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Back The Wild Ones Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. PRAISE FOR The Wild Ones
  3. Title Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. The Beginning, or How Paheli Became the First Wild One; With a Cameo by Taraana, the Boy Made of Stars.
  7. An Introduction; Hold On to Your Hats.
  8. The Sweetness in the Sugarcane, or The Impractical Nature of Immortality
  9. Paheli: The Vagrant Experiences of a Mango Addict
  10. Cotton Candy Sugar Screams
  11. From the Book of MEMORIES
  12. “Will You Walk into My Parlor?” Said the Spider to the Fly.
  13. The Best Ice Cream in the World, Teddy Bears, and a Tree Creature.
  14. From the Book of MEMORIES
  15. I.
  16. The Reappearance of the Boy Made of Stars and the Plight of the Girl by the Oleander Lane.
  17. Paheli: An Interlude in Blue
  18. Besieged in the Between
  19. Tea, the City of Stairs, and the Story of a Boy
  20. From the Book of MEMORIES
  21. Heartbreak, Stone Buildings, and Tandoori
  22. Observations, Conversations, and Hot Parantha
  23. Paheli: The Spies Who Came In from the Between
  24. From the Book of MEMORIES
  25. The French Quarter, the Spanish Half, and Eulalie
  26. Paheli: The Eggplant Overture
  27. Sunny Jelly Beans, Po’Boys, and “Alouette”
  28. From the Book of MEMORIES
  29. The Keeper of the Green and the Mysteries of Magic
  30. Blood and the Between
  31. The Library of the Lost and the Stories of the Silenced
  32. Walking in Wicked Ways or The Importance of Balık Ekmek
  33. From the Book of MEMORIES
  34. Looking for the Needle in the Haystack
  35. Paheli: The Peculiar Crackle in the Electricity
  36. Ten Degrees Past Despair
  37. The Fault in the Stars
  38. The Blue City in the Mountains
  39. Paheli: Disharmony in the Attics
  40. From the Book of MEMORIES
  41. Paheli: Continued
  42. The Politics of a Body, the Politics of Pleasure
  43. The Medina, the Riad, and the Red City
  44. Paheli: The Atlas Mountains, the Cozy Rooftop, and the Confession, Possibly of Love
  45. From the Book of MEMORIES
  46. Souks, Spices, and Survival: A Guide into Chaos
  47. Jemaa el-Fna: The Mosque at the End of the World
  48. Paheli: A Moment in Chartreuse
  49. From the Book of MEMORIES
  50. Paheli: On the Frailties of the Heart
  51. Sonagi, or A Sudden Rain
  52. Paheli: The Cheese in the Trap
  53. Paheli: The Maze and the Minotaur
  54. A New Era, a New Dar; the River Sings
  55. The Burning Door, the Fallen City, and Taraana 2.0
  56. Paheli: The Beginning of Forever
  57. From the Book of MEMORIES
  58. Moving One Rock at a Time Will Eventually Move a Mountain, aka Goodbye
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. More from the Author
  61. About the Author

His arms are around me long before I finish speaking. I press my face into his chest and listen to his heart thunder.

From the Book of MEMORIES

DARAJA

CITY OF ORIGIN: BENIN CITY

When I think of my father

a wounded lion in

my chest

roars and roars.

Souks, Spices, and Survival: A Guide into Chaos

Sevda’s gone when we wake up the next morning. The only thing that remains of her is the star that she used to wear on the palm of her hand. She has left a note that simply says, Thank you, and I’m sorry.

We stare at the note for a long moment. All of us have different feelings and for a brief second, our sanguinity slips. Then we look at Taraana, who is all but dripping with guilt and concern, and we smile at him, reassuring him, and in the process reassuring ourselves. Valentina says that Sevda’s in one of the rooms meant for the women for whom the riad is a haven. We don’t go to see her.

Eulalie magicked her papers over, and when Sevda wakes up, she will have a new identity and enough money to start a new life wherever she pleases. She won’t remember us, nor will she remember the life she escaped from. A new narrative, one of her own choosing, will take the place of her old one.

We break our fast in the courtyard under a piercing blue sky. A long table is packed with freshly squeezed fruit juice, mint tea, bread, pancakes made from semolina, eggs, various kinds of jams, goat cheese, honey, olives, and pomegranates. The flavors are sharp, and each bite reminds us that we are alive.

Ahlam comes to us after we finish breakfast. Her sources have found Farroukh, and she offers to send a guide to take us to his shop, but we refuse the help. So she simply tells us the vicinity in which his shop is located. We ask Taraana to stay behind, but he is adamant on accompanying us. Since Baarish’s creatures still think we’re in Chefchaouen, we concede to his demand.

Half an hour later, dressed in airy caftans and a djellaba in Taraana’s case, we venture out of the riad, toward the fabled souks of Marrakech.

Wandering the souks of Marrakech is like taking a walk through a zoo where the animals have escaped. Sheer, unadulterated chaos. The souks are Aladdin’s caves, filled with immense treasure and some junk. We have spent many hours in here previously, willingly losing ourselves in its labyrinthine landscapes.