The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (50 page)

Quil’s great-grandfather was Quil Ateara II, who helped form the treaty with the Cullen family. His father, Quil IV, died
when Quil was a young child, leaving his mother, Joy, to raise him on her own. She had the help of her father-in-law, Quil Ateara III, commonly known as Old Quil, who functioned more like a father than a grandfather to Quil. Quil is one of Jacob Black’s best friends, as well as his second cousin.

Quil was the sixth person to join the Quileute werewolf pack. For some time, he’d been aware of the drastic changes in his close friends’ lives, without knowing the reason for those changes. He was relieved to learn the truth and pleased to be with his friends again. His easy transition was challenged when he became the third member of the tribe to imprint on a human female. Unlike Sam and Jared, who had imprinted on girls of roughly their own age, the object of Quil’s imprinting was a young child. This caused much upheaval in the pack.

According to legend, imprinting was a rare event that the majority of werewolves would never experience.

Of lesser concern was the fact that so many members of the pack were imprinting; according to legend, imprinting was a rare event that the majority of werewolves would never experience. The other members of the pack began to worry that they would all imprint, and should therefore eschew normal relationships for fear of hurting an innocent bystander the way Leah had been hurt by Sam. The pack theorized that the increase in imprinting frequency was due to the continued presence of the large Cullen coven; their genetic subconscious was compensating for the constant vampire threat, pushing
all of them toward paths that would result in a strengthened werewolf presence. Of course, that theory was dependent upon the truth of their first theory—that imprinting existed in order to pass on the werewolf gene. A theory that, in light of Jacob’s imprinting experience, has been called into question.

The bigger concern was, of course, Claire’s age; she was two at the time. Though there were ancient legends that told of such situations, the werewolves had discounted them as empty stories. That this myth could be true seemed more horrific than the rest of the legends they’d come to accept. From the outside it looked depraved, as they were well aware. However, from the inside, there could be nothing more pure than Quil’s feelings for Claire. That he would never do anything to hurt her in any way, mentally or physically, was mandated by the bond between them. All the wolves could experience the nature of his feelings for her, so they knew exactly how deep it was—and also how platonic it was. But they knew it was something that outsiders would not be able to understand, so they kept the imprinting as secret as possible.

Quil could only be content with his situation. As long as Claire was happy and safe, he was satisfied with life.

Quil could only be content with his situation. As long as Claire was happy and safe, he was satisfied with life.

S
AM
U
LEY

Sam was raised on the Quileute reservation by his mother, Allison. The stress of providing for a family was too much for his father, who left when Sam was very young. Sam took on most of what should have been his father’s responsibilities, and as a result, he was always mature for his age. He had been taught the old werewolf legends about his great-grandfather, Levi Uley, but like everyone else of his generation, Sam believed they were myths.

When he was a senior in high school, Sam became the first of his generation to phase into a werewolf. He had no idea
what had happened to him. Totally panicked, he hid deep in the forest for two weeks. Finally, he calmed down enough that he turned back into a human while he slept. He snuck home and told no one about his experience. He wouldn’t talk to his mother or to his long-term girlfriend, Leah Clearwater. He believed he’d gone insane and was having delusions.

Sam’s high body temperature and recent unexplained disappearance made the situation clear to Old Quil.

Sam lived in fear of another attack until the day Old Quil Ateara stopped by to see Allison and happened to shake Sam’s hand. Old Quil had been taught to recognize the signs of a werewolf who has already phased, or is about to. Sam’s high body temperature and recent unexplained disappearance made the situation clear to Old Quil. He called an emergency meeting with the other tribal elders, Billy Black and Harry Clearwater. They were the last surviving members of the tribe who had seen an actual werewolf transformation. That night they went to Sam’s house and asked him to attend their council meeting. Sam respected them enough to go with them, though he assumed they were only going to castigate him for his strange behavior. Instead, they were able to tell him exactly what he’d just been through. He was stunned to realize that he’d known the explanation all along. The elders gave him as much information as they could, but, as none of them had ever personally experienced being a werewolf, their instruction was incomplete. They told Sam that he could expect new werewolves to join him as they became old enough, and that he would have to keep everything he now knew a secret. They also told him that vampires were
real, living just a few miles from the tribe, and responsible for what was happening to him.

The idea that his friends and family were in danger from real-life vampires made him furious.

Sam was relieved to know he wasn’t insane, and comforted by the fact that at least three people understood. But being a literal werewolf seemed to him only slightly better than being insane. He took his responsibility toward the tribe very seriously from the outset. The idea that his friends and family were in danger from real-life vampires made him furious. He started practicing his phasing and trying to control it, but coming at it blind and alone, he made only slow progress.

His relationship with his mother and Leah remained difficult because he couldn’t give them any information about what had happened or where he was now spending his time. His mother was somewhat reassured because he was with the elders so often; she felt he was in good hands, at least. Leah, on the other hand, refused to be placated. She demanded answers that Sam couldn’t give. The relationship was very strained, but not broken. They loved each other too much to let a fight, no matter how serious, come between them. Hundreds of times Sam was tempted to just tell her the truth. The knowledge that she would never believe him helped him keep his secret. He swore to her that he was not involved in anything criminal, and also that there was no other woman. They still spent as much time together as possible, though it was less than before. The elders warned him to keep his distance, but he didn’t fully understand the danger; he’d never seen the transformation from the outside.

Not long after his own transformation, Jared Cameron and then Paul Lahote also phased for the first time. The elders
kept watch over the tribe and called Sam whenever they thought there was something going on. For example, when Jared failed to come home one night, Jared’s father called Billy for help. Billy contacted Sam; Sam phased and located Jared. Sam was able to coach Jared and Paul through the difficult transition. They bonded through shared experience and their mutual secret. They became extremely close and spent most of their time together. They were able to help one another when one of them got angry.

Then Leah’s cousin Emily Young came for a weekend visit. It wasn’t an unusual event; Sam had met Emily several times during his years with Leah. He liked Emily, and he liked that Emily was a good friend to Leah. Sam knew the stories about imprinting, and he now believed that—like the werewolf stories—they were based in fact. However, he never imagined that imprinting would affect his own life. When he arrived at the Clearwaters’ that night, Leah met Sam at the front door and led him to the yard, where the rest of the family was chatting while Harry barbecued. He was still holding hands with Leah when he saw Emily.

That one second of staring into Emily’s eyes changed his life more than anything he’d ever experienced—including phasing into a werewolf for the first time.

That one second of staring into Emily’s eyes changed his life more than anything he’d ever experienced—including phasing into a werewolf for the first time. His first impulse was to go to Emily’s side. As he dropped Leah’s hand and walked toward Emily, he started to realize what had just happened and began to process the consequences. Before he could reach
out and touch Emily’s hand, which he felt compelled to do, he turned abruptly and left without a word.

They had turned him into a traitor and a liar.

He wasn’t able to go far. Every step he took away from Emily was physically painful. He paced the block, trying to understand and to formulate a plan. He knew for certain that the way he felt about Emily would never change, and that his life would not be bearable without her near. He also knew that while he still loved Leah the same way he had before, it was irrelevant compared to how he felt about Emily. And it broke his heart that he was going to have to break Leah’s. In that moment, he began to truly loathe the Cullens. They had turned him into a traitor and a liar. At the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to hate his feelings for Emily; they felt too right, too pure.

Sam returned to the Clearwaters’ several hours later. Getting closer to Emily was a physical relief, though he was consumed with guilt over what he had to do. He asked Sue to send Leah outside; he was afraid of how he would react to seeing Emily again, although he wanted nothing more. When Leah came out, he was direct. He told her he had to break up with her. He cried. Leah assumed it had something to do with Sam’s many secrets, and while she was devastated, she had hope for the future. She told him she wasn’t giving up on him. He told her she needed to. But he couldn’t bring himself to mention Emily.