Even though I’d never actually seen the show, I nodded. After the long plane ride, the earthquake, and the gossip-filled tour around my strange new home, going back to the room to just relax and eat with my roommate sounded like heaven. “Let’s do it,” I cried, genuinely excited.
Only, instead of the one-on-one roommate bonding I’d been expecting, Nicole made it a party by inviting the rest of the girls who lived on our floor of the dorm. Since the Vampire Diaries marathon went on so long, everyone changed into their pj’s and the whole thing turned into a big slumber party. It was actually fun, and my dorm mates all seemed nice enough. But I found myself feeling nervous all over again. I was wearing mismatched Hello Kitty pants and a tank top, and they were wearing La Perla silk pajamas.
For the rest of the night I did my best to mimic their casually chic vibe. I wasn’t sure I would ever fit in with this group, but as we dug into our slices of pizza and watched the show, I realized that I wanted to fit in.
And if I played my cards right as Nicole’s protégée, I just might.
chapter 4
THE NEXT MORNING, WHILE NICOLE grumbled about having to wear our school uniforms, I put mine on with a sigh of relief. At last I looked just like everyone else. But as we filed into the spacious auditorium for assembly, I gazed out at the sea of knee-high socks, blue and gray pleated skirts, and crisp white shirts and felt sad. It would be so easy to lose myself in this crowd. Only the jaguar, which I wore around my neck, as I’d promised Aunt Teppy I would, reminded me that I was still me—Ana Cetzal. Subconsciously, I reached up and rubbed it between my fingers.
“Welcome, students!” Principal Ferris called out from the podium once we’d all settled into our seats. Her smile was as bright and cheerful as the day she’d shown me to my room, and she wore a formfitting beige pantsuit with delicate pearl-drop earrings. So she’s Jason’s mom, I thought, searching for similarities. I glanced around, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, but the room was too packed.
“It’s wonderful to see so many familiar faces, and a few new ones too.” Principal Ferris scanned the crowd and smiled right at me for a moment. “I trust you all have made the most of your summer vacation. Show of hands—how many of you read the books on our recommended summer reading list?”
When one girl up front enthusiastically raised her hand, Nicole tittered beside me and whispered, “Brownnoser.”
I pretended I hadn’t heard her.
“Now, normally I would use this first morning assembly to discuss our goals for the year,” Principal Ferris continued. “But I have exciting news that I simply can’t wait to share.”
“Probably just another big alumni donation. Happens all the time,” Nicole mumbled, adding an exaggerated yawn. But what Principal Ferris said next made me sit up and take notice.
“As you know, we experienced a minor earthquake yesterday afternoon.”
So I wasn’t crazy! The ground did shake yesterday.
“Well, as one of our teachers discovered last night while walking the grounds,” Principal Ferris continued, “the earthquake collapsed a cliff side on the north end of the campus near one of the hiking trails and revealed something rather astonishing: an ancient temple carved into the rock!”
The room erupted into gasps and whispered conversations. Even the teachers, who’d been standing on the sidelines like stone sentries, seemed to come to life at the announcement.
“Though we obviously haven’t had time to verify this definitively, we do suspect that the temple is Anasazi in origin. As I’m sure Ms. Benitez could tell you”—she gestured to a pleasant-looking woman with shoulder-length brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses hanging from a long chain around her neck—“it has long been known that the Anasazi people were active in this area as far back as fifteen hundred BC, but this is the first indication that they may have lived right here on what is now Temple Academy! Needless to say, this is quite a coup. Temple has always valued the history of the many cultures that have enriched our lives, but now we can say that our fine campus is also an actual archaeological site.”
She started clapping, smiling from ear to ear, and we clapped along with her. I wished Uncle Mec and Aunt Teppy were there with me. They would have been more interested in the uncovered temple than anyone. I wondered what they were doing right then. I zoned out for a minute, trying to picture them sitting at our blue kitchen table, poring over the newspaper together, drinking fair-trade coffee. By the time I refocused, Principal Ferris was waving a tall, dark-haired man with gray patches of hair over his ears onto the stage. I’d never seen him before—not even in the welcome packet, which featured pictures of every member of the faculty.
“I am delighted to introduce a very special guest speaker, Dr. Richard Logan, who will be the lead archaeologist working on the site. Please give Dr. Logan a warm Temple Academy welcome.” Once again, she led us in a round of applause as Dr. Logan replaced her behind the podium and adjusted the microphone so that it angled up toward his chiseled face.
“Thank you, Principal Ferris,” he said. “And thank you all for the welcome.” He straightened his tie and shook his head, as if he still couldn’t believe what had happened. “I must tell you,” he began, “the news of this temple’s discovery was so exciting that I hopped on a plane last night so that I could arrive here first thing this morning. As Principal Ferris mentioned, the Anasazi—or Pueblo peoples, as they are sometimes called—did once populate the Southwest in significant numbers. But to find an actual temple, well . . .” He shook his head again and smiled, revealing a row of perfect white teeth. “It’s a rare and extremely important find.”
He nodded to someone standing on the left of the stage—his assistant, I guessed—who used a remote to roll down a large screen from the ceiling, then pressed a few keys on a laptop. Suddenly a picture appeared on the screen behind Dr. Logan’s head: an entire city carved out of sand-colored rock beneath a jet-black ledge.
“What you see here is the Cliff Palace, located in the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, discovered in 1888. Notice how the structures were built into the cliff, which we believe was done to protect them from the elements and from outsiders.”
He went on to talk about how the Anasazi were known as the “Basket Makers.” He said they were farmers and pioneers in building irrigation systems. He showed slide after slide of all the treasures they had left behind—the pictures they’d drawn on cave walls, the bowls decorated with intricate designs, the baskets woven tight enough to hold water. Then a final slide came up, this one of what the earthquake had uncovered on the far side of the campus. I could only see pieces of it since so much was still buried in rock and soil, but the parts I could see were incredible. It looked almost like the pictures that Uncle Mec had shown me of the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico. There were heavy stone stairs leading up and out of sight and skulls etched into the base, like a warning.
Dr. Logan nodded once more to his assistant, who typed something on his laptop and pointed the remote control. The screen darkened and ascended back into the ceiling. “The Pueblo people may have begun as humble farmers,” Dr. Logan said, “but I think you’ll find this temple indicates that they aspired to greater levels of spiritual enlightenment and power. I can only hope this excavation proves enlightening for us all.”
We applauded as Principal Ferris rejoined Dr. Logan on stage and shook his hand. She then stepped up to the podium and waited until we quieted down. “Thank you, Dr. Logan, for that fascinating insight. I’m sure all our students will be interested in seeing how the excavation unfolds. And now for one last piece of school business before I bring this assembly to a close.” Her lips tightened the slightest bit and her normally eighty-watt smile dimmed to a low sixty. “I’m afraid there have been reports from several students of small items that have gone missing from their bags. I truly hope this is simply a misunderstanding and these things have been misplaced. But if that is not the case, let me make our school policy perfectly clear: Any student
caught stealing will be immediately and permanently expelled. No exceptions. Is that understood?” When no one made a sound, she gave a curt nod and said, “Good.”
I wondered who would need to steal anything when all the students seemed incredibly wealthy. Were there other normal students like me? And if so, was one of them jeopardizing her position here by stealing? I hoped not.
At last we were dismissed and I made it to my very first class: history with Ms. Benitez. Thankfully, Nicole and Jessica were in the same class, so they led me through the hallways, saving me from wandering around aimlessly, or even worse, using the welcome-packet map. As I sat down in an old-fashioned wooden desk near the center of the room, all I could hear anyone talk about was the Anasazi site.
“Seriously, how major is that temple?” said Lorna, one of the girls Nicole had introduced me to the day before. “Do you think this could be on the news?”
“Probably,” Nicole answered, sounding unimpressed. “You heard Dr. Logan. The site is a ‘rare and extremely important find.’ ”
“Well, I think Dr. Logan is the rare and important find,” said Jessica, pulling her red hair up into a ponytail. “How cute is he?”
“So cute I’m thinking about becoming an archaeologist,” said Sindu. “If that’s what archaeologists look like, sign me up!” They all dissolved into giggles.
Are they really all gaga over Dr. Logan? I thought. Maybe it had been a mistake to make Temple an all-girls school. They were clearly so unused to seeing boys around that any guy looked like Ryan Gosling to them—even a geeky-looking grown-up like Dr. Logan.
Ms. Benitez, who had walked into the room and now stood at the front of the class, listening to all this talk with an amused look on her face, said, “Well, ladies, I’m glad you’re all so interested in this—for whatever reason.” She raised an eyebrow at Jessica, who bit her lip bashfully. “So, why don’t we go take a closer look?”
A few minutes later we were all walking in the soft reddish dirt that surrounded the unearthed temple. Dr. Logan and his team had cordoned it off with ropes and yellow cautionary tape, and there were two women dusting off the steps with small brushes. With every swipe, the line of skulls came into clearer focus. I wondered if maybe they should have been trying to cover them up instead. I knew that ancient Mayans believed that skulls represented fallen enemies and would grant them eternal life. But what did they mean for the Anasazi?
I asked Ms. Benitez, and she looked thrilled that I was actually interested. “Excellent question,” she said. “There could be many meanings behind the skull images. Some say they were a means of honoring their ancestors and calling on their spirits. Some say they were simply meant to scare off outsiders. What do you think the skulls mean?”
“I think they mean a bunch of people died of boredom here,” said someone behind us. We turned to find Nicole and a group of her friends blinking innocently at Ms. Benitez, as if none of them had said a word. But as soon as the history teacher turned back toward the ruin, a sly smile spread across Nicole’s face and she winked at me. Meanwhile, a few of her friends pulled out their cell phones and started texting. I didn’t get it. The biggest archaeological event in a century was happening right in front of them, and they couldn’t have been less interested.
At the risk of forever being labeled a nerd, I caught up to Ms. Benitez and whispered, “I’m sorry about that. I’m sure they didn’t mean it.”
“I’m sure they did,” Ms. Benitez said with a weary smile. “But don’t be sorry. I’m used to it. Not many kids your age get how exciting and relevant the past can be. Not many adults, either.”
“How do you deal?” I asked. “Doesn’t it make you want to quit and, I don’t know, run off to Hawaii or something?”
Ms. Benitez let out a surprised laugh. “I admit, Hawaii sounds tempting sometimes. And trying to make others appreciate history the way I do can be frustrating. But that just makes having a student like you all the more rewarding.” She stopped walking then and tilted her head in my direction. Her brown eyes were filled with such warmth that for a moment I thought she might hug me. “I’m so glad you’re here, Ana.”
I was startled. She hadn’t even taken attendance yet before she brought the class outside, so how did she know my name already? Maybe I was the only kid she hadn’t taught before, but she was gazing at me as if she had known me for years, instead of only a few minutes. Either she was psychic, or she had been expecting me. But I shook off that crazy thought as quickly as it had come. Paranoid much? a voice that sounded a lot like Nicole’s echoed in my head. She’s probably just psyched that someone here isn’t bored to tears. Besides, according to the letter they’d sent to the house, Temple Academy was an exclusive place and they didn’t admit many new students each year. So maybe my arrival had been a bigger deal than I knew.
We all watched the excavation team for a while longer, until Ms. Benitez announced that it was time to return to the classroom. She fell to the back to wrangle the stragglers, so I found myself walking ahead. Somehow I ended up next to Nicole and a group of the girls who’d spent the past twenty minutes texting.
“Lin, your bag is killer. Is it Coach?” Nicole said to a pretty Chinese American girl with shiny black hair pulled up into an elegant chignon. Her bangs swept across her forehead at a perfect forty-five-degree angle, and I had a feeling the diamond studs in her ears and the bracelet circling her wrist were real. Even in her school uniform, she looked like she belonged on a red carpet in Paris.
But when Lin turned to glare at Nicole with eyes that were so brown they were nearly black, I recognized her immediately. It was the same girl who had been spying on Jason from the bleachers. She lifted the bag that had been resting in the crook of her arm and let out a harsh puff of air, as if Nicole had just insulted her in the worst way. “Coach? Please. Coach is so over. Anyone can get a Coach bag these days. This is a limited-edition Marchesa.”
“Oh, totally.” Nicole scrambled for words, clearly trying to save face. “I was just kidding about Coach. Gag, am I right? What I meant was, how did you score the new Marchesa? Isn’t there, like, a two-year waiting list?”
Lin flashed a smug smile. “When your father is the ambassador to China and your mother is China’s most successful actress, there is no waiting list.”
While the other girls oohed and aahed over Lin’s designer bag and expensive jewelry. I had to turn away so no one would see me roll my eyes. This was the girl that Nicole had described just the day before as a spoiled-rotten brat who everyone sucked up to only because her parents had “more money than God.” She’d said it with such disgust, and yet now it looked like Nicole was the biggest suck-up of them all. How many faces did my roommate have?
“Gee, Lin. Thanks for reminding us again who your parents are. I think it’s been a whole five minutes. I’d almost forgotten!”
Lin looked coldly at the dark-skinned, athletic-looking girl to her left. I noted that, unlike Lin, she didn’t have a single accessory on her body, and her hair hung in loose natural waves just past her shoulder blades. She hadn’t even rolled the waistband of her skirt to show a little more leg like most of the girls had. I liked her instantly.
“You’re just jealous, Doli,” Lin told her. “My parents are famous and respected, while yours sell cheesy souvenirs on some rinky-dink Indian reservation. Deep down, you know you don’t belong here.”
“I don’t belong here?” Doli raised her eyebrows and pointed one slim finger at her chest. She had been slouching a little, hunched in that way tall girls sometimes do when they want to seem less intimidating. But when she straightened her back and lifted her chin, she towered over Lin. “You must have been asleep during assembly today. That temple back there means I’m the only one who belongs here!”
“Oh, give me a break,” Lin said, then sucked her teeth and flicked her hand dismissively. “I was wide awake during Dr. Hottie’s speech, and he said the temple was Anasazi, not Navajo.”
Doli, completely unfazed,
sighed as if she were tired of explaining the obvious. “The Anasazi were an ancient people who lived on this land. In other words, they were my ancestors. Anasazi literally means ‘ancient ones’ in Navajo.”
I wished I’d had a camera to capture the look on Lin’s face when Doli schooled her into silence. It was priceless. But Lin knew we were watching her, so after a few seconds she twisted her lips into a snarl and narrowed her dark eyes. “How nice for you,” she said in the iciest voice she could muster, then turned and sauntered away.
“Wait up, Lin,” Nicole called, jogging after her like a puppy, along with the rest of Lin’s entourage.
Doli just shook her head. “That girl has her nose so high in the air, she’s going to get a nosebleed. Good thing Nicole will be right there to clean it up.”
I knew I shouldn’t laugh. Nicole was my friend—at least I thought so—and I was sure there was probably some unwritten rule about always having your roommate’s back. But I couldn’t help smiling. Especially since Doli was the first down-to-earth person I’d seen since I got here—except, maybe, for Jason. She noticed me fighting not to laugh and smiled back at me. Maybe I didn’t have to work so hard at making friends after all.
When classes finally ended for the day, I trailed everyone else out of the academic building and toward the pathways to the dorms. We were still pretty far away when the sky darkened and thunder boomed like a cannon. Suddenly the clouds opened up and rain started pouring down in sheets. Lightning cracked overhead and for a second everything was bathed in light. It was just like the storm on my last night in Ohio.
Hunters of Chaos Page 4
