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"It’s creepy"

"Yeah It’s supposed to be It’s made to scare evil spirits away"

"Do you really believe that?" I asked, looking at Bridger

"Have you seen any evil spirits while you’ve been living here?"

I laughed under s were another story

"So, can I come in?" he asked

"Yeah, of course Why are you so paranoid about being invited in?"

He stepped through the door "Because I’hed "No But we have certain beliefs If I enter your house uninvited, I run the risk of bringing all sorts of bad stuff in withDeath, chindi, bad luck … anything"

"Chindi?"

"Evil spirits"

I studied him for a hint of insincerity "You’re serious"

He nodded "Warriors are often haunted by chindi, by the spirits of those they killed"

"And this applies to you how?"

He shrugged "It’s just a Navajo belief," he said, and started walking around the room I followed There were more masks, one on each wall, and all of them were freaky beyond belief They were made from leather, which looked like shriveled hu froet those out of here I won’t be able to sleep with the me a hard time about my beliefs, yet you’re the one too scared to sleep with theer carefully took the four masks from the four walls and laid them on the bed "I’ll find somewhere safe in Mrs C’s house to store theht side of the roooodness," I whispered under h the door was a small bathroom with a toilet, sink, and stand-up shower I shut the door and went back to exploring the bedroo at a wide dresser

"What is that?" I asked A wooden bowl filled with pale gray powder sat on the dresser’s edge Bridger dipped his fingers into the powder and blew on them Dust filled the air and I sneezed

"This is ash Another foret it Protectionaround Mrs Carpenter’s property, protection ashes, even a protection bracelet" I held upinto hell or sohed and shook his head "No Silver City’s a good place to live But evil is everywhere You can never be too safe Mrs C’s husband obviously loved her very et Katie’s old clothes out of er reverently picked up the Navajo ht strea dust particles that floated silently through the air Burned sticks and bird feathers were nailed above the door and ls of crystals and turquoise sat on the dresser beside the bowl of ash Inside the drawers I found individual bundles of twine-bound sage as long as my forearm and a little thicker than my thu about this roo me feel calmer, stiller than normal I’d been in this room for only a couple of minutes, yet already it felt like hoe and held it beneath er’s voice echoed up into the rooe down, I walked to the door and opened it a crack Bridger stood just outside the open barn door, cell phone pressed to his ear

"… totally serious … I don’t knohy they would, either, but the sooner you can coe it" He took the phone froe beneath ain A er walked into the roos in his hands He set the at the sage

"Yeah It’s really nice Cals have spiritual properties, like the beads in your bracelet Sage has spiritual properties, too," he explained "That’s a sht them and purify a residence Or a person"

"How do you know all this stuff? Like about the e"

"Yeah, but your house isn’t like this rooed "You haven’t seen ion and beliefs aren’t always visible to the naked eye My fae is power" The way he said it, I could tell he believed it wholeheartedly "Hand e stick into it "You didn’t happen to see a lighter in any of those drawers, did you?"

"Actually …" I reached into the sage-filled drawer and pulled out a silver lighter

Bridger took it, then rele feather," he said He lit the sent san to chant: