The Black Devil's Cave, page 6
And now, the strange little boy whom many considered mute was reading from it aloud.
Chapter 11
Aab walked for three days, yet it was only the beginning of her journey. She didn’t encounter people, but that was good. She had to avoid villages and settlements, although she didn’t expect to see many along the way. The entire area was almost entirely devoid of human activity. Aab’s only companions were mosquitoes—vast swarms of little bloodsuckers, constantly buzzing around her head. But Aab didn’t mind. They kept coming because they detected her blood, but they wouldn’t bite her. It was a much bigger animal she worried about—the mighty wolf. At night, she could hear their howling, and she had no doubt they knew she was there, but they kept their distance. For that, Aab was grateful.
There was another, even more dangerous animal prowling in this forest, but Aab didn’t want to even think about it. She just shivered.
At least the trees provided her with cover and shade during those impossibly hot days. Before she left, the old ones in her village kept saying that it was never that hot when they were young and that Mother Earth was getting ready for another great transition, when the world would change into something new. For now, Aab was just grateful for the trees—primarily pines, spruce, and firs. Ancient and smart, those conifers took what they could from a shallow layer of soil and wisely grew in the shape of a cone so that heavy winter snow would slide down their branches without breaking them. Sometimes, Aab would encounter a deciduous tree, but they were rare. They should become more common after she got down from the mountains.
Since morning, she walked over the blanket of soft moss, and she enjoyed it. However, she had to be wary of treacherous swamps and bogs hiding underneath that mushy carpet.
Aab stepped out of the forest and into a meadow full of bright flowers. She had to stop and squint her eyes, momentarily blinded by the bright sun. She was close to her first destination. But did she remember the exact location? It’d been years since she made her last pilgrimage.
Aab quickly crossed the meadow in the direction of the rising sun and found it—a large, almost perfectly round, white boulder. All white rocks were sacred. The ones as big as that one were left on purpose by the spirits of the forest, in carefully selected locations, to serve as altars to Uda Yuura.
Aab dropped to her knees and cleansed herself by brushing her entire body with a pine tree branch. She lowered her head all the way down until it touched the mossy ground. O, Uda Yuura, mighty and venerated, I come to you with a pure soul, and I bow to your wisdom. Aab raised and then lowered her head again. I bring you a gift of water from the hallowed spring in my village, where you allow my people to live in peace and harmony for generations too many to count.
Aab opened a leather pouch tied around her neck. She took out a small horn filled with water, a red bird feather, a polished green rock, a fragment of her great-grandmother’s rib bone, and a wooden rattle made of the wolf teeth. She carefully placed the feather, the rock, and the bone on top of the boulder, and she shook the rattle three times. She then poured water over the white stone. O, Uda Yuura, you are the mother and the father of all creation. Please, hear my prayer. I’m a mother too, and my heart is heavy with worry. I beg you to liberate me from this body and let me enter into the world of the spirits. Give me the gift of a vision and let my soul unite with that of my son.
Aab reached into the pouch again and took out a small mushroom with a red cup covered with white dots. She picked it up in the forest before sunrise and boiled it twice in hot water. She now bit the mushroom, swallowed it, laid down on the soft moss, and looked up. There was a lone falcon high in the sky, flying gracefully in large circles. Aab closed her eyes, and her body jerked several times. Uda Yuura granted her wish and released Aab’s soul.
Her spirit raised high into the sky and saw through the eyes of a falcon. There was an endless sea of green, spreading in all directions. However, that was not what Aab was looking for. Her soul left the falcon and went even higher before dashing across the world.
Now, Aab’s soul was in a strange place she could not understand. Aab was confused. There were people everywhere—they were as numerous as trees in the forest. How could so many people live in one village? Where were the springs plentiful enough to provide them with water and allow their plants to grow? But those people we different. They lived in a desert devoid of trees but full of strange, tall structures that looked like dwellings. And there were machines—loud and scary, moving in all directions. Aab knew they couldn’t hurt her, but she was still scared.
There was too much noise to hear her son, but she kept calling his name. Then, finally, her soul entered into a body of a crow, and she heard a response, distant and faint. Safe… Safe for now. She desperately wanted to see her child, but instead, she saw a face of a woman. Who are you? Are you going to help my son, or are you trying to hurt him?
The face became clear, and now Aab could see nice features with big eyes and a mouth that looked ready to smile. But the woman could not hear Aab; could not even feel her presence. She did not have the gift.
Whoever you are, I beg you, protect my child! Aab just had to say it, although she knew that her message disappeared into nothingness. The vision ended, and Aab was back in the meadow. She slowly opened her eyes. All she knew was that her child lived and was safe, although it could change. Where was the other one—the young man sent to protect her son? And who was the strange woman? Aab tried to convince herself that the face she saw was good and honest.
It was a small consolation but better than nothing. Her son was still alive. However, his fate could be in the hands of that woman. Aab slowly got up, bowed to thank Uda Yurra for the vision, and collected her treasures.
She ate some wild berries she picked up earlier in the forest and continued her journey.
Chapter 12
Jenny kept standing at the door, holding her breath, and afraid that if she exhaled, if she made the slightest movement, the magic would disappear. What, on Earth, am I looking at? Is the kid just pretending? Making it up? The words sounded strange, perhaps even a little alien, and included peculiar clicking sounds. However, the boy’s diction was fluent. It certainly looked like he was reading. It looked like the text was written in a language he was familiar with.
The boy noticed her and stopped.
“Oh no, Peter Pan, please, continue! Don’t stop!” Jenny’s voice was pleading, but the boy got off the chair and sprinted out of the study, followed by Nohla.
Jenny was still frozen in place. In front of her was a copy of one of the world’s most exciting artifacts, shrouded in mystery for six hundred years. It was a centuries-old riddle that many tried to solve, but everyone failed. Who wrote it? Why? And in what language? The most recent attempts to decipher the text involved artificial intelligence and computation analysis. Countless algorithms were tested to find the statistical fingerprints. Artificial intelligence compared it to 380 languages and… was unable to pinpoint the source.
And the child had just read from the Voynich manuscript as if it was nothing.
Jenny shook off the stupor and followed the boy. He was on the living room rug nonchalantly playing with the cat.
“Peter Pan, please come back and read me some more. I really, really would like to hear it.”
The boy didn’t acknowledge her. She came closer, took his hand, and tried to lead him back to the study. He got up, took a step in that direction, but stopped, probably realizing what she wanted him to do. He broke away from her grip and returned to the cat.
“Why are you so stubborn, Peter Pan? I saw you reading, and you cannot make me unsee it. Can we please, please go back? Peter Pan?”
There was no reaction, and after a while, Jenny gave up. It was pointless. She went back to the study to at least check the page that the boy read from. She was almost out of the living room when she heard a faint voice saying, “Naneyu.”
For the second time in five minutes, Jenny froze.
“Did you say something?” she asked, slowly turning to the boy.
“Not Peter Pan. Naneyu. I’m Naneyu.” The boy was looking at her, and not only speaking but speaking in English!
Jenny approached the child and got to her knees so that her face could be at the same level as his. Then, as softly and gently as possible, she asked, “Your name is Naneyu, and you can speak English?”
“My name is Naneyu. Yes, I speak your language.”
His big eyes looked straight at her. They were having a conversation, which almost overshadowed the shock she had just gone through with the Voynich manuscript.
“Naneyu. What a beautiful and unique name! It is a tremendous pleasure to meet you, Naneyu. I’m Jenny.” She smiled. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“I didn’t know you.” The child’s voice was still barely audible. “I had to know that you’re good.”
“And now you know?” Jenny asked.
“I see that you’re good. And your animal has told me.”
“My cat has told you that I’m good? She better! After all, I’m spoiling her rotten. But now, since we’ve established that I’m your friend and that you speak my language, can you tell me something about yourself? Like, where are you from?”
“No more talking.” The boy broke eye contact and walked away.
Jenny tried to follow him; used all of her power of persuasion to engage him in a conversation again, but to no avail. Naneyu would not say one more word for the rest of the day and just kept playing with the cat, who seemed delighted by the child’s attention.
Yet, Jenny went to bed happy. For the first time since she met this strange child, she felt a sense of relief. Finally, we’ve made progress. Sooner or later, he will start talking more, he’ll tell me where he’s from, and I’ll be able to take him home, wherever that might be.
And then, when everyone is safe and happy, his parents will translate the Voynich Manuscript for me… With that thought, Jenny closed her eyes.
Chapter 13
“You’re late,” Jenny said to Sonia, who had finally shown up in the parking lot, a couple of miles away from General Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee. They decided it would be better if Jenny didn’t come to the airport. With cameras mounted on every wall, it wouldn’t be safe.
“You’ve expected me to push the plane to make it fly faster?” Sonia threw her bag into the trunk of Jenny’s Camry and smiled at the boy who watched her from the back seat.
“You could at least tell the pilot to put his foot on the gas.” Jenny grimaced. “I can’t wait to tell you what happened yesterday.”
“Hi, kiddo,” Sonia said to the boy after getting into the car. “I’m glad you’ve survived being alone with this crazy person. But don’t worry. Auntie Sonia is here and will protect you from the bad influence of a twisted mind.”
“He can understand you. He speaks English. Or, at least, some English.”
Sonia raised her brows. “Seriously? That’s fantastic! It’ll make everything so much easier.” She turned to the back seat again, but the boy’s eyes were distant, focusing on something away from the car.
“His name is Naneyu. And he speaks English, but he doesn’t seem like a chatty type,” Jenny explained. “Besides, my cat has to vouch for you first. And Nohla is suspicious about you, especially when she can smell a dog on your clothes.”
“Are you sure you don’t need to take something for your condition?” Sonia looked at her friend with a worried expression. “You know, they’ve probably invented medication for what you have. With advancements in science, there’s hope, even for you.”
“God, how much I’ve missed your warmth and emotional support,” Jenny chuckled. “But yes, Naneyu seems to be taking advice from animals. Although he’s not that trusting with humans. But let me tell you everything from the beginning.”
Jenny described the incident in Colorado again, this time providing all the details. She mentioned the boy healing her cut in the car. She told Sonia about Naneyu fluently reading from what’s considered the most mysterious manuscript in the world. She repeated every word of the brief conversation she had with the child the previous night.
“Wow, that’s a lot of information. And not what I’ve expected.” Sonia sounded serious.
“What do you think?” Jenny asked. “You’re a doctor. You must’ve formed an opinion about the kid even before you contacted me.”
“If you really want to know, I thought that he came from some remote part of the world. Some place where the indigenous population is cut off from the rest of the planet and therefore developed a unique immune system,” Sonia said cautiously.
“I know what you mean. Like some tribes in the Amazon or people on the Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean. Have you heard of them?”
“Sure,” Sonia nodded. “An uncontacted tribe living on an island that is off-limits and totally isolated from the rest of the world. And even if it weren’t off-limits, the locals kill everyone who tries to get there. Just to let us know that they want to be left alone. But healing powers? That’s insane.”
“Is it possible that some people have them?” Jenny posted a cautious question.
“If you really want to know what I think, I believe that maybe ninety-eight, even ninety-nine percent of the so-called faith healers are charlatans.”
“But the remaining one or two percent?”
“Exactly. The remaining one or two percent have some ability that I can’t explain. I’d say that it’s extremely rare, but I cannot entirely dismiss it,” Sonia admitted.
“And talking to animals?”
“All right, let’s not go that far,” Sonia grimaced. “Or we’ll enter into the realm of Harry Potter and the Parseltongue.”
“I’m impressed that you remember the name of the snake language. Do you read Harry Potter before you go to bed?” Jenny chuckled.
Sonia just gave her friend an evil look. “All right, smartass, where do you think the kid has come from? Because he certainly doesn’t look like someone who escaped from the Amazonia or decided to visit from the Sentinel Island.”
“I’d insist that he came from somewhere in a cold climate.” Jenny described her experiment with foods in the supermarket. “And don’t forget that he speaks at least some English, which means that he had to be exposed to it.”
“So, Canada? Maybe Alaska? Can you imagine putting a kid from Alaska in a cage with illegal immigrants?” Sonia frowned. “Does he have an accent?”
“He said maybe ten words. I think he has a slight accent, but I may be wrong.”
They reached Jenny’s house. Naneyu smiled, seeing the cat waiting for him by the garage door, and followed Nohla upstairs, where Jenny set up the boy’s very own bedroom. The women continued their conversation in the kitchen.
“When I was a freshman in college in Chicago,” Jenny said, “there was a sudden interest in bioenergy healing. My friends and I thought it was hilarious. So, we started visiting those pseudo-healers just to make fun of them. But then, one day, I went to see an old woman. She told me to lie down, moved her hands maybe an inch over my body, and told me everything that was wrong with my health. She was like the best diagnostic equipment I’d ever seen. She didn’t heal anything, and—as a matter of fact—nothing really needed to be healed, but I was stunned. How did she know it?”
Sonia nodded. “Yes, as I’ve said, there is this small percent that cannot be scientifically explained. But how will it help us locate the kid’s home? Or his family? You can’t exactly google it by typing regions inhabited by real bioenergy healers.”
They discussed everything they’d found out about the boy again and again, but it took them nowhere. At dinner, they tried to engage the boy in conversation, but Naneyu didn’t respond.
“How are we supposed to take you home if you refuse to talk to us?” Jenny’s voice sounded impatient. “Don’t you know by now that we’re on your side? We want to help you!”
The boy ignored her and stared at the TV. Then, suddenly, he dropped his spoon and ran toward the TV set.
… another child kidnapped in El Paso, said the reporter. It brings the total to seven. Despite a massive manhunt, authorities are unable to locate the missing children. There have been no ransom demands. This morning, the parents organized an emotional news conference. They begged to return their sons and daughters, some as young as four. A significant reward is offered for any information leading to the missing children.
“I must go there,” Naneyu said. “You must take me. Now.”
“Naneyu, darling, we know that this is where you crossed into the United States. But it was months ago. So, going there won’t help,” Jenny said, approaching the boy.
Sonia followed, her eyes growing large after hearing the boy talk for the first time.
“No, I must go,” Nanyeu insisted. “My friend takes the children. He’s looking for me!”
“Do you mean that your friend has kidnapped all those kids? How can you possibly know?” Jenny was shocked by that new revelation.
“I know!” Now, the boy was almost shouting. “He takes children to exchange for me! He thinks I’m still held by bad people. He doesn’t know how many children he must take to make bad people return me!”
“Oh my God!” Jenny couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you absolutely sure?”
“Yes!”
“Are those children safe? Are they still alive?”
