Alita

Prologue

Alita was supposed to be sleeping. But she couldn't. Not with her parents talking downstairs. She knew they were talking about something they didn't want her to know about, and she was bound a determined to find out what it was. She carefully crept to the stairs and sat on the top one, listening to what her parents had to say.

"But why now? That was all those years ago!" Pocahontas, Alita's mother, said.

"I know, but it was just brought up again. Just because it happened in 1607 doesn't mean it won't be brought up again." Alita's father John said.

1607. Three years before I was born. Alita thought. Whatever her parents were talking about, it happened long ago.

"But it's been twelve years, John! Why can't they just give it a rest?" Pocahontas protested.

"Because they just won't, Pocahontas. I don't know why. But Ben was just put in the jailhouse yesterday. Nobody will tell me why, but I'll tell you this: Ben did nothing wrong."

Ben? Ben wouldn't do anything bad enough to get himself into that much trouble! Would he? Alita thought, remembering her father's friend Ben. John had a lot of friends in Jamestown, but Ben was one of the men that came with her father to Virginia with the Virginia Company.

"But Ratcliffe is dead, John! Who would be doing this?"

"I don't know, but you can bet I'm going to find out." John answered.

"Just be careful, whatever you do." Pocahontas said.

"I will. You don't have to worry." John promised. "Whatever is going on, I'm going to find out."

"I know you will."

"But don't tell Alita. You know her. She'll try to take matters into her own hands." John said after a pause.

"Sound familiar, if you ask me." Pocahontas said with a smile.

"How?" John asked, looking bewildered.

"John Smith, she's just like you. You can't say she isn't you daughter! Anyone who knows you knows Alita." Pocahontas said. Alita smiled. It was true. She certainly was her father's daughter.

Alita was both of her parents rolled into one. She had brown eyes like her mother and blonde hair like her father. She had her mother's adventurous ways and determination and her father's stubbornness.

"First thing in the morning, I'll go and see what I can find out." John said. He started for the stairs and Alita ran back to her room, did a nosedive into the bed and covered her head. She closed her eyes and prayed her father wouldn't know she was awake. He didn't; he walked right by her door and headed to bed. After Pocahontas joined him, Alita sat up. Her parents were hiding something. Something big was going to happen. Alita didn't know what it was, but she was going to find out.

"I don't know what they're hiding, but I know it's something big." Alita said to herself. "But why don't they want me to know?"

Alita laid back down. She couldn't help but worry. Ben was the second man that week to be put in jail. The thing was, both Ben and Hal, the other man, had been with her father when he came to Virginia. Was whoever was putting them in jail targeting the first settlers in the New World? And would her father be targeted, too?

A/N- Hello, all! I hope you like this so far. Me being me, I'm going for a Pocahontas fanfic that hasn't been put into a certain catagory yet! This one is ACTION/ADVENTURE/MYSTERY. Alita, by the way, is pronounced a-LEE-ta.

This idea and story plot hasn't left my mind all day! It'll be pretty long. I hope you guys will like it!

Anyway, please review!

-Robin