Luna's Daughter (1st Edit Done)

Chapter 1

Copyright 2013 Amber Russell

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Aliyah Staton

            I gazed out the window of the airplane watching the city I had called home for the last year disappearing beneath the clouds. I should have been used to saying goodbye to my home by now; I had been moved around from city to city as long as I could remember. Maybe it was the fact that we had managed to stay in one place for a whole year that it made it hard to say goodbye this time. I had allowed myself to become comfortable in the city this time, I had allowed myself to actually make friends; real friends, not just people I hung out with to have something to do. Now here I was, back at square one; moving to yet another place to call home for as long as my father saw fit. At least this was my last year of high school; soon I would be eighteen and wouldn't have to follow him to where ever he decided was best for us at the time. I was lost in thought about the friends I was leaving behind in Miami when my father spoke from the seat next to me.

"This is the last time Ali, I promise." His words fell on deaf ears; I had heard them too many times before.

He always promised me that it would be the last time we would move; that the place we were heading would be my forever home. No longer did I believe those words; too many times that promise had been broken. I knew that he was only trying to comfort me; to try and make me feel better about the move. I shouldn't have allowed myself to get so comfortable in Miami. I shouldn't have allowed myself to find friends. I should have just stuck to my guns and kept to myself like I had all the years before. I was fooling myself thinking that we were going to stay in Miami; I wouldn't make that same mistake again.

"Sure dad," was all I could manage to say back.

"I know I have told you that before, but I really mean it this time. We are going to live with the Tinlet tribe; the tribe your mother belonged to. They need us there Ali."

I looked over at my father and could see the pain in his eyes as spoke those words. I think it was partially pain from thinking about my mother, and another part for the pain he knew he caused me by taking me away from my friends. It was hard to be angry at him for the move. I knew that he was doing what he thought was best for us.

"Well I hope I at least get my own tepee. Your snoring would keep me up all night, and if you think that I am going to dance around a fire wearing some stupid feathered head dress then you have another thing coming mister." I told him trying to lighten the mood. At the same time I wondered to myself if Indian tribes really still did that kind of stuff or if it was just something that you saw in the movies. My father let out a soft laugh and gave me a quick jab to the shoulder.

"We'll see what we can do about your own tepee, but the feathers are a must," he said before returning his attention to the book in his hands.

I didn't know much about my mother other than the few stories my father told me about her. I knew that she was from an Indian tribe called 'The Tinlets' in Arizona. She had passed away when I was only a few years old and we only had a few photos of her from that short time.

I didn't know if I was really even interested in getting to know my mother's family. I couldn't decide if I wanted to hear about the memories they had been able to share with my mother when I had none of my own with her. I suppose didn't really have a choice in the matter; we were on a plane destined for our new home; a home where I would be forced to meet the people my mother grew up with. I relaxed my head against my tiny pillow, reclined my seat a few inches and found myself asleep within minutes. The ding of the seatbelt alarm woke me from my slumber. I looked out the window as we descended into Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. We gathered our luggage and set out to find a cab. My father handed the cab driver a paper with our new address as I relaxed in the back seat.