Part 18 (2/2)
But there was something else that struck Lily about Tank: there was a tremendoussadness to him, a blankness in his eyes that Lily detected on their very first meeting.
When she asked him what was wrong, he answered by telling her about his childhood: ”I was a small boy, about your age, when my country went to war against America. I lived in Nagasaki, a beautiful city. But when the war turned for my country and the American Air Force started bombing our cities at will, my parents sent me away, to live with my grandparents in the countryside.
”My parents were in Nagasaki the day the Americans dropped their terrible bomb on that city. My parents were never found. They'd been obliterated, reduced to dust.”
Lily knew exactly what it meant to lose your parents-she had never known either of hers-and so a special bond had developed between her and Tank.
”I'm not very old,” she said solemnly, ”but one of the biggest things I've learned in life is this: while it can never replace the real one, you can make a new family with your friends.”
Tank had looked at her kindly, his eyes moist. ”You are most wise for one so young, little Lily. I wish I saw the world as you do.”
Lily didn't quite understand Tank's final comment, but she just smiled anyway. He seemed to like that.
AFTER EACH of Wizard's visits the whiteboard in West's study would be overflowing with notes.
After one such visit, it had this on it: THUTHMOSIS V.
Renegade priest of Akenaten regime monotheist Rival of Rameses II exiled by him under threat of execution.
Note Egyptian nameelement ”mosis” meaning ”son of” or ”born of” this element is usually followed by atheorific, or divine, element.
So: ”mosis” or ”moses” or ”meses” = ”son of”
Rameses = Ramoses = son of Ra.
Thuthmosis = Thothmoses = son ofThoth!
WHEREABOUTS OF TWIN TABLETS OF THUTHMOSIS.
Who knows!! Temple of Solomonarca foederis Menelik Ethiopia Templar quest to Ethiopia inA.D . 1280 Churches of Lalibela? Templar symbols all over them. Are the Tablets in Ethiopia?
NEETHA TRIBE*
Remote tribe from Democratic Republic of the Congo /Zaire region warlikemuch feared by other tribes cannibals Congenital deformities in all members, variety of Proteus Syndrome (bony growth on skull, similar to Elephant Man) Found by accident byHENRY MORTON STANLEY in 1876 Neetha warriors killed seventeen of his party Stanley barely escaped alive years later, he tried to find them again, but strangely he could not locate them.
Possibly the same tribe encountered by the Greek explorerHIERONYMUS during his expedition into central Africa in 205B.C . (Hieronymus mentioned a tribe with terrible facial deformities in the jungles south of Nubia. It was from the Neetha that he stole the clear sphericalorb that was later used by the Oracle at Delphi.) BEST KNOWN EXPERT:DR. DIANE Ca.s.sIDY,Anthropologist from USC. But her whole 20man expedition went missing in 2002 while searching for the Neetha in the Congo.
Ca.s.sidy found this cave painting in northern Zambia and attributed it to ancestors of the Neetha: Seems to depict a hollowed out volcano with the Delphic Orb at the summit but its meaning is unknown.
And finally, the entries that intrigued Lily the most: EASTER ISLAND.
(a.k.a. ”RAPA NUI”: ”THE NAVEL OF THE WORLD”) COORDS: 2709'S, 10927'W.
BIRDMAN CULT ( ”TANGATA MANU”) Annual compet.i.tion, held near Rano Kau, the southernmost volcano of Easter Is, whereby a young champion would compete on behalf of his chieftain Each champion had to swim to islet of Motu Nui, grab the first tern egg of the season and then return across the sharkinfested waters. The winner's sponsor became BirdMan, or Chief of Chiefs, for the next year.
ARISTOTLE'S RIDDLES Series of strange axioms left by Aristotle as ”lifeguidance” for his students.
Aristotle's authors.h.i.+p of them is disputed, since they find no correlation elsewhere in his works. They begin with: What is the best number of lies?
(One, since to support one lie means telling more) What is the best number of eyes?
(Again, one, after the AllSeeing Eye of Egypt) What is the best life to live?(The afterlife-key source of Christian theology) What is the direction of Death?
(West-Egyptian origin) Lily particularly loved to read through West's books on Easter Island she could stare for hours at the great statues, the famousmoai, that gazed out over the barren landscape of that distant island, the most remote on Earth.
It was not uncommon for West to find her asleep in the corner of his office, an open book lying across her lap. On those occasions he would gently pick her up, carry her to her room, and put her to bed.
The introduction of Alby to Lily's life brought not only fun and good times, but also new reading material.
While Lily had been a longtime fan ofThe Lord of the Rings, it was Alby who introduced her to a boy wizard named Harry Potter.
Lily devoured the Harry Potter series and constantly reread them. In fact, whenever she traveled-either back and forth to school, or overseas to visit her Capstone teammates- the entire Harry Potter series always went with her. Always.
But as ever, the greatest source of mystery to Lily-even now after he had adopted her-was Jack West Jr.
DURING HER adventure with the Seven Wonders, Lily had learned a lot about Jack- except when it came to his family.
She remembered once overhearing Zoe and Wizard talking about his father.
Apparently, Jack West Sr. was American, and he and Jack didn't get along. To anger his father-who wanted him to join the US military-Jack had become a member of the Australian Army, based on his mother's nationality.
So one day, over breakfast, Lily asked him straight out, ”Daddy? Do you have a family?”
Jack smiled. ”Yes. I do.”
”Brothers or sisters?”
”One sister.”
”Older or younger.”
”Older. By two years. Although...”
”Although what?”
”Although, she's not older than me anymore. Her name was Lauren. She's no longer older than me because she died when she was thirty.”
”Oh. How did she die?” Lily asked.
”She was killed in a plane crash.” Jack's eyes became distant. ”An airliner accident.”
”Were you close?”
”Sure we were,” Jack said, perking up, returning from his memories. ”She even married my best friend, a Navy guy named J. J. Wickham.”
”What about your parents?”
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