He cut her a dark look.
“Thank you,” she said. “I know the burden is cumbersome, but you render me a great kindness tonight, and I won’t soon forget it.”
The stranger flinched at that, stared at her a beat too long. “I don’t do it to be kind.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t,” he said, sounding, for the first time, like he owned a real emotion: anger. “Don’t thank me.”
Alizeh stiffened. “Very well, then. I retract my formal thanks. Still, I am grateful.”
“Don’t be.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Do you intend to command me not to feel my own emotions?”
“Yes.”
“That’s absurd.”
“And yet, if you are truly grateful for my assistance, you might do me a favor and resist speaking to me altogether.”
Alizeh went slack. “Why are you trying to be cruel?”
“Oh, please don’t fight,” Miss Huda said. “This is bound to be awful enough already—”
“I am inclined to agree,” the young man said coldly. “Impossible as my dreams might be, I would much prefer that we persevere in silence, and part as strangers.”
“Fine,” Alizeh said quietly, her jaw clenching.
“Good.” He glanced at Miss Huda. “Now we must be off.”
“Wait,” said Miss Huda desperately. “Will you not reconsider? Please let me stay here. I promise I won’t say a word to anyone about what I’ve seen— I’ll be silent as death, you’ll see—”
For the second time, the nosta went cold against Alizeh’s skin. She flinched.
“I told you we should kill her,” said the stranger.
Miss Huda whimpered.
“Ignore him,” Alizeh said. “Listen, it’s only for a short while. You can come back home as soon as we’re able to get somewhere safe—”
“You give the girl false hope,” said Nothing, cutting her off. “The only way she could reliably return home is if we manage to distort her memory, which requires walking her backward through time, which is exceedingly complicated, not to mention painful—”
Miss Huda began to cry.
“Will you not hush?” Alizeh snapped at the stranger, forgetting her promise to be nice. “How can you not see that your bullying only makes things worse? We will never manage to be inconspicuous if she won’t stop weeping.”
The stranger looked at her, then looked at Miss Huda. He touched his fingers together, and Miss Huda went suddenly silent.
The girl was still crying but made no sound.
When the young woman realized what happened she clutched at her throat, eyes widening in fear as she struggled to speak, no doubt to scream—all in vain.
Alizeh rounded on Nothing. “What have you done?” she demanded. “I insist you change her back this instant.”
“I will not.”
“Are you some kind of Diviner?”
