A visit to a hospital would definitely cause my dad to be notified. I planned to call him at some point, but I wanted him to think I was staying with rini again. I had warned her that she might hear from him and have to cover for me for two nights. Man, I was going to owe her when this was over.
At the first Atm I came to, I managed to withdraw five hundred lira, about three hundred bucks. I flagged down a taxi and told the driver to take me to a nearby hotel. I let the guy choose.
He had good taste-he chose a four-star emba.s.sy suites. My dried blood and bruises helped me register at the hotel. I started to explain how I had been mugged and didn"t have my pa.s.sport or credit cards.
But I just happened to have cash. I smiled. The clerk quickly raised his hand. Say no more. Except he wanted me to go to a hospital. I a.s.sured him that I had already spoken to a paramedic and I was fine.
up in my suite, I quickly undressed and headed for the bathroom. I couldn"t wait to take another warm shower! unfortunately, the running water opened my scalp wound wider, and I started bleeding more heavily. I had to struggle to get it to stop. In the end I used scissors and cut a towel into thin strips and tied them around my skull. That worked. The emba.s.sy suites had room ser vice, but less selection than the Hilton. I ordered a hamburger and fries. It was hard to go wrong with the basics. The waiter had just wheeled in the food when Lova materialized in front of him. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he fainted on my bed.
"I thought no one could see you but me," I said.
"He didn"t see me, but he sensed me, and it frightened him." the excuse sounded pretty thin to me.
"Give me the carpet and my cell," I ordered.
Lova handed over both. She continued to eye the unconscious guy. It struck me then that she was looking at him the same way I was looking at my hamburger.
"You startled him, hoping he would faint," I said. "You want to drink his blood."
Lova took a step toward the man. "I don"t need a lot. Two pints will suffice. It won"t harm him. He won"t even remember I was here."
"Are your kind responsible for our vampire legends?"
"We are responsible for virtually all your legends."
that I could well believe. "What do you do, bite him on the neck?"
"Nothing so crude. Here, let me show you."
"No! take him in the bathroom and shut the door. Do what you have to do. But he"d better be up and out of here in ten minutes."
"I need longer than that," Lova said, grabbing him by the shoulders.
"No. You"re only taking a pint. That"s all that"s safe. Plus we have to talk."
Lova left with the man and turned on the water in the bathroom. I don"t know why. My hamburger and fries were delicious. I wanted to order another round, but was afraid they would ask me where their server was.
"Well, you see, he didn"t just deliver dinner. He is is dinner." dinner."
Lova reappeared in ten minutes and escorted a dazed room-ser vice guy out the door. Then she came and sat on my bed. Lova seemed in a better mood. We talked as I finished the fries.
"Tell me what happened," I ordered. She explained that the Carpet of Ka emitted a powerful beacon of light and that it had not been difficult to locate. But the thugs had known exactly how to protect it. They had it locked in a bank vault.
"Are you sure it was at a bank?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Do you even know what a bank is?"
"I know your language, for the most part. The building had the word bank bank on the side. But it was a deserted bank." on the side. But it was a deserted bank."
"What did you do when you first arrived?" I asked.
"As you instructed, I took pictures of everyone present. There were six young men."
"Did you happen to hear what they were talking about?"
"Money. They were excited at the reward they would receive for the carpet."
"Did they say who was going to pay this reward?"
"No. But I had the impression they were waiting for the person to appear." Lova paused. "But someone else came first and I had to hide."
"Who was this someone else?"
A note of fear entered her voice. "Someone who could see me."
"How do you know he could see you?"
"It was a woman. She stared right at me, and she immediately pressed her palms together and started to invoke a spell."
"A djinn spell?" I asked.
Lova hesitated. "Perhaps."
"But she was human. She wasn"t a djinn."
Lova was doubtful. "She might have been a djinn in a human body. She built up a ball of light between her hands- what we call a pashupa. I pashupa. It"s a subtle weapon. It can destroy a djinn."
"What if it were to hit a human?"
"It would kill them instantly."
"Tell me, is a pashupa usually bright green?"
"How did you know that?"
"I was. .h.i.t by one this evening."
Lova"s mouth dropped open. She was stunned. "No human being could survive being struck by a pashupa." I acted casual. " I"m tougher than I look. What happened next?"
"I hid inside the vault. The woman knew where I was. She ordered the others to unlock it. But the moment the door swung open, I was prepared. The woman tried to hit me with the pashupa as I ran out of the vault but I was able to use the carpet as a shield. Then I flew out the window."
"Did anyone try to follow you?"
"No human could follow me. But that woman is skilled in the magical arts. She tried to attach an eye to my field."
"An eye to your field?"
"She wanted to track me. But I knew what she was up to. I was able to expel the eye."
Eye and and field; field; two new words I had to add to my djinn dictionary. Never mind two new words I had to add to my djinn dictionary. Never mind pashupa. N pashupa. No wonder I had felt so weak when that light had struck me.
"You did well." I studied the snapshots she had taken. The men were strangers to me, but I suspected Amesh would be able to identify a few. They had asked about him enough. I contin ued, "Before the woman arrived, did you hear the guys talk about . . . Amesh?" I hated to give out his name.
"No. Who is Amesh?"
"A friend." mr. Demir and mira might know some of the guys. I owed them a call anyway. I wanted to see them before I slept, if I was going to sleep. I had a feeling it was going to be a long night.
Because Lova seemed in a talkative mood, I teased her again about scaring the room ser vice guy into fainting. But she returned my remark with a cold stare. She spoke as if I were the child and she were the parent.
"Do not presume to know the mind of a djinn. We walked this world before you. We were the masters of this realm."
"What happened?" I asked.
"You command the Carpet of Ka and you don"t know?"
"Just answer the question."
"There was a war."
"Between humans and djinn?"
"Humans cannot harm djinn. Not then and not now."
"So you warred with another race? Who were they?"
"You mean, who are are they. They were not destroyed." they. They were not destroyed."
"Did they win the war?"
Lova hesitated. "Yes." I tried to get her to speak more about this third race but she clammed up. She pleaded exhaustion. Escaping the woman with the pashupa had drained her, she said. She asked if she could rest. I said fine, but that she should be prepared to respond in case I called.
"I might need you to destroy Darbar," I said carefully.
Lova lay on the floor beside the bed. "that is one wish you should avoid," she said.
"I might have no choice."
"I"ve warned you of the consequences, Sara."
"Why did you warn me, Lova?" she shut her eyes. "the Carpet of Ka would not serve a fool. You must be worthy of respect."
"Why, thank you," I replied.
Her compliment was the last thing I had expected. I decided to hobble downstairs and buy some fresh clothes in the hotel store: black pants and a black shirt-the ultimate stealth uniform. I headed out into the turkish night with the carpet in my pack and grabbed a taxi.
Going straight to Amesh"s home was not an option. The same men who had tried to steal the carpet could have it staked out. Better that Mr. Demir and I meet in a public place, I Better that Mr. Demir and I meet in a public place, I thought, although I did not want our meeting observed. using my cell, I called mr. Demir on his house line. Mira answered. thought, although I did not want our meeting observed. using my cell, I called mr. Demir on his house line. Mira answered.
"Did you find Amesh?" she asked anxiously.
"I met him for lunch."
"Thanks be to Allah!" she sounded so relieved. "Is he all right?"
"He"s okay but things are complicated. Is your grandfather there?"
"He"s coming right now. Please tell Amesh to come home."
"I will, when it"s safe," I promised. Mr. Demir came on the line. "You saw Amesh?"
"Yes."
"I search every where, I could not find him. Where was he?"
"I"d rather talk in person, but I can"t come to your house.
Others know about the trea sure. I was attacked this afternoon and badly beaten."
"Are you okay?"
"I"ll live."
"We should go to police."
"The police can"t help. This situation has gone way beyond them. Please, meet me in an hour in the lobby at the sheraton by the airport. Make sure you"re not followed. I"ll be waiting for you."
"I leave now," mr. Demir said.
"Bring any paperwork you have on Amesh"s trial. Any photographs of the defendants. If you have a transcript of the trial, bring that."
"Why?" I hesitated. "the people who beat me up today asked if Amesh had kidnapped some of their friends."
"My grandson is cripple, one hand. He could not kidnap goat."
"Trust me, there"s a connection between what"s happening now and what happened last summer. Please, I need to know about the trial." mr. Demir was silent a long time. "I bring papers."
"Thank you."
We exchanged goodbyes. I figured mr. Demir would take time to reach the sheraton. I had my taxi drop me at the beach, not far from the hotel, and told him not to wait for me. I wanted mr. Demir to approach the sheraton carefully, but I planned to arrive in a manner n.o.body had ever used before. The beach was silent, the stars bright, which was what I was hoping for. I needed time to talk to the carpet and consider every thing that had happened. It did not take me long to find a powerful ley line to rest the carpet on in case we had to leave in a hurry. It floated a few inches off the ground in front of me.
While the stars glowed in the center, I asked my first question.
"Did I waste a wish by having Lova rescue you from the men?"
"What do you think?"
"I feared that the carpet didn"t have the strength to break out of the vault."