Sasha cursed and got up. “Goddamn insane bird,” Sasha said, his voice shaking. “What kind of crap is that, man!” Chichi grumbled agreement as she dusted off her clothes.
The creature was magnificent, though. It clicked its beak, cocked its head, and eyed them, as if it expected something. “It’s supposed to take us up,” Orlu said, smiling at the bird.
“I’m not getting on that flea-infested thing,” Chichi said.
The Miri Bird loudly clicked its beak again and turned its backside toward Sasha and Chichi and pooed out an obscene amount of white and black droppings.
“Ugh!” Sasha exclaimed. “Oh, my God. It’s filthy!”
“I think it’s angry,” Sunny said. She would have done the same thing, if she were the Miri Bird. Sasha and Chichi were being such jerks. Still, the pile of poo was quite nasty.
Orlu took a step toward it. The Miri Bird stepped back.
“Hey!” Sasha shouted up at the hut in the palm tree. “Lady Taiwo! We’re down here with your bird. Please, will you speak with us?”
No response. Sasha and Chichi went back to grumbling about how stupid this all was. They sat on the other side of one of the palm trees, as far away from the pile of bird poo as they could. Already, it drew flies.
“Maybe we’re supposed to give it something,” Sunny suggested. She brought a biscuit from her purse and held it out to the Miri Bird. “For you,” she said. It clapped its beak and stood there looking at her. Orlu tried stepping toward it again. It stepped back.
Eventually, Orlu and Sunny joined Sasha and Chichi. They sat there for twenty minutes, munching on Sunny’s biscuits, ignoring the poo pile and trying to figure out what to do. The Miri Bird slowly stepped before them and waited.
“Do you know we walked two hours to get here?” Orlu asked it.
The Miri Bird blinked.
“Our instructor is Anatov, and coming here is our lesson for today,” he said. The bird stepped closer, squawking softly as if really interested in Orlu’s words. Orlu sat up straighter. They all perked up. “Could you tell us how to get up there?” Orlu asked carefully.
The Miri Bird stepped right up to Orlu and clicked its beak in his face. Sunny gasped. The thing could have taken off Orlu’s nose, even his head, with one chomp if it wanted. Orlu quickly got up. “Ah, is that what you want?” he said. “You want what everyone wants: to be treated like a human being.”
The bird threw its head back and squawked loudly.
“What?” Sasha said, looking angry.
“Shut up,” Orlu warned him. “Just chill because if you don’t, we lose our ride. We should each introduce ourselves to it.”
Once they did so and politely asked the bird to take them to see Taiwo, it knelt down and clicked its beak twice. “Okay, I get it,” Orlu said. “Sunny, you and I will go first.”
Sunny climbed on behind Orlu. The bird’s feathers were soft or scratchy, depending on the direction you rubbed them. They were also covered with a thin coat of reddish palm oil, the smell wafting from its body. She held Orlu tightly around the waist.
“Scared?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He laughed.
The bird took off and they both screamed. She could feel the bird’s powerful muscles working as it launched itself straight up. Seconds later, they landed on the porch of the hut. It was made of woven palm fiber and gave a little with each step. They stumbled quickly into the hut. Inside was a plump woman in jeans and a white T-shirt sitting on some pillows.
“Took you all long enough,” she said in Igbo. She had a Yoruba accent. She switched to English when Sasha and Chichi stumbled in. “Make yourself comfortable, students.”
They sat down. She looked past them. “Thank you, Nancy,” she said.
The bird squawked but remained there, watching.
“Humility,” Taiwo said, standing up and looking down at them. “Sasha, Chichi, you both lack it. Sunny, you have it because you’re new. You’ve still yet to realize your own potential.” She looked at Orlu and her face warmed. “But you, Orlu, were born with it. A rare gift these days.”
Orlu smiled back at her. Sunny was annoyed, but happy for Orlu. Taiwo would obviously be his mentor, as Anatov would be Chichi’s and Kehinde would be Sasha’s.
Chichi got up and held out the package Anatov had given her. Taiwo gently unwrapped the newspaper and smiled. Inside was a brown paper bag. “Since he gave this to you to give to me,” she said to Chichi. “It’s your job to present it to Nancy.”
“Me?” Chichi said, taking the paper bag. She looked back at Nancy, who remained there waiting.
“Pour them in your hand and go to the door.”
“But I don’t like birds,” she said. “Especially that one. It poos like an elephant! Why can’t Orlu do it?”
Nancy made a snapping sound with her beak and ruffled her feathers.
“This isn’t a discussion,” Taiwo said.
Chichi looked disgusted as she reached for the bag and poured some of the contents in her hand. She held one up. “Are you kidding? Prunes? You want me to feed that bird prunes?”
Sunny bit her bottom lip, working hard not to laugh. She had to work even harder not to laugh as Nancy roughly pecked prunes from Chichi’s hand with her enormous beak.
“All creatures have a place,” Taiwo said, ignoring Chichi’s sulking. “That’s why all of us could die right now and life would go on. You all must be putting the pieces together by now.” She whispered something and soft jazzy music began to play. She winked at Orlu. “You think you’re all too young.” She looked at Sasha and Chichi. “But you two little superintelligent vagabonds know, don’t you?”
“You talking about us being an Oha coven, Oga?” Chichi asked, perking up.
“Yes.”
“It’s obvious,” Sasha said.
“And poor Sunny has no idea what we’re talking about, right?” Taiwo said.
“Basically,” Sunny said.
“The irony,” Taiwo said, laughing to herself.
“What’s ironic?” she asked.
“That’s not for me to explain,” Taiwo said. “All in due time.” She paused for dramatics. Sunny wanted to roll her eyes. These scholars all seemed to like making things seem so huge and mysterious. It was beginning to get on her nerves. “You four will be West Africa’s first pre-level Oha coven.”
“It’s true?” Orlu exclaimed.
“Hard to believe, right?” she said. “None of you knows how to read the stars and none of you will be tall enough to possess the natural ability. If you did, you’d know that something is coming.”
Sunny felt her heart flip. “I do,” she said.
“Oh,” Taiwo said, and then she nodded. “I stand corrected. Anatov told me about you and the candle. Wilderlings can show the future to those without the ability of premonition.
“We Leopard folk need to be extra vigilant these days, but sometimes we need to act. Sunny, an Oha coven bears the responsibility of the world on its shoulders at a specific point in time. Coven members are people of action and authority, but they are also people of selflessness. I trust you all have heard of Black Hat.”
They all nodded. Then Chichi gasped. Sasha grabbed her shoulder and they both just stared at each other.
“That’s why!” Chichi said to Sasha.
“Goddamn!” Sasha said. Then they both looked at Taiwo, who was laughing.
“Both of you, so quick,” Taiwo said. She looked at Orlu and Sunny. “They’ve both just realized that Black Hat is a Leopard Person.”
Orlu nodded. “I considered it but wasn’t sure. Didn’t want to say anything.”
“How do you know?” Sunny asked. “Just because he’s a ritual killer? All ritual killers can’t be Leopard People, can they?”