Hunters of Chaos

by Crystal Velasquez

  Thankfully, on the other side of the room I spotted Doli, talking to a girl I didn’t know. They both had on jeans, too. I made a beeline for them right away. “Am I relieved to see you!” I cried. “Is this everybody? I thought there would be more people here.”

  “Me too,” said Doli. “It’s good to know Shani and I weren’t the only ones who got this bizarre invite, though. Oh, you guys haven’t met yet, have you? Ana Cetzal, this is my roommate, Shani Massri.”

  I said hi, and Shani nodded and gave me a big smile. She had skin the color of red shale and a hank of blue hair hanging over her left eye. Tiny hoop earrings climbed all the way up the edge of her right ear. When she said, “What’s up?” and waved, I noticed that she had a drawing of a complicated tangle of flowers on the top of her hand, one of the leafy vines traveling up her index finger all the way to the nail.

  “Whoa, cool flower. Your parents actually let you get a tattoo?”

  Shani’s smile turned sly. “They insisted.”

  At my look of disbelief, she licked her thumb and rubbed the edge of her hand. Part of a vine disappeared. “It’s temporary,” she explained. “A henna tattoo. My mom did it for me the night before I came here and said it would last about a month. I just think it looks awesome, but she says henna on top of a person’s hand is supposed to protect them or whatever.”

  “It’s an Egyptian thing,” Doli added with a smile. “I’ve been begging her to do one for me. Maybe a bluebird.”

  “Why a bluebird?” I asked.

  “Doli means bluebird in Navajo,” she answered. “I keep telling Shani how cool it would be to have a tattoo of one on my shoulder, but she claims she doesn’t know how.”

  “And I keep telling you that I’m all about apps, not tatts,” Shani said. “You’re looking at the next Mark Zuckerberg, not an Egyptian Kat Von D. Besides, if you’re going to get a tattoo that represents your name, you should go with your last name.” She looked at me. “Haskie means warrior in Navajo. Now that would be sick.”

  “Not to change the subject,” I cut in, “but what are we really doing here?” I lowered my voice. “And why is Lin here?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” Doli said.

  Shani leaned in. “I hear she’s been giving you grief. She’s been torturing us for at least a year. So maybe this is some kind of intervention. About time!”

  We all laughed. But when I glanced over at Lin, standing by herself, I felt like we were treating her just as badly as she’d treated us. Slowly I made my way to the snack table and grabbed a chip and a can of soda. Doli and Shani reluctantly followed and did the same.

  “Hey, Lin,” I forced myself to say.

  She took a few seconds before saying, “Hello.” Afterward we just stood, crunching in silence. It was the definition of awkward. Ms. Benitez came back in then, and she could not have reappeared at a better time.

  “Ladies, I’m so glad to see you all here tonight,” she began. “I’ve recently acquired some new pieces that I’m excited to show you.” With that she waved us into the next room, which had copper plates in glass cases, oil paintings on the wall, and different-colored vases on freestanding podiums. She told us a little about each one, beaming with pride at having secured some of the harder to find pieces. “Many of these were gifted to the museum by former students,” she explained. “We’re very lucky to have them. In fact, our collection is so sought after that while we do display most of the items, we keep the most valuable ones in a large safe in the basement. As a special treat, I’m going to show them to you four now. Oh! I forgot. One of the lights has blown down there. I’ll get a flashlight. Just give me one moment.”

  With that she ducked into an office at the end of the hallway and started rifling through a set of desk drawers. Meanwhile, the rest of us turned to one another, exchanging looks of total confusion.

  “The basement?” Shani said. “Um, am I the only one who’s afraid Ms. Benitez is a crazy ax murderer who’s about to kill us and stuff us in the safe?”

  Doli clutched my arm. “Oh my God, we didn’t even tell anyone where we were going tonight. We’re going to be on that show Vanished about people who just up and disappear.”

  “You guys are overreacting,” I whispered. “Ms. Benitez is no ax murderer. She’s just . . . trying to be nice. She likes us.” Even I could hear the uncertainty in my voice.

  Lin huffed. “So she drags us to a creepy museum basement in the middle of the night for a tour we didn’t ask for? If that’s what she does for people she likes, I wish she hated me.”

  “Give her time,” Shani blurted.

  We heard Ms. Benitez close the door to the office. “Found one,” she called, holding up a flashlight. She waved us forward. “Come along, ladies.”

  Despite our hesitation, we boarded the freight elevator and rode down in uncomfortable silence. Only when we exited into the basement did Ms. Benitez speak.

  “I’m sure you’re all wondering why I chose the four of you, what you have in common.”

  “Other than the fact that we’ve been kidnapped?” cracked Lin under her breath.

  “What was that?” Ms. Benitez asked.

  “Nothing,” Lin said, and bit back a nervous laugh.

  Ms. Benitez walked farther into the basement and turned a corner, where we found a huge fireproof door. She turned to face us. “You are each fortunate to be descendants of important ancient civilizations. We are thrilled to have representatives from your fascinating cultures enrolled here at Temple.”

  “Oh brother,” Lin mumbled, and rolled her eyes.

  Lin was being a pill, as usual, but for once I sort of knew how she felt. Here I thought Ms. Benitez had seen something unique in our characters, but I should’ve known better. I was proud of my heritage, but why did I always have to be the representative for the entire Mayan civilization when all I wanted to be was myself?

  “Each of your families,” Ms. Benitez continued, “has donated a highly valuable item to the museum. I thought you might like to see how very special they are.”

  Baffled, I glanced at the other girls. Had they known about this? Judging by the confused looks on their faces, no. I racked my brain, but I couldn’t remember Aunt Teppy or Uncle Mec mentioning anything about donating an artifact to the school. Why hadn’t they told me?

  Ms. Benitez turned to the door and typed in a long, numbered code. There was a high-pitched beep and the door creaked open. Ms. Benitez entered and gestured for us to follow.

  “Good-bye, cruel world,” Shani whispered so only we could hear.

  We found ourselves in a small room within the safe. Ms. Benitez pointed to a golden fan spread open on a black metal stand. Covering the silk folds were pictures of mountaintops and bonsai trees. “This authentic Chinese fan was donated by your family, Lin. And this . . .” She walked to the opposite side of the room, where a beautiful woven rug hung from the wall. “This rug was donated by your parents, Doli.”

  “What?” she cried. “That makes no sense.” She sped to the rug and examined it closely. “Why would they donate this? This rug is a family heirloom! And if it’s worth any money . . .” She cast a glance at Lin, as if she knew what she was about to say would be held against her later. “My family can’t afford to give it away. They’re struggling. Why would they have given it to you?”

  Ms. Benitez hurried to explain that the rug was just a loan. “It will be here at the school as long as you’re here.”

  Doli frowned, clearly still puzzled. But she stayed quiet. To her credit, so did Lin.

  “Shani, if you look in the corner behind you, you’ll see your family’s donation.”

  We all turned around. There to the left of the door we’d entered through was a six-foot-high statue of a sphinx on a thick onyx platform. Shani, always quick with a joke, was rendered speechless.

  “Like all sphinxes, it has the head of a man and the body of a lion. But usually the lion is lying down. A sphinx that is in a standing position, like this one,
is quite rare.”

  I looked around the rest of the room but didn’t see any more art pieces. “What about mine?” I asked. “What did my family donate?”

  Ms. Benitez smiled and walked to the wall opposite the woven rug and flipped a switch. The back half of the room that had been draped in darkness came to light. There in the far corner was an object on a low pedestal. All four of us joined Ms. Benitez around it. It was a square vase with a large cat on each side. It occurred to me that the cats resembled the stylized one I’d seen on the vase at the Anasazi temple. The lid of this vase was shaped like a bat and was fastened to the base by four brightly colored stones.

  “Are those real gems?” I asked.

  “Oh, yes,” said Ms. Benitez. “Rubies and emeralds, to be exact.”

  I couldn’t have been more shocked. I thought I’d seen every piece my aunt and uncle had ever bought. “I’ve never seen this vase before,” I said. “It looks like it’s worth a fortune. Why would they have donated it?”

  “I can’t say for sure,” Ms. Benitez responded. “But they were quite insistent that the vase accompany you to the school.”

  “Wait. You mean it showed up at the same time I did?”

  She nodded. “Ladies, you should all be so proud of your respective cultures. All of the ancient civilizations that live on in you were known for having great power. In fact, many ancient peoples believed that power could be stored in inanimate objects and could be used for both good and evil. Now, if you follow me into the main room, I have one more very special object to show you.”

  She turned toward the open door at the end of the foyer and walked into the utter darkness beyond.

  The four of us looked at one another with wild eyes. What the . . . ? Maybe Shani was right and Ms. Benitez was nuts. But as weirded out as I felt, I was also curious. I followed her into the room, with Doli, Shani, and Lin right behind me.

  Once our eyes had adjusted to the blackness, I could see Ms. Benitez taking out a row of tall white candles and lining them up on a table. “Sorry it’s so dark,” she said. “I remembered the flashlight but forgot the batteries. We’ll have to create light the old-fashioned way.” She struck a match and lit the candles one by one. Soon the room was filled with a soft yellow glow.

  She blew out the match and walked over to a protective glass case, which she opened with a key. Slowly, she pulled out a golden orb. I could have sworn it was pulsing with light, but that was probably just the reflection of the candles. “Come closer, girls,” she said.

  We inched toward her. I wasn’t sure what Ms. Benitez was holding, but at least it wasn’t an ax. As I neared, I could see there were etchings on the orb. “What is that thing?” I asked.

  “In ancient times your ancestors were very powerful. If you look closely, you’ll see that this orb outlines the territories of your people.” She pointed each one out to us, tracing her finger along the thin lines. “Go ahead, take a closer look,” she said, handing the orb to Lin. “Each of you take a turn and see if you can point out the territory of your ancestors that I just showed you.”

  Lin gazed at the orb for a few seconds, then touched one finger to the area that represented China. A tremor seemed to pass through her body and her face paled. She quickly passed the orb to Doli and took a step back. Lin seemed shaken, but when she noticed me watching her, she rolled her eyes and said, “Okay, I’m done. Can I go now? Some of us need our beauty sleep.”

  “Not yet,” said Ms. Benitez. “We’re almost done here. Just wait till everyone’s had her turn.”

  While Ms. Benitez spoke, I watched as Doli took the globe from Lin and pressed her finger to the Navajo territory. It seemed like she, too, couldn’t wait to pass the orb to Shani. After Shani touched her finger to Egypt, she held the orb out to me, her eyes dark and serious. I hesitated, suddenly not sure if I wanted to touch the orb, but Shani pushed it into my stomach, and I had no choice but to wrap my hands around it. I lifted it up and touched the territory that had belonged to the ancient Mayans. Almost immediately, I felt a tingle race up my arm. It was like the pins-and-needles feeling you get when your arm has been asleep for a long time and is finally waking up. I caught Doli’s eye and she stared back, bobbing her head the slightest bit, and I knew: She’d felt the strange sensation too.

  After the bizarre round of hot potato, Ms. Benitez replaced the orb in the glass case and led us out of the basement and back to the museum’s entrance. Before she pulled open the door to let us out, she stopped and gave us each a long look. “Girls, I really want you to take from tonight that your ancestry makes you powerful. And don’t forget that, if anything . . . well, unusual should happen. All right, you should get back to the dorms. It’s late. Thank you so much for coming.”

  With that she ushered us out the door and closed it behind us. I glanced at Lin and she swirled her finger near her ear. This time I couldn’t argue. Ms. Benitez may not have been an ax murderer, but this evening she seemed completely insane.

  Once we were safely outside the gates and far enough away from the museum that we felt free to talk, I said, “Unusual? What could be more unusual than what just happened?”

  “I’m drawing a blank,” said Doli.

  “That’s because that was the weirdest, most bizarro event to happen in the history of the world. Like, ever,” said Shani. “And I’m speaking as someone who’s seen what Doli looks like when she wakes up in the morning.” She shuddered as if she’d seen something hideous.

  Doli lightly punched Shani’s arm. “How long were we in there, anyway? It felt like years.”

  I pulled out my phone and checked the time. It was only 9:15. I showed the digital clock to the other girls.

  “Aw, are you kidding me?” said Lin. “I missed Revenge for that? Now I want revenge.”

  We all laughed. Who knew Lin could be funny? We walked the rest of the way back to the dorm in a semifriendly silence. Right before we went in, Shani turned to us and said, “I vote we keep what happened tonight to ourselves. At least until I’ve had some serious therapy and can make sense of it.”

  “Deal,” I said, throwing my hand out, palm down. Shani slapped her hand on top of mine.

  “Deal,” Lin and Doli added in unison, adding their hands to the pile. I couldn’t help but smile. Maybe we’d be at war with Lin again the next day. But for now, the super-weird evening had turned us into allies. At least until the sun rose and made this all seem like a bad dream.

  chapter 8

  BECAUSE I COULDN’T PUT IT off forever, I went back to the room I shared with Nicole. As I stood in the hallway, preparing for round two with my roommate, I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. I felt odd, as though I’d eaten something that didn’t agree with me. But dinner had been hours ago. Why would my stomach wait until now to revolt?

  No. I wasn’t sick. But I wasn’t well, either. For starters, the lights in the hallways were so bright that I had to squint my eyes against the glare. And my nose seemed to be working overtime. I could smell everything—from the fruity scent of Nicole’s mango shampoo to the faint hint of toothpaste and the remains of the grilled cheese sandwich that now lay at the bottom of the trash can downstairs. It was overwhelming. I rushed into my room to escape the almost painful sensory overload.

  But inside the room was a whole different pain—in the form of a beautiful blonde named Nicole. I’d been hoping maybe she’d be asleep when I got back, but she was wide awake and lying on her bed, flipping through a magazine. When I entered, she sat up and put the magazine on her lap. “So,” she said, tossing her hair behind her shoulder, “how was Ms. Benitez’s little party? Are you two sorority sisters now, or what? She’s cray cray, you know. She can’t find friends her own age, so she hangs out with teenagers. Total loser. But maybe you want that in a BFF.” She gave me a toothy grin, like a shark who smelled blood in the water.

  Suddenly I wasn’t just annoyed with my roommate; I was disgusted by her. It took all my strength not to get up in her face and his
s something awful. What is happening to me? I thought. Was I becoming like Nicole in the worst possible way? I hoped not.

  I turned away from her, deciding to ignore her jabs. Instead I’d do something constructive—I’d e-mail my aunt and uncle again. Better yet, I’d Skype them. Right before I left home I’d downloaded Skype onto Aunt Teppy’s computer, but she’d found the whole thing confusing. After a half hour of me trying to show her how it worked, she’d said, “What’s wrong with a good old-fashioned phone call?” I was sure that by now she’d figured it out, though. At least, I hoped she had. I needed to see their faces and hear my aunt’s voice. I grabbed my laptop off my desk and opened it, and was immediately hit with the overpowering smell of mocha latte, Nicole’s favorite drink. I looked down and saw light brown liquid pooled into the spaces between the letters of the keyboard, dried stains forming on the mouse pad.

  “Wh-what happened here?” I sputtered, shocked. “Did you spill coffee all over my laptop?”

  Nicole craned her neck to see her handiwork. “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. It’s just, the laptop was open on your bed, and I’m such a klutz that I tripped over the computer cord you left on the floor. You should really be more careful with that. I could’ve broken my leg, and a cast is so not the look for fall. The worst part is, I wasted a perfectly good mocha latte. Tragic, am I right?” She chuckled as if it were nothing and went back to her magazine.

  I saw red. “You’ve ruined my laptop and you’re worried about your cup of coffee?”

  Nicole’s head shot up when she heard the anger in my voice. “Chill, Ana. What’s the big deal? Have the IT guy look at it, and if he can’t fix it, just buy a new laptop.”

  “Are you insane?” I yelled. “Laptops are expensive! I don’t have that kind of money. This laptop was a gift from my aunt.”

  Unfazed, Nicole put the magazine aside and stood up, widening her satisfied grin. “Come on now, Ana,” she said. “You don’t have to be coy with me. Lin texted me about what happened at the museum tonight. I know that your family donated a priceless piece of art to the school. Did you honestly think I wouldn’t find out about it?”