Katie, Sam, and their cousin Shala can't wait to get to San Marcos, New Mexico. There they are meeting Katie and Sam's dad, an anthropologist who's studying the ruins of the ancient cliff dwellers at El Debajo. But Dr. Crockett isn't there to meet them at the airport. Does Dr. Crockett have enemies who might have kidnapped him? Or is there really a curse on the ruins of El Dejabo?