Chapter One: Uncle Davis

Dinah Youngblood grabbed the last shirt from her small chest of drawers and stuffed it violently into her worn leather suitcase. It had been her favorite possession when she was little, a mysterious bag that had been hidden away in the attic, waiting for her to find it, but now she loathed it. She loathed it, because it meant that she was going away. Leaving her family and her friends behind, and travelling up north to Brooklyn. To live with some uncle she hardly knew.

Dinah scolded herself constantly for feeling upset about moving. She should have been used to it by now. After all, hadn't her whole life been made up of travelling from one sympathetic relative to the next?

Ever since her parents had died in a tragic car accident when she was little, Dinah had stayed with uncles and aunts and grandmothers that she hadn't known had existed. She had gotten used to not staying in one place for long. But recently, she had begun to make Boston her home. She found herself mixed in with a group of girls who she actually felt she could call her friends. Heck,she even had a boyfriend.

Dinah had lived in Boston for over a year. That was a new record for her. But just when she was starting to get used to her lifestyle there, she received a letter from a mysterious Uncle Davis who wanted her to come stay with him immediately in Brooklyn, New York. Which meant leaving behind everyone she had befriended in Boston.

Dinah had tried to protest, had told her Aunt June (her latest guardian) that she loved it in Boston. Why should she have to leave? Aunt June had only smiled weakly and told Dinah to go pack her stuff. No goodbyes, just pack to her things and get the hell out. Dinah didn't understand it. Why the sudden urgency? Why was it so necessary for her to go to Brooklyn? Frankly, Dinah didn't care in the slightest. She just knew it was thoroughly unfair.

But, despite her objections, Dinah found herself piling her puny collection of clothes into her familiar brown bag, taking in the inviting surroundings of her bedroom one last time before she left it for good.

Almost as soon as Dinah had gathered her possessions, Aunt June sent her out of the house with a train ticket. Dinah was surprised, if not slightly hurt. Aunt June wasn't even going to accompany her to her next relative. She was being sent away on a train, with no one to talk to, among complete and total strangers. Dinah felt betrayed. Did Aunt June even really love her?

The train ride to New York was boring. Dinah had read every single book that Aunt June had ever bought her (adding up to a grand total of three), and without a book to read, the train cars became very dull. Other passengers were hidden behind newspapers or laptop computers, paying little to no attention to the shy little 15-year-old who was seated nearby.

The hours dragged on slowly, and when the train finally pulled into the station, Dinah was one of the first ones off. She was desperate to meet Uncle Davis and get on with her new life.

It didn't take long for her uncle to appear. He was not at all what she expected, though. He wore a long black trench coat over torn blue jeans and working boots. His shaggy black hair hung over his eyes, making him look eerily like a stray dog.

"You must be Dinah," he greeted in a surprisingly gentle voice.

"Uncle Davis," Dinah answered, looking at him with one eyebrow raised, a trick she had learned from her friends in Boston.

Uncle Davis wasted little time with introductions. "Come along, then. Let's get you home."

Dinah followed her new uncle out of the station and over to a shiny black sports car, which didn't fit Davis's attire at all. Shrugging it off, Dinah slid into the passenger seat as Davis revved the engine and peeled away from the curb.

They drove in silence, Uncle Davis staring intently out the front windshield and Dinah peering out the window, taking in the buildings and landmarks as they sped along. It wasn't long before they screeched to a stop outside of a tall, slightly rundown apartment building.

Dinah followed her uncle inside and up the stairs to the fifth floor, where he hastily unlocked the door to room 507. Once the door was opened, Dinah stepped inside.

The apartment wasn't much, really, with only one bedroom that she could see and a main room that combined a kitchen/dining room with a living room. There was a small bathroom with a shower covered in grime, and that was about it.

Dinah entered the bedroom to find it had been decorated and prepared for her. She wanted to ask Davis where his room was, but he was off in the kitchen and she was preoccupied with exploring her new room.

There was a small desk in one corner where Dinah placed her small stack of books, and a closet on the far wall where she hung her clothes. Once she had made the room as homey as it was going to get, she flopped onto the bed (which was surprisingly comfy) and stared up at the cracked ceiling. She already had a feeling that she wouldn't like Brooklyn very much.