Bailey and the Santa Fe Secret (8 page)

Pastor John squeezed the girls’ hands as approaching sirens wailed in the background. “God, I can’t possibly say it any more eloquently than these girls have, but please be everything Elan needs in his life—his Protector, his Father, his Strength, his Confidence. May he turn to You in times of difficulty and uncertainty. May his heart belong to You. Bring him down safely to his mother. In Your Son’s strong name. Amen.”

Bailey looked into Pastor John’s face and saw a tender smile. His eyes were moist, and he hugged them. “Thanks, girls. I know God heard our prayers and is already answering them in the way He knows is best.”

“He’s almost to the top!” someone yelled.

Bailey saw that in about two more reach-and-step movements, Elan would indeed be to the flat mesa at the top of the cliff. “You’re almost there, Elan!” she shouted. “You can do it!”

By now a TV news helicopter hovered overhead. Police cars and fire trucks came next, sirens blaring, standing by in case emergency medical care was needed.

Elan reached one last time, and his arm landed over the top ledge. He pulled himself up and swung his leg onto the landing.

“You did it!” Elizabeth whooped.

Elan stood, his arms raised in victory.

Halona’s cell phone rang.

“Mom! I made it! I proved myself a man!” Elan was talking so loud that Bailey could hear him through the phone.

“I am so proud of you, even though you scared me to death,” Halona said. “Don’t you ever try anything like this again, do you hear me?”

“I won’t,” Elan promised. “I’m worn out and all scraped up. I’m ready to be brought down.”

Chief Maska stood right next to Halona. He tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to give him the phone, which she did.

“Elan? It’s Chief Maska.”

“Did you see me, Chief? I made it!” Elan jumped up and down on the mesa plateau.

“I saw you. You did a remarkable job getting up there.”

“I was just telling Mom that I’m tired and all scraped up and ready to be brought down now.”

“Brought down?” Chief Maska smiled wryly. “Elan, you’ve only done the first part of proving your manhood. Being a man means continuing even when you’re tired, doing what’s right even when you’re hurt, and taking responsibility for your actions and choices. You must now come down from the mountain on your own, not expect someone to rescue you.”

“What? I can’t make it! I’m too tired. I can’t do it!”

With that, Bailey saw Elan drop in a heap on top of the mountain.

“You
can
do it, Elan.” Chief Maska spoke gently. “I will show you another way to come down that is easier than the one you took up. Walk to your right until you see a boulder the color of the sunset.”

Elan slowly stood and looked around him, cell phone still against his ear. He then followed the chief’s directions. “I think I see it.”

“Good. Now climb over it and follow the small path that winds to the left.”

Step by step, the chief guided Elan down the mountain until finally, a half hour later, he emerged at the bottom, tired and ragged. Halona grabbed him in a hug before the paramedics checked him over.

“Elan!” Bailey rushed to him. “You made it! Are you okay?”

“I think so. Just a little beat up.” He raised up his hands, scraped and raw, for her to see. “My knees are bloody, too. And I think I have blisters on my feet, but not as bad as if I’d climbed barefoot like many of my ancestors.”

Halona hugged him again. “I’m just glad you made it down in one piece.”

Paramedics bandaged his wounds and listened to his heart.

“I guess there’s no doubt that you’re a man now,” Bailey said. “We knew it before, but this should take care of any questions anyone may have had about you.” Her eyes flitted in Paco’s direction, and Elan smiled.

“So no more taking risks like that!” Halona scolded. “You could have been killed, and where would that have left Aiyana and me? We need you.”

“I know, Mama,” Elan said. “I won’t do anything like that again. I know that a real man needs to be responsible, not just brave.”

The paramedic helped Elan to his feet. “Okay, son. You’re good to go.”

“Come on. Let’s get you home.” Halona wrapped her arm around Elan and led him toward the car.

“Hey, Elan!”

Elan swung around to see Paco, Willy, and several other boys coming toward him. He scowled until Paco extended his hand.

“I was wrong.” Paco’s smile brightened his usually gloomy face. “You’re tougher than I thought.”

Elan shook Paco’s hand, wincing as his bandaged fingertips met Paco’s grip.

Paco let go. “Sorry.”

“No problem.”

“Well, we’ll see you around.” Paco and his buddies jumped on their bikes and took off toward town.

“Who was that?” Halona asked.

“Just some guys from school.” Elan kept walking toward the car.

“Were they the ones who teased you?”

Elan glared at Aiyana.

“I had to tell!” Aiyana cried.

“Yeah, they’re the ones,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t look like they’ll give me any more trouble.”

“You should have told me,” Halona said. “I’m sure we could have come up with a better solution than you risking your life.”

As the Tse family—plus Elizabeth, Bailey, and her mom—piled into the Suburban, a sense of dread filled Bailey. With the excitement over, she suddenly remembered the broken pot.

“Halona, about the broken pot Aiyana found in the cabinet at the store,” Bailey began. She figured she may as well come clean with the whole awful truth and face the consequences now.

Halona looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Oh, yes! I’d forgotten all about it in my worry over Elan.”

“I broke it, and I’m terribly sorry.” Bailey felt hot tears prick her eyes.

“What pot?” Elan asked.

“The pot of our ancestors!” Aiyana blurted. “The one that held the key to riches!”

“How’d
that
happen?” The accusation in Elan’s voice was unmistakable.

“I—I wanted to look at it in better light. So we could figure out if the painting on the pot was of an area somewhere around here.”

Elizabeth spoke up. “It wasn’t all Bailey’s fault. We both knew we shouldn’t touch the pot, but we were equally curious. As she reached for the pot, I accidentally bumped into her and made her knock it over. That’s when it fell to the floor and broke. I’m sorry, too.”

“Bailey!” Mrs. Chang’s face meant business. “You girls have gone way over the boundaries with your sleuthing this time!”

“I’m sorry,” Bailey said softly. “I’ll try to fix it. I think it will glue back together.”

“Still, the damage is done. ‘Sorry’ and a little glue won’t fix hundreds of years of history.” Mrs. Chang shook her head.

“Bailey,” Halona said gently. “It’s okay. It’s true the pot meant a lot to our family. But I think God put Elan on the side of that cliff today for more reasons than just to prove his manhood.”

Bailey looked at the rearview mirror where she could only see Halona’s kind eyes looking back.

“I think He put him there just at that time so I could see this situation from a different perspective.” Halona paused. “The pot was very important to us, but not as important as our family or the lives we live. Elan’s life was on the line today and, by comparison, that pot isn’t worth the clay it was made from.”

Tears spilled down Bailey’s cheeks. She looked at Elizabeth and saw tears in her eyes, too.

“I don’t know what to say,” Bailey whispered. “Thank you.”

“Yes, thank you,” Elizabeth echoed. “We’ll do whatever we can to repay you and repair the damage.”

“I know there’s really no way to do that.” Bailey wiped her tears with the palm of her hand. “But you can bet we’ll try our best.”

“I know you will,” Halona said.

That evening, Bailey sat cross-legged on the floor of the bedroom with her computer in her lap and chatted with the other Camp Club Girls on the CCG chat room.

Elizabeth wrote the name and date on a paper lying on the nightstand.