Sasha, Orlu, and Chichi all looked at her, baffled.
“He might,” Abok said. “Though you don’t look like your grandmother, there are other ways to know a spiritline when it runs strong.”
She clenched her fists. “How do we find him?” she asked.
“He owns a gas station near Aba,” Taiwo said. “Start there, follow his tracks. Use the element of surprise. He is arrogant and has no respect for young people. He will not be expecting you, and when he sees you, he will think you harmless.”
“Why didn’t people do this for-for all of the other children?” she asked.
“Timing is everything,” Abok said. “It wasn’t time.”
“We had people try, but they all came to a bad end,” Ali added quickly.
“Timing,” Abok said again. “This time, it will be right.”
“We hope,” Ali said.
Sunny frowned. “You mean you’ve sent other groups like ours? And-”
“We have and will continue to until Black Hat is taken down,” Yakobo said. “More is at stake than your lives.”
“Black Hat is a shrewd sorcerer,” Abok said. “He has protection, but we have watched for loopholes. The children that returned maimed but alive were all rescued by Oha covens.”
“Did the rescuers escape, too?” she asked.
None of the scholars replied. That was answer enough.
Sunny held the phone closer to her ear and turned away from the others. They were on a funky train, speeding down the road in the rain. The line remained quiet, but she knew someone was there. “Mama, hello? I can hear you breathing.”
“What do you want?” her brother Chukwu said. “What did you do?” There was the sound of a struggle. “I want to know!” her brother demanded.
“Let me talk to her,” she heard her other brother Ugonna say.
“Give me the phone,” she heard her mother snap. “Sunny?” Her voice sounded thick and she sniffed loudly. “You there?”
“Yes, Mama.” Silence. “Hello? Mama?”
Silence.
“Is-is it raining there?” her mother finally asked.
“Yeah.”
“Of course it is,” she said quietly.
“Mama, do you…” Sunny tried to speak, but it felt like something was softly squeezing her throat. It was the pact she’d made with Orlu and Chichi.
Silence.
“J-just come home,” her mother whispered. “Make sure you come back home.” Silence. “Be brave. I love you.”
Sunny closed her phone, wiped her tears, and put all her questions out of her head. She had to focus. She turned to her friends. “Tell me about Ekwensu.”
“She is what Satan is to the Christians,” Chichi said. “But more real, more tangible. She’s not a metaphor or symbol. She’s one of the most powerful masquerades in the wilderness. If she comes through, if Black Hat succeeds-think of what you saw in that candle. Now see that controlled by some demented super-monster that no person or thing can stop.”
They had twenty minutes before they reached the gas station. Sunny held her head in her hands.
19
It wasn’t hard to find, even in the rain. Trouble is never hard to find.
All they had to do was follow the line of cars. It started where the funky train dropped them off and led them to the shiny, spotless gas station. They huddled under Sunny’s large black umbrella as they walked-the umbrella she once used to protect herself from the sun.
“What’s the point?” Sasha asked. “These people will probably get stuck in the mud on the way home. These are all Lambs.”
“I think the fuel station is selling really cheap,” Chichi said.
“So?” Sasha said, frowning. “Is it really worth it?”
“Fuel is hard enough to find,” Chichi said. “Cheap fuel is gold.” She paused. “I wonder if having people around helps with whatever Black Hat is planning.”
“Probably,” Orlu said. They were almost there. “Stop. Wait.” Orlu paused. “Cross the street. Hurry up.”
They waited for two cars and a truck to zoom by, which splashed them with water. Quickly, they scrambled across the street and stood in a muddy parking lot.
“Ugh,” Chichi said, slicking muddy water from her arms. “How rude is that?”
“Doesn’t matter now,” Sunny said. “We’re already soaked.”
“What is it, Orlu?” Sasha asked.
“I don’t know,” Orlu said. “As we were getting closer, I kept feeling-you know when I undo things, it’s not always voluntary.”
“Something there?” Chichi said. “Protecting the place from Leopard People?”
“I think so,” Orlu said. “You didn’t feel anything?”
“But you can undo it, right?” Sasha asked.
“I’m scared,” he said simply. Sunny felt sick. Orlu was a proud person. For him to admit this was serious. He let out a deep breath. “If I do this-everything starts. I know it.”
“Then do it,” Sasha said. “That’s what we’re here for.”
“What about the element of surprise?” Sunny asked. She was thinking about how surprise had helped her team score its first goal.
“You can’t always get things the way you want them,” Chichi said.
“We’ll be like cowboys walking into a bar full of criminals,” Sasha said, laughing almost hysterically. He had a crazy look in his eye. “Forget surprise. Let’s just go in there. We’ve all got big guns.” He took out his juju knife. Sunny, Chichi, and Orlu did the same.
Like the team they were, they clicked their knives together. As the knives touched, they seemed to become one thing-one being made of four people. They all jumped back and looked at each other.
“Let’s go then,” Orlu said quickly.
Sunny closed her umbrella, dug its point into the mud, and left it behind. They held their juju knives ready.
People watched from the dry comfort of their cars. Several frowned, blinked, and wiped their eyes. Sunny could imagine what they saw: four kids, one who seemed to glow because of her albino skin. One moment, the kids’ faces looked like ceremonial masks and their motions utterly changed, the next they were just kids again.
More than a few people drove off. Some, not wanting to lose their places in line, moved their cars up to take the spots, killed the engines, and fled. Others sank down in their seats, but not so much that they couldn’t see what was about to go down.
When the four of them got within a few yards of the gas station, Orlu stopped, a nauseated look on his face. Suddenly, he started moving-grasping, slicing, chopping, punching at the air with both his free hand and his juju knife. He was fighting with something. Gradually, he fell to his knees, still fighting.
“Can we help?” Sasha shouted.
Orlu didn’t answer. Sunny had never seen him move his hand and knife so fast. He was like Bruce Lee, except Orlu didn’t look so confident.
Then she felt it-a very slight shift in space, as if they were all moved forward by about a foot.
“Hey! Did you see that?” someone exclaimed from behind them.
“What?” someone else shouted.
“I’m getting out of here!”
More cars started. Several screeched away. In front of them, people still pumped gas. A gang of men came running out of the station, and there was a loud sucking sound. Orlu fell flat on the soaked concrete.
“Orlu!” Sunny shouted.
He’d rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. “Help me up,” he wheezed.
Sasha and Sunny pulled him up. He felt very warm, steam rising from his wet clothes. He leaned on them, rubbing his eyes. Otherwise, he seemed okay. He looked to the side of the gas station, pointed, and said, “You see it? There.”
Before, there had been only an empty lot full of trash and weeds. Now, in the middle of the trash and weeds, was a patch of tall wild grass and an obi. It wasn’t a normal obi. It had the usual thatch roof, but it was held up by steel pillars; there were drawings burned into the metal. Inside, they could just make out a large man and two small shapes on the floor. Lightning flashed across the sky, followed a second later by a bone-shaking crash of thunder. Sunny jumped, clutching Orlu tightly. Now he held her up.