The Kachina’s Curse

“I can’t believe it, ” Bess said as they walked out of the terminal building into the glow of the late afternoon sun. “It was winter when we left River Heights and now it’s spring. ”

“You’ll be able to smell the citrus orchards once we leave here, ” seventeen-year-old Heather told them as she led the way to where her older brother Chuck was already loading their luggage into a station wagon.

“Is something wrong, Heather? ” Nancy asked the slim redhead. Though their reception had been warm, she’d quickly detected a worried glint in her friend’s green eyes. “Something you haven’t told us? ”

Chuck turned his dark head their way, his blue eyes grave. “It’s Grandfather, ” he said. “He’s in the hospital. We took him in last night.”

“My goodness, ” Nancy gasped. “What happened? ”

“It was the Kachina’s curse, ” Heather answered bitterly. “I didn’t really want to believe in it before, but after this, I can’t deny it. ”

“There are no ghosts, ” Chuck snapped, helping George, Bess, and Nancy into the back seat of the station wagon. “It was a fire in the mountains, nothing else.”

Nancy frowned, sensing how troubled her friends were. “Suppose you tell me what happened, ” she suggested. “Maybe we can figure things out together.”

Chuck got in and started the station wagon, while Heather settled herself and half-turned toward the trio in the back seat.

“It happened after we went to bed last night, ” Heather began, her dappling of freckles much less obvious now that her face had been tanned by the Arizona sun. “We were sleeping, but Grandfather woke up. He said he looked out the window and saw a glow of light off toward the mountains.”

“A fire, you mean, ” Chuck corrected. “Another signal fire, no doubt.”

Heather sighed. “The moon was almost full last night, so Grandfather didn’t bother to turn on any lights. He went out in the hall, and that’s when he says he saw the Kachina figure.”

Chuck grunted, but seemed to concentrate on the traffic as they left the airport area and moved into the city. Heather glared at him, then went on.

“Grandfather started after whatever he saw, and in the poor light, he caught his foot on a rug and fell. We found him in the hall. ”

Chuck nodded. “He has a broken wrist and a badly wrenched knee. The doctor says he’ll have to stay in the hospital for at least a week, till his knee is healed and they’re sure there isn’t any other damage from the fall.”

George and Bess expressed sympathy, but Nancy said very little, though her bright eyes sparkled at this new evidence of a mystery. “Has this Kachina figure been seen before? ” she asked after a moment.

“Frequently, if you believe the general gossip, ” Heather answered. “Not that we did. I mean, we’ve lived there since the end of December and neither of us has seen anything.”

“What about your grandfather? ” George asked.

“He didn’t believe the stories either, ” Chuck answered.

“Is there anyone else in the house who has seen the figure? ” Nancy asked. “Anyone I could talk to, I mean? ”

To her surprise, Chuck and Heather exchanged glances before Heather answered. “You might ask Ngyun. He’s always roaming around the place, so he might have seen something.”

“Ngyun? ” Nancy asked.

“He’s the nephew of Maria Tomiche. She’s our housekeeper now and will be the resort dietician when we open, ” Chuck said. “Her husband Ward teaches at the local school. He’s been tutoring Ngyun so he can enter an American school in the fall. ”

“The boy’s just been here about two months, ” Heather went on. “Maria’s brother, Kyle Little Feather, was in Vietnam. He met and married Su Lin, Ngyun’s mother, there. He’d planned to bring her and Ngyun to Phoenix as soon as he could, but things got very bad for them when the war ended. Su Lin was able to get out with Ngyun, but Kyle was killed.”

“How sad, ” Bess murmured.

Heather nodded. “Maria didn’t hear from Su Lin, didn’t even know if they’d escaped till about a year ago. She was very happy when she finally got word and she’s been wanting to meet Su Lin ever since, but Su Lin has been ill and finally wrote and asked if she could send Ngyun to his father’s family till she was well again.”

“How old is Ngyun? ” George asked.

“Twelve, ” Chuck answered, a note of anger in his voice.

Heather giggled. “Don’t mind him, ” she said. “He’s unhappy with Ngyun at the moment.”

“We just didn’t need any more problems, ” Chuck contributed, sounding far older than twenty. “He’s the real cause of Grandfather’s accident, not some mysterious Kachina figure.”

“What do you mean? ” Nancy asked, thinking of the threatening letter she’d received.

“Grandfather was out in the hall because he thought he saw something on the mountain, and that something was probably another of Ngyun’s signal fires. That kid has burned two big cactuses and one palo verde tree.”

“You don’t know that for sure, ” Heather corrected.

“Well, do you know anyone else who’d ride around the ranch starting small fires? ” Chuck asked.

Heather’s face was suddenly sad. “No, of course not, but he says he didn’t set them, Chuck, and Maria believes him. I mean, he didn’t deny starting the first fire.” She turned back to Nancy. “He’s never had a chance to learn much about his father’s people before, and I’m afraid a lot of his ideas come from the old movies on television. He was trying to make smoke signals when he started a fire on the ridge. He was told not to do it again, but several things have been burned since.”

“What about the fire your grandfather saw? ” Nancy asked, pursuing the question.

“We don’t really know, ” Chuck admitted. “By the time we got back from the hospital, there wasn’t any sign of it. I suppose it could have been a trick of the moonlight.” His tone made it clear, however, that he didn’t believe this explanation. “Most likely though, it just burned out. Desert fires do that, if there isn’t any wind.”

“Nancy, do you suppose you could handle another case while you’re here? ” Heather asked, taking Nancy by surprise.

“What do you have in mind? ” Nancy asked immediately.

“Well, it’s Ngyun. The fires and some of the other things that have happened since he came to the ranch have caused a stir among the neighboring ranchers, and I was hoping that you might be able to clear his name.”

“Clear his name? ” Nancy frowned. “I don’t understand. If he’s been doing all these things, how can I help? ”

Heather turned her eyes back to the roadside, with its palm and citrus trees. “I guess what I’m asking is that you investigate what has happened, ” she said, now gazing at Nancy. “You see, Ngyun claims that he only lit the one signal fire, and he denies leaving gates open and all the other little things he’s supposed to have done. Maria believes him and, well, we really need to know. If he isn’t telling her the truth, Ward says she will simply have to send Ngyun back to his mother’s people.”

“I’ll do my best, ” Nancy promised, thinking that her vacation on the ranch was already promising to be a very busy one.

“How soon will we get to the ranch? ” George asked, changing the subject.

“Oh, we still have quite a drive, Chuck answered. “Kachina Resort is near the Superstition Mountains.” He pointed toward the east, where rugged cliffs rose out of the desert landscape.

“The Superstitions, ” Bess murmured. “Isn’t there supposed to be some kind of lost mine in those mountains? ”

“The Lost Dutchman Mine, ” Chuck confirmed, smiling at her. “You’ll find people in Apache Junction selling maps to it.”

“What is Apache Junction? ” George asked.

“That’s the little town closest to the ranch, ” Heather answered.

“Oh.” Bess’s round face lost a little of its usually happy expression. “I didn’t realize we were going to be so far out in the country, ” she said.

“Don’t worry, we won’t let the Kachina get you, ” Chuck teased.

“I wasn’t afraid, ” Bess protested. “It just seems sort of wild out here.”

“We felt that way at first, too, ” Heather said. “But we’ve come to love the area now.” She opened the car window. “This is my favorite time of year, too. Smell the orange blossoms.”

The heavy odor drifted in on the light, spring breeze. “Orange blossoms, ” Bess whispered. “How romantic. ”

“It really is a business, ” Chuck corrected. “Those groves ahead are all citrus trees. A month ago, they were still loaded with oranges and grapefruit, but most of it has been picked and sold by now. We have quite a few trees on the ranch, too, so you girls can pick your own grapefruit for breakfast if you like. ”

“I can hardly wait, ” Bess said, then blushed as George and Nancy laughed.

“I’m sure Maria will have something much more substantial prepared for us, ” Heather assured her. “I told her we’d wait and have dinner at the resort.”

George and Bess greeted the news enthusiastically, but Nancy’s mind was already on what lay ahead. Investigating a ghostly Indian figure had seemed an interesting challenge, even after the threatening letter arrived, but now that it had actually harmed someone, the whole mystery was much more serious. And, of course, there was the boy Ngyun to be considered, too. Determining his guilt or innocence in the accidents around the area could have very grave consequences for him.

“Nancy, ” Heather broke into her thoughts. “I’m sorry to meet you with so much bad news. It’s just that having the resort means everything to all of us, and this talk of a curse could ruin us before we even start.”

“Then we’ll just have to stop it, won’t we? ” Nancy told her, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt at the moment.

Suddenly, when they were rounding a curve, a speeding car from the opposite direction swerved from its lane and came at them head on!