you never dreamed you could do."
"Like bungee jumping? No, thanks."
"We'll exclude death-defying stunts. Scared to take me up on it?"
Again Davis took her off the hook by saying, "Whoa, look at that weird lizard." He pointed.
Just before it slithered into a crevice, Bram saw the big, brownish lizard whose skin appeared too big for him. "That's a chuckwalla," he said. "Non-poisonous. They like these mountains."
"There's a lizard drawn on my map," Davis said. "It's the first marker.
Bram nodded. "I think I know what it refers to. We ought to get there sometime this afternoon." He eyed Vala appraisingly.
Following his gaze, Davis said, "Aw, Mom's doing better. She can make it."
After that, Vala felt she had no choice, even though she grew less and less comfortable on Susie Q's back as the day wore on. She was almost past the point of caring when Bram finally called a halt.
"This'll be our night camp," he said. "After we take care of the horses, we'll hike a bit and I'll show you the marker."
Hike? When it was all she could do to get herself off the horse? How she longed to stretch out on the ground and not move for hours. Maybe days. Gritting her teeth, she controlled the impulse, aware once down she wouldn't willingly get up.
The marker turned out to be a rock formation off the trail that to her only vaguely looked like a lizard. Davis, though, was thrilled at the validation of his map and chattered on about finding treasure all the while he helped set up camp.
Vala, by then lying fully dressed on her sleeping bag in a half-doze, was barely aware of what he was saying, though she did hear Bram.
"Treasure comes in different packages," he said. "Sometimes you don't recognize it right away as treasure."
"But this treasure's gold," Davis protested. "Everyone knows what that looks like."
"Old Mokesh didn't tell you it was gold. He didn't even say treasure."
"Uh, no, he didn't. But he must've known what it was 'cause he had the map. I figured it has to be gold on account of Lost Dutchman Mine and all, you know? But maybe it's jewels and stuff, is that what you mean?"
"No, not jewels. We'll talk more about it later. Right now you'd better get your mother up or she'll miss supper. When I cook, no one skips meals."
Vala groaned at the ultimatum, but realized she was too hungry to bypass supper. Getting stiffly to her feet, she joined them at the small campfire.
After they'd eaten, Vala made no pretense of helping to clean up because she was just too blamed sore. As the fire died down to coals, Bram and Davis came to sit by her.
"We might run into some weather tomorrow," Bram said. Vala gazed up at the dark sky. The moon hadn't risen but she could see stars.
"How can you tell?" she asked.
"Mom, he's a guide. He knows the area."
Bram chuckled. "I can't take the credit, partner. What I do is make sure I watch the Weather Channel to catch the five day forecast before I go into the Superstitions."
"Hey, cool," Davis said.
Apparently nothing could tarnish her son's image of Bram as a western expert, full of all kinds of esoteric lore even if it came from the TV, Vala thought a bit sourly. Then she wondered if maybe she was overreacting. Could she be the least bit jealous of Davis's hero worship?
Shame on her if she was. Her son needed a man's company, needed the kind of positive attention Bram was giving him. Thank heaven she didn't need such a thing. At least not from Bram.
"The thing is, lightning is always dangerous in the mountains," Bram said. Rain's a nuisance, but neither people nor horses melt so we could keep going wet, if we had to. Lightning's another matter. We're not up near any of the peaks yet--they're the most dangerous in a storm--but tomorrow we may need to take shelter in a safer place than the trail."
"Mokesh told me the Old Ones sometimes try to keep people away from the Superstitions," Davis said. "Maybe they know we have that map and so they're sending the storm to try to drive us out."
"A storm is a natural force," Vala protested.
"Yeah, I know, but the Old Ones use nature, Mokesh said."
Vala stuck to her guns. "Whoever the Old Ones were, I doubt the coming storm has anything to do with them."
Davis was unconvinced. "You said were, but it's are. Mokesh told me the Old