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𓏲 ࣪₊♡𓂃 AN ENTIRE WEEK WENT BY, Embry and Sophie spent as much time together as possible, studying their supernatural powers in her bedroom and his and talking about possibilities for other supernatural creatures. It was as if Sophie had predicted it, she knew Edward and the rest of the Cullens were strange, especially Edward and especially when he appeared as an illusion that one night.

"The Cullens are vampires." Embry's words were expected, and extremely factual, it made sense. Sophie was accompanying Embry at his second council meeting, a meeting only a small group of people gathered for, but enough.

There was Billy Black, the leader of the council with his infamous black cowboy hat atop his hat. Sophie and Billy were close once upon a time, when she'd visit everyday as a kid but as Sophie and Jacob grew apart, so did her relationship with the older Black. Rachel Black, Billy's daughter and Paul's girlfriend was sat between the aforementioned man and her father.

Sue and Harry Clearwater also attended, along with Leah Clearwater, their eldest daughter. Whilst Sue, Harry and the rest of their children hadn't shifted, Leah had, being the odd one out. Sam Uley, Jared Cameron and Paul Lahote, the entire Uley pack, attended with Embry, their newest member, by their side along with Emily Young, Sam's girlfriend.

Sophie was sat with a blanket draped over her shoulders between Leah and Embry, everyone sat around a campfire as Billy Black prepared his story—time, "Witches were very useful back when shapeshifters first populated earth. A very famous witch, by the name of Henrietta, helped Taha Aki with Utlapa, another spirit warrior who'd taken over Taha Aki's spirit form. After her, we didn't interact with any witches, we'd thought they'd went extinct... until now."

All eyes were on her, it was intimidating to say the least, if she could she would've dug herself a hole right there to hide inside of it. As if they could sense her nerves, Embry placed his arm over her shoulders and Leah lightly nudged her shoulder with hers. No matter how much Leah hated the idea of having a witch right beside her, she knew who Sophie was and she still had compassion.

"The cold ones..." His eyes suddenly widened for a split second, something nobody caught onto but she did, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she watched him, "They were oblivious to witches and I'm not sure if they still are, but it's best we keep Sophie hidden from them, we have to be cautious." Billy glanced around at everyone, who nodded in agreement.

This was starting to look like more of a protection program than a council meeting.

Sophie's demeanour faltered, confusion overtaking her features and she lifted her hand slightly in the air, waiting for Billy's signal before she spoke, "Who are the cold ones?" Her tiny voice squeaked as she asked the question she never expected to ask in a lifetime, the pressure she felt becoming overbearing.

Billy shifted in his wheelchair, along with everyone else except Embry, who continued to rub her arms in attempts of warming her up, his extreme body heat doing wonders, "They're a clan, or rather just a species. I can't tell you everything, but you will know in time. The Cullens—" Her body tensed at the thought of the Cullen family, after hearing about the fact they were vampires, she couldn't help the shiver that creeped up her spine, "—they're dangerous. We made a treaty with them a while ago, before you all were even born, before I was even born, but to this day they could still break it.

"Our magic awakens when they're near. It isn't long before more of us shift, and then we'll be unstoppable against the enemy."

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A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER, Sophie was sat beside Layla at their table at lunch, everybody acting as if it was normal though the awkward tension between Layla and Angela was noticeable. Eric went to speak up about it at one point, but he chose against it when Sophie elbowed him in the ribs.

As they spoke about another trip to La Push, Bella Swan approached the table casually as if she hadn't been absent in her seat for months. Sophie, unlike the others, sent Bella a look of no emotion, showing the girl that she was still upset with her after that sleepover trick she pulled.

Mike, however, acted the complete opposite, making Layla roll her eyes out of annoyance towards Mike's obsession, "I'll kill Tyler if he gave me his flu." Jessica spoke up through the tension floating in the air around them and Angela nodded sympathetically in agreement.

"It's going around. My sister was so sick she couldn't come on our hike this weekend... so she didn't see it." Angela glanced down at her tray miserably, whilst Layla's ears perked up, being the nosy person she was no matter how nervous she felt around Angela.

"Didn't see what?" Layla sat up straight, her eyebrows raised in questioning whilst Sophie stayed quiet beside the blonde, picking at her apple.

"Ang, maybe you should keep that to yourself—" Eric began but was cut off by the youngest Newton.

"No, Angela, tell me." Layla slapped the table lightly, anticipation getting the best of her.

"We saw something out there. It was jet black and huge; on all fours it was still taller than a person. A bear maybe." Angela shrugged, avoiding Layla's eye. Sophie's eyes slightly widened at the explanation, she knew it wasn't a bear and apparently, neither did Bella telling by the look on her face.

"Imagine it's a huge gorilla—" Layla cut herself off, her laughs surrounding the cafeteria and Sophie smiled at her best—friend, along with everyone else except for Angela, who only glared.

"This is serious..." The girl with glasses huffed, leaning back in her seat when a small voice spoke up from beside Mike.

"You're not the only one." Bella muttered, now all eyes on her, the table now silent, "My dad's been getting reports at the Sheriff's station. A couple hikers went missing. People are scared." At her words, everyone had relaxed, Angela smiling slightly. Layla took notice of the girl's sense of peace and leaned back in her chair, resting her head on Sophie's shoulder tiredly.

"I did hear some guy talking about it at the store." Mike piped in and Layla furrowed her brows towards him, sitting up again. Sophie could swear the blonde had some sort of special talent of not being able to stay still for longer than two seconds.

"He wasn't even talking about that, he was pointing out the large black bear on his beer can." Layla rolled her eyes in annoyance whilst Mike scrunched his face up, clearly irritated.

"No—"

"Guys, just shut up." Jessica demanded, throwing a piece of lettuce from her salad at Mike's head playfully and they all burst out into chuckles at the sight of dressing in Mike's hair.

"What the hell, Jess?" Mike snapped, grabbing a tissue and rushingly wiping the dressing off of his hair whilst Eric continued to snicker, making sly comments.

"He's now a chicken salad, boom—chi—ka—wow!" Eric made a DJ noise with the gesture and Layla joined in, the two becoming an entire DJ team with just their lips. Bella chuckled lightly at their hilarious performance, her eyes setting on Sophie, who was watching them with a small smile on her face.

Mike took that as his chance to talk to Bella, to try and make his move and Sophie knew immediately it would fail, especially when Bella cleared her throat, pulling everyone's attention to her, "Do you guys want to go see Face Punch?"

"Face Punch, yeah! Mike, hey, we were supposed to watch that." Eric held his hand out towards Mike, swiping some of his hair away from his eyes, "Remember, the trailer's like... boom—boom. Punch faces." He punched his hand, and Sophie giggled lightly, though she wasn't too engaged in the conversation.

"Yeah... Movie night with Bella!" Jessica sang out sarcastically and Sophie scoffed in agreement, knowing it would turn out to be a pile of shit, especially considering what had happened the last time she watched a movie with Bella Swan.

Bella turned, leaning towards the younger girl with a reassuring smile, a celery stick held between her fingers, "Can you come? I promise you... it won't be as bad as last time." Bella raised a brow, hopeful that she would comply and Sophie sat up in her seat, leaning against Layla.

"Only if blondie comes with." Sophie smiled softly, nudging her shoulder against Layla's.

"Of course I'm going, I love action movies!" Layla exclaimed, enthusiasm taking over her features.

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"IM NOT COMING." Layla's sympathetic voice came through Sophie's speakers and she could feel the urge to throw her cell at a nearby wall, anger overtaking her features, "I'm sorry, Soph, Angela's got the flu and I can't take up the opportunity to be in her room alone with her."

"You're sick!" Sophie grimaced and pulled her phone away from her ear as she walked towards the cinema, dramatically pressing the 'end call' button.

"Someone's upset." A familiar voice sounded nearby and she snapped her face up towards the person, her eyes landing on Jacob. This time, she had to restrain herself from throwing her cell at his face.

"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm gonna kill Bella Swan—"

"Hey, Sophie." Mike approached, his hands stuffed in his pockets with a smile on his face, oblivious to Sophie's fuming demeanour but once he laid his eyes on her face, his eyes went wide, "What's wrong?" He glanced over at Jacob, who leaned against the cinema's brick wall, clearly worried too but he couldn't do anything.

"Your bitch of a sister ditched." Sophie rolled her eyes, clenching her fists as she saw Bella approaching from over Mike's shoulder. The aforementioned boy chuckled at the word 'bitch', unable to help himself no matter how much he knew Sophie didn't mean it.

"Wait... are you both even old enough to watch this movie?" Mike pointed out, looking between his friend and the boy he'd forgotten the name of, "I mean, you know, without, like, adult supervision." Sophie didn't respond, her eyes glued to Bella, who clearly was regretting the decision of accepting the movie offer.

"Right, yeah, well, she's buying my ticket for me..." Jacob shrugged, unsure of what to say and when Bella finally approached, Sophie pushed Mike out of the way.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sophie asked the older brunette, who was stunned though she was expecting the anger and irritation.

"I didn't know that Jessica and Eric would bail, or that Angela would get the stomach flu. I thought Layla would still come though, but..." Bella began to come up with excuses whilst Mike scoffed.

"She's got her head stuck far up Angie's ass." Mike muttered and Sophie scrunched her brows, glaring over at Mike for a moment before setting her eyes back on Bella, now slightly calmer than before.

"After what happened, why would you ever think to invite Jacob Black? Not even he likes him." Sophie pointed towards Mike, who held his hands up in surrender, shaking his head in disagreement.

"I didn't say that." Mike defended, clearly intimidated by the Black and Sophie rolled her eyes, tilting her head at Bella, waiting for answers.

"Well, I had loads of tickets, I didn't want to waste all of them." Bella shrugged, unsure of how to explain it and Sophie huffed, snatching her ticket from between her fingertips before rushing into the cinema. Jacob turned to look at Mike with a glare, and not because he'd just heard that Mike doesn't like him, no, he already knew that. He was just angry, angry at nobody in particular, but he couldn't bring himself to let his anger out on Bella, so instead he placed it onto Mike Newton.

Mike's eyes widened, unsure of what to do in that situation and from there, it only escalated.

Bella came rushing into the building, finding Sophie stood on her own near the entrance, clearly waiting for them and when she laid eyes on the Swan girl, she pushed herself off of the wall, "Sophie, Mike and Jake are fighting."

Sophie's brows furrowed in not only shock, but confusion too, Jacob nor Mike were ever the types to fight... Maybe Jake. The two brunettes ran out of the cinema into the slightly busy street to find Mike on the ground with a bloody nose and Jacob storming off down the path.

Sophie kneeled down beside Mike whilst Bella ran after Jacob, and she rolled her eyes before focusing on the Newton boy, assessing his minor injuries, "Are you okay? Can you breathe okay?" She asked him calmly, ignoring the looks they were receiving from people who passed by.

"Yeah, yeah, what's wrong with him? He got angry over nothing, what a freak." Mike pushed himself up with Sophie's help, and as she made sure he could stand, she pieced the puzzle pieces together, her eyes widening for a short—lived second yet Mike still noticed, "Are you okay?"

Sophie shook her head, dismissing her feelings and held gently onto his elbow, pulling him towards his car, "Did you drive here?" She asked him as they walked towards the parking lot nearby.

"No, I got the bus. I should fucking report that guy." Mike ranted, clearly pissed off and Sophie shrugged, knowing that he was entitled to it, she wasn't about to stop him. If Jacob didn't care about her feelings, then why should she care about his?

They reached the parking lot and she made sure he was in her car safe before she pulled out her phone, pressing Embry's contact and placing her cell to her ear. She let out a stressed huff, there was so much to deal with lately, she was sure a full mental breakdown was due any time soon, "Soph?" Embry's voice came through the line and she paced outside the car, a hand on her hip.

"Embry, I think Jacob's shifting... and he's with Bella." Sophie explained without so much as a hello, there wasn't any time for that, Bella could get hurt just like she did. But, Bella didn't have healing powers, she'd end up needing stitches or possibly worse, and Sophie knew Jacob would never be able to live with that.

"Shit, I'll get Sam. Where are you?" Embry questioned, his tone concerned.

"We met up in Port Angeles to watch a movie, but I'm not sure where Jacob and Bella went." Sophie kept calm no matter how much she wanted to just light herself on fire.

"Okay, make sure you get home safe. I love you." Before Sophie could respond, he ended the line but she couldn't blame him, he must be stressed out to the highest possible level as well. She stuffed her phone back into the back pocket of her jeans and strolled over to the driver's seat of her car, climbing in beside Mike, who watched her silently.

Nothing was said for a while as she pulled out of the parking lot, it would only be a fifteen minute drive to the Newton household, so it wasn't as if it was necessary. But, Mike couldn't get over the fact that Jacob Black had punched him in the face over nothing.

"Such a douche, why were you even friends with him? How can Bella be friends with him? She's way too good for him." Mike muttered to himself, almost as if he wasn't even talking to her anymore and she couldn't help the scoff that escaped her lips.

"How would you know how good Bella is? You don't even know when her birthday is." Sophie stated, her hands gripping the steering wheel as if it was her life's mission to hold as tightly as possible onto the leather. Mike rolled his eyes though he stayed quiet, his shyness taking over him — he was never one to argue unlike his younger sister.

When they arrived at the house, Sophie turned to him with a forced smile, trying to be civil no matter how miserable she felt. She'd go inside if Layla was home, but to be completely honest, she just wanted to go to sleep.

"Thanks, Soph." Mike reached over and ruffled her hair, a chuckle escaping his lips. The two weren't close, but they were still cousins.

"Yeah, take care of that." Sophie gestured to his nose by circling her own with her index finger and Mike nodded before climbing out, closing the door behind him. She watched him drag his feet up his driveway and opened the door before she changed her gears, rolling away from the path.

On the way home, though it was a five minute drive, she already felt the tears coming on. Nobody was home, she knew her parents had a date that night which was why she continued with the movie night in the first place instead of just running away. One thing she hated was being at home alone, her paranoia getting the best of her though it only started since she began to study her witchcraft.

She pulled into the driveway and pushed her hair behind her ears as she gathered her small amount of belongings. The St. James climbed out of her car, locked it and entered the house, locking the door behind her along with every other door or window in the house. Maybe it wasn't just the paranoia... maybe it was the trauma, too, something she was yet to confront Sam Uley about.

Once she was safe, she climbed up her stairs tiredly and entered her room, her eyes immediately locking onto her fish in the fish tank, "Hey, Jerry." She nicknamed, her voice low and she sniffled, wiping her tears from her eyes as she trailed over, preparing to feed her pet.

It didn't take long to feed the fish, she didn't spend ten minutes ranting to the aquatic animal that would never respond. She was too tired, she was too tired to even change into pyjamas, or to turn off her light. Once she knew Jericho was fed and happy, she dropped down onto her bed and burst into tears, her fingers gripping her light purple pillow tightly.

And as she cried, as she let out all of her emotions and all of her pain, she gasped loudly, her body jolting.

Sophie's eyes widened, her iris' a bright purple, the light shining into the ceiling like a sunlight beam. Her chest puffed, all of her air leaving her body as if it'd been sucked out of her like a vacuum. It felt like a millennium before it stopped and after that, she fell unconscious.

@amxliewrites — 2025