The translations for the Lakota/Quileute words are at the bottom!
SUMMARY
When young Isabella Black-Water turns 16 she is the happiest girl alive but theres something missing. Since she was born she lived with her mother and sister on the Cheyenne River Lakota Indian Reservation, When ever she asks about her father everyone on the reservation refuse to tell her, but when Bella finds a mysterious box she unravels many secrets that send her to La Push for answers.
~Bella POV~
I sighed; tomorrow I was going to turn sixteen – it would be the biggest day of my life, where my whole life would change. I will be able to get a car, finally date without my Mom's permission; I can have my own credit card and buy whatever I want! My curfew will be changed, and I will be able to actually play with my band when we have late night practice or parties.
I turned to my side, still playing with the edge of my comforter. I should be happy everything was falling into place, but I couldn't help but feel that something was missing; that something I knew was my father. I have never met him, and my mom won't talk about him. I've never seen any pictures. When I asked my mom about him, she would always change the subject. The same went with the people I knew on the reservation; they would either laugh nervously or change the subject.
Everyone on the reservation, though, would tease or talk about me behind my back. Here it was very uncommon not to have your father around unless he died or divorced your mother. I only had four friends; Tracy, my sister Kendle, Rodney and Maya. They were also in the band and treated me like an equal instead of the "bastard's child".
I also had a weird gift, Chief Red Bird would always tell me I will change many lives with it and called me the "Wakatanka", which means Great Spirit. I asked him why he gave me that name and what he meat by "I will change many lives", but he just laughed and shook his head. For a while I suspected that he was my father, but we look nothing alike.
I felt my eyes getting heavy and I struggled to try and stay awake. Without any success, I gave in a welcomed the darkness.
I woke up to the pounding of my bedroom door. "Wake up, Taksi! It's time for band practice!" my sister yelled. I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. "Do not make me pull those covers off and drag your ass downstairs! We only have thirty minutes to practice before your party!" I got up and started my shower. While the water was heating up, I started to brush my teeth.
I got into the shower and washed my hair. I jumped out and dried off. I put on a black tank top with a gray ruffled cardigan, shorts and my black suede boots. I put on a little make-up and some jewelry before walking downstairs to the garage. I could already hear Rodney and Maya fighting over the guitar. I was too tired to try and break them up.
"Inila yaki ye! Iyokipi! Your constant fighting is giving me a headache!" I shouted. I walked over to the mic and sighed. "Let's do this. We don't have enough time". Everyone nodded and started to play. I, then, took a deep breath and started to sing.
"You sing to me
And in your words, I hear the melody
But in the twilight it's so hard to see
What's wrong for me
I can't resist
Until you give the truth a little twist
As if you're gonna get away with this
You're not sorry
I can't believe I fell for this
I fell through the hole
Down at the bottom of your soul
Didn't think you would go solo
Look at what you've done
You're listening to what you want
Got me planning to go solo
Solo."
We finished the song and my mom started to clap. "That was great! You guys are getting better" I smiled at her. "Now it's time for the birthday girl to get ready. Tracy, go help her get dressed. Everyone else, come with me." Out of all my friends, Tracy was the only one who knew about my search for my father. She also helps me from time to time trying to figure out who or where he is. Tracy can be intense, but she's a loyal friend.
I walked into my room and reached for my dress. It was a cream dress with a corset top to it. "You know, I found out a way for you to figure out who your father is." I turned to Tracy, who was fixing her make-up.
"How? We have tried everything possible to find him. How would this be different?" Tracy sighed and glanced over at me from the corner of her eye.
"Have you tried to figure out his name?" I shook my head. "Did you check your birth certificate?" I was dumbfounded. Why the hell didn't I think of that?
"I don't know where it is."
Tracy put the finishing touches on her make-up and rolled her eyes. "Doesn't your mom keep important files in her office? She won't be in there when your party is going on. I can cover for you when you sneak in." I shook my head, putting on the dress and my gray peep-toe heels.
"I can't steal from my mom."
Tracy turned to me. "It's not stealing if the certificate is yours. Just take it and put it in your shoes. No one will know!" I clipped on my necklace and looked at Tracy through my mirror.
"You think it could work?"
Tracy walked towards me and laid her head on my shoulder. She smirked at me. "Yes, I'm positive that if you follow the plan, you will know who your dad is." I nodded. Tracy set the tiara on my head and we walked downstairs. About an hour later, the house was filled with everyone from the res. Everyone was dancing, drinking and joking. I was talking to Marie, a girl from school, when Tracy walked over t o me.
"It's time. Go. I will cover for you." I nodded discreetly and walked towards the hallway, looking back to make sure no one saw me. I opened the door and moved to the file cabinet. I looked through all the drawers, but I didn't see my birth certificate. I circled around the room, but I didn't find anything.
I huffed and sat in my mother's desk chair. I moved my leg slightly and felt something knock against it. I got down on my hands and knees and saw a cabinet on the side on the desk.
I opened the cabinet and saw a box with intricate designs and swirls overlapping on the top of it. It had some kind of foreign Native American writing on the cover, Tha Gt'aat Spit'it : La Písh Dascak'dak't. I frowned and grabbed the box, closing the cabinet. I walked towards the door and snuck upstairs to my room. I opened up the broken floor board under my brown fluff rug and put the box in. After I was sure that it was safe, I walked downstairs to be attacked by Tracy.
"Where were you?! Everyone one is waiting for you to blow out your candles! I told you I was going to cover for you, but not for an hour!" I was shocked. I didn't know I was away for an hour. I walked outside to the patio where everyone was waiting by my cake. I felt the hairs on my back of my neck stand up and I looked towards the trees behind me. I thought I saw something move behind them. "Let's go!" Tracy hissed in my ear. I turned back around and walked to my cake. It was a topsy-turvy pink cake with a huge 16 on the top.
"Mom, this cake is better than anything! Thank you so much!" I gave my mom a big hug and stared at my cake in awe.
"Well if you're done fantasizing about your cake, I would like to eat it now," Rodney shouted. I rolled my eyes and ignored his outburst. I knew what my wish was going to be ever since I was four. It was to get a sign as to who my father was.
I leaned over and blew out my candles. Right at that second, the wind began to pick up and I heard thunder roar in the distance. "Let's take this inside!" Kendle, my sister, shouted. Everyone rushed inside the house with the cake. I saw something move again in the trees. I looked back at the house and started towards the edge of the forest.
"Bella!" I looked towards the house. "Come on! There's a storm coming, everyone is going home!" I glanced at the trees and started towards my house. The storm had come out of nowhere, and every news channel in the area was astounded by the quick change in the weather. My mother was sneaking looks at me from time to time, and it was making me a bit antsy. When everyone left, I picked up all of my presents and brought them upstairs. I washed off my make-up and put my dress up before dressing in my pajamas.
I waited for forever for my mom to go to sleep. At about one-thirty A.M., my mom finally came upstairs and went to bed. When I heard her snoring, I lifted up my floor board and grabbed the box. I tried to get the box to open, but the top wouldn't budge. I, then, read the top over again. Tha Gt'aat Spit'it : La Písh Dascak'dak't. What did it mean?
I walked over to my laptop computer that was sitting on my bed and typed in the words. I looked though, what, maybe one-hundred pages for the right website. After a long search, I looked over at my clock which read three-forty-eight A.M. I sighed and rubbed my hand over my face.
I touched the top of my computer. I had almost closed it when I saw something. I clicked on the web site. It had a lot of explanations on the page that had the same letters as the one on the box. I clicked on the root language. In bold letters it read, The Great Spirit : La Push Descendant.
A/N:
Taksi = younger sister.
Inila yaki ye! Iyokipi! = shut up, please!
Tha Gt'aat Spit'it : La Písh Dascak'dak't = The Great Spirit : La Push Descendant
Feed my addiction and Review!
