The Chupacabra (12 page)

Vanessa spent the next two days crisscrossing between sleep and consciousness. A couple of times she pretended to be asleep when she heard the door open. She could not face talking to anyone yet. Her mind was a jumble most of the time. She longed to catch
hold of a thread that would unravel it all for her.

The doctor visited both days and gave her large white tablets that she found very difficult to swallow. As soon as she put them on her tongue they started to dissolve, and they tasted disgusting.

The doctor was a tall, thin man with wavy black hair that sat in ridges all over his head. It was heavily waxed and didn't move even when he bent down to listen to her heart with a stethoscope. He had a horrible moustache that looked like a giant slug on his upper lip. The rest of his face was nice, though; very crumpled with soft brown eyes that looked constantly amused. He had no English, and Vanessa could not understand a single word of his rapid-fire Spanish. Izel translated for her.

The doctor told Vanessa that she had a very high temperature and the tablets would help bring it down. He said that she was to rest quietly in bed for at least two more days.

Occasionally Vanessa would sneak out of her bed and search the room to see if any other dead animals had been planted. None. She was relieved.

Every time she shut her eyes the image of the Chupacabra loomed beneath her lids. A humped creature
that stood half upright. It had enormous fangs, but worst of all were the glowing red eyes. She felt as if she knew those eyes, although maybe it was just the evil in them she recognized.

Izel brought a special soup, which she spooned relentlessly into Vanessa's mouth. It was her own recipe. One she used on her husband when he was sick, she said. Vanessa didn't feel sufficiently well to point out the fact that her husband had died, but she was not so sick that she didn't think it.

Between spoonfuls of spicy soup Vanessa asked Izel if there had been another attack on the ranch. She already knew the answer, but she needed to hear someone else say it.

“Yes, two nights ago, the night you got sick. Four cows this time.”

“Well, at least Xolo is in the clear, I suppose. He was still locked up when that happened, wasn't he?” demanded Vanessa.

“Of course,” said Izel simply. Clearly she hadn't suspected Xolo either.

“Were there definitely other attacks here before?” Vanessa said weakly. “Before I came, I mean.”

She felt Izel's hand cover her own on the bed and
the tears pricked behind her closed lids.

“Yes,
chica
, about four years ago,” Izel said. “A long time before you came.”

“Then it isn't anything to do with me.” Vanessa closed her eyes. The relief made her feel faint. “But why have they started again, Izel?”

“Because something has been disturbed here,” Izel replied. “Someone is feeling threatened. The first attack, the one four years ago, that happened just after Frida inherited the ranch.”

Vanessa squeezed Izel's chubby, wrinkled fingers. Then she felt a soft kiss on her cheek and smelled the spices that Izel cooked with.

“I do not know, Vanessa,” Izel said. “I do not know why these things are. I do not understand what is going on. You're not even Nahua.”

Vanessa's eyes shot open. Why did Izel say that?

“Where did Xolo come from?” Vanessa asked instead.

Izel looked surprised. She spooned some more soup into Vanessa's mouth, maybe in the hope of stopping the questions.

“He was Casco's dog before,” she said after a moment.

“Casco?” Vanessa asked. It was not a name she remembered hearing before.

“Our shaman,” said Izel. “He went to visit his family in the north. Pablo said he would look after Xolo while the shaman was away, but the dog hates him. He would not stay in Pablo's house, so he came to live with us.”

When Izel tried to feed her again Vanessa shook her head firmly. Enough of the soup.

“How long has he been gone? Your shaman.”

“Many years now,” Izel said sadly. “I hope he will come back soon.”

“And has nobody reported him missing or sent the police to look for him?” Vanessa asked.

“Patience, Vanessa.” The loud bark of Frida's voice made them both jump, and Izel spilt the soup all over the bedclothes. Frida had come in on silent feet. “Sometimes people travel for a long time and then return. It took Joseph twenty years before he went back to visit Ireland, you know.”

Frida spoke now to Izel in Nahuatl. Vanessa could not understand a word, but from the way they were arguing she suspected that Izel was standing up to Frida. Their eyes were locked angrily. Then she heard
her own name spoken. Spat out by Frida. They turned to her. She felt as if they were waiting for an answer, but Vanessa had no idea what to say. Helplessly she stared back at them, wishing she could close her eyes and be transported home to her own bed in Dublin.

Naguals are frightened by metal. Placing a knife or scissors by the bed or attaching safety pins to a bed sheet or garment at night will help keep them away.

Vanessa fell asleep again. When she woke she could not believe her eyes. Izel was crawling around on the floor. Vanessa watched her through the fringe of her lashes. When Izel gingerly lifted the corner of the mattress at the foot of the bed Vanessa opened her eyes fully.

“What are you looking for, Izel?” said Vanessa. “My folder?”

Taken by surprise, Izel heaved herself to her feet.

“Folder? What is folder?” She sounded puzzled and did not seem at all embarrassed about being caught snooping.

Vanessa pushed herself up onto her elbows and saw a bag on the floor at Izel's feet. It was filled with nails and scissors and long rolls of wire. Vanessa raised her eyebrows. What on earth was Izel up to?

“It is metal,” Izel said. The expression on her face was now a cross between sheepish and defiant.

“But what for, Izel?” Vanessa asked.

“To protect you, Vanessa. Those dead animals in your room were a curse. That is why you become ill, feverish. The nag—” Izel stopped suddenly. “It does not like metal.” Izel dropped her voice to a whisper and pointed out her handiwork to Vanessa. “This is why I pin safety pins to your mattress and hang nails over your bed.”

Vanessa was at a total loss. Did Izel think a nagual had been in her room? The nagual didn't like metal, so safety pins were going to protect her? Vanessa didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It all sounded so
silly. But she had to admit that the day she found the animals had been the day she fell ill—and the night that she had seen the Chupacabra. Maybe there was a connection.

Izel handed her a pair of scissors. “It is most important to keep the scissors beside your bed, Vanessa. If you do he will not come near you again. You should sleep now. You must build up your strength for the coming days.”

It sounded ominous, but Vanessa simply didn't have the energy to ask what she meant. What on earth had she gotten herself into this time? Her father would kill her.

Lechusa or Le Chusa is a symbol of death in Mexico and throughout much of Latin America. She is a woman who becomes an owl at night to collect souls. When she calls out, those who answer will die.

Vanessa slept the night through and woke the next morning feeling much better. She still didn't want to get up, though. She felt sick again when she thought about meeting Armado and what he might say. What had he done with her nightdress? Washed it? Or burned it? Was it evidence?

She was surprised when Frida sent word via Izel that she was expected at her Spanish lesson today, though she wouldn't have to do her chores. Vanessa would much prefer to have spent time in the kitchen with Izel than have to face Frida. But she got up, as requested, and went to Frida's study with Nikki after breakfast.

Vanessa was shocked at how drawn Frida looked. Her face was closed—the shutters down and locked tight, like a seaside resort in winter. It hadn't seemed possible that Frida could get any colder, but she had.

“I think you are feeling better, Vanessa.” Frida didn't give Vanessa a chance to answer. “Did you have time to draw a picture for class before you got ill?”

For a moment Vanessa wondered if she could lie and say no, but she knew that Frida would see straight through her. She opened her sketchbook and handed it to Frida with great reluctance.

“It's not very good, I'm afraid,” said Vanessa.

Nikki took a quick peek at it and silently agreed with Vanessa. The feathers were good, but the bird woman's face was all wrong.

Frida stared at it for a long time. For so long, in fact, that Vanessa was beginning to wonder if she was going to speak at all.

“Do you know this legend?” Frida asked, looking directly at Vanessa.

Vanessa felt a wave of terror surge inside her.

“Sorry? What legend?” She shouldn't have drawn her vision. She should have drawn anything but that.

“This picture, it is Lechusa. She represents death,” Frida said tersely.

Vanessa stared at the owl on the page, unable to speak. She could feel Nikki's and Frida's eyes burning into her.

“Lechusa is not really an owl but a witch. A winged woman who comes for your soul when you are about to die.” Frida's face was expressionless. Her voice was flat and quiet. Her lips barely moved. “If you whistle and Lechusa returns the call, death is near.”

“That's a cool story,” said Nikki. “It's a bit like our banshee, isn't it, Vanessa?”

It was as if Frida hadn't heard her.

“You can sometimes hear her approach. The sound of her wings will beat in your head.”

Now Frida turned to Nikki. “It is said that if Lechusa is captured and forced to see the sun rise, she will turn back into a beautiful young woman. Then she is condemned to death—burned at a stake.”

There was a heavy silence when she finished speaking.

“That's a scary one,” Nikki said. “But Vanessa loves stories like that. Don't you, Vanessa?”

Vanessa couldn't answer. Frida handed the picture back to her.

“It is well drawn, Vanessa. Now, let us tell the story of Lechusa in Spanish,” she said at last.

Vanessa tried her best, but every word hammered on the inside of her head until she thought it might explode. She had no idea what she said.

Afterward, when Nikki asked her about the drawing, Vanessa lied. She told Nikki that she had copied it from a book and didn't like to admit it. She hated herself for being dishonest to Nikki, of all people, but what else could she say? She could hardly tell her the truth. It was just too eerie.

“Honestly, Vanessa, why didn't you just admit that you copied it instead of acting all weird?” Nikki, who rarely got cross, was really annoyed now. “Do you not think Frida and Joseph have enough on their plate without you acting up like that? First there was that scene about Xolo, then you took to your bed for days with some mysterious illness, and now you've
lied about a silly drawing and upset Frida even more.”

Vanessa was miserable. She wanted desperately to tell her friend about the strange visions and the way things happened to her and not to others. But if Nikki thought she was acting weird now, what would she say if she told her all that other stuff?

Crystals are considered one of the most important objects for a shaman to possess, as they help him to channel his powers.

Things didn't improve the next day either. Nikki and Carmen had paired off. Vanessa could hear them chatting away happily in the sitting room, doing their embroidery. Vanessa was beginning to feel more alone than ever. There was no sign of Armado anywhere, and even Izel had a free afternoon and had gone to visit her sister in the local village.

Vanessa, at a loose end, decided to go and see Xolo. At least he was always happy to see her. She was annoyed that the dog was still being kept locked up for most of the day. He had been in that wretched shed, out of harm's way, when the cows were killed the other night. Obviously he had nothing at all to do with it, so why was he still being treated like a suspect?

Xolo was lying with his head on his paws and only lifted it halfheartedly when he saw Vanessa. There was something wrong.

“Maybe you need a run; do you, Xolo?”

Xolo hopped up, licked her hand and trotted over to the door.

Vanessa laughed. “Well, maybe I really can talk to animals,” she said out loud as she pushed the door open.

Her heart all but stopped when she saw Pablo. He had his back to her, but she knew immediately that it was him. There was a long knife in a sheath tucked into the back of his belt.

He turned toward her and stared. He had an axe in his hand and had been chopping wood.

Xolo started to jostle against Vanessa's knees,
almost tripping her up. He was clearly scared. How dare Pablo try to intimidate them like that! She looked at him defiantly and held his stare as she stalked past.

It was then that she saw the string around his neck with a small crystal and three long feathers attached. Where had she seen something like that before?

Xolo growled, a low and rumbling warning. And Vanessa suddenly remembered when she had seen a necklace like that. It was when she'd handled the bone that Xolo had brought to her. Or had it been that time in the shaman's house? What did Pablo have to do with all of this?

El Chupacabra has also been called the Vampire of Moca, the Elemental Beast and Mexican Devil.

It was time to talk to Armado. It had been four days since he had found her covered in blood. Four long, painfully slow days. After breakfast she was going to make a point of finding him and getting to the bottom of this.

Vanessa stood on the terrace and took a deep breath. She loved the sweet scent on the air and the
warmth on her face. She put her head back and rested upright against the sun-warmed wall. She loved Mexico despite everything that had happened. Nikki was still being a little cool toward her; she would probably never invite her to Mexico again. Vanessa wouldn't be needed anyway, as Carmen and Nikki got on really well. In fact, Nikki was probably wishing she hadn't brought Vanessa at all.