Zach was about to defend himself when a completely unrelated thought struck him. He felt a surge of triumph that made him laugh out loud.
“What’s so funny,” Hannah demanded, still angry.
“Don’t you get it? What did you just call me?”
“I called you a total lamo, that’s what!”
“Yeah, you did.” He was fairly beaming by now. “Hannah, you used slang! And you got it right. Exactly right!”
She paused, taken aback. Then she gave a self-conscious smile. “I guess I did.” Unexpectedly, she reached over and hugged him. “Zach, that proves I can be normal. With a little more practice, I’ll fit in. Totally!”
“My work here is done. I’ve taught you everything I know.” He chuckled, pleased with himself. Then taking the ring out of her fingers, he grew serious. “But you weren’t wrong. It was a lame stunt for me to pull. I was so worried about what mattered to me that I wasn’t thinking about what this might mean for you. If I make you wear a ring that says you’re only supposed to date me, then I’m no better than that old jerk you were married to.”
“The diviner?” she asked, startled.
“Yeah. He didn’t let you decide for yourself whether you wanted to marry him or not. He only cared about what he wanted. I never meant to treat you like that.” He put the ring back in the box. “Forget about this. You’ve got a right to date whoever you want no matter how I feel about it.”
She reached out and stopped him before he slipped the ring box into his jacket pocket. Taking it back, she opened the box and stared at the ring. “You said this could also be a sign of friendship?”
“Absolutely,” he agreed eagerly. “It could mean that we promise to be best friends, no matter what.”
“BFFs?”
He laughed again. “You see. You completely get slang now. This ring can be a promise that we’ll be best friends forever.”
She took the ring out of the box and slipped it on. “In that case, I accept.” She held her right hand out to admire the sparkle of the tiny diamonds against the reflection of the fireworks.
“Just so we’re clear,” Zach added cautiously. “I’m your BFF, not your gay BFF, OK?”
Hannah darted him a puzzled look. “Why not? I’ve always thought you had an excellent sense of humor and you’re loads of fun to be around.”
Zach groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. “Maybe just one more round of slang coaching wouldn’t hurt.”
The Ferris Wheel began to move again, making its gentle descent.
“The ring is lovely. Thank you.” With a slight smile, Hannah leaned over and gave him a long, languid kiss.
After it was over, he pulled his head back and studied her face in surprise. “How’d you learn to kiss like that? Have you been practicing on somebody else?”
“No, silly.” She giggled. “I’ve been watching old movies on TV. Lots and lots of them.”
Zach grinned and drew her close. “Then all I can say is Hooray for Hollywood!”
Chapter 25—Follow the Sun
“Well, here we are.” Cassie scanned the salt flats beyond the city walls. “Again.”
The trio stood together on the citadel mound of Dholavira, contemplating the white desert in the distance. Most of the water had evaporated from the salt marsh now that monsoon season was over.
“What do you mean again,” Erik challenged. “We’ve never been here before.”
“In my head, dude,” the pythia corrected. “This is exactly where I was standing when I had my vision of this place.”
“I suppose that represents a confirmation of sorts,” the scrivener observed. “If Cassie is reliving this scene, then we’ve certainly found the right location.”
As Dee had told them, Dholavira was a large city—the largest IVC site in India. It had been built between two monsoon channels and engineered to take full advantage of the available water supply for irrigation. As was true of Mohenjo-Daro, the city also possessed an elaborate drainage system to serve the sanitation needs of thousands of households. Even more surprising than its flush toilets was evidence in the so-called “royal bathrooms” of showers which were fed through rock-cut channels.
The most striking feature of the site, however, had nothing to do with its plumbing. The biggest curiosity was a ten-foot-wide signboard that had previously hung over the northern gate of the city in its heyday. The lettering consisted of several characters from the undeciphered IVC script. As Griffin pointed out, the use of written language in this way was an indication of full literacy, and it predated the overlord Sumerian claim to that invention by centuries if not millennia.
Cassie checked her wristwatch. It was already one PM. It had taken more than four hours to drive to the site, and they would need to plan their departure well before dark. That meant they had only an hour or two to explore the ancient city. If they hoped to find the original location of the lily rock, they’d have to do it quickly. She glanced at a youth loitering on the other side of the mound. He was a tyro assigned by the IVC trove keeper to secure the lily rock back in place once the trio pinpointed its original location. The boy seemed abashed in the presence of dignitaries from the Home Office and preferred to keep his distance. He gave a start when he realized Cassie was staring at him. She averted her gaze.
“We better get a move on,” the pythia advised her teammates. She walked toward the line of stones which had once been the partition wall of the bailey. The entire citadel looked different than in her vision. There was no roof now, and the walls had been levelled so that only squares and circles could be seen protruding a few feet above the ground. Cassie scanned the geometric shapes for a circle of stones with an opening where a door used to be.
