GODS AND MONSTERS ↝ P. LAHOTE

[13]

"Lark, your friends are here!" Marcus called up the stairs that morning, quickly followed by the sound of two sets of footsteps pounding up the stairs, and Alicia and Lark appeared in the cracked open doorway a few moments later.

"Ready to go?" Alicia asked, knocking on Lark's door.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked, sighing in disbelief and shaking her head.

Lark simply gave them a cheesy smile in response as she continued pinning the news clipping onto the cork board she had recently hung up on her wall, between pictures of the Cullen family and pictures she'd hung up of Paul, Jared, Jacob, Quil and Embry, with their names listed below each picture. The news clipping detailed a number of animal attacks the town of Forks faced the year before, one of the victims even being an old friend of her father's, Waylon Forge. Other clippings scattered around the board detailed legends of the Quileute wolves and the Cold Ones.

"I believe Charlie would call this a police board." Lark explained, stepping back and eyeing her work. "I'm telling you guys, there's something going on between the guys and the Cullens. Blood feud, supernatural enemies, whatever you want to call it, there's something there that's more than what meets the eye. Over here on this side, obviously, we have the boys. On the other side is the Cullens. Here we have the myth detailing the feud between the Quileute wolves and the Cold Ones."

"I think it's cool!" Alicia exclaimed, taking a step closer to get a better look at it and snickering when she saw Embry's picture on the far left.

"How long did you spend on this?" Leo asked skeptically, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You don't want to know." Lark said, grabbing her messenger bag and facing the two girls. "Ready to go?"

"Is this why you wanted to go to Port Angeles?" Leo asked as the girls piled into her car. "To prove that the guys are werewolves?"

"Not completely," Lark said, "it was just a plus. My dad's new book is on werewolves and I'm helping him do the research to lay the groundwork for it. According to Bella, there's a really cool bookstore in Port Angeles that sells books on the subject. Thus, what made me make the police board. I figure if I'm already doing the research, I might as well put it to good use. Any excuse for a shopping trip up to Port Angeles is good enough for me."

"But don't werewolves only change during a full moon?" Leo asked. "According to, like, every legend ever? You've definitely been around them during a full moon, there was one just a couple weeks ago that we were all together."

"Typically, yes," Lark said. "but I've never found anything on Quileute legends that says when or what makes them shift. I still need to do my research on that part. Just because I haven't found it yet doesn't mean it's not there."

"You, ma'am, are crazy," Leo said, shaking her head with a smirk as Alicia fiddled around with the radio, settling on a station that was currently playing Rihanna.

"So," Alicia said, "while we have you here. What's going on with you and Paul? Have you seen him lately?"

"Not since the memorial," Lark explained, " and I didn't get much of a chance to talk to him then, anyways. I've been showing Tristan around Forks since then. Haven't talked to him much, either. We've just been so busy we haven't had a chance."

"So you wouldn't say there's a label on it?" Leo pressed, eyeing Lark through the rearview mirror.

Lark shrugged. "I wouldn't say so. I don't know. I guess we're kind of together?"

"Well, have you guys kissed yet?" Alicia asked, to which Lark responded with a shake of her head.

"All in due time," Leo said with a shake of her head, "all in due time."