Page 91

CHAPTER 89

IT WAS TINA’S idea.

She was the oldest and the most self-assured. They all looked up to her. Coming from different states and regions of Texas—the five of them had been brought together only by the luck that they’d each won in their respective categories at the powwow. The girls’ winners’ circle was dubbed the Order of the Golden Eagle. The boy winners were called the Order of the Bald Eagle.

After they’d gotten a passerby to take their picture together using Isabella’s phone, Tina had said they should celebrate, skip out on the event—go somewhere else, just the five of them.

Isabella was excited to have a new group of friends. She knew Rebecca, the other Tigua, but the others came from Colorado and Arizona and Houston, which was just as far away and just as exotic as the other states.

“No one will notice we’re gone,” Tina said. “Come on. We’ll come back before they miss us.”

Fiona was the youngest and seemed the most worried.

“What if we get caught?” said the Arizona girl, who had just turned sixteen.

“I’m on probation,” Tina said, saying it like this was something to be proud of. “I could end up in juvenile detention. I’ve got the most to lose. I’m not afraid.”

This claim made the others feel ashamed for their cowardice. Although, later, Isabella would conclude that this statement should have raised alarm bells with her. Tina hadn’t yet proposed they do anything illegal.

“You two are both from around here,” Tina said to Rebecca and Isabella. “Where can we go to have a little party?”

Rebecca knew of a place outside the city, a cliff overlooking a dry riverbed.

“It’s very secluded,” she said. “No one ever goes there.”

Isabella asked her parents to hold her dreamcatcher so she wouldn’t lose it, and then she snuck away with her new friends. They laughed as they navigated around the crowds, avoiding friends and family. It felt like they were on a secret mischievous mission that no one else could find out about. Around them, people danced and sang and played drums, the smell from the food filled the air, and no one noticed the five teenage girls sneaking into the parking area and piling into Chipeta’s Jeep.

They sped out of the city, giggling and waving their arms in the air.

The farther they went into the desert, the more Isabella became worried, but Tina and the others didn’t seem to mind. Even Fiona had gotten on board with the adventure. Tina passed around a flask, and this helped Isabella loosen up. By the time they arrived at the overlook, Isabella felt aglow in the warmth of the alcohol.

The view was spectacular.

They were parked atop a cliff overlooking a creek bed with a trickle of water running through it. The sandstone rocks were reddish, and various desert plants grew out from the cracks. Beyond the creek, low rolling hills stretched for as far as they could see, blanketed in sagebrush and cacti. White clouds sailed across the horizon.

It was a hot day, but a light breeze blew over the landscape, keeping them comfortable.

When the flask was empty, Tina said, “I’ve got something else.”

She pulled out a glass bottle about two inches long, full of white powder. She unscrewed the lid, which was connected to a snuff spoon big enough to hold a single snort.

“Who wants to go first?” Tina said.

None of the other girls had ever done cocaine, but Tina was a persuasive leader. She did the first bump and had such a look of ecstasy on her face that Rebecca and Chipeta decided to try.

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want,” Isabella said to Fiona, who looked scared.

“I’ll do it,” Fiona said, “but only if you do. Only if everyone does.”

Isabella thought it couldn’t hurt to try. She snorted a spoonful and blinked her watering eyes. Instantly her face felt numb. The numbness moved through her like a warm fire, and soon her skin tingled all over her body.

She smiled what felt like the biggest smile she’d ever had, and that was enough to dispel Fiona’s fear. The youngest girl took a snort.

They built a fire and Chipeta cranked her radio, and the five girls danced around at the top of the cliff, careful, despite how stoned they were, not to go near the edge.

Time slipped forward, and the sun began to set. The longest day of the year was coming to an end. The clouds to the west were bathed in brilliant shades of red and pink and purple—so much more vibrant and beautiful because of the drugs in their bloodstreams.

Some of the girls said they should head back.

Isabella didn’t want to.

She didn’t want the party to end. She urged Tina to pass around the vial of coke one more time. She kept dancing even though the others stopped. Time slipped forward again, and they were in darkness.

Arguing.

The moon broke from the horizon and rose into the sky, casting a ghostly blue glow over the land.

“Come on, Isabella,” Tina said, grabbing her arm. “It’s time to go.”

“Let go of me!” Isabella snapped.

She yanked her arm free, and in doing so, lost her balance. She stumbled near the cliff edge. It wasn’t a sharp drop-off, but a sloping, gradual one. Her feet slipped, and she fell to her knees, sliding away. She flung her arms out to stop her slide, but she couldn’t. Tina stepped forward to grab her, but Isabella was already past the point of no return.

She tumbled off the cliff wall, screaming as she fell into the darkness.