It wasn't just kids in attendance, either. Billy was here, his wheelchair stationed at what seemed the natural head of the circle.

"Hm," Carlisle said.

"What?" Edward asked.

"I don't know. It's just a theory now," Carlisle said. "Keep reading, Jasper."

Beside him on a folding lawn chair, looking quite brittle, was Quil's ancient, white-haired grandfather, Old Quil. Sue Clearwater, widow of Charlie's friend Harry, had a chair on his other side; her two children, Leah and Seth, were also there, sitting on the ground like the rest of us. This surprised me, but all three were clearly in on the secret now.

"Hm," Carlisle said again. "Why would they know?"

"Maybe they know because they're wolves too," Jasper narrowed his eyes. "It seems a little inconsistent that they would just tell those two about what happening, but they didn't tell the others."

"Maybe they realized that it was just making it harder on the kids when they didn't know what was happening to them," Esme offered, "and they wanted to warn them."

"But why would it be these two... wouldn't they want to warn everyone if that was the case?" Jasper asked.

"Not necessarily," Carlisle said. "Harry was said to be on the council in the last book... it would be more likely that those two would be told, since they would have the gene."

From the way Billy and Old Quil spoke to Sue, it sounded to me like she'd taken Harry's place on the council. Did that make her children automatic members of La Push's most secret society?

"No," Edward was the one to say this time. "Because the pup wasn't told about this until he turned."

I wondered how horrible it was for Leah to sit across the circle from Sam and Emily.

"That poor girl," Esme sighed.

"Why would she be there?" Edward asked. "I would think, even if she did know about the whole werewolf thing, she still wouldn't want to be there."

Her lovely face betrayed no emotion, but she never looked away from the flames. Looking at the perfection of Leah's features, I couldn't help but compare them to Emily's ruined face. What did Leah think of Emily's scars, now that she knew the truth behind them? Did it seem like justice in her eyes?

Little Seth Clearwater wasn't so little anymore.

"It looks like he may be a werewolf, then," Jasper said.

"Or very close to becoming one," Carlisle sighed.

With his huge, happy grin and his long, gangly build, he reminded me very much of a younger Jacob. The resemblance made me smile, and then sigh. Was Seth doomed to have his life change as drastically as the rest of these boys? Was that future why he and his family were allowed to be here?

The whole pack was there: Sam with his Emily, Paul, Embry, Quil, and Jared with Kim, the girl he'd imprinted upon.

My first impression of Kim was that she was a nice girl, a little shy, and a little plain. She had a wide face, mostly cheekbones, with eyes too small to balance them out. Her nose and mouth were both too broad for traditional beauty. Her flat black hair was thin and wispy in the wind that never seemed to let up atop the cliff.

That was my first impression. But after a few hours of watching Jared watch Kim, I could no longer find anything plain about the girl.

The way he stared at her! It was like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. Like a collector finding an undiscovered Da Vinci, like a mother looking into the face of her newborn child.

"That must be really powerful, then," Esme smiled. "Maybe Leah is there because someone imprinted on her."

"I don't think so," Edward said. "They would have said something or Bella would have noticed if one of the wolves were looking at her like that. It's not something that she would miss."

"Perhaps she is part of the council now too... she is an adult, I believe," Carlisle said.

"Maybe," Edward said, not looking convinced.

His wondering eyes made me see new things about her - how her skin looked like russet -colored silk in the firelight, how the shape of her lips was a perfect double curve, how white her teeth were against them, how long her eyelashes were, brushing her cheek when she looked down.

Kim's skin sometimes darkened when she met Jared's awed gaze, and her eyes would drop as if in embarrassment, but she had a hard time keeping her eyes away from his for any length of time.

Watching them, I felt like I better understood what Jacob had told me about imprinting before – it's hard to resist that level of commitment and adoration.

"Well, then that's how I'll look at you then," Edward said with a smile.

Kim was nodding off now against Jared's chest, his arms around her. I imagined she would be very warm there.

"It's getting late," I murmured to Jacob.

"Don't start that yet," Jacob whispered back - though certainly half the group here had hearing sensitive enough to hear us anyway. "The best part is coming."

"What's the best part? You swallowing an entire cow whole?"

"That's not possible. He turns into a wolf, not a snake," Emmett chuckled.

Jacob chuckled his low, throaty laugh. "No. That's the finale. We didn't meet just to eat through a week's worth of food. This is technically a council meeting.

"Ha... that's what I thought," Carlisle smiled.

It's Quil's first time, and he hasn't heard the stories yet. Well, he's heard them, but this will be the first time he knows they're true. That tends to make a guy pay closer attention. Kim and Seth and Leah are all first-timers, too."

"Stories?"

Carlisle was smiling in anticipation now.

Jacob scooted back beside me, where I rested against a low ridge of rock. He put his arm over my shoulder and spoke even lower into my ear.

"The histories we always thought were legends," he said. "The stories of how we came to be. The first is the story of the spirit warriors."

"Spirit warriors? Interesting," Carlisle muttered.

It was almost as if Jacob's soft whisper was the introduction. The atmosphere changed abruptly around the low-burning fire. Paul and Embry sat up straighter. Jared nudged Kim and then pulled her gently upright.

Emily produced a spiral-bound notebook and a pen, looking exactly like a student set for an important lecture. Sam twisted just slightly beside her - so that he was facing the same direction as Old Quil, who was on his other side - and suddenly I realized that the elders of the council here were not three, but four in number.

Leah Clearwater, her face still a beautiful and emotionless mask, closed her eyes - not like she was tired, but as if to help her concentration. Her brother leaned in toward the elders eagerly.

The fire crackled, sending another explosion of sparks glittering up against the night.

Billy cleared his throat, and, with no more introduction than his son's whisper, began telling the story in his rich, deep voice. The words poured out with precision, as if he knew them by heart, but also with feeling and a subtle rhythm. Like poetry performed by its author.

"That makes me wish that I was hearing it from him," Carlisle said. "I'm sure the story is more powerful that way."

"The Quileutes have been a small people from the beginning," Billy said. "And we are a small people still, but we have never disappeared. This is because there has always been magic in our blood. It wasn't always the magic of shape-shifting - that came later.

"You mean they're shape-shifters, not werewolves," Emmett said. "You think you know someone, and then they change all the rules on you."

"Idiot." Alice again made her imitation of Rosalie and Emmett chuckled – it obviously wasn't the same, but it still amused him.

"But it was obvious they weren't true werewolves anyway, seeing as they don't need the moon to transform," Carlisle said.

First, we were spirit warriors."

Never before had I recognized the ring of majesty that was in Billy Black's voice, though I realized now that this authority had always been there.

Emily's pen sprinted across the sheets of paper as she tried to keep up with him.

"In the beginning, the tribe settled in this harbor and became skilled ship builders and fishermen. But the tribe was small, and the harbor was rich in fish. There were others who coveted our land, and we were too small to hold it. A larger tribe moved against us, and we took to our ships to escape them.

"No, don't run... stand up and fight," Emmett encouraged.

"Kaheleha was not the first spirit warrior, but we do not remember the stories that came before his. We do not remember who was the first to discover this power, or how it had been used before this crisis.

"That's a shame. They've lost a piece of their history," Carlisle frowned.

Kaheleha was the first great Spirit Chief in our history. In this emergency, Kaheleha used the magic to defend our land.

"He and all his warriors left the ship - not their bodies, but their spirits. Their women watched over the bodies and the waves, and the men took their spirits back to our harbor.

"They could not physically touch the enemy tribe, but they had other ways. The stories tell us that they could blow fierce winds into their enemy's camps; they could make a great screaming in the wind that terrified their foes.

"Wusses," Emmett scoffed, "running from screams."

The stories also tell us that the animals could see the spirit warriors and understand them; the animals would do their bidding.

"What, like they could make the squirrels attack them?" Emmett laughed.

"I think they might have used wolves... or maybe bears or something," Edward smiled.

"Kaheleha took his spirit army and wreaked havoc on the intruders. This invading tribe had packs of big, thick-furred dogs that they used to pull their sleds in the frozen north. The spirit warriors turned the dogs against their masters and then brought a mighty infestation of bats up from the cliff caverns. They used the screaming wind to aid the dogs in confusing the men. The dogs and bats won.

"Come on, dogs and bats... do you have no self-respect, man?" Emmett said.

"You know you're talking about their invaders, right Em?" Jasper asked.

"So... they're running from animals," Emmett shrugged.

The survivors scattered, calling our harbor a cursed place. The dogs ran wild when the spirit warriors released them. The Quileutes returned to their bodies and their wives, victorious.

"The other nearby tribes, the Hohs and the Makahs, made treaties with the Quileutes. They wanted nothing to do with our magic. We lived in peace with them. When an enemy came against us, the spirit warriors would drive them off.

"Generations passed. Then came the last great Spirit Chief, Taha Aki. He was known for his wisdom, and for being a man of peace. The people lived well and content in his care.

"But there was one man, Utlapa, who was not content."

A low hiss ran around the fire.

"Ah... so I'm guessing he was a good guy," Emmett smirked. "Hopefully this will be better than men fleeing from animals."