Farida didn't mention Leta or her picture again, but Newt had a feeling that she wanted to. Every time he looked at her, she seemed on the verge of talking before settling for giving him a sympathetic glance then looking away. Newt tried to act as if he did not notice that, and as a result, they didn't exchange many words for the next hour.

When they left the suitcase at last, Newt's unease seemed to evaporate in the light of the noon sun which seeped through the ragged curtains. He turned to Farida and cleared his throat. "Shall we go to Ibrahim's house now?"

"Yes, of course," she said.

"All right. Farida, I was thinking —" Something caught Newt's attention, making him forget what he wanted to say. "But what is wrong with him?"

He pointed at Marzoo, who was hovering serenely above the ground, silent and calm, as if lost in a trance of reminiscence. He didn't move when Farida and Newt showed up nor did he look at them. His dull gaze remained focused on the ceiling like the stare of a dead person, but Poltergeists were never alive in the first place for that possibility to be true.

"Is this normal?" Newt asked dubiously.

"He's asleep," Farida explained in a whisper.

"Do Poltergeists sleep?" Newt was puzzled. He had studied Poltergeists during his travels, and they had never shown any need for slumber or rest.

"I don't know, do they?" Farida said, frowning dubiously as she moved towards the door. "But that's what Marzoo told me when I wondered about it before. So I asked him what he needed sleep for, and he was so offended that he didn't speak to me for three days. Do you think he is pretending?"

"Could be," said Newt, finding that a likely explanation. "But it's very interesting, whether he is pretending or not." He kept staring at Marzoo for a few more moments until he remembered what he had been about to say initially. "Farida, I was thinking we could go to the Geb Market first. I need to buy some things that might be useful."

"The Geb Market?" Farida raised her eyebrows in a sort of pleasant surprise. "You know about the Geb Market?"

"I visited it when I was here a few years ago," Newt explained.

"And they haven't Obliviated you?" she asked. "The Ministry people, I mean."

"They have made me forget its location, but not its existence," Newt answered. "Will you be able to take me there? I understand if you don't want to put yourself—"

"No, no, don't say that." Farida shook her head. "I'll take you. I know you can be trusted."

The Geb Market was one of the most fascinating places to which Newt had ever been, and an intriguing place overall in the opinion of most people who had visited it. But it was not the market itself that piqued the interest of many and made them eager to go there. It was its history, and the curious law that had been met by bewilderment in the whole Wizarding World: foreign wizards and witches were not allowed to remember where the Geb Market was once they had left it.

The events which led to the issuing of that law were quite as well-known as the law itself. Newt read about them in a history book which he had borrowed from the Hogwarts library back when he was still a student. In the past, the Geb Market had been a perfect destination for any wizard or witch who sought potions, books or magical artifacts they couldn't find in their home countries. Its shops were open for all wizard-kind, and the shop owners had the opportunity to show off their talent by selling fabulous objects they had enchanted themselves or spent a lot of time and effort searching for.

Then in the nineteenth century, something happened. A witch of a European nationality (the book did not specify which) brought her Muggle husband along with her to visit the Geb Market. When they had traveled back to their home, the Muggle husband, unaware of the strict rules against Muggle presence in magical places in Egypt, recommended the place to his relatives who were going to visit Egypt the next winter.

The relatives went to the Market and had a good time, although they didn't understand why no one wanted to take their money and kept asking for something called Galleons. They also made sure to recommend it to everyone they knew as a place which so flawlessly resembled an Ancient Egyptian market that they almost felt they had traveled back in time.

In the end, the Egyptian Ministry of Magic discovered what had happened, but only when it was too late. In a matter of months, The Geb Market was full of Muggles, and that meant that there was a huge flaw in the concealment procedure the Egyptian Ministry was so serious about. Investigations showed that somehow the whole market had been omitted from the procedure. Not a single concealment charm had been performed on it, thus putting the whole magical community at the risk of exposure.

The Minister back then became furious, and after giving suitable punishment to those responsible for such a gross mistake, he ordered further investigations to know how Muggles found out about the Market in the first place. When the truth reached him, he became furious again and proposed a law to ensure that such incident wouldn't happen again.

The largest Fidelius Charm in the history of the Wizarding World had been performed on Egyptian wizards and witches. And from that point, foreigners could not step foot in the Market without having an Egyptian by their side, because foreigners did not know where the Geb Market was and were made to forget its location by the time they left. That way the Ministry made sure that no one could repeat what had happened, and if they did, the accompanying native wizard or witch would be held responsible.

Newt remembered being intrigued by reading all of that when he was younger, and he wasn't less intrigued as he stood at the entrance of the Geb Market again. He saw flashes of his first visit repeat in his head; he had been with a couple of his colleagues whom he used to work with at the Ministry. Phineas Slughorn and Mary Fortescue, those were their names. They were nice, but Newt remembered how he had never felt a real connection with them, like the one they had with each other.

"Over here," Farida's voice awakened Newt from his trance. She was a few steps ahead of him, and was indicating one of the guards that stood in front of the gates. Behind those gates, Newt saw nothing but deserted land. He thought it must be really confusing for anyone who did not understand how the Fidelius Charm worked.

They approached the guard. He was a short, middle-aged man with a kind face and a welcoming demeanor. Farida said something to him in Arabic. The man nodded and made a quick wave with his hand, causing a long roll of papyrus and a quill to appear in mid-air, hovering a few inches above their heads.

"You're British, sir?" he asked Newt in a heavy accent.

"Yes," Newt answered.

"Your name, please?"

"Newt Scamander."

The quill began to write on the papyrus, and the guard waited for it to finish before turning to Farida. He asked her several questions, then as if pulling an invisible rope with his right hand, he brought down the papyrus and the quill and gave them to Farida. She signed the paper, then handed it to Newt. "He needs you to sign here."

Newt scribbled his signature over the blank space which Farida pointed at. The guard took the papyrus and the quill and made them disappear with a snap of his hand.

"Mr Scamander," he addressed Newt. "The Geb Market is in front of you."

And the man was right. The gate swung open with a creak, and Newt saw the Geb Market extend before him, occupying what had previously been an empty, barren land.

It was as magnificent and crowded as Newt remembered it. There were shops on either side of the long street, with identical sandstone exteriors that seemed to twinkle in the light of the sun. The floor was of hard granite, and with each step they took, a faint, blue light flashed beneath his shoes and a hieroglyph symbol appeared then faded.

"Protective spells," Farida explained, darting a glance at Newt.

"Yes, that's what I was told the last time I was here," said Newt. "It is a very smart idea. No need to keep casting protective spells if you can enchant the floor to reactivate them with footsteps."

"Now that you mention it, how did you get here the last time?"

"One of my old colleagues at the Ministry knew someone, a man, who was glad to take us," said Newt. Then after a short pause he added, "He seems to have friends everywhere, my old colleague Phineas."

"Well, you aren't doing badly yourself." Farida patted him on the arm playfully. "Now where do you want to go?"

"There is that shop that sells magical creatures food and other supplies," Newt answered. "But what I need besides food for Marcus is Beast-Detecting Powder."

"Cynoplis, I know it. But Beast-Detecting Powder?"

"Yes, it's a powder that is used to —"

"Detect beasts, clearly," Farida completed his sentence with a smile. "But how?"

"It can detect even trace amounts of fur or feathers or even blood of magical creatures. It reacts with it and produces a fluorescent green color, thus helping you know if they have been in a certain place." At that moment, Newt realized that he was talking too excitedly about how the powder worked, so he finished in an awkward mumble, "It's quite brilliant."

"I agree." Farida looked genuinely intrigued, and that diminished Newt's embarrassment. "And I can see how it will help us find where Makram is. It's a great idea!"

Newt and Farida set off towards Cynopolis in steady steps. People around them came and went in every direction, conversing, shouting and laughing. Bells would ring merrily every time a door of one of the shops opened, marking the entrance or the exit of some customer. There were birds chirping as well, although they were not anywhere in plain sight. As Newt did not stop to listen, all the sounds around him seemed to blend into a humming noise so that it was difficult to tell them apart.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached the door of Cynopolis. Upon a wooden sign, the name of the shop was written in clear Latin letters as well as Hieroglyphs. A picture of a phoenix spreading its wings was painted on it in glowing red and gold ink. Above the phoenix, the head of the jackal-like deity Anubis was carefully engraved, its eyes glimmering as if inlaid with marbles.

Farida pushed the door open, revealing the interior of the shop. Many shelves stood against the walls, almost hiding them completely. They were crammed with boxes and burlap sacks which had a disarrayed placement, making the shop look more like a neglected stockroom. None of the items had any labels on them, and Newt wondered how the two sales assistants working there could figure out which is which.

Apart from Newt and Farida, there was only another customer. He was a tall young man, talking to the male sales assistant. Although Newt couldn't understand a word of what they were saying, the cold indifference in the young man's voice was obvious.

As Newt and Farida passed them, the young man, suddenly aware of their presence, looked over his shoulder and eyed them briefly. When he turned back to the man behind the counter, he continued to speak, but this time it was in sharp whispers.

Newt couldn't help but glance at the sales assistant. His face was dotted with sweat, and he was in clear unease. Newt wondered why. But before he could examine the man's face any further, the greeting voice of the other sales assistant drew his attention. She was a bespectacled woman with short blond hair and blue eyes.

"Bonjour, Monsieur et Madame," she said cheerfully, fixing her eyeglasses.

"Mademoiselle," Farida corrected, a little stiffly. "Et il parle anglais."

"Oh, I am sorry!" she told Newt in a heavy French accent. "I am still new here, and you look français." Then she turned to Farida and added hastily, "And I am sorry for calling you Madame, Mademoiselle."

"Ça ne fait rien." Farida gave her a small smile.

"Now how can I help?" The woman asked, grinning at them.

"I'd like three vials of Beast-Detecting Powder, please," said Newt. "And also, five kilograms of dried sea nettles, and I'd appreciate it if you mixed it with a little seaweed."

"Of course!" The sales assistant said in her frisky manner. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at one of the shelves. A box opened and from it three vials filled with green powder flew in their direction and landed on the counter. "The powder, monsieur. The sea nettles are here, but I will go to get the seaweed. One moment." Then she left for what Newt assumed was the shop's storeroom.

"I didn't know that the law allowed people from other countries to work in the Geb Market," Newt said to Farida. "Or is she perhaps an exception?"

Farida did not respond. She stood still, her expression blank and her eyes staring into the nearest shelf. Newt doubted that she had heard him.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, feeling concerned.

"Wait." She raised a silencing finger, then added quickly in a barely audible whisper, "I'm trying to listen to what that boy is saying. I think he works for Makram Ibrahim."