For a moment longer, it hovered, still calling its mate. Then it must have decided that Orlu’s cause was worthy, because it began to blaze the brightest light Sunny had ever seen come from an insect. She thought of the ghost hopper that lived in her house. Maybe this wasn’t the usual type of firefly.
“That lightning bug has attitude,” Sasha said. “For a second there, I thought she wasn’t going to give us light.”
Orlu shrugged. “It’s her choice, isn’t it? She has the right to think about it. Plus, the ones with attitude have the best light.”
The firefly must have been listening because it burned brighter. Orlu chuckled. They started walking. As they moved along, the trees they passed were taller, wider, and closer to the path. “So does anyone know what Kehinde looks like?” Sunny asked, wanting to break the silence and focus on something other than the creepy forest around them.
“I hear he’s very tall,” Sasha said.
“I’ve heard he’s really, really short,” Chichi said.
“Well, that helps,” Sunny said drily.
“Doesn’t matter what he looks like,” Orlu said. “This is Night Runner Forest. If he lives here, he’s powerful. If he’s passed the fourth level, he knows that the body is just the body. For all we know he could be a shape-shifter.”
“No,” Chichi said. “He’s not a shape-shifter. Kehinde was born physically perfect, no deformities or anything.”
“Why does Anatov want us to meet him?” Sunny asked.
Suddenly, the forest heaved with life. Leaves shook. The ground hummed. Branches creaked. And a high-pitched chittering seemed to come from everywhere. “Down!” Orlu shouted.
Sunny dropped to the ground, her hands over her head. Bats. Tons of them. She shut her eyes as the air grew very hot and then cool. Above the chittering noise, she heard the scuffle of feet.
“Chichi!” Orlu screamed. “Watch out!”
Sunny began to get up, but a bat smacked her in the side of her face. Then another. She dropped back down. “What do I do?” she shouted.
“I can’t reach her,” Sasha shouted, his voice cracking.
Chichi cried out. Now Sunny didn’t care about being smacked or bitten by bats. She stood up. Around her was chaos. The night was full of bats. All she could see was Orlu’s firefly still burning bright, the bats whipping and zooming around it. Orlu stood with Sasha only a few steps away. Where was Chichi? A bat snapped up the firefly and everything went dark.
“Everyone!” Orlu shouted. “Close your ears! Sasha, do it! Make it as high as possible! Bats can hear ultrasonic sound!”
Sunny clapped her hands over her ears, but not fast enough. For a moment, she heard a shrill noise so sharp she thought her head would explode. She pressed the heels of her hands to her ears as hard as she could. Gradually, the sound went so high she could no longer hear it. But the bats must have, because they fled. Some dropped to the ground, dead. The forest was silent, except for the sound of things falling. Seconds passed. Chittim clinked against each other.
“Bring light,” Orlu said, out of breath. “For the sake of your mate who has been eaten!”
Immediately, a firefly came and shined a brilliant light. Sunny felt a twinge of sadness for the insect. All around them were dead bats. Piled around and on top of the dead bats were many copper chittim. Chichi sat nearby, holding her arm. A deep gash on her forearm was bleeding freely.
They all ran to her. “Are you all right?” Sunny asked.
She nodded.
Orlu was looking at Chichi with admiration. “Man, Chichi, if you hadn’t handled it, we’d all be dead,” he said.
“Yeah,” Sasha said. “That was good juju work. I didn’t even see it.”
“The bats were a diversion,” Chichi said weakly.
“What?” Sunny asked, starting to cry. “What was it?”
“A bush soul,” Chichi said. “Spirits, affinities, that live in forests like this. They attack people, steal their bodies. They always have the respect of animals that swarm, move in packs… like bats. Bush souls hide in them and use them to distract.” She hissed as she looked at her arm. “I saw it in the swarm of bats. I slashed it with my juju knife. Sunny, when you hurt something with your knife, it’s mirrored on your own body. But if I hadn’t, we’d all be dead. It would have taken us all.”
“We’d have arrived at Kehinde’s hut as zombies,” Sasha said.
“That looks really deep.” Sunny winced, staring at Chichi’s wound.
“I’ll be okay,” Chichi said, slowly standing up. “Mirrored wounds heal in a few minutes… unless it’s mortal.”
As they waited for her to heal, Sunny stood watch. Orlu and Sasha picked up their chittim. “We got them for camaraderie, right?” Sasha said. “Teamwork.”
“Yeah,” Orlu said. “Lesson learned.”
“How many?” Chichi asked.
“Fifty,” Sasha said.
“You can’t divide that by four,” Chichi said.
“Maybe you guys earned more than me,” Sunny said.
Orlu shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. How about we pool whatever we earn together?”
Sasha looked annoyed. “I know exactly what I want to buy with my share.”
Sunny felt utterly useless and undeserving.
“Sasha, don’t be greedy,” Chichi said.
“Whatever.”
“Let’s vote on it,” Chichi said. “All in favor of-”
“No, no, forget it,” Sasha said with a wave of his hand. “You’re right. I’m being greedy. Sunny, put it all in your purse. It’s probably best that you carry it. You keep it, too. I’m voting you as treasurer. All in favor?”
“Aye,” Orlu and Chichi said.
“All against?”
Sunny laughed.
Once they got going, they moved faster than before. It was mainly Orlu who protected them, blocking and undoing. From left, right, forward, and behind, things came at them. Black-skinned fairies with the wings of flies and clothes made from spiderwebs threw poison spears at them. There were mosquitoes that weren’t really mosquitoes. A three-foot tall masquerade in the bush just stood there, watching them pass. Something that looked like a giant wasp stung Sunny’s leg. Immediately, both her legs went numb and she fell to the ground.
“It’s just an insect specter,” Orlu said as he touched the sting with his knife. He made a popping sound with his lips. “They’re the result of insects people smash. Most angry spirits come from deaths by acts of cruelty. If the insect is angry or a vengeful type, it’ll return as one of these.” Slowly the feeling in her legs returned. The bruise on her hip from falling remained, though.
By the time they arrived at the tiny hut, Sunny was exhausted. The area around the hut was free of trees, bushes, even grass. It was as if the forest was afraid to get close. But they were too tired and had been through too much to be afraid. Even Sunny didn’t think twice about stepping onto the barren, parched earth. The door of the hut was covered with a white cloth-at least it looked white in the firefly’s light. There was one window, also covered by a white cloth.
“Oga Kehinde,” Chichi said loudly, “Anatov sent us. We’re his students.”
A light went on inside the hut but there was no answer. Sunny frowned. There couldn’t possibly be electricity here, in the middle of nowhere. She didn’t even hear a generator. “Oga Kehinde?” Chichi said again. She turned to Sunny. “Aha, I hope the man is home, o.”
“Which students are these?” an incredibly low voice asked in Yoruba-accented Igbo.