Bailey and the Santa Fe Secret (11 page)

The hard earth was cracked from baking in the sun. Tufts of dry grass and spiny bushes miraculously grew from the cracks. A stiff breeze kicked up, and a tumbleweed rolled past Bailey and Elizabeth.

“I feel like we’re characters in an old western movie,” Bailey teased.

“Hopefully we won’t run into any gun-toting outlaws!” Elizabeth pretended to draw guns from her holster and shoot. Then she blew off the tips of her index fingers and returned them to their holsters again.

Bailey giggled. “Pretty good! And I thought
I
was the one who should be an actress!”

Elizabeth hopped onto a good-sized rock and surveyed the area. “Let’s start looking over here.”

The pair split up and searched for any sign of a mine on the mountain, moving rocks as they went.

“Beth, come here!” Bailey called. “I think I may have found something.”

Elizabeth hurried over.

“See? There’s some rusted barbed wire around those rocks.”

“It must have been put there years ago to keep people away from something,” Elizabeth said. “Let’s see if we can move it out of the way and get to the rocks behind it.”

Bailey took one section of the barbed wire in her hand, and Beth held it about six feet down from her. Taking great care to keep the sharp barbs away from their arms and legs, they tugged and pulled, ripping up old weeds entangled in the wire from their dry roots. After several minutes of yanking at the sharp wire, the fencing was torn away from the rocks, and they stepped on it to bend it toward the ground.

“Ouch!” Bailey looked down at the drop of blood trickling down her calf. “It got me!”

“Shoot!” Elizabeth said. “And we were trying to be so careful. Does it hurt?”

“Not too bad. Do we have any tissues?”

Beth dug in their fanny pack. “No, I don’t see anything.” She looked around trying to find something to use in its place. “Stay here. I’ll find something you can use.”

Elizabeth walked a ways along the base of the cliff. Bailey saw her bend down and pick up something, then start back toward her. The stream of blood had almost reached her ankle and was beginning to dry.

“Here,” Elizabeth said, handing her a handful of semidry leaves. “It was the best I could find.”

“Thanks.” Bailey took the leaves. “It’ll be better than nothing.” She sat down and dabbed the wet blood with the softer leaves and scrubbed the dried blood off with the rougher ones. “That worked pretty good,” she said when she finished. She stood up and was ready to get to work. “Good to go.”

“Now we just need to move some of these rocks.” Elizabeth lifted one and tossed it aside.

“I don’t want to freak you out, Beth, but remember that snakes, lizards, or bugs may be hiding under them. We should warn them so they can get out without feeling too threatened by us.” Bailey threw a stick toward the pile of rocks. A startled lizard zoomed away.

“Anybody else in there?” Elizabeth threw a small rock.

They waited a moment, but there was no more movement.

“I guess if there are any rattlers, we’ll know it when we hear them.” Bailey stepped forward and lifted a rock.

Instantly, the ground beneath it swarmed with bugs. “Ewww!” Bailey chucked the rock away.

“Well, as gross as that was, I’d rather see that than a snake any day.” Elizabeth moved another rock and then another. Bailey joined in, and soon they had half the rocks out of the way, and a hole in the mountainside began to emerge. Elizabeth tossed another rock aside, and two grasshoppers flew up at her.
“Aaaaaa!
” she screamed.

Bailey jumped. “What?”

Elizabeth sighed. “Oh, that scared me. Turned out it was just a couple of grasshoppers.”

Rock by rock they unstopped the hole until it was almost big enough for them to crawl through.

“We’ve found the mine!” Bailey squealed.

“I just hope it’s the right one.”

“Let’s make the hole big enough that we can walk into it,” Bailey said.

“Hold it right there.” Elizabeth stopped working, her hands on her hips. “We are not going into that mine, remember?”

“Oh, I know.” Bailey wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. “But we want to be able to see into it without lying on our stomachs, don’t we?”

Elizabeth paused with her lips pursed. “I guess these rocks would be pretty hot to lay on,” she said. “Some of them burn my hands just tossing them out of the way.”

They returned to their work, moving more rocks though their hands were scraped up. Sweat poured down their red faces.

“Look! I think we’ve moved enough rocks that we can step into the mouth of the mine,” Bailey said. “Let’s go!”

Elizabeth hesitated.

Bailey knew what she was thinking. “We won’t walk into it, Beth, but it won’t hurt to stand at the mouth so we can see inside.”

Elizabeth frowned. “I’m not sure that’s safe.”

“Of course it is,” Bailey said. “It’s only three feet from where we were just moving rocks.”

Beth looked at the rock pile and the hole in the mountain. “Okay…but we aren’t going to go any farther than that. Got it?”

“Of course.” Bailey frowned, annoyed at her friend’s overprotective nature. “Believe me, I don’t want to get trapped in an abandoned mine any more than you do.”

The girls swigged some water. As they stood on the rock pile, Bailey noticed a partially obscured piece of weathered wood poking out toward the bottom of the mine’s mouth. She pushed the rocks away to reveal a dilapidated sign that said “Suquosa.”

“Beth! This is it! We’ve found Halona’s mine!”

Elizabeth took Bailey’s hands and they danced on the rocks, moving their bodies more than their feet.

“Whoohoo! We did it!” Elizabeth threw a kiss heavenward. “Thank You, God!”

Still holding hands, the girls stepped down off the rocks and into the mine’s mouth.

“I can’t believe we’re standing in what was once known as the best turquoise mine around.” Bailey looked all around her. Sunlight lit the mine’s opening, but darkness so thick you could almost touch it loomed before them. Cobwebs hung at the sides of the entrance, and tiny bugs exposed to the first light they’d seen in years scurried away.

“The shade feels wonderful,” Elizabeth said. “My skin will never be the same after all the sun it’s had this week.”

“I know what you mean.” Bailey rubbed her arm. “Even though I’m not nearly as light-skinned as you, I’m glad to be out of the sun, too.”

“I wonder if this is how Jonah felt when he looked at the belly of the whale.” Elizabeth wrapped her arms around herself.

“It does feel like we’re in the open mouth of some kind of a monster.” Bailey shivered.

As they stared into the darkness before them, a rumble groaned deep and low. Bailey looked up and saw dust fall from the mine ceiling. In the shadow, she saw a mix of confusion and fear wash over Elizabeth’s face. Suddenly, they felt the ground vibrate, and tiny rocks pelted their faces.

“Earthquake!” Bailey screamed.

Bailey grabbed Beth’s hand and dashed toward the opening they’d just unearthed. The ground shook and rolled.

Bailey tilted off balance and tumbled to the ground. Elizabeth toppled over her, pinning her arm to the hard rock. Rocks fell around them, and dust filled Bailey’s lungs, making it impossible for her to breathe. She wheezed and gasped, then felt Elizabeth’s hand pulling her to her feet.

“Get up! We have to get out of here!” Elizabeth rolled off Bailey.

Bailey frantically searched her pants pocket for her inhaler. She puffed the medication into her mouth. Holding her breath, she pushed to her knees, then tried to get her feet beneath her, but it was no use. The girls stumbled and fell again. An avalanche of falling rock filled the entrance, blocking their way out.

Suddenly they were in total darkness, as if someone had flipped off the light switch.

Bailey blew out the breath she’d been holding, her breath returning.

“We’re trapped!” The ground finally stopped moving, but Bailey trembled just the same. “We’re trapped!” she said again, taking shallow, panicked gulps of air.

Elizabeth silently wrapped her arms around Bailey.

Bailey coughed, then laid her head on Beth’s shoulder. Suddenly the welcoming shade of the mine felt cold and confining. Bailey shivered and lifted her head. “What will we do?” she whispered into the dark.

“I—I don’t know.” Elizabeth’s voice sounded flat.

“See if we have a phone signal,” Bailey said.

Elizabeth pulled out her phone and the light shone. “I’ll try calling your mom,” she said. But she couldn’t get a signal.

Tears pricked Bailey’s eyes. “Now what?”

She heard Elizabeth suck in a big breath and blow it out. “We need to pray,” Beth replied.

The two girls snuggled closer and squeezed each other’s hands.

“God,” Elizabeth started, her voice shaky.

Bailey heard her sniff and exhale loudly again.

“God, we’re trapped in here.” Elizabeth struggled to stay calm. “We’re scared and don’t know what to do.”

Bailey squeezed Beth’s hand tighter.

“No one knows we’re in here but You.” Elizabeth choked down a sob. “But You’re the only One who really matters anyway. We believe You have the strength and power to save us, and we ask You to do that. Help us to trust You and not be afraid. Amen.”

Bailey patted Beth’s hand, and then the two girls dissolved in tears, hugging each other in the dark.

“We’ll make it, Bales.” Elizabeth sniffed loudly. “You’ll see.”

Bailey nodded and wiped her eyes. “I know we will.”

“At least we told Aiyana we were coming here,” Elizabeth said. “If we don’t make it back home in time for supper, they’ll come looking for us.”

“But they don’t even know this mine exists,” Bailey moaned. “I hope they can find it.”

“Maybe they won’t have to,” Elizabeth said.

Bailey felt Beth stand up. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to try to get us out of here,” Elizabeth said. “If we moved rocks from the outside to get in, maybe we can move rocks inside to get out!”

“Great idea!” Bailey felt her way through the darkness to the rock wall. She tugged on a rock, but it wouldn’t budge. “I can’t get this rock out. It’s wedged in too tight.”

“Maybe if we can see the wall we can spot a place to start,” Elizabeth said. “You know, kind of like playing Pick-Up Sticks or Jenga. You always try the loose ones first.” Elizabeth aimed her phone light toward the wall. “See anything?”

Bailey felt the rocks wherever Beth lit them up. “This one wiggles. I’ll try it.” Bailey scooted the rock from side to side, and then pulled. “I got it!”

“Good!” Elizabeth reached out through the dark to hug Bailey and whacked her in the head instead.

“Ow!”

“Sorry, that was supposed to be a hug.”

Bailey laughed. “That’s the roughest hug I’ve ever had.”

“I’ll keep my hands to myself,” Beth teased. “At least I didn’t try to high-five you.”

“I’m thinking it wouldn’t have felt much different.” Bailey smiled in the dark. “Let’s work another rock out.”

Again, Elizabeth pointed the light while Bailey searched for a loose rock and pulled. One by one, the two girls removed rocks from the entrance to the mine.

“You’d think we’d see some daylight soon,” Bailey said.

“I know. I wonder how deep this rock wall is.” Elizabeth sat down on the dirt floor. “All those rocks we moved out of the way must have rolled right back into place with the earthquake.”

“And then some! Bummer.” Bailey plopped down beside her friend. “All that hard work for nothing.”

“Well, not for nothing, really,” Elizabeth said. “We got into the mine, didn’t we?”

“Boy, did we. And now we’re stuck here.”

“Sydney failed to mention earthquakes as one of the dangers to watch out for in the mine safety talk she gave us.”

“Beth?” Bailey’s voice quivered. “I’m sorry I said we should come in here. This is my fault.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Beth replied. “I would have stopped you if I thought it was really dangerous. We would have been fine if it weren’t for that earthquake. Who could have predicted that?”

“I guess,” Bailey said.

“Besides, I’m older,” Elizabeth added. “I’m supposed to look out for you. If anything, I’m responsible for this mess we’re in.”

“Remember that comment you made about Jonah when we first stepped into the mine?” Bailey asked.

“Yeah,” Beth said. “I remember.”

“Well, I bet this is how he felt when he was stuck inside the belly of the big fish,” Bailey said. “Nothing to do but to turn to God and beg for Him to help him out of there.”

“You’re right.” Elizabeth inhaled the damp, earthy smell of the mine. “I bet that fish smelled a lot worse than this mine, though.”

“Come on.” Bailey stood. “We’d better get back to work. I’ll hold the light this time, and you can work on moving the rocks.”

Elizabeth handed the phone to Bailey and then began prying at a loose rock.

“I’m praying silently for you while you work,” Bailey informed her. “Those rocks don’t stand a chance!”

Bailey’s hands felt raw from handling so many rocks, and the muscles in her arms were weak from lifting them. She and Elizabeth had traded off holding the cell phone light and moving the rocks, but hadn’t made much progress. They were still trapped inside the dark mine.