by Farah Zaman
When Adam could speak without gasping, he gripped Mahmood’s hand and said, “What we heard in the vaults was not real. Someone played a trick on us like they did to the Science Club. There are no ghosts in the vaults, okay?”
Mahmood nodded, his eyes losing their glassy look of terror.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed now.” Adam rose to his feet.
After seeing Mahmood to his room, Adam set off from the orphanage at a run. He slowed down in the sidra grove, not wishing to meet the same fate as Zaid. Reaching home, he closed the door to the dangers of the night and breathed a prayer of thanks.
His sister and friends were waiting up for him in the sitting room.
“There you are,” Zaid said. “We were beginning to get worried.”
“You won’t believe the night I’ve had.” Adam collapsed on the sofa. “I feel like I’ve just acted in a horror movie.”
“What happened?” Zahra asked.
Adam began his tale, telling them first about the figure that had chased him from the cemetery and then the scare in the vaults.
“Oh my God,” Layla said when he was done. “It sounds like one of those slasher movies.”
“Send me the photo of that circle,” Zaid said. “I’ll check it out on the internet in the morning.”
After sending the photo, Adam said, “Layla and I will look for clues tomorrow. We’ll go down to the vaults in the morning and the cemetery in the afternoon.”
“Why don’t we ask Heba to help us search the cemetery?” Layla said. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind visiting her aunt’s and uncle’s graves again. We can even take some sandwiches and have an indoor picnic at her house afterwards. I’m sure Danyal will be glad to have some company.”
“It’s too bad Zaid and I will miss out,” Zahra said, her face falling.
“You can go with them,” Zaid said. “I’ll be okay on my own with the crutches.”
Zahra shook her head. “No, I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“I saw a wheelchair in the clinic,” Layla said. “Maybe we can borrow it for Zaid to use.”
Zaid made a face. “A wheelchair? I would feel silly.”
“It’s either the wheelchair or we miss out on the fun,” Zahra said.
Zaid sighed. “I guess wheelchair it is.”
“I’ll go down in the morning and ask Dad if we can borrow it,” Adam said.
When Adam descended the stairs the next morning, his eyes were bleary and he knew the cottony feeling in his head was building up to a full-blown headache. In the dining room, he found Mouna and the twins having breakfast with his parents. He joined them, pouring himself a mug of coffee first. Adding milk and honey to it, he took a few sips and said, “Mom, Dad, we’d like to go with Heba to the cemetery this afternoon to visit her aunt and uncle’s graves. Then we want to have a picnic afterwards. Is it okay?”
“It’s fine with us,” Mrs. Horani said absentmindedly as she spread jam on her toast.
“We wondered if we could borrow the wheelchair in the clinic for Zaid to use.”
Dr. Horani looked up in surprise. “You can, but it will be a bumpy ride for him. And you’ll have to help him over the uneven ground.”
“That’s fine, we can do that.”
“Alright, you can come by and pick it up when you’re ready.”
“What were you planning to take to eat?” Mrs. Horani asked.
“Sandwiches.”
“I can call Umm Kifah and tell her to prepare a picnic basket for you.”
Adam beamed. “Thanks, Mom. You’re the best.”
“It would be nice if Hassan and Hakeem could go with you,” his mother said.
Oh no.
“But I suppose the distance might be too much for them,” she added as an afterthought.
Adam drew a breath of relief. If his mother had insisted on Hassan and Hakeem going with them, the search in the cemetery would have had to be suspended. The twins could not be trusted with secrets, even if sworn to secrecy.
“We can’t go, anyway.” Hakeem set down his glass of juice. “We have other plans.”
“Like what?” Adam asked.
The boys exchanged quick looks.
“We promised Bishr and Burhaan to play some games with them,” Hassan said.
The scamps are up to some mischief. At least Mouna will be there to keep an eye on them.
After eating and downing a Tylenol for his headache, Adam felt better prepared to face the day.
Later, when he gathered with the others in the sitting room upstairs, Zaid said with a gleam in his eyes, “I found a circle on the internet similar to the one in the vaults. It’s called a Solomonic Circle. Take a look.” He held out his cell phone.
Adam and the girls studied the picture. With the star-shapes and curving serpent-like drawing, it did look the same.
“Why is it called a Solomonic circle?” Layla asked.
“It’s supposed to be a magic circle.”
Zahra gasped. “A magic circle? For real?”
“Yes, the circle is said to have come from the grimoires of Prophet Solomon, called the Lesser and Greater Keys. The grimoires claim that Prophet Solomon is their author and they contain instructions for summoning the jinn. We know he was able to control the jinn, but I doubt these grimoires are the real thing. They may be more black magic than Solomonic magic.”
“What’s that triangle outside the circle?” Adam asked.
“That’s the triangle of conjuration facing the east. I guess it’s the direction the magician will face when in the circle.”
“What about those stars?” Layla said.
“The six-pointed ones are hexagrams and the five-pointed ones, pentagrams. The Seal of Solomon was said to be one of those shapes. It’s supposedly a magical signet ring that Prophet Solomon owned which had the power to bind and control the jinn.”
“What’s the purpose of the circle?” Zahra said.
“In the old tradition, magicians believed that the circle formed a protective barrier between themselves and what they summoned. In more modern practices of magic, like Wicca, the circle serves as a means for raising the cone of power.”
“What’s a cone of power?” Layla said.
“That’s the method used to raise the energy that is desired. It’s done by a coven of witches or wizards, who hold hands in the circle, focusing on a single point. They dance, chant or do other rituals until the cone of power or energy is completely formed. Then they direct that energy towards whatever magical purpose is being worked on.”
“Whoever drew that circle in the vaults must be the person who murdered Heba’s uncle and stole The Hour of the Oryx,” Adam said. “It looks like he’s using the stolen grimoire to practice summoning spells and scaring away anyone who goes down there. All the more reason for us to do some poking around there.”
Adam turned on his flashlight and opened the door to the vaults. He descended the ramp, Layla behind him. When they came to the bottom, Layla shined her flashlight around and stared with wide eyes at the charred and soot-blackened vault.
“My God,” she said. “It looks like a chamber of horror here.”
“Let me show you the circle. It’s in the fourth vault.”
When they got there, Adam’s mouth opened in surprise. The circle was gone. All that remained were faint white blotches on the ground.
“Well, well,” he said. “Our magician got rid of the circle. He must have done it after Mahmood and I left last night.”
“Yeah, he probably didn’t want anyone else to see it. Can you tell which direction the voice came from last night?”
“No, I can’t pinpoint it. I think our magician used a phone recording.”
“There must be a secret compartment where he was hiding. Let’s see if we can find one.”
They carried out a cursory examination of the walls but nothing popped out at them.
“We’ll need brighter lights and more eyes to search,” Layla said.
“We can rustle up some candles and flashlights and ask the others to join in tomorrow.”
“Yes, Zaid can get down the ramp in the wheelchair and I’m sure Heba and Mahmood wouldn’t mind helping us.”
“I’ll swing by the clinic and pick up the wheelchair now.”
“While you do that, I’ll go update Heba.”
On the first floor, they parted ways. Layla went in search of Heba and Adam headed to the clinic. When he got there, several students were in the waiting area. Their hollow eyes and pale faces told him they were ill. The sullen-faced Fadi of the Troublesome Trio was among them. Red eyes and a sickly pallor did not stop him from curling his lips at Adam.
Adam went to the reception desk to greet his mother.
“Are you okay?” She looked up at him anxiously.
“Yes,” he replied in puzzlement. “I came to get the wheelchair for Zaid.”
“Oh yes, I forgot about that. For a moment, I thought you might be ill.”
“Ill? Why would I be ill?”
She sighed. “There has been an outbreak of stomach ailments among the students and teachers. Some of them have been complaining of vomiting, cramps and diarrhea. We believe it was something they ate at dinner last night.”
“That’s terrible. We didn’t have dinner here, so we should be fine. Are Heba and Mahmood okay?”
“They haven’t come to the clinic, so hopefully they weren’t affected. Classes have been canceled for today and we’ve been questioning all those with symptoms, trying to figure out what caused the problem. What time are you leaving for the cemetery?”
“About four o’clock.”
“The wheelchair’s working fine. It’s in the storeroom.”
“I’ll go see Mahmood and then come back for it.”
Fadi cut his eyes this time as Adam went past. Adam ignored him and hurried upstairs. He found Mahmood sitting on the bed, Muk-Muk next to him. The monkey leaped onto Adam’s shoulder, gibbering at him.
“Hello, you little rascal. Glad to see you all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after our little adventure last night.” Turning to Mahmood, Adam asked, “Are you okay? You don’t have any stomach pains, do you?” He was relieved when the boy shook his head.
As the monkey hopped around the room, Adam filled Mahmood in on the significance of the circle in the vault and how he and Layla had found it gone when they went down earlier. “We’ll need you and Heba to help us search for the magician’s hiding place tomorrow. Is that okay?”
Mahmood nodded.
“We’re going this afternoon to look for clues in the cemetery. Then we’ll have a picnic at Heba’s house afterwards.”
Mahmood pointed to himself and Muk-Muk and stuck his thumb out.
“You want to come with us?”
Mahmood nodded.
“Of course, you can.” Chuckling, Adam added, “You can help me push Zaid in the wheelchair.”
Mahmood grinned widely. Even he found the idea of Zaid in a wheelchair funny. Adam’s cell phone buzzed. It was Layla. “What’s up?”
“I’m with Heba in the atrium. She told me about the students being ill. Is Mahmood okay?”
“Yes, he’s fine. How about Heba?”
“She’s fine too. She’s looking forward to going with us this afternoon and helping us search the vaults tomorrow.”
“Mahmood wants to go with us this afternoon too.”
“The more the merrier. Tell him to wait with Heba in the atrium at four.”
“Will do.”
“Heba said she searched Ms. Tubaa’s office last night.”
“Did she find anything suspicious?”
“No. She went through the bookshelf, the file cabinet and the desk but there was nothing out of the ordinary. She had just closed the door and was walking down the corridor when Ms. Tubaa appeared. If Heba had stayed a minute longer, Ms. Tubaa would have caught her.”
“Wow, that was pretty close. Did Ms. Tubaa say anything to Heba?”
“She gave her a suspicious look and asked what she was doing down there at that hour.”
“What did Heba say?”
“She said she had been working on a sketch to surprise Ms. Rima. And that she went to push it under the door.”
“And did Ms. Tubaa buy it?”
“Yes, she scowled and went on her way. Heba was scared Ms. Tubaa would ask Ms. Rima about the sketch, so she had to stay up and do one. She went early this morning to push it under Ms. Rima’s door.
“Poor Heba. What a fright she must have had. What time did she search Ms. Tubaa’s room?”
“I’ll ask her.”
After a few moments of murmurs, Layla came back on the line and said, “About nine-thirty. Why do you want to know?”
“I was trying to figure out if Ms. Tubaa would have caught me and Mahmood in the atrium. But no, we were there much later.”
“If Ms. Tubaa was downstairs earlier, it could have been her in the vaults.”
“Yeah, it’s possible.”
“You ready to go home now?”
“Yes, I’ll meet you in the clinic. I still have to pick up the wheelchair.”
Hanging up, Adam said to Mahmood, “Wait with Heba in the atrium at four. We’ll pass by and pick you up.”
Mahmood nodded, his long-suffering look lightening a little. The outing would be good for both him and the monkey.
In the clinic, Layla helped Adam get the wheelchair out of the storeroom before they bid goodbye to their mother.
“Enjoy your picnic,” she told them. “Your dad and I will be working late in case others get sick. We’ll see you later.”
That afternoon, the teenagers set off from Villa Wadha, Adam pushing Zaid in the wheelchair. Cradled in Zaid’s lap was the bag of food Umm Kifah had prepared for them. At the orphanage, Heba and Mahmood joined them, both smiling. Heba wore a long tunic and jeans like the girls while Mahmood had donned jeans and T-shirt like the boys. Muk-Muk opened his mouth in a wide, yellow-toothed grin when he saw them.
Soon, they were on the shortcut alongside the lake. The sun had crept closer to the west, moderating its burning intensity. A light breeze blew over them, bringing the fetid stench of the lake to their noses. At the edge of the water, the wildflowers waved on their stalks, as if begging to be plucked. The girls gathered a few handfuls to lay on the graves.
It was a pleasant walk but a bit of a bumpy ride for Zaid, just as Dr. Horani had warned. Muk-Muk leapt from one shoulder to the next, springing down several times to prance ahead of them on the path. At the edge of the graveyard, they came to a stop.
“The light I saw was sort of in the middle of the cemetery,” Adam said. “We’ll spread out in that area and search for twenty minutes.”
Zaid said, “Since there are six of us, three of us can take the first half and three of us, the remaining half. Our portions can be divided up into left, center and right.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Layla said. “Will you be able to search in the wheelchair?”
“Yes, I think I can wheel myself around without getting stuck.”
“You, Zahra and Mahmood can share the first half,” Adam said. “Heba, Layla and I will take the other half.”
“I’ll go make a quick visit to my aunt’s and uncle’s graves and then I’ll join you,” Heba said.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Zahra asked.
“Any clues that might be left on the ground,” Adam said. “After we finish, let’s come back right here. The quicker we’re done, the quicker we can go to Heba’s house.”
Layla chuckled. “Won’t Danyal be surprised to see us?”
“He must fin
d it hard to be cooped up in the house,” Heba said. “At least he was able to move around at the lake house.”
“I don’t think he minds,” Adam said. “He’s been reading a lot.”
Heba’s smile was bittersweet. “I’m glad Uncle Issa’s books are coming in useful.”
“Alright, let’s start,” Adam said. “I’ll take the left corner at the back.”
After they had each chosen their portion, they entered the graveyard and headed in different directions. When Adam came to his corner, he began searching along the curving pathways and between the neat lines of graves. As he straightened up from peering at a marker, the tips of his ears tingled. He froze with sudden realization. Someone was watching them.
Chapter Twenty-Three:
Searching for Secrets
Adam glanced around. There was no one in the graveyard besides those buried beneath the earth. And they were no longer bound to this physical realm. So, who could be watching them? Was it the frightening figure who had chased him last night? He stared at the trees around them and those bordering the graveyard. There were no signs of movement. He turned to see if the others were feeling the same sensation. Heba was just walking away from her aunt’s and uncle’s graves. The others were caught up in their search and did not act like anything was amiss.
Atop Mahmood’s shoulder, Muk-Muk sat quietly, his head rotating slowly. Had the monkey sensed the presence of someone too? Adam was too far away to tell if Muk-Muk’s flat little nose was quivering, a sure sign that he had caught the scent of someone. Maybe if he had, he would have been chasing the smell like he had done last night. Unless it was difficult for him to pinpoint it outdoors.
Or maybe it’s just my imagination working overtime. My head still feels fuzzy after last night.
Adam returned to his task, giving it his full attention. After the allotted time was up, they assembled at the original spot.
“Anyone see anything?” Adam asked.
“Nope,” Layla said. “Nothing but graves.”
The others all had the same answer.
“I didn’t see anything either,” Adam said. “But I got a weird sensation earlier that someone was watching us. Did any of you get it too?”