Page 101 of The Lustrous Dark
A knock sounds at the door. It isn't a loud knock per se, but it's a bone-eater knock, so yeah, it's loud. Shay freezes, looking over at her sleeping sister to make sure she hasn't been disturbed. Then she tiptoes as fast as she can to the door.
“Kabeer!” she whisper-shouts through the wood, not wanting to risk the baby-rousing creaks it will produce if she opens it. “I told you a hundred times not to knock like that. And before you ask, yes, I feel safe withthat boyin my room.”
“There are visitors for you downstairs, lallati,” says Deebi, this time.
Visitors?Shay's first thought is the Morchidat, but Deebi saidvisitors, as in more than one person. Her second thought is Khawla's parents, which at first terrifies her, but then she thinks …What if there's good news about her rescue? Or maybe she escaped?
Shay rushes downstairs, but it is neither the Morchidat nor Khawla's parents she finds chatting with Bono and Beni about the widespread news of a recently discovered dragon fossil.
“Shoodi!” Yara squeals when she sees her brother, running to tackle him in a hug.
When Yara releases him, he hugs Marjan, who returns his embrace with no less exuberance.
Soon, they are all sitting at the dining table having tea, because if Mekchaouenians have one motto, it'sanytime is teatime. Yara and Marjan both fawn over Najla, who, of course, woke up at the sound of new voices. Despite the tea being the best she has ever tasted—Yara made it—and the pleasant flow of their conversation, unease simmers in Shay's stomach.
Absurdly, she wonders if the Morchidat somehow already knows about her failure and has sent the sisters to assist her. She can't help noticing that their travel bags are large enough to carry overnight bedding, indicating that they have either traveled a far distance to get here or plan to travel somewhere else when they depart. And Marjan carries a lacquered wood bow and a quiver of feather-fletched arrows on her person, further indicating that their journey has been—or is expected to be—beset with danger.
“We are so deeply sorry about your mother.” Yara lays her hand gently on top of Shay's. “Surely from God we come, and to Him we shall return.”
“Is that why you're here?” Shadi asks, as if it has only just occurred to him that there may be a reason for their unannounced arrival. “Did Mmi send you to give her condolences?”
“Well, no.” Marjan fiddles with the string of the bow she placed on the table in front of her when she sat. She glances at Yara. “But she has sent us with a message.”
Shay tenses. Her breath tumbles through her lungs, hard as rocks.
“The astronomers have adjusted their original prediction,” Yara says, and pauses for a well-timed sip of tea. “The meteor shower is now coming in two days.”
“Can they do that?” Shay asks. “Just change their minds?”
“It happens.” Marjan shrugs. “Although I do believe our head astronomer is growing a bit senile.”
Yara looks at her sister aghast.
“What?” Marjan frowns. “I'm just saying I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of that cute young apprentice of his.”
This earns her a second look, this time from Shadi.
“Oh, don't you start.”
“This isn't good,” Shay says, trying to rope everyone back to more important matters. “I've been able to recover only three of the hjabats, and I have reason to believe that CNM members have taken the fourth.”
Marjan and Yara both stare at Shay with the same blank looks.
“We should all go to the Island,” Shadi says.
“What?” Shay turns to him, not sure she heard him right.
“We should pack up Najla and go with my sisters. If we all talk to Mmi, we can present a united front. Shay has more than earned admittance to the Sisterhood by obtaining two hjabats completely unassisted. She's also learned the location of where the Lallat's spirits are trapped, in a crystal cave in Nezjar, where we are to take the hjabats during the meteor shower. There is too much at stake to put this all on her shoulders when the Sisterhood has other resources we could utilize.”
“United front?” Marjan shakes her head, wheezing. “Have you met our mother?”
“Mmi left the Island before we did,” Yara says, somewhat apologetically. “She seems to think this new archeological discovery is in some way connected to the Lallat. She's probably somewhere in the middle of the desert by now.”
How could an ancient dragon skeleton possibly be more important than this?
Shay's mind hearkens back to Shadi's words about the Morchidat having a reason for everything she does. She wants to believe that is true in this case, but a small voice in the back of her mind warns that even if the Morchidat is somehow doing what is best for everyone, it is not the same as what is best forShay.
“We will simply have to find a way to recover the last hjabat from the CNM ourselves.” Shadi says, but his words don't thrum with the same conviction as the ones he spoke moments ago. “Surely, between the four of us, we can think of something. I'll gather a pen and parchment, and we can map out the known CNM bases. See which is closest to the caves.”
