Breaks screeched.
A cruiser fishtailed slightly before stopping a few feet from her.
Rowan stumbled back up, breath caught inside her chest and she could feel herself on the verge of a panic attack. That was way too close.
She flinched as the driver's door was flung open and a man's voice came from behind it, "Hey!"
She fought the urge to run, that never turned out well for people with her skin color. Instead she froze like a deer in the headlights of the cop's car.
But her panic faded with the next words from the man.
"Are you hurt?" Her gaze focused on the cop's features, pale but with a recognizable mustache and kind brown eyes. "I barely even saw you. You almost gave me a heart attack."
Rowan shook her head, her words failing her for a moment. Charlie Swan, the Charlie Swan stood before her and he was scanning her as if checking her for any injuries. His mind no doubt triaging cataloguing how there was mud on her knees, scuff marks on her boots, and how she looked like she had seen a ghost.
When he came closer, he was cautious as if approaching a cornered creature, his hands away from his gun at his side and in a placating gesture. His eyes met hers gentle and worried.
Her magic thrummed within her chest, warming her from the inside and she felt it almost seem to reach out to him. Instinctively she knew he was safe, not because of the character he had portrayed in a book series but for the way he looked at her kindly and for the way her magic didn't seek to protect her from him.
Still she couldn't help as her body began to shake, the surprise and fear from another accident finally reaching her.
"Hey now," His voice so soft now, "You are safe. No one is going to harm you."
She nodded, still unsure if words would work.
"Do you have a name?"
"Rowan." She whispered. She knew that names held power, but instinctively she knew he was a safe place for it to be spoken.
She felt the thrum of her magic spread through her covering her from head to toe, preparing a glamour shrouded in truth.
Charlie Swan nodded, "And your last?"
Her magic brushed against her face as if reassuring to once again speak the truth. "Song-Williams."
"Miss Rowan Song-Williams. What are you doing out in a rainstorm? You don't look dressed for a hike."
Her glamour weaved through her following words. Threads of truth disguising falsehoods.
"I got separated from my family...we were supposed to meet up near here, but..." She paused, "I guess they aren't coming." She bit her tongue so she wouldn't take it all back, she didn't like even insuating that her parents had left her on purpose. Death dragged them away, not ever by their own choice.
Her grief must have shown on her face though because Charlie Swan's features became solemn.
"Ok, come with me. You can ride shotgun. I'll call social services and in the meantime you can stay at my house."
"You would do that for me? Why?"
Charlie gave her an encouraging smile, "I can't very well leave you out in the rainstorm, now can I? Plus my daughter isn't coming to stay with me until another month, you can use her room for now."
Rowan followed him and he opened the passenger door for her. "I'll get your seat all wet."
He laughed, "Occupational hazard with living in Forks. Its fine, they'll dry."
She sat in the car that was still warm from the heater being on, this time she didn't jump as he closed the door and went to his side to get in.
"Thank you."
Charlie shook his head, and focused on the road as he pulled back on the road. "Just doing my job."
But Rowan knew it was more than that, Charlie was a genuine person with a heart of gold and she didn't need her magic powers to tell her that.