by J. M. Lyons
my eyes. "Yeah; how you feeling?" He said softly. "What
happened?" I asked in a whisper. "Well, you're about to find out
Mia. Uncle Tom and dad called the tribal counsel. You remember
the old men that grandma used to tell us about?" He said still
softly. "Uh huh." I said with a nod. "Well, they're real and they're
right outside waiting for you to wake so they can talk to you. Mia,
just know that you are about to step out into a whole new world for
you." He said with a smile. I looked at him with a blank face.
"What are you talking about a whole new world?" I asked
confused. "Well let's start with your looks, it changed a bit." He
said with a chuckle. Tucker got up and walked over to a little work
bench and pulled out a small rusty mirror and handed it to me.
"See." He said with a chuckle. I gazed at the reflection in the
mirror and barely recognized myself. My hair was always a bright red color, only now it was a deeper red almost like the color of
blood. "Oh my god, I have white hair." I cried out softly. A perfect
streak of white flowed from the top of head all the way to the
bottom. My eyes were red too, like I was crying all night only not
as puffy.
"What in the world is going on?" I demanded. "Well; when
you're ready, we can go outside and you can find out for yourself."
Tucker said standing up, slowly moving toward the door. I sat up
on the makeshift bed that I laid on. My neck hurt like crazy, I
rubbed it a little and shifted to set my feet on the floor. I had no
shoes on; the feeling of dirt and sawdust pushed up from between
my toes.
I looked around the room; there were old mounted animal
heads lining the top of the little hut with it's fur hanging right below
it. There was a small work bench filled with old rusty stuff; a
candle burned dimly at it's corner in a small cup. The floor was
covered in dust; and the cabin smelled dirty but oddly enough
there was a faint smell of apples; for the life of me, I couldn't figure
out where it was coming from.
I kept looking around, cringing at everything I saw. When I
looked at the old door where Tucker stood waiting, I noticed the cracks in it shone a bright flickering light through it. I looked at
Tucker worriedly. "Don't worry Mia. I won't let anything happen to
you." He said, with a reassuring smile on his face. I slowly got up
and let my feet regain its composure. It felt like I hadn't used it in
days, as my muscles stretched with every movement of my toes.
"How long was I asleep?" I asked reaching out for Tucker to
help me. "You've been out for three days." He said helping me
walk forward. "What; for three days?" I said a little loudly. "Yeah,
three days." He repeated. He pushed the door open and slowly
helped me out through the door. I looked around and remembered
that I was last at uncle Tom's house. Just ahead were people that
I never seen before, sitting around the huge fire pit that was now
filled with wood, burning very brightly. The sun had just set as the
star's twinkled in the evening sky.
“Where's dad?" I asked Tucker who still had me by one arm.
"He's over there." He replied nodding his head, toward three men
standing in a circle. "Dad; she's up." Tucker called out. "Mia, baby
are you ok?" He said, hurrying over to help me. "Yeah, I think so."
I answered, still looking around at these strange people, who just
sat there staring at me. "Who are all these people?" I asked, quietly so no one would
hear me. "This is the tribes elder counsel. There here to help."
He said, as we walked closer to a huge log positioned right in front
the fire pit. "Come, sit." He said, pushing me closer to the log.
"Dad, I...I don't know what happened and this is really freaking me
out." I said, staring at all these new eyes looking at me. "I know
baby, but hopefully we can explain some things to you to help you
understand what happened and what going on." He said, trying his
best to ease my fear.
As the darkness fell over us, and whatever small light was left
in the sky disappeared; I noticed a small white light shine in the
front yard, it looked like head lights. "Hi everyone, I'm Mia
Dawson." I said, with a slight wave. I tried to ease my nerves as I
sat down on the log and tried to get comfortable. My back faced
the forest, it was a very unnerving feeling but I was alright.
"Hi Mia, you can call me Elder Wolf." Said a very big man,
who sat directly across from me. He wore a very big gray wolf
head on his head with it's fur covering his shoulders and back. As
I smiled back and greeted him, I could remember seeing pictures
of old men who wore things like that hanging on my grandmothers
wall; this is weird, I thought. "Hi Mia, you can call me Elder Wing." A smaller man said,
sitting beside him on the right. He sat there with a very big
contagious smile on his face. I just simply smiled back at him. He
wore a big black and white feathered head dress, and was bare
backed. I didn't know how could he handle this chilly night air; I
thought to myself.
Dad sat next to Elder Wing, but now dad had his own, sort of,
head dress on; he wore four eagle feathers fashioned toward the
back of his head. Uncle Tom was there too, and he sat on the left
side of Elder Wolf. He wore a brown bear skin over his shirt. I just
looked at them all, expressionless, very confused.
They were wearing some weird stuff; not to mention my dad
and uncle Tom wore them too. "So tell me Mia, what do you think
happened to you the other day?" Elder Wolf asked with a very
deep but sincere tone of voice. "Well, I really don't know." I
replied, still very confused about the whole situation myself. "I'll tell
you what happened." A very old familiar voice said from behind of
me.
A small rough hand slowly grabbed on to my shoulder. I
jerked at the touch, there was a familiar smell of roses in the air.
Tucker who sat on the log next to me jerked back, nearly falling off his seat. "My Mia.." I heard softly. My heart fell to the ground; I
didn't even have to look, I knew exactly who it was, no one called
me that except my grandmother.
My eyes fluttered with tears building as I slowly turned around
in utter disbelief. "Grandma." I said with a quivering voice. I bit my
lip, to try to hold some kind of composure. "My Mia." She
repeated, as the glow from the fire light flickered off her long white
hair. "But; but how? How can this be?" I said, placing my hands
over her cheeks. "How? I thought....I thought you died?" I said,
feeling the warm tears running down my face. She hugged me
like she always did; I felt like I was a little girl all over again.
I closed my eyes remembering the way she felt, the way she
smelled. When I opened my wet eyes I was looking at my
grandfather who was now standing right behind her. "How; how
can this be.. I don't understand." I said as I reached out my hand
to touch him. He grabbed my palm holding it tightly with both
hands.
"Ha...ha.. I bet you think
your looking at ghosts." Grandpa
teased. I couldn't smile, I had no expression; he was right, I did
feel like I was looking at ghosts. Every bit of fear, confusion and
frustration disappeared as my grandmother held on to me tightly. "What's going on?" I said, my voice still shaky. "We had to go
away for a while, my Mia, but we're here for you now." He said
with a soft smile.
"We're here now and we're not going anywhere." She said,
wiping my tears from my face. "Mia, you're a very special young
woman. We all thought that you would experience this changes
within you, later in your life; but I guess now is as good of a time
as any." She said, as she sat next to me. "My granddaughter is
strong, she will survive this attack to come. She will be ready
when the time comes." She said, looking over at the four men
sitting across from me.
I couldn't take my eyes off of either of them. "Mia, you have
been chosen to defend this land against an evil that our people
have fought against for many, many years. Our people have
defended these mountains for generations; and as the generation
get older and die our energy and power leave us to find the
decedent who is worthy to hold it. Now I can see that my time will
come soon and so will your grandfather's." She said holding my
hands tightly in her's. "What are you talking about?" I asked
confused again. "Are you able to pass this right to your grand daughter and
teach her the ways of our people before this evil returns?" Elder
Wolf asked, looking at my grandmother through the fire's light.
"Yes, Elder I will, we will begin at first light." She said very sure of
herself. "Alright, we shall meet again in three nights. At that time
Red Moon, she will have been told what is expected of her and
she will understand it fully." He said, while waving his hand over
the fire, that seem to dance around every finger, without burning
him.
Red Moon; why did he call her that. My grandmothers name
is Lana, not Red Moon. I remember hearing a story as a kid about
the red moon. All of a sudden I was dazed and confused again,
as the questions came rushing back to me. What in the world is
going on. Why is my grandparents here? I thought they were
gone. Why was my grandmother being called Red Moon. Why
would these men call her that with my dad sitting right there; who
by the way said absolutely nothing.
"Mia; Tucker." Dad called as the elders and uncle Tom
disappeared through the shadows of the tall grass and shrubs that
crowded my uncle's yard. "Dad?" I said still confused. He put his hand up stopping me
before I was able to say anything. "I'll see you both soon, but for
now you two will go with your grandparents. Learn as much as
you can in those three days; show these men that you are capable
of holding the powers that have chosen you both." Dad said very
seriously; Then he turned and walked away slowly disappearing
into the darkness of the night as well.
Although I sat there confused and scared, I felt safe with my
grandparents and Tucker there with me. "Mia, Tucker come with
us, we have a lot to do." She said quickly standing up. Grandpa
walked over toward the fire, and with a wave of his hand the fire
went out, leaving it as nothing more than smoldering wood and
smoke. I blinked in total disbelief. How did he do that? I thought
unable to take my eyes off the smothered fire pit.
"Grandma, I don't understand what is happening." I said, as
she and grandpa led Tucker and I down a tight small trail into the
forest. "In time my Mia, in time. Right now we need to get you both
to the camp. The moon should be out soon, so at least these bad
eyes of mine will be able to see the path." She chuckled. "Let me
Lana." Grandpa said hurrying toward the front. Tucker followed close behind me, gripping my top tightly. "I
see you've already begun your change Mia." She said, touching
the piece of the white hair that now streaked down my head. "I
guess so." I replied, not sure about what to say. "Why did he call
you Red Moon?" I asked. "Never mind." She said with a smile.
"We're almost there. In fact I think you'll find that you know the
others that also stay at the camp training to enhance their own
abilities." Grandpa said pointing ahead. The moon light began to
show through the tree tops, lending itself as a light for the path. It
was like the light of the moon led us, as it stayed about a foot in
front of us never leaving the path. It was comforting that the moon
light appeared, I didn't feel so scared and confused anymore. I began to feel more curious than anything else.
4 THE TRIBES
Suddenly the path began to open up into a big clearing and
just through the trees I could see a bright fire burning. I was at a
loss for words, during the rest of our walk into the forest. I was
utterly dumbfounded. How could my grandparents still be alive?
How could they really be here right now? Am I dreaming? I
pinched my arm until the pain made my eyes tear, just to make
sure that I wasn't.
How could my dad tell us they were gone and yet; here they
are and they spoke right in front of him. How could any of this be
real? So many questions floated in and out of my mind. Others?
There are more people like us; and we would know who these
people where? No one I knew had any powers or knew about
magic, I guess you could call it. I felt the confusion building in my
mind, the questions poured in like a waterfall; my body felt like a
overflowing lake of questions that was about to burst. “We're here." Grandpa said breaking my deep train of
thoughts. Grandma tugged my arm bringing me closer to her. We
were in a small camp; a camp that was much like the one's we
used to make as kids in the woods behind their house. There was
tents set up; a fire pit with rocks surrounding it; there was a small
little creek that ran just beside one of the tents.
I didn't see anyone when we got there, and it looked like an
abandoned camp at the moment. "I thought there would be
others?" Tucker asked stepping around me to get a better look.
"There are, but they're gone right now, they'll probably be back in
the morning like they always are." Grandpa answered with a
laugh. "You know kids these days." He said, while shaking his
head in disappointment.
"Come, you both need to rest and we'll talk more in the
morning." Grandma said, walking Tucker and I over to one of the
tents. Tucker and I stepped in, looking around the tent; which was
rather large on the inside and it was nice and warm too. There
was animal fur all over the tent, there were two beds fashioned out
of more animal fur, one on each side. In the middle there was a
candle that burned brightly in a wooden carved plate that sat on
what looked like a short coffee table. Tucker ran over to the bed on the left side of the tent. "This is
my bed." He said, as he laid claim to that bed. "I'll take the other
one." I said, walking over the soft plush animal fur to get to my
; bed. I sat down and to my surprise it was soft. I lifted the covers
to see what the bed was made out of and it was just a heaping
pile of dirt; compacted dirt that was raised out of the ground. I
dropped the covers immediately.
"Tucker." I started. I stopped myself from talking when I heard
him starting to snore. "Wow, that was fast." I said softly, laying
down on the soft bed, the furs used as the pillow was even softer.
No wonder Tucker fell asleep so fast. I thought to myself as I
snuggled in. I wondered about what excitement tomorrow will
bring, as I slowly drifted off to sleep.
When the morning light peeked over the forest tree tops
Tucker felt the tent grow warm and sat up in his bed. I was still
fast asleep. He looked around to get a better look at the tent and
what was in it. He found a clean pair of pants and a shirt, and
quickly changed into them, it was a rather tight fit but he put them
on anyway. The candle burnt out sometime in the night, so he
pushed the plate further onto the table. On the side of the tent that he slept on there were weird
markings on the wall right above where his head laid. There were
swirls and circles all around. He stared at it for a little bit confused
I guess confused at what they meant; but he smiled and looked
over at me. I feel someone was staring at me sleep so I slowly
opened my eyes. I hoped that I was gonna wake up in my bed in
my own room in my own house. But I was mistaken. I looked
around then at Tucker. He plopped himself down at the bottom of
my bed.
"Mia, so what did you think about last night?"
"Wait so this is all real?" I said, with a smirk.
"No, really what did you think about it?" He said excitedly.
"I don't know, in fact I really couldn't tell you because I'm not even
sure what the hell happened last night, let alone what happened at
uncle Tom's house." I said, wiping my eyes.
"Oh man Mia, it was so cool. Like you just started freaking out and
floating around, then you shot white flames at the roof of the
house." He said with big excited eyes.
He hopped up and down on the bed like an excited little kid.
"What? White flames?" I said confused.
"I know that I was mad, then I remember getting angrier, I think someone hit me at that point, but after that it's kind of a blur." I