“Sunny Nwazuuuuue,” the djinn sang. “I’m coming for youuuuu!”
“I know how you can break your curse,” Sunny quickly said. Ogwu stopped. She waited.
“I need to do what you all tried to do but on a larger scale.” She was making it up on the spot. Sunny had no clue why she’d been shown the vision in the candle and was having the strange dreams. But this wasn’t a time to worry about flat-out lying. “I’ve seen the end. And this time it’s not just a city in flames, it’s the entire world. I’ve seen it in a candle. That’s what caused me to discover I was a free agent Leopard Person. And I’ve been seeing it over and over in my dreams for the last few months! So maybe it’s supposed to happen soon! Oh, saving the world will require more than just me, but I am needed. Please. Help me. If you do, you’ll be doing what you should have done back in 1945! And this time, it’ll be on a grander scale! You won’t just be saving a city, you’ll be saving the earth! Fear of failure leads to more failure! And you won’t fail this time! You will be able to leave this place, trust me. Remember sunlight? You’ll see it again, if you help!! I am . . . I am ignorant. I can’t defeat a djinn!”
“You’re Anyanwu; we knew each other well. You can crush this djinn like a pepper seed.”
“I don’t remember how!”
“Then you have no idea who you are!”
Sunny pressed her lips together but didn’t argue.
Ogwu paused and then quickly ascended up her web. Sunny’s stomach dropped. When she looked at the bronze toad, all of Ogwu’s children were gone, too. Hiding wherever they liked to hide. Probably poised to watch the djinn take her life. Sunny would be like the guy from forty years ago. How could Sugar Cream throw her down here knowing that had happened? How could they send anyone down here knowing about it?! The Leopard People could be a callous people, especially when it came to adhering to certain rules. The damn rules.
Sunny brought out her juju knife. There were the bones. Right beside her. And the smell of sulfur. She ran through the handful of jujus she’d learned so far. How to bring music, how to keep mosquitoes away, healing minor injuries, staying dry in the rain, making a cup of polluted fresh water drinkable, testing if something was cursed or poisoned, how to push back a heavy aggressor, creating a barrier. She paused. The barrier, she was good at that one.
She held up her hand and opened her palm. Then she brought up her juju knife and made a circular flourish. She caught the pouch with the same hand while keeping the other one up. The invisible packet was cool and wet in her palm. “Stay back,” she firmly said. Before she could speak the activating words the wilderness descended on her, layering her world. A black shadow flew from the pile of bones. Eyes wide, Sunny stood her ground. She opened her mouth to speak, but it was on her too quickly. Something sank into her arm like fifty needles. She screamed and her entire world, both physical and wilderness, flashed bright. She felt the djinn sucking as she tried to shake it off. But there was nothing to shake off. It had no body. Not even bones. There was nothing but a thick oily brown shade.
Suddenly, it froze. Then it let go. Sunny rolled away, avoiding her arm. She got to her feet and ran for the nearest bookcase. Only when she got around it did she chance a look back. It was disgusting. Hundreds of red spiders had pinned the djinn to the floor like a sheet of brown-red solid smoke. Sunny had to blink to fully understand what she was seeing. On one plane, the djinn was a pile of dry bones and the spiders were the size of American quarters, Ogwu the size of a dinner plate. On the other, the djinn was a large blob of brownish smoke and the spiders were large as basketballs, Ogwu the size of a small child. On both planes they were tearing the djinn apart.
She could hear the dry bones snapping, crunching, and crumbling. And she could hear the wet smacking as the large spiderlike creatures tore off tiny pieces of the djinn with their sharp legs and ate them. All the writhing legs and bodies made her stomach turn. The djinn didn’t make a sound. It accepted its sudden defeat like an old man giving up on life.
As they ate, the hanging light bulb at the ceiling brightened, flooding the basement. It was like sunshine in its purity and warmth. Sunny shaded her eyes.
“Udide has seen us!” she heard Ogwu shout. “Udide has seen us!!”
The spiders left the mess that was the djinn and went running to the wall, Ogwu leading the way. Up the wall they crept. Then they scrambled to the ceiling. Toward the hanging light. Ogwu stopped above it and pointed a leg at the light. “Go, my children, go! We’re free! I will show you the world!”
Group by group they lowered themselves on their webs into the light, which flashed blue whenever a spider entered it.
“Anyanwu,” Ogwu said. “Sunny Nwazue, good luck! We’ve saved you here, but all of our lives depend on what you and the others do. Stop Ekwensu.”
“How do you know it’s her?” Sunny asked. She hadn’t mentioned Ekwensu. “You’ve been down here all . . .”
“I’ve been down here, but you know my children and I are not just of this place. We dwell in the wilderness also. We know the news there.”
The basement flashed and flashed as if it contained its own lightning. Sunny looked back at the remains of the djinn. She was firmly in the physical world now and there was nothing but dust left of it. “Is it dead?” she asked Ogwu.
“It was never alive.”
“Will it rise again?”
“Not for a while. Eventually. But we will not be here when it does.”
Sunny smiled. She had one more night to spend here and she’d spend it alone. Thank goodness.
“Sunny Anyanwu, Anyanwu Sunny,” Ogwu said. Her children were all gone, and she was finally lowering herself toward the light. “Thank you for giving me this chance to finally act, to play a role. The Great Spider Udide blesses you. If you ever meet her, send her my greetings and love.” Then she was gone in a flash of blue light.
Silence. A good kind of silence. Sunny was safe. She held up her arm to look at where the djinn had bitten her and saw that her bicep was swollen and red. What did a bite from a djinn do? She had at least half a day left down here.
“The medical books!” she said, remembering. There were volumes of them in the case near the bronze toad. Her muscles felt sore and her head ached. But she felt good. She felt strong. The memory of Ogwu’s failure and curse was vivid in her head. As Anyanwu, she had been part of the group that sent Ogwu to stop the atomic bomb from dropping. She’d been a part of a group trying to prevent one of the worst human-caused disasters of all time, back in 1945. Wow.
It didn’t take Sunny long to find information in the medical books about the bite of a djinn. Apparently, they were common in the Sahara and all over the Middle East. They could kill you and take your soul if they held you in the wilderness long enough, which was probably what it had done to the man with the hard bones forty years ago and planned to do to Sunny. However, their bites only caused a low-grade fever and dryness in the mouth. Sunny would have to suffer until her final meal and release came.
Thankfully, the suffering was short-lived. Minutes after reading the djinni information, she sat beside the bronze toad and fell into a deep undisturbed exhausted sleep.
14
RELEASE
Pepper soup. Strong. With fish. She opened her eyes. Her stomach clenched with hunger. The light bulb was still shining brightly and Sugar Cream was glowing like Jesus Christ. The fact that she was wearing a long cream-colored dress and matching cream-colored veil added to the effect. Sunny’s mouth and throat were so parched she couldn’t speak. She was lying curled up on the sandy marble floor, her hoodie over her head, her sleeves pulled over her hands.
“Can you sit up?” Sugar Cream softly asked. She’d placed the tray of pepper soup and a large bottle of water beside Sunny.
She nodded, allowing Sugar Cream to help her sit up. She scooted to Sugar Cream’s desk, leaned against it, and gave her mentor a ha
rd look. Her arm ached and itched, but she was alive. But she’d almost been killed.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Sugar Cream snapped. “You suffer the consequences of your actions. Let that be your greatest lesson here. You make your bed, so you shall lie on it.”
“It tried to kill me,” Sunny whispered.
Sugar Cream stiffened for a moment, meeting Sunny’s eyes. Then she picked up the bottle of water and handed it to Sunny. “Drink.”
Cool, soothing, goodness. Water is life; water is life; water is life, she thought. She drank and drank, pulling in as much as she could. She finished more than half of the large bottle before bringing it down and sighing. “It bit me,” she said.
“And what did you do about it?” Sugar Cream asked, handing her the bowl of soup. It was warm in her hands. A tainted pepper floated in the middle of the clear brown soup with large chunks of seasoned fish, tripe, and shrimp. It caused the soup to softly bubble. Sugar Cream handed Sunny a spoon, and she took it.
“I got the help of friends,” she coldly said.
Sugar Cream grunted and smiled. “Ogwu and her children,” she said. “Is that why the bulb burns as a portal?”
Sunny shrugged as she spooned the soup into her mouth. Her belly warmed and the rest of her body followed. For once it was good to eat hot, hot, hot tainted pepper soup. When she finished, Sugar Cream helped her up, inspected the bite on Sunny’s arm, and then, after deeming it not serious, helped Sunny up the many flights of stairs. Sunny’s punishment was complete.
The walk up and through the library was like a dream. She’d come to know the first three floors of this place well over the last year. But now, though she recognized everything, it felt slightly unfamiliar. There was a strange distancing effect, as if she hadn’t been here in five years as opposed to three days. She’d changed down there. And she was exhausted.
By the time they reached ground level and stepped into the lobby, Sunny felt stronger. She no longer had to lean on Sugar Cream and her headache was gone. The bite was itchy, but she could at least move her arm. Sugar Cream said it was past midnight, yet there were several older students browsing the bookcases here as if all was normal. They glanced at Sunny and some of them smiled at her, patted her on the shoulder, and said “You look good” and “Handled like a soldier.”
Samya slowly came up to her, and Sunny hugged her tightly. She felt Samya cringe, and she quickly let go. “I’m sorry,” Sunny said, looking into Samya’s brown eyes.
Samya smiled tiredly. “Don’t be.” She hugged Sunny again and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m glad you are okay.”
“They really caned you?” Sunny asked, her eyes tearing up.
“Don’t cry. You walk out of here with dry eyes, okay? I’m fine. As you know, some punishments are worth it.” Sunny nodded, working hard to fight her tears. Samya squeezed her hand. “Go,” she said, gently pushing Sunny along.
“You’ve become a bit of a hero,” Sugar Cream said drily, after they’d moved on toward the door.
If Sunny weren’t so tired, she’d have been deeply confused. How did one come out of three days’ punishment a hero? When she stepped out of the Obi Library, the air felt so sweet.
“Sunny!” Chichi screamed, running up and throwing her arms around her, nearly knocking her to the ground. Orlu and Sasha stood behind her. “They told us to wait out here. That you had to complete your punishment by walking unaided out of the Obi Library. Unaided!” She held Sunny back and looked her over. “You look terrible!”
“I feel worse,” Sunny said, pressing her arm.
“Chichi . . .” Sasha paused, an angry look crossing his face, but then he looked at Sunny and smiled. “She told us everything. I’d have done the same thing, no matter the consequences. That’s family, yo. Always gotta protect the fam.”
Sunny only nodded. Not even Sasha would understand the consequences. When he’d used juju to switch the minds of two police officers back in the United States, he’d been caned. She, on the other hand, had nearly lost her soul. But both he and Samya were right; it was worth it.
Her eyes met Orlu’s and again she nearly melted into tears. It was as if he could see right through her, witness all that she’d been through. His hands were at his sides, clenching and unclenching. She stepped up to him and Orlu gathered her into a quiet hug. “It’s all right,” he said. “You’re with us now.”
Sugar Cream went back into the library as soon as Sunny was in the hands of her friends. She said that Sunny was to return for her lessons in a week. The four of them stopped at Mama Put’s Putting Place on the way back when Sunny said that she was hungry.
“Don’t worry,” Orlu said, pulling out a white plastic chair for Sunny. “I’m paying. Order whatever you want.”
Sunny’s pockets were full of the gold chittim that had fallen in the basement, but she didn’t argue with him. She’d been gone three days and all her friends could do was worry. They needed to feel as if they could do something. Especially Orlu.
“It’s late,” Sunny said. “My parents, my brother . . . maybe it’s best if . . .”
“Don’t worry about them,” Chichi said. “I’ve been going over there. They know you are at least okay.”
“What?! What have you been telling them?” she asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “I can’t. They already know you are part of . . . something. They’re beginning to understand. So all I’ve said is that you’re fine and will be back tonight. The first day, your father looked like he wanted to kill me.” She laughed. “Honestly, Sunny, your father doesn’t know if he is coming or going when it comes to you.”
“Your mother came to see my mother yesterday, too,” Orlu said. “My mother said she looked okay . . . just worried about the reason you were gone.”
Sunny ordered a plate of stewed chicken. Mama Put said it came with jollof rice, but Sunny asked to replace it with more fried plantain. She didn’t think she wanted to eat jollof rice for a while, or goat meat. She also ordered three bottles of water. When the food came, Sunny’s entire body responded. As she ate and drank and ate and drank, Chichi told her some surprising things.
“I called your brother that next day,” Chichi said. “Remember, you gave me your phone.” She reached into her pocket and handed it to Sunny.
“Thanks,” Sunny said. “What’d he say?”
“Nothing much,” she said.
Sasha sucked his teeth loudly.
“Oh, stop,” Chichi snapped.
Sasha muttered something under his breath, and Orlu’s eyebrows went up.
“What did you say?” Chichi asked, frowning.
“My brother,” Sunny interrupted. “My brother . . . is he okay?”
“He’s back in school.” Chichi grinned.
“What? Really?!”
“He didn’t believe me at first when I said he could go back. But then later that day, he got a phone call. His friend Adebayo couldn’t stop apologizing and telling him that it was safe to return. That the confraternity is disbanded. Chukwu didn’t believe it until one of his other friends who was not in the confraternity and knew nothing about Chukwu’s problem called his cell phone laughing and telling him that two of his professors had left their positions to join some born-again Christian group. When Chukwu returned, he found that the capo of the group had also become born-again, though he didn’t drop out.”
Her brother only missed a few days of school. Her parents never even knew he was gone. The next time he’d be home would be for Christmas, which was weeks away. He’d heal up nicely by then. Sunny looked at her phone. What was she going to tell him when she finally talked to him? She’d cross that bridge once she got to it.
When she returned home, she made it into the kitchen before anyone knew she was there. Her father stood in the doorway in his nightwear. “Sunny,” he said in a low voice. “Where were you?”
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Sunny’s heart slammed in her chest and she felt her throat tighten. She couldn’t tell him even if she wanted to. “Dad, I . . .”
He held up a hand. “Something has always been wrong with you,” he muttered. “What kind of daughter has God given me?”
“I swear, Dad, I’m not . . .” She froze as it started to happen, her body filling with terror. But she couldn’t help it, no matter how hard she willed. Her spirit face was coming forward! And as it began to happen, Sunny could feel Anyanwu’s shock, too. She turned from her father.
“Don’t swear,” her father snapped. “Don’t swear a thing to me. What are you . . . What is wrong with you?”
Sunny was afraid to speak. But as her spirit face retreated, she relaxed. She turned back to her father’s angry face. Two years ago, he’d surely have beaten her when he was this angry . . . and this scared him. She could see it in his eyes. She was old enough now and had faced enough scary things herself to recognize it. “Are you all right?” he asked in a low voice.
She nodded.
“Did anyone hurt you?”
“I’m okay, Dad,” she said. The djinni bite on her arm itched and ached. Was losing control of her spirit face a side effect?
He touched his forehead and closed his eyes, letting out a breath. He opened them. “Will this happen again, Sunny?”
She pressed her lips together, steadying herself. If her spirit face had slipped forward, would they have returned her right back to the basement? Or something even worse? Why did that even happen? And her father made her angry. She had always known he resented her for not being what he wanted. He was like so many other Igbo fathers. Sons, sons, sons, even when you had two. And if not a son, then a beautiful, polite, docile daughter. “No,” she said, just wanting to escape to her room.