We Are Not Eaten by Yaks by C. Alexander London Read Free Book Online Page B

countless unknown terrors. I barely escaped them myself.”
    â€œSo we will first have to see the Oracle of Dorjee Drakden,” Dr. Navel said casually. “For his blessing.”
    â€œWait,” Celia gulped. “He’s the one with the sword?”
    â€œAnd the yak?” Oliver spluttered.
    â€œThat’s the one.” Dr. Navel smiled. “How exciting!”
    And with that Dr. Navel and the Tibetan mountain climber disappeared toward the map room with the ancient piece of paper. The children stood alone among the explorers in the Great Hall, thinking about cable television and Lost Tablets, and wondering whether or not yaks ate people.
    But most of all, they were thinking about their mother.

7
    WE HEAR FROM A YAK

    TIBET IS LOCATED in Central Asia, in the highest region on earth, and getting there isn’t easy. On the first part of the flight, Oliver watched three movies and a twenty-minute show about exercises you could do in your seat to keep from getting something called “deep vein thrombosis,” which sounded like a kind of musical instrument, but was really a dangerous medical condition. Then they had to change planes in Germany and fly for another eleven hours to get to an airport in China, where they would then fly another two hours to get to the capital city of Tibet, called Lhasa.
    Oliver found himself happy to be going on such a long trip. He was happy because the airline had installed personal television screens on the back of every seat, so he could watch whatever he wanted and he had hours and hours to do it. His father didn’t complain or suggest Oliver read a book. He didn’t even notice that Oliver had been watching movies and television for almost twenty hours straight. Celia had drifted off to sleep after watching some romantic comedies with titles like Summer’s Storm and Kissing Cousins.
    Dr. Navel was two rows ahead, madly flipping pages in the books and charts and maps Choden had given him. Occasionally, he would shout “Aha!” and the people around him would shift uncomfortably in their seats.
    â€œCouldn’t he just snore or something?” a man behind Dr. Navel said loudly.
    Across the aisle from Oliver, Celia muttered in her sleep: “He’syourcousin, don’tmarryhim . . .ʺ She sighed and shifted without waking up.
    On his little screen, Oliver was suddenly watching a nature show about mountain wildlife. He liked nature shows, though he thought he’d been watching a movie. These airplane systems were weird, he guessed, changing channels on their own. He didn’t mind, though. On nature shows, you could see the entire world without getting bitten by any lizards. And you got to drink the endless supply of soda the airline gave out.
    But when a wild yak stared out of the tiny screen at Oliver and said, in an ancient language unheard for over two thousand years, You will have to remember enduring Love if you want to escape a terrible fate, Oliver realized, much to his surprise, that he was asleep and dreaming a most unusual dream.
    The yak had bright green eyes that looked cold and hard, like the jade statue that Oliver and Celia had hidden behind in the Explorers Club library.
    â€œWhy am I dreaming about a yak?” Oliver wondered to himself. “I don’t think I was even watching a nature show when I fell asleep.”
    Yes you were, the wild yak with the jade eyes told him.
    â€œNo I wasn’t,” he thought.
    Yes, you were. I’m reading your mind. I know everything. Stop arguing with me or I’ll climb out of this screen and eat you.
    â€œYaks don’t eat meat,” Oliver replied.
    Well, then I’ll climb out of the screen and skewer you with my horns, the yak answered.
    â€œOkay,” Oliver thought, because it’s never a good idea to argue with mind-reading yaks. “How do I understand you? I don’t speak any ancient languages.”
    How do you know I’m