Blind Fury (5 page)

“Then how did Wakara's great-grandmother get the name? Ishi's mother was too old to be her. Anyway, it says here she died the next winter.” She flipped to the back of the book. “That would have been about 1908. Irish Sheridan wrote that he found the baby, Wakara, and her mother nine years later, in 1917.”

“From what I read,” Kara broke in, “most of the tribes in that part of California were wiped out during the gold rush days.”

Anne nodded. “That is true. But not all died.”

“That's right!” Tia grabbed her backpack and started digging through the mess of books and papers. “Some of the Indians were captured and sold as slaves, and some of them went to live on reservations, mixed in with other tribes.

“Where's my other book?” She turned the backpack upside down and shook everything out onto the table. “It's in here somewhere. Don't you see? We just have to check the dates and do a little more research. Man!” Tia collapsed back into her chair, eyes sparkling like she'd found her own gold mine. “We are so close. Like, we are HOT! You could have relatives still out there.”

Kara's head suddenly throbbed. She rested it in her hands and closed her eyes. “Now I'm really confused. I thought Irish Sheridan found Wakara somewhere here in Oregon. Didn't these Yahi people live in Northern California?”

She felt Anne's hands on her shoulders. The sturdy fingers began massaging her neck. “It is enough, for now, to know the origin of your name. The rest of the mystery will wait.”

Tia took the hint and pushed back from the table. “Sorry, I thought it would make you happy.”

“I'm sorry too.” Tia was right, she should be ecstatic to find out where her name really came from. Instead, she felt frustrated and sad. This latest information only added new pieces to the puzzle.

Tia stuffed papers and junk back into her bag. Kara picked up the book about Ishi. “Look, I do appreciate all the research you've done. Can I keep the book and read it this week?”

“Sure. I got it from the school library, if you can believe that. It's been under our noses all along.”

Tia's mom came for her at eight o'clock. In spite of Anne's massage, Kara felt like her head was going to burst.

Anne had already gone into the family room, where she spent most evenings. Dad had insisted she use that space for privacy until she could climb the stairs.

Kara turned the locks on the doors, checked the thermostat, and headed up the stairs. At the landing, she could see light coming from under Ryan's door.

“Ry?” She tapped on the door, then opened it and peeked in. Ryan was sprawled on his stomach facing the foot of his bed, munching butterscotch candy and flipping the pages of a book.

“Shh.” He put his finger to his lips and pointed to the other twin bed. “Colin's sleeping,” he whispered.

No wonder Ryan had been so quiet all evening. He'd had Colin for company, even if Colin was flat on his back, still dressed in dirty jeans and a sweat-stained shirt, with his hat pulled over his eyes. He was snoring like an asthmatic frog.

She stifled a giggle and motioned Ryan out of the room. “Is it okay if he spends the night? I don't think Dad and Greg got the bunkhouse finished.”

Ryan nodded soberly. “Sure,” he said in a normal voice. “He was helping me with my letters, but then he fell asleep. Right in the middle of capital Ns.”

“Shh!” She put one finger to her lips and glanced at the bed. Colin's breathing changed, but he didn't move. She groaned, then clapped a hand over her mouth. She felt like roadkill, but if Ryan hadn't finished his homework, she would have to help him.

“It's okay, Miss Kara, you can go to bed now; we men have got it handled.”

Colin hadn't moved, but his hat had shifted to a different angle, and she could see one corner of his lip twitch.

It took her five seconds to snag a pillow and smack him in the head.

It took Colin three seconds to grab her arms and pin her to the mattress.

“Ha, Kara. Colin won.” Ryan danced around the room throwing make-believe punches.

Kara didn't even bother to struggle. By the time Colin let her up she was seeing stars. He was groaning and holding his ribs. “Truce,” he gasped.

“Truce,” she agreed. Her headache was so bad she felt like she was going to pass out. The next thing she knew, she was in her own bed. Colin was leaning over her, wiping her face with cool cloths, while Anne called instructions from the floor below.

W
HEN
THE
ALARM
WENT
OFF
at 6:30, Wakara's headache was gone, but it threatened to grab her again when she remembered Colin bending over her, his eyes filled with concern. He must have picked her up off the floor and carried her into her room.

She groaned. How totally embarrassing! She had never fainted in her life, and she had to go and pass out practically in Colin's arms.

To her relief, the only one at breakfast was Ryan.

By the time she had swallowed a few bites of toast and managed to convince Anne she felt well enough to go to school, she and Ryan had to run to catch the bus. She had tests in both of her morning classes and didn't get a break until after Health and Safety, when Mr. Jaminson pulled her aside.

“You won't believe this,” she told Tia at lunchtime. “Mr. Jaminson, my Health teacher, wants Colin and me to do a survival demonstration for a class field trip!”

Tia's brown eyes practically popped out of their sockets. “Cool! What did Colin say?”

“I haven't asked him yet, but I think he'll say yes.” She remembered the way he had bent over her last night, his eyes full of worry, but his lips twitching in a teasing smile. She couldn't stop the blush that crept from her forehead to her chin, and hurried on before Tia could pick up on it. “They have a curriculum. It's really for pilots who survive airplane crashes, but it will be easy to adapt. We just have to work out a presentation. It can't be too hard. These kids are all our age.”

Tia laughed. “Right. And most of them can't survive a day without pizza.”

Kara thought about it all the way home. Maybe she should have had Mr. Jaminson ask for Colin's help instead of volunteering to ask him herself. The class wasn't something she wanted to tackle on her own, and with Colin's experience in Alaska, he was the most logical choice for an assistant. But what if he said no?

Her breath blew steam into the cold air as she crossed the footbridge onto their dirt road. Even before she reached the gravel drive, she heard the low of cattle from the front pasture.

“Dad's home!” Ryan sprinted toward the house.

She let him go. He needed to run and get rid of some of that energy.

A few minutes later, she set her books on the table by the stairway. The smell of coffee and Ryan's excited chatter drew her into the kitchen. Dad, Colin, and Greg were gathered around the kitchen table munching cookies. Ryan had draped himself over Dad's shoulder, asking questions and pointing to the map laid out on the center of the table.

“Hi, Sugar Bear.” Dad's smile was genuine, but she could tell he was tired by the way his eyelids drooped.

She reached around Ryan to give Dad a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I'm glad you're home.” She had a million
questions herself, starting with why they were studying a topography map of the Blue Mountains.

She took the seat next to Dad. Anne handed her a cup of coffee, and Colin pushed the plate of snickerdoodles in her direction. An uneasy feeling stirred in her chest. Dad and Greg were supposed to make repairs at Eagle Lodge this week, but the cattle drive had delayed the trip. With that, and the unpredictable weather, she had assumed they had changed their plans. But the map could only mean one thing.

Dad spoke up before she could ask. “Greg and I were just going over the terrain around Cutter's Gap Wilderness. Hunting's been banned in there this year because of the fire, but we're already booked solid for next season—the new growth will be perfect for elk.”

Kara loved coffee, but the sip she took tasted bitter. Dad kept his eyes on the map. He knew how she felt about the hunting trips. It meant that Dad and Greg were gone four to six weeks at a time—longer if they handled groups during bow season too. But she also knew how much the guide services added to their income. People came from all over to ride into the wilderness and shoot an elk or deer. She wasn't really squeamish about the hunting. The herds needed to be managed, or they would overrun an area in just a few years. And most people ate what they killed. On the other hand, with the price they paid for a guided hunt, they could buy an entire side of beef.

Dad brushed a stray hair off her cheek, interrupting her thoughts. “We'll ride in Friday morning. Think you can manage around here for a week or two?”

She nodded and tried to smile. She knew Dad didn't like leaving her and Ryan any more than she liked having him gone. Sulking would only make it harder on both of them.

She picked up a cookie and tried to change the subject. “How was the cattle drive?”

Dad leaned back in his chair and stretched, working the kinks out of his muscles. “It went fine. But I'll tell you what, I'm getting too old to sleep on the ground.” He grinned. “Even my toenails ache.”

She wanted to say, “Then how are you going to manage a two-week scouting trip?” but she knew better than to bring up that subject again.

Dad looked at Colin. “No sign of that cougar; not even tracks. We lost one calf, though.” He frowned. “It was stillborn, but I'm not sure why. The heifer checks out okay.”

A stiff wind rattled the shutters, and everyone watched as leaves and twigs blew across the yard. Greg got up and went over to the window, tipping his head to see the thermometer mounted on the deck post just outside. “Thirty degrees already. Good thing it's not wet; we'd have a hard freeze.”

Colin joined him at the window. “I heard it's supposed to drop into the low twenties tonight. We'd better get the mammas and babies in the barn.”

“I get to come!” Ryan stuffed the last of a snickerdoodle in his mouth and yanked on his father's shirtsleeve. “Tell them I can help. I want to see the calves.”

Kara saw Greg roll his eyes, but he turned to face the window and didn't say anything. She smiled to herself. She couldn't blame him. Ryan could be a pest, and his “help” was guaranteed to slow down any chore.

Ryan shifted his pleading eyes to Colin.

“Hey, Sport, don't look at me. It's up to your dad.”

Dad rubbed his chin and pretended to think about it, while Ryan hopped from one foot to the other and shouted, “Please, please, please?”

Kara covered her ears. “Ry! You're in the house.”

She was glad when Dad gave up the game and consented. “Okay, as long as you mind Greg and Colin and stay out of the way, got it?”

“All right. I can go!”

Ryan made a mad dash for the door, where Anne stood holding out his heavy blue parka with the hood.

“You will need this, I think.”

“Aw . . .” One look at Dad's face quieted any protest.

Greg and Colin grabbed their own coats from the rack on the service porch, pulled on gloves, and followed Ryan outside.

“Back in a few,” Colin called.

“Yeah, hours.” Greg pulled the door shut as a gust of icy wind blew the newspaper all over the room.

Kara sighed. She hadn't had a chance to talk to Colin about the field trip, but the quiet was comforting. She settled back in her chair and realized she felt more relaxed than she had in a week. It felt good to be with her family—back to the old routine.

A pang of loneliness gripped her as she thought about the one family member who wasn't there.
Mom would be standing at the window, watching to be sure Ryan didn't strip off his coat as soon as he thought he was out of sight. Then she would turn back to the table and offer Dad more coffee and say, “Do you have homework, Wakara ?” Dad would kiss Mom on the cheek, ask “What's for dinner?”, then take his paperwork into the den
.

“Wakara? Did you hear me?”

She snapped out of her dream. “Uh, sorry, Dad. What did you say?”

He must have read the sadness on her face, because he looked down and got busy folding the map. “I was reminding you that Wednesday is Greg's birthday.” He looked up
again. “That's another reason we postponed the scouting trip. I thought we could celebrate Wednesday night.”

Kara groaned. That's right! She had forgotten. Her brother would turn nineteen on Wednesday, and she hadn't even thought about a gift.

“Colin and I got him a GPS—a Global Positioning System. It works by locking onto satellites and pinpointing exactly where you are, anywhere in the world. You save your coordinates before a hike, and it will get you back within a hundred yards of where you started.” Dad's eyes gleamed. “I bought myself one too. As much as we're in the woods, it's worth the cost.”