We drank what was left of our water, and to celebrate th e success of our adventure, we treated ourselves to two protei n bars each . I t was cute to listen to Amesh talk about how we wer e going to get our pictures on the cover of Time Time magazine once th e world learned about all we'd discovered . magazine once th e world learned about all we'd discovered .

But at the same time, I was worried .

"We'll be rich and famous," he kept saying .

"A ren't you forgetting one thing? "

" What? "

"T he carpet . I t was the carpet that brought us here. "

"S o? this place is more important than the carpet. "

"I wouldn't be too sure about that . E ven if we tell th e world about this island, we can't say how we got here. "

" People are going to ask. "

"I know. We'll tell them, I don't know, we took a boat. "

" Why shouldn't we tell them the truth?" he asked .

"B ecause then we'll have to give up the carpet. "

" We don't know that. We're the ones who found it."

"i found it, Amesh. As you've already pointed out, I foun d it on turkish soil, at a place where I didn't belong. Your government will try to claim it for itself." I paused. "And that's no t going to happen." I felt him stiffen in the dark . "I thought we agreed to shar e whatever money the carpet brought in," he said .

"We already agreed not to sell the carpet! it's not just a n artifact . I t can fly! it knew to bring us here. G.o.d only know s what else it can do. "

" What are you saying? We're not going to tell anyone wha t we've found? "

"I haven't decided yet. "

" You You haven't decided? Don't I get a vote?" I realized I was sounding like a megalomaniac . haven't decided? Don't I get a vote?" I realized I was sounding like a megalomaniac .

"Of course you do. All I'm saying is that the situation' s changed since we first found it . T he carpet's more importan t than we could've imagined. "

"I t's more important to you . T hat's what you mean. "

"T hat's not fair. "

"N o? Have you noticed the way you treat it? Like it wa s your child. "

"S o? it's natural I should want to protect it."

He rolled on his back and stared at the sky .

"N othing about that carpet is natural," he mumbled . T hose were his last words. A minute later he was snoring .

Despite my exhaustion, I felt relieved to have time alone to thin k about our situation. Our argument about who was in charge wa s more dangerous than I wanted to admit . I n two days we had become friends . I trusted him mor e than I trusted most of my friends at home. Yet trust could b e defined in different ways . I f I were in danger, I knew he wouldn' t hesitate to save me, even if it meant risking his own life . T he reverse was also true. Long before we'd found the ponds, I had decided to give him most of the water, even though i t meant I might die of thirst first . I was proud of myself for that. u nfortunately, even though we joked about the difference s in how we had been brought up, they were real. He did not se e the world the way I did . N o matter how much I teased hi m about his belief that men were superior to women, he honestl y thought it was true. When the final decision had to be mad e concerning the carpet, I feared he might try to take over . T hen there was the financial issue . I could try to imagin e what it meant to live with as little money as Amesh and his family possessed, but it was just that-my imagination . I had grow n up spoiled. Whatever I wanted I pretty much got . I just had t o look at the way he dressed and the condition of his mope d to know he owned next to nothing . T he promise of the mone y the carpet could bring must have been weighing on him constantly. And that weight had doubled with the discovery of th e temples .

What was wrong with that?

m oney and fame were what most people in the worl d wanted .

But they weren't what I wanted . I didn't need money. An d what about fame? Like all teenagers, I daydreamed about bein g a rock star or a movie star. Yet when I placed that desire besid e the mystery of the carpet, it paled in comparison . T he carpet opened doors I had not known existed . T h e carpet filled me with wonder. And that was a sensation I wasn' t willing to give up .

"I was the one who found it," I mumbled as I lay on m y back and stared up at the sky . I t took me a minute to realize there was something wron g with it .

Like this morning, I did not recognize the stars; or rather, I did not recognize their positions. Vega was a bright summe r star. During June and July, right after sunset, it was always straigh t overhead. And there was Vega, high in the sky, only it was fortyfive degrees south of straight up . T he other night I had used the north star to test the accuracy of our compa.s.ses . N ow I could not find it . I tried usin g the cup of the Big Dipper to locate it but failed. Because I coul d not find the Big Dipper . I t was gone. Yet that was crazy . S tars did not simply disappear . T hey burned for billions of years .

Plus that weird red star was back . S ince we were nestled i n a deep basin and surrounded by hills, neither of us had seen i t r ise. However, now that it had crested the eastern hill, it wa s obviously brighter than any other star in the sky .

Yet such a star did not exist . T he mystery made me restless . S uddenly I did not fee l sleepy . I kept wondering how the stars on the carpet were reacting to the stars in this weird sky. Also, I was still anxious to fin d a ley line in the valley. We had looked for one before but it ha d been a hasty search . N ot that I planned on flying anywhere without Amesh .

Picking up the carpet, I headed toward the second templ e we had tried to enter, the triangular-shaped one . I was not interested in trying to break in; I just wanted privacy. As I neared it, I felt a familiar charge in the air-the same charge I had felt o n the beach . I laid out the carpet and let it soak up the sky. Almost immediately I saw the ta.s.sels on the ends of the carpet stiffen an d knew it was on top of a ley line . I could take the carpet for a ride if I wanted! I was about to wake Amesh when the carpet's central star s caught my eye . T hey were not moving like they did when w e flew the carpet, but they were much brighter .

"I wish you could talk," I told the carpet . T he words wer e barely out of my mouth when several stars brightened whil e others dimmed . T he effect was not subtle-something was happening at the center of the carpet. Certain stars were moving t o m ake a shape . N o, that was not precisely true . I still had to connect the stars-like one had to connect the dots . T he only problem was, it was not an image I recognized . I stared at it for a long time before inspiration struck .

Was it a letter? Had the carpet responded to my questio n by creating a letter in an unknown alphabet? my heart pounde d wildly at the prospect . I f that was true then it meant the carpe t was trying to talk to me!

"stay cool," I told myself. "You don't know anything yet." I reached for my PDA and was surprised when it failed t o turn on . I t made no sense; I had just charged the battery . T his forced me to stare at the stars more . T here was nothing else to do. But it was like the carpet sensed my frustration . T he object it had formed with the stars broke into two piece s and then reformed .

A minute later, I shouted out in glee . I saw two letters! An H H and an and an I I ! t he carpet was saying h.e.l.lo to me . ! t he carpet was saying h.e.l.lo to me .

"Hi!" I said back . M ore stars joined the two letters . T hey formed an exclamation point! I leaned close to the carpet. "Do you speak en glish?" t he star field formed a J J and an and an A A . .

"Ja," I muttered to myself, momentarily confused, before I burst out laughing. "Ja," I muttered to myself, momentarily confused, before I burst out laughing. Ja Ja was German for was German for yes. yes. As I watched, the sta r f ield spelled out three more letters As I watched, the sta r f ield spelled out three more letters O O . . . . . . U U . . . I . . . I . Oui, . Oui, Frenc h for Frenc h for yes yes . I . I t was playing with me . t was playing with me .

"M y name's Sara ," I said. "Do you have a name?" i t switched and spelled out entire words, one at a time, bu t quickly, as fast as I could read them .

"N o name now. "

" You don't have a name now? Did you have a name i n the past? "

" Depends. "

"I t depends? On what does it depend? "

" On who asks. "

"B ut I'm asking. Who am I speaking to? "

"M ystery. "

"A m I capable of understanding who I'm speaking to? "

"N ot yet. "

" Will I be capable of understanding in the future? "

" Depends. "

" What does it depend on? "

" On whether you survive." t alk about getting a chill . S omeone didn't just walk ove r my grave, as the old saying went . T hey took a shovel and bega n to dig it up . I t was saying I might die soon . M y voice tremble d as I asked if that was true .

"A ll life ends in death. "

"A ll life ends in death," I repeated . "S ure, I know that . I t' s m ore a question of when, don't you think?" the carpet didn' t respond . I tried another approach . "I s this island dangerous? "

"T his island is magical. "

" Were we brought here for a purpose? "

" You were. "

" What about Amesh?" t he carpet did not respond .

"Why was I brought here? "

"T o know. "

"T o know what? "

" What needs to be known."

On the surface, one might have thought the carpet wa s playing with me again. Yet as I read the message, a sense o f purpose stirred inside. What I needed to know was important, n ot for myself but for everyone . I asked if that was true .

"Yes," it said .

"Can you tell me what I need to know? "

" Hint. "

" You can only hint? "

" Yes. "

"B ecause I have to discover most of it on my own? "

" Yes. "

" Was I meant to discover you? "

"I t depends on who you ask." t hat bizarre answer again . I was asking the carpet! Didn' t i t know that? I tried another tact. "Was I meant to discover th e carpet? "

" Yes."

Why did it answer one question with a simple yes when i t gave such a cryptic response to the other question? the questions were almost identical . E xcept the second time I had asked, I had identified the yo yo u u as the carpet . M aybe I was not really speaking to the carpet at all . as the carpet . M aybe I was not really speaking to the carpet at all .

"A m I speaking to the carpet now, or to someone else? "

"S omeone else. "

"A re you connected to the carpet and yet separate from it? "

"A ll are connected to the Carpet of Ka. "

"T he Carpet of Ka," I whispered, feeling power in th e words, the beauty . T he name was not unfamiliar . I had heard i t before, somewhere .

"S hould I address you as Ka?" I asked .

"N o. "

"I feel power when I say the word. Why? "

" Certain words are words of power. "

" Can you teach me them? "

" Your intuition knows them when they are spoken. "

" How do I know how to fly the carpet? "

"I ntuition. "

" Can you explain in more detail? "

" Knowledge is in the blood. "

" What's special about my blood?"

"Lineage is ancient . R oyal." t hat made me feel pretty good about myself. "Are yo u saying I used to be a princess?" I joked .

"Lineage," it repeated .

"S omeone in my past was a ruler? "

"M any Kalas in your past. "

" What is a Kala? "

" Kala is the name of your lineage . I t is what you aspire t o be. Just as a student who practices healing might one day become a doctor, he or she who bonds with the Carpet of Ka an d comes to this island hopes to become a Kala. "

" How long have the Kalas existed? "

"T hey existed before mankind remembers. "