“Look at the picture Babel.”
Babel looked at the picture of the Taj Mahal. “I don’t understand. Are you saying Dad is from India?”
“Not from India. From the Taj Mahal.”
“How can anyone be from the Taj Mahal? That doesn’t make any…”
“Babel.” Alicia said calmly, interrupting. “You see the waters in front of the Taj Mahal?” Wearily Babel looked at the photo again. He saw the waters and nodded his head. “The source of those waters are where your father is from.”
“Mom…”
“Listen Babel. Your father is not from this world. There is another world that lies beyond ours. Several in fact. But only one of those worlds can be entered through the waters of the Taj Mahal.”
The only thing Babel could think of to do was laugh. He couldn’t help it. When he finished, he looked at his mother and noticed her soberness. Babel smiled. “So you’re saying that Dad is an alien?”
“Something like that.”
“And that makes me…”
“Half-alien, exactly.”
“But you’re not an alien?”
“No, not an alien.”
“Mom, listen…”
“No Babel, you listen. Whether you believe it or not, your father is from another world. Somehow or another, I believe he has gone back to that world.”
Babel decided to humor her. “So let’s say that Dad actually is an alien and went back to his alien world in the swimming pool in front of the Taj Mahal. So what do we do now?”
Alicia answered her son as seriously as she could muster, and her voice showed her conviction. “Babel, if your father went back to that world, I don’t think it was by choice.”
“You’ve been to this other world?”
Alicia shook her head. “No, but your father showed me. He showed me how to look into the waters and see through them.”
Babel looked up sharply at his mother. “What do you mean?”
“He wanted me to know so in case he ever went back to that world, you would know how to find him again.”
“Me? How can I enter a world that doesn’t exist? Should I just dive into the waters? Maybe there is a secret tunnel in the bottom that I can swim through.”
“I only know that that world can be entered through the waters. On the other side, I’m not sure how it works.”
“So you don’t know how Dad ended up here?”
“Your father was sent here.”
“That doesn’t make any…”
“Babel, listen to me.” Alicia looked into her son’s eyes. “You can go there because you are of your father. You are the only one who can. If your father is there, he needs get back here.”
“Why? If he did go to another world, it’s because he obviously wanted to. Why does he need me to rescue him?’
“Because that world is not safe. I can’t explain everything right now. But if you love your father, and despite all of his faults, I still do, then you have to bring him back.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Yes, you do. Do me a favor, look at the picture and then close your eyes.”
“Mom…”
“Just do it. Please, Babel.”
Babel nodded. He looked at the picture for a few moments and then closed his eyes. At first there was nothing. Then, he saw it. He saw his father’s world. And he believed.
Babel’s eyes flew open. His mother was watching his face and she knew he had seen. She knew he believed. Babel looked at his mother. “We have to get to India.”
CHAPTER NINE
Triana looked across the room at the Keeper. Absentmindedly, her hand touched the scar that ran across her neck. The wound had already healed and the faint scar had nearly disappeared. (The memory of that wound would not heal so quickly.)
The Keeper did not gaze back as he exited the chamber. He had decided not to wait and had seduced her after all. He knew she would not resist him.
Triana watched him leave through the single entrance to the Chamber of the Stone. She was still lying on Stone of Návratu. Even though he had left, she could still feel his body on hers – his hands, his mouth – she pushed the thoughts from her mind. She considered briefly searching the Stone for the sword and ending her own life but she knew she didn’t have the strength. It was not enough that she had given the Keeper her soul, she had also given him her body. She did not have the courage to defy him and so she knew she would not have the courage to fall upon the sword.
Instead, she rolled over and gazed up at the ancient ceiling at the beautiful mural that was painted there. It was obvious the mural was very old. In certain areas, the paint had nearly completely faded, exposing the foundation of the ceiling.
The mural showed winged people sitting upon clouds. One of the winged people was bearded and held a long slender object that fanned out on the end. It looked as if the man with wings was about blow through the object. She wondered the purpose of the object; if it was like their flöjt or perhaps some sort of weapon.
She stared at the ceiling silently for some time and her thoughts turned to her uncle. He would be ashamed of her. She had been frightened by the Keeper and had given in to him.
She was lost in her own thoughts and didn’t hear the footsteps of the two men who had come to take her back to her cell. She heard them just as they reached her. She looked up at them and focused on the man on the right. She could almost read his thoughts – “Just another one of the Keeper’s playthings.” The man smiled and placed his hand on her stomach. Then, he started to slide his hand
