Chapter 22 · That Old Desert File

"That wasn't her."

I said it out loud because saying it made it real. Made it something I could grab onto instead of the way my knees wanted to buckle right there in the sand.

Kira was still holding my hand. Her palm was hot, or maybe mine was cold. Hard to tell when your dead mother just walked out of the dark and called you *mija* like she used to when I was eight.

"Layla." Kira's voice was low. Careful. The kind of careful people use when they think you might shatter. "We need to move."

"No." I pulled my hand back. Stepped away. Put space between us because I needed to think and I couldn't do that when she was close enough that I could smell the dust on her jacket and see the cut on her cheek still bleeding. "You said shadow creatures. You said they mimic voices."

"They do."

"You didn't say they could look like people."

Kira's jaw tightened. "I didn't think—"

"You didn't think what? That it would use *her*?" My voice cracked on the last word and I hated it.