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morning light was shining through the window, falling directly on the objects Kate was holding in the palms of her hands. An impossible brilliance blinded Isaac Rosenblat for an instant, making his heart leap. He came from a family of jewelers. Precious stones from the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs had passed through the hands of his grandfather; his father’s hands had fashioned diadems for empresses; his own had dismantled the ruby and emerald jewelry of Russian czars murdered during the Bolshevik Revolution. No one knew more about gems than he did, and very few stones had the power to move him, but what he had before him was something so wondrous that it made his head spin. Without a word, he took the eggs over to his desk and examined them through his loupe beneath a strong light. When he confirmed that his first impression was correct, he heaved a great sigh, took out a white linen handkerchief, and wiped his forehead.
    â€œWhere did you steal these, my girl?” he asked, his voice trembling.
    â€œThey came from a remote place called the City of the Beasts.”
    â€œAre you pulling my leg?” the jeweler asked.
    â€œWell, no. I swear. Are they worth anything, Isaac?”
    â€œThey’re worth something, yes. Let’s say that with these stones you could buy a small country,” he murmured.
    â€œAre you kidding?”
    â€œThese are the largest and the most perfect diamonds I have ever seen. Where were they? It isn’t possible that a treasure like this could have gone unnoticed. I know all the important stones in existence, but I have never heard of these, Kate.”
    â€œAsk them to bring us some coffee and a shot of vodka, Isaac. And get comfortable, because I’m going to tell you an interesting story,” Kate Cold replied.
    And so she informed her good friend about a teenage Brazilian girl who had climbed a mysterious mountain in the Upper Orinoco, led by a dream and by a naked witch man to the place where she found the eggs in an eagle’s nest. Kate told him how the girl had entrusted that fortune to Alexander, her grandson, charging him with the mission of using it to help a certain tribe of Indians, the People of the Mist, who were still living in the Stone Age. Isaac Rosenblat listened courteously, not believing a word of the preposterous story. Not even a blithering idiot would swallow a pack of fantasies like that, he thought. He felt sure that his old sweetheart had gotten mixed up in some shady business, or that she had discovered a fabulous mine. He knew that Kate would never tell him the straight story. And, well, that was her right. He sighed again.
    â€œI see you don’t believe me, Isaac,” the eccentric writer muttered, tossing back anothershot of vodka to calm a fit of coughing.
    â€œI suppose you will admit that this is a rather unusual story, Kate?”
    â€œAnd I still haven’t told you about the Beasts, the giant, hairy, stinking . . .”
    â€œThat’s all right, Kate, I don’t think I need further details,” the jeweler interrupted, defeated.
    â€œI need to turn these boulders into capital to set up a foundation. I promised my grandson that the money would be used to protect the People of the Mist, which is what those invisible Indians are called, and . . .”
    â€œInvisible?”
    â€œWell, they’re not exactly invisible, Isaac, but they seem to be. It’s like a magic trick. Nadia Santos says that . . .”
    â€œAnd who is Nadia Santos?”
    â€œThe girl who found the diamonds. I already told you that. Will you help me, Isaac?”
    â€œI’ll help you, Kate, as long as it’s legal.”
    And that was how the respectable Isaac Rosenblat became guardian of the three awesome stones; how he was put in charge of turning them into hard cash; how he invested the capital wisely; and how he helped Kate Cold create the Diamond Foundation. He advised her to appoint the