“No one is trying to make you feel inferior,” Sumpter said softly. “You aren’t. You’re more important—and your presence here is more important than you know. Try to understand. You didn’t come here accidentally. It’s probably no coincidence that you were even in the area. You were led here. By whom? You ran unerringly to the third pyramid, stopping just outside the invisible third door. Its real significance is known only to a few Speakers.

“And there’s more,” he said. “In our records it’s also written that the woman would have a twin; a psychic one, of the other sex. We don’t believe that he’s the old man. From talking to Rampa, we don’t think he’s the one either. So we have two questions. Do you have any idea who the twin could be? And what do you know about the old man?”

She looked sideways at him, grinning. “You didn’t tell me that you talked to Rampa about this. Anyhow, I don’t know the answer to either question. I know that this is an important dream event, and I’m determined to remember it. But I don’t see how all this is connected.”

“Neither do we—yet,” Sumpter said. “Ma-ah, can you find the old man? Have you ever called him?”

“I never went looking for him. I wouldn’t know where to look, or how. But why is it so important?”

“Learning the answer to that question is part of the importance.”

Her eyes widened. Suddenly she felt frightened again, but excited at the same time. “Wait,” she cried. “I do remember something else. The other day in the courtyard, I thought I heard someone call my name. No one was there. For a moment I felt it was the old man’s voice. Is that any help?”

“It might be. Perhaps the courtyard is a focal point.” He touched her hand and imagined the courtyard. Instantly they were there. Ma-ah was aware only of a whirr of sound like wind rustling through very dry grass. They’d traveled that way before when out of their bodies, but it always confused her.

Now she rubbed her eyes and looked about. The Speakers stood on the sidelines, so that their figures seemed to blend in with the drawings on the cliffs, as if the people themselves constantly moved in and out of the stone. The moonlight was brilliant and the tiles glittered.

“Think of the old man. Keep him in your mind,” Sumpter said.

She tried to do as he directed, but there was no response, and unaccountably she became frightened again. “Maybe he’s gone, or in trouble,” she said.

“Just keep thinking of him, picture him,” Sumpter said. None of the other Speakers made a sound. To Ma-ah it seemed that the world was waiting. Then she said calmly, “Lydia is dying.”