The Secret of Ka (26 page)

That was why my dad was worried I was seeing Amesh. He feared I was going to learn the truth. It probably terrified him that I would see him as a criminal.

Yet there were bigger issues when it came to the Shar Temple. Once again, it dealt with the possibility that Mr. Toval, Mrs. Steward, and my father were deliberately searching for such sites. Since I was a kid, my dad had read books on archaeology. He had a whole library of them at his house.

Was his interest in the djinn in his blood?

It was possible. We shared the same blood.

But who had hired the guys who had almost killed me that afternoon? My dad would never have done anything to harm me, which meant he couldn't know about the carpet.

Looking back, it might have been a mistake not to tell him about it. With all his research in this part of the world, he might even know of its existence. I couldn't wait to see his face when I showed it to him.

The pictures on the carpet caught my eye. Now that I had been to the island, discovered my destiny as a Kala, and fought with the djinn, I felt as if I saw the images anew. I certainly saw things I had not noticed before.

Once more, I assumed the carpet's story began in the upper right-hand corner. There was the equivalent of the Garden of Eden scene, filled with two types of beings—humans and angels, which I now suspected were djinn.

I had only seen two djinn with my eyes and one had been a monster. Yet I think the carpet portrayed them the way they saw themselves.

As the story flowed around the star field, there was the fuzzy red image of the dragon. It could have been any kind of monster, actually. Its red light poured down on the soft green of the garden and stripped it bare, transforming the garden into desert.

The dragon reminded me of the red star I had seen above the island. Indeed, the star had been fuzzy because of the gaseous nebula that surrounded it.

A third type of creature entered the picture, one that interested me more than before. They were taller than humans and djinn, and darker than both, with brownish gray skin, and strangely shaped faces. The bottom half of the carpet showed these creatures fighting the djinn and the humans.

I assumed that this was the third race Lova had mentioned at the hotel.

As the story swept up the other side of the carpet, the dragon reappeared, but the djinn and the third race disappeared. And as the dragon receded, all that was left were humans. Only now they wore robes instead of skins, and they were not as tall or as beautiful as their ancestors.

I ordered Lova to resume her normal size. I had questions.

"Tell me more about the beings the djinn warred with long ago."

Lova's red eyes glowed. "Why do they matter to you?"

"Because I don't believe I was attacked by a djinn today. Nor do I think that woman who wanted the carpet was possessed by a djinn. You're clever, Lova—you would have known if she was. It surprised you that the woman had a pashupa. That means it can't be a djinn weapon. It must be part of the arsenal of weapons of the race that defeated you before."

"You're guessing."

"You were scared when you returned with the carpet. I saw it in your face. What scared you, Lova?"

Lova slapped the carpet with her palm. "You could not have been struck with a pashupa! It would have killed you!"

I had never seen her show such emotion.

"But I
was
hit with one and I'm still here. Does that scare you?"

Lova looked away, at the desert. "No human scares me."

"What was the name of the creatures that defeated the djinn?"

Lova hesitated. "The Anulakai. But we do not speak of them."

I pointed to the angels on the carpet. "Are these djinn?"

"Yes."

I pointed to the third race. "I assume these are Anulakai?"

"Yes"

"You act like the djinn were the only ones who fought the Anulakai," I said. "It's clear from the carpet that humans fought them as well."

"Humans were created by the Anulakai. They were their slaves. They only rose up to fight them when..." Lova stopped.

"When they got tired of being slaves?" I asked.

Lova shrugged. "By then it was too late. The war was lost."

"Do the djinn resent humans because they didn't help earlier?"

"What is there to resent? Humans are inferior. We did not expect their help and we were not disappointed when we did not get it."

Lova was an elitist. One minute she was complaining humans had not risen up in time to help her race. The next minute she was saying it wouldn't have mattered.

"Where did the Anulakai come from?" I asked.

"Out of the darkness."

Swell,
I thought. That could mean just about anything.

"Did they come from Mars?" I asked.

"No"

"Another solar system?"

"No. They came out of the darkness."

"Are they here now on Earth?" I demanded, frustrated.

Lova hesitated. "The djinn do not believe they totally left."

"Are they going to return here? In force?"

"Who can say? They might be already on their way."

"Why do you say they made us?" I asked.

"They genetically enhanced your race. Not to help you, but to make you better slaves. You mean nothing to them."

That threw Darwin and creationism out the window at the same time—not an easy thing to do. I sensed Lova was giving me only part of the story.

"At most, there are only a few Anulakai here now," I said.

"How do you know?"

"Well, I've never run into one. That means we must have beat them the last time."

Lova was annoyed. "You did not defeat them. They withdrew."

"But not before they punished the djinn by enslaving them. That's true, right? You lost the war and they hid you away in another dimension."

Lova glared at me. But I could tell my words had hurt her as well. I assumed that meant my insight was correct.

"This is no time to gloat, Sara," she said.

I disliked her using my name.

"How come the Anulakai didn't punish humanity?" I asked.

Lova lowered her head. "They come in cycles. Perhaps this time we'll defeat them. Perhaps this time you'll fight alongside them and we'll destroy you both."

"Do you want humanity destroyed?" I asked. When she didn't answer, I said, "Why don't we fight together like last time and defeat the Anulakai?"

Lova stared me in the eye. "We don't trust humans. We never will. They were bred to be slaves. Anulakai slaves or djinn slaves—it makes no difference. Humans were not meant to roam free."

I held my anger in check. "What does the word
Shar
mean in djinn?"

"It is an Anulakai word."

"What does it mean?"

"Center."

"Center of what?" I asked.

"I don't know."

I let the interrogation end. Lova was giving me a headache.

The limousine continued to roll through the desert and into the night. The moon rose farther in the sky.

As we neared the job site, the carpet began to make a ringing noise. It reminded me of when the jet had locked on its radar. It made sense—the six-billion-dollar hydroelectric plant would have a radar system that would notify its security people if a low-flying object was approaching.

What to do? I could go up or I could go down.

Whatever I did, I had to do it fast.

I could not repeat the game I had played with the jet. But I spotted a large truck following the limo, not far behind us. Since there was nothing else out here, I assumed it was headed for the job site. I flew over it to take a closer look.

It was a garbage truck. Empty, but nevertheless smelly. The ringing noise grew. I immediately ordered the carpet to land inside the truck and was relieved when the ringing stopped. Lova complained about the odor, but I told her to hush.

"We won't be here long," I said.

We stayed inside the truck only as long as it took to pass security. I doubted the job site swept itself with radar. Its antennas must all be pointed outward, away from the plant. Once we were away from the gate, I flew out of the truck.

Unfortunately, now I had lost track of Amesh and his limo. I assumed that he was heading for the cave and Shar Temple, on the far side of the pit, but I had to raise the carpet pretty high to get my bearings. The place looked different at night. I reached for my binoculars, searching.

Eventually I saw the limo and Amesh. He was holding my father captive, and he had a sword in his hand. He was shouting for me to come down from the sky.

"Last warning, Sara!" he yelled. "Surrender or he dies!"

My father tried to tell Amesh something but Amesh struck him on the side of the head with the blunt side of the sword. My dad was bleeding from his nose and ears. I sat back and stared at Lova, my heart pounding.

"If I order you to destroy Darbar, will you do it?" I asked.

"If you will agree to be my thrall."

"I'm only your thrall if I make three wishes."

Lova chuckled but said nothing.

I sighed. "Carpet. Take us down to ground level."

W
E LANDED NEAR THE CAVE
, not far in front of Amesh and my father. There was no sign of Spielo. I couldn't see Darbar but felt he was near. Hell, he was practically on top of us, and it was the djinn who was holding my father in place, not Amesh, not even with the threat of the sword. The instant we landed, before I could roll the carpet up and put it away in my backpack, Amesh pushed my father forward.

"You're late," Amesh said. "I didn't think you'd come."

"You knew I'd be here," I told him, before turning to my father. "How are you doing, Dad?"

I hardly recognized the man. Not because he was hurt, although he had been roughed up. It was the two emotions I saw on his face—confusion and fear. I had never seen him show weakness before. To me, growing up, my father had always been so sure of himself. And of course I had never seen him frightened of anything.

Yet for my sake, I think, he tried to project steadiness.

"I'm doing okay. It's been an interesting night." He stopped and peered at me more closely. "What's that bruise on your face?"

"It's nothing important. Do you feel like you're in the grip of a large invisible hand?"

He nodded. "How did you know? What is it?"

"It's a djinn. For the moment, it's under Amesh's control."

"For the moment!" Amesh repeated. "I command Darbar! He obeys me!"

"For how long?" I said, keeping my voice calm. "You know he's about to fulfill your third wish."

Amesh grinned. "Poor Sara. You think I'm a fool, don't you?"

"I think you're in pain and I think you'll do anything to stop that pain. But hurting the people you've trapped inside that cave isn't going to ease your suffering one bit."

Amesh poked my father with the sword, hard enough that my father winced. "It isn't just those inside who hurt me. Your father was one of them. Imagine that, Sara—all this time, I thought he was trying to help me. When he was the one who ordered the attack on me."

"Who told you this lie?" I demanded.

"You know who. And he doesn't lie, not to me, not to his master."

I turned to my father. "Dad. Did you order an attack on Amesh?"

My father sighed. There was so much guilt in the sound, it broke my heart. "Sara. There are things I never told you about last summer. Things I'm responsible for. Amesh has a right to hate me. I lied to him."

I hesitated. "Are you lying now?"

"No."

"Did you give the order to have his hand chopped off?"

"Of course not." My father looked to Amesh. "I knew the boys were guarding the cave. I hired them to guard it. I knew you and Spielo and some of the other young men were curious about the underground temple. But what happened that night—when you lost your hand—none of that was planned."

"Liar!" Amesh said. "Darbar says he lies! He was behind it all!"

"Amesh, think of how much pain you were in last summer," I pleaded. "Who came to the hospital to see you every day? Who found the best doctors for you?"

"He did it to cover up what he had done to me!"

"He did it because he cared about you!"

There followed a silence as our words echoed into the vast pit behind us. Once again, I noticed the area looked as if it had been struck by a meteor. The image was uncanny.

"I did it for both reasons," my father said. He saw the shock on my face and tried to explain. "Sara, I've been living something of a double life here in the Middle East."

I shrugged. "I know about your interest in the djinn."

He was amazed. "You do? Then you must know—I've been standing here with my head spinning. I saw you fly in on that carpet. It's a real flying carpet! Where did you get it? I've been searching for one all my life."

"I found it near here. It's amazing. It's called the Carpet of Ka."

My father forgot all about the sword in his back. All about the djinn that held him in place. He tried to take a step forward. "The Carpet of Ka!" he gasped in wonder. "So the stories are true!" But then he was suddenly thrown to his knees and let out a cry of pain. "Ahh!"

Amesh chuckled softly. "It's not like we can let Daddy go for a ride on the carpet, now can we, Sara?"

"What will it take for you to release him?" I asked.

Amesh was amused. "Have you come to bargain? That's so unlike you. When you bargain you have to give up something, then you get something in return. But from what I've seen, you like to talk about giving but in the end that's all it is—talk."

"Amesh—"

"I'm not finished!" He shook with pain as he tried to hold his right hand down. He was having another spasm. "I've learned a lot in the last year, more in the last week. Nothing in this world's free. But a girl like you—who has the nerve to say she loves me—would never sacrifice a lira to help me."

"How does your hand feel?" I asked.

"Don't ask about my hand!" he yelled.

"It's hurting pretty bad right now. Darbar won't do anything to fix it. He gave you that hand knowing full well it would hurt you. Don't tell me he's your ally. He's your enemy. Not me or my father. Yes, I know my dad got involved with some bad people. And I know he tried to protect these people by hiding certain facts." I paused. "You have Mr. Toval and Mrs. Steward inside that cave, don't you?"