Elatsoe

On the road to South Texas, Ellie and her father take a break at a gas station. Ellie goes into the rock shop and fossil museum in hopes of purchasing a fossil so she can practice summoning extinct animals. The cashier is suspicious of Ellie, and Ellie believes that the color of her skin has something to do with it. She thinks about how “when she and Jay [go] to the local mall, loss prevention agents and security guards only [follow] Ellie around department stores” (105) because she is indigenous, and Jay is white. As Ellie peruses the museum, Jay calls her, and they discuss Jay’s newfound power to generate light as a descendant of the fairy king Oberon. Ellie tells Jay about how she wants to practice waking up extinct animals. She mentions her grandmother, who “found a woolly mammoth tusk ages ago” and now “rides the mammoth to town when she needs groceries” (111).

Jay asks if he can do anything to aid in the investigation of Trevor’s murder. Ellie asks him to research Abe Allerton, but she warns him to “just do a basic search” (114) and to avoid drawing Abe’s attention. The phone call ends, and Ellie selects a trilobite fossil and purchases it at the counter. She asks the cashier to create a receipt for her, and as Ellie leaves through the gas station convenience store, another cashier asks if Ellie paid for the fossil. Ellie slaps the receipt on the counter and walks out, trying to keep her head high and let the accusation roll off her like “water off a duck’s back” (116).

As Ellie and her father approach Willowbee, Jay calls back and shares his research findings. He says that Abe Allerton is a “rich and connected” doctor in Willowbee who has strong ties to the local police. Allerton’s online presence is “sparkling clean,” and Jay “can’t find a single negative article” (119) about him. Jay sends Ellie the address for Allerton’s mansion, and Ellie convinces her dad to do a quick drive-by of the place. As they approach Willowbee, Ellie notices that the town doesn’t seem to fit into the landscape. Although “South Texas [is] naturally a dry, yellowish country,” Willowbee is full of “too-green, freshly cut grass lawns” (124), and the architecture looks like it belongs in “colonial New England” (123).

They drive up to Abe Allerton’s mansion, which is gated and sprawling. Ellie notices “the heads of round mushrooms” (125) all over the lawn and wonders how these plants can thrive in such a dry area. Kirby begins to growl, and Ellie and her father leave the property. Ellie wonders how Trevor ever crossed paths with Allerton, and then she remembers that Trevor used to teach Allerton’s child. Ellie thinks about how “it [is] customary to bury the dead with their treasured possessions,” and she “hope[s] that Trevor did not take his teaching materials to the earth” (127). She decides to try to learn more about Trevor’s old student and his connection to Abe Allerton.

Ellie and her father arrive at Trevor and Lenore’s house, where they live with their son, Baby Gregory. As they enter and get ready for bed, Ellie discovers “a tangle of Trevor’s black hair in the plastic teeth of a comb” (130), and she panics. She worries that this is yet another way that Trevor’s ghost could be drawn back home. She gives the comb to her mother, then tries to continue researching Abe Allerton. She learns that during a charity event, “the mayor TATTOOED Abe,” and Allerton now has “a shaky signature in black ink” (133) on his lower back. Lenore asks Ellie to meet her in the kitchen alone. Lenore is distraught over the loss of Trevor, and she begs Ellie to use her powers to wake Trevor up. Ellie is horrified and refuses, and her mother appears and consoles Lenore.

Ellie’s mother later tells her the story of how Six-Great and her husband once went to investigate a bottomless chasm that “appeared [...] overnight” (142) in the wilderness. When she arrived, she saw “a crowd of people” gathered around the chasm, and “a savory scent waft[ing] from the hole” (143).  As Six-Great and the people discuss what to do about the chasm, a coyote woman approaches Six-Great and her husband. She explains that her father lives down in the hole, and he “roasted a deer underground” (147).

The coyote man then disguised himself as a monster by covering himself in the stalagmites of the cave. When anyone tried to investigate the cave, he scared them away by pretending to be a foul creature that “demand[ed] gifts of food for [their] insolence” (148). Six-Great confronted the coyote man, and the bat people of the cave banished him from their home because he “defaced [their] home” (152) by using stalagmites as a part of his disguise. Six-Great then asked the bat woman about the fossils underground, and the bat woman explained the existence of extinct animals.

Trevor’s cause of death is ruled as an accident, but Ellie believes that when she and her family are done investigating, “Trevor’s cause of death [will] be ‘homicide’” (157). Trevor’s funeral takes place, and “only elders and close family [see] him to the earth” (158). They then hold a public wake so Trevor’s extended family, friends, and former students could gather to mourn him. During the wake, Ellie notices the arrival of Abe Allerton. Ellie is tempted to “punch Dr. Allerton in the face, key his new car, and accuse him of murder” (159), but she decides to play it cool and approach him peacefully. Abe offers Ellie his “sincere condolences” (161), but Ellie isn’t sure if he is being genuine or not.

Abe claims that Trevor was a wonderful man and teacher, but he starts asking about the burial site. He says his son “wants to visit the grave later and say goodbye” (163). Ellie refuses to tell him, and as Abe joins the other mourners, Ellie notices that his car is “fresh off the lot” with a “temporary license tag” (165), and she wonders if this has anything to do with the “accident” that killed Trevor. Ellie alerts her father that Abe has arrived at Trevor’s wake and that he “asked for the location of the burial grounds” (166). Her father manages to persuade Allerton to leave, and Ellie notices that he “[speeds] from the parking lot” (167).