I tried to go back to sleep and failed. The panic drove me out of the tent. I paced the campsite, peering east, always east. I had slipped out without a robe, with no headscarf. The merciless sun beat down on me and turned me red. I did not notice. The sweat poured out of me, the dry heat of the desert air sucking the moisture from me, but I had no thirst. My full attention was turned to the eastern horizon, which was utterly empty. But I felt something lurking, lying in wait. I felt a trap.

I don’t know how long I stood there, staring east. At some point, Tamir stumbled out of his tent to relieve himself. He was bleary eyed and bad tempered and grumbled a hello as he passed me. When he was done and returning to his tent, he was surprised to see me still standing there, still staring out east. “Professor, are you all right?” he asked.

I didn’t answer. I barely heard him.

Tamir stepped directly in front of me. His gaunt, scarred face filled my vision and blocked the nagging eastern horizon from view. He took my face in one hand and peered at me. “Sunstroke,” he said.

“There is something in the east,” I said.

“Let’s get you in the shade, Professor. How long have you been standing out here?”

“Something in the east is watching me,” I said. All at once my eyes focused on his; Tamir came into sharp focus. I grabbed him, desperate, my fingers digging into his arms. “There is something in the east!”

It was like something had reached through the organs and gristle and taken hold of my spine. The monstrous, invasive pull dragged me to the edge of camp. I shoved Tamir out of the way and went east. Tamir yelled for Shayat to wake, shook her tent to and fro. She stumbled out, blinking in the bright light. “What? What is it?”

“Something’s wrong,” Tamir said. “Look at him.”

Shayat ran to me, barefoot, in just a shirt and leggings. “Ariah!”

I took her hand and pointed to the empty horizon. “The east! There’s something watching us. Don’t you feel it? The pull?”

She looked me over, her face hard and closed. “Tamir, you don’t think…”

“I do think,” he said. He tossed her a knife and came up beside me. He held me by the upper arm, rooted in place, no matter how hard I struggled against him. Shayat let out a stream of curses and slipped back into her tent. “Ariah, you are counting,” Tamir said. “Where are they?”

“East!” I pointed to the crest of dune, a place that gnawed at my mind, consuming it piece by terrifying piece. “There, something there.”