Thick shadows paint her surroundings in dark lumps and gray puddles. Her head feels doubled in size. Her skull feels black and blue. She listens and detects no sound. None loud enough to rise over her ragged heartbeat.
The pillow her head rests upon feels hard and lumpy. The stiff bandage pasted to her neck itches. She attempts to scratch it, but her hands are—bound at her sides? She yanks her wrists, and the scrape of thick rope gnaws into her flesh. The terror of her dream floods back, and with it, the alarming realization that it may not have been a dream.
Every part of Shay runs cold like her body is sliding into hibernation. She cannot stop shivering. All she can think is how disappointed Ghita would be in the choices she's made. How Hind would likely be disappointed she's still alive. And how that may not be a problem much longer.
She should scream or kick or do something to keep her wits about her.
Uselessly, piteously, Shay sobs.
Through a blur of tears, her eyes track the rope. It runs from her wrists to the legs of the tables on either side of the sleeping pallet. And there, to her left, like a boon from a benevolent spirit, winks the silver handle of her pocketknife. The one she dropped when Tarik bit her. If she pulls hard enough, she might just topple the heavy table. Might be able to reach the knife and cut through the ropes.
In the grip of swelling hope, she doesn't stop to ponder why she's been left bound with a means of escape placed so temptingly within her grasp. She readies herself to heave. Then come footsteps, slow and steady.Thud. Thud. Thud.Gritting her teeth, Shay strains against the ropes, using her body as leverage. The table doesn't topple, but it shakes so that the knife bounces and skips. She rocks herself back and forth in thrashing movements. Advancing bit by bit, the knife nears the table's edge.
Closer. Closer.Almost there.
The footsteps quicken. Too close.Thud-thud-thud.
The door creaks, and Shay freezes, her forehead slick with sweat.
A lantern enters first. Its brightness practically blinds her to her captor's identity, but the shadows of horns bulge on either side of their head, curving downward. “Are you well, lallati?”
“Deebi!” Shay's relief is only partial. She is not in the bloodsucker's home as she feared. But that does not explain what is going on. “I am tied like a horse hitched to a post. No, I'm not well! But thank you so much for asking.”
The bone-eater sets the lantern, along with a tray of food, onto one of the side tables. He loosens Shay's bonds, babbling nervously as he works at the knots. “I truly apologize about this, but I assure you, there is a good explanation.”
Once her hands are free, Shay scrubs the tears from her face. She's overcome by the unsettling feeling that something has been done to her. She pats herself, searching for clues. At least her satchel, with the hjabat tucked back inside, is still tied around her waist.
“No one hurt you.” Deebi stoops low as he sits carefully on the edge of the pallet. He gives her a narrow glance that seems to ask her for permission to elaborate.
Shay scuttles back. She cowers against the mound of pillows behind her. Her eyes land again on the pocketknife, and she wonders how effective such a paltry tool would be against the monster who restrained her. Or did he free her?
She's confused about which. “What happened?”
Deebi pinches the tip of one horn nervously. “You were sleepwalking,” he tells her, then cocks his head to one side. “If I may ask something, have you ever experienced a brush with death?”
“I don't think so.” Shay rubs her tender wrists, perplexed. “Why?”
“Sometimes, survivors of bloodsucker bites develop a psychic link with their attacker. This is more likely to happen, and the bond tends to be stronger, if the human has had a previous experience with the spiritual realm.”
Shay immediately thinks of Ghita's echo. “Like a midwife? Or maybe her apprentice?”
“Yes, yes.” The bone-eater nods, his weighty horns slicing through the air. “Midwives are very close to the other world. Which is generally a good thing, I suppose, but not in this case. We found you en route to the bloodsucker's home, and after we wrangled you back here, you immediately attempted to leave again. Our only option was tying you down. For your own safety, you see.”
Sickness spreads through Shay's stomach. She believes the bone-eater because she feels the truth of his words. The connection he speaks of quickens inside her like some unnatural conception. Some abomination. “How long does this condition last?”
“It should go away when your wounds heal,” Deebi says, but his tone is less than reassuring. “Until then, whenever you sleep, you will be helpless to resist the urge that calls you to him.”
Shay suddenly, desperately, wishes to be back home. Even if it means facing Ghita's recrimination. Even if it means never seeing Hind again. “And if I leave Ard Al-Ghul?”
“Unfortunately, you can't. The journey through Al-Ghaba Mayita takes well over a full day by foot. It would not be possible for a human to travel such a distance without stopping to rest.”
Shay's shoulders dip. It seems she's even failing at being a proper failure. “At which point, I'd be compelled to walk back here—back tohim—in my sleep?”
“Exactly.” The bone-eater looks at her with something like pity, if creatures such as he bear the capacity for such feelings. “But I have some good news. Mybrothers promised to look for an antidote while on their nightly outing. They set out a while ago and should be back by morning.”
“Wait.” Shay knuckles her temples.Nightly outingis one way to phrase the act of plundering Nezjar's graves, but if the brothers have already left … For the first time since coming to, she notices the moonlight piercing the beams of the thatched roof in bloody needles. “How long was I asleep?”
“You slept through the whole day.” The bone-eater gives her a lipless smile. Shay finds it oddly endearing, but not enough to soften the blow of realizing she's slept right through any chance of catching the caravan to Kiddah. Yet it's not the missed career opportunity that disappoints her. It's knowing she left Ghita with no explanation other than to assume Shay doesn't care.
