Date: The Night of the 7th Day of the Month of Blossoms.
Location: The "Rat's Nest," Deep Slums.
The fish was gone, but the pain was not.
Aanya lay on her straw bed. She felt very strange. It was different from the hunger pain.
Her right cheek—the scarred one—felt heavy. It pulsed with a heartbeat of its own. Thump. Thump. Thump.
She touched it lightly with her fingertips. The skin was tight and swollen. It felt very hot, much hotter than the rest of her face.
The dirt from the alley and the filthy rainwater had gotten into the raw skin. The infection was waking up.
Aanya started to shiver. Her arms shook. Her legs shook.
But she was not cold. Inside her chest, she felt like she had swallowed a hot coal. The heat was spreading through her blood, cooking her from the inside out.
"Aanya?" Veer's voice came from the other side of the gray curtain. "Are you okay? You are quiet."
Aanya bit her lip to stop it from trembling.
She remembered Veer crying. She remembered him saying he was tired of being scared for her.
I cannot tell him, she thought. He gave me his food. He fought for me. If I tell him I am sick now, he will worry again. He will try to do something dangerous.
She decided to lie.
"I am fine," she called out. Her voice was weak. "I am just tired. The fish made me full."
"Okay," Veer said. "Sleep well. Tomorrow I will find an apple."
Aanya pulled the rough wool blanket up to her nose. She curled into a tight ball.
I will just sleep, she told herself. My body is strong. I will sleep, and in the morning, the heat will be gone.
She closed her eyes.
But sleep did not bring peace. It brought darkness and fire.
Hours passed. The candle on Veer's side burned out. The shack was pitch black.
The infection did not go away. It grew angry.
Aanya lost track of time. She was not in the shack anymore. Her mind was floating in a red fog.
Her body was convulsing. She shook so hard that the straw beneath her rustled loudly. Her jaw was clamped tight, but her muscles were spasming.
Click-clack-click.
Her teeth hit together. It was a sharp, rhythmic sound.
Click-clack-click-clack.
On the other side of the curtain, Veer was asleep. He was dreaming of a warm meal.
But the sound woke him up.
Veer opened his eyes. He lay still, listening. He thought it might be a rat gnawing on a bone.
Click-clack-click.
No. It was too fast. It was too wet.
Veer sat up. The air in the shack felt heavy.
"Aanya?" he whispered.
No answer.
"Aanya, stop making that noise."
Still no answer. Just the clicking of teeth and a low, fast breathing sound. Hah-hah-hah-hah.
Veer's stomach dropped. He crawled across the dirt floor to the curtain.
"Aanya?"
He heard a voice then. It was Aanya's voice, but it sounded broken and thin.
"The blue dress..." she mumbled. "Don't tear it... Mommy will be mad..."
Veer froze. "Aanya?"
"Fire..." she whispered. "It's too hot... the water is boiling... take it off..."
She was talking to ghosts.
Veer ripped the curtain back.
It was dark, but he could see her outline. She was thrashing on the bed, kicking the blanket off.
Veer reached out. He put his hand on her forehead.
He hissed and pulled his hand back instinctively.
She was burning.
It did not feel like skin. It felt like touching the side of a metal stove that had been on the fire all day. Her skin was dry and radiating a terrifying heat.
"No," Veer whispered.
He touched her cheek—the swollen one. It was hard as a rock and twice the size it should be.
"Veer..." Aanya moaned, rolling her head. Her eyes were half-open, but she was looking at the ceiling, not at him. "The apple... is it poisoned?"
Veer grabbed her hand. It was limp and sweaty.
"Aanya, look at me!" Veer said, panic rising in his chest.
She did not look at him. She just shivered, her teeth clicking together like dice in a cup.
The lie was over. She hadn't slept it off. The heat had risen, and now it was trying to burn her alive.