"Hey, look at this incandescent mummy!"

"Ah yes, Luka. Though I wouldn't choose to describe the mummy as incandescent. It is exceptional," Mr. Romero laughed. "I encourage you all to take a careful look around before you decide which artifact you're going to research, and write about."

Mr. Romero had organized a field trip for the Grade 9 Ancient History class to look at ancient artifacts at the Royal Ontario Museum. "And remember, you can pick any object in these galleries for your project as long as it is something dated BCE, Before Common Era. Sometimes even very tiny pieces can tell interesting stories. When you've found your object, come see me and we'll talk about how to do further research. There are also museum volunteers here to help us. This is for your end-of-term project and presentation, so choose carefully."

The class spread out in the exhibits about ancient cultures. Luka was not to be distracted from the mummy. Esri and Ada decided to check out the Nubia gallery as most of the class headed in other directions.

Esri said, "It probably won't be as exciting as the ancient Egyptians, but maybe we'll find something interesting."

Many of the cases in the Nubia gallery were filled with artifacts from the height of the Kush empire.

Ada said, "Look at this, Esri. It says that in the Kush kingdom that some women rulers appeared to have equal status to the men rulers. They have a picture of a tomb here where the king and queen are portrayed as the same size, both fighting their enemies. Look, Queen Am-an-i-to-re, or however you say it. Jilly would love this."

"No kidding."

"Do you want to use this for your project?" Ada asked Esri.

"No, that's ok. You go ahead. There's lots of other stuff here." Esri walked to a display case in the middle of the gallery.

The case was filled with ordinary-looking rocks. Esri wondered what was so special about them. Then she saw that they were from a much older time than the Kush empire – more than 75,000 years ago – Middle Stone Age. The sign said that they were tools of some sort. She bent over the glass case trying to see what made them different from just regular rocks lying around. How would someone even know what they were?

As she peered down, she noticed that one of the rocks had a stripe running through it that reminded her of the Egyptian god they had studied, her favorite: Thoth, the ibis-headed man. Then it hit her like a thunderbolt. It was the Huti stone from her dreams, the one Kai returned to her. In her dream last night, she took it out of the palm of his hand.

Everything went black.

* * *

When Esri came to, Mr. Romero, Ada, Luka, and what seemed like the whole class and some museum staff were standing around her. Mr. Romero had his hand on her forehead, "Please, everyone, move away. Esri fainted. We're getting a nurse. She'll be fine. Give her some space."

Esri started to sit up. "No, Esri, lie still for now. Let's wait for the nurse."

"I'm fine. I just got a little dizzy." No way could she explain finding her Huti stone in the case with the Stone Age tools.

The nurse came, checked that Esri was okay, gave her some juice, and told her to sit for a while. Mr. Romero was not too concerned. He had past experience with fainting students, and given proper attention they usually recovered quickly.

Esri was mortified about doing something that drew so much attention to herself. Ada and Luka stayed with her until her color was better and Mr. Romero gave her the ok to get up and walk around. All Esri wanted to do was go back and look at the stone with the outline of the ibis. It was probably only similar. No way could it be the same rock.

The thing is, she knew the stone really well. She had held it and looked at it many times on the long walk with Zura and Dagan. Esri went back to the display case. It was definitely her stone, the Huti stone.

* * *

Esri was relieved that the next morning was Saturday and she could spend the day with Clea.

Esri brought down the bundles of herbs drying in Clea's attic. They took the herbs out of their paper bags, untied the bundles, and began removing the leaves.

Jilly jabbered away to the cornhusk dolls Clea had made for her. Jilly tried to get Willa engaged in her make-believe play, but the cat just swished her tail and stayed perched on a chair next to Esri.

"You're very quiet today. Anything on your mind?" asked Clea.

Anything on my mind? thought Esri. I'm only losing my mind. I feel like I'm living two lives. "I'm not sleeping so well these days. I guess I'm tired."

"Are you worried about something? Is it keeping you awake?"

"I'm sort of sleeping ok. It's just these weird dreams I'm having. They're hard to explain."

"Try me. I've had a weird dream or two in my lifetime."

"Well, I'm constantly dreaming about being with these cave people. And it feels so real. It's like I'm actually living with them. I eat and sleep with them, help get food, make things. And what is happening to us continues on from one dream to the next, almost every night." Esri was amazed that the words flowed out so easily. She wanted to tell her Dad and talk to Ada and Luka about the dreams, but for whatever reason, she couldn't. Her throat would close up. Now here with Clea it poured out. She couldn't imagine why that was, but what a relief.

She continued, "A lot of what happens in the dream is hard because bad things are going on. We're cold a lot. Food is hard to find. I'm aware in my dream that not long ago there was terrible pollution in the air for a long time, a thick ash that made many people sick and die. And there's a dense haze that's always hanging high in the air, blotting out the sun. Often we're scared. But the people I'm with are really nice."

"It sounds like you worry about these dream people."

"I do. Dumb, huh?"

"Not really. As I said, I've had a fair bit of experience with vivid dreams, some not unlike what you describe, a long, involved story. It can feel overwhelming. I learned to go along with it and if it feels real, let yourself get more involved. No harm. I believe that there are some people who dream deeper and sometimes there are big things your mind is trying to work out. Just let it happen."

They didn't discuss Esri's dreams anymore that day, but it made Esri feel better knowing that she could talk about them with Clea. Esri didn't tell Clea about the Huti stone. She needed more time to think about that.