Hunters of Chaos (6 page)

“I think they mean a bunch of people died of boredom here,” said someone behind us. We turned to find Nicole and a group of her friends blinking innocently at Ms. Benitez, as if none of them had said a word. But as soon as the history teacher turned back toward the ruin, a sly smile spread across Nicole's face and she winked at me. Meanwhile, a few of her friends pulled out their cell phones and started texting. I didn't get it. The biggest archaeological event in a century was happening right in front of them, and they couldn't have been less interested.

At the risk of forever being labeled a nerd, I caught up to Ms. Benitez and whispered, “I'm sorry about that. I'm sure they didn't mean it.”

“I'm sure they did,” Ms. Benitez said with a weary smile. “But don't be sorry. I'm used to it. Not many kids your age get how exciting and relevant the past can be. Not many adults, either.”

“How do you deal?” I asked. “Doesn't it make you want to quit and, I don't know, run off to Hawaii or something?”

Ms. Benitez let out a surprised laugh. “I admit, Hawaii sounds tempting sometimes. And trying to make others appreciate history the way I do can be frustrating. But that just makes having a student like you all the more rewarding.” She stopped walking then and tilted her head in my direction. Her brown eyes were filled with such warmth that for a moment I thought she might hug me. “I'm so glad you're here, Ana.”

I was startled. She hadn't even taken attendance yet before she brought the class outside, so how did she know my name already? Maybe I was the only kid she hadn't taught before, but she was gazing at me as if she had known me for years, instead of only a few minutes. Either she was psychic, or she had been expecting me. But I shook off that crazy thought as quickly as it had come.
Paranoid much?
a voice that sounded a lot like Nicole's echoed in my head.
She's probably just psyched that someone here isn't bored to tears.
Besides, according to the letter they'd sent to the house, Temple Academy was an exclusive place and they didn't admit many new students each year. So maybe my arrival had been a bigger deal than I knew.

We all watched the excavation team for a while longer, until Ms. Benitez announced that it was time to return to the classroom. She fell to the back to wrangle the stragglers, so I found myself walking ahead. Somehow I ended up next to Nicole and a group of the girls who'd spent the past twenty minutes texting.

“Lin, your bag is killer. Is it Coach?” Nicole said to a pretty Chinese American girl with shiny black hair pulled up into an elegant chignon. Her bangs swept across her forehead at a perfect forty-five-degree angle, and I had a feeling the diamond studs in her ears and the bracelet circling her wrist were real. Even in her school uniform, she looked like she belonged on a red carpet in Paris.

But when Lin turned to glare at Nicole with eyes that were so brown they were nearly black, I recognized her immediately. It was the same girl who had been spying on Jason from the bleachers. She lifted the bag that had been resting in the crook of her arm and let out a harsh puff of air, as if Nicole had just insulted her in the worst way. “
Coach?
Please. Coach is so over. Anyone can get a Coach bag these days. This is a limited-edition Marchesa.”

“Oh, totally.” Nicole scrambled for words, clearly trying to save face. “I was just kidding about Coach. Gag, am I right? What I meant was, how did you score the new Marchesa? Isn't there, like, a two-year waiting list?”

Lin flashed a smug smile. “When your father is the ambassador to China and your mother is China's most successful actress, there
is
no waiting list.”

While the other girls oohed and aahed over Lin's designer bag and expensive jewelry. I had to turn away so no one would see me roll my eyes. This was the girl that Nicole had described just the day before as a spoiled-rotten brat who everyone sucked up to only because her parents had “more money than God.” She'd said it with such disgust, and yet now it looked like Nicole was the biggest suck-up of them all. How many faces did my roommate have?

“Gee, Lin. Thanks for reminding us again who your parents are. I think it's been a whole five minutes. I'd almost forgotten!”

Lin looked coldly at the dark-skinned, athletic-looking girl to her left. I noted that, unlike Lin, she didn't have a single accessory on her body, and her hair hung in loose natural waves just past her shoulder blades. She hadn't even rolled the waistband of her skirt to show a little more leg like most of the girls had. I liked her instantly.

“You're just jealous, Doli,” Lin told her. “My parents are famous and respected, while yours sell cheesy souvenirs on some rinky-dink Indian reservation. Deep down, you know you don't belong here.”

“
I
don't belong here?” Doli raised her eyebrows and pointed one slim finger at her chest. She had been slouching a little, hunched in that way tall girls sometimes do when they want to seem less intimidating. But when she straightened her back and lifted her chin, she towered over Lin. “You must have been asleep during assembly today. That temple back there means I'm the
only
one who belongs here!”

“Oh, give me a break,” Lin said, then sucked her teeth and flicked her hand dismissively. “I was wide awake during Dr. Hottie's speech, and he said the temple was Anasazi, not Navajo.”

Doli, completely unfazed, sighed as if she were tired of explaining the obvious. “The Anasazi were an ancient people who lived on this land. In other words, they were my ancestors. Anasazi literally means ‘ancient ones' in Navajo.”

I wished I'd had a camera to capture the look on Lin's face when Doli schooled her into silence. It was priceless. But Lin knew we were watching her, so after a few seconds she twisted her lips into a snarl and narrowed her dark eyes. “How nice for you,” she said in the iciest voice she could muster, then turned and sauntered away.

“Wait up, Lin,” Nicole called, jogging after her like a puppy, along with the rest of Lin's entourage.

Doli just shook her head. “That girl has her nose so high in the air, she's going to get a nosebleed. Good thing Nicole will be right there to clean it up.”

I knew I shouldn't laugh. Nicole was my friend—at least I thought so—and I was sure there was probably some unwritten rule about always having your roommate's back. But I couldn't help smiling. Especially since Doli was the first down-to-earth person I'd seen since I got here—except, maybe, for Jason. She noticed me fighting not to laugh and smiled back at me. Maybe I didn't have to work so hard at making friends after all.

When classes finally ended for the day, I trailed everyone else out of the academic building and toward the pathways to the dorms. We were still pretty far away when the sky darkened and thunder boomed like a cannon. Suddenly the clouds opened up and rain started pouring down in sheets. Lightning cracked overhead and for a second everything was bathed in light. It was just like the storm on my last night in Ohio.

The other girls around me screamed and ran to take cover under the nearest oak tree. I knew that was absolutely the worst thing you could do during a lightning storm, but in this rain, I thought I might drown before I ever reached the dorm. So I joined the others under the large tree, sandwiched between Lin and Nicole.

“Doesn't anybody have an umbrella?” Lin whined. Nicole frantically rifled through her bag for an umbrella I knew she didn't have. She glanced at Lin and shook her head apologetically. “This is ridiculous,” Lin continued. “I'm calling Principal Ferris. If she doesn't want a diplomat's daughter getting sick because she was forced to walk in the rain between classes, she'll have to send Jason over with an umbrella.”

“Why don't you just call your daddy?” Doli called from the other side of the tree. “He's so high and mighty. I'm sure he can make it stop raining so your precious Marchesa won't get wet.” She laughed.

“Why don't you mind your own business, Doli? Better yet, call
your
daddy. I'm sure there's some anti-rain dance he can do.”

“Watch it, Yang,” Doli snapped.

Lin rolled her eyes but kept her mouth shut. She may have been mean, but she wasn't stupid. Instead of pushing her luck with Doli, she pulled out her smartphone. But as soon as she unlocked the screen and started dialing a number, the phone sizzled like bacon and died, the screen going black as the sky. Her eyes bulged as she tapped the phone's surface in vain. “What is this? Ugh!”

“Maybe it got wet,” I offered. “It only takes a drop or two of water and—”

She stared at me. “You're the new girl, right?” she interrupted.

“The name's Ana, actually.”

Her gaze turned cool and she lifted her nose in the air. “You know, thunderstorms are really rare this time of year, New Girl. But we've been having all kinds of weird things happen lately. First there was the earthquake yesterday, now this. It all seemed to start when
you
showed up.”

I sputtered. “You—you
must
be joking.”

She gave me an evil-looking half smile. “Am I? You show up here with this demonic-looking lion necklace—”

“It's a jaguar!”

“—around your neck and suddenly the ground is splitting open and we're stuck in a monsoon. How do we know you're not carrying some kind of ancient Aztec curse or something?”

All the girls huddled under the tree laughed, and the person laughing the loudest was Nicole. That stung more than I wanted to admit. I could feel the heat rising up the back of my neck and flashing through my cheeks. But I wouldn't give in to embarrassment and let Lin walk all over me. Doli had stood up to Lin and survived, which meant I could too.

“It's not Aztec,” I said.

Lin stopped laughing long enough to sneer at me. “What was that, New Girl?”

“It's not Aztec,” I repeated, strengthening my voice. “The necklace—and my ancestors—were
Mayan,
actually.”

“Like it matters.” Lin shrugged. “They were all savages anyway.”

For a moment I saw red. How
dare
she say something like that to me? If Uncle Mec and Aunt Teppy were here, they'd be furious. I backed away from the tree so I could look at the other girls gathered there, fully expecting to see outrage on their faces. But the only one who would even make eye contact with me was Doli, who gave me a sympathetic look. The others didn't seem to care at all.

The only thing I could do was pretend that I didn't either.

When the rain finally let up, I headed back to the dorm, feeling lonelier than I ever had before. Was that how they all saw me—as an outsider, a savage? I was glad that Nicole had gone somewhere to gossip with her friends so I had the room to myself for a while. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry in front of her. I stood outside my room, looking at the small white name tag that told the world Nicole and I were roommates and, according to her, besties.
So much for that,
I thought. Just then I heard the heavy footsteps of someone climbing the stairs. I looked up and found Doli standing at the end of the hallway. The corner of her mouth lifted into a half smile. She gave me a look that said she knew what I was going through because she'd gone through it too. But neither of us uttered a word.

Eventually other footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Doli continued up another flight to her floor. I entered my room alone, grateful to finally be away from everyone. At that moment the only two people in the world I wanted to talk to were my aunt and uncle. I took my phone out of my book bag, where I'd stashed it before classes started. I pressed power and waited patiently as it came to life. Only when I saw the screen, which showed that I had no missed calls or text messages, did I realize that I hadn't heard from Uncle Mec or Aunt Teppy since I'd gotten to New Mexico—not even to make sure my flight was okay.
Strange,
I thought. That wasn't like them at all. I checked the time: 3:15 p.m. That meant it was 5:15 in Ohio. They were probably still driving home from work and wouldn't answer their cell phones in the car. So I opened my laptop and sent them a quick e-mail.