Look Out! Ghost Mountain Below

by Lin Oliver

  With any luck, we would find David on the mountain and convince him to come home to his mother.

  That would give Viola Dots the happiest birthday of her life.

  CHAPTER 3

  At lunch that day, Luna and I met in the school library to read up on Georgia O’Keeffe and her painting. By the time I got there, Luna had already asked our librarian, Mrs. Kim, to help her find a book on American artists. Luna was sitting at a table, flipping through the pages.

  “Georgia O’Keeffe sure loved to paint flowers,” she said.

  She slid the book over so I could see it. I went past the colorful flowers until I came to the paintings of New Mexico. I saw white cliffs and red hills, but I couldn’t find the painting of the mountain Chives had described.

  “What was it called again?” I asked Luna.

  “Red Hills with the Pedernal, I think.”

  “Is pedernal a Spanish word?”

  “Sounds like it,” Luna said, “but I don’t know what it means.”

  We asked Mrs. Kim for help finding the right page, and she showed us how to look it up in the index. There it was. Cerro Pedernal, page 97.

  “Cerro means hill in Spanish,” Luna said.

  “That’s more than a hill.” We studied the picture of Cerro Pedernal. It was a huge mountain, towering over the red and green and brown valley below. What was so unusual about it, though, was its peak. It wasn’t pointed at the top, like most mountains. It was completely flat, like the blade of a knife.

  “Cerro Pedernal looks like its top fell off,” I said to Luna.

  “It says in the caption that it’s called a butte,” Luna read. “That’s a tall steep mountain with a small flat top. Pedernal’s top is made of flint, which is a kind of stone that Native peoples used to make arrowheads and tools.”

  “Arrowheads!” I said. “Chives told us that David collected arrowheads.”

  “Then if he’s there, we’ll know where to find him,” Luna said. “At the top, looking for more arrowheads for his collection.”

  “Oh look,” I said, glancing down the page. “It says here that Georgia O’Keeffe lived close to the real Pedernal, on a ranch they called Ghost Ranch.”

  As soon as those words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back. Why did I have to mention ghosts, when I knew the whole topic scared Luna?

  “Did you say ‘Ghost Ranch’?” Luna asked, just like I knew she would. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “We’re not actually going to Ghost Ranch,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “We’re going to a nearby mountain.”

  Luna looked worried.

  “Remember what Chives told us,” she said. “That some Native people in the area believe there are spirits up there.”

  I did remember that, even though I was trying not to.

  “I’m sure we’ll be fine,” I said. “That ghost movie planted some scary ideas in your head.”

  Luna suddenly stood up and slammed the book shut.

  “Okay,” she said. “The less I know, the better.”

  She threw the drum over her shoulder and ran out, leaving Mrs. Kim looking very confused.

  After school, I met Luna at the playground gate.

  “Do I look different?” she asked.

  I checked her up and down. Same headband. Same drum. Same dress.

  I shook my head.

  “Tiger, I can’t believe you didn’t notice,” she said. “I got rid of my scared face, and now I have my brave face on. I’m not going to let anything on that mountain bother me. I am just going to keep repeating: I am brave. I am brave. I am brave.”

  “But, Luna, you really are brave,” I said. “I’ve seen you face down a tiger, and escape a French prison, and climb out of a five-story building onto a fire escape.”

  “I know,” she said. “I really don’t know what it is about all this ghost stuff. I guess it just gives me the creeps.”

  We quietly walked home, preparing ourselves for the afternoon’s adventure. As we turned up our street, I heard a cackling noise behind us, like someone was doing a bad imitation of a chicken laying an egg. Then came that all-too-familiar voice. It was Cooper Starr.

  “Hey, losers,” he said, pulling his bike up on the sidewalk and riding alongside us. “You two are looking even worse than usual today. I like your drum, loony Luna. What’d you do, join a weirdo band?”

  “Cooper, just go away,” I said.

  “Are you guys going to visit your favorite witch again?” he jeered.

  “Viola Dots is a whole lot more interesting than you are,” I said.

  “What if I won’t let you go?” Cooper said. He pulled his bike in front of us, blocking our path so we couldn’t get past. “What are you going to do about that, huh?”

  Luna stood up very straight and put her hands on her hips. She moved in about one inch from Cooper’s face.

  “Cooper Starr, you’re just being mean,” she said. “And in case no one ever told you, it’s not nice to be mean.”

  Cooper looked surprised.

  “Who do you think you are?” He snarled.

  “I’m Luna Lopez,” she said. “And listen up, Cooper, because I’m counting from ten, and you’d better be gone by the time I reach one.”

  “Or what?” Cooper said.

  “Let’s just say it involves my dad, who is really big and strong,” Luna said. “Ten … nine … eight …”

  Cooper is a bully, but he’s not brave. By the time Luna reached three, he was pedaling away from us.

  “Luna,” I said when he was out of sight. “Your dad isn’t even here. He’s in Texas with his army unit.”

  “I know that, and you know that,” she said. “But Cooper Starr doesn’t know that.”

  “You’ve got guts,” I said to her.

  “Yup,” she said with a smile. “I am brave.”

  By the time we reached Viola’s house, it was close to four o’clock. We knocked on her door. Usually, we hear Chives’s hoof steps scurrying to open the door for us. But today, it was silent inside.

  I picked up the paintbrush-shaped knocker and pounded the door again. There was still no answer.

  “Chives!” Luna called out. “Open up! It’s us.”

  We waited another minute and knocked again.

  “Chives!” I called. “Hurry! We’re going to run out of time.”

  It seemed like forever until the door slowly swung open, just enough to let us look inside.

  We couldn’t believe what we saw.

  CHAPTER 4

  It was Chives at the door, but not the Chives we knew.

  The Chives we knew was always perfectly dressed in his top hat and polka-dot bow tie. He always wore a jacket and a white shirt and formal black pants. He never appeared as anything but a perfect gentleman, even though he was a pig.

  But this Chives looked like a combination of Johnny Appleseed and Bozo the Clown. He was wearing a tank top and hiking shorts with a yellow plastic bucket on his head. And to top off the whole look, he was carrying a mop.

  I would have said something, but my mouth was hanging too far open to talk.

  “Chives,” Luna sputtered. “What happened to you? Did you fall into a junk pile?”

  “Hurry inside,” he said. “I will explain everything.”

  We entered the house. From the living room, we could hear Mrs. Dots’s voice.

  “Is that the children, Chives?” she shouted. “Bring them to me immediately.”

  “Yes, Madame,” Chives called out. “We will be right in.”

  He stood close to us and whispered. “I imagine you’re wondering why I am dressed this way,” he began. “This is my mountain-climbing outfit. Not having proper clothes at my disposal, I have pieced this together from common objects I found around the house.”

  “A bucket and a mop?” I said. “Those will help you wash the floors, but not climb a mountain.”

  “Perhaps they look like a bucket and a mop to you,” Chives said, “but to me, they are my hel
met and my walking stick.”

  “I don’t understand,” Luna said. “Where are you going mountain climbing?”

  “I am going with you into the fantastic frame,” he answered. “You two have searched for David several times now, yet he has never agreed to return with you. I believe that if we are lucky enough to find him on Pedernal, I can bring him home.”

  “I’m not so sure he wants to come back,” I said. I had been thinking that for a while, but I had never had the nerve to say it.

  “It is time for David to come home,” Chives said. “For fifty years, I have stood by and watched my mistress suffer. If I can explain to David how much his mother misses him, I believe he will return. Now we must hurry, children.”

  We ran into the living room and found Viola Dots staring at the huge golden frame. Inside the frame was her painting of Cerro Pedernal. It was an awesome sight. The mountain rose like a volcano above a low brown valley covered with green bushes and red soil.

  “Finally, you’re here,” Viola said without turning around. “Just in time.”

  The clock on the bottom of the frame said it was two minutes to four. The hour of power was about to begin. Mrs. Dots was calling out directions in her usual bossy tone.

  “Now, if you find David, I want you to tell him …”

  As she turned to face us, she caught sight of Chives. She let out a loud gasp.

  “Good heavens, Chives. What on earth has happened to you?”

  “I have decided to accompany the children into the frame to search for Master David,” he said.

  “How can you help, Chives?” she snapped. “You’re just a pig.”

  “But he’s a very loving pig,” Luna said. “He wants to bring David home for your birthday. You should say thank you. My grandmother says that ‘thank you’ is the most important thing you can say to anyone.”

  “I thank Chives every day … for bringing me tea, for fixing me dinner, for taking care of the house. Don’t I, Chives?”

  “Well, perhaps not every day, Madame. But I do believe you thanked me once.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Viola said. “You’re not going. I need you here.”

  “My decision is firm, Madame,” Chives said. “I am going forth. It is my duty and my honor.”

  He walked over to the golden frame and stood bravely in front of it. No sooner had he taken his position in front of the painting than the clock on the frame started to chime.

  “Are you ready?” I asked Luna, reaching out for her hand.

  “I am brave,” she said, grasping my hand tightly in hers.

  “Let the adventure begin!” Chives shouted, raising his mop high in the air.

  I looked at the painting and saw a small hole beginning to open up. I had hoped it would be at the top of the mountain, but it wasn’t. It was in the valley below, in a patch of what appeared to be rusty red hills.

  I heard the sound of the canvas ripping apart. I felt myself being pulled toward the painting. I thought I felt sand and dust on my face. I didn’t resist.

  I was ready to go.

  CHAPTER 5

  The whole living room trembled beneath my feet. I could hear Viola’s voice, but it was growing distant.

  “Bring my son back to me,” she called. “Please, bring him back. Thank you, children. Thank you, Chives.”

  Her voice faded away, and all I could hear was the whistling of wind. It grew louder and louder as the hole grew bigger and bigger. Somewhere in the air around me, a man was singing in a different language.

  Luna reached out for Chives and grabbed him by the hoof.

  “I’ve got you,” I heard her say. “I won’t let go.”

  Everything around me began to grow blurry. The white walls and sparkling chandeliers of Viola’s living room disappeared. Colors swirled before my eyes … rusty reds, dark greens, purples and blues. Around and around they spun until I could see no forms at all, just color.

  I was swept off my feet and into the hole in the painting. Luna was by my side, clutching my hand as we hurtled through time and space. Chives was next to her. I could see him gripping his mop and trying to hold the yellow plastic bucket on his head.

  I don’t know how long we tumbled or how far. All I know is that when I landed, I was on the side of a dusty gravel road, covered in red dirt. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and looked around. Luna was lying in the dust beside me, the drum still strapped to her back. Chives was nowhere to be seen.

  The sun beat down on us. A hot wind rustled in the nearby pine trees. Looming in the distance was Cerro Pedernal, jutting straight up to the sky and appearing even larger than it did in the painting. It was a scary and beautiful mountain, glowing with an almost ghostly light.

  Slowly, I became aware of the sound of a car sputtering down the road. It was an old gray pickup truck, kicking up a cloud of dust as it made its way along the bumpy road. The driver was singing the same song I had heard in the tunnel.

  I could only see the outline of the man in the driver’s seat. He wore a big straw hat that cast a shadow over his face. I couldn’t tell if he was smiling or frowning.

  The truck pulled up alongside us and stopped.

  The man in the straw hat got out. He had long black hair that flowed out from beneath his hat. He was tall and wore silver bracelets with turquoise stones in them.

  “You lost, boy?” he asked.

  “I don’t think so,” I answered. “This is New Mexico, isn’t it?”

  “Yup.”

  “That’s a nice old truck you got there,” I said.

  He scowled at me, obviously angry at something I had said.

  “My truck isn’t old,” he snapped. “I bought it this year.”

  “No way,” I said. “Look at those chrome headlights and that classic grille. Your truck looks like it’s straight out of an old movie.”

  I felt Luna’s elbow in my ribs.

  “Tiger,” she whispered. “Remember, we’re in the painting. It’s 1936.”

  Of course, I had totally forgotten.

  “I’m Tiger Brooks,” I said, sticking out my hand. “And this is my friend Luna.”

  “I’m Rio,” the man answered, almost crushing my hand in his strong grip. “That means river in Spanish.”

  “Yo sé,” Luna said. “Yo hablo Español. My family is from Mexico. Are you?”

  “No, I am Navajo,” he said. “My tribe has lived in New Mexico for many hundreds of years. I was born and raised right here in the badlands, a stone’s throw from Ghost Ranch.”

  Luna’s face immediately clouded over with worry.

  “Excuse me, sir,” she said, “but did you say b-b-badlands? Can you tell us what’s so bad about them? I mean, there aren’t any bad spirits here, are there?”

  “Depends on what you mean by spirits,” Rio answered.

  Oh boy, that was not the answer Luna was hoping for.

  “You mentioned Ghost Ranch,” Luna said. “So I was just wondering if maybe there are ghosts here, or any other spirits you think I should know about.”

  “The Navajo people used to believe that Cerro Pedernal is home to the goddess we call Changing Woman, who grows old and young again with the seasons,” Rio said. “The story goes that she created our people from the skin of her body.”

  “Oh, so she’s a good spirit, then,” Luna said, sounding relieved. “She wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

  “She is always kind,” Rio answered. “Not like the evil skinwalkers that many say live on Pedernal.”

  Did he say evil skinwalkers? No! Tell me he didn’t say evil skinwalkers!!!!

  “Excuse me, Rio,” I said. “I don’t think I heard you correctly. Did you say ‘evil skinwalkers’?”

  “Yup,” he said.

  Just the word skinwalker made my heart beat faster. In my mind, I saw a blob of skin walking around without a body. Maybe this blob of skin would grab on to me, I thought, and never let go. Or spit out some slimy liquid that would sting me like a jellyfish. My mind was suddenly filled wit
h horrible ideas.

  My dad always says that when you’re scared, you should think of something funny to take your mind off being scared. I tried to make up a joke.

  Knock, knock.

  Who’s there?

  Skinwalker.

  Skinwalker who?

  I couldn’t think of one funny answer to that question.

  CHAPTER 6

  I’ll admit that I was scared, but Luna looked like she was going to faint. Her eyes grew wide, and her voice trembled when she spoke.

  “These skinwalkers, are they as bad as they sound?” she asked Rio.

  “The legend is that skinwalkers are people who can change their shape into any animal they desire,” Rio said. “They often appear as coyotes or bears or crows.”

  “Will they hurt you?” I asked, telling myself that I didn’t believe any of this.

  “They are evil witches,” Rio said. “They roam these hills with harmful thoughts. They leave no tracks and can never be caught.”

  “But you’ve never actually seen one, right?” Luna said.

  “We are told you must never look a skinwalker in the eye or you will be cursed forever,” Rio answered.

  Luna actually shuddered.

  “Okay, let’s not get crazy,” I said. “As far as we know, there is no such thing as a skinwalker.”

  “Strange things happen out here in the desert,” Rio said, gazing off into the distance. “I never thought I’d see an orange pig with a bucket on his head, but I’m looking at one now. For all I know, that pig could be a skinwalker.”

  On a nearby hill, trudging through the dirt toward us, was Chives.

  “Wait here,” I said to Luna and Rio.

  I took off running and met Chives, guiding him behind a bush where we could not be seen.

  “Hello, Master Tiger,” he said. “I see you’ve found a guide. Well done.”

  “Where have you been, Chives?”

  “I floated off while we were in the tunnel,” he said. “And if I do say so myself, I had a most unfortunate landing. I believe I ripped my hiking shorts.”