The Zodiacs

6. Pharaoh's Order

"For the Pharaoh's sake, put on some clothes before you come into my room," Akil sighed, turning to face away from Zahra as she quickly rushed to close the door behind her. "It's just basic human manners."

The girl rolled her eyes at him, swinging her wet hair out of her face so it wouldn't bother her. "I am covered up," she answered, motioning to the large towel that wrapped around her body and fell until just above her knees. "I needed to come before anybody saw me and they're all coming back from dinner in a minute."

"You couldn't wait until after they finished coming back and then maybe you could have put something decent on," he quickly rummaged in his clothes for something to give her that would let Akil finally be able to look at the girl.

Zahra moved around the room, sitting on his bed while he desperately searched for something to give her. "Stop being dramatic," she grumbled before returning to the topic she had come to discuss with him in the first place. "It was urgent. Plus, I wasn't going to leave my room after I changed into my sleeping garments because that's too much work. Just let me talk about this and then I'll leave."

"Put this on over the towel," he tossed her a larger, red shirt that didn't look like it would run as long as the towel she was using to cover herself up. "It'll cover what I don't want to see," Zahra looked up to see him motioning to her chest area, still looking out the window.

The girl rolled her eyes, but pulled the shirt over her head in silence, securing the towel around her body as she did it.

"I know what you want to talk to me about," Akil finally turned to her, leaning back against the wall behind him and crossing his arms over his chest with a knowing expression. "The Zodiac girl from the village three days ago," Zahra nodded. "Everybody's been talking about her since Master Omari returned without her."

"Her name's Lotus," she answered, looking up at the unbothered boy across the four feet between the bed and the wall. "She's my neighbor- well... was my neighbor.... She disappeared right after all of that happened, like, right after. There was no sign of her by the time we all got up; no footsteps, nothing."

Akil pressed his lips together in interest, nodding at the girl's words like he was slowly processing everything that she was telling him in an attempt to decipher what it could be. "What did she do, anyway? Everybody knows she was probably a Zodiac, but the Pharaoh's holding all the details about what happened back from everybody who wasn't there to witness it. I'm curious."

Remembering all that happened on her first day back home for the short period she'd gotten as a break, Zahra lighty shrugged. Even she was still confused with how fast it had all gone. "She sent this really big wave that made us all fly back. So I guess she's an air sign...?"

"Most likely," Akil shrugged.

"But it was so strong," Zahra perked up from the bed in excited amazement at all the power that had surged out of the skinny girl to protect herself. "It made everybody fly back --the two workers holding onto her, the crowd, even Master Omari! They all were thrown into the air and there was dust everywhere when we got back up. I've seen occasional Zodiac powers, but I've never seen anything as powerful as that wave that she sent."

Akil raised an eyebrow at the girl's words. "Where have you seen Zodiac powers before?" He asked, focusing his attention on her response.

Zahra hesitated, not letting the excited expression fall from her face to make it obvious how much her thoughts faltered with the question. He didn't know about Odion and she wanted to keep it that way. Even if she trusted Akil, she would keep her brother a secret from everybody to protect him. "Well, I've seen yours," she smiled up at him. "The wind spin-ey thing that you did and the invisibility."