Lost Kingdom Read online

  Shazad scratched his head, thinking. “It’s hard to say. If I had to guess?” He brushed some sand off the map and something happened to break his concentration. The images on the parchment moved slightly out of position and then snapped back into place on the page. “Whoa.” Shazad repeated the motion, slower and more deliberately, dragging the continents around inside the map using the pads of his fingers. “What the?”

  “Let me try something,” Joey said, reaching in. He placed his thumb and pointer finger near the X and spread them apart slowly. Sure enough, the simple action magnified the view of where they were. It was like a paper version of a digital map. “This is amazing,” Joey marveled. “We can pinch and zoom this map like a touchscreen!” He kept going, blowing up the image until the X and Jorako where the only two things they could see.

  “At least we don’t have to guess how far away we are,” Leanora said. “Or which way to go.” Like most maps, the Secret Map of the World had a legend with a scale bar for miles and kilometers. Unlike most maps, it had a compass rose that spun around on the page, presumably always pointing north. Shazad approximated the distance to Jorako and estimated the time it would take them to complete the journey on foot. They were a full day’s travel away.

  “A whole day?” Joey asked, hoping he had heard wrong. “In this heat? It’s got to be 120 degrees out here.”

  “We’ll die,” Leanora said matter-of-factly. “Dehydration.”

  “Maybe not,” Joey said, wiping sweat from his brow. “We might melt.”

  Shazad cracked a cynical smile at Joey’s gallows humor. “It’s funny ’cause it’s true,” he deadpanned. Joey knew Shazad didn’t like this any more than they did. His friend was trapped with no good options. Shazad wasn’t supposed to take anyone back to Jorako, but what else could he do? They had no water, no supplies, and no way to call for help. Joey didn’t even bother with his cell phone this time.

  “At least if we can make it to Jorako, you can get us back to the theater, right?” Leanora asked.

  Shazad nodded.

  “Then what?” Joey asked.

  “Then we have work to do,” Leanora replied. “If we do the math on the shrine we saw back in the cottage, I’d say we’ve got about a week until the protection charms on the Majestic run out.”

  “One week to get everything out of there,” Shazad said.

  “Or to get a new charm in place,” Leanora countered.

  “Like the shield the old lady mentioned?” Joey suggested. “Anyone know what that is? The Caliburn Shield?”

  Everyone looked at each other. No one had any idea. “I’ll look it up when I get home,” Shazad said. “Of course, we have to survive the desert first.”

  “Can we make it to Jorako?” Joey asked, dreading the trip ahead of them.

  “I don’t think so,” Shazad replied. “Not like this.” He held up the cape. “We’ll have to make a few adjustments.”

  7 The Road to Jorako

  “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Joey said.

  “Don’t say that,” Shazad told him. “You have to believe. This doesn’t work any other way.”

  “I don’t mean it like that,” Joey said. “I believe it’ll work. That’s not the problem.”

  “What’s the problem, then?”

  “I don’t know.” Joey felt ridiculous complaining, but he felt ridiculous going along with the plan, too. “This whole thing, it’s just a little…”

  “Undignified?” Shazad said, zeroing in on his objection.

  Joey snapped his fingers. “Exactly.” He was grateful that Shazad had said it, because it meant he didn’t have to. Deep down he knew he was being childish.

  “You don’t like this, we can always die in the desert and end up as food for the vultures. That’s what’s going to happen if we try this on foot, you know.”

  “Technically, I’m doing it on foot either way.”

  “True,” Shazad admitted. “But if we do it my way, you’ll have four feet.” He held up his cape, prepared to transform Joey. “Ready?”

  “Do I have to be a camel?” Joey complained.

  Leanora stifled a laugh. “Don’t think of it as being a camel, Joey. Think of it as being a team player.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. You get to be a vulture again. You get to fly.”

  “If you want to duke it out with the vultures up there, be my guest,” Leanora told him. “I’ll switch with you.”

  “No one’s switching,” Shazad said. “We’ve been over this already.”

  “I know.” Joey sulked. There wasn’t any point in going through it again. He knew the plan made the most sense the way it was. Shazad would change Leanora into a vulture so she could fly to Jorako. He’d transform Joey into a camel and would ride on Joey’s back. Shazad didn’t want to ask Leanora to carry him across the desert on her back. He thought it was ungentlemanly and felt that he and Joey ought to be more chivalrous. That led to a whole conversation about gender roles, with Leanora asserting that she was perfectly capable of carrying Shazad if she wanted to. Joey asked her if she did want to, and she quickly replied that no, she did not. Eager to change the subject, Shazad reminded Joey that Leanora had already established herself with the vultures and would now be able to fly without incident. Joey, on the other hand, wouldn’t have to fight for the right to be a camel. Camels were gentle creatures who only ever showed aggression if they were treated badly, and there weren’t any other camels around for miles anyway. Using the Cape of Transfiguration would allow Joey and Leanora to cross the desert as animals that were specially adapted to the intense, dry heat, and it would allow Shazad to appear to be alone when they arrived at Jorako. That was important, since no one but his family was allowed to be there. If he was going to sneak them in, this was the best way. Maybe the only way.

  “The good news is you’ll be the least thirsty out of all of us,” Leanora told Joey.

  “There is that,” Joey said. He took off his backpack, emptied his pockets, and gave everything to Shazad. “You gotta change me back by tonight, okay? I’m supposed to text my parents when I land in California.”

  “Don’t worry,” Shazad reassured him. “You’ll be yourself again before you know it. I promise.”

  Joey gave a nod. He was all out of excuses. “All right, let’s do it.” He stiffened up like a reluctant skydiver getting ready to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. “For the record, I’m doing this under protest.”

  Shazad threw the cape over Joey’s head. “Join the club.”

  It was an odd sensation being a camel. Joey couldn’t talk, but he kept his sense of self and his ability to think as a human, despite the fact that his body wasn’t human anymore. The transformation itself was painless. Even better than that, it was instantaneous. One second Joey was himself, and a second later he was a camel. He didn’t feel anything except relief. His camel body seemed to deal with the heat much better, which made sense when Joey thought about it. Maybe this isn’t such a bad deal, he thought.

  Shazad pulled the cape off Leanora, changing her into a vulture again. With that accomplished, he asked Joey to sit down so he could climb up on his back. Joey hadn’t noticed, but as a camel he towered over Shazad, who was usually a foot taller than he was. Joey made a noise that sounded like Chewbacca complaining about a broken hyperdrive. What he was trying to say was “Give me a second to figure this out.” The same way Leanora had to teach herself how to fly, Joey had to teach himself how to sit down. His body was big, unwieldy, and very heavy. If he did it wrong and lost his balance, he’d break a leg at best and crush Shazad underneath him at worst. Joey took it slowly, bending his front legs and dropping to his knees one at a time. Then he folded his front legs underneath his body. After that he did the same with his back legs, tucking them under his butt. There we go, Joey thought, proud of his accomplishment. That wasn’t so hard.

  Joey grunted as Shazad got into position on his back, but it wasn’t hard carrying him up there, either. When
he stood up with Shazad on his hump, he hardly felt any extra weight at all.

  They struck off, heading north, in the direction of Jorako. As the journey progressed, Joey found the benefits of being a camel went beyond a strong back. He also had surer feet, perfect for walking on soft sand. For some reason, Joey had always thought of camels as having hooves. Instead, he had large two-toed feet with thick, callused pads that kept him from getting burned by the searing desert sands. If Joey had been in human form, the sand would have surely been murder on his bare feet. As he walked, it occurred to him that his transformation into a camel had done away with his shoes. All his clothes, in fact, were gone. He thought about Leanora’s metamorphosis and realized it had been the same with her. Everything, including the magical pendants she wore, had vanished when she changed, and returned when she changed back. Joey wondered if Shazad’s cape made for such a seamless transition naturally, or if the elegance of the transformation was due to his mastery of the artifact. Either way, Joey was thankful that he wouldn’t be naked when he changed back.

  They walked for hours through the desert, completely alone. It was an incredible experience. Joey found the stark, barren environment undeniably beautiful. A sea of dunes rose and fell before him like waves, their golden contours perfectly smooth, touched only by the wind. Oddly, the scorched landscape made Joey think of winter scenes—rolling hills hidden beneath a pristine blanket of snow without a single footprint in sight. Growing up in Hoboken, Joey had never seen an unblemished, snowy countryside except in Christmas cards, and he’d never seen anything like the Sahara except in movies. Now he was not only seeing it in person, but he was seeing it as something other than a person. It was a unique perspective, to say the least. Had Joey been himself, his thoughts might have been plagued by fear that he and his friends would not survive the journey, but instead he was at peace. Despite the long trek, he was not exhausted, and he was not thirsty, either. Joey remembered learning that a camel can lose up to 35 percent of the water in its body and still be just fine. Joey expected Leanora was doing fine also. She alternated between flying ahead and coming back to rest on Joey’s hump. He felt her weight up there even less than he did Shazad’s. Joey couldn’t see Shazad and hoped he was holding up all right under the heat. He realized now that by staying human, Shazad had given himself the most difficult post. He was the one taking a hit for the team, not Joey. Thinking about it made Joey feel foolish for making a fuss about being turned into a camel. He tried to say so, but it came out as more Wookiee-speak.

  “We’ll be there soon,” Shazad replied, patting his back. “We’re close.”

  Joey grunted out a camel laugh. Shazad had apparently thought he was asking something along the lines of “Are we there yet?” His apology had been lost in translation. Joey made a mental note to thank Shazad later and tell him he didn’t mind walking. It was a good thing he didn’t mind, too, because it turned out they weren’t close to Jorako. Not at all. Many more hours passed as they marched in silence. Soon the sun was going down, a sharp yellow cutout in a bright orange sky. Joey was mesmerized by the beauty of the sunset. He stared at it, unblinking, until something even more breathtaking caught his eye. An oasis emerged far off in the distance where the sun’s glare met the horizon. It was a large enclosure of tall palm trees and lush greenery that stood in stark contrast to the water-starved landscape that surrounded it. The tantalizing vision wavered in the heat that even at day’s end rose up off the sand in waves. And then, as quickly as the vision appeared, it was gone.

  Joey blinked hard. If he could have rubbed his eyes, he would have, but camels weren’t built that way. At first Joey wondered if the walk was finally getting to him. He wasn’t thirsty, but he was hungry. At that point he had to admit he was a little bit tired, too, but that didn’t mean he was seeing things. Joey stared hard at the space where the oasis had been, albeit briefly. His eyes grew weary, his vision blurred, and there it was again: a green, leafy paradise growing up out of the sand. It was like something out of a dream, and much like a dream, it dissolved before Joey could focus on it, disappearing once again. He grunted in confusion and stopped to look around. What was he dealing with here? A mirage?

  He felt a strong urge to strike off in another direction and find the oasis again, but as he began to turn, Shazad leaned forward, pointing straight ahead.

  “No, Joey,” he said. “This way. It’s there. Trust me.”

  Joey gave a skeptical grunt, but he stayed the course and did as he was told. It was a struggle. He trusted that Shazad knew what he was talking about—especially when it came to finding Jorako—but he couldn’t help feeling he was going the wrong way. There was nothing in front of him. Nothing but sand.

  Leanora swung around overhead, cawing at Joey and Shazad. She swooped down, getting right in their faces. She was flapping her wings and squawking, getting very animated. Clearly she thought they were on the wrong track too. Joey felt vindicated, but Shazad seemed to feel the same way.

  “Good. You saw it too,” he said. “Stay close. Stay with me.” Shazad held out his forearm to Leanora. She unleashed a high-pitched, fiery retort, going as far as to fly into his extended arm, pushing it away. “Leanora, I can’t understand you, but I know you can understand me.” Shazad’s voice was calm and even. “I know what I’m doing. Stay with me and Joey. We’ll get there together. You’ll see.”

  Leanora thought it over a few more seconds, but ultimately relented and landed on Shazad’s arm. “Ah, your talons are sharp,” Joey heard Shazad say. “I’m going to set you down here if it’s all right with everybody.” Joey felt Shazad’s weight shift as he twisted around to deposit Leanora behind him. Joey felt Leanora’s talons transfer onto his back, but as before, it didn’t bother his camel hide. “There we are,” Shazad said. “Joey, just keep moving forward. Trust that what you saw was real and that it hasn’t moved. It’s still in the same place you first saw it.”

  Joey grunted in the affirmative and carried his friends on toward the setting sun. He wanted to ask if the oasis was Jorako and when he’d be able to see it again, but he wasn’t capable of speech. He made the most inquisitive noise he was capable of and hoped Shazad would understand. Fortunately, Shazad took the hint and explained everything.

  “Remember the magic DeMayne and Scarlett used to clear the streets before our fight outside the Majestic? We have something similar in Jorako. Powerful magic objects that ward off anyone who approaches. You can’t see Jorako from the outside. You can glimpse it for only a fraction of a second at a time, but you have to be looking right at it, and even then, it’s there for you only if you believe it’s there. You can’t reach Jorako unless you believe in it, and that’s not easy to do. The closer we get, the more magical protections come into play. Soon you’ll both forget what we’re even doing out here. You’ll feel the urge to wander off, going back the way we came. Resist that impulse. It won’t be long now.”

  As they closed in on their hidden destination, Joey’s thoughts bore out the truth of Shazad’s words. He was gripped by a strong desire to seek out the oasis elsewhere, anywhere besides the path to nowhere he was currently following. Lost and confused, he began to wonder what twist of fate had deposited him in the desert and turned him into a camel in the first place. He wasn’t supposed to be there. He was supposed to be in seat 14B, flying to California with Janelle. Over and over, he tried to turn around. Shazad urged him on each time, and called Leanora back. Several times Shazad was forced to remind his friends where they were going and why they were there. His reassurances helped redirect Joey and the disoriented feeling soon passed, but Joey did not see Jorako again. However, he did see a puff of sand kick up on the horizon as a rider materialized in the distance.

  Joey took someone coming out to greet them as a good sign, but Shazad’s reaction told him otherwise. “Wonderful,” he said, clearly meaning the opposite. “I should have known we couldn’t just slip in quietly. I’m late, and I never come back this way.”

  Lea
nora screeched out a question.

  “It’s my brother, Ali,” Shazad replied, assuming she had asked him who was out there. He patted Joey’s side. “It’s a good thing I didn’t make you a horse. You wouldn’t fool his mount for a second. Night Wind can be… difficult,” he said, searching for the right word. “Ali can be a handful too sometimes—not that he means to be.” Shazad threw in the bit about Ali as an afterthought. Joey barely heard him say it. He was more concerned with Ali’s horse. Joey thought about how Leanora had to fight off the vultures and worried that he wouldn’t fare half as well against a horse’s thundering hooves. Shazad seemed to sense his trepidation. “Don’t worry. Horses are proud creatures by nature. Night Wind isn’t going to strike up a conversation with you. You’re a camel. Just keep your distance as best you can and try to act oblivious to what’s going on. I doubt he’ll pay you any mind. You, on the other hand,” he added to Leanora. “A vulture will be harder to explain. You’ll have to fly from here. Don’t worry if you can’t see Jorako. Just follow me all the way in. Your mental protection charm should help you stay on course. Wait with Joey while I deal with my family. I’ll change you both back as soon as I can.” Leanora squawked a short chirp, signaling that she understood. Shazad’s brother was almost upon them. “Off you go, before he gets here.” She spread her wings and flew away.

  Less than a minute later, Shazad’s brother arrived in a cloud of sand and dust. “Shazad, what are you doing out here? Are you all right? What’s going on?” Ali’s voice was higher than Shazad’s. Joey put his age at somewhere around ten years old.

  “It’s fine, Ali. Everything’s fine.” Shazad addressed his younger brother with an air of weariness. “I’m just coming home at the end of a very long day.”

  “Yes, but why are you riding a camel? Why didn’t you use—”