CHAPTER THREE

    "Cori! Cori! You ok?" Marta shouted. "All I can see is sand."

     Cori wiggled her fingers in front of the camera lens.

     "I had to take a dive into some kid’s sand castle. A dart went whizzing past me," she told her friend. "I’m still spitting sand, but I’m ok."

     "Is she gone?" Marta wanted to know.

     "Yeah," Cori told her. "Gone for now. Did you see it all on your end?"

     "Most of it. Up until you decided to go play in the sand," Marta teased her. "I’ll send you the images right now."

     "Good. Cause I want to have Mom take a look at them," Cori replied.

_____________________

     "Hmm," Dr. Denton studied the pictures. "Looks like a blowgun."

     "A glow gun? What’s a glow gun?" Marta spoke into Cori’s earpiece.

     "Not glow gun," Cori answered. "Blowgun. You know, long hollow stick that you use to blow poison darts at people."

     "Oh," Marta laughed at the misunderstanding. "You’ve got to get a better mic. This one makes it so hard to eavesdrop."

     "Sometimes the darts are dipped in poison," Dr. Denton picked up on her daughter’s comment. "Poison darts were used mostly for hunting animals or birds. But, sometimes, the poison darts were used to kill human enemies," Dr. Denton added. "Matter of fact, several tribes in South America still use poison darts even today."

     "So, does that mean our ghost is from South America?" Cori asked.

     "Not necessarily," Dr. Denton began. "Long ago, tribes across much of the world used blowguns. Even a few tribes in North America used blowguns. The Japanese used blowguns centuries ago. Ninjas were some of the first warriors to use blowguns in warfare. Then, of course, there were the terrible Dayks pirates. They were known for their poison barbed darts."

     "Poison barbed darts!" exclaimed Cori.

     "Yes, the end had a barb, like on barbed wire fence. If you tried to pull the dart out, the barb broke off, leaving the poisoned tip inside the wound."

     "Where did they get the poison?" Cori asked, her interest growing at the mention of Ninjas and pirates.

     "Some plants are poisonous," Dr. Denton went on. "They could boil such a plant and dip their darts into the mixture. But the best poison to use was frogs."

     "Frogs!" exclaimed Cori.

     "Yeah," chimed in Marta. "I remember reading about that when our class studied the South American rain forest. There are over 170 different kinds of poisonous frogs. Cute little guys! Red, green, yellow, some have spots, others have stripes. The best for poison are the Blue frogs. They are really packed for poison! The poison covers his entire body to protect it. We sweat water from the pores in our skin. The Blue frog sweats poison. Anyway, warriors needed to rub the tips of their darts over the sticky skin on the frog’s back. But the frog wasn’t very big on sitting still for this dart-rubbing ceremony. So, the warriors would have to kill the little guys first."

     "Uh-huh," Cori nodded as her friend went on and on. "Marta knows ALL about the poison dart frogs of the South American rain forest," Cori whispered to her mom to let her know what Marta was saying on the phone.

     "I’m not at all surprised," her mom smiled, waiting patiently for Marta to finish sharing from her wealth of knowledge.

     "Wow, thanks!" joked Cori as Marta grew silent. "And I thought getting warts from frogs was all I had to worry about!"

     "Well," her mother began. "If this warrior woman is spitting poison darts at you, I’d say warts aren’t your biggest worry."

     "You mean… a ghost can kill me with a poison dart!" Cori exclaimed.

     "Well, I don’t recall having heard of a death by poison dart delivered by ghost. But, I certainly can’t rule it out. I would suggest that, if this ghost is that angry, you better be very careful not to make her any angrier," Dr. Denton warned.

     "We’ll keep that in mind," Cori joked weakly, remembering the sound of the dart passing by her head.

     "Think we should give up on this one?" Marta asked, worried about the danger her friend might face.

     "I’m not quitting," Cori replied into the cell phone.

     "Well, then," Dr. Denton smiled as her daughter refused to give up. "Guess you better find out more about this warrior and why she’s in such a bad mood!"

     "Can you tell when she lived by the clothes she’s wearing?" Cori asked her mom.

     "Not for sure," Dr. Denton rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "But, if she was a North American Indian or a South American Amazon warrior, she could have lived anywhere from a few hundred years ago to a few thousand. Sorry I can’t help more than that."

     "Thanks, Mom," Cori told her. "You’ve at least given us somewhere to start."

     "Yeah, somewhere in either North or South America! A few hundred years ago… or, maybe, a few thousand years ago," Marta laughed in her friend’s earpiece. "That sure narrows it down!"

     "You’re welcome, sweetie," Dr. Denton replied. "You, too, Marta," the woman whispered into the mic clipped to her daughter’s shirt. "You two be careful now. I’ve got to get back to work. You might want to check out the South American stuff at the museum. Maybe it’ll give you more ideas."

     "A poison blowgun," Cori muttered under her breath as her mother walked away. "Not the friendliest of greetings."

     "You wouldn’t want to hiccup when one of those things was loaded," Marta laughed. "Although it would definitely put an end to your hiccups! Forever!"

     "Very funny," Cori replied to her friend’s joke. "I’m on my way to the museum to search for clues. Coming along?"

     "I’m going to get back online and see what I can find out about women warriors," Marta said. "Call me if anything exciting happens."

     "Will do," Cori answered, ending the call.

     Cori walked into the storage basement of the museum. It smelled like damp earth – musky with a hint of decay. The room was full of tables filled with pottery, statues, weapons and war masks belonging to villagers who lived 500 years ago in the jungles of Brazil, South America.

     Cori was familiar with the odors of recently unearthed artifacts. She had been on lots of archaeological digs with her mother. The smells from the dig sites all seemed to have one thing in common.

     "Um, dead people and all that rots," Cori mumbled softly.

     Her mom had said the researchers had found some human bones – even skeletons and a mummy or two. But, Cori knew those would be locked in special rooms to try to prevent the decaying process. Maybe her mom could get her into those rooms later. For now, she would have to settle for looking at cooking pots and dinner plates.

     "Marta’s not going to want to miss all of this," Cori said as she dialed her friend.

     "Virtual Sidekick, here," Marta answered the phone. "I’ve been looking but I haven’t found much of anything yet."

     "That’s ok. I was just calling because I thought you might want to see what I’m looking at here," Cori explained.

     "Great! Might give me some ideas of ways to go with the research," Marta added. "Put on both your front facing and rear facing cameras. That way, I can get the pictures twice as fast. I’ll be ready in a sec."

     "Any idea of who the ghost is would be more than we have now," Cori continued as she clipped the cameras on her cap. "Ghosts don’t just show up for no reason. She’s stuck between worlds and can’t pass over."

     "Ok. Getting pictures now. Good point. If she’s from a North American Indian tribe, that would kinda explain why she’s hanging around California. But, if she’s a South American Amazon, she’s almost 5,000 miles from her village. Why isn’t she floating through the rain forest?"

     "Well, maybe these artifacts will give us more clues about why she’s here. Maybe it has something to do with what’s been dug up and brought here. Maybe she came along with the stuff from the digs," Cori suggested.

     "Ghosts do that?" asked Marta. "Hang onto stuff and go where the stuff goes?"

     "Don’t see why they couldn’t," Cori offered.

     Cori walked slowly, turning her head to scan the room.

     "There," she said. "That’s the big picture on all the stuff in the room. I’ll start walking along the tables now and you can see each artifact."

     Cori started at a nearby table and began to move alongside it, studying each artifact as she came to it.

     "This crossbow sure looks wicked, doesn’t it?" Cori remarked as she looked at the weapon, lowering her head and the camera for a closer look.

     "What was that?" exclaimed Marta.

     "A crossbow. I just told you. No need to get so excited," Cori answered calmly.

     "Not the crossbow! What just flew by behind your back?" Marta continued.

     "Must have been shadows," replied Cori. "No one is in here but me."

     "Dead wrong, Cori!" Marta suddenly shouted into her ear. "They are standing right behind you! You are SO outnumbered!"



To see what Marta saw behind Cori, click here.

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