Secrets of the Anasazi

by Sky Whitehorse

  Lance grabbed her arm, guiding her out a couple yards, and pointed at the patch of ice in front of them as her mouth fell open.

  A frightening sight met her. Trapped beneath the sheet of ice that looked like frosted glass, was Ahote. His hair floated around his head, his eyes wide open, staring into space. He wore the same clothes Maya had seen him in before his disappearance: jeans and a plaid shirt with cut-off sleeves and a satchel slung around his shoulder. His lips were purple like he had been dead for hours.

  She pursed her lips as tears flooded her eyes. She fell to her knees, rubbing the layer of frost away to get a clearer look at his face.

  “No!” She wiped her face. This couldn’t happen to someone that gave so much of himself. She shook her head in disbelief.

  He was a good man that did what he had to do to respect life. The time he had taken to tell her about her people, and their legends had been more important to her than she could ever express. To know where they came from, and to witness someone that believed so passionately in loving the land, the animals, and his people overwhelmed her as she considered a world without him. What would Warren do without a mother or a father? How could fate be so cruel?

  Lance put a hand on her shoulder. “Maya?” he whispered.

  She wiped her bleary eyes and shook her head, not wanting Lance to speak while she tried to understand it.

  Then she noticed Ahote’s arms twitch, and a few bubbles floated from his mouth. She sucked in a breath, putting her fingers in front of her mouth. She had heard of bodies moving after they were dead, but this movement was so life-like. He twitched again, his head moving back as if he was in a deep sleep.

  Maya turned to Lance. "Is he dead?"

  Lance shrugged. "You can't die in the lake of healing waters.”

  Her lips parted as she looked back down at Ahote. “Of course.” Her shoulders relaxed as she filled with relief.

  “If anything, he's in a dream state of bliss.” Lance knelt beside her and pounded his fist on the ice. “The sheet keeps getting thicker and we need to break a hole into it-” Lance seemed older to Maya. His confidence and level-headedness in the plight of the moment were remarkable, as if he had entered through the right of passage to manhood just as Dr. Parker had joked he would. “Then we can lift him out. Let's jump on the count of three.”

  They both stood.

  “One... two..."

  They jumped as hard as they possibly could and landed with a thud, but the ice didn't give way. They tried again and again, to no avail.

  "We aren't heavy enough," Maya said, wrinkling her brow.

  Lance placed his hands on each of his reddened cheeks, turning his gaze onto Ahote. He swallowed.

  “What do we do?” Maya asked, shaking her head.

  “We can’t leave him here,” he said, softly.

  “Hello?” A male voice called.

  They turned to see James rounding the corner with Chantal in his arms. Her head lulled like a rag doll. James leaned against the rocky wall for support and exhaled heavily.

  "What's wrong with her?" Lance asked, standing straighter.

  James’s mouth hung open, then he closed it, then opened it again as if trying to speak but he couldn’t find the words. "I think I overdid the dosage on the medicine.” His voice cracked as he darted glances between Lance and Chantal. "I only gave her two more than the instructions."

  I knew I should have read the bottle! “Bring her here,” Maya said. “Help us break the ice! The waters will heal her."

  James looked at Chantal, gently brushing his hand over her lips. "She needs medical treatment."

  "Trust us," Maya said. "Ahote needs our help too. He’s trapped in the lake."

  James walked towards them. He looked at Maya with a doubtful gaze. As he came near cracks from under their feet began to spread over the surface of the ice. The sound was crisp as the pieces separated. The ice gave way and the four plunged into the icy water, sinking in over their heads. The cold stung every inch of Maya’s body. She opened her eyes and could see through the water clear as day.

  The bottom of the lake went down deep. There were reefs with tiny fish she had never seen before in amazing neon colors. More pueblos stretched as far as she could see like an abandoned underwater city. Seaweed grew around the buildings like a garden of bushes, and barnacles grew around the building that was crumbling in disrepair. Maya swam down through the biome of glowing corals with wiggling tentacles. Some of them sucked themselves in as she passed with a “blub”.

  She kicked her feet and continued to the first patch of seaweed. It was neon green and its stems were shear tubes. At the tips were several tiny flowering buds of forest green petals. She broke off a piece and looked up just as a floating white piece of cloth jerked around the corner of the pueblo, as if someone was on the other end pulling it away. Maya swam to see what it was. She touched the side of the building, and suddenly it was like she was now walking on solid ground. The barnacles disappeared, and the building looked brand-new. She knew there was water still around her, but she didn’t feel like there was a need to breathe, and the water no longer made her feel buoyant.

  As she turned the corner she saw the piece of cloth was part of a beautiful white dress, and the woman wearing it had long black hair and bronzed skin. Her dark lashes outlined her oval eyes, and her full lips were the shade of pink rose petals. The most amazing part was that she was healthy.

  “Mom!” Maya said, feeling a lightness in her chest.

  Her mother didn’t notice her, but a small child ran to her and grabbed her hands. Her mother began to swing the girl, a miniature version of herself, in a circle until the girl’s feet were off the ground, and she giggled. Maya smiled. It was a distant memory of her past. She sat and watched as they played games, and read a book under the willow tree that somehow appeared when she wasn’t looking. Time was slipping by and her mother surprised her small self with ice cream that didn’t disintegrate in the water. She just pulled it from nowhere. Maya didn’t know how much time had passed, but she wouldn’t have minded staying there all day watching. She didn’t feel tired anymore, and her muscles didn’t ache.

  In a moment everything turned black. Maya opened her eyes and realized she wasn’t breathing. She gasped as cold air filled her lungs. There were four familiar faces looking down at her. Chantal ran her fingers through Maya’s hair, Lance and James frowned, and Ahote cradled her neck in his hand. Seeing him out from under the ice made her relieved.

  “Looks like we both got carried away with our dreams in the Lake of Healing Waters,” Ahote said, the corners of his lips turned up.

  Maya sat up and threw her arms around him. “I don’t understand how?” She pulled away trying to read his wooden face.

  “It’s like Chief Seattle said-” Ahote looked up, as if there were an invisible force he could see. He lifted his hand. “All things share the same breath- the beast, the tree, the man, the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.” He looked back at her. “Everything is relative to each other. Everything you do comes around full circle. That’s the circle of life.”

  She nodded, knowing in her heart he spoke the truth. “I’m so glad you’re ok.” Her teeth chattered.

  He squeezed her hand. “Each of you showed bravery coming this far. Your generation has much to be proud of.” He looked at each of them as he spoke.

  Lance pushed out his chest and beamed, while James lowered his eyes with indifference.

  Chantal bit her lip. “I didn’t do anything.” She stood next to James and put her hand on his shoulder. Her leg was completely healed. “James carried me the whole way.” She tried to meet his gaze but he looked away.

  “It was nothing,” James said with his chin lowered.

  Maya shivered from the prickling, frosty bite of the cavern, but at the same time the water had given her an amazing sensation of power and vibrance.

  She stood straight and pulled away in panic as she remembered the seaweed she had colle
cted. She reached into her pockets, but they were empty. She reached up, placing her fingertips on her cheeks. “Oh, no!”

  Ahote reached for the brown, soft leather satchel he had slung over his neck and shoulder, opening it so Maya could see inside. “Nothing to worry about, young one.”

  She let out a breath of relief at the sight of the flowering seaweed.

  “You didn’t think I would fail you, did you?” He winked at her.

  Maya felt a lump in her throat. "Thank you."

  Lance filled an empty water bottle with water from the lake. "For later," he said, twisting the top back on.

  "How do we get out of here?” James turned in a circle searching for any sign of an exit.

  "The way back to the canyon is this way," Ahote said, pointing down a path into the darkness that none of them had noticed. He turned to the path and they followed him up and around the corner into a small, hallowed space.

  James's headlamp shone into the area that looked like the inside of yet another kiva, and a ladder made of reeds and string led upward into a shallow hole. On the walls were sand paintings of mythical creatures that looked like the torso of a man and the body of an ant. It reminded Maya of a centaur, only with an insect body.

  Maya brushed her hand over it. “What is the meaning behind these creatures?”

  Ahote smiled. “They are the ant people. There are many legends you have yet to hear.”

  There was nothing Maya would rather do than sit around the bonfire and listen to his storytelling that led her to daydream. Too bad she lived so far away, and then it came to her. “I’ll be back next summer to hear them,” she promised.

  Chantal brightened. “Oh good, because we have horseback riding to do.”

  “And climbing,” Lance added with a nod.

  “Not to mention you have to help me with laundry,” Chantal said.

  Maya did all she could not to raise her top lip. She had done enough laundry to supply the entire city with fresh towels.

  Ahote climbed up the ladder first and at the top he pushed away a boulder, climbing out into a violent tempest of wind and rain. He sat at the top and grabbed their hands, helping them out.

  "It's a long walk," he yelled over the sound of the storm.

  ⭐⭐⭐

  Sunday, 6:25 a.m.

  Warren relaxed and draped over the top of the rock. The water in the river bed had reached where he lay. He closed his eyes, spread eagle. The current finally pulled him in. He had peaceful thoughts as he floated into the whirling waters, in total surrender to the flash flood.

  His side smacked and scraped into another rock and he was taken by an undertow. He flipped underwater, holding his breath. His rib throbbed in pain from the impact.

  He thought about finally being with his mom and how the quicker he drowned the less suffering he would sustain, but he couldn't bring himself to force death to come by breathing in the lake water. He held his breath as long as he could while being washed down river, until he began to feel lightheaded. This is the end. Tawa take me home.

  39. After the Storm

  Sunday, 12:05 p.m.

  Maya, Chantal, and Lance stood on the surface of the underworld, outside the tunnel they had climbed from. The temperature outside was significantly warmer. Everyone’s clothes clung to their bodies after the dip in the icy lake. Maya could already feel the warmth working its way down her legs and on her shoulders. Outside the Earth’s crust, it was like they had emerged from an enormous anthill. Rain poured heavily, and pebbles surrounding the mound rolled under their shoes like marbles. The top of the hole was like the mouth of a miniature volcano. Ahote reached in as James extended his hand, looking up from where he stood on the ladder.

  “Hurry!” Ahote said, locking hands.

  James stumbled out onto his knees when the wind whipped up, the same way it had in the laundry room kiva. Maya was beginning to recognize the way Earth Mother moved. The earthly motion gave her chills and she felt it pick up. Ahote mouthed words that were inaudible over the wind. He motioned to them to run away from the exit. Chantal grabbed James’s hand as he stood and they backed away, watching as the wind picked up a dirt devil that spiraled over the ground above the hole. It picked up speed, pulling more sand with it. Maya covered her eyes, feeling the pull of the g-force around them.

  Minutes later the wind died down to a light breeze. When she opened her eyes the mound was gone, blending into the flat ground of the plateau over the Grand Canyon. She ran her hand over the dirt, looking for any sign of loose sand. She imagined anyone could come along and sink right through the tunnel, blanketed by a sheet of sinking sand, but it wasn’t the case. She circled it four times, but the ground was solid, as if it had all been a dream.

  “Maya?” Ahote’s voice broke her concentration.

  She rubbernecked and turned to him, raising her eyebrows and parting her lips.

  "It's high noon," he said, sheltering the sun from his eyes which began to peek through the clouds as they rolled away. “We best start back if we want to get lunch.”

  "I'm starving," Lance complained, scratching his head.

  "Me too," Chantal said, doing a skip as if to show off that her leg worked.

  Maya reached into her backpack and passed out the protein bars she had stashed for the journey. "Here.”

  Lance grabbed one and ripped the package open like he hadn’t seen food in years. James took one with a smile which faded when he saw Maya only held one more.

  Ahote looked at the last one, his eyelids lowered as he looked away. “You have it.”

  “I already ate. Take it,” Maya insisted, putting it in his palm.

  Ahote looked from her to the bar, reluctantly opening it.

  James handed his bar to Chantal. “You need it.” He unwrapped it and gave it to her.

  Chantal broke it in half, handing him the other piece, and offering a smile. “We’ll share.”

  They ate them like it was the last morsel they would ever eat, but it was over quickly. It was just enough to tide them over. They started east following Ahote’s lead, except for James who shook his head, looking down into the canyon from the edge.

  Maya stood beside him. She noticed the rain didn't sink into the sand; instead, it rolled in droplets the way water rolled off a duck's back, then trickled over the edge of the canyon to the river. Down at the bottom of the canyon, the water level was higher than she remembered it before they entered the sacred door, or maybe it was just where she was standing from the top that made it seem that way.

  James pulled his eyebrows together as he too seemed to notice. He rubbed his neck uncomfortably. “Does it look like the water’s risen?” He looked into her eyes point blank like her opinion was important.

  “Actually, I was thinking the same thing,” Maya said, clasping her hands together.

  James tugged at his collar like it was getting tight.

  “This is the first rain we've seen all summer," Maya said, trying to lighten the conversation.

  His chest caved, and he bent over, putting his hands on his knees and shaking his head.

  Maya put her hand on his back, not sure what might be the matter, but then she remembered. It must have been difficult for James knowing his uncle was taken prisoner in the Underworld. "Sorry you lost your uncle." She tried to be understanding, although she was glad she would never have to worry about him again.

  He bored his eyes into hers with an intense stare. "I'm not." He looked down to his feet. He seemed to carry a heavy burden. He then turned on his heel and walked eastward, catching up with the rest of them, but instead of walking beside them he briskly passed them.