"Yes?" Chantal asked, her horse approaching him.
"Would you lead our guests back to the hotel?" He patted Troubled Spirit on the neck. She was calm under his command.
"Sure! This way," Chantal shouted with a smile.
Paris shot a jealous look at Chantal that only Maya noticed.
The riders followed Chantal back to the stables. Maya turned to see Ahote trailing behind the rest of the riders on Troubled Spirit while keeping a close watch on Dr. Parker who was lagging behind.
When they reached the stables, she looked for Warren, but he was gone. Feeling disappointed, she dismounted Fearless, looking into his eyes before leaving. “I promise to learn to ride better.” She hugged him, then pulled away. Ahote walked into the stables, playing three notes on his flute. Moments later, the horses trotted into their stalls where there was fresh water and grain waiting. Maya stayed against the wall, watching them in awe. Ahote began closing the doors. Maya helped, starting from the other end. They met in the middle.
“How was your first ride, Young One?” Ahote asked, resting his arm around the stall door.
“It started out rough,” she said, “but the land is phenomenal. I understand why you protect it.”
Ahote winked. “I’m glad you recognize that. We can learn from living things. Everything has a spirit, be it plant or animal, rock or mountain, wind or water, sun, moon, and stars. Nature brings knowledge, survival, and healing.” He went into the stable and began to take the saddle off the feeding horse. “You’d best eat lunch before they close.
She nodded.
Maya caught up with Chantal and Paris who were crossing the dirt road out front of the hotel.
A Cadillac with shiny rims pulled up in front of them.
"My dad is here," Paris said. “Thanks for the tour.”
The window on the Cadillac rolled down. Kira and Mindy sat in the backseat, waving. They were dressed to the hilt, wearing sunglasses, and sipping smoothies through straws.
"What a shame you have to leave," Maya said sarcastically. "I was just about to poison the tea."
Paris ignored her and got into the limo.
Chantal stared at Paris with her mouth hanging open. "Oh... you're not going to stay for lunch?"
"No, I'm having my birthday party. I knew you would be too busy." Paris grimaced. "Well, I'll see you around." She waved to Chantal as they drove away.
"But I'm not too busy," Chantal said.
Maya shook her head, feeling bad for her. She was trying too hard, and Paris didn’t deserve her friendship as far as Maya was concerned. Maya put her hand on her shoulder as they watched the Cadillac disappear behind the plateau. "C'mon. It's been a long day. Let's get some lunch."
⭐⭐⭐
Maya spent her mornings devoted to thinking about how she might help her mother. Before going to breakfast she laid in bed with the puzzle box, trying to figure out the next move. It was different than any puzzle boxes she had ever seen. It was vintage, and she had already searched online for anything like it, without success.
After that, she would head to breakfast where Warren and Roy were eating, and getting ready for work. Occasionally Maya followed them to the stables and brushed Fearless. If she was lucky, Warren would chat with her before giving climbing tours. She wished so badly she could spend more time with him, but that never happened with Roy nearby. He always kept watch. Sometimes Maya would get the chance to practice riding Fearless in the fenced area, but only if he wasn’t booked for a tour. She was getting better at learning the commands.
Maya was growing to love the time she spent at the Hotel. The only thing she didn’t love was the reoccurring nightmares she had of her mother. They were more real than anything. She noticed a pattern. When Chantal left the window open at night she would have them.
One morning, a few weeks later, there was a knock on room 111. Chantal opened the door. It was the Brat Pack. "Hey, ready to go?" Chantal asked them. She had easily forgiven Paris for not inviting her to her birthday party.
The three of them nodded with smug grins.
"Do you want to come, Maya?" Chantal asked.
"No, thanks." Maya grabbed a book from the bookshelf in her room. "I'm going to catch up on some reading."
"Ok."
Maya smiled. "Have fun." As the door closed, the smile fell from her face.
She began reading for the first half hour then decided to take a walk around the hotel. As she walked by the lobby, she noticed a sweet smell wafting from under the door of the guest bathroom. She was about to open the door when Aunt Roslyn spoke to her from across the lobby.
"How are you enjoying your stay, hon?"
Maya turned on her heel. "I like it. It's been a relief. I don't have to eat take-out every night and there's always something to do." She clasped her hands together in front of her.
"I'm glad. This is your home away from home." She smiled, turning her head to the side. "I was glad you and Roy could visit. It's hard not having your mom."
Maya nodded, looking at her feet. "Can I tell you something?"
"Of course, anything." Her eyes were sincere.
Maya walked up to the front desk, deciding to confide in her. "I think my mom has a curse on her."
She sighed. "Hon, why would you think that?"
"Because. I saw a bat fly into mom's hair the night before she became deathly ill and the doctors can't find anything wrong with her."
"Curses are not real. Who is filling your head with these ideas? Is it Grandma?" She held Maya's hand and spoke softly.
She shook her head, realizing it had been a mistake to bring up.
"Ahote?"
"No."
"Listen, there is a lot of superstition from our Native American side of the family, but they're only fairy tales. Everything in life has a logical explanation. I don't want anyone filling your head with silly stories about curses or telling you that legends are real. The stories are a part of our history, but they are just fables. Your mother and I didn't want our kids getting their heads filled with silly nonsense like we were as children."
Maya stared into Aunt Roslyn’s eyes. They were welling with tears.
“Our sister, Ashlyn, she passed when we were little girls.” She whispered. “We believed a bat had flown into her hair and cursed her; a trick of the Kachinas, but it wasn’t true.” A tear slid down her cheek. “We wanted to believe so badly that we just made it up- an explanation for why she got so sick.”
Maya nodded. "I’m sorry to hear that. My mom never spoke about it. It was ridiculous of me to suggest it-"
"There's something else I'd like to talk to you about," she interrupted, wiping the tear from her eye.
She nodded.
Her expression was ambiguous. "Roy mentioned you're fond of Warren."
She couldn't help it; a smile spread across her face.
"Stop! This isn't funny." Her eyes flashed.
Maya's face fell.
"You're a long way from home. You're still in high school. It would be irresponsible for you to start anything between you and Warren. His life is here, yours is there. So, let's just keep it as friends, hmm?"
Maya nodded then changed the subject, trying to get out of the uncomfortable conversation. "When did you start using gummy bear-scented cleaner in the bathroom?"
"Gummy bear-scented cleaner? I don't use anything like that."
"I wonder what it is." Maya headed to the bathroom in the lobby and opened the door, with Aunt Roslyn behind her.
The Brat Pack and Chantal were each holding e-cigarettes and blowing vapor.
"Chantal!" Roslyn scolded. "Mindy, Kira, Paris, I'm disappointed in every one of you."
Each of the girls gave Maya the evil eye.
Maya’s shoulders went rigid.
"Everyone into the lobby," Aunt Roslyn demanded. She snatched Chantal's pen-shaped e-cig from her grasp. "I'm calling all your parents to pick you up!" She headed back to the front desk.
Kira and Mindy bumped sho
ulders with Maya as they exited the bathroom.
"Narc," Paris said, putting her face in Maya's with narrowed eyes as she walked by.
"Yeah, thanks," Chantal said, glaring at her.
I just can’t catch a break.
15. The Laundry Kiva
The Brat Pack hurried out the front door of the hotel.
Aunt Roslyn's face turned scarlet as boiling blood rushed to her cheeks. "I don't need to remind you about the dangers of vaping. You've heard it before and I am disappointed in you. It's high time you learned some responsibility. Chase started helping around the hotel when he was your age. This is the perfect opportunity to give you something better to do than get into trouble."
She stood from her chair and opened a door behind her that led to a dimly-lit, stairwell in the basement. The cobblestone steps were the same color as the exterior of the building. "Your new job will be to wash, dry, and fold the laundry for the maids and hotel guests. Our laundry lady quit a few days ago. There are full laundry carts that need attention. You can start work immediately." She lifted the receiver off the hook and started dialing.
Maya felt guilty, as if she were responsible for Chantal’s loss of freedom. "Aunt Roslyn?"
"Yes?"
"Can I help with the laundry too?"
Roslyn cupped her hand over the mouthpiece of the receiver. "Hon, you are on vacation and I don't expect you to work while you're here." She continued dialing.
"It's ok, I don't mind. I'll do it for free."
Aunt Roslyn's head snapped up at the word free. "Very well. If you want to help."
Chantal was near tears as she headed down to the cellar.
Maya followed. "I know you hate me right now, but I wasn't trying to get you in trouble. I didn't know you were vaping. I'm not sure why you did, but I didn’t narc."
"I know," Chantal said. "I just want to be like them before I start my sophomore year. I want to be part of their group. I'm so close, but they still do things without me. They've always been a trio. Now they're going to hate me, thanks to my mom. Did you hear her?" Chantal began to mimic Aunt Roslyn. "I'm going to call all of your friend's parents. My life is ruined." She rolled her eyes. "And now I'm like the scullery maid of The Bed and Breakfast."
"Well, it's better than being one of Paris's devoted sidekicks."
"I am not a sidekick!" Her eyebrows turned up.
"Chantal,” Maya paused, not wanting to break the bad news, but it was time she did the math. “She didn't invite you to her birthday party in the Cadilac. She uses you to ride horses and go on climbing trips. She's rude, and she's trying to explore uncharted territory with my brother. She thinks she's Marco Polo or something."
They both smiled and laughed.
"Yeah, I know." Chantal sighed. "You have no idea how much laundry there is to do down here. I'll never see daylight again."
"I'll help you. We'll catch up on the towels tonight."
The rectangular room had five washers and five dryers along the eastern wall, and it smelled of mold.
On the western wall, a three-dimensional sand painting of a beautiful woman wearing a toga and a belt of turquoise beads tied around her waist took Maya's breath away. The woman's left arm extended to the north and images of spiders dangled on cobwebs from it; the right arm hung by her side. Spiders crawled by her feet and ankles as well. Her chin pointed toward the sun and her eyes were closed. On each side of the façade, stalks of corn grew to the top of the ceiling with leaves that curled in all directions. The color of the sand toward the top of the wall was faded, as if the sun had bleached it over the years.
"Unusual, isn't it?" Chantal remarked.
"Yes, it's wild!"
"Ahote had it built by a friend in his tribe... our tribe. It's an image of Spider Woman.”
“Spider Woman as in a super hero?”
“No. Spider Woman as in intercessor, our Earth Mother.”
“Hmm.”
“This room used to be a kiva."
“Meaning?”
"A ceremonial room for the men of the Hopi tribe,” Chantal explained. “Workers filled the dirt floor with cement when they built the hotel around it and now it's a laundry room. Each of the turrets of the hotel were kivas at one time, one to represent the north, south, east, and west.”
Chantal stood on a stool to reach into an overflowing laundry basket. She grabbed armfuls of smelly, wet towels and dropped them onto the floor. Many had unrecognizable stains. "Let's get to work."
They filled washers and dryers and did a lot of folding. As soon as they finished folding one load, the next machine would be ready. They worked tirelessly for hours. The hamper seemed to be a bottomless pit. Late into the night, Maya began to feel a sense of accomplishment—until Chase came down the stairs carrying more bundles. He dumped them into the hamper without a word.
"Ahh!" Chantal said, balling her fists. "We're back where we started. Why are you just now bringing these to us?"
Chase looked at his feet as he talked. "The maids left them in the maintenance closet. There wasn't any room down here earlier." He turned to leave without saying goodbye.
Maya attempted to cheer her up. "It's okay! We'll work hard tomorrow and be finished by lunch."
Chantal frowned, picked up a bottle of liquid soap, and devilishly splashed it onto Maya's shirt. A half smile curled the corner of her mouth.
Maya's eyes opened wide. "I can't believe you just did that!" She grabbed a soap container and squirted it into Chantal's hair.
Chantal tried to wipe out the pink sludge, laughing loudly.
Maya ran between two of the washers. Chantal was behind her and poured the rest of the bottle down Maya's back.
"Ahh! It's cold," she laughed then chased Chantal, sliding in the blue goop.
"We're going to be in so much trouble!" She laughed, then slipped backward and landed on her elbows. Drops of soap flew into the air. Maya dumped the rest of her container on Chantal's belly.
Their clothing stuck to their bodies and Chantal's ponytail dripped after falling into the puddle.
Chantal held her sides as she laughed.
"What is going on down there?" Aunt Roslyn called from the doorway.
They looked at each other as their mouths shaped into O’s.
"Nothing," Chantal called, stifling a giggle. “We might need more soap soon.”
"Well, keep it down! I’ll send Helga to get some tomorrow." The door closed.
"Bahahaha," they both burst out.
Chantal raced up the stairs and almost slipped but grabbed the banister. She peeked out the door to make sure her mother wasn't looking. When she noticed the coast was clear, she and Maya traipsed off to their room to wash themselves up.
⭐⭐⭐
Maya lay in the glow of her nightlight that evening. She was exhausted after cleaning the mess in the basement and she never wanted to smell Spring Breeze laundry detergent again. Every time she tried to close her eyes, she would see her mother's skinny hand reaching from under the mound of covers on the floor. An eerie feeling crept into her stomach. "Chantal?"
Secrets of the Anasazi Page 13