Bailey and the Santa Fe Secret (10 page)

“A ride.” Elizabeth laughed. “We can’t walk there from here. It’s too far.”

Bailey groaned. “We don’t have any time to waste. We leave for home tomorrow! Maybe my mom would take us to Halona’s house, and we could walk from there,” she suggested. “It’s really slow here at the store today. I’ve only heard the bell ring once or twice all morning.”

“It’s worth a try. Let’s go ask.”

“Hi!” Aiyana skipped into the studio. “What are you doing?”

Bailey looked at Elizabeth nervously.

“We’re getting ready to see if my mom will take us to your house.”

“Why? Are you sick?”

“No,” Bailey said. “We have something we need to do.”

“What is it?” Aiyana’s dark eyes grew.

Elizabeth and Bailey looked at each other, then Beth nodded to Bailey.

Bailey took her little cousin’s hands in hers. “Aiyana, remember when you told us a secret about the pot and the things your ancestors said about it?”

Aiyana bobbed her head up and down.

“And you asked if we would keep your secret?”

“Yes.” Aiyana’s face was somber.

“Would you do the same for us?” Bailey asked her. “Keep a secret?”

A wide grin sliced Aiyana’s face, and her eyes snapped. “Sure!”

“Okay, then,” Elizabeth said. “Bailey and I need to go back to Puye Cliffs to try to find the mine that belongs to your family.”

“But you can’t tell!” Bailey reminded her.

Aiyana looked ready to burst with excitement. “I won’t!”

Elizabeth patted her on the back. “Good girl. That’s why we want Bailey’s mom to give us a ride to your house—so we can hike to the cliffs from there.”

“Oooh. I won’t tell, I promise.” Aiyana pressed her lips together and pretended to lock them and throw away the key.

“We want it to be a surprise for your mom if we can find it,” Bailey added. “Understand?”

Aiyana nodded, lips pursed.

“Okay.” Bailey turned to Elizabeth. “Let’s go find my mom.”

“I’m going to leave my bag in the studio,” Elizabeth said. “I’m sure no one will bother anything in it.”

She winked at Bailey, who smiled back.

Mrs. Chang was in the office working on the books. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, while she intently stared at the bookkeeping program on the computer.

“Mom, could you run Beth and me back to the house?”

Mrs. Chang looked up. “What on earth for?”

“We have something we need to do that we can’t do here.”

“Like …?” Mrs. Chang prompted.

“Like…something we can’t really tell you about yet.” Bailey hedged with a smile. “It’s sort of a surprise. But I promise it’s nothing bad.”

“Have you talked to Halona about this?” Mrs. Chang asked. “You’re supposed to be helping her.”

“Not yet,” Elizabeth said. “We thought we’d find out if we even had a ride before we asked her.”

“Besides,” Bailey added, “the thing we need to do would help her more than us being here at the store.”

Mrs. Chang eyed the girls suspiciously, a faint smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “You’re up to something.”

“We are!” Bailey admitted. “But it’s a surprise!”

Mrs. Chang sighed and gave in to that smile. “Oh, all right. If it’s okay with Halona.”

Bailey hugged her mom and kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks! You’re the best.”

The second the car stopped in front of the Tses’ house, Bailey and Elizabeth jumped out.

“I have my cell phone if you need us.” Elizabeth held it up for Mrs. Chang to see.

“Part of what we have to do involves a hike, but don’t worry,” Bailey told her. “We’ll take water, sunscreen, and Beth’s phone.”

Concern flitted across Mrs. Chang’s face. “Don’t make me sorry I brought you here.”

Bailey laughed. “We won’t. Thanks for the ride. Love you.” She blew a kiss to her mother.

“Now,” Elizabeth said as Mrs. Chang drove away, “let’s gather our things and get going.”

“We need to print out the map first,” Bailey reminded

her.

“Right. I’ll do that while you get the water and sunscreen.” With the sun already hot at ten-thirty in the morning, the girls set out on their hike.

Bailey and Elizabeth chatted easily as they started out.

“The sky here in this big open space is so much bluer than in Peoria,” Bailey said.

“I know what you mean.” Elizabeth pointed up. “Look at that cloud. It looks like the breeze is just carrying it along, not a care in the world.”

“It’s a gorgeous day!” Bailey loved the feeling of the warm sun on her skin. She was glad they’d remembered to put on sunscreen.

“Look! A roadrunner!” Elizabeth said. The leggy bird darted this way and that before disappearing behind a rock formation. A hummingbird with its iridescent green head zipped around in the distance.

“It’s a regular wildlife preserve around here!” Bailey joked.

“Well, hopefully we won’t see any wildlife we
don’t
want to see, like coyotes or javelina.”

“Or snakes!” Bailey added cheerfully. “Hey, we haven’t told the other Camp Club Girls about finding the deed yet!”

“Oh, yeah.” Elizabeth snatched her phone from her pocket. “I’ll call them right now.” Once she had them all conferenced, she hit speakerphone so Bailey could hear, too.

“Okay,” Elizabeth began. “We have some big news to report.”

“Let’s hear it!” McKenzie said.

“Remember we told you we were going to try to piece the broken pot back together?” Bailey asked.

“Yeah …,” Sydney replied.

“We started on it, but had a minor distraction.” Bailey winked at Elizabeth.

“Did we ever! Bailey found a hidden compartment in the piece that had the sunset painted on it.”

“A hidden compartment?” Kate whooped. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Nope,” Bailey said. “The side with the sunset was hollow, sort of like a second side hiding behind the one we could see, making a pocket that could hold things.”

“Was there anything in it?” Sydney asked.

Bailey and Elizabeth grinned and kept walking.

“As a matter of fact, yes!” Elizabeth said.

“What was it?” some of the girls asked in unison.

Bailey tried to sound casual. “Just a dirty old deed to Halona’s turquoise mine.”

All four of the girls screamed and talked at once, and Biscuit barked excitedly.

“You’re kidding!” Kate said. “I can’t believe it—and neither can Biscuit!”

“What did it look like?”

“That’s insane!”

“Are you sure it’s the real thing?”

“I know. It’s almost too good to be true!” Bailey’s voice registered her enthusiasm. “But it really was the deed we’ve been looking for!”

“Unbelievable!” Alex said. “Was Halona thrilled?”

“We haven’t exactly told her yet,” Elizabeth said.

“Haven’t told her? Why not?” McKenzie sounded incredulous.

“We thought it would be best to find the mine first,” Bailey explained. “What good is a deed to something if it doesn’t exist?”

“I see your point,” Kate said. “It would only get her hopes up, and if you can’t find it, she would be really disappointed.”

“Exactly.” Bailey climbed over a rock, then took the phone from Elizabeth so she could do the same.

“So what’s the next step?” Alex asked.

“We found an old map online showing where the mine used to be,” Bailey said.

“Was the map hard to find?” Sydney asked. “I looked for it a little when I did my research on the code talkers, but didn’t find one that showed the old mines in the area.”

“It took a bit of searching, but not too bad,” Beth said. “We’re just glad we found it. We go home tomorrow, you know, so time was getting short.”

Bailey kept a steady pace as they talked. “We’re on our way to Puye Cliffs now to see if we can find the Suquosa Mine. It’s supposed to be close to there.”

“I thought you sounded a little winded.” Sydney’s giggle rippled across the line. “You’ve got to get in better shape! I’ll have to take you running with me next time we’re together.”

Elizabeth groaned. “I can’t wait.”

“Anyway, we’ll let you know if we find it,” Bailey said.

“You have to be careful around mines, you know,” Kate said.

“Yeah, we know,” Elizabeth said.

“No, seriously,” Sydney added. “We had a special speaker come to our school and talk about that. You shouldn’t go into them. They can have holes as deep as skyscrapers. Not to mention that animals or snakes may have decided to make their home in them.”

Bailey watched the color drain from Elizabeth’s face as Sydney continued.

“Plus, miners may have left explosives behind that could go off with the slightest touch.” Sydney made a sound like a bomb exploding. “Just like that, you’re gone.”

Bailey imagined spit flying when Sydney imitated the explosion. “Hey! I think you got me wet with that noise!” The other girls howled with laughter.

“No joke. I saw a movie once where a guy got trapped in a mine and there were poisonous gases and pockets with no air,” Alex put in. “Of course he was near death, but then was saved just in the nick of time.”

“Good to know,” Elizabeth said, her color still off. She gave Bailey a nervous half-smile. “We’ll keep all those things in mind.”

“We probably won’t need to go into the mine anyway,” Bailey said. “We just want to find where it is so we can take Halona there.” She hoped the girls’ stories hadn’t scared Elizabeth out of searching for the mine altogether.

Sydney used her best snooty voice, and Bailey could imagine her nose in the air. “All right, then. You have our permission to go.”

McKenzie giggled. “But call us when you find it. I’ve never seen a real mine before, and I want to hear all about it.”

“You mean
if we
find it,” Bailey corrected.

“No, I mean
when
you find it,” McKenzie said. “Think about it. If you can find an old deed that’s been lost for generations hidden in a secret compartment of an ancient pot, this should be a piece of cake!”

“You do have a map, after all,” Kate added. “Don’t forget to use it!”

Elizabeth smiled. “I guess you’re right. Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“We’ll call you
when
we find it,” Bailey said. “Bye!”

Elizabeth hung up and tucked her phone back into her pocket.

“Look at that!” Bailey pointed to a lizard doing pushups on a nearby rock. “It must be time for aerobics!”

“We have lizards in Texas,” Beth said. “I’ve heard they do that to cool off. Which reminds me, we’ve been walking for almost an hour. Let’s take a rest.”

Bailey plopped to the ground and gulped a long drink of water. “It seems like we’ve been walking forever.”

Elizabeth pulled her hair up into a ponytail. “I know. But it can’t be too much further. I remember when we came with Elan the Puye Cliff dwellings were just beyond those big boulders. I can see them in the distance, so we’re probably over halfway there.”

Bailey nodded, then shook her head back and forth, back and forth. Her hair swung around her head like fringe.

Elizabeth watched her curiously. “What are you doing?”

“Providing a breeze!” Bailey’s swinging hair slapped first one cheek, then the other.

Elizabeth laughed. “You’re too much!”

“Can you feel it?” Bailey’s head continued to swing.

“Okay, sure. I can feel a slight breeze.” Beth put both hands on the sides of Bailey’s head to stop her. “All right. Now that you’ve cooled us off, we’d better get back at it.”

“I guess.” Bailey smoothed her hair back in place. “We want to get to the mine and back before everyone comes home from Earth Works.”

“Besides, if we find the mine, we’ll be anxious to tell Halona about it and show her the deed.” Elizabeth smeared on some fresh sunscreen while Bailey slathered on some cherry lip balm.

“I can’t wait to see the look on her face.” Bailey smiled.

The girls walked on, sweat running down their backs and foreheads. Before they knew it, they were to the cliff dwellings.

“If I remember right, Elan said the old mines were over that way.” Bailey pointed to the right of the ruins.

“That’s what I remember, too, so it must be right.” Beth looked at the map they’d printed. “Looks like that’s where it would be on this map, too. Let’s go check it out.”