at that comment. I couldn't help but to laugh along because that wasn't anything compared to what I can do.

Once everyone settled down I looked behind me at Juju and asked him the one thing that was on my mind, "Why the hell are you here?"

"Oh, gee thanks. I feel so loved. Here I am after driving all the way from back home with your crap in my Hummer and you don't even care about how I'm doing. Thanks baby-cakes, thanks a lot," he said while pretending to be mad at me.

"You have my stuff?" I gasped at him. He was supposed to bring the rest of my clothes, posters and anything that I might have forgotten in my hasty packing trip.

"If by stuff you mean, all the crap that you couldn't fit in Momma's SUV, than yeah. It's in the trunk," he said while turning to talk to Emily again.

She was laughing while shaking her head at us. Since she had been friends with my brother and Juju when they were younger, she was kind of used to how we behaved around each other. "You two haven't changed a bit about how you treat each other have you?" she asked and she saw me trying to sneakily poke his side.

"Not really," he responded while slapping my hand away. After ten minutes of small talk, someone finally asked the question that I figured everyone besides me, Juju and Emily knew the answer too.

"So… are you two dating or something?"