WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE? THE WIZARD OF OZ? YOU NEED A BRAIN? YOU NEED AHEART? GO AHEAD. TAKE MINE. TAKE EVERYTHING I HAVE.

　　I sort of had a plan as I ran to the Cullens' garage. The second part of it was totaling the bloodsucker'scar on my way back.

　　So I was at a loss when I mashed the button on the keyless remote, and it was not his Volvo thatbeeped and flashed its lights for me. It was another car—a standout even in the long line of vehicles thatwere mostly all drool-worthy in their own ways.

　　Did he actually mean to give me the keys to an Aston Martin Vanquish, or was that an accident?

　　I didn't pause to think about it, or if this would change that second part of my plan. I just threw myselfinto the silky leather seat and cranked the engine while my knees were still crunched up under the steeringwheel. The sound of the motor's purr might have made me moan another day, but right now it was all Icould do to concentrate enough to put it in drive.

　　I found the seat release and shoved myself back as my foot rammed the pedal down. The car felt almostairborne as it leaped forward.

　　It only took seconds to race through the tight, winding drive. The car responded to me like my thoughtswere steering rather than my hands. As I blew out of the green tunnel and onto the highway, I caught afleeting glimpse of Leah's gray face peering uneasily through the ferns.

　　For half a second, I wondered what she'd think, and then I realized that I didn't care.

　　I turned south, because I had no patience today for ferries or traffic or anything else that meant I mighthave to lift my foot off the pedal.

　　In a sick way, it was my lucky day. If by lucky you meant taking a well-traveled highway at two hundredwithout so much as seeing one cop, even in the thirty-mile-an-hour speed-trap towns. What a letdown. Alittle chase actionmight have been nice, not to mention that the license plate info would bring the heat down on the leech.

　　Sure, he'd buy his way out of it, but it might have been just a little inconvenient for him.

　　The only sign of surveillance i came across was just a hint of dark brown fur flitting through the woods,running parallel to me for a few miles on the south side of Forks. Quil, it looked like. He must have seenme, too, because he disappeared after a minute without raising an alarm. Again, I almost wondered whathis story would be before I remembered that I didn't care.

　　I raced around the long U-shaped highway, heading for the biggest city I could find. That was the firstpart of my plan.

　　It seemed to take forever, probably because I was still on the razor blades, but it actually didn't eventake two hours before I was driving north into the undefined sprawl that was part Tacoma and partSeattle. I slowed down then, because I really wasn't trying to kill any innocent bystanders.

　　This was a stupid plan. It wasn't going to work. But, as I'd searched my head for any way at all to getaway from the pain, what Leah'd said today had popped in there.

　　That would go away, you know, if you imprinted. You wouldn't have to hurt over her anymore.

　　Seemed like maybe getting your choices taken away from you wasn't the very worst thing in the world.

　　Maybe feeling like this was the very worst thing in the world.

　　But I'd seen all the girls in La Push and up on the Makah rez and in Forks. I needed a wider huntingrange.

　　So how do you look for a random soul mate in a crowd? Well, first, I needed a crowd. So I tooledaround, looking for a likely spot. I passed a couple of malls, which probably would've been pretty goodplaces to find girls my age, but I couldn't make myself stop. Did I want to imprint on some girl who hungout in a mall all day?

　　I kept going north, and it got more and more crowded. Eventually, I found a big park full of kids andfamilies and skateboards and bikes and kites and picnics and the whole bit. I hadn't noticed till now—itwas a nice day. Sun and all that. People were out celebrating the blue sky.

　　I parked across two handicapped spots—just begging for a ticket—and joined the crowd.

　　I walked around for what felt like hours. Long enough that the sun changed sides in the sky. I stared intothe face of every girl who passed anywhere near me, making myself really look, noticing who was prettyand who had blue eyes and who looked good in braces and who had way too much makeup on. I triedto find something interesting about each face, so that I would know for sure that I'd really tried. Thingslike: This one had a really straight nose; that one should pull her hair out of her eyes; this one could dolipstick ads if the rest of her face was as perfect as her mouth___Sometimes they stared back. Sometimes they looked scared—like they were thinking, Who is this bigfreak glaring at me? Sometimes I thought they looked kind of interested, but maybe that was just myego running wild.

　　Either way, nothing. Even when I met the eyes of the girl who was—no contest—the hottest girl in thepark and probably in the city, and she stared right back with a speculation that looked like interest, I feltnothing. Just the same desperate drive to find a way out of the pain.

　　As time went on, I started noticing all the wrong things. Bella things. This one's hair was the same color.

　　That one's eyes were sort of shaped the same. This one's cheekbones cut across her face in just the sameway. That one had the same little crease between her eyes—which made me wonder what she wasworrying about___That was when I gave up. Because it was beyond stupid to think that I had picked exactly the right placeand time and I was going to simply walk into my soul mate just because I was so desperate to.

　　It wouldn't make sense to find her here, anyway. If Sam was right, the best place to find my geneticmatch would be in La Push. And, clearly, no one there fit the bill. If Billy was right, then who knew?

　　What made for a stronger wolf?

　　I wandered back to the car and then slumped against the hood and played with the keys.

　　Maybe I was what Leah thought she was. Some kind of dead end that shouldn't be passed on toanother generation. Or maybe it was just that my life was a big, cruel joke, and there was no escape fromthe punch line.

　　"Hey, you okay? Hello? You there, with the stolen car."It took me a second to realize that the voice was talking to me, and then another second to decide toraise my head.

　　A familiar-looking girl was staring at me, her expression kind of anxious. I knew why I recognized herface—I'd already catalogued this one. Light red-gold hair, fair skin, a few gold-colored frecklessprinkled across her cheeks and nose, and eyes the color of cinnamon.

　　"If you're feeling that remorseful over boosting the car," she said, smiling so that a dimple popped out inher chin, "you could always turn yourself in.""It's borrowed, not stolen," I snapped. My voice sounded horrible—like I'd been crying or something.

　　Embarrassing.

　　"Sure, thatW hold up in court."I glowered. "You need something?""Not really. I was kidding about the car, you know. It's just that... you look really upset aboutsomething. Oh, hey, I'm Lizzie." She held out her hand.

　　I looked at it until she let it fall.

　　"Anyway...," she said awkwardly, "I was just wondering if I could help. Seemed like you were lookingfor someone before." She gestured toward the park and shrugged.

　　"Yeah."She waited.

　　I sighed. "I don't need any help. She's not here.""Oh. Sorry.""Me, too," I muttered.

　　I looked at the girl again. Lizzie. She was pretty. Nice enough to try to help a grouchy stranger who mustseem nuts. Why couldn't she be the one? Why did everything have to be so freaking complicated? Nicegirl, pretty, and sort of funny. Why not?

　　"This is a beautiful car," she said. "It's really a shame they're not making them anymore. I mean, theVantage's body styling is gorgeous, too, but there's just something about the Vanquish___"Nice girl who knew cars. Wow. I stared at her face harder, wishing I knew how to make it work.

　　C'mon, Jake— imprint already.

　　"How's it drive?" she asked.

　　"Like you wouldn't believe," I told her.

　　She grinned her one-dimple smile, clearly pleased to have dragged a halfway civil response out of me,and I gave her a reluctant smile back.

　　But her smile did nothing about the sharp, cutting blades that raked up and down my body. No matterhow much I wanted it to, my life was not going to come together like that.

　　I wasn't in that healthier place where Leah was headed. I wasn't going to be able to fall in love like anormal person. Not when I was bleeding over someone else. Maybe—if it was ten years from now andBella's heart was long dead and I'd hauled myself through the whole grieving process and come out inone piece again—maybe then I could offer Lizzie a ride in a fast car and talk makes and models and getto know something about her and see if I liked her as a person. But that wasn't going to happen now.

　　Magic wasn't going to save me. I was just going to have to take the torture like a man. Suck it up.

　　Lizzie waited, maybe hoping I was going to offer her that ride. Or maybe not.

　　"I'd better get this car back to the guy I borrowed it from," I muttered.

　　She smiled again. "Glad to hear you're going straight.""Yeah, you convinced me."She watched me get in the car, still sort of concerned. I probably looked like someone who was aboutto drive off a cliff. Which maybe I would've, if that kind of move'd work for a werewolf. She wavedonce, her eyes trailing after the car.

　　At first, I drove more sanely on the way back. I wasn't in a rush. I didn't want to go where I was going.

　　Back to that house, back to that forest. Back to the pain I'd run from. Back to being absolutely alonewith it.

　　Okay, that was melodramatic. I wouldn't be all alone, but that was a bad thing. Leah and Seth wouldhave to suffer with me. I was glad Seth wouldn't have to suffer long. Kid didn't deserve to have his peaceof mind ruined. Leah didn't, either, but at least it was something she understood. Nothing new about painfor Leah.

　　I sighed big as I thought about what Leah wanted from me, because I knew now that she was going toget it. I was still pissed at her, but I couldn't ignore the fact that i could make her life easier. And—nowthat I knew her better—I thought she would probably do this for me, if our positions were reversed.

　　It would be interesting, at the very least, and strange, too, to have Leah as a companion—as a friend.

　　We were going to get under each other's skin a lot, that was for sure. She wouldn't be one to let mewallow, but I thought that was a good thing. I'd probably need someone to kick my butt now and then.

　　But when it came right down to it, she was really the only friend who had any chance of understandingwhat I was going through now.

　　I thought of the hunt this morning, and how close our minds had been for that one moment in time. Ithadn't been a bad thing. Different. A little scary, a little awkward. But also nice in a weird way.

　　I didn't have to be all alone.

　　And I knew Leah was strong enough to face with me the months that were coming. Months and years. Itmade me tired to think about it. I felt like I was staring out across an ocean that I was going to have toswim from shore to shore before I could rest again.

　　So much time coming, and then so little time before it started. Before I was flung into that ocean. Threeand a half more days, and here I was, wasting that little bit of time I had.

　　I started driving too fast again.

　　I saw Sam and Jared, one on either side of the road like sentinels, as I raced up the road toward Forks.

　　They were well hidden in the thick branches, but I was expecting them, and I knew what to look for. Inodded as I blew past them, not bothering to wonder what they made of my day trip.

　　I nodded to Leah and Seth, too, as I cruised up the Cullens' driveway. It was starting to get dark, andthe clouds were thick on this side of the sound, but I saw their eyes glitter in the glow of the headlights. Iwould explain to them later. There'd be plenty of time for that.

　　It was a surprise to find Edward waiting for me in the garage. I hadn't seen him away from Bella in days.

　　I could tell from his face that nothing bad had happened to her. In fact, he looked more peaceful thanbefore. My stomach tightened as I remembered where that peace came from.

　　It was too bad that—with all my brooding—I'd forgotten to wreck the car. Oh well. I probably wouldn'thave been able to stand hurting this car, anyway. Maybe he'd guessed as much, and that's why he'd lentit to me in the first place.

　　"A few things, Jacob," he said as soon as I cut the engine.

　　I took a deep breath and held it for a minute. Then, slowly, I got out of the car and threw the keys tohim.

　　"Thanks for the loan," I said sourly. Apparently, it would have to be repaid. "What do you want now?""Firstly... I know how averse you are to using your authority with your pack, but..."I blinked, astonished that he would even dream of starting in on this one. "What?""If you can't or won't control Leah, then I—""Leah?" I interrupted, spe............