Page 74 of A Thousand Nights Before Dawn
Heba shut her chest, picking up a piece of cloth to wipe her hands. “She is not using it.”
Zahra left the room. “Perhaps on my wedding day, I will.”
“Or if you will go to the Feast,” Heba teased. She followed Zahra out and eyed the darkening sky. “It has not yet started. You still have time to go.”
Zahra laughed. “I already told you, I would rather be here with you.”
Heba huffed, waving the cloth toward Zahra. “You can see us any day. Only tonight can you dance with the King.”
“I don’t think he would dance with me.” Zahra wished she could tell her that the King was out in the courtyard now, that she was helping him look for his lost bride, but she did not want to worry Heba.
“Nonsense. You will never know if you don’t go. I—” Heba’s smile morphed into a frown, and she dropped her cloth as she moved quickly toward Zahra.
Zahra’s brows knitted together as Heba grabbed her hands. “Heba?”
Heba did not answer, instead inspecting Zahra’s fingertips with worried eyes. She pulled Zahra back to the old chair, gently pushing her into it. “Wait here.”
Zahra stared at Heba, bewildered, as Heba disappeared back into her room. After a few moments, she returned with a small box. Inside the box was a variety of small crystals. Heba pulled out six crystals—four quartz crystals and two opals—and she had Zahra rest her arms on the small table. One by one, Heba laid the crystals on Zahra’s arms, laying the opals on each of her wrists.
Heba sat back and waited. For several moments, nothing happened.
Zahra began to move her arms. “Heba…”
Vibrations went up Zahra’s arm, and she froze. Her arms began to glow silver. The eagle’s feather was gone from herarm, and the skin had healed itself. However, the tips of Zahra’s fingers glowed orange.
Zahra looked out of the windows, afraid someone might see. “Heba!”
Heba said nothing. She took one of Zahra’s fingers in her hand, studying it.
Zahra glanced around once more before leaning closer to her hands. Small cracks had begun to work their way up her fingers, breaking the skin.
“How has this happened?” Heba muttered to herself. She glanced up at Zahra. “What have you been seeing in your dreams?”
Zahra thought of thekeresand the dry and cracked sand she had seen in the Duat. Had thekeresdone this to her hands? “N-Nothing, Heba. Now, please?—”
Zahra tried to move her hands away, but Heba pulled her back. “This is serious, Zahra.”
Zahra’s mouth went dry. “What does it mean?”
“Apollos.”
Zahra sucked in a breath.Apolloswas a rare sickness among the Ionians. It came on suddenly and overtook a person with a fever so hot that it stole all their energy, and eventually theirpsyche—their soul—until they were nothing more than an empty frame.
“But I am not ill,” Zahra insisted. “I couldn’t have it.”
“It shows itself in thepsychefirst.” Heba met Zahra’s eyes. “It occurs when someone’spsycheis heavily strained, such as when an evil spirit attaches itself to them.”
Like thekeres.
Heba shook her head. “But usually such spirits have to be with a person for years for them to have such an effect, and they’re usually driven away from our people by Selene’s protection. I would have noticed it long ago.”
Zahra swallowed hard. “Is there a way it would spread quickly?”
“Never in any case that I have seen.” Heba looked at Zahra. “Yourpsychewould have to be strained in a great way, and more than once.”
My death every night.It was the only answer.
Heba released Zahra’s hands and plucked the crystals from her arms. The glow disappeared. “I can figure out what kind of spirit has attached itself to you after the celebration. For now, I will get you a protective amulet.”
