"How was school today, Bells?" Charlie asked when he sat down for dinner with his daughter.
"The kids are all nice," Bella began, reflecting on her first day at the school in Forks. It was an awkward time to move, in the middle of her senior year, but she was trying to make the best of it. "The worst part was the smell. The entire school building smells terrible. It smelled like some sort of scented bleach."
"Bleach?" Charlie had been to the school last week to complete the paperwork for Bella's enrollment. He hadn't smelled bleach.
"Yeah, every classroom, some worse than others. Biology class was the worst."
"Huh." Charlie hadn't been to the classrooms, just the office. He tried to think of an explanation. "How far away is the biology classroom from the chemistry classroom?"
"I'm pretty sure they're right next door to each other," Bella said, refilling her plate. Her appetite had been ravenous since moving to Forks.
"So maybe there was a spill. It's a pretty small school. It wouldn't take much for such a strong smell to spread through the whole school."
"Maybe you're right." Bella wasn't sure. It smelled so strong.
"I always had a keen sense of smell." Charlie continued. "I bet you got it from me. It's a curse a lot of the time, being able to smell when anyone has stepped in dog crap. But it's come in handy as a cop more than a few times."
"None of the other kids seemed to notice the smell except one kid in biology class." Bella remembered the disgusted look on Edward Cullen's face. That was the kid in biology class who was covering his nose right alongside Bella.
"So he's probably got a keen sense of smell too."
"Yeah… so how has it helped you as a cop?"
"Oh, I can smell pot on people and in houses, and I can sniff out cash too. Have you ever noticed that cash has a unique smell?"
"I haven't really dealt in large quantities of cash, dad," Bella said with a half smile.
Charlie pulled out a roll of money from his pocket. "Take a whiff. What does it smell like to you?"
Bella opened the roll and fanned out the bills, inhaling the aroma. "Leather… smoke… body odors… assorted chemicals… old t-shirts?"
Charlie smiled and took the money from her. As he rolled it up, he said, "Yep, you got it from me. Most people just say paper."
Bella smiled back. She was grateful that her dad let her move in with such short notice. She didn't actually expect that they'd have anything in common.
After Bella finished her fourth plate of dinner, she decided to sit down and look through her homework. There was a lot of homework.
Bella's mind kept wandering back to that bleach smell. When did the bleach spill even happen? What if it was old and they just couldn't get the smell out? Was it going to smell like that every day until she graduated?
Thinking about it made her angry. She was getting so angry. She couldn't concentrate on her homework through the haze of rage.
She went outside for some fresh air. A walk would do some good. Fresh air might clear the whole thing out of her system.
As she walked through the moonlit woods, she got a distinct feeling that there was something maybe magical about this land. The moss covered trees looked like the setting of the legends. Her grandma used to tell her stories about magical people who could change shape, turning into wolves whenever they needed to. She always pictured those legends taking place in a forest just like this.
Bella Swan did not realize that she had wandered onto land that had once belonged to the Quileute people.
The world around Bella started to shimmer. She felt her body vibrate, then shake violently. The crack of her breaking bones startled her as her body twisted into a new shape.
Bella howled into the moonlit forest.
"Who is there?" A deep voice asked inside her head.
She looked around. Bella could see no one. She was much warmer than she had been, comfortable for the first time since she moved to Forks. It was like the heat of Phoenix had followed her, now blanketing her in warmth.
The voice came back a minute later. Now it almost sounded like a song. "Who is there?" It repeated.
Bella had not planned to interact with crazy voices in her head, or with magical shapeshifters if they were here. Yet she answered the voice against her will. "I am Bella Swan."
She looked around again, trying to find the source of the voice. Bella expected to see eyes glowing, reflecting the moonlight. She saw nothing but the forest.
The voice spoke again. "Charlie Swan's daughter?"
She did not feel compelled to answer this time, but she did anyway. She was curious who this voice belonged to. It seemed powerful. "Yes."
"Where are you now?"
Bella looked around, trying to describe where she was. "Not too far from my dad's house. I went for a walk. Who are you?"
"I'm on my way. My name is Sam Uley. I'm coming to help."
Coming to help? Bella didn't think she was in any danger. Unless there really were magical people. Could they be dangerous? Could they have trapped her somehow?
She looked down at her body to see if she was being restrained or something. Her body had vanished.
On the ground were furry paws, almost white. She wondered if the magical people had bound her to a different body somehow. Was Sam Uley one of them? What the fuck was going on?
When she looked up from the furry paws, she was terrified. In front of her was a huge black wolf, flanked by two brothers, a gray wolf and brown wolf.
"Are you Bella?" The black wolf was asking.
"What's going on?" Bella asked, trying not to panic.
The black wolf introduced himself. He was Sam Uley. The brown one was Jared Cameron. The gray wolf was Paul Lahote.
"Why are wolves given human names?"
"Jared?" Sam nodded to the brown wolf.
Jared's body shimmered as he rose on his hind legs. Before Bella, a tall man stood. He was broad shouldered, muscular, and boyishly handsome. He was butt naked and unashamed.
Sam explained, "Just like you, we are people who can transform into wolves."
Sam nodded to Jared again. Jared's body shook spasmodically as he fell forward. The brown wolf was back.
"But why though?"
Sam told her about their ancestor, Taha Aki, a spirit warrior whose spirit could walk outside of his body. Sam told of an evil man who stole Taha Aki's body and hurt the tribe as an impersonator. Taha Aki's spirit was so powerful that it entered a wolf and transformed the wolf into a man. All descendants of Taha Aki have the ability to shift between man and wolf but the power is dormant. It is activated by cold ones, vampires, some of whom reside nearby.
Sam stretched out the story with many details that Bella thought were unnecessary. After it was over, it was well past midnight. Even though wolves are nocturnal, Bella was tired.
"Jared, you patrol. Paul and I will stay with Bella tonight."
In his wolf form, Sam lay down in a clearing where the afternoon sun had dried the morning rain. By instinct, Paul lay down curled against him. Bella lay down curled against them both. It was warm and comfortable and it felt so safe.
When Charlie woke the next morning, he was surprised to see Bella's homework spread out on the kitchen table.
"Bells!" He called up the stairs. "You've got to pick up after yourself!" He put everything in a pile to make room for his breakfast.
After a few minutes, he still didn't hear her stirring. He went upstairs and knocked on her door. "Bells, you've got to get ready for school."
He pushed the door open. The bed was made, not slept in the previous night. Looking out the bedroom window, he saw that her truck was still in the driveway.
Downstairs, Charlie saw that her coat was gone. He looked through her backpack. Her keys and wallet were still in there.
What had happened to Bella?
He went right down to the police station. He needed to act fast. Time was of the essence.
When Bella woke up, she was curled around Jared. Sam hadn't moved but Paul was gone.
"What's for breakfast?" Bella asked. Her stomach was gnawing at her.
"Paul, meet us in the national forest." Sam stood and shook the dew off his fur coat. "Paul loves this part. We all do."
Sam started running, and Jared followed. Bella ran too. She was so fast as a wolf, so graceful. Little by little, she pushed herself to see if she could get ahead of Sam and Jared.
When Sam and Bella were neck and neck, Sam reminded her, "You don't know where we're going."
Bella fell back a little, but she was proud that she could overtake the alpha. No one had told her that Sam was in charge. She could tell by the way that everyone else responded to his direction. Even she responded to his directions.
Their path converged with Paul's. The four wolves were running in unfamiliar territory to Bella, yet she knew how to get back to the familiar woods.
"Slow!" Sam commanded.
Noiselessly, they all slowed, then came to a halt. About a hundred meters ahead of them was a herd of elk.
"Let Bella do it," Sam said with an amused tone. "If she messes up, you can go ahead, Paul."
"What am I supposed to do?" Bella asked.
"Kill one," Paul said, clearly excited.
Bella looked at Paul. "No shit! How?"
"We'll all sneak up together," Jared said, always calm about whatever they faced. "When they detect us, they'll run. Aim for a bull."
Little by little, they all crept toward the herd. Bella was surprised how noiseless they could be. They were a few yards away when one elk doe raised her head looking right at them. In unison, the wolves froze.
"Bella, now!" Sam instructed.
Bella had her eyes on a huge set of antlers. She aimed for it and charged. The herd was only beginning to scatter when she plowed through them. Her teeth wrapped around the neck of this elk and blood was pouring into her mouth.
The other wolves surrounded her as the herd disappeared into the forest. They started tearing into the elk until it was lifeless on the forest floor. It's abdomen was splayed open. Bella was drawn to it.
"Let Bella eat first," Sam said. The wolves all stepped back while Bella dug into the organs.
"Eat with me," she invited them after a few minutes.
The four wolves polished off the whole carcass in record time. The sun was high in the sky when they got back to the reservation.
Charlie had made the missing person report right away to get the ball rolling. The first person he called was Renee, Bella's mom.
"How would I know where she went? She's not talking to me."
"You know her better than anyone here does. If you had to guess, what do you think happened to her?"
"No keys, no wallet. That's bad, Chuck."
"No shit. I'm trying to figure out what leads to follow, Renee. So give me any guesses, no matter how far in left field, please."
"Wasn't she friendly with Billy's kid? Rachel?"
"Rachel doesn't live at home anymore."
"But maybe she went there looking for her. Maybe Billy has seen her but doesn't know she's missing."
Charlie sighed. "Do you know if she kept in touch with anyone from Forks or La Push? Did she ever talk about Rachel?"
"No. She hasn't talked about Rachel in years. I don't know if she's kept in touch with anyone there. It doesn't seem like something she'd do, honestly. Have you talked to the kids at school?"
"You're my first phone call. She was only in school one day, but that is on the to-do list."
"Good luck, Chuck. Keep me up to date with whatever you find out."
"Renee, if you think of anything, anything at all, let me know. The more information I have, the better."
"Sure, Chuck, I will. Bye."
Next, Charlie started making phone calls about school contacts. Meanwhile, police were scouring his house, looking for any clues that Charlie might have overlooked. He could agree that he was too close to the situation to see everything clearly.
The police found nothing of interest at the Swan residence.
"I don't want to be a wolf anymore," Bella whined. "How do we break the curse?"
One by one, the wolves turned into a man, then back into a wolf. All three men had russet skin and long, dark hair. Their hair was the same hue as Bella's, but straighter and thinner. They were all tall and broad shouldered, muscular.
"Now you try it." Sam said.
"Try what?" She asked.
"Stand into your human body."
Bella kind of leaned back on her hind legs, almost jumping to get her forepaws off the ground. She landed on all fours.
Paul stepped forward. "You need to get your emotions under control. Were you angry before this happened to you?"
"Very."
"What were you angry at?"
"The entire school smelled like bleach."
Sam and Jared were looking at each other knowingly. Paul asked, "Did you meet the Cullens?"
"Edward Cullen. He sat next to me in biology class. He could smell it too, I think."
"The Cullens are a coven of vampires," Paul explained delicately, "Like the cold ones from the legends." He showed an image of them in his mind.
Bella was enraged. Why were there vampires in school? Who allowed them to be there? That was so dangerous.
Sam spoke up. "None of us like it, but our tribe has a treaty with their coven."
Bella seethed in her rage. "I'm not in the tribe, so I can kill them off."
Jared laughed softly. "That would be great, Bella, but I don't think it works that way. If you can turn into a wolf, it means you have the gene. If you have the gene, then you are tribe, a descendant of Taha Aki, just like the rest of us."
Bella wanted to smash something. She wanted to tear apart a vampire. She hadn't agreed to this treaty. Those Cullens had triggered her phase. All she wanted was a normal life, to fly under the radar. How could she do that now?
Charlie followed the search and rescue team into the woods, following the exact path that Bella had walked. It was over a mile before the trail abruptly ended.
Charlie picked up a scrap of fabric hanging from a branch at eye level.
"This is the same color as the shirt she was wearing."
"Evidence, Charlie!" one officer scolded. "I told you you're too close to this to be helpful."
Charlie was looking all over the forest, his heart breaking right in front of his colleagues' eyes. "Right, well, they're all over the place. This one looks like jeans." He pointed with his foot. "Her jacket was brown so that will be harder to find." He pointed, "and that looks like a chunk of a sneaker."
"Let's get an evidence team out here to gather and bag everything."
"I can't smell blood," Charlie said, relaxing a bit.
"Sure, Charlie," the deputy says, trying to bury his sarcasm, "you and your nose. We'll let forensics figure that out."
After work, Charlie made the stop he had been dreading since his conversation with Renee. He knew he had to do this in person. It was the only way he'd know the truth.
He knocked on Billy Black's door, still dressed in uniform.
"Charlie," Jake said, grinning as he opened the door wide. "Dad! Charlie's here!"
Billy and Charlie had been best friends for most of their lives, closer than brothers. Then Billy let tribal superstitions cloud his judgment. It turned him into a bigot against a new family in town. It pissed Charlie off. He hated ignorance and bigotry. It made his job harder, and it made the community less safe. He thought Billy understood that. They fought about it whenever they got together. So Charlie had stopped visiting.
"Charlie, welcome! Do you want a beer?"
"No, thank you, Billy. I'm here on business."
"Oh yeah?" Billy asked.
"Bella's gone missing."
Billy's brows furrowed in concern. "Didn't she just get here?"
"Yeah, and she doesn't know many people here."
"You think she came to the rez?" Billy asked.
"The only lead we have had her pointed in this direction."
"I can keep an eye out."
"So have you heard anything? Seen anything?" Charlie watched him closely for any signs of lying. He knew Billy's tells.
"I heard she was coming back."
That was a non answer and Charlie knew it.
"Did you hear anything about her today?" Charlie knew he couldn't dodge such a direct question.
Billy took a sip of his beer while answering. "No." He was hiding his face while speaking.
Charlie knew he was lying. Billy knew something.
"This is my little girl, Billy. I'm worried sick. Her mom's worried sick. Tell me if you hear anything."
Charlie left his business card. Billy had lied about his missing daughter. Billy had made it clear this day that their friendship was over.
Over the next few days, the wolf men took turns walking with Bella in the forest, trying to help her calm down enough to turn back into her human self.
Bella's days with Sam were educational.
"I learned a new legend for you last night," Sam said as they walked the patrol route.
"Hit me with it," Bella encouraged him. She loved Sam's stories. She couldn't read as a wolf and this was the closest thing she got.
Sam told the story of the tribe when they faced a child vampire. He told her about how vampires do not age or change after they are turned. Therefore, children who are turned are particularly dangerous.
"Because kids are stupid?" Bella asked.
"Exactly! They don't have control of their bodies and minds yet."
Sam continued the story about this vampire child who had slipped away from its creator. There was no pack at the time, but the youth started phasing as it approached.
They were out of control, the young pups, but as soon as the child came into range, they charged. The child had lured a teen girl to the river. He wasn't in bloodlust at the time. The two were enjoying wildlife together. The child was acting innocently, like a sweet little child.
When the pack arrived, one of them imprinted on the girl. The girl wanted to protect the child. So half the pack agreed to go with the girl to discuss the situation with the elders while the other half agreed to watch over the child so he didn't fall into the river.
When the imprint was far enough away, they shredded the child and everyone lived mostly happily ever after. Except the imprint who never loved her own children as much as she loved that vampire child.
"Weird," Bella commented. "Why did she love the vampire?"
"All vampires can be charming. The children are supposed to be irresistibly cute."
"But they must stink!"
"Only the pack can smell them."
Bella's time with Jared was peaceful and insightful.
Jared found the best napping spots.
"Thick moss like this is best," he explained. "It's found in darker areas where the sun doesn't dry it out completely."
They curled up for the night.
In the morning, he reminded her, "Check the moss you lay on. Make sure it is not upside down. It'll die like that."
Jared cared for the forest. They would sit together, watching rabbits play. It was so peaceful. In that peace, Bella wondered if he would be the one to get her to phase back.
Jared also taught her about the mind curtain. This was a technique he invented to keep his thoughts private.
"Think of an image."
Bella thought of her Chevy truck.
"Something a little more personal is more effective, but that will do."
Bella thought of her mom.
"Good. Now imagine that image is plastered to the inside of your skull right above your eyes."
Bella imagined it.
"Good! Now think about whatever you want."
Bella thought about ice cream. She wanted ice cream. She wanted lots of human food, but especially ice cream.
"Are you thinking about something?" Jared asked.
"Ice cream."
"Mmmm. What's your favorite flavor?"
"Mint. Yours?"
"I'm thinking about it now."
Bella just saw the same image of his girlfriend, Kim. That was what she always saw from Jared.
"She's so pretty," Bella said, pouting a little. She hadn't seen a pretty girl in days.
"I know. Phase to human. She's dying to meet you."
Bella's days with Paul were fun.
"This is the narrowest part of the creek so we start here."
Paul took a running leap and landed on the far side of the creek.
Bella walked back. She wanted to get up to speed. As her white paws approached the creek's bank, she leapt with all of her strength. She landed several yards beyond Paul.
"That was just round one. Now we go where the creek is wider."
Paul wasn't worried. It was just a demo jump. It wasn't even his best work.
Paul and Bella both enjoyed their friendly competitions but Paul was looking forward to hanging out with Bella as a human.
Sometimes he would phase to show Bella some things they could do as humans. Their strength and speed carried over to their human form.
He showed her how fast he could climb trees, how far he could swim out at sea, and how he could throw logs around with ease.
The problem with these human demos was that sometimes he lost control of his emotions. Sometimes he would phase back to a wolf involuntarily.
Bella saw this as a silver lining. She liked it when he phased like that. It made her feel like less of a loser for staying a wolf for so long.
"It took Sam two weeks to turn back. You're doing fine."
"I'm sick of it!"
"Then phase out," Paul encouraged her.
To say she trusted these men would be an understatement. Bella had never had siblings. She wasn't close to her parents. She didn't even have real friends. Sam took on the obvious father figure and mentor role. Jared was like a trusted older brother, one who just so happened to be younger than her. Paul was the best friend that she never had.
They all bonded so fast and so absolutely. Bella was sure that their bond was part of the shapeshifting magic.
Search parties had scoured the rez, the forests surrounding Forks, and the coastline for miles. People noticed when the daughter of the police chief went missing.
Forensics finally came back with conclusive results on the clothes. They were Bella's. There was no fresh blood on any clothes. There was old blood on the underwear, invisible to the naked eye, definitely an old, cleaned out period stain. There was no blood anywhere else. There was no semen either, so that kind of foul play was not suspected.
The clothes had been torn to shreds, not cut. Yet there was no evidence of another individual present, no footprints, not even a stray hair on her shirt. Other than animal tracks and fur nearby, there was no evidence that anybody else was with Bella Swan that night.
"I think you need to consider that this might be a runaway," an officer suggested to Charlie.
"It doesn't fit the evidence!" Charlie retorted. "She left her wallet, keys and truck. Her homework was sprawled out on the table. We know she went for a walk. Give me an explanation that makes sense."
"What about that Sam Uley kid?" The officer asked. "His disappearance wasn't as closely investigated, thanks to tribal sovereignty. But his mom and girlfriend, their testimony had some similarities."
"Thank you," Charlie said. Finally, a new lead.
Emily Young cracked open the door when Charlie knocked. Sam came up behind her, his face light and joyful. When he saw Officer Swan, his face went stone cold and stoic.
"Emily, wait inside. This will just be a minute."
"Sure," Emily said. Sam kissed her temple as she brushed past him.
Sam stepped outside, shutting the door behind him. "How can I help you, officer?"
"I was hoping you had some information on my daughter." He handed Sam a stack of photos.
Sam knew this was a tactic to get his fingerprints. He flipped through the photos anyway.
"I've seen the posters, sir. I can say with confidence that I have not seen this face since she went missing."
Charlie could not detect deceit, but he didn't know the boy well.
"Did you know her before she went missing?" Charlie asked.
"There's been talk on the rez that she used to spend time here. I don't remember her, but I can't confidently say that I never saw her or interacted with her."
"Ok. I was thinking of your own disappearance, Sam. You never came forward about what happened to you. Your testimony could help us locate my Bella."
"Sir, I can't talk about that."
"Why not?"
"Am I under arrest?" Sam asked. He knew he didn't have to answer any more questions. He was done being helpful.
"No, I'm just trying to gather information about my daughter."
"I have none for you. Good day."
Sam swiftly entered his house, shutting the door before Charlie could put his foot on the threshold.
At least Charlie had the fingerprints now, so the trip was not a total waste.
Sam was with Bella when she finally reverted to her human form, naked as the day she was born. It had taken her nine days.