Once we were inside the palace walls, he motioned to me in an awkward farewell then headed toward the chambers for the Order of Tengri. It was late, but I turned toward the tower. I could tell by the look of the dome that Emine was at work.
When I arrived, I found Meryem sleeping, an acolyte reading, and Emine twirling. Emine’s magic extended from her fingers as she effortlessly twirled in her trance.
When I entered, the girl rose. “Pelin?”
“I was simply checking on everyone. It’s Dahlia, right?” She was a pretty little thing, about ten years old, her light brown eyes offset by her dark hair.
She nodded. “Yes. Meryem is sleeping. There was…earlier today, there was a waver in the dome. Meryem fainted. Emine took over then.”
“It is not easy to support the shield, especially now that the Rift storms have increased so much.”
Dahlia looked up. The sky above the dome rocked with colorful light.
I crossed the room and went to the table where I found the open pack of Turkish delight. A cloud of powdered sugar remained, but the candies were gone. I traced my finger across the sugary dust and put it in my mouth.
“They were delicious. Thank you so very much,” Dahlia said.
I smiled. “Emine always shares,” I said, remembering the one time my grandmother and I had sat in silence sharing a single tangerine.
“She gave them to Mira who shared them with us.”
“You and the other acolytes?”
Dahlia nodded.
I crossed the room once more, bending to pull a blanket over Meryem. She gave a little snort in her sleep.
Both Mira and I suppressed a giggle.
“If you need anything, send for me,” I said.
“Thank you, Pelin.”
With that, I exited the tower and headed back downstairs. Crossing the grounds to the third courtyard, I entered the corridor where the acolytes lived. Here, the young witches received their training in the worship of Mother Umay and practiced their craft. The ornate marble architecture and elaborate mosaics were much like those in my own corridor. But the excited giggles coming from the sleeping quarters were distinctly youthful.
I smiled then knocked on the door.
At once, the giggles stopped.
“Mira?” I called.
There was a pregnant silence, and a moment later, the girl appeared at the door. She nearly gasped when she saw me, but she caught herself. “Pelin? Is everything all right?”
I heard muttered whispers in the room.
“Yes, everything is fine. May I come in for a moment?”
She nodded then pushed the door open.
Inside, the girls sat in their beds, all of them staring wide-eyed at me. It embarrassed me to think that they would be in awe of me. Certainly, Emine was worthy of their respect. Me? I was just another priestess of the order.
“Mira, I understand Emine gave you the Turkish delight I brought with me from the human zone. Is that right?”
A look of horror crossed her face. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I know you bought it for her, but she offer—”
I chuckled. “Oh my dear, don’t worry. It’s quite all right. I…I was wondering if you have any left?”
At that, Mira cast a glance around the room.
“I think…we all ate ours,” Mira said.
Alyse, another young girl in the order, rose and came to me. “Pelin…here,” she said, holding out her hands. She had a single piece of the confection wrapped in a cloth.
“You didn’t want to try it?” I asked.
The shy girl smiled softly. “I was saving it for my little brother. Oh, but please, you take it.”
I shook my head. “No. I need to see something. Mira, bring a light. Maybe you all can help me?” I said, waving the girls to a desk sitting at the side of the room.
Hurrying, Mira brought a lamp over. The girls, their curiosity piqued, huddled around me as I sat. Mira set the lamp in front of me. I set Alyse’s confection on the table. I then pulled the other box of Turkish delight from my pocket, the one the vampire girl had given to me. I opened the box, trying to ignore the heavenly scents of rose, walnut, and orange. I looked through the pieces then selected the one I was after. I set the piece of pistachio candy side by side with the other exactly like it I’d purchased in the human zone.
“Well, what do you think?” I asked the girls. “Were they made by the same hands or merely similar?”
“The ingredients are the same,” Mira said.
“And the color is very alike,” another girl I knew, Melisa, said.
“Rolled in the same way, cut in the same way,” another girl added.
I nodded. From the moment I’d seen the confections in the Dark Bazaar, my mind came to life with a strange but confusing idea. “But are they the same? Do they come from the same hands, the same kitchen? That is what I must know.”
“May I?” Talin, one of the youngest girls, asked. She extended her hand hesitantly. “Sometimes, I can see.”
I nodded, sliding to the side.
The girl scrunched up her face in concentration as she hovered her hand directly above the candy I’d given to Emine.
“I see Alyse’s hands, and Mira’s,” she said then paused. “And those are Emine’s hands,” she added with a big smile. “That is you, Pelin. I can feel you, but you look different.”
“I wore an enchantment when I went into the human zone today.”
There was a murmur behind me. Dahlia hushed the others.
“I see a human woman. Her skin is spotted with age. And before her…” Talin said then squinted hard. “Hands…wooden bracelets and silver rings. I can’t see a face. Before that, there is nothing.” She took her hand away, inhaled deeply, then reached out toward the other confection.
Before she touched it, I stopped her, taking her fingers into my hands.
“You may see something unexpected. Don’t be afraid,” I said.
Her eyes widened a little then her brow furrowed with determination. She gently set her hands over the confection. A moment later, she gasped.
“I’m sorry. But please, tell me what you see.”
Talin nodded. “First you, then…him…the vampire. Then I see…I see a girl, she’s our age—well, at least that’s how she looks. Who knows how old she really is since she’s a vampire too? Before that,” she said then paused, shuddering a little.
“It’s all right,” I said, setting my hand on her shoulder.
“I see many hands, all vampires.”
“No. Wait. I hear them.”
“Hear what?” Dahlia asked.
Alyse frowned harder, and a sparkle of gold suddenly began to pulse from her temples.
“The bracelets,” she said with a gasp then opened her eyes. She looked at me. “The same wooden bracelets. It’s the same woman. The same person made the confections.”
“Human or vampire?”
“Human.”
“Pelin, where did you get those?” Mira asked, pointing to the box on the table.
I put the candy from the bazaar back in the box and slipped it into my pocket.
A moment later, another of the girls appeared with lemon cologne astringent. She gave some to Alyse and me. After I cleaned my hands, I gently folded the cloth around the candy that Alyse had shared with me and handed it back to her.
I turned to the other girls. “The candy you all ate came from the bazaar in the human zone. The other box came from the Dark Bazaar.”
The girls were stunned silent.
After a moment, Mira said, “But…I don’t understand. Are the humans supplying food to the vampires? Why would they do that?”
“Why indeed?” I replied then gave all the girls a serious look. “I must have your word that you will not repeat to anyone what we have discovered here.”
The girls nodded.
They were so young. I took a deep breath. “My little sisters, there is trouble in Nazar. We see it in the sky. The dome is weak. And I feel it here
,” I said, setting my hand on my heart. “We must be ready and watchful. If any of you ever need anything, you can rely on my sisters and me. We are all daughters of Umay.”
Wordlessly, the girls nodded. From the somber expressions on their faces, I understood that they too had felt what I was talking about. Any witch could.
Nazar was about to fall apart. I had to find out why before it was too late.
Chapter 12
When I returned to the chamber I shared with the other acolytes, I found Zeynep sitting on her bed looking through a book. The others were already sleeping. Zeynep’s red hair fell over her shoulders as she strained to read under candlelight. I thought then about the light bulbs that illuminated the Dark Bazaar. The humans were thriving with food, and the vampires had light. The order, which protected all life, struggled to live on meager meals and in medieval conditions. How had that happened?
I smiled at Zeynep then sat down on the corner of her bed. “I saw you at the tower.”
Zeynep nodded. “I think I remember you being there…like it was in a dream.”
“I was surprised to see your hair.”
Zeynep stroked one of her long locks. “It started about a month ago when the storms above the dome started getting worse. It’s taking more magic to hold it. It’s had an odd effect on me.”
“I’ll say.”
“Have you noticed the increase of storms? The instability?”
I nodded. More than she knew.
“I’m worried,” she said then closed her book, setting it aside. “The barrier, and Emine, are weakening. If she passes before we are ready…Pelin, I know you’re strong, but it’s too much.”
I understood her fear. Even among the nine of us, none of us were as strong as Emine. If she died, I would not be able to hold the dome alone. I would need their help, but if the storms persisted, and we were not ready, then what?
“The real question is why the storms are increasing. What’s causing the disruption?” I asked.
“Have you ever wondered about the rest of the world? What happened to the others? If there are others alive, like us, then their actions could affect us. What if they try the spell again, worsen the Rift curse? What if…well, anything could be going on outside our view. I feel…I sense others out there. I know that sounds crazy but—”
“No, I feel them too. It’s like they are just outside my periphery. I know they are there, but I cannot see them.”
Zeynep sighed. “Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we let go. If the barrier came down, then what? I’ve been reading Linet’s journal,” she said, drumming her fingers on the book. Linet was one of the witches alive during the Rift. An old woman even then, she died shortly after the barrier had gone up. “When the dome was first erected, things were confused in Istanbul. The spell they used was imperfect. That is why the dome is so weak.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you think the spell could be fixed?”
She frowned. “Perhaps. It’s only…some information is missing. The witches in the order were all old when the Rift happened. Emine was just a first order acolyte. She wasn’t told much. What I know comes from the journals. Unless it was written down, the knowledge regarding what happened and how the barrier was formed is lost. It was so long ago. There is no witch alive who remembers what, exactly, happened anymore. At this point, it’s all rumor and conjecture. But I’ll keep looking. I’ll see what I can learn. We must find a way, or our own weakness will doom us all.”
“Well, that’s going to give me nightmares.”
Zeynep laughed lightly. “Sorry. I think I got myself a bit worked up.”
I shook my head. “No, you are right to search for the root of the problem. Clever witch.”
She laughed.
Rising, I sighed. “Goodnight.”
“Night.”
I crossed the room and went to my wardrobe, pulling out my sleeping gown. My fingers drifted across the clothes hanging there. Aside from the ceremonial dress I was wearing, I had an endless supply of blue robes and a single pair of human-style clothes. I pulled off my black dress and set it aside to be laundered then slipped into my sleeping gown. I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling.
“Where did you go dressed like that?” Zeynep whispered in the near darkness.
“The Dark Bazaar.”
“Why?”
“Emine sent Baran and me to talk to the vampire Erlik.”
“Erlik?” Zeynep whispered in disbelief. “Well? How was he?”
“Interesting,” I said, fighting off the smile that made my lips twitch.
Zeynep paused then blew out her candle. “You’ll tell us about him tomorrow?”
“Of course.”
“Pelin?”
“Yes?”
“Interesting can be dangerous.”
“I know.”
I stared out the window, trying to think about the barrier. If the first barrier cast over Istanbul had been weak, then maybe we could find a way to repair it. But first, we’d need to know more about how, under what conditions, the spell was cast in the first place. Zeynep was a clever witch, but she was wrong about one thing. There was someone still alive who might remember what had happened during the Rift.
And he was extremely interesting.
And he had asked to meet me in secret tomorrow at dusk.
Interesting, indeed.
Chapter 13
I woke up before dawn the next morning to the unexpected sound of laughter. Esma, Kamile, Ayla, and Suzan laughed as they chased a puppy from one end of our room to the other. I glanced over at Meryem’s bed. It was still made. She hadn’t returned since yesterday. My impromptu trips to both the human zone and the Dark Bazaar had thrown off our rotation. I lay back in my bed.
When I closed my eyes, an image of Erlik floated through my mind. He’d asked me to meet him in the ruins of an old Turkish bath. I had never been in the place, but it was not far from the order. In the past, I hadn’t ventured outside the walls of the palace at all. Now it seemed I was more outside than in, and nothing made me happier.
As I lay there, I wondered what the vampire knew. Why were some of his people abducting humans at dusk? And what did he know about the Rift? I played over and over again the look on his face when he’d seen the illusion of the star shower. He’d looked so pleased. I knew it would be considered dangerous for me meet such a creature alone. I should probably tell Emine of the plan. And yet… And yet, I knew he would not harm me. I knew it like I knew my own name. The thought sent chills of excitement rolling through my body.
That feeling, however, was quickly overcome by a sense of guilt. Things between Aydin and me had been growing, building into something that had a purpose. When Emine was gone, I could change things, I could make a world where there was a place for people like Aydin and me to be together. I had no business considering how interesting Erlik seemed. First of all, a witch and vampire had destroyed the world because they had pushed boundaries. And second, if there was a future for Aydin and me, then I must close myself to any random, interesting musings. And yet…
No. I would see Erlik as a priestess of the order. That was all. And I would keep my mind and loyalty with Aydin where it belonged.
In a flurry of excited energy, the puppy leaped onto my bed.
“No, no. Silly girl,” Ayla said, picking up the puppy who responded to the scolding by licking Ayla’s face. “Sorry, Pelin.”
I smiled sleepily at her. We girls had grown up in the palace together. Ayla had changed little since we were girls. She still had long dark hair, thick bangs, and curious hazel eyes. Now, she was like a stretched out version of her child self.
“It’s all right. Where did you find her?” I asked.
“Someone in the first courtyard found the mother and puppies living by the shore near the back wall of the palace.”
“Lucky we found them before the vampires,” Kamile said.
She was right. The vampires left nothing alive. And still, it se
emed, their hunger was unquenched. I’d heard rumors that the Rift-cursed had taken to eating regular food to help sustain themselves, but until I’d seen the Dark Bazaar, I hadn’t believed it.
Sighing heavily, I rose and went to my wardrobe.
“Pelin, Zeynep told us you went to the Dark Bazaar. And the acolyte Mira also said you were sent to see Mehmet the Wise,” Isla said.
“Is that true?” Kamile asked.
“Mira must be coached not to repeat Emine’s orders, or in time, it is our confidence she will betray,” I replied.
I looked over my shoulder to see Zeynep sitting up in bed, the same book in her hands.
“It is true. I went to both places.”
“The Dark Bazaar…what was it like?” Isla asked.
“The sights were what you might expect. Bloody. Grotesque. There is a feeling of sick desperation among the swarm of vampires there.”
“They didn’t harm you or Baran, or try to?” Kamile asked.
I shook my head. “No. Among the Rift-cursed I sensed either annoyance or fear, or a mix of both, but they didn’t try to harm us.”
“They know our blood is poison to them. And they fear our crutches,” Ayla said.
“The evil eye,” I said, touching the pendant on my neck. “The light cast by its enchantment pains them.” I looked around at the other girls. All priestesses of the order wore the evil eye.
“Did you see the Berkano?” Esma asked.
I nodded. “The Rift-cursed were as I described. The Berkano were not what I expected.”
“What do you mean?” Suzan asked.
“They were…”
“Interesting?” Zeynep offered, smirking slightly.
I winked at her. “Polite, even respectful.”
“And Erlik?” Kamile asked.
“I don’t know how to explain it, but the Berkano, and Erlik, seem to genuinely appreciate the Order of Umay. They paid little regard to Baran, but there was an appreciation for us, for our work protecting Nazar. The vampires may be odious creatures, but they—particularly the Berkano—were not what I expected.”
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