A perfectly round silver knob bloomed in the corner of the door.
I could travel to any other life behind this door. I could live any variation of the lives I had dreamed of.
I was reaching for it when something slammed against me.
NO!Mama screamed.NOT MY DAUGHTER!’
I rocked back on my heels. Static burst in my ears. I cried out as nails scraped against the inside of my head, and the villa disappeared.
A woman in rags knelt in pools on a pitch-black road. Head bent, clumped hair hanging in her narrow face. Thunder split the sky, washing the world in blue. Even without any other signs of civilization around us, I recognized the bumpy path leading to the Haikal estate.
Lightning blasted into the water around the woman’s legs, and she jerked. Light emanated from her bones. Her head snapped up.
Black blood ran down the woman’s face, oozing from her scalp, her ears. She rocked back and forth, dirty nails scraping against her throat and collar. She resembled someone. Who?
The glow illuminated another shape in the muddy water. A small body floating on its stomach.
The lightning struck again, and her eyes flew open.
Bright orange eyes stared directly at me.
I slammed back into my body, finding my hand already wrapped around the door handle.
A wail came from behind me, so real I almost turned around.She’s not finished yet! She needs more time!Echoing around me, over and over, a bottomless plea stretched through space and time.
“Mama?” I whispered.
Every molecule of me ached. I could rest behind the door. I could finally get some sleep. Maybe Mama would be there, and she would untangle my curls and call me a real Masriya. Maybe the Masriya Mina was in there, and she could tell me how to become her.
I twisted the handle and pushed the door open.
The world went white.
Iwake up to a loud clattering noise.
Ouch.My neck twinges from the awkward angle of my head. I’m frozen stiff, too rigid even to tremble.
Another noise strikes a bright match of terror inside me, but the flame sputters out before it can properly burn. I’m too tired. I just want to go back to sleep.
The train groans with new movement. Footsteps pad against the carpeted ground.
Maybe it’s the other ghosts. They’ve banded together to welcome me to the afterlife. Any minute now, a kindly old man with an open, bloody gash across his throat will hold out his hand and tell me to hurry along.
“Mansour, you here?”
Oh good. It’s Jesse. I can sleep if it’s Jesse.
The egregious clomp of his boots stops. The seat next to me depresses, and a stream of curses follows shortly after. “Mansour, hey! Can you hear me?” He shakes my shoulder. If I had the willpower, I’d tell him to quit it.
“You’re freezing. Shit,shit,” Jesse swears. A knuckle passes gently over my numb cheeks and neck. “How long have you been here?”
I make a feeble attempt to protest as my body is dragged onto the other seat and then onto Jesse’s lap. He unzips his jacket and tucks me tightagainst his chest, closing the leather around my quaking body. Warmth envelops me instantly. “Unbelievable. I went around asking people if they’d seen you, you know that? You made metalk to people.“
I rub my cheek against his soft cotton shirt. Jasmine and rain. The signature scent of the boy who wouldn’t have glanced twice at me a week ago. The boy who’s currently saying some stuff about hypothermia in a livid tone.
The warmer I get, the harder it becomes to control my shaking, but Jesse’s arms simply tighten around me. He jumps when I press the cold tip of my nose to the dip where his throat meets his collarbone. I should tell him that I finally remember how I got home. I remember the housekeeper’s daughter patting my face to wake me up. Crouching next to me in the middle of the floor where I had sprawled out and calling for her mother, who ran up the stairs and blanched at the sight of us. She’d shouted at her daughter to get out of the villa and then helped me to my feet. “Are your bags packed?” she’d asked. When I nodded, she swiped open her phone and tapped on the screen. “Good. Your ride to the airport will be here in fifteen minutes.”
“J-J-Jesse?” I slur.
