"Put your pens down," Edward said with a clap of his hands. "It's time to move on to the next drawing."
Bella set her pen down and watched it roll across her desk and onto the floor. She didn't bother to retrieve it. She would not be moving on to the next drawing with the rest of the class. Why hadn't she skipped class like Alice?
"Next, I'd like you to draw something that makes you happy," Edward said.
Bella rolled her eyes. There was no denying that today's class had a theme. They'd already covered sadness, fear, and anger. When was Edward going to learn that when she said she didn't want to talk about her feelings that didn't mean she wanted to draw them?
"It can be anything," Edward continued. "A favorite spot, a pet, a loved one. Anything that brings joy to your life."
Bella looked at the seat in front of her. Thank goodness it was empty. She didn't want to know what kind of depraved things made Mike happy.
Edward slowly made his way around the room passing out paper and compliments. He stopped in front of Bella. He didn't comment on the shreds of paper littering her desk.
Instead, he offered her yet another victim. "Think you might be feeling up to participating this time?"
Bella crossed her arms and glared at him. There was no way she was going to reward him for yesterday's antics with a glimpse into her mind
Edward frowned and set the paper next to her elbow. "I'll leave this here in case you change your mind."
He offered her one last sad smile and went to help one of their classmates. Maybe Edward was learning after all.
Wishing class would hurry up and end, Bella laid her head down on her arms and went back to staring out the window. As usual, it was starting to rain.
Bella stood in the backyard staring at the woods. Maybe if she stared long enough her father would come out of the woods laughing about the hilarious trick he'd played on the town. She wouldn't even be mad at him. All would be forgiven if her dad came home. She didn't move a muscle when it started to rain.
Bella stood there staring until the sun dipped below the horizon. Drops of what she told herself were rain rolled down her cheeks. Bella didn't care about the dark or the cold. She didn't care about anything. How could she? The last person on earth who shared her DNA was gone and no amount of wishing or waiting could change that.
Bella squeezed her eyes shut. Even though recent events had made her certain no one was listening, she muttered a half-forgotten Sunday school prayer.
Suddenly, the rain stopped falling. Bella opened her eyes and looked up at the dark blue umbrella.
"You should come inside," Carlisle said. "Wouldn't want you to catch a cold."
.Inside, Alice and Emmett were waiting to ambush her. Bella didn't know which would be worse; an afternoon of watching wrestling or another makeover.
"Can I have a few more minutes?" Bella asked.
Carlisle handed her his umbrella. "Take all the time you need."
Bella expected Carlilse to go back inside. His fancy new clothes were getting wet. Why ruin a perfectly good suit over an orphan. Much to her surprise, he didn't go inside. Not until she was ready to go with him.
Movement outside snapped Bella back to the present. A russet blur wove through the trees. She blinked and it was gone. Maybe it was just a trick of the light. No animal she knew could move that fast.
A few minutes later, Bella saw it again. Only this time, the blur stopped near the edge of the woods. It was a dog. No, not a dog. It was a wolf big enough to use Jessica's Prius as a chew toy. Bella held her breath as it sniffed the air and took a cautious step into the parking lot. She looked around the room. Everyone else was hard at work on their drawings with Edward watching on like a proud mother hen. Bella rubbed her eyes. Maybe she was just a mirage. Surely someone else would have noticed the horse-sized wolf sniffing around her truck.
When Bella had built up the courage to look again, the wolf was still there. Without thinking about it, she picked up her pen and started to draw. She was about to start on the tail when the wolf made eye contact with her. They both froze. The wolf with its ears slicked back and Bella with her pen hovering above the paper. It was odd, the way it was looking at her. It almost looked like it was crying.
Bella shook her head and went back to drawing. Crying wolves? Ridiculous.
"Glad to see you're…" Edward trailed off when he realized what Bella was drawing.
Edward inhaled sharply. "Bella…what is that?"
Bella pointed at the window. Wasn't it obvious?
Edward knocked over Mike's unoccupied chair in his haste to investigate. The rest of the class was quick to join him. Unfortunately for Bella, the wolf had disappeared.
"So what are we supposed to be looking at?" Nate asked.
"Nothing," Edward said. "I thought I saw something in the woods but it was nothing. Just go back to your drawings."
"Looks like the crazy Cullens claimed another one," whispered Nick, making a swirling motion near his temple.
"Shame," Mallory replied. "I was really starting to like this class."
Toby Light, the son of the current chief of police, took a look at Bella's drawing on the way back to his seat. "Did you see them too?"
"See what?" Edward asked, face pale.
"The bears," Toby replied.
Bella scrutinized her sketch. She wasn't exactly Picasso. She could see why Toby might think it was a bear.
"There are…bears here in Forks?" Edward asked. "Did you see them?"
"No, but my dad did," Toby said. "He's getting a hunting party together to track them down."
"Why?" Bella asked.
Why would someone want to harm such a magnificent creature?
"He thinks they're responsible for those missing hikers."
Bella's blood ran cold. Missing hikers? Why hadn't she heard about that? Probably because she was too busy keeping a certain bronze-haired teenager out of trouble.
People are going missing?" Edward asked, looking a little pale.
"A couple of guys from Port Angeles High went missing in the woods near the castle last weekend," He said, unable to look at Bella. "After what happened to…you know…my dad doesn't want to take any chances."
Edward muttered the Lord's prayer. "This is bad. They're not supposed to be able to come here."
Before anyone could address Edward's comment, the intercom crackled to life.
"Edward Prince and Bella Swan to the office," the principal said. "Edward Prince and Bella Swan to the office please."
Bella wasn't shocked they'd been called to the office. She'd heard people whispering about what happened in biology class all day. What did surprise her was to find Captain Mark and Sergeant Steve waiting outside the principal's office. Both officers looked like they'd aged a decade since last summer's police fundraiser.
"I'll take Edward in here." Captain Mark said to Sergeant Steve. "You take Bella to the guidance counselor's office."
Bella sat down across from Sergeant Steve. The former soldier looked so out of place surrounded by motivational posters and framed photos of 's cats.
"Bella," Sergeant Steve said, "Do you know why you're here?"
Bella weighed her options. According to Emmett, denial was the best policy. However, the idea of lying to the police seemed like an insult to her father's memory.
"Is it about what happened in biology class?" Bella asked.
Leaving school grounds without permission was bad and there was a lot of damage to the biology room, but was it really necessary to call the police? And why were she and Edward the only ones called to the office? They weren't the ones who hung frog intestines from the ceiling like streamers.
Sergeant Steve nodded. "Yes. I've already talked to several of your classmates. I'd like to see if your version of events matches up."
Bella hoped he hadn't talked to Jessica or Mike. They'd probably try to pin the whole thing on her. A suspension would not look good on her college applications.
"Can you tell me what happened after your teacher left?" Sergeant Steve asked.
"People started goofing around," Bella said.
"In what way?"
"You know..talking, jousting with rulers, making paper airplanes. That kind of stuff."
"Anything else?"
Bella swallowed. "Some of the guys started slicing up frogs. I didn't do it, but I'd be willing to apologize to Mr. Banner."
Sometimes an apology, even if it wasn't genuine, went a long way. That was a lesson Emmett had yet to learn.
"Do you recall an altercation between Mike Newton and Edward Prince?" Sergeant Steve asked, paging through his notes.
"It wasn't an altercation," Bella said.
Edward didn't do anything to Mike. What happened was bullying. It should be Mike being interrogated, not her and Edward.
"Then what happened?" Sergeant Steve asked.
"Mike touched Edward with a dead frog," Bella said. "Edward fainted and I took him home."
"He fainted over a frog?"
"He's a vegetarian."
"I see."Sergeant Steve raised an eyebrow and wrote something down in his notebook. "And what happened after you left the school?"
Why did the police care about her day? Didn't they have 'bears' to hunt and missing hikers to find?
"I took Edward to my father's house," Bella said. "We talked for a while and had some tea."
"After that?"
"We went back home."
"Did you stop anywhere?"
"No."
"Was Edward ever out of your sight?"
Bella repressed a sigh. "Not until I went to bed."
Edward had followed her like a shadow ranting about vampires. Had she not locked shoved him out into the hallway and locked the door he would have kept her up all night.
"And what time did you go to bed?" Sergeant Steve asked.
"Probably around midnight."
What was with all the invasive questions? Was he planning to arrest her for staying up too late on a school night?
"So you last saw Edward around midnight," Sergeant Steve was writing up a storm. "Is it possible he left the house after that?"
Possible, but not likely. Bella doubted Edward would go for a midnight stroll in a town he thought infested with vampires and werewolves.
"Is Edward in trouble?" Bella asked. "Does Carlilse need to get him a lawyer?"
Bella prayed that Edward wasn't in the other room telling Captain Mark about curses and mythical creatures.
"No one is in trouble," Sergeant Steve said. "We just need to know what happened last night."
Had Emmett been there he would tell Bella that was a load of crap. The police always said you weren't in trouble when in fact you were in the most trouble of your life.
"How well do you know Edward?" Sergeant Steve.
Bella wasn't quite sure how to answer that question. Every time she thought she was starting to understand Edward he went and did something completely out of left field to keep her on her toes.
"This is important, Bella." Sergeant Steve said. "No one I've talked to so far has been able to verify anything about Edward before he came to Forks."
"What do you think Edward did?" Bella asked.
Edward was a bit…quirky but Bella couldn't see him hurting anyone.
Sergeant Steve set his notes down and started directly into Bella's eyes. "Bella, are you aware that Mike Newton's parents reported him missing this morning?
