"It’s ok... How's Mom?"
"Well... there hasn't been any change."
Maya looked up at the ceiling, leaning against Roslyn’s desk. "Well, I'm not giving up on her."
"Of course, you're not."
"I'm going to find a way, Dad. She's going to get better."
"Now, Maya, there is nothing you can personally do about her health. The doctors are saying the chances are slim right now. We want you to know we love you."
"Can I talk to her?"
He sighed. "She's too weak. She can't even lift her head off the pillow."
Maya felt like her chest was getting heavy as she imagined her mother laying there in bed beside her father, unable to speak to her. She slammed the receiver on its hook. A single tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped her face and headed back to room 111, trying to collect herself. She entered the room, closing the door behind her and putting her hand on the door, resting her forehead on it.
Chantal rolled over, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "You okay?" she asked when she noticed Maya.
She ignored the question and asked one of her own. "Do you know how to break curses?"
"Only in theory. But Ahote won’t let me. He says it's too risky and dangerous. Besides, I can't do it alone. My mom doesn't believe she's cursed."
"If I don't figure out how to break this curse on my mother, she is going to die. What do I have to do?"
"Leave it alone," Chantal said.
Maya grabbed her by the arm and looked her in the eye. "C'mon. You've got to help me. Just tell me what you know."
"You're hurting me!"
Maya let go, surprised by her own anger. "I'm sorry, but I really need to know. Even if there is the slightest chance you know how... I have to try."
She let out a breath. "Grandma and Ahote don't want to fix it or they would have taken care of it. They have their reasons."
"I don't care. It's worth it to me—whatever the consequence.” She had never felt so determined. It was as if her heart was leading the way.
Chantal gave her a long, hard stare. "Alright. I'll tell you what I know. We're going to the old library in the turret. It's dark." She opened her dresser drawer and retrieved a matchbox, a candle, and a candleholder.
Maya thought back to how creepy her grandmother’s turret was. "Wait... isn't there another way to tell me? A way that is less... dark and scary?" Maya swallowed. “Can’t we find flashlights?”
"We don’t have flashlights. These are the only light sources I can find in this old place. If you don't quit being afraid, you will never be able to help your mother."
Maya let out a breath. "Ok, you're right."
"Good. Let's get going."
19. Ransacked
Maya followed Chantal out the door and they wandered in the dim light of the brass sconces to the northwest corner of the hotel. The old wooden door to the turret resembled the one to Grandma's. Engraved above it was the words, Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. — old Native American saying.
Chantal unlocked the door and entered the tower. Maya had a heightened watchfulness going in. She didn’t like the empty feeling that crept into her when she entered the dark cylinder room with the winding staircase that went up several stories.
Chantal lit the candle and light cascaded over her cheeks and nose. Her eye sockets were like darkened holes.
Maya took one step backward and bumped into something hard. She turned around to find an overgrown, ugly face. Her heart jumped. "Ahh!"
"Maya, calm down. It's a life-size mud head Kachina doll. The people from our tribe make them to protect their home. See?" she said, holding the candle close to the doll's face. It was five feet tall, carved out of wood, and had feathers protruding from the top of its head. The mask was blue with a yellow beak, and it had the body of a man.
Maya recognized it as the roadrunner kachina. She pressed her lips tight and nodded.
"Let's go.” Chantal jerked her head towards the wooden stairs which were in worse condition than the ones that led to Grandma's bedroom. Most of them groaned and bent under their weight.
"Watch this stair," Chantal warned, stepping over one that had collapsed. "Here we are. The old library." She pushed the door open, causing a gust of air to send dust fleeting into circulation. The only light from a small square window made the shape of a square with the beam of light into the center of the room, but around the edges of the circular room it was dark.
A small wooden table and chairs were in the center with some framed family photos sitting on it- the easiest thing to see. There was one with herself, Mom, Dad, and Roy, from when they had last visited the hotel a couple of years ago. Also, Aunt Roslyn with Chase, Chantal, and Lance. Some other, much older, photos of Native Americans; must have been related to her somehow. There was a photo of Ahote and Warren with Hototo and Fearless, and one of Grandma when she was much younger with Maya's grandfather who passed before she was born.
Her eyes drifted over the one with Aunt Roslyn, Ashlyn, and her mother when they were children. She had rarely heard stories about Ashlyn, and scarcely seen any pictures. Roslyn and mom looked like they were forcing smiles, and sat on the couch in the lobby with Ashlyn between them. Ashlyn looked like skin and bones with her head wrapped in a turban, probably to hide her balding head. Maya studied the photo, taking note of the likeness of Aunt Ashlyn’s illness and her mother’s. Her mother’s eyes were sad. Maya felt as if her throat were being twisted just knowing what a difficult time it was for her mother.
“So sad, isn’t it?” Chantal said as she noticed Maya staring. “She died before we were born.”
Maya backed away, not wanting her voice to crack. She ignored the question, looking at the rest of the room.
The bookshelf circled around the walls of the tower and a ladder on wheels was attached to a track for easy access to high shelves.
"This section is in Braille," Chantal said, pointing to one area. "And these books are written by former shaman," she said, pointing to another section as drops of wax dripped from the melting candle.
Maya’s eyes fell back to the photos, as if her pupils gravitated to them. She grabbed one with a black frame of a young, beautiful Native American woman wearing the same headband Warren had given her.
Chantal looked over her shoulder. "So, you remember the legend Ahote told you about the Lost Anasazi?... Maya?"
"Huh?" Maya placed the photo back on the table. "Oh, yes. There were people from some world that Spider Woman destroyed and she saved the good people."
"Right, the ancient people who are referred to as the Anasazi."
"And they had to climb out of the third world from the Grand Canyon," she recalled.
"Right, but the place the good people took shelter is still down there somewhere. In fact, I once overheard Ahote discussing with Grandma that the door to the underworld is accessible before the snake dance ritual, at the full moon in August."
"But what does this have to do with breaking curses?" Maya tilted her head back, feeling her impatience growing.
"Ok, I'm getting to that part." She pulled a book off the shelf. "So, Lance and I used to come here and he translated some of these books for me. They're rubbings from pictographs on the walls of the hidden cave that connects our world to the underworld." She gently turned the old pages of the book, which wasn't bound the same way a regular book was. It was merely a stack of papers that were tied together on one side.
Chantal turned the page, being careful not to tear it. "You can see the petroglyphs. The man swims down, grabs a plant, and brings it back to the surface.”
Maya leaned in. It was surprisingly clear, the way the charcoal was dark over the form of a person swimming down in the first frame. There were symbols under the pictures. The second frame looked like a gigantic fern with the person pulling at the leaves as they floated above. The third frame was of the person breaking through the surface of the water holding a piece of the plant. Chantal flipped the page. “He boils
it and gives it to the person with the said curse, and the curse is broken."
Maya studied the rubbing but never would have guessed the meaning behind them without being told. She gave her a side glance as she flipped the page. "You're sure this is what it says?"
Chantal’s lips parted. It was clear she didn’t like being second-guessed. "Without a doubt."
"So, we have to wait until August's full moon?"
Chantal nodded. "It's not as easy as you think. Some people that go never come back. Warren's mother is one, and there is a legend about Bahana, the light skinned brother that set out on a journey. He never returned. According to prophecy, he took the broken half of the Fire Clan tablet with him to write newly found wisdom on his journey. It was supposed to create a new friendship between the Hopi and the white man. Once the broken half of the tablet has been returned, the prophecy will be fulfilled. I think the tablet Dr. Parker has is the larger piece of the tablet, but I don't understand why the Fire Clan would have sold it to him."
"That is odd.” Maya dropped her shoulders. “How could they put a price on something of such sentimental value?"
Chantal opened her mouth to speak, but they heard a cracking floorboard outside the library door. Their heads jerked toward the sound.
The candle had burned to the bottom of the wick and the flame faded into glowing embers.
"Help!" James's voice called from outside.
Chantal struck a match and she and Maya hurried out the door to find James holding onto the first stair from the top. It had buckled under him and his chin and arms held him up while his body hung through a gaping hole.
"Help!" James wailed.
Chantal's match had burned down to her finger. "Ouch!" She shook the flame out and dropped it. They were in darkness.
Maya reached down. "Take my hand."
He grabbed her just as the stair he was holding cracked in half.
"Give me your other hand." Chantal reached into the hole.
James swung from Maya's arm, reaching up. She could barely see his outline, with his open mouth and wide eyes. Maya's grip was slipping from the sweat of their palms. She pulled with every muscle in her body. "I can't hold him much longer!"
Chantal leaned in further.
Maya felt the shifting of James' weight as it became shared with Chantal.
"I've got him. Heave!" Chantal shouted.
Together they yanked until his waist pulled over the floorboards.
"Thanks." James let out a large breath as he laid outstretched in front of them. "Do you have a spare flashlight?"
"No," Chantal replied. "Only candles. Why were you spying on us?"
"Sweetheart, the door was wide open.” He got to his feet, turning to see what was up there. “I wouldn't call it spying. Mind if I poke around?"
"Uh..." Maya and Chantal said in chorus.
"You can't," Maya said.
"This is a private family library," Chantal agreed.
They stood behind him, but he was much taller, and he didn’t seem to care if he was unwanted.
James held up his hands as if he were being arrested. "Why are you so secretive over your family library?" He got himself a candle and turned to them.
Chantal gazed at James and lit it for him. "We're not, it's just..."
"The books could be easily damaged," Maya supplied.
"Oh, I'll be careful," he persisted.
"You know what? It's fine," Chantal said. "What would you like to see?"
Maya mouthed the word what?
Chantal shrugged.
"Well, what do you have?" he asked.
"Mostly fables and a few history books."
James held his candle up to read the titles. "This is amazing. If my uncle could just spend a few hours in here—"
"Oh, no! You have to promise not to mention any of this to your uncle." Chantal grabbed James’s hand, leading him back to the stairs.
James turned back to face her, holding the candle under his chin. "But, why not?"
"Because it's very dusty," Chantal said. "My mother would have a fit."
James snickered at the suggestion.
"That's right," Maya said, her eyes darting to Chantal. "Not to mention the Gila monster that lives up here."
"Oh, right, the Gila monster. He's terrifying." Chantal nodding and exaggerating her expression with wide eyes as much as possible. "Besides, you could have broken your neck falling through the staircase. It isn't safe."
"Well what are the two of you doing up here?" he asked, shooting glances at them. "Going through books when it's that dangerous?"
"Oh, well, Maya was homesick," Chantal said. "She's from the mile-high state, Colorado. She likes the altitude, being up here in the turret."
Maya nodded, pushing her way to the door. "You know what? I've had my share of altitude for today. Why don't we go."
"Oh, yeah," Chantal said. "James, do you want me to tell you about the books over lunch in the Dining Hall?"
Maya couldn’t help but admire Chantal’s confidence when it came to flirting with James.
"Actually, that sounds great.” James stopped mid-stride, his biceps flexing as he made a fist and held it with his other hand in thought. “You can sum them up for me so I don't have to research them myself."
The three of them headed to the stairs. James went first, holding onto the banister as he skipped over the two broken stairs, and walked into the darkness.
"Why are you being so nice to him after he and his uncle tried to sneak into the west canyons the other night?" Maya whispered.
"Ahote thinks they're harmless. He said they don't have the key to the underworld, so it's fine. I'll tell him a few stories and he'll be satisfied. Besides, he's adorable." Chantal lit a new candle and they headed for the railing, being careful to step over the gap.
They tightened their grip around the banister and made their way out of the turret.
Over lunch, Chantal told James the creation story and he hung on her every word. Maya rested her chin on her palm as she listened to the story again.
"You have a fascinating family history," James said. "Do you want to hang out at the Fourth of July celebration tonight? My uncle is going to be with your mom, so..."
Chantal smiled and rubbed her neck. "I'd love to."
He smiled back, biting on the end of his fork. The stubble on his chin was growing in, making him even more handsome. "Alright. I'll see you later tonight." He stood from the table, wiping his mouth.
"Ok, bye," Chantal said, moistening her lips.
"Bye, James," Maya said.
Maya was relieved that James didn’t hold a grudge after the horseback riding incident. She had felt guilty about it for weeks. They watched him as he strode out of the Dining Hall.
"Why are you flirting with him?" Maya asked.
"I wasn't." She blushed. "It’s easier to keep an eye on him this way."
She chuckled. "You are so guilty."
Secrets of the Anasazi Page 17