"I hid from it; I didn't outrun it."

"But to stick with it you must have flown over a thousand kilometers an hour." I translated that to be about six hundred miles an hour.

"So?" I said.

"There's your answer. And I bet it can go twice that speed if need be. h.e.l.l, for all we know, it can go a hundred times that speed."

"Amesh!"

"What?"

"You just swore!"

He smiled. "I know. It felt good."

"Are you saying I should fly the carpet to new York?"

"I'm saying we we should fly it there." I gestured toward the east. "We're about to lose the stars." should fly it there." I gestured toward the east. "We're about to lose the stars."

"At high speed, the carpet can easily stay ahead of the sun." I considered. As fast as a Boeing 747 was-with all the stops along the way, and customs and security checks-it would take at least a day to get us to new York. The carpet could get us there in a few hours.

"Go tell your Papi and mira you're taking a trip with me," I said. "But don't tell them where you're going. They'll freak."

He reached out and hugged me, with both hands.

"I already told them I was going with you," he whispered.

His concern for me touched my heart. I had to wipe away a tear.

"I want you with me," I whispered back.

Once again I unrolled the carpet and we lifted up into the air and prepared to head east. The fading stars worried me, but Amesh insisted on a quick stop outside of town.

"We need to pick up the jewels. They'll be safer in America."

"Where did you put them?" I asked.

"In the middle of nowhere."

He had buried the chest in a shallow hole in the desert, not far from the job site. It took us only minutes to uncover them, but the sun seemed to be rising faster than ever. As we soared back into the sky, I worried that the weight of the chest might slow us down.

"You just lifted those four jerks to safety," he said.

"You're not still mad at them, are you?"

He paused, then laughed. "Not on a night like tonight!"

As we left istanbul and flew over the mediterranean, I decided to take another approach to the global problem we faced when it came to advanced radar systems and jetfighters. I explained my idea to Amesh and it was his turn to look worried.

"You don't want to stay close to the surface?" he asked. "If we fly below a hundred meters, we can evade any radar."

" I'm not comfortable flying at two thousand miles an hour that low. G.o.d only knows what we might run into."

Amesh glanced over the side. We were up a half mile and still climbing. But with the shield the carpet had erected, we felt neither the wind nor the cold.

"exactly how high do you plan on going?" he asked ner vously.

"Carpet, raise our elevation to fifteen miles." I enjoyed bragging about the carpet. "there isn't a jet on earth that can fly that high."

"There are rockets. And we're going to enter American air s.p.a.ce. We could get shot down." I waved a hand. "this carpet's more advanced than anything the us Air Force has in its a.r.s.enal. We'll be fine." ten minutes later, we were up so high, there were no clouds, and overhead the stars burned bright. The moment was pure magic. Likewise, the stars on the carpet shone with extraordinary brilliance. It was only then, after so many amazing flights aboard the carpet, that I got an inkling of what it had been truly designed for. To travel to other stars, to other worlds. No human being had built the Carpet of Ka.

For the first time since we'd ridden the carpet together, I lay beside Amesh, our heads inches apart. He had brought some of the new clothes-spielo had taken the rest for now-and he molded a warm down jacket into a pillow. At our extraordinary speed, we were outracing the moon, and soon it was straight overhead. I found myself almost hypnotized gazing into his eyes- such dark round wells, lit by soft moonlight. I fell into them, I suppose, into him, and I do not remember who made the first move.

We kissed.

His mouth was warm; his lips were sweet. He could have kissed me once or a hundred times. For me it was like one long ache that kept being soothed. I was more than happy; I was joyful, and even when we paused to rest I felt a contentment inside I had never known before. I felt complete.

Afterward, it was nice just to relax in his arms and talk nonsense. I didn't even discuss my plan to rescue tracy. It was enough just to be with him. I told myself it did not matter that he was not a Kala.

We could be together. We could have a future.

He was not going to lose it again. I trusted him.

Yet why did I have to keep telling myself these things? I had instructed the carpet to head for new York, but I had not given it a precise plot to follow. With the help of the moon shining on the Atlantic, and my binoculars, we saw numerous icebergs. Tiny white pages on a black field. I realized that the carpet was following the path of intercontinental jets, going over the pole, or at least near iceland and Greenland. Amesh got a kick out of the icebergs.

"I saw t.i.tanic t.i.tanic a dozen times," he confided. "I loved when the ship hit the iceberg and began to sink. It was so realistic." I poked him with my foot. "Yeah, right. You loved it when Leonardo DiCaprio painted Kate Winslet without her clothes on." a dozen times," he confided. "I loved when the ship hit the iceberg and began to sink. It was so realistic." I poked him with my foot. "Yeah, right. You loved it when Leonardo DiCaprio painted Kate Winslet without her clothes on."

His eyes widened. "She really took off her clothes?"

"You saw the movie."

"That scene was taken out in my country." I patted his leg. "We'll get you an unedited version while we're in new York," I said.

We were flying over what appeared to be nova scotia when the radar alarm came on. It scared Amesh but I did not panic.

We scanned the area below us. Sure enough, there were two fiery dots approaching from our right.

"Carpet. Increase our elevation by ten miles. Double our speed."

Amesh whistled. "Wow! six thousand kilometers an hour?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if it can fly faster than the speed of light." the rockets continued to inch closer, but the carpet's alarm silenced. I left our speed and elevation alone, confident we were far enough away. My faith was rewarded minutes later when the burning dots sunk into darkness.

"Too bad the carpet can't turn invisible," Amesh said.

"The carpet told me it can. It can do all kinds of things we can't imagine. It's just a question of unlocking its secrets."

"You said its your mother whose been talking to you through it?" I had told him a few particulars while we were shopping.

"She's the one who forms the words using the stars. But the carpet communicates with me in other ways."

Amesh shook his head. "I feel ashamed."

"Why do you say that?"

"For acting like it belonged to me as much as to you. From the start, it was obvious you knew how to handle it. I was jealous, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Amesh. You've been put through so much pain."

He nodded and hugged me tighter, not speaking. The unmistakable glow of new York became visible in the distance. At Amesh's urging, I ordered the carpet to drop down to a hundred feet. I cut our speed to that of a small plane.

"Do you remember the name of the hospital where your mother was being treated?" Amesh asked.

"Brooklyn memorial." I did not bother to point out that she was not being treated, but was merely being kept alive.

Amesh was studying me.

"You look worried," he said. "Are you afraid you won't be able to find the hospital?"

"she was at Brooklyn memorial years ago, but now she's under the control of the Anulakai. I'm sure they've got her stashed in some weird spot, probably some place that isn't even listed as a hospital. In fact, I know she's in manhattan."

"How do you know?" Amesh asked.

"I saw the Chrysler Building when I was in tracy's room."

"Is it a famous landmark?"

"Very. The only problem is, it looks the same from every direction."

Amesh studied the vast metropolis we were approaching.

"That might be a problem," he said.

Before we rescued anyone, we had to stash Amesh's chest of jewels. We hid them atop the Verrazano-narrows Bridge, which connected staten island to Brooklyn. It was in a special spot only the birds could reach. We figured they would be safe there for as long as we needed.

"We need to circle the Chrysler Building from the air," I said as we flew toward the building.

"You said this air s.p.a.ce is full of police and helicopters."

"It has been since 9/11. We'll just have to find her fast."

We circled the Chrysler Building several times and got nowhere. There were too many tall buildings in the area. Plus, from my brief vision, I couldn't tell if tracy had been one mile or five miles from the building. I needed a second landmark to narrow our search area.

We landed on the top of an office building. Getting off the carpet and stretching, I tried to imagine what alt.i.tude I had seen the building from. At thirty stories, I felt we were too low.

"What are we doing?" Amesh asked, standing beside me.

"Getting our bearings. I think we're too close."

"You're not too sure about this, are you?"

"I definitely saw the Chrysler Building. But I saw it while I was in the throes of hypothermia. My heart and lungs were not working. My brain had probably flat lined. I wasn't at my best."

"I think you should try talking to the carpet."

"I tried. But all it says is, 'stay away.' it's my mom warning us not to take any risks."

"Maybe she knows what she's talking about," Amesh said.

"I don't care; I'm going to rescue her." I yelled at the carpet laid out beside us. "Did you hear that?" it formed the words. "Go to Hawaii."

"What's in Hawaii?" Amesh asked.

"Nice beaches," the carpet said.

"She's teasing us," I said. "Ignore her." I kept staring up at the moon. There was something about the moon . . . Then I had it. I knelt beside the carpet.

"Mom, I know you think it's too dangerous for us to find you, but we're going to keep trying until we're arrested or shot out of the sky. So you may as well cooperate." the carpet did not respond. I continued. "Do you know the name of the hospital you're in?"

"I'm in a coma. When they checked me in, no one said a word to me."

"I know your eyes are probably shut, but is there a light on them?"

"It is dark; it must be nighttime."

"True. It is nighttime. But did a light begin to shine on your eyes, say, two hours ago?" there was a long pause. "Nope."

"Wait a second! You're awake and sitting outside your body!"

"You weren't supposed to remember that."

"What are you guys talking about?" Amesh asked, confused.

"She can see through her soul. Her soul uses the carpet to talk to us." I turned back to the carpet. "Is the moon shining through your window?"

"It's too dangerous, Sara."

"We're not stopping until we find you," I repeated. The carpet took a long time to answer. "the moon is shining through my window." I clapped my hands together. "We've got our second landmark! now we only have to search one side of the building." I grabbed my binoculars and studied the skyline and then pointed.

"That building is in a perfect line between the moon and the Chrysler Building."

Amesh was impressed. "Sometimes you take my breath away."

"really? Well, now it's your chance to take mine away."

"How?"

"The Anulakai were definitely afraid of tracy. That means she's going to be guarded. Figure out a way to get rid of them."