AURORA ☾ Leah Clearwater ✔

Chapter 13... Family

☾

Emily

In the end, we took my mom's car. Even though Sam had promised that he'd find us a ride, I felt more comfortable having a car of my own. It was a definite way out, in case I need to turn heel and run.

I still could not believe that I had agreed to go to this thing! But there was some part of me that needed some kind of resolution before I shunned Sam completely. I needed answers. And not just for myself, but for Leah. At least, that was what I was telling myself. I couldn't explain the strange draw I felt to all of this...

Sam rode with me. After I insisted on driving, he had offered to ride along to show the way. The idea of being alone in a car with him for so long made me feel uneasy, so at first, I had resisted. But once he had gotten into the specifics of finding the location I quickly realized I was out of my depth. I knew La Push but not well enough to understand Sam's cryptic directions. So in the end, he came with me because I wouldn't be able to find my way otherwise.

The car was quiet as we drove, neither one of us saying a word. Sam had tried, at first, but I was quick to shut down his attempts. I barely even looked at him even though he was sitting only mere inches from me—my mother's small car could barely contain the sheer massiveness of Sam Uley—because I already felt guilty enough.

As we drove, the sun slipped from the sky, leeching all the colour of the world as it went. It stained the pale clouds pink then purple until the light faded entirely, leaving only a deep navy in its wake. The moon hung heavy and luminous against the darkness.

Sam spoke, breaking the silence of the car once again. "There's a small side road on your right. You'll want to turn onto it."

I remembered this first step, but in the rapidly enclosing dark, it was hard to see where I should be going. I slowed the car down not wanting to blow past it.

After a moment or two, I spotted a small gravel road that jutted out from the side of the highway and disappeared amongst the trees.

"Here," Sam said, pointing.

I slowly took the turn and made my way into the woods. The car had slowed to a crawl, as I didn't want to drive too fast on an unfamiliar back road in the middle of the night.

There was a flash of light, and then another, sparkling out in front of me. Reflective... Tape? As we inched forward, I saw that I had been right; there were bands of bright tape wrapped around the trunks of trees, in two weaving lines, stretching out ahead of us.

"To lead the way," Sam answered before I even had the chance to ask the question. "As you may have noticed, the road can be a little... hard to navigate in the dark. I mean, with our senses, it's fine, but this helps the regular people make out the edge of the road."

"Smart," I admitted, grudgingly. Part of me had hoped that this would be a good enough reason to turn back; I was still having second thoughts but I pushed the car on, now at a slightly brisker pace.

Soon the dark wood gave way to the sky again, and the ocean came into view. There was a warm, bright light just ahead, on the sand; the bonfire. The headlights fell on parked cars in my path, so I turned the wheel and angled my car out of the way, coming to stop just beside them.

"Is this good?" I asked Sam, unable to hide the nervousness in my voice. "Can I park here?"

"This is perfect," he replied. The distant orange light of the fire caught on his curving lips. "Come on."

I lingered. "I don't know if I can."

"You can," he assured me. "You've come too far to go back now." And then he pulled off his seatbelt and slid out of the car.