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“We should go down,” Beck says from where he’s sat down beside me.
I don’t bother to open my eyes when I reply. “No, we should go back. Figure out where to go next.”
He doesn’t answer me so after a few minutes of silence I open my eyes and look his way but he’s just staring intently down into the empty valley.
“What’s the point, Beck? There’s nothing here for us. There might have been a long time ago but it’s all gone now.”
He finally turns his head in my direction but instead of answering me he asks a question.
“Can I see the pictures, please?”
I shake my head. “It isn’t there, Beck! It doesn’t matter what the pictures show. THERE IS NOTHING THERE!”
He just shrugs annoyingly and holds out his hand for the pictures. I huff out a breath of frustration but open my bag and pull them out for him. I turn away from him as he studies them and I look to Glo. She is sitting a few feet away with her matchstick legs crossed and her pointed chin resting on a fist as she looks longingly down into what might have been. I’m about to slide over to her and take her into my arms when Beck lets out a bark of laughter. Both Glo and I snap our heads in his direction and see him push to his feet with a grin on his face.
He looks down at us and says, “Your grandfather was just like the coyote!” When we just stare at him like he’s lost his mind, he laughs again. “He’s a trickster! Come on, I’m going down there and you should too!”
I don’t get a chance to say anything before he powers up the sled and sends it down the path that zig zags down the side of the valley wall and then follows behind it. I turn to Glo who’s jumped to her feet and with a shrug and a grin at me, heads after him. I sit there and dig my heels in the ground to make divots and stall like a pouty child. What’s the point of wasting energy going down there and then having to climb back up? And what does Beck mean about the whole trickster thing? I kick up more dust and think about the tricks my grandfather has played to keep his mining locations a secret. A hidden hand cart that rides on overlooked, unused tracks. A cavern to hide away the cart with walls that look like rock but aren’t rock. Wood that looks like wood but isn’t. So is Beck saying that the empty valley isn’t empty after all?
I push to my feet and look again but I just don’t see what he could have seen to change his mind from up here so I let my shoulders slump and trudge down the path after them. At the very least we might be able to fill some of our jugs from that trickle of water coming out of the end of the valley’s wall.
It doesn’t take me long to catch up to them and when we reach the floor I mumble under my breath just loud enough for Beck to hear.
“Total waste of time and energy.”
He doesn’t reply, just nudges me with his shoulder and winks at me with that stupid grin of his. I roll my eyes but keep walking as he heads straight for the sheet of stone where the picture showed a house being there instead. The closer we get, the slower I walk as a flutter starts in my chest while I study the rock ahead. It looks sheer and smooth, nothing like the other rocks in this area. It almost looks like...I stop the thought when Beck grabs my arm and pulls me to a stop when we are only ten feet away from it. He reaches down and picks up a fist sized stone and holds it out to me.
“Throw it.”
I look at the rock in his hand and then back to the smooth angled rock mound ahead of us and swallow down the hope that’s starting to build in my chest. I shake my head.
“You do it. You throw it.” I say in the quietest voice.
He studies my face for a few seconds and then nods. He whips his arm back and lets the rock fly. We all stand there until Glo starts giggling because instead of the hard thwack of rock meeting rock that should have happened when it connected, it made no sound at all. It just bounced right off. She’s laughing as she launches herself at the rock and runs right into it. I can see the rock that’s not a rock give when her weight hits it but then I can’t see anything else as decades of sand and dust come billowing off of it into a giant cloud.
The three of us quickly retreat to halfway down the valley and wait for the dust cloud to settle.
“The house is under there, isn’t it?” Glo asks while we wait. I nod my head that yes, I think it’s there. “Does that mean the waterfall is hiding too?”
I open my mouth to tell her no, that the water has dried up here like everywhere else but stop and turn to Beck with a raised eyebrow. I’ve been wrong about everything else so...
He looks down at the wall where the water trickles and cocks his head before answering.
“You know, being a miner means that you need to know a lot about rock. You have to know how to drill into it and shore it up with supports or how to safely blow it up. He found a way to hide the house so no one would find it but the biggest draw to this valley would have been the water so I’m going to bet that he figured out a way to plug it up. I’m going to bet that it’s there waiting and we’re going to find a way to get it flowing again.” He throws an arm around each of our shoulders. “Come on, the dust is settling. Let’s go uncover our new home!”