“My dad’s here on business for the World Bank, and we tagged along. We’re all on Spring Break.”
“Awesome,” Kane said. “If you like, I could show you some of the sights, or at least point you in the right directions.”
“Are you staying in this hotel?” Vero asked.
“No,” Kane said. “I live in Colombo, but we’re also off school for two weeks so I’m driving a tuk-tuk around to make some extra money. I just dropped someone off here.”
Vero and Kane shared a glance. Vero was thinking about that quote and how appropriate it was . . . It was no coincidence Kane was at the hotel. Vero knew that his fledging friend was there to help him in his search for the Book of Raziel.
“What are you planning to do while you’re here?” Kane asked.
“We want to go to Sri Pada,” Clover said.
Kane shot Vero a suspicious look. Vero nodded.
“I can help make that happen!” Kane said. “My aunt does tours to Sri Pada.”
“She does?” Vero practically shouted.
“Yeah. She’ll take us,” Kane said. “It’s about a three-hour bus ride from here. She speaks English pretty well. I’m sure she’ll let me go too.”
“So can we, Dad?” Vero turned to Dennis.
“But it’s like I said. I’m here on business, I really can’t get away for an overnight excursion.”
“I could go with them,” Nora said.
Dennis looked at Nora, considering.
“We need to meet and talk with Kane’s aunt first, of course. But if Kane and his aunt are willing to be our guides, it sounds like it could be a great—and safe—adventure,” Nora said.
“You sure you want to do this?” Dennis asked Nora.
“The kids want to go on a religious pilgrimage—who am I to say no?” Nora threw up her hands.
“Okay,” Dennis said.
“Thanks.” Vero smiled.
Vero quickly spun around to Kane. “Can we go this afternoon?”
“Hey, relax a bit,” Dennis said to Vero. “You just can’t go tonight. I’d like to meet his aunt first. Got it?”
“Yeah.” Vero nodded.
Dennis glanced at his watch and stood. “I need to leave. I have a meeting in a half hour.” Dennis extended his hand to Kane. “Kane, just let us know how we can reach your aunt. Make sure Vero has your phone number.”
“Will do.”
Dennis grabbed his briefcase, kissed the top of Clover’s head, then kissed Nora’s cheek before walking out of the restaurant.
“I should move my tuk-tuk before it’s stolen,” Kane said. Then he turned to Vero. “If you walk out with me, I can give you one of my cards with all my info.”
“Okay,” Vero said, rising from his chair.
“It was nice meeting you, Kane,” Nora said.
“Me too, Ma’am,” Kane said. “I’ll call my aunt later today and be in touch.”
Kane nodded to Tack and Clover, then walked toward the lobby. Vero kept pace with him.
“So how did you know I was here?” Vero asked Kane when they were out of Nora’s earshot.
“I didn’t. I just had a really strong feeling that I needed to come here,” Kane replied. “Had to be my Vox Dei.”
“So you didn’t know I would be here?”
“No clue.”
Vero thought about that for a moment.
“You must be here because of the book?” Kane said. “Is it in Sri Pada?”
“I think so.”
“Where?” Kane’s eyes went wide.
“That I don’t know.”
“It’s a pretty big place. You must have some idea?”
Vero shook his head. “But I got this far, so I have to just keep going,” Vero said. “I’m sure something will lead me to it.”
“Of course I’ll go with you,” Kane said.
“Do you really have an aunt who does tours, or were you just trying to help me out?” Vero asked.
“Yes, and I’ll bring her by tomorrow to set everything up with your father,” Kane said. “He’ll love my aunt. She’s great.”
“Are you sure she can take us?” Vero was worried.
“She will.”
Vero turned to Kane. “Do you ever feel helpless here on earth? I wish we could just fly there right now.”
“I’m sure I’m the only one in this whole hotel who understands how you feel.” Kane chuckled.
As they reached the tuk-tuk, Vero thought it looked like it would be fun to drive; the driver seat had motorcycle-style handle bars that steered the front tire, and there was a covered three-seat section behind the driver. The car was painted a fire-engine red, with lots of decals all over it—some in English and some in what Vero assumed was Sinhala. Written on the back of the tuk-tuk, just under the window, was the quote about coincidence. Kane reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a crumpled business card. He handed it to Vero.
“Here’s my card. Call that number to reach me. I finally got a cell phone.”
Vero nodded.
Waves gently broke upon the shore. The glistening, clear ocean water looked turquoise in color. Vero and Clover sat on lounge chairs on the fifth-story hotel balcony, hovered around a laptop. Tack stood leaning over the railing, looking down with longing at the sunbathers stretched out on the golden sands.
“Sure you don’t want to go for a quick dip?” Tack asked, turning around.
“Later,” Vero said without glancing up.
Tack sighed. “Have you figured anything out?”
“Not yet,” Clover said. “Maybe we would, if you tried to help us.”
“I say we go there and just wing it,” Tack said.
“We’re going to be there less than forty-eight hours,” Clover said. “We can’t just wing it.”
“Does Kane have any ideas?” Tack asked. “He’s a guardian too. He should know something.”
“He doesn’t know any more than what I do,” Vero said.
Tack sat down with a huff, his chin in his hands.
“If you want something to do, I hid the sapphire somewhere in the two rooms. Go find it . . . Gotta keep practicing.”
Tack jogged back inside the room, whistling cheerily. He was actually learning to like this game . . . He was so surprised and impressed every time he got it right, and with all the practice he’d been doing, he was getting noticeably better.
He walked over to the coffee table and picked up the TV remote. He ran his hand over it, then popped open the battery compartment and smiled.
A moment later, Tack emerged onto the balcony, with both hands extended in fists toward Clover. “Which hand?” Clover picked one, and Tack turned it over to reveal her small sapphire stone.
“Where was it?” Clover asked.
“Inside the TV remote’s battery compartment,” Vero answered, impressed.
Tack extended his other hand as if to introduce himself to Clover. “Hi, name’s Tack the Magnificent, expert dowser.”
Clover shook his hand, and playfully rolled her eyes at him. “You know, if the whole dowsing thing doesn’t work out, you could make a serious living finding women’s lost jewelry,” she said, as if seeing Tack in a new light.
“That wouldn’t be the first time for a Kozlowski,” Tack said, handing the stone back to Vero.
“What do you mean?” Clover asked.
“Back in Poland, there was some rich couple who were getting divorced, so the husband hid his wife’s jewelry. He buried it in the ground somewhere so she couldn’t find it, thinking he could go dig it up for himself once they were divorced. But the wife hired my great-great-grandfather to locate her jewelry. She suspected her husband hid i
t somewhere on their property. Even though their land was about one hundred and twenty acres, my great-great-grandfather went right to it. He found the burial spot under a maple tree.”
“That’s impressive,” Vero said.
“Yes, but it turned out the husband was a Polish crime boss. When he found out what happened, he tried to have my great-great-grandfather eliminated. And that, folks, is how the Kozlowskis came to America.”
“Really?” Clover asked.
Vero shot him a perplexed look.
“Yeah, he had to flee from Poland.”
“Oh,” Vero said, finally understanding.
“Coming up with anything on the book or the garden of Eden?” Clover nodded to the computer.
“Nothing.”
Clover pulled her journal from her backpack and opened it to her drawing of Sri Pada. “There’s got to be something here that we’re not seeing,” Clover said, studying the image.
Tack looked over her shoulder.
“Your perspective is off. You’ve got a river running right through the side of a mountain,” he said, pointing to it.
“I just draw what I see. I don’t care about perspective,” Clover huffed, annoyed. “How about you? Can you feel anything from the drawing?” Clover looked to Tack.
“No. But I still don’t get why you drew the shadow of the mountain as a triangle,” Tack said. “You really need to take an art class in perspective.”
“No, that’s real. Even though the mountain is shaped like a cone, it casts a perfect triangular shadow,” Clover said. “And nobody knows why.”
“Yeah, there are tons of images of it on the Internet. Tourists posting their photos,” Vero said.
“Doesn’t make sense,” Tack said.
A mini-twister disturbed the still air. It instantly stopped spinning, and Uriel, Raziel, Raphael, and Gabriel—an impossibly beautiful female angel with shoulder-length, copper-colored hair—emerged from its center. They turned to Michael, who always looked intimidating. Well muscled and around ten feet tall, Michael also towered over the others. The angels stood on the edge of a desolate mountain in the part of the Ether that belonged to Lucifer. Rocks were all around them, as nothing green grew here. It resembled a desert after a nuclear bomb had exploded—dead beyond dead. Michael turned to the other archangels.
“I wanted all of you to see this. There is great commotion down below,” Michael told the others, speaking mind to mind.
He nodded to the flat, barren wasteland below. The others followed his gaze and saw the land move as if there were waves beneath the surface. Though muffled, the shrieks and cries coming out of the dirt were almost deafening. An intermittent glow of red covered the rolling land, making it appear to be made of volcanic hot spots.
“How many do you think he will release?” Uriel asked Michael with concern.
Michael caught Uriel’s eyes. “All of them.”
Uriel’s chin slumped to his chest.
“But Vero’s only a fledgling,” Raphael said.
“He’s becoming more and more powerful,” Uriel said. “He can summon now.”
“Impressive,” Gabriel said.
Raziel shook his head. Michael read his thoughts.
“No, Raziel, do not blame yourself,” Michael said. “This is meant to be.”
Raziel slowly nodded.
“We are to trust.”
“I do trust,” Raziel said.
“Then what is it?”
“I’ve resented the boy,” Raziel said, his eyes down in apparent shame.
“Vero?” Gabriel asked.
“Yes. I lost the book. I should be the one who is in danger. What I did a long time ago has put Vero in harm’s way . . . I allowed myself to be fooled by Solomon when he switched the gem in his ring and sent the book away. I should be the one to correct my mistake.”
“As I would like to correct mine,” Uriel said, recalling his lack of judgment that allowed the serpent into the garden. “But He has forgiven us.”
“This is a chance to make things right,” Raphael said.
“Which is why we must do everything we can to ensure Vero does not fail,” Michael said. “Because there will not be another chance.”
A pit formed in Raziel’s gut as his eyes drifted out to the land below. The red, glowing ground was seething—it was only a matter of time before it would burst open.
16
CHIKO
Vero shoved several bottles of purified water into his backpack and zipped it shut. Tack was busy with his backpack as well.
“That reminds me,” Tack said as he grabbed a box of Ding Dongs from his suitcase on top of the bed.
“How many of those did you bring?” Vero asked.
“Just one box for each day.”
Tack shoved the entire box into his backpack and zipped it just as Clover stuck her head into the bedroom.
“The bus is out front,” she announced. “You guys ready?” Clover looked over and saw the other box in Tack’s suitcase. “Really?”
“Yes, Clover, Ding Dongs,” Tack said, very dramatically. “For your information, the heavenly chocolate cake and exterior glaze shell both contain cocoa, which scientists have proven greatly enhances concentration and mental abilities, and the divinely creamy center contains vanilla bean extract—a fragrant spice used by Zen masters for thousands of years for its nerve calming effects and promotion of an overall feeling of relaxation. It’s no exaggeration at all to say that Ding Dongs are the greatest performance-enhancing snack ever known to mankind,” Tack picked up his backpack in a lofty manner for effect. “Don’t mock that which you do not understand.” He then purposefully walked past her into the main room.
Vero rolled his eyes at Tack’s performance, as Clover laughed at the speech. “I guess that explains why I don’t need them . . . I’m cool as a cucumber,” she said.
“Let’s go,” Vero said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder as he walked out of the small bedroom. “And Clover, don’t forget to bring your drawing.”
“Don’t need it,” Clover said. “I’ve committed every detail to memory.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay,” Vero said as he held the door open to the hallway. Tack walked out. Clover hesitated.
“Go ahead, I’ll be down in a minute,” she said to Vero. “I forgot something.”
“I’ll wait, get it.”
“No, you go. Mom and Dad will get worried wondering where we are,” Clover said.
Vero walked out and closed the door after him. Once he was gone, Clover walked over to Tack’s open suitcase and pulled out a plastic-wrapped Ding Dong. Her hand shook as she unwrapped it and shoved the whole chocolate cake into her mouth. When she was done, she grabbed another and then walked into the main room, unwrapping it. The door opened. Clover panicked, but it was too late. She was busted.
Tack stood in front of her, grinning ear to ear. “I think this could be the start of something beautiful.”
The bus was about half the size of a regular school bus. It was green and pretty old, with lots of rusted metal spots. Vero saw his mother looking at their transportation with a look of disappointment and doubt as they stood under the hotel porte cochere.
“I’m not so sure it’s even going to make it out of the driveway,” Nora said while staring at the bus.
“Yes, it will be good,” a woman said with a strong Sri Lankan accent. “It ees only fort-ee years old,” she said playfully. “For Sri Lanka, it just broken in.”
Nora turned and focused on Kane and his aunt, who’d introduced herself as Adrik. She was a tall woman with tanned skin, and short, dark, spiky hair. If Vero had to guess, he’d say she looked about sixty.
“Oh, Adrik, hello,” Nora said.
Nora and Dennis had met Adrik the day before, when Kane had brought his aunt to the hotel to introduce her and to work out all the arrangements for the journey. They were taking a bus to Dalhousie, the access town to Sri Pada. According to Adrik, it would be about a four-and-a-half-hour drive. They were scheduled to arrive around two in the afternoon, check into the hotel there, and begin the climb late that night along with the other pilgrims. That way, they’d be able to observe the breathtaking sunrise as well as watch the shadow of the mountain form on the distant horizon and then recede back across the plains below.
“Now that you all are going, I’m a bit jealous,” Dennis said.
“It’s only one night,” Nora said as she hugged her husband. “We’ll be back before you know it.”
Dennis hugged his children, then Tack. After saying their good-byes, the bus driver—a short, stubby man with a thick, full beard—opened the door, and they stepped onto the vehicle.
About an hour into the ride, Tack and Clover had fallen asleep. Apparently the travel and time change had taken a toll. Both were sprawled out across a bus seat. Vero wondered how they could get comfortable enough to nap, because springs were pushing up through his seat, and the antiquated bus seemed to hit every pothole along the way. Kane was listening to music on his earphones, and Nora and Adrik were sitting two rows up, talking.
“Kane loved lee-ving in Washington . . .” Adrik was saying.
This snippet of conversation caught Vero’s attention. He leaned forward to listen.
“I wanted to vee-sit him,” Adrik said. “But he was there so short a time.”
Vero knit his brow in confusion. Kane was never an exchange student in Washington, D.C. Why was his aunt lying for him? It’s bad enough when a kid lies, but an adult? But then Vero wondered if Adrik was like Clover. Had Kane confided his real identity to her? Maybe Adrik knew Kane was a guardian, and she was helping him out. It was unclear to Vero, but he decided all that really mattered was that he would be in Sri Pada in a few short hours, as unbelievable as that seemed. He rested his head against the window and tried to get some rest as well. He watched the green landscape pass by—palm trees, banana plantations, and rice paddies. And despite the cushion springs pushing against his bottom, he soon fell asleep.
The Dragon's Descent Page 15