Darkness Will Come to Light [1]

XL. Land of La Push

Savannah's sisters in the pic:
Ronnie Myers (left),
Leslie Myers (right)

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Esme woke up Mel bright and early Saturday morning when she let Savannah into her bedroom. "Are you sure you wouldn't like any breakfast?" Esme was saying.

"No, thanks, Mrs. Cullen. I had a light breakfast already," Sav replied kindly.

Sav bounded across the room and launched herself onto Mel's bed. She landed on her best friend's body with an "oomph" of complaint from a drowsy Mel. "What the--why?" Mel moaned.

"Time to rise, sunshine!"

~*~

Savannah's mother pulled up to the front of the Cullen house before noon. Sav started forward with two large bags of food in her hands. Mel had two more filled with clothes and towels.

"Promise me one thing."

Mel paused on the front steps and glanced back at Alice. "What is it?"

"No boys."

Mel let out a choked laugh in surprise.

"I mean it, Mel!" Alice said stubbornly. "They're trouble."

"Alright, alright," Mel agreed.

~*~

Mel turned away from her bag, then did a double-take. She gingerly pulled out a can of pepper spray and a silver whistle--neither of which she had placed in her bag.

She suspected it was Alice's doing, but she didn't mind. Even though she wasn't sharing why La Push was apparently off-limits, Mel knew that Alice was worried for her and cared about her safety.

It gave her a warm feeling to know that she was loved and cared about.

"The waters freezing, of course," Sav confirmed as she plopped down on her towel beside Mel's. She used another beach towel from the bag to dry her wet and sandy feet.

"Let's find some driftwood," Mel suggested. "Ronnie told me at least twelve times on the ride over that she brought marshmallows for a bonfire." She chuckled. Sav rolled her eyes but agreed.

~*~

No one thought to bring a lighter or matches to start to bonfire, so Mel and Sav tried rubbing sticks together.

"I feel like a caveman," Sav groaned. "This isn't even working."

Mel rubbed the two sticks harder. "Wait, I think there was a spark! And... it's gone." She tossed the sticks down. "This is useless. I give up."

Ronnie and Leslie ran along the water's edge collecting pretty rocks and small shells. Mrs. Myers trailed after them with a chunky camera.

"Let's hope they stay distracted until we leave," Savannah said with a shrug and tore open the bag of marshmallows. "Two little ones having a tantrum at once is no fun, trust me."

Mel and Sav ate the raw marshmallows as they watched the waves crashing against the land.

Mel closed her eyes and breathed in a deep breath of salty sea air. "I've missed this. Our moms brought us here so often when we were little. It's been too long."

The best friends lapsed into comfortable silence. The cold sea breeze blew across their faces and danced through their messy hair. Mel tried to avoid eating the blowing sand with each bite of marshmallow.

Savannah's mother was further along the coast with the twins. One of the twins squealed when the water ran over her toes. Mrs. Myers snapped away on her camera; she didn't often have full days off from the hospital to spend with her children.

Mel called Carlisle again to confirm that she was still alive. She tucked her cell phone back into her jeans pocket.

Hoots of sudden laughter caused Sav and Mel to snap their heads in the direction of the noise breaking the peaceful air. A small group of tanned boys were running along the beach, tossing a football around to each other.

As they neared Mel and Sav on their beach towels, one of the lankier boys caught Sav's eye and smiled as he bounded over. The other two paused their catching game as well and followed his lead.

"Hi, I'm Embry." Embry's hazel eyes sparkled in the sunlight. He shielded his eyes from the sun with one hand and held out the other for Sav to shake. She leaned up to grasp his warm hand.

"Hi. Um, I'm Savannah. This is Mel."

Embry introduced his friends as Jacob and Quil.

"Would you like to join us?" Jacob asked. He reached back to tie his long hair in a ponytail at the nap of his neck to prevent the wind from blowing it in his face. "We were on our way to the diner."

"For milkshakes," Quil added.

"Well..." Sav hesitated.

"Sav, it's milkshakes!" Mel persuaded to her friend quietly. Her eyes were lit with excitement. She was craving a milkshake.

"You're such a sweet tooth," the blonde muttered. "Let me check with my mom," Sav said for the others to hear.

She ran off down the sand after her mother. Mel realized suddenly that she had been left alone with three attractive teenaged boys.

Eep.

"Do you live around here?" Jacob asked.

"Forks, yeah. Born and raised."

"Same with us here on the Res."

Mel licked her lips as the conversation quickly died. She fiddled with the purple ends of her hair.

"No boys," Alice had warned.

Hahah, whoops.

"She said yes!" Savannah shouted. Her voice traveled in the wind. "As long as you're not killers," Sav said when she made it back to the trio of guys and Mel.

"Quil's afraid of bugs," Embry told them. "He won't even kill an ant in his bedroom."

"That was one time," Quil argued, his russet cheeks reddening. "It was some kind of Hulk ant, I swear; it was huge."

Mel laughed in surprise. Admittedly, she was the same with spiders.

"Good enough for me!" Sav decided and picked up her towel to shove into the beach bag with the others. Mel did the same before putting on her shoes.

~*~

The leaves of the forest rustled behind the group as they walked to the diner. Mel glanced over with a frown. "Do you think it's going to start raining already? It's getting windier."

Sav frowned too. "Probably, with our luck." She squinted up at the grey clouds, as if calculating how much water it held over their heads.

"It's La Push. Of course it's going to rain," Jacob confirmed. "Quil wouldn't stop doing the rain dance this morning." He grinned when Quil gasped and slapped his arm.

"That is such a lie! I had to pee, okay?"

Everyone laughed as Quil pouted.

What the group of beach-goers were unaware of was the curious dark-furred wolf watching the girls from the trees.

He could smell the sweet scent of Cold Ones mixed with their natural scent and perfumes, but their heartbeats proved that they were fully human. The wolf frowned but retreated to confide in the Elders of the Quileute Tribe.

~*~ ♡ ~*~

Pre-wolf Quil, Jacob, and Embry, anyone?