Authors: Jean Flitcroft
The Chupacabra (15 page)
Vanessa was rooted to the spot, her eyes wide with terror. Lechusa? It was only a myth, a legend ⦠wasn't it?
They waited in silence until the day broke. When they went out into the dawn, there was no sign of either Pablo or Xolo.
Felix Martinez Hernández, president of Colonia San MartÃn, said that on 14 August at around 7:00 a.m., over 36 goats were found butchered in the Colonia San MartÃn strip, located 11 miles south of the municipality. He said that the presence of a predator, nagual, or the Chupacabra was suspected.
Nobody else was up yet when Vanessa slipped back into her room. She was heartbroken over Xolo. She wondered how much of the story Frida would share with the rest of the familyâas little as possible, she
hoped. What if her father found out? He would put her under house arrest for the rest of her life if he knew the half of it. And what about Nikki? Vanessa knew that it would be very hard for her friend to understand.
She need not have worried. Nobody mentioned a thing all day. Their last day on the ranch passed normallyâwell, as normally as possibleâuntil Xolo suddenly reappeared.
Vanessa was ecstatic to see him. After close investigation she found a few deep scratches on his neck.
“He must have been fighting with one of the other dogs,” Nikki remarked when she saw Vanessa cleaning the wound.
“I will get some ⦠what do you call it in English? Oh yes, disinfectant,” Carmen said. “We must also check the others.”
None of the other dogs had a scratch. To Vanessa's relief, the matter was forgotten by Nikki and Carmen in a matter of minutes.
She wondered if Pablo was still lurking around. Or was it possible that Lechusa had really come for him? Certainly the atmosphere on the ranch had changed. Maybe the killings would be over now.
On the last day Vanessa dressed in her travel clothes. It felt odd to be in jeans and runners after months of T-shirts and flip-flops. Joseph and Carmen were going to make the trip with them to the airport. Izel hugged them warmly and gave them each a beautifully wrapped package in a banana leaf tied with string.
“Some of my special cherry brandy fool cake for the journey,” she said proudly. “I will send you the recipe, Vanessa. In the post. Watch out for my letter.” Frida hugged Nikki warmly and gave her a couple of beautiful Spanish storybooks. “Keep up your Spanish lessons, Nikki.” She patted her affectionately. Frida turned then and smiled at Vanessa. She placed a small canvas into her hands. Vanessa looked at it in surprise. It was similar to her own picture of Lechusa but much, much better. Instead of pencil it was done in watercolors. The feathers were extraordinarily detailed and the colors beautiful.
“I have decided to go back to my painting properly next year, once the ranch is back on its feet,” said Frida. To Vanessa's immense surprise, Frida leaned forward and kissed her on both cheeks. “Thank you,” she said, dropping her voice.
Vanessa threw caution to the wind, then, and put her arms around Frida's shoulders, hugging her hard.
“Thank you for putting up with me. I was a terrible guest, really.”
Frida laughed. “You must both come again.” Armado was the only one who had not come to see them off. Vanessa didn't want to point the fact out, but she could not leave without saying good-bye to him. While she had really enjoyed the last week, swimming and sightseeing all together, riding with Armado alone had been the best.
Vanessa stowed her bag in the boot of the car and then put her presents from Izel and Frida carefully on her seat beside her. She kept her head down, trying not to show how put out she was that Armado hadn't made an appearance.
“I wonder where Armado is?” she finally muttered to Nikki.
Nikki looked surprised. “I saw him about eleven o'clock and he said good-bye to me then. Didn't you see him?”
Vanessa was shocked at how painful her disappointment was. Tears welled in her eyes and she blinked rapidly to make them disappear, all too aware
that Nikki was staring at her miserably.
The car pulled out onto the driveway, and they made their way slowly down the avenue for the last time. Vanessa and Nikki waved to Izel and Frida through the back window. It seemed more like four months than four weeks since they had arrived.
They approached the huge metal arch that stood on its own, marking the entrance to the property. Vanessa looked at it with a heavy heart. It had seemed so odd to her when they first arrived, but now it was entirely normal. She would miss Mexico.
Out of nowhere the sound of hooves thundered. Vanessa was the first to spot Armado.
Joseph pulled up and waited patiently while Vanessa got out to say good-bye to him. Nikki had already said good-bye, so she just waved from the back seat.
“Promise to come with Carmen to Dublin next year,” Nikki called out through the open door.
Vanessa stood with her back to the car, unsure what to do or say now that the moment had come. She put out her hand to shake his, but when he caught it he turned the palm upwards and brought it to his lips. It was the gentlest of sensations, yet it quite literally took her breath away. Vanessa said nothing in the
end, just turned and got back into the car. Her face said it all.
As they drove back toward Mexico City, a tremendous rainstorm hit them at about midday. Big fat drops sounded on the car roof. When they stopped at a gas station, Vanessa and Nikki bought Cokes and stood in the rain. They clinked their bottles in a toast to the Martinez ranch, delighted at the thought of the water stores filling up at last.
Science has so far failed to explain the physical evidence that has been foundâpuncture wounds, draining of blood, sometimes dozens of animals dead in a single night. Pathologists at the National University of Nicaragua studied the corpse of a dog-like creature that locals claimed to be a Chupacabra. After many tests and much delay, they finally reported that they could not identify the species.
Izel's letter with the recipe arrived in Dublin not long after they arrived home. To Vanessa's surprise, a
newspaper clipping also fell out of the envelope. She unfolded it and read:
Strange Happenings on
Rancho Del Diablo
There has been a series of livestock killings on the Martinez ranch in the region of Guanajuato. Some locals have claimed it to be the work of the Chupacabra, but now the mystery has been solved by the police. The deaths of chickens, goats and cows are understood to be the work of a pack of dogs which were being bred illegally on the ranch. The famous xolo meat was being sold on the black market.
Vanessa shook her head vehemently. Dogs, nonsense! Then she read on:
The man who was responsible for the breeding of the dogs, and thus indirectly the killings, was ranch hand Pablo Sanchez.
In a bizarre turn of events, he himself was found drowned when the river near his house burst its banks after heavy rains. The police are treating his death as accidental. His is the third death in the region due to
the heavy floods in recent days. No foul play or mysterious creatures are suspected by the police, but the local man who found Señor Sanchez's body says that an extraordinary giant tooth was found in the dead man's pocket.
Mysteriously, the school of veterinary science in Mexico City has said that the tooth does not belong to any known creature in existence.
Vanessa laughed out loud. There were times since she returned home that she had wondered if she had imagined the whole thing. She had only told her dad and her brothers a very skinned-down versionâno naguals or Chupacabrasâbut she had told Lee everything.
Vanessa read the newspaper article again. It was a relief to think that she had been right all along. Pablo had stolen the tooth from her room. It was the tooth that had first alerted her to the existence of naguals and led her to the discovery that they could transform into the Chupacabra. And no wonder Pablo had gone to such lengths to steal it back. A nagual himself, he certainly wouldn't have wanted her to have evidence like that!
But Frida had been right tooâLechusa had come for Pablo that night.
Vanessa wondered how many other naguals were still out there, and a quick shiver ran down through her body. At least there was one less Chupacabra in the world.
In Mexico, the terms
nagual
and
nahual
mean the same thing and are both pronounced
na'wal
. They come from a Nahuatl word meaning “disguise” and are human beings who can turn themselves into animal forms. I chose to use the word
nagual
in this book as it was less easily confused with Nahua and Nahuatl, which refer to the people and their language.
Lots of people helped me in so many different ways with this book.
Siobhan Parkinson and Elaina O'Neill in Little Island have once again been the starsâguiding, pruning, nurturing, and making the whole publishing process a fantastic experience and my book a better book. Thank you so much.
Thanks again to my writing buddies Paula, Gemma, Una, and Geoff for their much needed encouragement. To Jenny for her help with the
Spanish words in this book, but really for the years of friendship, and Debs for always being at the other end of a phone for me.
But none of it would have happened without my children, Callum, Myles, and Oliver, my mother, Mers, and husband, Ian, who are my number one fans.
I am indebted to a wide range of books and Internet sites that I used when I researched and wrote this book. I cannot possibly list them all but the following are a great source of information about the Chupacabra, naguals, and Mexican myths and legends.
Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Ness Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras and Others
by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark
Blood Sucking Witch Craft
by Hugo G. Nutini and John M. Roberts
Shamanism: An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture, Volume 2
, edited by Mariko Namba Walter and Eva Jane Neumann Fridman
www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Nagual
Dr. Jean Flitcroft started her career as a script writer for medical and scientific films and later became a travel writer when her obsession with travel won out. It was on these journeys around the world that she started writing books for children. She lives in Dublin, Ireland, with her husband and three sons. Learn more at
www.jeanflitcroft.com
.
