Duplus

Chapter 46

—-Amaani's POV—-

We reached the inn near nighttime. It was time for Maghreb when we went inside the small brown house that barely had a few floors and rooms. The inn owner welcomed us with a big smile and Jaber commented it was because there were hardly any bookings during the festival. The locals would stay up the whole night at the fair, finding different entertainments to pass the time and keep the spirit of celebration alive.

Besides, the inn owner was familiar with traveling Nuristanis and liked to rent rooms to them because they were "quiet" and "non-destructive". He even guessed that we were probably running away from some important people but we were safe because he was only concerned about the money and good state of the rooms after we left.

We were given the far right room and the men stayed in the one across ours. Camari was shaking the whole time and felt very skeptical about the inn owner. She hadn't sat down and while Lexie and I chatted, she looked out the window with worried eyes.

"I can't believe we were able to escape. Bless Bayen's soul! If it wasn't for him, we would be part of a shady ritual and would be offered to the devil right now." Lexie exclaimed in relief, stretching her arms and falling back to the bed with a big smile.

"Don't be too grateful just yet. Sir Bayen looked really shocked to see me. What if he changed his mind after seeing that two girls of the temple were running away too?" Camari spoke with fear. She hadn't even taken off her formal attire and just sat by the window, trembling.

I pulled down my scarf and got comfortable just like Sumayya and Lexie. "Don't worry, Camari. Even if he did change his mind, he won't admit to the higher-ups that he assisted in your escape. They would punish him before anyone else." I tried to reason and it seemed to work slightly. She relaxed her shoulders and nodded. "Maybe you're right. It's just that I have never done something so rebellious in my whole life. It's starting to feel like the whole religious community has set out to look for me."

Lexie put a comforting hand on her shoulder before I could, still lying down with her brown locks spread on the bed. "Trust me, I can relate." I suddenly felt an electric shock down my arm and jumped. "Hasbun Allah!"

I looked to see Lexie was up too, sitting straight across me with the same expression on her face. "Ouch!"

"You felt that too?" I questioned, caressing my arm which was still frozen. She nodded with surprise, touching her arm. "It was a zap of current. Right when you and I both reached to touch Camari."

I looked at Camari and Sumayya for their input and both of them looked at us weirdly.

"You mean you felt a current at the same time? Maybe it was your clothes? Or this bed?" Camari hypothesized but I quickly shook my head at her. "I think it was because we thought the same thing at the same time. I felt this before once but not as strong as today."

We fell silent for a minute before Sumayya piped in. "I have a theory."

We whipped our heads to her like she hadn't spoken for ages. "Like twin telepathy. You guys share the same DNA and stuff, right? Usama told me about this weird mumbo jumbo and I think you may have a telepathic connection. I had cousins who were twins and they said they could guess what the other was thinking so it has to be stronger in you guys since you're practically the same person in two bodies."

Lexie slowly nodded. "Yeah, that sounds accurate."

In all this, Camari forgot about her stress and frowned in confusion. "Share the same DNA? What's this about?"