10

The people in the market were heading home for the night. They tied down flaps and packed up carts. It was good to know the area would be empty if he and Skye could come back in a couple hours.

Abdul was whistling as he went about his business, and Philip let a smile tug at his lips. He could do this. He could save them and save their friendship all at the same time.

“Abdul, wait!” Philip stopped Abdul just before the kid ducked under a tent flap.

The boy turned, his face full of excitement. The same look he’d had the first time Philip saw him. It seemed to be his regular persona. But when he saw Philip, he frowned.

“You are looking for fruit?” he asked. “Mawmaw has gone for the night, but I can run and get her.”

Philip swallowed hard and glanced around. “No, I’m not looking for fruit. I came with Skye—Hebat.”

Abdul’s eyes widened. “Yes, I recognize you now.” He looked Philip up and down. “Why did you come after me?”

Philip didn’t spend a lot of time with kids, but he had a cousin who was about nine, which just about lined up with Abdul’s age, he would guess. Dane talked all the time. And he was brutally honest.

If anyone would open up to Philip, he had a feeling it would be Abdul. “Hebat and I have questions. There are things we don’t understand, and we were hoping you could provide us the answers we need.”

Abdul’s whole face lit up. He puffed out his chest and nodded quickly. “I know many things. What do you want to know?”

Philip glanced around again, glad he didn’t see any sign of the guy who’d practically growled at him. Still, he couldn’t risk anyone overhearing. “Can we talk somewhere quiet? Where no one will hear us?” What kid could resist a secret?

Abdul grabbed Philip’s hand and yanked him inside the tent. Apparently, no one taught kids about stranger-danger back in the ancient day.

The tent was dark but private, and Abdul let go of his hand. “Wait right here.” He shuffled to the back and lifted another flap. A stream of light filtered in. Philip joined him at the back and glanced up and down a narrow alley. It was empty.

“It’s private?” Philip asked. “I can ask you questions, and no one will hear me?”

Abdul shook his head. “Everyone has gone home for the day. I was finishing up Mawmaw’s business.” He stopped and frowned. “I have to hurry, or she will punish me for being late.”

Philip let out a relieved breath, but he wasn’t sure how to word what he had to say. How could he navigate Abdul’s perceptions without lying? “I won’t get you into trouble. Skye—Hebat—isn’t sure why she was sent here. In fact, she isn’t sure what this place is. What is this country called? What year is it?”

Abdul’s face clouded over, and he stared at Philip.

Philip could almost see the wheels turning. Hear Abdul’s thoughts. What kind of goddess doesn’t know where she is or why she was sent?

Finally, Abdul shifted in the dim tent. “This is Sumer, of course. She was sent to honor the temple to the skies, no?”

Philip hesitated, trying to remember anything he could about Sumer. He remembered it was near present-day Iraq, but other than that he drew a blank.

Still, the city was building a temple to the gods of the skies. That must be why they believed Hebat had been sent—the reason they’d latched onto the belief so quickly.

He tried to play off his confusion. “The temple, of course. Yes. Do you know what year this is?”

Abdul’s eyes clouded over. Philip had lost him.

Philip managed a smile. “You know what? Never mind. Thanks for your help.” This was the point where he’d ruffle Abdul’s hair, but the head cap the kid wore made that kind of awkward. “Get home now before you get into trouble.”

Abdul grinned, and Philip headed out the front of the tent while Abdul secured the flap in the back.

As he emerged, a kid came running down the street. He was shouting something, hopping from foot to foot in excitement, but Philip couldn’t make it out. Abdul came out behind him, but when he spotted the boy he stopped.

“Ariel!” Abdul shouted. He laughed. “What is all the excitement?”

Ariel ran closer, and Philip could see he was Abdul’s age. His cheeks were flushed from running and shouting, and he shouted to Abdul as he drew closer. “The festival has been announced!”

Abdul sucked in an excited breath. “The festival!” He laughed and danced, raising his hands and shaking his head. “Blessings on Hebat!”

Philip put his hand on Abdul’s shoulder. “What festival? What are you talking about?”

But Abdul was too excited to listen, and he and Ariel ran off to tell the next group of people a few tents down the dusty road.

His best lead had just ditched him. Great.

Well, at least he knew a little more than when he’d come. They believed Skye was Hebat because they were building a temple in her honor. They were in ancient Sumer—maybe Skye knew something about that, since she’d studied ancient stuff with Mr. Kilpatrick—and now there was a festival, thanks to Hebat.

He needed to get back to Saul’s and warn her. Maybe they’d have a few days’ leeway, and they could get out before it all started. The last thing they needed was a whole day of attention. It would only make people focus even more on Skye’s arrival. They needed the opposite.

Turning away from the marketplace, he began his trek back to Saul’s. The moon was higher in the sky, but the heat hadn’t let up at all. The robes Leah had given him were surprisingly cool. They were loose, letting a breeze blow through them.

But he was still hot, and sweat dripped down his forehead. He wiped it and kept walking, hoping to steer clear of the big guy from the market. Skye had enemies. He had to keep her out of the line of fire and get her home before some crazy dude decided to assassinate her.

The urge to protect her—to save her—was a strange feeling. He wasn’t her knight in shining armor. Far from it. But he’d thought about defending her back home plenty of times even if he’d never followed through. He’d been too focused on himself the last couple years. Maybe trying too hard to follow in Dad’s footsteps.

This time he wouldn’t fail her. Staying in this place? No, thanks. The threatening guy from earlier gave him the creeps. He’d been so big he could probably kill Philip in a blow or two.

Philip needed to get back to London. Play along. Return to America. He’d forget this crazy nightmare ever happened.

People bustled in and out of the buildings around the city as he neared Saul’s. Two guards stood at the front door, and as he approached they stepped closer together, blocking him from the door. They wore short, brown robes with some type of rope tied around their waists. Their muscles bulged at the hemline of their short sleeves, and their faces looked as if they’d been in more than a couple of fights.

“I’m with Skye,” he said awkwardly. “I mean Hebat. I’m her companion.”

The two huge guards didn’t blink, just stared down at him.

He swallowed hard. “I am Philip. I arrived with her, and I just left this house an hour ago. You were the ones who let me out.”

Still, they stood frozen like statues.

This couldn’t be good.

“Can one of you go ask her? Or get Saul. He knows me.”

One of the men took a deep, bored-sounding breath.

Philip’s stomach sank. They were doing this on purpose. They weren’t letting him in for a reason.

The dread settled into a resolve. He lifted his chin as if their nonchalance didn’t bother him in the least. “You’ll hear from me again.” He didn’t wait around to see their non-reaction, just turned and stomped away.

What reason could Saul have to keep him away? Or had it been Lilla locking him out? She’d seemed evil from the get go.

Regardless, if they were keeping Philip away, there had to be a reason, and it couldn’t be a good one. Did they think he was dangerous because he hadn’t protected Skye at the windows earlier?

He maneuvered through the streets until he found the back alley of Saul’s house, and then he hunkered down. A guard was posted on each end of the home, but the two of them weren’t communicating with or even looking at each other. Two different doors led into the house from the alley. If he could get inside, he could sneak through the house until he found Skye’s room.

Waiting the guards out was his best bet. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take too long.