“No,” Orlu firmly said. “We’ve got absolutely nothing to do with that. That’s just some twisted Lamb superstition gone very wrong. Those children are just normal innocent non-magical kids being scapegoated.”
Sunny breathed a sigh of relief.
“Anyway, being a Leopard Person is not genetic, really,” Chichi continued. “It’s spiritual. The spiritual affects the physical.… It’s complicated. All you need to know is that Leopard People tend to keep it in the family. But sometimes it skips and jumps, like with you. It sounds like your grandmother was of Leopard spirit. By the way, all this is in that book I just helped you buy. So read it.”
“Oh, I plan to. Go on.”
“So Leopard Knocks is the main West African headquarters,” she said. “Sasha, where’s the headquarters in the United States?”
Sasha smirked. “New York, of course. But I don’t consider that place the head of anything. It doesn’t represent black folks. We are a minority, I guess. As a matter of fact-everything’s biased toward European juju. The African American headquarters is on the Gullah Islands in South Carolina. We call it Tar Nation.”
Sunny laughed. “Nice name.”
“We try,” Sasha said proudly.
“You know how you had to be initiated to come here?” Chichi asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, because we have Leopard parents, Orlu and I have been able to come here all our lives. We knew our spirit faces, so we could cross. We both went through the first level, the initiation, two years ago. It’s called Ekpiri,” she said. “Most go through it around fourteen or fifteen.”
“But I’m twelve,” Sunny said.
“Yeah, you’re early,” Chichi said. “So was Orlu.”
“So was I,” Sasha said. “I went through it last year. I’m thirteen.”
“How old were you, Chichi?” Sunny asked.
She only smiled. Yet again, she managed to keep her age hidden. “The second level is Mbawkwa-you go through that at around sixteen and seventeen. That’s when you really start learning the heavy stuff. You have to pass all these tough tests to get in.”
“I can pass all that right now,” Sasha boasted.
“Me, too,” Chichi boasted back. “With my eyes closed.”
Orlu scoffed. “Yeah, well, the rules say you can’t yet.”
“Screw rules,” Sasha said. “They’re made to be broken.”
“Only when you’ve mastered them,” Orlu said quietly.
“So the third level is one that very, very, very few ever pass, that’s Ndibu. It’s like getting a PhD. To pass it you have to attend a masquerade meeting and get a masquerade’s consent. A real masquerade, not a bunch of men and boys all dressed up.”
“A real one?” Sunny asked quietly, as if to speak of them too loudly would call the spirits from their dwelling place in the other world.
“Yeah,” Chichi said. “And that means you have to die in some way or something. I don’t really understand it.”
“So what’s the last grade?” Sunny asked.
“Oku Akama. No one knows how you get there. In Nigeria, only eight living people have reached it. Four live around Leopard Knocks. Anatov is one-he is the ‘scholar on the outside.’”
“But he’s not that old,” Sunny said.
“No, he isn’t. He’s only fifty-something, I think.”
“Ugh, how can such a mean guy be so important?”
“Sometimes too much knowledge can make you mean. You know too much.”
Orlu loudly sucked his teeth. “You always make excuses for him. Teacher’s pet.”
“You wish you were,” Chichi said, looking smug. “Anyway, Kehinde and Taiwo are twins who passed the last grade, and they went on to become the ‘scholars of the links.’ An old woman named Sugar Cream is the fourth, the ‘scholar on the inside.’ She lives in the Obi Library most of the time. She’s the oldest and most respected. She’s the Head Librarian.”
Sunny frowned. “Librarian? Why is that such a big-”
“Let me tell you something Chichi and Sasha have a hard time respecting,” Orlu said, putting his fork down. “Leopard People-all our kind all over the world-are not like Lambs. Lambs think money and material things are the most important thing in the world. You can cheat, lie, steal, kill, be dumb as a rock, but if you can brag about money and having lots of things and your bragging is true, that bypasses everything. Money and material things make you king or queen of the Lamb world. You can do no wrong, you can do anything.
“Leopard People are different. The only way you can earn chittim is by learning. The more you learn, the more chittim you earn. Knowledge is the center of all things. The Head Librarian of the Obi Library of Leopard Knocks is the keeper of the greatest stock of knowledge in West Africa.” Orlu sat back. “One day, we’ll take you to the Obi Library. You’ll see.”
“Wow,” Sunny said. “I like that.”
Orlu smiled and nodded. “It’s great, isn’t it?”
“People are too focused on money. It’s supposed to be a tool, not the prize to be won.”
“Spoken like an upward-standing Leopard Person,” Chichi said mockingly. “No wonder my mother likes you so much.”
Now Sunny understood why Chichi and her mother lived the way they did. “Your mother doesn’t care for material things, does she?”
“Neither do I,” Chichi said. “My mother’s reached every grade except”-she paused, not wanting to speak its name-“the last. And people think that someday she will.”
“Chichi’s mother is a Nimm priestess,” Orlu explained. “One of the last princesses in the Queen Nsedu spiritline.”
Before Sunny could ask what that was, Sasha said, “Not all Leopard People live by the Leopard philosophy.”
Orlu nodded. “Like any other place, there are killers even here in Leopard Knocks. There are people who only want power and money, who don’t earn any chittim at all, who’d rather steal what they want. Some people are rich in chittim, yet are still set on having power and Lamb wealth. I think they’re the most dangerous.”
It made sense. There were flavors of “Leopard-dom,” too, they explained. For example, Orlu’s parents owned a fairly large home and another home in Owerri. Unlike Chichi’s mother, they liked nice things.
Sasha frowned and looked at Chichi. “You know what? We’re an Oha coven, aren’t we?”
Orlu sucked his teeth. “Come off it, we’re too young,” he said just as Chichi smiled at Sasha and said, “You think so, too?”
“Think about it,” Sasha said. “First, there are four of us. There aren’t any more in our group, right?”
“Nope,” Chichi said.
“Right. Second, one of us is an outsider-me, being from a different country, a descendant of slaves and such. Right, Orlu?”
Orlu shrugged, refusing to respond.
Sasha chuckled. “And one of us is outside in.” He gestured at Sunny. “Black on the inside but white on the outside.”
Sunny sucked her teeth but said nothing.
“Just telling it like it is,” Sasha said lightly.
“And two of us are girls and two of us are boys,” Chichi added.
Then together, Chichi and Sasha said, “Balance.”
“Whatever,” Sunny grumbled. “What’s an Oho coven?”
“Oha,” Sasha corrected. “An Oha coven. It’s a group of mystical combination, set up to defend against something bad.”