Addis was a city in constant flux, and the pulse of activity was evident everywhere, even at the airport in the middle of the night.
They arrived at the private terminal of Bole International Airport and were swiftly led through immigration and customs by none other than Doug, who proved to speak fluent Amharic. He greeted the officials they met like old friends, shaking hands and bumping shoulders as they made their way through the terminal.
Sadia was sleeping on Ben’s shoulder, and Tenzin kept a close eye on the crowds, which were substantial even at midnight.
They walked out into a cool, misty night and saw the lights of the Bole District rising in the darkness. It was the start of the rainy season, and Ben walked carefully as they descended the long damp walkway, led by nimble porters carrying their luggage. Ben spotted two black Toyota Land Cruisers sitting on the curb.
“They’re older,” Doug said, “but well-maintained. I had to call around to find any without too many electronics that would still be comfortable.”
“These are great.” Giovanni turned and reached for Sadia, who woke briefly as they buckled her into her booster seat. “Did you already call the house?”
“The compound is ready,” Doug said. “This time of night? It’ll only take about fifteen minutes to get there.”
Ben saw Tenzin staring at the vehicles. Spacious cargo planes were one thing, but cars…
He put a hand at the small of her back. “We don’t know where we’re going.” He looked at the crowd of people in front of the airport, all clearly waiting for arrivals but staring at the foreigners who had arrived—a varied crew of Americans, an Italian, and one lone Asian woman. Probably not the strangest sight residents had seen but still something they’d remember.
“If we walk into the darkness,” Ben said, “they will definitely be watching us. And we will not be able to fly off without anyone seeing. We are not going to blend in here, Tiny.”
She glared at the vehicles. “What if I sit on top?”
“Also something that would stand out,” Ben said. “Just remember, it’s only for fifteen minutes.”
After the luggage was loaded on top of the Land Cruisers, Doug got in the driver’s seat of the lead vehicle and Zain took the rear truck. Sadia, Giovanni, Beatrice, and Dema squeezed in with Doug, which left Tenzin, Chloe, and Ben with Zain.
Ben hopped in the passenger seat in front. “You have any idea where we’re going?”
“I have a rough map,” Zain said. “But mostly I’m following Doug.”
The question finally burst out of Tenzin. “Who is Doug?”
Ben smiled. It must have been eating at her the entire flight. “Doug is our local fixer, Tenzin. He’s worked and lived here for about thirty years, and his wife is Ethiopian.”
“So why isn’t his wife guiding us?” Tenzin asked.
“Probably because she’s a civil engineer and not a spy,” Zain said, craning his neck to look for Doug, who’d entered a traffic circle. “Don’t worry. Doug knows his way around.”
Chloe appeared to be wide awake even though she’d hardly slept on the plane, according to Dema. “I’m just so excited to be here. It’s my first time in Africa.”
Zain glanced in the rearview mirror. “Oh yeah? How is that possible? You’ve been to Europe a lot, right? It’s not that much farther.”
“Yeah.” She looked slightly uncomfortable. “I heard from a couple of people that Africans aren’t exactly friendly with Black Americans. I think that made me worry a little bit.”
Zain shook his head. “I think that’s a misconception. Or maybe it depends on the country, I don’t know. I doubt you’ll run into that in Addis. Honestly?” He looked at her again as he exited the circle and continued following Doug off a main road and onto narrower, cobbled surface streets. “You’re probably more likely to get people who assume you’re Ethiopian and raised in the US. Prepare to learn some basic Amharic, my friend, because everyone is going to want to talk to you.”
“What about you?” Chloe asked.
Tenzin said, “Zain looks West African.”
“Bingo.” He nodded as he maneuvered through mind-bending traffic that did not seem to respect any signal or rule. “My mom took one of those DNA things under an assumed name—my dad is paranoid about privacy—and we come mainly from Senegal and Ghana.”
“Interesting.” Ben looked at Chloe, then Zain. “I’m a mix of everything, I think. Puerto Rican on one side—”
“Which is literally like three or four in one,” Chloe said.
“Yeah. And Lebanese on the other side.” Ben shrugged. “So I’m a man of the world. I envy you two though. I think you’re gonna fit in a lot better with the locals than we are.”
Zain laughed. “I can’t argue with you there, my friend.”
Tenzin said, “I don’t know what my DNA would show.”
“Old as dirt?” Zain said.
Tenzin smiled a little. “From a scientific perspective, I am actually far older than dirt.”
Chloe kicked the back of Zain’s seat. “I was going to guess Mongolian.”
Ben turned and looked at her. “I don’t know what the scientists would do with your DNA, Tiny. But we’re in the birthplace of humanity here. You’re probably a lot closer to home than any of the rest of us.”
Tenzin looked out the window and watched the crowds that still flooded the streets downtown. “You’re not wrong. Look past skin color, and you see every kind of face here. African, European, Middle Eastern, Asian, even Indigenous American. This place? It’s very, very old.”
And Saba had come before it all. Ben thought about the task they had set out for themselves. Were they being utter fools? Could an object as powerful as the bone scroll really exist in a place controlled by the most powerful immortal on the planet without her knowledge?
And if it existed, was there any way they’d manage to wrest it from her control?
13
From the night sky, the city looked like a tangled web of highways, cobblestone roads, and narrow alleys flung across a series of hills. Dominated by vast government compounds and towering buildings downtown, the city spread out along the edges, where new houses and roads were lit by electric lights and rumbling trucks sped from the capital to the arteries going to every region of the country.
The capital city had been designed in the 1800s by the Emperor Menelik and was situated in the very center of the country, intended to be a capital city for all people of the empire. As the national capital of the only country on the African continent free from European colonialism, it was host to the headquarters of the African Union, a massive United Nations compound, and countless missions, international organizations, and research institutes.
Ben hovered over the maze, transfixed by the traffic churning in the streets. At night, cool traffic lamps illuminated the major streets while lights flashed on skyscrapers, music pumped from dance clubs and restaurants, and shops stayed open to catch those customers heading home from work.
Tenzin found him among the drifting clouds; there was a storm creeping in from the east.