Chapter 27

 

 

“I can’t leave you for five minutes before you get into trouble.” Ben was leaning over her with Chief Billie at his shoulder. He was smiling but not hiding his concern very well. His hands were shaking as he took the bottle of water from her and set it on the ground.

“Looks like a boulder broke loose. Must have had some rain up here recently. A little wet ground, things shift, and this sort of thing is a given. We try to keep these ruins off limits because the area is unpredictable—unstable, as you found out.” The chief was examining the truck’s tires. “I’ll get my spare out of the Bronco.”

“Is the fox still here?” Julie struggled to sit up straighter. She was still holding the washcloth, but the ice had melted.

“Fox? What fox?”

“I saw one when I was climbing. It followed me to the truck.” There was no way she could tell him more and not have him be scared to death that she’d knocked herself silly. Who would believe her? A human fox who pushed her out of the way of the boulder, half carried her down the path to the truck, made an ice pack, and gave her a bottle of water. She wasn’t so sure herself that she wasn’t hallucinating.

With the two men working on changing the tires, they were on their way back to camp in forty-five minutes. Chief Billie put Ben’s flat tires in the Bronco to be dropped off at Tire Kingdom in Gallup. He even offered to wait while they were repaired and bring them back.

“That would be great. I’d like one of the docs to look at Julie. I’m guessing she’s going to get by with only an impressively large goose-egg on her forehead, and some bruising. Still, I’d like her checked. I’m thinking we might need to ask for something a little bit stronger than aspirin.”

“Good idea.”

 

* * *

 

Ben had been right. Nothing broken. Swelling, tenderness, a really impressive black and blue bruise but otherwise, Julie was good to go. A few days of eight-hundred mg Ibuprofen when needed, and everyone admitted she’d dodged a truly life-threatening accident. Trini was appalled and felt responsible for not telling them of the dangers of the ruins. Ben pretty much figured he’d learned his lesson about exploring areas he knew nothing about and could assure Trini that it wouldn’t happen again.

“Did the chief reach you?”

“No, I forgot and left my phone in the truck.” Ben had settled Julie on the couch in their trailer before going back to the office. Between the clinic visit and making Julie comfortable, his phone wasn’t a priority. But he turned and went back out to the parking lot. He could hear the phone ringing before he reached the pickup.

“You sitting down?” The chief didn’t waste time with ‘hello’.

“No, should I be?”

“Up to you, but try this on for size. Your tires were cut and it was done where the truck was parked. We’re not talking accident here, run over something sharp and air is expelled slowly. No, this much more fits a slash and run MO. Know anyone with a switchblade? Maybe someone you’ve pissed off?”

“C’mon, you’ve got to be kidding. There wasn’t anyone around. Maybe the truck wasn’t in view all the time, but I swear we would have seen something. Or heard something. I can’t imagine someone was on foot skipping over the rocks, running through the aspen just hoping to find a vehicle to vandalize.”

The chief’s sigh was audible. “You know this fits the description of something a Skinwalker would think up. And I might throw in Julie’s accident, which I’m beginning to believe wasn’t one. I think she might have been targeted.”

Now it was Ben’s turn to be speechless. He’d never understood evil. And why would it be aimed at them? Was there an explanation? Did he believe in witches? He’d said once to the chief that he didn’t rule out witchcraft. But believe in it? He wasn’t sure. Was what happened today really some sort of retribution with crazy supernatural overtones? Had he done something, wronged someone, or was it just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Later, when he shared the chief’s suspicions with Julie, he thought she reacted strangely to the chief’s theory of blaming Skinwalkers. And she asked him about his own beliefs. Was she having second thoughts about their marriage? Maybe thinking an Anglo and part Pueblo Indian match wasn’t a good one? No, he knew Julie too well. She honestly wanted his take on Chief Billie’s assumption that her accident could have been planned—no secret agenda just the need for getting at the truth.

“Do you believe in witches, Ben? Shape-shifters? I mean your people, Pueblo people.”

“All the Southwest tribes have some sort of boogie-man. And the dead can be particularly problematic. There’s a story that one Pueblo stopped buying woven woolen clothing from another Pueblo when it was rumored that the dresses and shirts were stolen from the graves of the dead. But water spouts, dust devils, fireballs caused by lightning—these are all thought to be the work of witches.”

“None of that is necessarily evil. At least, no one is being killed.”

“I’d agree. Pueblo witches are a bit less evil than Navajo ones. They can cause windstorms, upsetting a dance. They are often believed responsible for a couple’s affection to sour, even to providing temptations that cause one person to stray. Floods, crop damage caused by insects like grasshoppers, mental illness in the young--these are all manifestations of a darker, blacker world. But you’re right; no one is targeted for death.”

“Have you ever seen a Skinwalker?”

Ben briefly told her about the Shaman calling upon a Skinwalker to appear with him at the dance to honor the president of the Navajo Nation a couple weeks back, when he first visited the camp. “It seemed to be the hope of the local tribal leaders that one evil would understand another evil and would be able to make the contagion disappear.”

“Actually, that makes sense. One could block the other.”

“Most tribes’ witches live in caves, rock outcroppings, or the base of cliffs. I should have been more aware of the sacredness of the cliff dwellings I chose to show you. We were viewed as trespassers. It’s easy to see why we weren’t welcome.”

“So, Skinwalkers might have been behind what happened?”

“Might have been.”

“And I think that’s as close to an answer about whether you’re a believer that I’m going to get. Right?” Julie was smiling.

“Could be.” Ben smiled back.