فصل 18 - بخش 11

18

Past the first turning, the Ahiga path widened and began to descend. There were pictographs on both sides. Some of the ancient images had been embellished or entirely covered with spray-paint tags.

‘He’ll know we’re coming,’ Holly said.

‘I know. We should have brought one of those flashes.’

She reached into one of her voluminous side pockets – the one that had been sagging – and pulled out one of the stubby Home Depot UV flashlights.

‘You’re sort of amazing,’ Ralph said. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve got a couple of hardhats in there, do you?’

‘No offense, but your sense of humor is a little weak, Ralph. You should work on that.’

Around the next turning of the path, they came to a natural hollow in the rock about four feet off the ground. Above it, fading letters in black paint read WE WILL NEVER FORGET. Inside the niche was a dusty vase with thin branches jutting from it like skeletal fingers. The petals that had once adorned those branches were long gone, but something else remained. Scattered around the bottom of the vase were half a dozen toy versions of Chief Ahiga, like the one that had been left behind when the Jamieson twins had crawled into the bowels of the earth, never to be found. The toys were yellow with age, and the sun had cracked the plastic.

‘People have been here,’ Holly said. ‘Kids I’d say, based on the spray-paint tags. But they never vandalized this.’

‘Never even touched it, from the look,’ Ralph said. ‘Come on. Yune’s on the other side with a bullet wound and a busted elbow.’

‘Yes, and I’m sure he’s in great pain. But we need to be careful. That means moving slowly.’

Ralph took her by the elbow. ‘If this guy gets both of us, that leaves Yune on his own. Maybe you should go back.’

She pointed to the sky, where black smoke from the burning SUV was rising. ‘Someone will see that, and they’ll come. And if something happens to us, Yune’s the only one who will know why.’

She shook his hand loose and began walking up the path. Ralph spared one more look for the little shrine, undisturbed all these years, and then followed her.