was Amari, but the skull had come alive as she’d wanted it to. She’d put the hint of a smile at the corners of his lips, and the shining brown of his eyes appeared oddly eager as he stared up at her. She’d engraved gentle curves that mimicked short curls or waves framing that face. It had just seemed right.
“Are you ready for them?” she whispered. “They’re ready for you, Amari.”
She stood up as she heard them coming. She stood to one side as she saw Gideon open the door and Hajif and his wife appear in the doorway. “I thought you wouldn’t mind getting up a bit early, Hajif.” She gestured to the reconstruction. “Is this what you wanted from me?”
Hajif stood stock-still in shock.
He was silent, staring dazedly at the sculpture. “I…did not expect this. It…is magic.” He drew his wife, Leta, toward the worktable. His eyes were shimmering with moisture as he slipped his arm around her waist. “You see, Leta, he has returned to us.” He reached out, and his index finger gingerly touched the raised scar at the corner of his left eye. “Remember how upset you were when the propeller flew off his toy plane? You kept saying one more inch, and he would have been blind. But he was fine, wasn’t he?” He looked at Eve. “How did you know?”
“I didn’t. Some things just seem right. Is it Amari, Hajif?”
He nodded. “It is my grandson.” He turned to his wife, whose eyes had never left the face of the reconstruction. “Is it Amari, Leta?” he asked gently. “Has she brought our Amari back to us?”
“Yes.” The tears were suddenly running down her cheeks. “He is not alive. He’s not hiding in the jungle waiting to come home to us because he’s afraid. They killed him, Hajif.” She was sobbing. “They killed him.”
“You knew that.” He pulled her into his arms. “But does he look sad and afraid now? He is our Amari, and there is no fear.”
“No fear,” his wife said brokenly. “I have nightmares about how afraid he was when those butchers came.”
“I know. I know.” He held her close. He looked over her head at Eve. “Words cannot—I thank you. May we come and visit him here in the museum?”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe he’d like staying here. Why don’t you take him home?”
His eyes widened. “But he belongs to—”
“He belongs to you now.” She grimaced. “As long as you promise not to ever put him in that box again.” She took a step closer to Leta. “Leave him here for the time being,” she told her gently. “Go home and make a place for him. No fancy shelves. Just a place where he’ll be safe, and you can see him every day. Use his favorite colors, put things he loved around him. If you see something you think he’d like, give that to him, too. See him as he is now and let him become part of your life.” She paused. “And maybe that will make the nightmares go away.”
“I hope that is true.” Leta suddenly launched herself into Eve’s arms and was embracing her. “But if it’s not, when I wake, I will have him with me.” She awkwardly backed away, embarrassed. “Come along, Hajif. We must go home and find this place for him. It will not be as easy as she makes it out to be.”
“But I’m sure you will be back in just a few hours with the perfect place.” Hajif smiled again at Eve as his wife pushed him toward the door. “There is nothing I will not do for you,” he said quietly, “You have only to ask.”
“Oh, I’ll ask,” Eve said. “I have twenty-six other skulls to deal with after this. I’ll need help.”
“Skulls,” he murmured, his wondering gaze on Amari. “It does not seem possible. He is…alive.” He smiled brilliantly. “Magic.”
“No, skill and experience,” she called after him, as Leta pulled him from the room. She made a face, and said to Gideon, who was still leaning against the wall beside the door, “I don’t think Hajif believes in witch doctors, but this is Africa. You can never tell.”
“He may not be far wrong.” Gideon straightened and strolled across the room toward the reconstruction. “This is pretty incredible.”
“It’s hard work and making sure every measurement is correct.” She moved toward her duffel beside her cot. “And now you can take me to that hotel and let me spend the next