Shadow Bones. Colleen Rhoads
Mary Metis, Skye’s mother, tucked one black lock behind her ear. “You’re not being reasonable, Skye. Letting the man look for dinosaur bones won’t hurt the running of the mine. I don’t tell you how to operate your business, so don’t tell me how to manage mine. I get enough of that from Peter.” Her voice vibrated with suppressed anger.
Skye hurried to smooth things over. “Are you mad at Peter? He’s just trying to look out for you.”
“I’m not a child.”
“You’re just ticked at him right now,” Skye responded. “Peter has been good to you and to me. He always knows what’s best.”
“The mine belongs to me, not to you or Peter,” her mother went on. “It’s about time I start taking back some of the decision-making about it.”
“But you don’t even know these people,” Skye protested. “We know nothing about them.”
That wasn’t exactly true, and she knew it. This paleontologist, Jake Baxter, was Mrs. Baxter’s grandson. The Baxters had practically owned the entire island for years, though that knowledge did nothing to endear the man to Skye. She liked things to stay the same.
“We’ve known the Baxters for years,” her mother said. “I don’t understand your attitude. Jake Baxter merely wants to poke around a bit, see if he can dig up any bones.”
Skye hadn’t met this particular Baxter yet, but she already disliked him. “We’ve always been told some of The Old Ones are buried on our property. What if Jake disturbs their bones?”
“On my property,” Mary said. She laid down a bundle of dried chives, tied with twine. The pungent odor permeated the shop and mingled with that of chamomile, comfrey, mint and other herbs.
“Okay, on your property. And besides, I’ve been running the garnet mine for you for the past four years. I think I should have some say. I can just see people swarming all over the place and disrupting the operation of the mine.”
“He’ll be on the slope, not actually in the mine,” her mother pointed out.
Skye finally voiced her real objection. She didn’t even want to think about it. “And what happens if he finds something important? He could close us down while he digs. Permanently! I’ll never find the diamonds if that happens.”
Her mother’s face softened, and she reached out to touch Skye’s face with gentle fingers. “Skye, there are no diamonds. Your father combed every inch of that mine in his search and found nothing. I often think that disappointment was what drove him away.”
Skye knew better. If she’d been a better daughter, her father wouldn’t have left. If she could find the diamonds, maybe he’d hear of it and come back. “Please reconsider,” she said in a low voice that quivered, no matter how much she tried to keep it steady.
“Let it go, Skye. This is just for the summer. Jake will be gone before you know it.” Mary fished a sheaf of herbs out of the basket by her feet and began to prepare another bundle.
“That’s what he’s telling you, but I have a bad feeling about this.” Skye hung the finished dreamcatcher in the window beside the others she’d completed so far this month.
Dreams, that’s what some would say was all she had in this shop, and that was all she would ever have. But she’d prayed and prayed for this shop, and she wasn’t ready to give up on it yet.
“You’ll see what a nice man he is for yourself,” Mary said. “I want you to run an errand for me this morning and go see Jake.”
“I need to watch the shop.” The last thing Skye wanted was to see the man face-to-face.
“I’ll watch it. I told Jake I’d have you bring out the lease for him to sign.”
Skye almost couldn’t speak. “You’re giving him a lease? Mother, please don’t do this.”
Her mother set her jaw. “I have already agreed to it, Skye. I’m a woman of my word.”
“Peter won’t like it, either.” Skye crossed her arms over her chest. Peter would talk sense into her mother. He’d apologize for whatever tiff had caused this problem.
“We’ve already discussed it, and I’m not changing my mind. The more the two of you hound me, the more determined I am to do what I think best. I’m not a child, Skye, though you and Peter like to treat me that way.”
Her mother sounded on the verge of tears, and Skye decided to back off. Her mother had been fragile ever since her husband, Skye’s father, had walked out on them eight years ago when Skye was sixteen. If not for Peter, Skye didn’t know how she would have dealt with all of it. But even he knew better than to cross his wife when she was this set on a course of action.
Skye leaned back against the chair and rubbed her forehead. “How long is the lease?”
“Just for the summer.” Her mother’s voice held a trace of smugness. She leaned down and pulled a handful of papers from her purse and gave them to Skye.
Skye took them, glancing through the terms. “This clause says he can extend the lease if he finds something of significance to science.” She wanted to fling the lease in the trash and set it afire.
Her mother shrugged her slim shoulders. “You can’t seriously think he’ll find anything here. It’s a summer pastime for Jake, nothing more.”
Skye had heard of Jake Baxter’s expertise in the field. He wouldn’t be wasting his time if he didn’t expect to find something. “Look at this clause, Mother. At least change it,” she pleaded. “Make it for the summer only with no extension.”
Her mother hesitated. “If I do, will you quit fighting me on it?”
Skye bit her lip. She wasn’t sure she could hold her tongue. “All right,” she said.
“Fine.” Her mother took a pen and crossed out the clause then initialed it. “I want you to go out now,” she said, handing the papers back to Skye.
Skye nearly groaned, but she rose instead. “Where do I find him?”
“On the southwest slope.”
“That’s my favorite spot! I love to walk through the wildflowers there. He’s going to ruin my whole summer.”
“Skye, show a little graciousness,” Mary called after her as Skye stormed from the store.
Skye climbed in her 1962 Dodge pickup. Though the paint didn’t shine anymore and the seats were cracked, she felt close to her father in this truck. He’d restored it once upon a time, but he’d left it behind like a discarded toy. Just like he’d left his family.
But she would never leave this island as he did. Her mother needed her, and Skye needed the blue twilight in Lake Superior’s depths on a lazy summer afternoon. She needed the way the sun glinted off the white cliffs in the winter and the harsh sound of the gulls fighting for a morsel of fish. This land was in her blood, just like it had been in her ancestors’. She was her father’s daughter, the daughter of an Ojibwa chieftain. But she would prove more faithful than he.
The truck’s tires kicked up a cloud of dust behind her, and the back end fishtailed on the gravel road. She realized she was clenching the steering wheel so hard her fingers were numb. Her jaw ached, and she forced herself to try to relax. She wanted to appear calm and in control when she tried to talk Jake Baxter into giving up this crazy scheme.
The mine was ten miles out of town. Surrounded by pine forests interspersed with stands of white birch, the garnet mine had been her focus ever since she took over management three years ago. She pulled into the parking lot in front of the mine. Two other vehicles were parked there. She’d never seen either one of them. The beat-up truck was probably his. It held picks and other digging tools.
She got out of her vehicle and slammed the door behind her with more