Page 1 of Ash Storm

Reka

Istanbul was meant to be the appetizer—a quick three-day pit stop, a chance to get over their jet lag before traveling on to Lake Salda, a place that had been described by the contest organizers as Turkey’s Maldives.

By their second day in Istanbul, Reka already knew she would have been happy to stay in the city for their entire ten-day holiday.

Maybe it was because it was her first time traveling outside the States, or because she hadn’t taken a holiday in the last five years, or because she was with her two best friends, or simply because Istanbul really was an incredible city, but Reka didn’t want to leave.

Each morning, they woke up to the relaxing prayer sounds coming from the nearby mosque. Then, after a leisurely breakfast, they went out to explore the city. The previous afternoon, they’d pampered themselves at a local hamam the hotel receptionist had recommended, a gleaming palace of warm marble and citrus-scented steam.

Reka thought of the goody bags they’d been given, filled with natural olive oil soaps and traditional Turkish cosmetics. She would try them all, except for the shampoo—her thick, frizzy hair didn’t respond well to new products, or to humidity for that matter, so this trip was already proving quite the challenge.

Although Reka loved her hair, sometimes she wished she had Chloe’s straight blond hair or Aileen’s wavy, bright auburn locks. She sneaked a look in their direction to confirm—and yes, both her friends looked like they’d just stepped out of the hairdresser’s.

Reka sighed, then smiled, her thoughts moving to the day ahead.

They still had to decide if, after their trip to the Grand Bazaar, they would look for another hamam or go back to their hotel to relax. Reka was probably the most athletic of the three, and even her feet were hurting from walking around so much. She couldn’t imagine what Chloe and Aileen felt like.

“This place is amazing, Chloe,” Aileen said, stopping at the entrance to the covered market.

“It really is,” Reka agreed. “I didn’t imagine it would be this big.”

“I told you!” Chloe said, flicking her blond hair out of her face. “Sixty-one streets and over four thousand shops.”

Reka and Aileen laughed. In the weeks before the trip, Chloe had read every single guidebook ever published about Turkey, including several old, out-of-print ones she’d gotten from friends. Of course, she was also the one who had won the travel magazine’s contest in the first place, and therefore the reason they were all here.

Originally, the prize had been a ten-day trip for two, but Chloe had managed to convince the organizers to make it a trip for the three of them if they flew economy instead of flying first-class and stayed together in the same room.

It was a running joke between them that sweet, mild-mannered Chloe could sweet-talk anyone into doing whatever she wanted.

“I’m so glad we’re all here,” Chloe said, taking their hands and squeezing tight.

Reka squeezed back. The three of them had met during their freshman year in college and even though they’d never shared a class together—Reka had been studying Psychology, Aileen had been a biology major, and Chloe had changed majors three times before settling on Comparative Literature—they’d been inseparable until they graduated.

And beyond.

Even now, five years after graduation, they still met up for dinner at least once a month, taking advantage of the fact that they all lived in Chicago. But it’d been years since they’d spent this much time together. It made Reka realized she’d missed it. And there was so much to do in Istanbul.

So much to do, and so much to see.

Reka was glad she had made time in her schedule for the trip. At first, she’d been hesitant, worried she’d fall behind on her publishing schedule, since she was contracted to write monthly articles for a number of psychology magazines, as well as to provide support on her specialty, emotions management, to several local schools. And that was on top of her sessions with patients.

To say she was busy was the understatement of the year, but a conversation with her mother had made her rethink things when she’d looked up from the vegetables she was slicing and quietly asked, “If not now, when?”

Reka was a long-distance runner, the kind who was always thinking of the next mile, and then the one after that. She was the same in life—there was always the next project, the next goal, the next thing she wanted to accomplish. It was a way of thinking that had helped her in life but, sometimes, it also made her miss out on things.

Not this time.

She wasn’t going to miss out on an instant of this amazing trip with her friends.

“Hold on,” Aileen said, bringing up her camera and snapping a shot of Chloe and Reka.

Though she enjoyed her job in a genetics lab, Reka knew Aileen’s real love was photography. She hoped one day her friend would be able to turn that love into a career.

“How many pictures have you taken already, Aileen?” Chloe laughed. “Aren’t you going to run out of space on your laptop?”

“Don’t worry, I brought extra memory sticks with me,” Aileen replied, sticking out her tongue. “Reka, can you get a bit closer to Chloe so you’re both standing right under that archway? There, right there!”

Reka, half a head taller than her friend, placed her arm around Chloe’s slim shoulders and squeezed gently. They knew better than to rush Aileen when she had her camera out.