“The situation is grave,” she continued, swallowing back tears and allowing one of her servants to bring her some water. She drank the whole cup and then turned back to us. “He was on a hunt, and somehow he fell. …”
A servant girl came forward from her spot in the corner. “Lady, I can take these women to the harem. Would you like to go to the baths? They will refresh you.”
Aaliyah picked at a golden bird embroidered onto her dress. “Take them,” she said, and shook her head as if shaking away a thought. Her face reddened more, and I rose quickly, eager to leave the room before more tears came. Rahela was right beside me, joining the servant girl at the door, when the woman looked up. “I will see you tomorrow. There will be no wedding until Harun’s condition improves.”
The servant girl took us out of the room then. Both she and Rahela were stone-faced, and I instinctively wrapped my arms around myself. While the girl went to speak to a male servant who had been posted outside the room, Rahela leaned in to whisper, “This gives us some time.”
The male servant led us along a labyrinth of halls, his sandals clipping against the tiles. He didn’t look at or speak to us. Rahela had let me carry the beaded headpiece and wear only the veil, but the headpiece jingled, telling anyone we passed that I was the princess who was not going to marry the prince tonight.
Eventually, after another turn, we reached a joining of two hallways. A malachite plinth stood in the center, holding up a golden lamp. The Lamp. I grabbed at my mark and pinched, hoping against hope that this would somehow get sent to the Eye.
The Lamp sat there, as big as a lion. I wanted to run my fingers through its flame, but like its twin in the Cavern, it hadn’t been lit since the war began. It was only a statue now—a cold reminder of what had been. An Arabic prayer twisted down the plinth and disappeared into the floor, joining the palace with the earth below. When the Lamp had been lit, this was how the jinn most often transferred into the palace. I reached out to trace the carved words and felt the hair on the back of my neck rise. I looked up.
Prince Kamal was standing across the hall, watching me.
18
Zayele
When the other boat had left the pier, Atish called out to them, “Devil’s Island?”
“Yes!” Dabar said.
“Won’t it be crowded?” Shirin asked. She was sitting behind Atish, but he had his back to her while he rowed. He was facing me, and I tried not to look at him while he pulled at the oars.
“Hope not,” Atish said.
A gigantic palace loomed over the lake at the end of the wall. It was all edges and points. I didn’t want anything to do with it, and was relieved to see it wasn’t on an island. We were headed for a bit of land floating out in the middle, surrounded by boats.
Irina’s boat pulled up next to ours, and the boys shouted out at each other. Atish winked at me and then pulled, faster. Our boat lurched and soon was ahead of the other one.
Just then, a flicker of flame sprouted from the water ahead, grew like a weed, and flew off into the air. If it hadn’t been terrifying, it would have been pretty.
“You should have told me we were going to Devil’s Island,” Shirin told Atish. “I would have planned something for Irina.” A wicked smile spread across her face.
“Like what?” I asked.
“She’s always talking down to me. And to you.”
“What would you have done to her?” I asked. “Wished her into one of those glowworms?”
“Shards, no!” she laughed. “I just meant I might wish her seams to tighten a little.”
“You could still wish that,” I said, forcing myself to grin. For some reason, I liked the idea that this girl could make Irina just a little more uncomfortable, without her noticing.
“Just stop it, will you?” Atish said. “No one is doing anything to anyone.”
I looked behind us to Irina, in her boat. She sat on the backseat, lost in thought.
“My mother wouldn’t shut up about her last night,” I mumbled.
“I bet,” Shirin said.
Before long, Atish had rowed us to the island. It was just a dot of stone rising a few inches above the water, no bigger than a tent. Or a barge.
He pulled the boat along the side and tied it to a piece of rock that jutted from the island. Then he helped us both out onto Devil’s Island. It took me a moment to get my bearings. We stood on this small bit of land, in the middle of the Lake of Fire, like a dream that had gone horribly awry. After the other boat arrived, there was barely any room to sit.
“All right,” Shirin said. “I’m going in. Krashish.” Her gown changed to a long suit of purple cloth that covered her but didn’t weigh her down. She spun around to let me see it, but stopped when Irina snickered.
“Krashish,” Irina said. Her gown transformed into something tighter, shorter, and black.
Shirin raised an eyebrow at Irina and her suit, and then jumped into the water. She came back up and floated on her back. “It’s cold,” she gasped.
Atish was taking off his vest, like Cyril and Dabar, and raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you going to change?” he asked. I had been staring at him, and I looked away quickly.
“I’d like to see what she comes up with,” sneered Irina.
I hadn’t swum without a hijab around my hair since I was a child, but I pulled it off and stared Irina down. I might not be able to change my clothes with a wish, but I’d grown up swimming in gowns. In a river. Even with the flames licking the surface, this water was more still than a river. I knelt and tested the water by dipping my hand in. It was cooler than I’d expected, and when my skin didn’t burn, I decided it was probably safe.
“I’ll just swim in this,” I said. I shook off my shoes and sucked in a deep breath. Then I dove into the water headfirst.
The water wrapped around me like the hands of winter. It ran through my uncovered hair, down my arms and back, and between my toes. I kicked and brought myself to the surface.
Irina was toeing the water and reaching for Atish, but he was looking at me, grinning. When she pawed the air and got nothing, she gave a sharp sigh and slunk into the water. Then she looked over to me.
“Watch out for that,” she said.
A bubble rose beside me. When it breached the surface and spat out a stream of fire, I paddled backward. The movement pulled the flame along with me. It rolled over me, and I shrieked.
The flame passed by, warming me for half a second, and flew up into the air. A moment later, it was gone. The experience had been like passing a finger through a flame. Sheepish now, I looked over at Shirin. She was laughing, and so were the others.
“I haven’t seen you jump like that in years,” she said. She swam over to me. “You’re always so level. And watchful.”
“Yes, well, that surprised me,” I said.
Irina said, “Why, Najwa, I thought you were never ‘surprised.’ ” She swam like a snake. “Isn’t it a requirement for the Corps to always be alert?”
I had to get away from her before I did something I’d regret. I was starting to imagine what it’d be like to pull her down by her hair and hold her there.
“Want to swim around the island?” I asked Shirin.
“Not really,” she said. “I pulled a muscle setting a leg splint yesterday, and I didn’t realize it was so bad.” She rubbed her shoulder and started for the island.
“I’ll race you,” Atish said.
Yes. That was what I needed. I had spent too many days in the barge, and I still hadn’t had much of a chance to move. “What about you?” I asked Irina. “Are you going to race or just try to look pretty?”
Her nostrils flared. “I’ll race.”
A minute later we were lined up, along with Cyril and Dabar. Shirin had climbed out and was standing to watch.
“You need something to mark the
finish,” she said.
“I’ll take care of it,” Atish said. He pointed at the surface and muttered something, and a line of flames crossed the water before us. “Just swim through it, go around the island, and through it again.”
“Brilliant!” I said, a little louder than I’d meant to be. I looked at Irina, who treaded water beside me. She was looking at me strangely.
“Ready,” said Shirin. “Go!”
I chopped at the water, kicking as hard as I could. It was so smooth. Without any current to fight, it was easy to pull myself around the island. I took a stroke, breathed, and then took four more.
I hadn’t moved my body like this in ages, and although the strain was more than it used to be, it felt good to move. In the water, I was free. I didn’t have to think about how my father was always waiting for me to do something wrong. I pulled hard at the water, until I forgot about jinn, forgot I was in the Lake of Fire, and forgot about Najwa.
I burst through a wall of fire. Atish was beside me, laughing. He splashed my face, and I laughed, splashing back. We had crossed the line at the same time, followed shortly by the others. My heart was beating fast, and I felt more alive than I had in months.
“Najwa, when did you learn to swim like that?” Atish asked. He was incredulous, but there wasn’t a trace of suspicion on his face. He just looked happily stunned.
I shrugged and said, “Couldn’t let you beat me.”
He reached out for my hand, and as he pulled me to the island’s edge, I thought of how our bodies were too close in the water. I didn’t have my hijab on. I was wet. And he was half-naked.
By the time I crawled out of the water, I was shaking. I couldn’t stop, even after Shirin took pity and wished me dry. My hennaed hands were wrinkled, and I held them close, afraid if I let them down, he would take my hand again.
This wouldn’t last. Sooner or later, they’d discover the truth, and I needed to be far, far away before that happened. I scanned the walls and saw dark patches that might be tunnel entrances, but were they guarded? Did they go to the surface?
19
Najwa
Kamal was clutching a stack of papers in one hand and a leather bag in the other, but he didn’t seem aware of them. While Hashim had made me feel like a cowering rodent, Kamal made me feel seen. Neither of us moved, he with his papers and bag, and me with my hand stuck to the Lamp’s base, as if I’d grown from it.
Kamal lifted the bag in a wave. “Hello,” he said. He was still in the white turban I’d seen him wearing that morning. As he closed the distance between us, I held on to the Lamp for support. Here was the prince, walking toward me, and he was smiling. At me. “You must be Princess Zayele.”
“Yes,” I said weakly. “And you are Prince Kamal?”
He bowed his head. “I am sorry we were not properly introduced, but everyone is busy at the moment. …” He faltered, then continued. “We have had an injury.”
“We were just told about your father. I am very sorry.” I nearly lifted my hand off the Lamp. Strangely, I felt myself wanting to comfort him, to assure him his father would be well. All of this was twisting in my stomach because I should not have wanted this. His father was our enemy. He was our enemy.
Kamal swallowed and rapped his fingers against the Lamp, making it ring. “He hasn’t woken since his fall, but he is alive. My brother Ibrahim is fighting in the south, so it has fallen to me to guide the city until my father wakes up. With the vizier’s help, of course.”
“I am sure you will do well,” I said. Where were these words coming from? I could barely think with him so close to me. I wanted to both step closer and flee.
“Thank you.” His expression was flat, but his voice was sincere. “I’m not sure they expected us to meet already, especially since the ceremony has been postponed, but I am glad we did. It lessens some of the anxiety, at least for me.” As his gaze traveled over my face, I turned it away. He believed me to be the girl he was going to marry. We would be together if I didn’t get away soon.
“You were anxious?” I asked, then immediately wanted to take back the words.
He laughed. “Weren’t you?”
I opened my mouth to reply, then closed it again and nodded.
“Well then, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one,” he said, grinning. “Excuse me, though. I am working on something and must return to it. I’m sure I will see you again … tomorrow.”
His eyes stayed on me while his body bent in a bow, and then he turned and disappeared down the corridor. My mind whirled. Was I supposed to bow? Should I have said anything else? If so, he hadn’t waited for it.
I let go of the Lamp and pressed my hands to my cheeks.
“Don’t start changing your mind now,” Rahela whispered.
“Nothing has changed,” I said, but it was a lie. The world was dripping in humanness, and I hadn’t touched all of it yet. Also, something had happened when Kamal looked at me. I still wanted to go home, but now that there wasn’t going to be a wedding right away, I had some time. I could do what Faisal had trained me for.
I turned toward our escort, Mohammed, and said we were ready to go to our room, trying my best to sound like a princess. He took us directly, and within moments we stood on the public side of the harem’s doors. A painted peacock spread its tail feathers across the door, so that a hundred eyes seemed to be watching, daring us to enter.
“You must knock,” Mohammed said. “Otherwise they get angry.”
I lifted my fist and held it up to the door. So much had happened today, and now I was about to enter the harem. I knocked twice, and noticed that my hands were shaking harder than when I’d first arrived.
The door opened inward, revealing a curtained area billowing with pale silk. I thanked Mohammed and went through the peacock door, followed by Rahela. A girl covered head to toe in scarlet and gold closed the door behind us. She was quick and deft, spinning around and parting the curtains as silent as fire.
The harem was a flurry of colors and sounds, and as busy as the Lakewall in the Cavern. Women and children of all ages filled its corners, which were divided by a man-made creek flowing from a fountain in the center.
The fountain sat in the middle of the red-and-white marble tiled courtyard. It was the most elaborate fountain I’d ever seen, and it spilled into a reflecting pool dotted with pink lotus blossoms. Shallow benches lined the pool, and on those benches sat half a dozen ladies, some with infants at their breast, others bouncing smaller children on their knees. The older children waded in the creek, splashing each other and shrieking in joy.
Colored silks swooped along a sandstone wall decorated with climbing vines and recessed fountains. Between manicured orange trees, other women lay on thin rugs playing ouds and flutes while a handful of children chased one another around them. Two women danced behind the musicians, their bodies wrapped in shawls knotted with brass coins. They twisted their hips and jangled the coins, adding a tinkling tune to that of the oud and flute.
All this was open to the afternoon sun. Other women sat beside a smaller pool of water, jewelry glinting and hands gesturing in talk, until one of them saw the girl in fiery red bring us out of the curtains. They all turned and the music stopped. The coins clanged on the dancing girls’ skirts. The younger children, however, continued with their play, oblivious to our approach.
The girl in red cleared her throat. “Princess Zayele and her companion have arrived.” The women stared, silent, while she led us to a door along the garden’s walls and slid it open.
Rahela cast the women a glance before shutting the door. “So kind,” she muttered.
The girl showed us that our trunks had been brought in; then she turned and left. Our room wasn’t large, but the ceiling rose higher than most trees. Two couches dotted with round pillows and a low table with Rahela’s loom upon it were the only furniture A vine, budding in jasmine,
climbed an arched doorway on the other side of the room. It was open, with a sheer curtain for a door, and led to a patio and small garden.
Rahela sat by the table and tapped her loom. “I have thought of this moment ever since we left home, but it’s all wrong.”
I hadn’t moved more than a step into the room yet, and I wasn’t sure if I should go to a couch or sit beside her. She scowled at me, so I went to a couch.
“I shouldn’t have left my home today,” I said.
“You’re right. You shouldn’t have,” she said. “But maybe Zayele is somewhere she can be happy. There’s been a cloud over her ever since we left. Hashim should have picked someone else.” She looked up. “Can you give me that wish?”
I shook my head. “I can’t change what has already happened.”
She pressed her palms together and touched her lips. “So here we are. She is wherever she is. And you are here, unable to change anything.”
“Yes. Here we are.” If I’d been alone, I would have cried.
20
Zayele
We snacked on some food Shirin had brought, and then rowed back to the lake wall. Even Irina was smiling, laughing in her boat with Cyril and Dabar.
“Najwa,” Shirin said, leaning against her seat and grinning, “I’m so glad you raced.”
I raised my eyebrows, but said nothing.
“It was fun,” Atish agreed. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me since we’d climbed into the boat, and a flush had been slowly creeping up my shoulders. “If you have to best Irina at something, that’s a good way to do it. At least it was honorable.”
Shirin groaned. “Atish, don’t ruin the moment. Najwa, you were amazing. I had no idea you could swim so fast!”
“She was just a little slower than me. That’s all,” I said.
“Maybe.” Shirin didn’t look convinced. Then she burst into giggles. “She was so mad, and when you and Atish climbed out of the lake together, she looked like she was trying to digest quartz.”
The Fire Wish Page 10
