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people’s houses in the middle of the night and did things like change the furniture and shrink all their clothes and dye their pets green, so when the people woke up they believed they were in some bizarro world. More than one contestant had gone totally insane. Those who didn’t go insane won a vacation or a new toaster.
    Celia was not interested in a vacation or a new toaster. Oliver was looking around for hidden cameras.
    â€œWho are you?” asked Oliver
    â€œHow did you know we’d be here?” asked Celia.
    â€œYour friend told us.” The boy shrugged.
    â€œOur friend?” Celia cocked her head to the side like a confused puppy.
    She and Oliver didn’t have a lot of friends in the sixth grade. Their father had pulled them out of school to go on adventures for most of the school year, and when they were in school, most of the kids only talked to them because they knew Corey Brandt. Celia didn’t expect any of the squeaky girls who had Corey’s face on their notebooks to know any Dinka warriors, and Oliver was pretty sure that none of the boys in his class had ever been to the Bahr al-Ghazal region of southern Sudan. Most of them weren’t even allowed to ride the subway alone.
    â€œCelia!” A girl dressed in a flowing white tunic with a colorful cloth bag over her shoulder climbed up on the other side of the roof.
    Celia broke into a smile when she saw the girl. She wasn’t a Dinka warrior and she wasn’t from Oliver and Celia’s school either.
    â€œQui!” Celia smiled at her old friend from the Amazon, whose whole name was Quinuama, but she let people call her Qui to make it easier for them. She was thoughtful that way, even though she quite liked her full name. Qui had helped Oliver and Celia find the lost city of El Dorado in the Amazon and she was their first real friend in the world. Celia had no idea how Qui had gotten all the way to North Africa, or why.
    Celia ran across the roof and gave her a hug. Friends, we should note, never start by asking why.
    Oliver interrupted the hug. “What are you doing here? How do you know these warriors?”
    â€œWe met on the Internet,” Qui answered him with a shrug.
    â€œThe Internet?” Oliver and Celia asked.
    â€œWe use it all the time,” said Qui. “We indigenous peoples have to stick together.”
    â€œIndigenous?” Oliver looked at his sister.
    â€œYou know that one,” she said.
    â€œLike native?” said Oliver. Celia nodded.
    â€œMy people are facing many of the problems the Dinka and other tribes are facing,” said Qui. “From pollution and the destruction of our cultures to getting into a good college when you’ve lived your whole life in the jungle.”
    â€œOr in the desert,” said the Dinka boy.
    â€œRight,” said Qui. “It’s hard being an indigenous kid these days. So we have Internet forums and stuff. That’s where I met these guys.” She pointed to the Dinka warriors.
    â€œAnd where I learned about your prophecy,” the boy said.
“The greatest explorers shall be the least. The old ways shall come to nothing, while new visions reveal everything. All that is known will be unknown and what was lost will be found.”
    â€œThat prophecy is, like, mega.” Corey Brandt whistled.
    â€œWe know.” Celia groaned.
    â€œI can’t believe you read our prophecy on the Internet,” said Oliver. “Isn’t that, like, a violation of privacy?”
    Qui shrugged.
    â€œDo we really still have to do this whole prophecy thing?” said Celia. “It seems kind of worn out.”
    â€œHoney.” Her mother held her shoulders. “You have to fulfill a prophecy before it can be over.”
    â€œThat is so totally unfair,” said Celia.
    â€œYou say that a lot,” said her father.
    â€œWell.” Celia shrugged. “Everybody needs a catchphrase.”
    Suddenly,