The Phantom Wolf

Chapter 107 (Court)

*3rd Person POV*

It was a couple days after Mr Conway showed up on the Black household's doorstep that the court date regarding Sue and Pearl Clearwater's case could finally take place.

The courthouse was located in Seattle, and when the relevant case was finally called, practically everyone was in attendance. Aside from Bree and Renesmee, the entire Cullen family was present.

Seeing the hurt look in Pearl's eyes at not seeing her imprint among her vampire family, Jasper whispered under his breath to her, too low for any humans to hear. "Bree has refused to go hunting since Charlie took you. It wouldn't be sensible for her to be around so many humans in an enclosed space. But know that you have her support, as well as ours."

Pearl gave him a silent nod and a small smile, as she sat down next to Arthur Conway. Her actions let Jasper know that she had heard him and had understood.

Sue was to the right of Pearl, next to another lawyer on a bench of their own. Jacob, Billy and Charlie were seated amongst the audience behind Pearl and the Cullens. Whilst Leah and Seth were seated in the audience behind Sue.

'What are they doing here?' Pearl wondered, as soon as she spotted her biological siblings, who had ghosted her since this whole ordeal had begun.

When the judge walked into the room, the trial began.

Sue's lawyer presented their case first, and talked about how hard it was for Sue after Pearl disappeared, and stated that Mrs Clearwater went into a state of shock once she found out that her daughter was staying with the Cullen family.

Their entire side of the story, was a pity party for Sue, that made out the Cullen's to be the bad guys, as well as made out Pearl to be a stupid heartless child.

Once it was time to present the opposition, Mr Conway called Chief Swan up to the stand to testify. To which, the chief then had to explain why Mrs Clearwater had not been the person to report Pearl as missing, because he and Billy Black had been the first people to notice Pearl's absence within the reservation, and how Sue hadn't seemed to think that Pearl's disappearance was cause for concern.

Charlie's testimony of how Sue reacted to finding out that they had reported Pearl as missing, tore down Sue's facade of her being a very worried mother. And when Billy Black was called up to talk about how Sue had reacted to him asking why Pearl hadn't been at school the last couple of days, his testimony only built up Pearl's case for gaining legal emancipation on the grounds of child negligence.

The topic of focus was then shifted to the treatment of Pearl Clearwater when she was in Mrs Clearwater's care, after Harry Clearwater had passed away.

Again, Sue's story was rather depressing, and painted Sue as a god send throughout the ordeal, while it painted Pearl as a mentally unstable teen who had started purposely starving herself to cope with the loss of her father. Mrs Clearwater's lawyer also presented Pearl's school records from those months, and showcased the increased number of detentions and phone calls home from the principle, as evidence of Pearl's mental health decline.

Arthur Conway pointed out that while yes, it was obvious that Pearl was struggling in school after her father's death, what child wouldn't? He also highlighted the fact that throughout that whole presentation, not once did Mrs Clearwater ever say what she had done to try and help her struggling daughter in her time of need.

This left Sue's lawyer without a defence, and in his haste, he called Leah Clearwater to the stand to defend his client.

Hearing that Leah was going to be a witness to defend her mother, shocked Pearl beyond belief. All of that talk about how Leah had regretted her past actions, seemed so empty now, as Leah walked up to the stand to defend Sue. The woman who had caused the hybrid so much pain.