CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

BY THE TIME WE reached the checkpoint, the air had become one part sand to every part oxygen. And I swore the desert had begun to growl. The guard booth appeared suddenly, as if birthed from the Rub’ al Khali. Hassan slammed on the brakes and slid to a stop. Adel and I bounced off the back of the cab before I could adjust my psychic current.

I leaned over the truck railing in hopes of seeing something, anything, other than sand. Two soldiers, cloaked from head to foot and wearing rebreathers, approached the truck bearing crossbows and swords. Another loomed above and behind them, perched on a camel’s back. Spotting me, he jerked his crossbow in my direction.

I quickly ducked behind the cab. “Friendly.”

“Cultists.” Adel leaned close to my ear. “Don’t look at them or speak to them.”

I studied my lap at the sound of a soldier slapping the body of the truck. The whole time, I continued reminding myself that the longer I hid my abilities, the closer I’d get to Oleg without him knowing I was coming.

I heard the standard Islamic greeting over the growl of the desert. Moments later, a double slap of the truck body started us rolling forward. I risked a peek as we bounced onto the rutted road. Standing at attention and saluting, the soldiers disappeared behind a curtain of sand. Either the loyalists still believed Hassan was one of them, or he really was. Time would tell.

Petrosian jutted his arm through the window, holding a couple of rebreathers similar to the ones the soldiers had been wearing. “Put ‘em on. Lower them only when indoors. Never take them off. Only twitchers can survive without them.” He glared at me through his goggles.

I took the clumsy units, offering Adel the least soiled one. Twitcher or not, I welcomed anything to stifle the insufferable sand, and we hadn’t even seen the worst of it. After we situated the rebreathers on our faces, I leaned into Adel. “I suppose that means I’m wearing this as a courtesy.”

“If the locals knew, I’m not sure whether they’d accept you as an angel or a demon. Don’t forget, traditionally jinn are more likely to be wicked than good.”

“Sounds like they’ve already got me pegged.”

“You said it first.”

I jabbed her with an elbow then held her close. Despite the baking heat, intensified by the swirling sand, the storm’s isolation created an inexplicable need for intimacy. A part of me feared if I released Adel, I’d lose everything—being unanchored from existence and drowning in a sea of sand.

I passed the next hour with thoughts of Evie and by counting the seconds between the strobing reflectors we passed on either side of the truck. Driving on the fringes of the Rub’ al Khali seemed no less an exercise of faith than praying to an unseen god.

The sun had gone before we reached the checkpoint. I knew it wasn’t yet four in the afternoon. By the time we slid to a second stop, everything I had trusted to orientate myself had been stolen by the desert. The living desert had become synonymous with Oleg. Thus, killing Oleg meant getting back my life, along with everything in it.