ONE

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TEN HOURS AFTER ESCAPING CERTAIN DEATH, Imara Kalu jumped back in harm’s way. It had been natural to rescue her sister from crazed terrorists, but now she put her life on the line for a complete stranger. A little boy running from a slave cartel.

She adjusted the thermostat on her temperature-controlled underclothing as she ran. So much running, but at least this time she wasn’t in underground catacombs with no service.

“We’re almost there,” Abe said as he tapped a message on his hologram screen. “Edrice says it’s two more blocks, and then we’re there.”

Edrice was Abe’s business partner. With a hila of photographic memory, she knew the city of Cairo like the back of her hand. Maybe even better.

On the plane ride to Cairo, Abe had explained how Edrice tracked the little boy for several days. He’d been caught by Sef, the slave cartel leader, but somehow the boy had escaped. Maye, one of Abe’s employees, had been sent to rescue the boy. For some reason, he was unwilling to be rescued.

Imara jumped over a pile of glass shards in the street. Looking over her shoulder, her eyes traveled from the glass to the empty window from which it had clearly come. Through the window she saw a small group of people with heads bent, exchanging whispers. They stood near the broken window but did nothing to fix it. Was that normal?

As her feet pounded the pavement, she looked back at Abe, hoping he would have an answer. He shrugged. “That happens a lot. Most buildings have impact-proof glass now, but it’s too expensive to install in homes.”

They turned a corner and kept running. Imara shook her head. “But why?” she asked. “Why would anyone break the glass? And who did it?”

Abe’s shoulders twitched as he grimaced. “Sef. It’s always Sef. Or some of his men, anyway. He’s the leader of the slave cartel. He kidnaps orphans. He deals drugs worse than death. His gangsters are more feared than venomous cobras.”

His ran his hand down the side of his face, and everything about his expression seemed foreign. She had seen Abe experience fear, determination, anger, and love even. But never had she seen him so devoid of hope. Since hope was the quality that had attracted her to him in the first place, her heart ached to see him without it now.

His copper skin looked lighter under the street lights than it had in the catacombs. He ran his fingers through the generous portion of dark hair on his head, and then a small twinkle appeared in his eye. His feet slowed as he brushed his hand over her elbow and gave a squeeze. “We can save the boy if you’re here,” he said. “My employee, Maye, is with him now, and Sef’s gangsters are closing in. They’ll kill Maye and kidnap the boy if we can’t convince the boy to come with us. But you’ll be able to convince him. I know you will.”

With a smile, she increased her speed. She had made a lot of mistakes in the past. She saw the worst in people and pushed everyone away. Her sister, Naki, she had hurt worst of all. But in the catacombs, Abe had believed in her. He believed she could change if only she tried. All she wanted now was to make things right with Naki and find a way to help Abe. If he had believed in her, she could believe in herself. No matter what happened tonight, she would save that boy.

In the past week, she’d lost her job, her mentor, and her hila. Once a truth seer, now she was nothing but a hollow shell of a person. One desperate to make things right.

“This way,” Abe said as he pointed down an alley.

Around the corner, a small boy of about ten stood with his back against the alley wall. His fingers clenched around a knife hilt with the blade facing toward them.

A young woman with billowy clothes and big eyes stood a meter away from the boy. She stared at her hands as her breath shuddered in jagged puffs. Blood dripped from her palms down to her elbows. Abe had his bag open and gauze out before Imara had a chance to blink.

“It’s almost curfew,” the young woman said as she held her palms up for Abe to clean. “He cut me twice! The first time wasn’t bad, but this time...” Her breath rattled as she tried to suck in air.

“I’ve got it, Maye,” Abe said. “The cut isn’t deep, and I have my ointment with pain killer. You’ll be good as new in no time.”

She hissed at him and stomped her foot. “How could you leave us like that? You’ve been gone for five days. Five!” Her shoulders shook as she glared at Abe.

A slew of angry retorts bounced through Imara’s mind, but she tried to push them all away. Surely, Maye had no idea that Abe went to the catacombs to rescue his dad. She obviously had no idea how many times his life had been in danger. If she knew, she wouldn’t yell at him like this. The anger still bubbled in Imara’s chest, but she took a deep breath to calm it. She wasn’t this person anymore. She was going to see the best in people, not the worst. Besides, this was no time to be making judgments about Maye.

Curfew was approaching, and that meant anyone under eighteen had to be off the streets. Right now, they had to save this boy before they ran out of time.

Ignoring Abe and Maye, Imara took careful steps toward the boy. His face may have been hardened and his knife pointed, but his arms trembled. She automatically searched for the colorful shapes depicting his emotion. With her hila, she’d been able to see emotions, truths, and even intentions. Even though she knew her hila was gone, her eyes still searched for the colors. She saw nothing.

The boy growled as she stared, but his chin quivered at the same time. Yesterday, she would have seen wine-colored spikes coming off his skin, but today she saw body language. Body language that indicated fear.

She needed this boy to trust her. If he was scared, she had to show him she wouldn’t hurt him. She dropped to the ground and crossed her legs. As an extra measure, she clasped her hands behind her head. “Can I hurt you when I’m sitting like this?” she asked.

The boy blinked back at her. He narrowed his eyes, as if thinking. When Maye let out a sigh from behind her, he raised his knife higher and moved his face into a glare. “This is a trick,” he said. “You’re trying to hurt me.”

Imara took in a slow breath. When she spoke again, she used a soothing voice. This time, she tried a different kind of question. “Why do people trick others?”

The boy blinked at her again. His knife lowered a centimeter as he screwed up his face in thought. “You want to hurt me,” he said.

She kept her hands clasped behind her head and again sought her soothing voice. “I’ve been hurt before too. It’s hard to trust people after that happens, but you know what?”

The boy watched her, looking more confused than anything.

She decided to give him a little smile. “I just learned that most people don’t want to hurt me.”

The boy’s eyes shifted around from her to Abe, to Maye, and back again. He’d held his knife out with a rigid hand, but then it relaxed, and he cocked his head to the side.

“I have an idea,” she said. “What if you come with us but we let you keep your knife? If you feel threatened, you can stab anyone. Even me.”

The boy stared for several seconds before he started to nod. Once the nod began, he stopped and asked, “Where do you want to take me?”

She glanced back at Abe, realizing she didn’t know the answer.

“To my headquarters,” Abe said.

This made the boy tighten his grip on the knife and bare his teeth in a scowl.

Abe took a step back and raised his hands up with his palms out. “We have a nice place for you to eat and sleep until you can go back to the Egyptian Council.”

At those words, the boy’s shoulders relaxed. “The Egyptian Council?”

“You already know about the Egyptian Council?” Imara asked.

The boy stared with a blank expression, so finally, Abe answered. “His parents died three months ago. He was in the care of the Egyptian Council until Sef’s gangsters kidnapped him a week ago.”

“How do you know that?” the boy asked as he narrowed his eyes.

“It’s his job to know,” Maye answered with sharpness in her tone. “We work for the Egyptian Council, and it’s good that you trust them. The sixteen council members are the only part of Cairo that hasn’t been infiltrated by Sef.”

“I want to go back to the Egyptian Council,” the boy announced.

“We can take you there in the morning, but right now we need to get you off the streets before curfew,” Abe said. “Do you trust us?”

The boy coiled.

Imara looked into the boy’s eyes and held his gaze until his shoulders relaxed. With a smile, she said, “We might need your help if there’s trouble on the way. Can you use your knife if you have to?”

The boy’s head bobbed up and down, and he rolled his shoulders back.

“Would you like to stand in front of us or behind us as we walk?” she asked as she got to her feet.

He considered for a moment and then said, “Behind.”

“That’s a smart choice. Then you can keep an eye on us and make sure we don’t do anything tricky.”

Without her hila, she couldn’t see the tangerine glow of pride coming off his skin, but she noticed other things. His lips twitched into barely a smile, and his chest puffed up. Her heart ached for the loss of colors, but with body language, she found she could still interpret his emotion.

A loud whoop sounded from down the alleyway. Maye shivered, and Abe jerked his head toward the entrance of the alley. “We need to get out of here,” he said under his breath.

Imara nodded and glanced back at the boy to wave him forward. When she turned back to march after Abe, she noticed Maye staring at her. Her face had relaxed, though her shoulders were still tense. After a moment, Imara noticed she started to smile. Just a little.

Not sure exactly what to do next, Imara smiled back. It was such a tiny thing, but it made her heart swell. Maybe now that she was determined to stop seeing the worst in people, she could have friends. Real friends. For the first time in years.

Soon they were on their way, with Abe in the front and the little boy in the rear. Everything went smoothly for about a minute, but then, the boy sucked in a breath. Even without seeing him, she knew he was afraid once again.

When she turned to face him, he stared at the ground. Maye gasped even louder than the boy had and started backing away with short steps. Abe appeared at Imara’s side and grabbed her arm.

“Just back up slowly,” he said as he pulled her away. “Nice and slow.”

She stared at him, then back at the boy, mystified by their reactions. As far as she could tell, the road looked no different than it had a moment ago. The only strange thing she detected was a slightly musky scent in the air.

Abe tightened his grip on her arm and whispered, “Sef uses them to scare the kids. It’s how he gets them to be his slaves.”

She scanned the alley, still confused, until her eyes landed on a black line slithering across the ground. She had thought it was rope at first, but when she looked closer, she saw it moving. The sleek scales running down its body were blacker than the night sky.

Maye let out a yelp when it slid near her foot. She whimpered and wrapped her arms around her stomach. “I can’t do this, Abe,” she muttered under her breath. “Cobras? This is too much for me.”

Imara gulped and took a slow step away from the cobra. The snake seemed to sense her movement, its head following her until its black eyes glinted in the moonlight. The yellow on its belly shone bright against its black scales. She locked her eyes on it, hoping eye contact would distract it from the boy. But only a second later, the cobra turned to him.

In a snap, the cobra flared out the hood around its face and flashed its teeth. In almost the same moment, she realized it not only headed for the boy, but also that it would be close enough to strike within seconds. All of their efforts to save the boy could be lost in a single bite.

Every thought slipped from her mind as she imagined the snake sinking its teeth into the boy’s leg. She didn’t know how, but she knew she couldn’t let that happen. Her body moved even before she had a plan. Before she could be afraid.

Her hand shot out from her body and snatched the cobra by its tail. Its head whipped back, ready to strike, but she lifted it and swung it through the air so hard, its head whiplashed. She swung it around until its head smacked against the ground. Before the cobra could coil, she swung it again and smacked it even harder on the ground. Three more times she swung it, and the third time, she heard a small crack. She dropped the cobra, hoping enough damage had been done. Just in case, she lunged in front of the boy to keep him from harm.

Ignoring the knife in his hands, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, desperate to keep him safe. She glanced back to see the cobra lying still on the ground.

Abe’s mouth hung open, his eyes wide. “You just...” He blinked. “I don’t know how...” he shook his head. “You just killed a cobra. With your bare hands!”

The pride coming from his eyes lifted her spirits considerably. Before she could react to his words, Maye flinched and said, “If there’s a cobra, gangsters can’t be far behind.”

“Right,” Abe said. He turned as if looking for someone, then shook his head. He tapped his ring to check the time, then said, “We only have a few minutes. Time to run.”

Imara grabbed the boy by the wrist, which he allowed without protest. Again, their feet pounded the ground as they passed building after building. After three blocks, they rounded a corner, and a short, tan building came into view.

“That’s headquarters,” Abe said as he pointed.

Before she could let out a breath in relief, six people appeared on the street before them. They all wore a red armband and held their fists up, ready for a fight.