Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

20- ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱ

ALICE DROPPED Athena on the edge of the reservation, knowing that she was not permitted to go any further. After thanking her, she ran through the trees it was such a sunny day that even she could feel the warm air that warped in between her hair as she ran. Once reaching the very edge of the forest, she pulled off a coat that she had borrowed from Alice and pulled it over her head using it to shade herself as she approached the building. After all, anybody could happen to walk past at any given time. She quickly knocked on the door and smiled once it swung open. Jake stood in the doorway with a furrowed brow of confusion but soon let her in and closed the door. Athena hung the coat on the door and quickly walked into the living room, making a b line for Billy. He wrapped her in such a tight hug that wondered if it would hurt him for a second, then remembered the past Wolf situation and laughed softly to herself. "You scared me," he half-whispered as they hugged, not feeling the slightest amount of discomfort.

"I'm sorry," she sighed softly as they broke the hug, feeling even more awful when she noticed the saddened look in his eyes. She hated what she had put him through.  She averted her gaze and found that Jacob had been staring at her peculiarly the entire time, it took a quick glance into his mind to find out what it was about. "He knows?"

"I had to tell him, the whole you dying thing just had it all spilling out," Billy replied softly, watching her carefully for a reaction that she gave with a soft and reassuring smile.

"Ah, well. Any questions Jake?"

"Does garlic affect you? Is this why you never ate or drank anything? What about bright lights? Can you see your reflection? What happens in the sun?" he blurted as if all the questions had been swarming in his mind this entire time - which they probably had.

"No, yes, no, yes and I can show you," she replied with a soft chuckle then sped towards the window, opening it fully before the two mortals registered her destination change. She slowly stuck her arm out the window, reaching just past the shadow from the roof as her fingers glittered with sparkles that had Jake walking closer to the window in curiosity.

"Woah," he blurted, watching the colours dance along her fingers and down her entire palm.

"Anything else?" she asked as she pulled her hand from the window since a different heartbeat had reached her ears.

"Nope, Dad explained the other things," he smiled, feeling ever so fascinated about all the bedtimes stories Billy had told him about a young vampire and her wolf friend that he now knew to be true. That and the Cullen treaty that he had told Bella about on the beach.

"Yeah, but he hardly ever tells the truth,"  she joked, though it did have some truth behind it. Back when he was a teenager, Billy used to tell so many little lies about things that she knew were lies just for the fun of it - it was a weird inside joke between them.

"Rude," he responded quickly. Athena turned to look at him, raising a brow that did all the talking for her. The two stared at each other for a second then both started to laugh, to the confusion of Jake.

"Jake agrees with me," she stated as she closed the curtain slightly, blocking herself from the sun just in case someone happened to walk past. Jake's head turned bright with thousands of questions, each revolving around the same simple answer.  "Didn't tell him about that part?" she chuckled, looking over to Billy with a raised brow.

"I thought you didn't want people to know about your gift," he replied with a shrug, looking over to her with a concerned expression that she had only seen a few times in her life.

"Gift?"

"The Cullens know," Athena responded hearing the wolves approach the building, she quickly deduced that they weren't there for a particular reason which let her relax a little.