Chapter 32

At the Kent farm, Lana and Clark were discussing what they had discovered.

"Well we've discovered just who we need to contact," Lana said.

"The chief of the Kowatchi tribe," Clark said. "He's also a professor, Joseph Willowbrook."

"A little more digging revealed that he really doesn't like the Luthor's," Lana said. "So we've probably got a really good chance of talking to him first."

"You'd better hope so," Jonathon said. "The Luthor's are quite willing to stoop to such low levels as blackmail to get what they want."

"Don't worry dad," Lana assured him. "I think we can give him an offer he can't refuse."

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Clark and Lana were able to track down Joseph Willowbrook who lived in the nearby town of Grandville. They discovered his address, it was a small single floor house on the edge of town. The knocked on the door and were somewhat surprised when a young Native American girl not much older than they were answered.

"Can I help you?" she asked as she opened the screen door.

"Does Joseph Willowbrook live here?" Lana inquired.

"He does," the girl replied. "May I tell him who's here to see him?"

"Uh, I'm Lana Kent and this is my friend Clark, we're here to talk about something we discovered. We heard he might be able to help us." Lana answered.

The girl closed the screen door and went back into the house leaving Lana and Clark standing there waiting. A few moments later she came back and opened the door to let them in. She led them into the living room and offered them a seat. Lana and Clark sat beside each other on the couch. A moment later an elderly Native American man came into the room.

"Hello," he greeted as he came in. "I'm Joseph Willowbrook, you've already met my granddaughter Kyla. So what can I help you with today?"

"Professor Willowbrook we recently discovered some caves that may be of interest to you," Lana said.

"They contain some paintings which we thought may have been done by the Natives of this area." Clark continued. "However they're a lot different than any other cave paintings we have ever seen."

Professor Willowbrook was instantly intrigued, "How are they different?" he asked.

"Well neither of us are exactly experts in the field," Lana replied. "We're just some high school kids going off what we've been able to find in text books. But there was also some writing in there. It was something we have never seen before, hieroglyphs but not."

"As far as we know very few of the Native American languages ever had a written form," Clark said. "So we were wondering if you knew what it said."

"This is assuming I know about these caves that you speak of," Professor Willowbrook said.

"Well, does this sound at all familiar to you?" Lana asked.

"Indeed it does," Professor Willowbrook answered. "And I would much like to see these caves for myself. Tell me, where are they?"

"Well that's the kicker," Clark replied. "They're on land currently owned by Lex Luthor. He's also rather curious about these caves. I suspect that it's just a matter of time before he comes to you looking for answers."

"Well he'll find no answers here," Professor Willowbrook said. "The Luthor's are not people that I wish to have any association with. Perhaps tomorrow you can take me to these caves and when I have seen them I shall tell you all that I know."

"Okay," Lana said. "Um, we both live on a farm just outside of Smallville. The sign says 'Kent Farm'. We should be there most of the day. I think Clark has to work in town in the evening but if you stop by during the day we'll have plenty of time."

"Very well," Professor Willowbrook said standing up and shaking their hands. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

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The following morning Lana and Clark were up in the loft sitting and waiting; they had finished their chores as fast as possible so as to not have to worry about when Professor Willowbrook arrived.

"You know I wonder what this will tell us," Lana said.

"It's probably just going to be about your past," Clark replied. "Although I probably have a similar story in my reality."

Lana had grown used to Clark and who he was, as Clark probably had as well. The topic of the alternate reality didn't really come up very often. For it to have come up meant that something must be bothering him.

"Clark what's wrong?" Lana asked.

"It's just kind of depressing," Clark replied. "I don't really know who I am and I'm not finding out."

"But you yourself have mentioned how things are similar in your reality," Lana said. "I'm sure that this is similar as well."

"I'm sure you're right." Clark said with a smile.

Just then an old brown car turned off the road and came up the Kent driveway.

"Well, looks like he's here," Lana said. "Let's go do this."

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Lana and Clark led, Professor Willowbrook and his granddaughter, who he had brought along, through the caves to the paintings.

"These are the paintings of my ancestors," Professor Willowbrook said after only a few moments of studying them.

"Well what do they say or describe?" Lana asked anxiously.

"This is the legend of Naman," Willowbrook said pointing his flashlight at a particular painting. "It was prophesized that a child would fall to the sky in a rain of fire. Naman would have the strength of ten men and be able to create fire with her eyes and that one day she shall protect the whole world."

"What's that one?" Clark asked pointing to an unusual coupling.

"It was foretold that the one whom Naman loves shall emerge from the body of a normal man," Willowbrook said.

Lana and Clark looked at each other.

"And this one is interesting," Willowbrook said moving his flashlight to a painting that looked like some of serpent creature. "This is Seget. He's supposed to be like a brother to Naman, but one day he turns against Naman and they become the balance between good an evil."

The prospect of protecting the world from evil and having someone turn against her wasn't exactly a very likable prospect on Lana's list at the moment. She hoped that wouldn't happen until later on. Instead she focused her attention on the wall with all the carvings.

"What about this?" Lana asked.

"I know little about this," Willowbrook admitted. "It was foretold that Naman would be able to understand these symbols."

Clark quietly took Lana aside, "Now I can't understand these symbols he whispered, and I'm pretty sure that you can't either. But everything else here seems way too accurate to be just a mere coincidence." Clark whispered

"I know," Lana agreed. "What do you think we should do?"

"The key," Clark suggested. "It had writing on it that matched the writing on the wall."

"And the thing from the spaceship," Lana whispered. "That also had similar writing on it."

"What do you think?" Clark asked.

"I don't know where the key is," Lana replied. "I've never seen it."

"Well then I think that's the first thing we need to do," Clark said. "Find that key."

"But it could be anywhere," Lana said.

"Yeah but I've got a good idea as to who has it," Clark said.

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In his mansion, late at night, Lex Luthor sat at his desk. An unusual paper weight sat on top of the files and reports he still had to look over. However, Lex was not interested in them at the moment. His interest fell on the octagonal paper weight. Back several months ago a man had been in an accident and had reported a spaceship that seemed to have been abandoned in a cornfield. When Lex's people reached the area the ship was gone but there were signs that it had been taken. By whom Lex didn't know, it could have been the government, it could have been a farmer, or it could have been the owner of the spaceship looking take back what was theirs. However, one thing that his people did find was an octagonal piece of metal. It was most likely from the ship since it was an alloy that had never before been seen on earth, except for one thing; the meteor rocks. There was also some unique writing on it, similar that recently discovered in the cave.

Perhaps Roger Nixon wasn't as crazy as I thought he was, Lex thought to himself. Although I still don't think that Lana Kent is an alien.

Lex continued looking at the little metal disk and then his mind thought about the caves, more specifically the one wall with unusual carvings on it; especially the octagonal shaped carving. Perhaps this metal disk had something to do with that. However it was getting late. He would get around to it when it was more convenient to do so.

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Please Read Over:

Lex is getting close to discovering the secret. Will he discover it or will Lana and Clark be able to get the key in time? Keep reading, you never know when a new twist will emerge.

Just another one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.