Free The Secret of Ka by Christopher Pike

and practice turning the carpet. If we see one, we'll want to head straight for it."
    "You don't want to retrace our path home?"
    Amesh yawned and stretched. "I can't sit here another eight hours. Let's find an island. They'll have boats heading back to Istanbul. It's the biggest port in the area."
    The red glow vanished as the sun rose higher. We decided to have breakfast. Protein bars, candy bars, and bottled water. Amesh chewed the peanut butter bars with relish.
    "I thought you were nuts when you packed all this stuff," he said.
    "It goes to show how good my intuition is."
    "You've been right about a lot of stuff, Sara."
    I blushed. Just the way he said my name, it got me.
    "A lot of lucky guesses. Usually my batting average is lower."
    "Batting average?" he asked.
    "Like in baseball."
    "Oh. I'm serious. You were right about the carpet, how to fly it, the ley lines. Everything."
    "Does this mean you'll be my slave from now on?"
    "I feel like I already am. Why don't you use your intuition and figure out how to turn the carpet?"
    "Okay," I agreed, although my intuition was still telling me to do the opposite and keep going. The carpet knew where it was heading and we would know when we got there. But there was no point in saying that to Amesh.
    Especially since we had a more pressing problem.
    "I have to pee," I told him when we were done eating.
    He turned red. "So do I."
    "Why are you blushing? You can just slide up on your knees and pee off the side into the water."
    He turned a deeper red, if that was possible. "I can't do that."
    "Don't be embarrassed. I won't look. I'm the one with the problem."
    "Why?"
    "Duh! I'm a girl!"
    He looked away. "I'd rather not talk about this."
    "We have to talk about it. I can't hold it much longer."
    "Why not?"
    "Because I'm a girl and Allah made us inferior to boys. What do you mean, why not? My bladder's about to burst."
    "You shouldn't have drunk so much water."
    "I was thirsty! Besides, you drank twice as much as I did."
    "I did not!"
    "You drank half a bottle! And you ate three protein bars!"
    "Well, why didn't you stop me?"
    "You were hungry. But forget that. Are you going to go or not? There's no reason for you to suffer just because I am."
    "In my country, males do not urinate in front of females."
    "Like it's a big sport in America! I'll turn around and put my fingers in my ears so I can't hear you."
    He did not respond. He was simply too embarrassed.
    Fortunately, ten minutes later, when I was on the verge of stripping and hanging from the back of our glider, we spotted an island. It appeared small, devoid of trees and grass, although there was an array of low-lying hills that blocked a clear view of the far side. I was learning not to make snap judgments. For all we knew, it might be miles across and have a hotel on the other end.
    The carpet took us beyond the shoreline before it slowed and began to lose altitude. A moment later we were sitting on a sandy beach and staring at each other. A wind howled against the stone cliffs and in our ears. The sun was bright in the sky. The stars in the center of the carpet had stopped moving. They faded until they were no longer glowing.
    I was the first one to shake myself and stand. "Get up," I said.
    "What's the hurry?"
    "You know."
    "You don't have to take the carpet with you."
    "We have to keep an eye on it at all times. We don't know anything about this island." The second he was off the carpet, I knelt and rolled it up.
    "All I'm saying is I can watch it while you—"
    "I like carrying it," I interrupted, holding it close. I did not know why I felt so possessive of the carpet. Especially here, of all places, it wasn't as though he could steal it from me. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
    "I'll meet you here in five!" he shouted after me.
    Not far from the shore were plenty of boulders, which offered many places to pee. Honestly, I could not recall having ever felt such relief. When we met back at the beach I was in a much better