The clock read six or seven when we returned to the hotel.

The room was still a hundred degrees and humid. The air conditioner worked furiously against the heat.

I fell asleep anyway.

I didn’t rest.

I tossed. I turned. I dreamed.

At some point, I woke to silence.

The air conditioner had stopped.

The room was completely dark.

Outside, the city had gone quiet.

I lay still for a moment, listening.

Nothing.

Then I noticed my mouth.

It was dry enough that my tongue stuck to it.

I reached for the water beside the bed.

Empty.

I checked my backpack.

Nothing.

Dani’s bag.

Nothing.

I got up.

Three flights of stairs separated us from the reception desk.

I stood at the top of the stairwell in the darkness, looking down.

Raghav was asleep on the couch below.

I started down.

Each step seemed to take forever.

Raghav woke when he heard me.

“Water,” I said.

The word scraped my throat.

He disappeared into the back room and returned with three bottles.

“Thank you.”

I opened one and drank it before I even turned around.

Back upstairs, I finished half the second bottle and handed the rest to Dani.

I crawled into bed.

Somewhere beside me, the air conditioner came back to life.

I fell asleep to its whirring.

~

Agra had reached the greatest number of tourists allowed by Lord Vishnu.

We had arrived at the exact moment when the limit was reached.

The gods called a hearing.

We stood before them while they debated whether Agra could admit another tourist without violating Hindu law.

Somehow, we were chosen to decide.

Somehow, they agreed.

Agra would be allowed to accept more tourists.

The decision became religious law.

Then we discovered the Circle.

It was everywhere.

A secret hypnotic force that weakened tourists until they surrendered to every merchant and rickshaw driver they encountered.

The word itself was dangerous.

Once you heard it, you could never be certain you were free of it.

We tried not to listen.

Then I realized I already knew about the Circle.

And knowing was enough.

I was already infected.

~

I woke bundled beneath the blankets, my shirt soaked with sweat.

The fever had broken.

Dani was awake beside me.

“I had a crazy dream.”

She looked over.

“Something about cults, gods, and deceit in Agra.”

I wiped the sweat from my face.

“I think I’m nervous about tomorrow.”

Dani smiled.

“Me too.”

She sat up.

“But let’s enjoy our last day in Jaipur first.”