A Wind of Change(56)

“We need to find somewhere safe to stay until this evening.”

I looked up and down the road, trying to see if I recognized anything about this area. I didn’t. So Joseph just started running along the road toward where the most noise was coming from. We passed along narrow road after road until we eventually reached a square that was lined with shops. In one corner, I spotted a sign that read Guest House.

I pointed it out to Joseph and we arrived outside a mud-brick building a few seconds later. I climbed off Joseph’s back and was about to head inside when Joseph pulled me back.

“Look,” he said.

He pointed to a poster attached to one of the lamp posts. A poster with my, Lalia’s, and Hassan’s passport photos on it. I guessed this was one of many posters that were put up the night I disappeared too.

“Oh.”

“It’s a good thing you’re wearing a niqab,” Joseph said quietly. “You don’t want to be seen by anyone now that the hunters are after you… Let’s keep moving.”

I tore my eyes away from the poster as Joseph ushered me into the building. We found ourselves in a small bare-walled reception room that reeked of detergent. There was a desk in the center of it, but nobody was sitting behind it. I rang the brass bell four times.

A man with a unibrow and a thick bushy mustache emerged from one of the back rooms.

Joseph’s grip around my waist was almost painful.

“Yes?” the man said in English, looking from me to Joseph.

“We would like a room,” I replied in Arabic as I clutched Joseph’s hands around my waist and loosened them slightly. “Just until this evening.”

He eyed Joseph more closely. “Are you married?”

“No,” I replied, already realizing where this was heading.

“We don’t allow cohabiting between unmarried men and women. You will need to book separate—”

“We won’t be sleeping here. We’ll be leaving tonight, as I said.”

He looked at me suspiciously. “You are not Egyptian nationals? I will need to see your passports.”

“We don’t have passports with us.”

“Then I’m sorry, we can’t accommodate you here.”

I breathed out in frustration. Sliding the backpack off my back, I pulled out another gold coin and planted it on the desk none too gently.

“How about now?”

His eyes widened as he looked down at the coin. He picked it up and examined it. He was faster to realize its value than the clothes merchant. He nodded toward a narrow staircase.

“All right,” he said. Reaching into one of the drawers, he pulled out a key and handed it to me. “Until this evening only?”

That coin might have paid for a hundred nights in this basic guesthouse.

I just nodded politely. “Please, and I hope you’ll provide drinking water.”

“Of course,” he said, bowing his head.

He walked back through the door he’d first entered from and returned a moment later with a two-liter bottle of water. He handed it to me, and then Joseph and I made our way up the staircase.

“You seem to be getting a bit better around humans?” I asked, once we were out of earshot.

“Only because I’m practically smothering you,” he said. “Even with you standing a foot away, I can feel the difference.”

We found our room—small, with twin beds lining opposite walls. It was very basic, but it seemed clean. We locked ourselves inside. After opening the bottle of water and chugging down an entire liter, I offered the bottle to Ben. He declined.

I tore off my niqab and then hurried over to one of the twin beds. I grabbed the blanket, wrapping it around me. It was too thin to provide me much warmth. I was grateful when Joseph reached for the blanket on his own bed, walked over and wrapped that around my shoulders too.

“Thanks,” I said.

He sat down on the bed opposite me and breathed out slowly, rubbing his face with his hands. Then he looked up and stared at me.

“River… there’s something I should probably tell you about myself.”

I raised a brow. “What?”

“My name is not Joseph Brunson.”

I stared at him. “Huh?”

“My name is Benjamin Novak. Or Ben, if you like.”

“Ben-Benjamin Novak… Why would you want to keep your name a secret?”

He leaned back on the bed. “That’s kind of a long story. But I’m prince of an island known as The Shade. It’s an island unknown to mainstream society. My parents rule the place, and it’s a haven for all vampires and other supernaturals.”

My mind was reeling.

Joseph—Ben—is a prince?

The Shade?

“Then… if that’s your home, how on earth did you end up trapped in The Oasis?”