And here's chapter one, in Rose's POV. Thank you 9ud9ir190ne6ad for reviewing. OOPS: In the Prologue I mentioned that the hospital Renee had Neveah Rose in was in LA. Actually, Renee and Phil now live in Florida. My apologies. :-) DR

Chapter One

The Wolf

I stare around my room one last time, feeling a strange sadness at leaving the place that has been home to me for almost seventeen years. Strange because I've rarely loved this place. In the middle of the city, in the boiling Florida heat, this house is no more my friend than the older sister I never see. Still, it has a certain nostalgia to it: I slept in that bed ever since I was out of my crib; I've sat at that desk doing school reports for four years.

"Nevvy? Neveah Rose, get down here!"

I bite my lip to hide my smile at the panicked note in Mom's voice. She can never shake the paranoia that descends whenever her children are out of sight, no matter how old they are. Timmy doesn't make it any better, running around like crazy without regard for Mom's nervous system. Luckily Dad has the enviable gift of keeping her calm, Tim standing in one place for more than ten seconds, and me at least appeased about doing schoolwork.

"Coming, Mom!" I shout back, dipping to grab my bag and sling it over my shoulder as I walk out the door and onto the landing. As a last rite, I shut the door behind me firmly and trip lightly down the stairs. Dad's waiting for me at the bottom.

"Have fun, kiddo," he tells me, ruffling my hair one last time and pulling me into a hug. "Don't let anyone steal your purse in the airport…"

"I'm sure Mom will tell me everything I need to know, and then some," I assure him, rolling my eyes. He laughs in agreement.

"All right then, Rose. Talk to you soon."

"'Bye Dad." Then, louder, because I don't know where he is, "Bye Timmy!"

"I'm fourteen, don't call me Timmy!" my little brother-by-three-years shouts back from the kitchen. So he's eating. Typical adolescent male.

"Love you too," I holler before skipping out the door and into the car where Mom waits to drive me to the airport.

Well this is certainly déjà vu," Charlie Swan says as he loads my things into the back of his police cruiser. I'm already in the front, wondering how I'll survive the hour-long trip from Seattle to Forks with a man I hardly know who's obviously very nervous about having a hormonal teenage girl in his home. The car sinks slightly as he climbs in and starts the engine. "Just twenty years ago I was picking your sister Bella up at this very airport." Fascinating.

"Yeah. I'm told I look a lot like her."

He frowns vaguely, obviously uneasy at the hostility in my voice. "Yes, well – your eyes are lighter, actually."

"I get that from Dad." Then, feeling guilty, I add, "So mom gave me some money to buy a car. Are there any dealerships around?"

"Well, there's Crowley Tires – they have a few Fords in stock."

I wrinkle my nose, and he catches it.

"On the other hand, I do have an acquaintance whose son builds cars. He might have something you're interested in." Hmm...

"Do they live in Forks?"

"Who, the Blacks? Nah, they live on the Quileute Indian Reservation down at La Push, a few miles from Forks. Jake's got a real gift with vehicles. Buy one from him and you'll never have to see him again until the battery runs down."

"Sounds good." I glance sideways out at the sky spitting rain down on the leafy canopy that surrounds the road. I can feel the dampness in my bones almost as much as I can feel Charlie's awkwardness. I feel a flash of pity for him, but then something outside catches my eye. A blur of brown streaking parallel with the car. A brief chill spills down my spine like ice water.

"Uh, Charlie? Do you have… bears… in Washington?"

"Oh, sure. They mostly keep away from the towns though."

Great. We're in the middle of nowhere. "How big do they get?" I wonder aloud, just as fascinated as I am frightened by the size of the thing that seems to race us down the rain-slicked road.

"Depends. Washington doesn't get a lot of grizzlies, though a few have been known to venture down from Canada. We have mostly black bears, the small harmless kind – well, mostly harmless – that raid garbage cans in the middle of the night. Oversized skunks, the lot of them." He's grumbling good-naturedly now, more at ease. I am not. Whatever runs apace with us is definitely not black, or small.

Just as I'm about to inform Charlie of our shadow, however, I lose sight of it in the woods. I strain my eyes, but the trees are an effective barrier. Then, as I sit back, something in the outside mirror catches my eye. I lean to the side, trying to get a better view, and practically choke on my own harsh intake of breath.

There, in the middle of the road, is a gargantuan wolf. At first I think 'bear', but it's clearly too wiry – not enough fat. The legs are long, the head shaped like an anvil. The eyes bore into me, black and wise, as it watched our progress down the road. We turn a corner and it disappears.

My heart jumps out of my throat and tangoes on the dash when Charlie touches my shoulder tentatively.

"Hey Rose, you all right? You look white as a sheet." He chuckles. "White as Bella, in fact. All that time in Denali has made her paler than she was before."

"Yeah. Yeah. Fine. I'm fine." I take steadying breaths as my heart returns to where it's supposed to be and settles down. A glance at my hand shows how white my knuckles are as I hold the door handle in a death grip. What the hell was that thing?

A brief notice: I don't ususally write in the present tense, so this is still a little awkward for me. Sorry if I do too much telling and not enough showing - it's a work in progress! Please remember to review. Thanks, DR.