Mysteries In Our National Parks: Ghost Horses: A Mystery in Zion National Park

A rough branch drilled into his chest, like a skeleton’s finger, but the man knew he couldn’t change his position. Even the smallest flicker of movement would let them know he was there, and the man had spent too much time setting the trap to tip them off now. Behind him he heard the rustling of flanks against juniper trees. He held his breath when he saw it—a flash of silvery white, so pale it seemed as if a piece of moon had dropped from the desert sky. A Ghost Horse.

As he watched it move closer to his trap, the man tried not to think of the strange stories he’d heard, tales of white horses that whinnied a language of their own, caught between this world and the next. The mustang, ghostly white, stepped inside the trap. The man leaped out of the blind and slammed the gate shut. He had his prize.

Again and again the mustang hurled itself against the rails, rearing up before slamming into them in an explosion of sound. It gave a strange, ghostly cry that echoed back from the hills. Then he heard the pounding of hoofs. Frightened, the man turned and ran.

CHAPTER ONE

War cries cut the air in quick, high-pitched bursts until Jack’s ears rang with the sound. In front of him, 200 Native Americans from dozens of tribes danced through the arena, some with spears in their hands, others clutching eagle feathers as they swirled and pulsated in a dizzying, rainbow-hued parade. Jack had never before been to a powwow. He wished he could go out there and dance to the pounding of the drums instead of just sitting with his sister, Ashley, on hard bleachers.

“Isn’t this great, Jack?” Ashley enthused.

“Yeah. Great.” He meant it. It just wasn’t cool to sound as gushy as his sister.

There was so much motion and color that Jack had to keep switching his gaze, from the gate where more and more dancers swept in, to the far side of the grounds, where horses pawed and snorted, held in check by wildly dressed warriors. The Indian riders looked strong and fierce, with their faces painted and their headdresses bristling with feathers that made them seem larger than life. One carried a yellow shield decorated with buffalo images and red feathers. Another, wearing a black vest and beaded armbands, swung a war club above his head; yet another raised a spear as he galloped his horse in tight circles. How would it feel, Jack wondered, to be a part of something that had been passed down from one generation to another, so far back that no one could remember where it began? To know about your ancestors—unlike Jack, who didn’t even know the name of his own grandfather.

“Can you see Ethan or Summer?” Ashley asked, straining to catch a glimpse of their new foster children in the crowd of dancers.

“Right over there. On the other side of the circle, by the sign that says Eastern Shoshone Indian Days.”

Shading her eyes, his sister strained to see. With her own dark hair braided into long ropes and her end-of-summer tan, Ashley could have fit right in with the rest of the dancers. Jack, whose hair was blond and straight like his father’s, felt a little bit out of place, since there were almost no other Anglos sitting close by.

“I still don’t see them,” Ashley pressed. “Where are they?”

“Ethan’s next to the chief with the humongous headdress. Summer’s in the middle of the circle next to the lady in the buckskin. See where Dad’s standing underneath the sign taking pictures?” Jack pointed. “They just went past him.”

“Oh, yeah,” Ashley nodded. “There they are. Wow, Ethan’s dancing like crazy. Look at him go!”

Dressed in a bright blue vest and chaps edged with an eight-inch fringe, Ethan Ingawanup whirled in circles so fast that the fringe stood straight out from his body. A wheel of feathers three-quarters as tall as Ethan was attached to his back, like a fanned-out peacock’s tail. His feet moved as though they had a life of their own, furiously beating against the dirt so that it churned up in tiny puffs. Twenty-three different tribes were taking part in the Shoshone Indian Days celebration, all dressed in ceremonial regalia. Each footfall of the dancers hit the ground like a hammer blow timed to the beat of the drums. One dancer, half his face painted in a white mask, spun in front of Jack. The bronze skin of his naked torso rippled with muscle as he moved close to the earth before reaching for the sky, up and down, like a bird soaring and diving through the air.

Summer, Ethan’s younger sister, danced in the inner circle. Her dress was encrusted with silvery, cone-shaped jingle bells that made a tinkling sound as she moved in tiny, mincing steps.

“I’d like to dance like that,” Ashley said. “But I’d rather do the dance Ethan is doing, because Summer’s hardly moving. Wouldn’t you like to learn that warrior dance?”

“Maybe. Yeah, I guess.”

“Do you think Ethan would teach us?”

“I doubt it,” Jack muttered.

Ashley’s dark eyebrows edged up her forehead as she asked, “What’s your problem, Jack? You’re acting like you don’t like Ethan.”

Jack just shrugged. He didn’t want to get into it with his sister, even though he knew her well enough to figure she wouldn’t drop the subject. He took a swig of Coke from his can and tried to get back into the spell of the dancing, until he felt a tug on his arm.

“You ought to try, you know. Liking him, I mean.” Ashley moved closer to Jack on the bleacher, so that the toe of her tennis shoe pushed against his. “There’s lots we could do together with them, especially since Ethan’s your age and Summer’s mine, instead of the other way around. It’s perfect.”

Coolly, Jack studied his ten-year-old sister. He’d always found it a bit hard to deal with the foster kids who spun in and out of their lives like shoppers flung out of a revolving door. “Emergency care” kids, that’s what they were called—children who needed sheltering for a short time. Ashley enjoyed them more than Jack did, but he’d managed to make it work somehow. He’d pretty much decided he could get along with anyone, until that morning when they’d picked up the two newest foster kids from Indian Child Welfare. They were different.

Summer, a ten-year-old Shoshone girl, had been as quiet as a ghost, watching their every move with a sad moon face that never changed expression. If they were only supposed to take care of Summer, Jack wouldn’t have worried. It was her brother, Ethan, 12 going on 13, Jack didn’t know what to make of. From the moment they’d met, Jack had noticed the anger flashing behind Ethan’s dark eyes, the way he’d stared at Jack as if he were the enemy. Even though they’d been together only a couple of hours, it was enough for Jack to make his own conclusion: Ethan was going to be trouble.

“Look—if you want Ethan to teach you to dance, then ask him yourself,” Jack said, taking a fierce bite of his Indian fry bread. “I plan to stay out of his way.”

Ashley crossed her thin arms over her Indian Days T-shirt. “Oh, great, Jack. go on, act like a toad.”

“Hey, Ethan’s the one, not me.”

“At least he’s got a reason,” Ashley said, boring her eyes into his. “How’d you like it if you were Summer or Ethan?” Inside, Jack groaned as Ashley held up her hand and ticked points off on her fingertips. “First”—her index finger went up—“their parents die in a car crash. Then”—her middle finger shot into the air—“the grandmother who raised them gets put in a nursing home. Now”—Ashley finished with her ring finger—“they’ve got to leave their reservation and go off with strangers—you and me, Mom and Dad—who they never even met before today.”

“I know all that,” Jack snapped. “I’m just saying there’s something really weird about that Ethan.”

“Like what?”

“Like, I don’t know—lots of things. When we were waiting in the lobby at Social Services, I gave him a piece of gum. You know what he did with it?”

Ashley shook her head, causing her braids to bounce against her back like black ropes.

“He threw it in the garbage. He didn’t chew it, didn’t even open it—he just dumped it. Then he looked right at me, like he was daring me or something.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like gum.”

“That’s not it.” Jack raised his voice to be heard over the beat of a nearby drum. “He’s got some kind of attitude, you know? And the worst part is that we’re stuck taking them to Zion National Park with us tomorrow. They could ruin our trip, which really ticks me off. Especially since Dad and I are going on a great photo shoot in The Narrows, just him and me. There’s no way I’m gonna let that get ruined. I wish we’d never gotten Ethan.”

“That’s dumb. How could he ruin your trip?”

“Who knows? Anything can get screwed up when you’re dealing with a punk like him.”

“The key to Ethan and Summer,” a voice from behind them broke in, “is time. You just need to give them time.” When Jack whirled around, he saw Vivian Swallow, the social worker who had placed Ethan and Summer in the Landons’ care.

Jack could feel the heat rush to his cheeks. Caught! Caught mouthing off. If Vivian Swallow told Jack’s mother and dad what he’d just said, he’d be in real, heavy-duty, industrial-size, no-way-out trouble. “I…I didn’t…,” he stammered.

“It’s OK, Jack,” Vivian said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Right away Jack knew this woman wouldn’t tell. She was as warm and forgiving as Ethan was cold and hostile.

Half Shoshone, Vivian had high cheekbones, wide-set eyes flecked with green, and hair streaked with honey-colored strands. She’d dressed up for the powwow in an elkhide sheath beaded with brilliant Indian patterns. Two long fur pelts were attached to the ends of her braids; they hung down below her knees. Leather moccasins made her footsteps so soft that Jack hadn’t heard her coming up next to them.

“I see your dad over there, but where’s your mother?” Vivian asked.

“She’s standing in line waiting for the food,” Ashley answered.

Vivian turned to Jack. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help overhearing what you said about the Ingawanup kids. Is it OK if I sit here with you two?”

“Sure, I guess,” Jack told her, scooting away from Ashley to make room. His cheeks still felt hot from embarrassment.

Vivian turned to Jack, her large eyes resting on his. “So you’re not real happy about Ethan. No, it’s OK.” She stopped Jack as he began to apologize.

“Jack thinks Ethan’s mean. Is he?” Ashley asked.

Vivian smiled, revealing perfect white teeth. “I like how you get right to the point, Ashley. Maybe Ethan might be, well, just a little less than friendly. Let me explain.” Flipping the long fur braid decorations behind her back, Vivian looked from Jack to Ashley, then back to Jack. “Here on the Wind River Reservation, most people watch out for their own. Families take care of families. But unfortunately, right now there’s no one who can offer a home to Ethan and Summer. Which means I had to place them outside the reservation. Those two are leaving the only life they’ve ever known, and that’s tough.”

“What about their sister?” Ashley asked. “Mom said there was a big sister who’s going to be their guardian.”