Spirit Guardian

Questions

                    Early morning in the Swan household, Bella finishes cleaning up the living room. It looked neater and rearranged more attractively. She sweeps through one last time, folding Charlie's fleece jacket and straightening up little things. She grabs her book bag, "Dad, Koda, I'm heading out!" Bella called out but didn't get a reply as she headed for the front door. She worried about her sister, who she hadn't seen since the incident in the girl's restroom. Charlie had told her that Koda had come down with a bad case of the flu, and he didn't want her to also catch it. But what confused Bella was that she had never seen or heard of Koda ever getting sick until now. Of course, it could have happened during the years she missed with them while caring for her mother. Bella frowns and opens the front door. She is suddenly filled with dismay as she sees It's pouring down rain. The yard is full of puddles, some even frozen. Bella shivers and wraps her coat tight around her as goosebumps appear on her skin. "Great," she grumbled in annoyance. Charlie suddenly pulls into the driveway in her truck, confusing his daughter. He opens the driver's side door and steps out. "Dad, I can drive myself to school," Bella said as she started walking down the steps. She doesn't realize something's watching her from the tree line. It tracks Bella's every movement as if it's about to pounce. Bella slips on a patch of ice out of nowhere, but a warm arm catches her before her ass can hit the ground. She looked up in surprise, seeing it was Koda, who didn't look as sickly as she did a few days ago. Koda carefully lifts Bella up until she is back on her feet.

                    "Careful Bell, Forks is unkind to the uncoordinated," she teased. Bella huffs and lightly shoves Koda.

                    Charlie chuckles as he walks over, "Your sisters, right. That's why I got you new tires," he points out, surprising Bella as she looks over at the new tires. "The other ones were nearly bald," he explained.

                    "You got me new tires. No one's ever done that before," Bella said in disbelief. Charlie looks at her, confused. Koda understood though she knew that Bella had to grow faster than most so she could care for her spirited mother. Now Koda had nothing against Renée, but she was more like a fun aunt and less like a responsible mother. It was Bella that had to keep track of the bills and groceries, or they would go without food and heat. The wind suddenly blows, and a scent hits Koda's nose, causing her head to snap towards the tree line catching her family's attention.

                    "Koda, are you ok?" Charlie asked.

                    "Y..yeah, we should go. You still have to drop me off at the doctor's before you go to Mason County," Koda said, confusing her sister.

                    "Mason County?" she asked.

                    "Oh yeah, I'll be late for dinner. I'm heading down to Mason County. A security guard at the Grisham Mill got killed by some kind of animal...," Charlie explained as he walked to his police car.

                   "An animal?" Bella asked in surprise.

                   "You're not in Phoenix anymore, honey," he explained.

                    "Be careful," Bella said worriedly.

                    "Always am," Charlie said, then got into his car with Koda following.

                    An hour later, rain poured down even harder onto the hood of Charlie's car as it was parked outside the Grisham Mill. Koda stood in the middle of the crime scene while her father kept an eye out just in case another police officer showed up. "The report said the body was ripped into and eaten. So far, they're calling it a bear attack," Charlie explained.