James is unsure. He continues to study me. "How do we know you don't work for the FBI?"
I throw my head back and laugh. "Where will you find a FBI agent who can read hieroglyphics?"
"But you are curious about the purpose of our group?" James persists. "These are the kinds of questions the government might ask."
I catch James's eye and let my power out in a measured dose. "I am not from the government. I represent no one other than myself. My interest in the Suzama material is motivated only by the highest and best desires." I pause and catch the eye of the doctor as well. "Let me see it. You will have no regrets."
Dr. Seter touches his son's arm as he nods in answer to my request. "We don't exactly travel with it, but it's not far from here." He pauses. "It's out in Palm Springs."
"Palm Springs," I mutter. What a coincidence. One passes through Palm Springs on the way to Joshua Tree National Monument, where Paula supposedly conceived her child. I have been meaning to go out there for some time.
"James can show you the scripture tomorrow morning,"Dr. Seter says, checking his watch. "It's too late to see it tonight."
I stand."But I'm a night girl. And I would like you to be there,Dr. Seter,when I examine it. If you please? Let's go now."
He is taken aback by my boldness and gazes up at me. "May I ask how old you are, Alisa?"
I smile." You must know that Suzama was not very old when she wrote your scripture."
Dr. Seter shakes his head. "I didn't know that.How old was she?"
"I take that back.I'm not sure how old she was when she wrote it. I only know she died before her twentieth birthday."
I don't add,like me.
Some,of course,consider vampires the walking dead.
3
Before heading for Palm Springs, I leave Seymour a message on the answering machine in our new home in Pacific Palisades. We stay in regular contact. It's a promise we keep to each other. I have left him before in the middle of the night without explanation and have promised never to do it again. Also, my daughter,K alika, still walks the streets, and it is impossible to tell when she will come for us again. Seymour and I, we cover each other's backs. But I feel in my heart it will not be long before I see Kalika again. A part of me senses that she has yet to find the child, but is searching constantly for him. I have to wonder if my intuitionabout heris attached tothe psychic thread that connects allmothers to their children.
Dr. Seter and James driveahead of me on thel ongroad to Palm Springs. They have an oldw hite Volvo, I a brand-new red Porsche. James is behind the wheel.I keep only fifty feet behind,just off to their right in the fast lane. They would be surprised to know that Ican hear themas they speak.Yet it is only when we have been on the road an hour that they finally begin to talk.Before then Dr. Seter had bees slipping in and out of sleep.
James:"Why are we doing this?"
Dr. Seter:" Do you think we should just ignore her?
James: "Not atall. I'm as curious about her as you.Remember it was I who insisted upon the meeting.But. I think we should investigate her background beforeto tting her see the scripture."
Dr. Seter:" What harm can she do to it? She will not beable to translate a fraction of the hieroglyphics without hours of time. I don't care how well versed she is in the field."A pause. "She must be older than she looks. It takes years to learn to read the way she did."
James: "I'm sure she's older than she looks.Notice she didn't actually tell you her age?"
Dr. Seter: "What are you saying? Thats he has mastered Suzama's practices and managed to reverse her age?"
James: "It's possible. She knew enough about the high initiation."
Dr. Seter:" That's what startled me about her, too. There are few people in our group who know about that." A pause. "She must be telling the truth. She must have another text."
James:"I agree. But shes evasive. I don't trust her. I want full security when we show her the papyrus."
Dr. Seter:" Of course. You've called ahead? They know we're coming?"
James:"Yes. The whole group will be there."
Dr. Seter: "Really? Why? We don't need all of them there. The others should be on their way to San Francisco."
James: "I told you, I don't trust this girl." A pause."But I have another reason."
Dr. Seter "What?"
James: "I wonder if Alisa has direct knowledge about the child."
Dr. Seter: "Now you're speculating."
James:" Im not so sure. She seemed particularly concerned about the child being harmed." A pause. "Maybe I say that backward.I wonder if she already knows about the Dark Mother."
I almost drive off the road. They are talking aboutK alika.
My daughter? Did Suzama brand her as evil five thousand years ago?
Dr. Seter: "I didn't get that impression."
James: "Can I say something really off the wall?"
Dr. Seter: "It's a long drive.We may as well discuss every possibility."
James: "What if this Alisa is working for the Black Mother?"
Dr. Seter laughs:"She hardly seems,the type,do youthink?"
James: "Consider. She looks like a twenty-year-old,but she appears to have the education of someone who has studied for thirty years. Also, her manner is curious. Notice the way she catches your eye, and then says things you have trouble resisting."
Dr. Seter laughs some more: "I never noticed that. I think you are the one who is having trouble resisting her."
James: "I don't know. I just hope we're not leading her to the child by letting her study the scripture."
Dr. Seter :"But there's nothing in the scripture that points to where the child is at this time, except perhaps still in California."
James: "To us maybe. But she may find clues in the text we have missed." A pause. "I pray to God we're not doing anything to endanger the child further. From the descriptions I have read of the Dark Mother, I wouldn't want anyone, friend or foe, to run into her. I think that kind of evil lives to kill."
Dr. Seter: "But you know, son, we have spent the last ten years preparing to meet her." A pause. "It's inevitable, if we're to believe half of what we've read."