The Celestial Gate by Avital Dicker (red white royal blue txt) 📗

It has been passed down in my family from father to son for many generations. My father told me that when the time came I would know what to do with it.”

“And you’re giving it to me?” Yam whispered in surprise.

“Just remember, ya ibni, the gate comes to you, not you to it,” said the old man with a mysterious smile.

Yam took the map and gently smoothed it out, taking care not to tear the fragile paper.

“This is a map of the city underneath the Old City,” Ali explained. “Under these streets, there is an entire city that was built back in the time of Solomon’s Temple. This city was meant to serve as a hiding place in time of need.”

“This map is two thousand years old?” Mor asked incredulously. The old man laughed. “Much older, ya ibni. But the map is recopied every time the paper begins to crumble. It has been in my family since the days of the Ottoman Empire, back in the twelfth century or so. Eighty years ago, my grandfather made this copy of the previous map, which was falling apart.”

Suddenly, Ali turned very serious. “The map has been waiting for thousands of years. I am now giving it to you.”

The astonished threesome stared at the ancient map of the city underneath the city. Whole streets were depicted down to the smallest details.

Ali pointed to a few spots marked with an asterisk. “These are the exits,” he explained.

“Wow,” Anise whispered.

“Be careful. It is possible some streets and tunnels have collapsed over time.”

“And this map will take us to the gate?” Anise asked the old man.

He shook his head. “It is the way to the gate, yes. But, as I said before, the gate chooses you, not the other way around. Also consider that, in recent years, groups of terrorists have dug new tunnels that do not show up here. They, too, are down there.”

“Terrorists?” a worried Mor murmured.

“They will not hesitate to kill you. So think well about every step you take,” Ali warned.

Silence descended over the table. “The truth is that I was planning on meeting God. I have some not so pleasant things to say to Him about what he allows to happen here on Earth. It’s time He took some time away from his other concerns and looked down here,” said Anise finally. All four smiled ruefully.

The next few hours were spent studying the map.

Mor marked the paths to the exits, which were scattered all around the Old City.

Ali said that there were eight gates in the walls around the Old City as well as another few on top of the Temple Mount.

“My father said that whoever built the gates knew about this gate and intentionally hid it so that nobody would find it,” said Yam. Pointing to a spot on the map, he added. “This is the closest one.”

“That’s Lions’ Gate, you Tel Aviv dimwit,” Anise mocked him. She still felt weird next to him, and every time his hand accidentally brushed against hers, she felt a jolt, like electricity, coursing through her body.

“The sultan who built this gate had a recurring dream. Every night, he’d dream about lions coming to tear him to pieces. So he built a wall around the city and carved the lions into the gate so that they’d remind him of the dream and guard the city. And that’s how the gate got its name,” she added, making a point of not looking at Yam.

“Lions’ Gate leads to the Temple Mount, which is holy to Jews, because that’s where the Temple stood, and the Jews believe that God used the earth from the Temple Mount to create Adam, the first human,” Mor added. “And the Temple Mount is holy also to the Muslims because of the al-Aqsa mosque, and also to the Christians because of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.”

“Yes. Everybody fights over the mount,” Ali sighed.

“How ridiculous! The mount doesn’t belong to anybody. Except nature. Grownups try to teach us while they themselves…” Anise had no chance of finishing her thought because, at that instant, they all heard a tremendous explosion. This time, it was close, so close the walls shook.

They all flattened themselves on the floor. Anise couldn’t stop thinking about her mother. What if she was hurt right now, lying underneath a pile of rubble, scared, calling for help, with no one to hear her? Anise wasn’t going to let herself think of any scenario worse than that.

The four waited a few minutes until all seemed calm and only then went back to studying the map. “There’s a place called ‘the cave,’” said Ali. “Nobody has ever found it, but, according to lore, it is a prayer space in the underground city built in case people had to hide. If you find it, you will be protected.”

Anise had had it. She was incapable of hearing as much as one more word about legends, gates, or caves. First thing, before doing anything else, she had to reach her mom and Theo and make sure they were all right.

Ali tried to persuade them to wait until nightfall, but Anise wouldn’t hear of it. Worry ate away at her like acid and wouldn’t let her rest.

“We have to leave now!” she insisted.

Ali asked them to wait just a little while longer. He disappeared into the other room and came back with three floor-length galabiyas and a backpack for each one. “You will need what is inside,” he said without further explanation.

The three put the galabiyas on over their clothing. Anise gathered her hair and covered it with an old scarf. She thought that, now, she looked exactly like her mom in the old photograph she’d found.

The boys covered their heads with caps. Carefully, Yam put the map into the pocket of his jeans under his robe. They thanked the old man warmly for his help and then went into the street once again.

Ali looked at their receding backs through the window. There really hadn’t been