Pepper Masalah and the Giant Bird - Pepper Masalah, #3

In the 3rd book in this series, Pepper Masalah and the Giant Bird, the ancient carpet flies over Afghanistan. A huge bird (the Simurgh from Persian folklore) whisks Pepper off the carpet and up to her nest of eggs high on a mountain. The carpet is disorientated without Pepper and disappears after Zamir falls off. Zam makes the long climb to save Pepper before she becomes food for the bird's huge chicks. But Pepper and Zam still need to find the carpet in order to get home to Australia.