The time of the bonfire came quickly. Reed was almost bouncing up and down when Callas walked down the stairs from her room, wearing one of his oversized hoodies, the sleeves rolled up a couple of times, so she could actually see her hands. He was so giddy with excitement that it rolled off him like waves from the ocean, crashing into her, causing her stomach to tighten up into knots before exploding with butterflies. Zeus was sniffing around the door, just as eager to leave as Reed was. Earlier that day, Callas noted to herself that Henry hadn't turned up to school—she knew he needed time to heal, but she thought he was getting better, faster than what the doctors had claimed anyway. First period with Embry went by too quickly, she enjoyed the Chemistry lessons she had with him, even if the work was droning and mostly written work. Embry had always found a way to make it more interesting. By the time her third lesson rolled around, with Quil and Jared, Callas was ready to head home and take a small nap, like she always was.
"C'mon, Cal, Silas moves faster than you and he doesn't move that much," Reed commented as he bounced on his feet again, clapping his hands together excitedly, making her smile at him with the shake of her head and she stepped closer.
Silas, from the kitchen, barked a laugh, "I heard that."
"Wasn't keeping it a secret, old man." Reed winked and grinned at Callas when Silas laughed again.
"You know Gramps could kick your ass." Callas raised an eyebrow, he nodded his head with a shrug.
"Yeah, I know."
"Just stay safe tonight, okay?" Anya popped her head out of the kitchen, holding a spoon covered in batter. Callas turned around to face her, a smile made its way to her face as Silas popped his head out as well, his hands on Anya's shoulders.
"We will." Reed nodded.
"Don't leave her." She pointed the spoon at him and raised her eyebrows.
"I'll handcuff our hands together if I need to,"—he told Anya before looking to Callas—"but we need to get going if we want to make it on time to actually hear the start of the legend." He pointed to the door.
Callas raised her arms in defence, laughing quietly to herself as she waved goodbye to Anya and followed Reed and Zeus out of the front door. Reed jumped from the porch steps, wanting to get to his Jeep faster. Reed opened his side of the door, pulling his seat forward, letting Zeus jump into the back. Callas walked around to her side, settling in as she put her seatbelt on. It was almost completely dark out. Callas struggled to see, even with the headlights on, but Reed didn't seem to have a problem when he reversed and began driving down the road. She shoved her hands into the pocket of Reed's oversized hoodie, holding onto the cold metal of her phone, a shiver running down her spine. From the back, Zeus was happily panting loudly, switching his gaze from the front of the Jeep to the side window then to the back, watching as everything seemed to speed past. Callas felt her phone buzz, she pulled her phone out and squinted at the brightness as she opened the messages:
Embry:
Are you on your way?
Embry:
Jake is getting angsty and keeps bugging me asking where you are.
Embry:
He's breathing down my neck, it's unpleasant.
She rolled her eyes at Embry's texts with a small smile before replying:
Callas:
Tell him to calm down, we should be there soon. As long as Reed doesn't get us lost in the dark.
Three dots showed up as Embry began to type back:
Embry:
Wow, that was quick, I thought you wouldn't see this straight away.
Callas breathed a quiet laugh:
Callas:
My Spidey senses were tingling.
Embry began typing again:
Embry:
Okay, Parker. How about swinging here a bit faster?
He seemed to pause for a few seconds, the three dots stayed on the screen before his text sent:
Embry:
I kinda miss you.
A light blush warmed her cheeks as she locked her phone, shoving it back into her pocket. Reed was drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, looking at the other houses on the Reservation before a cluster of old cars and trucks emerged into view around a quaint house with smoke rising from around the back. Reed parked up around an empty area, turning off the engine. Callas opened the passenger side door, sliding out before pulling the seat forward, letting Zeus get out from the back. He stayed around her feet as she closed the door and walked over to Reed. While they walked closer, Reed wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. Up ahead, Jacob noticed them approaching, he yelled her name out before he got up from one of the logs, jogging his way over to them.
"You came!"
Reed snorted a laugh. "Like she had much of a choice."
"My dad's over here," he told Reed, guiding them towards William Black.
Callas remembered Silas telling her that Billy had been a commercial fisherman before his diabetes confined him to a wheelchair. Instead, he was now one of the tribe's elders. Before he turned around to greet them, she noticed he had long black hair and a hat sitting on his head. Jacob called out his name. Billy then turned and seemed to take a moment as he looked at Reed and Callas approaching them, his russet-coloured skin glowed brightly as the light from the fire shone on his face. He looked heavyset, with a deeply wrinkled face and almost black eyes. A wide grin emerged on his face as a deep laugh erupted from his throat, he held his hand out to Reed, who was more than happy to shake his hand.
"My god, you look just like your father when he was your age." Billy shook his head, almost not believing what he was seeing.
Reed smiled warmly. "Thank you, Sir."
"You must be, what? Twenty by now?"
"Almost. In just under a month." Reed nodded his head.
Billy breathed out a small laugh, turning his head to Callas. His face softened and his lips parted as he leaned to the side slightly, resting his left arm on the armrest of the wheelchair. "Wow." He shook his head. "Just like Freya," he spoke more to himself than to her.
Callas looked down with a shy smile. She had to force her voice to be louder than a whisper, "I doubt that." In Callas's mind, her mother looked like a goddess. The few pictures of her backed up her argument as it looked like the entire universe revolved around her, the sun always bounced off her head like a halo, an angelic beauty that no one could compare to.
"My wife had almost a dozen photo albums of all of our friends, you can believe me when I say that you and your mother look almost like the same person."
Reed cleared his throat, knowing Callas wasn't very comfortable talking about it. "So, Billy, I wanted to thank you for my job."
Billy turned his gaze from Callas to Reed. "Oh, yeah. Well, I'm glad you got the job."
"So am I." He nodded. "I admit I wasn't expecting much to happen, considering being about fifteen minutes from La Push, but Forks has a lot of issues," he spoke with a hint of humour in his voice.
"That it does. I'm just glad that the crime doesn't travel."
"I'd have my work cut out for me if it did."
"I'm sure you could handle it." Billy smiled. "I'll introduce you to the others." He motioned his head to a few other people at the head of the bonfire circle. Reed immediately followed, unwrapping his arm from Callas, who whistled and patted her leg to gain Zeus's attention. He turned to her and walked with her, brushing against her leg.
"So," Jacob started as he walked on the other side of Zeus.
"What?" She looked at him with an eyebrow raised.
"How'd the date go?" He smirked. Callas punched his arm lightly with the roll of her eyes, not bothering to answer him as they walked up to the others.
Billy smiled at one of the older looking men. "This is Old Quil," he started, Callas automatically looked towards where the boys were and noticed Quil waving at her as if he had heard his name. She waved back before turning to look at Old Quil. He had let go of shaking Reed's hand and Callas offered him hers.
"Nice to meet you," she told him kindly, he simply nodded his head as Billy continued.
"And this is Sue Clearwater." Reed greeted her with a smile and a nod before Callas did the same. "Sam and Emily should be here soon, I don't think Leah is going to turn up tonight," he commented. Callas internally groaned, having to wait even longer to meet her.
"C'mon," Jacob spoke up, hitting Callas's upper arm lightly, catching both Reed and Callas's attention. "I'll show you to a good spot."
Reed nodded, placing his arm back over Callas's shoulder as they followed Jacob over to an empty area, just a bit further away from the boys. Jacob was called over by Seth, he excused himself, leaving them to turn and look towards the fire. Two others showed up holding hands, a woman, with a few scars on her face, approached with a man Callas recognised. She elbowed Reed in the side, glaring over at the man as he sat down, Reed followed her gaze and seemed to freeze. Callas continued to stare at him until his eyes shifted over to her briefly, he looked away just as quickly as he had looked at her.
"Isn't that the guy from the shops?" Reed whispered to her.
"The one who looked like he was about to tear out my throat with his teeth? Yeah. It's the milkman."
"What?"
"He had milk in his bag."
"I'm guessing he's Sam."
"So, she's Emily."
"Yeah, I wonder what happened to her face?"
"Probably better that we don't ask, Sam looks like he could rip a man's skull in half with one hand while sleeping."
"Can you... not be so specific next time?" Reed's breath tickled her neck as they both continued to look at Sam.
"Can't help it." She shrugged. Moving her legs to let Zeus sit in between them while he panted heavily.
"As long as it's not either of our skulls that he's crushing, I'm fine with it."
"Reed, you're a police officer, did you just condone murder?"
"Maybe," he answered swiftly, pressing a kiss to the side of her head, pulling her closer to his body as he turned his head to watch Billy.
Callas struggled to pull her gaze away from Sam. Her hands played with Zeus's fur. While they waited for everyone to finally sit down, she glanced over to the boys. Embry was already smiling in her direction before he looked down shyly, trying to push the others away from him when they began to tease him from staring at her. Their 'almost' kiss had been on her mind the entire night, and during the school day, which distracted her more than she usually was. She had hoped that no one had picked up on it, or noticed it. Whenever they were near each other her hand would play with her bottom lip as it tingled from the thought of almost kissing Embry that night before Reed had interrupted them. Her gaze shifted to Billy as he cleared his throat, everything around them seemed to silence—it was as if he was the only living thing in existence in that very moment.