Chapter 54

I had no idea what Ashley was up to, but I wasn’t about to pass up a ride on the ATVs. About halfway to the rocks, she slowed and motioned for me to stop. “Something’s going on out here. There’s more stuff gone from the freezer, and remember the weird glow the other night?”

“Where?” Bryce said.

“Near the praying hands.”

There’s a formation of rocks that looks like two hands touching, with a V-shaped hole underneath. To me it looks more like two porcupines rubbing noses.

We had to slow when we reached a rocky area near the base of the formation. Small red stones dotted the landscape. If you run over one of them going fast you can flip.

Ashley veered right, stopped, and got off the Ashleymobile. I pulled close as she held up a piece of melted plastic. She pointed at a white swan near the top of the bag. “Our corn.”

“Could have blown out of the trash,” I said.

“Yeah, but how did it melt?” She stuffed the bag in her pocket.

We continued up to a plateau where we parked. The red rocks blocked our view of the house now, and the setting sun shone through the opening of the praying hands.

“Somebody’s up in that big cave below the hands,” Ashley said. “If there was a fire in there, it would glow up through the hands and we’d see it, don’t you think?”

We jogged up the path to get a better view. The rocks are about as long as two football fields, and around the base are scrub oaks and wildflowers. We climbed, hopping from one rock to another.

Suddenly something screamed above us.

Ashley turned, white-faced. “Mountain lion!”