Everyone was silent, as some of the nomads gave each other baffled looks. The sphinx, with a sigh of disappointment, raised a paw as a gesture of dismissal. She patted the ground where David had been sitting, and he promptly sat back down, not caring that the others cast him curious glances. He dropped the viola at the sphinx’s feet, not giving it or her a second look. The performances carried on, now with two of the girls displaying a lively dance to the beat of drums, but David’s mood was too sour to enjoy any of it.
At some point during the festivities, the sphinx’s eyes glowed, and she breathed a blanket of sweet-smelling serenity over the audience. All the people and animals in the circle began to drift off into a deep sleep, slumping over onto the ground—all except David. The sphi
