Chapter 9 - The Return to the Surface
The desert was peaceful under the moon,
as if the chaos of the last few hours had never happened.
Our jeep was buried,
but Khalid’s team had arrived with a helicopter to pick us up.
He stood by the landing skids,
the wind whipping his hair.
"The $100,000 is in your account,"
he said,
his voice barely audible over the rotors.
"It’s not enough for what you’ve done,"
he added.
I looked at the horizon,
where the sun was beginning to peek over the dunes.
"I don't want the money for myself,"
I said.
"Use it to build a school,"
I suggested,
"a place where languages aren't forgotten."
Khalid smiled,
a genuine,
warm smile that I hadn't seen before.
"I can do that,"
he promised.
"What will you do now,
Hannah?"
"I'm going back to New York,"
I said.
"I have a double shift on Monday."
He laughed,
shaking his head.
"You're going back to being a waitress?"
"No,"
I said,
looking him in the eye.
"I'm going back to being the Guardian."
"I'll be watching,"
I warned.
"If anyone ever gets close to that place again,"
"I'll be the one to stop them."
I boarded the helicopter,
leaving the Red Sands behind.
As we flew over the ocean,
I pulled out my grandfather’s notebook.
I looked at the last page,
which had always been blank.
But now,
in the light of the rising sun,
words began to appear in shimmering ink.
The door is closed,
it read,
but the path is yours.
I closed the book and tucked it away.
May you like
I was no longer just a girl from Queens.
I was the keeper of a world that didn't exist.
