Wings of Ebony

by J. Elle

  “Good thinking.” Luke grabs the other end of the cloth and pins it.

  Stacks of self-folding towels bob through the air and a kitchen drawer flies open to receive them.

  “Thanks for letting me just pop up,” I say to Bri’s mother. She doesn’t respond, buzzing around the kitchen, which is steps away. I know she heard me. Flames dance on her fingers as she brings a pot of water to a boil, mumbling something to herself.

  “It-it’s fine, really,” I say. “You don’t need to go out your way to make—”

  “Ya,” she says, flashing a tight smile.

  “She says she insists,” Bri translates.

  “No’yee dja Zruki. Mwepa kindazi.”

  “She says it would be rude to not offer,” Bri says. “And that Zruki are not rude people.”

  “O-okay,” I say. “Well, thanks.”

  “You sure your momma cool with this?” I cut a glance at Bri, whose arm is twisted around Luke’s.

  “Yeah, it’s fine. I’m sure,” Bri says, tapping her foot. Something ’bout the way her momma keeps looking over her shoulder at me makes her seem nervous.

  And her being nervous makes me nervous.

  “Cute outfit.” Bri picks up my costume, inspecting it. “Felt like a little shopping on the way? What are you, queen of the fire-breathing lizards now, or however you say it there?”

  “Dragon. And whatever, it got me here unrecognized, didn’t it?”

  She laughs. My watch says I’ve been here three minutes and it feels like three minutes too long. I’m hoping between Cupcake and Ms. Leola, Tasha’s okay. The text I sent before I left the General’s warehouse forbid her to go anywhere. Not even school. Cops don’t go looking for truant kids in the ’hood. Praying she listens.

  “Aasim told me he’d be here real soon,” says Bri.

  I wipe my clammy hands on my pants, pull out the cuff digging into my side, and set it on the table. Its hue and brilliance matches the necklace I left on Tasha; it’s also obviously Ghizoni gold. Going to ask Aasim about that, too. I want answers. All the answers. And I’m going to have them.

  “What’s with the—” Luke unlaces his fingers from Bri’s and picks up the cuff.

  “Don’t—” Too late.

  “What the hell? It burned me.”

  “Yep. I don’t know.” I scoop up the cuff and the whispers start, but louder this time.

  And clearer.

  I strain to listen, but it sounds like a mix of stutters and hisses. I turn the metal in my hands. What are you trying to tell me?

  “It doesn’t burn you?” Luke asks, rubbing a pink spot on his thumb.

  “Nah.”

  “It’s gotta be full of some kind of dark power.” Bri leans over it. “I don’t get it. Never seen anything like it. But you can sense it, you know?”

  I sense something, that’s for sure. Is it darkness? Some malicious, angry magic trying to hurt me? Maybe I should tell Bri about the whispers, see what she thinks.

  The cuff grows hotter.

  On second thought, I won’t tell her. She’d freak out.

  The cuff cools, like it heard me.

  I slip it back inside my pocket and zip it up, ignoring the bulge in my side.

  Bri’s mom hands me a mug of gri, which is like hot chocolate but sweeter. I don’t want it, but I was raised right so I smile and say thank you. She looks away.

  I don’t like this.

  Bri’s about to take a sip, but her mother claps. “A-ah! Seyeen.”

  The Ghizoni prayer of thanks. I’m not praying thanks to the damn Chancellor. I look down and keep my mouth shut to be respectful of this lady letting me up in her house. Bri and Luke bow their heads.

  She gestures for Bri to pray in English, I guess so I can participate.

  “Thank you, good Chancellor, for your kind generosity,” Bri says. “Thank you for the magic with which you entrust us and the station you have given us. May we wear it with honor and use it with integrity. To the great and generous Chancellor, long life and good health. Seyeen.”

  Long life? Good health?

  I sip my drink.

  They all mumble, “Seyeen.”

  “So what did you tell Aasim?” I ask. And Luke apparently.

  “Everything. Well, everything that happened at the coffee shop. About the tattoo.”

  “And?” I ask.

  “And he just said he’d meet us here at sundown and hung up.”

  Hmmm. Coming here to talk to him is the last thing I wanted to do. But he’s a higher-up in Ghizon and probably my only shot at reactivating my onyx.

  I don’t know what to make of him.

  The necklace he left Moms kept her safe all those years, sure. But what kind of nigga just lay up with they girl, knock them up, and bounce? What am I supposed to say, thanks? Thanks for risking Moms’s life by getting involved in the first place? But, I mean, without the necklace would Moms’s life have ended even sooner? Ugh. My head hurts.

  “I-is everything okay back at your home, Rue?” Luke wraps his arm back around Bri and she nestles in to him. “I-I don’t know much about what’s been going on with you,” he says. “Bri doesn’t tell me much.”

  “Oh? I thought…,” I start.

  “Uhh, no. You know me better than that. He happened to be here when you buzzed me, that’s all. He could tell something was wrong.” She shrugs him off playfully. “One, that isn’t my business to share. And two, Rue’s my girl. That’s like ride or death code one-oh-one.”

  Because she’d know. I snort a laugh, almost spitting out my drink. She really going in on this ride or die thing.

  Lines dent Luke’s brow. “Ride or what?”

  “Yup,” I say. “She’s right.”

  We do our special handshake thing and Luke rolls his eyes.

  “Women are so complicated, I swear.” He grabs a cup and takes a sip. “No, but really. Whoever is in trouble, are they okay? I was worried. Is it your mom or family or something?”

  She really ain’t tell him shit about me.

  “Nah, my mom is dead.”

  “Wow, sorry,” he says without a flinch.

  “It is family though,” I whisper out of earshot of Bri’s mom. “I have a little sister back home in East Row.”

  He takes another sip. “That’s terrible. You must be so worried.”

  “ ’Preciate it.”

  “Well, I hope your sister is okay,” he says.

  I’m about to say thanks but the door clicks open.

  Aasim.

  Everyone stands, except me, and Bri’s mother is visibly sweating now. She bows her head several times, muttering things under her breath.

  “Thank you, Maim Zoryn. There’s really no need for that. I-I… that’s more the Chancellor’s thing.” He clasps her hands. “Thank you for allowing my daughter…”

  I catch a chill.

  “… in your home with such discretion.”

  She bows again and offers him a mug.

  “Luke, good to see you,” Aasim says.

  They sure are friendly as hell. What happened since I left? Aasim shakes his hand.

  “Again, I appreciate all your help. I know it’s no easy task keeping eyes on the man you work for.”

  The General? Luke’s been spying on his boss for Aasim?

  “Of course, sir.”

  “Bri, thanks so much for calling me.”

  Bri nods but she doesn’t offer a hand. She’s not overly friendly with him and I appreciate that.

  He turns to me. “You’re not wearing it?” He reaches for his own neck.

  The necklace? That’s really his first words to me?

  “Are you hurt?” he asks as a follow-up. “You doing okay?” The concern and fatherly vibe is weird from him.

  “I’d like to talk business.” I toss Bri a look and she nods, pulling Luke along behind her as they leave the room. Her mother follows suit.

  “Good luck with Tasha, Rue,” Luke says. “Hope it all works out.” The bedroom door cl
icks shut.

  When did I tell Luke my sister’s name?

  “Rue, I—” Aasim snatches my attention away.

  “Stop.” I put up a hand. “Let me say this and get it out of the way. I’m not here to be friends. I’m here to find out what you know about the General’s dealings back in East Row and get my onyx fixed. I don’t know what’s involved in all that, but it’s the least you could do.” I fold my arms. “Your turn, go ahead.”

  “Rue, there’s so much you don’t know. So much I have to tell you, show you. I’m sorry about Tasha. Is that where the necklace is?”

  “Yeah, when I left family back home I actually planned to come back.”

  He sighs. “Rue, it’s not that simple. I loved your mother very much, and you. We’ve never been able to talk about her. I—”

  “No. Don’t do that.” Not now. Not with everything else going on. “Magic. The General. What do you know?”

  “Rue, I’m your father…”

  Oh, now he’s my father.

  “I know you must be…” He searches the air for words. “What I’m trying to say is… there’s so much I’m sure you’re dealing with.… Just tell me what you’re holding in.”

  “I’m not holding in anything.” How can he possibly think now is the time to bring up Moms? He doesn’t get to do that. He doesn’t get to just bring her up… and force me to remember… and especially not when Tasha and East Row—

  “Rue—”

  “STOP. Please!” I won’t cry. I won’t. “I’m not doing this with you here or now. You happen to be in a position to fix my magic. That’s the only reason I’m standing here talking to you.”

  His eyes grow wide.

  I don’t care. “You’re not gonna force me to talk about stuff I’m not ready to.” A brick sits on my chest. “Answer my questions. Tell me everything you know and fix my magic. I have people relying on me. And I”—unlike you—“am not gonna let them down.”

  He stares at me, a pained look on his face. Like I hurt him or something. I mean sure, he did something by leaving the necklace, but he still left. He still put everything on Moms’s shoulders for seventeen years. And for that he’ll always be a stranger to me. We can figure out this magic thing together, then I’m out. I don’t need his help to protect Tasha or back home. I’ma make a way and do this shit on my own.

  Just like Moms taught me.

  Just like I’ve always done.

  “I’ve clearly hurt you, very deeply. I’m sor—”

  “I’m not hurt, I’m impatient. They’re killing my people, my home. They tried to kill my sister—twice!”

  “I’m so sorry, Rue. You’re right. This isn’t the time, forgive me. And okay, okay. Let’s get your magic back. Even if we can’t fix us, I know we can fix your magic. So you can protect East Row.”

  Finally, he gets it. “Th-thank you. That’s all that matters to me. Protecting my people is the only thing I care about.”

  He nods solemnly, but the glimmer in his eye is more pride than sorrow.

  I straighten up to speak, but the words come out cracked. “I-I’m g-going to destroy them for what they’re doing to my home.” Tears streak my cheeks, but I smudge them away, quick.

  He clasps my shoulder. “You will have justice.”

  I want to pull away from his touch, but I don’t.

  His breath warms my ear. “But, Jelani…”

  No one calls me by my middle name.

  I face him, my insides tingling.

  “… first you need to understand where you came from.”

  CHAPTER 22

  YIYO PEAK IS WHERE the onyx stones are mined. The transport pod hums toward it, the sun growing smaller behind its highest tip. Honey-colored earth wisps by in a blur, like smeared pastels. Land like I’ve never seen surrounds me. All my time in Ghizon I’ve never explored the rural parts. Mahogany and sable earth rise and dip for miles, forming white-tipped peaks that kiss the clouds and craters like valleys covered in thin grass.

  The sea of field hugging the peak stretches high and low to the edges of the earth, swallowed by the sun on the horizon. I check my watch. No news from Bri. I told her to use the homing tracker on our watches to keep an eye on Ms. Leola’s and buzz me if anything goes down.

  “What is this place?” I ask.

  “The rest of Ghizon.” Aasim smiles.

  I don’t smile back. “I don’t understand. Where are we going?”

  “The onyx mines.”

  “But why? I wasn’t born in a mountain. Like, how is this relevant? Also, why couldn’t Bri come?”

  Bri wasn’t happy to be left behind, but Aasim made it seem like this was something only he and I should do.

  “You need to see it for yourself, first.”

  I tap my foot. “I’m not going to be out here for long.”

  “I know.” He squeezes my shoulder and I roll away from his grip.

  “We’re going to get your magic fixed, Rue. You have my word.”

  I bite back the first snide remark that comes to mind. And the three after it. The ordeal at Dezignz flashes in my memory and I feel sick all over again.

  Brian, his name is Brian.

  Holding on to his name makes me feel like I’m holding on to him. I tug my hoodie tighter around my shoulders. My foot taps faster and I check my watch again. It’s been an hour, maybe two since we left Bri’s and it feels like it’s been days. I don’t know how this trip into the wilderness is going to fix my magic, but it better happen fast.

  Fields of thin golden grass billow like fine hairs in wind. The trail beneath us snakes through, winding toward a colorful entrance jutting from the center of the mountain. Tree trunks with knobs like knees twist and wind up and out of sight. Leaves fan out from their upper branches in shades of green. Light flashes like a pulse inside the transport as we pass in and out of their shadow.

  “These trees… I—” I’ve seen them before. The dream. I gnaw at my lip.

  “Jpango trees.” Aasim’s beaming grows. “You’ll only find them out here.”

  There’s so much foliage in odd shapes and sizes like I’ve never seen. I assumed it’d be all dry mountainous desert. I had no idea there was lush life out here.

  A thin barrier as transparent as glass flickers into view. The transport halts, shudders a moment, and like an air pocket through a bubble, pushes through. I whip around but only find the trail we’ve passed as if the barrier isn’t there.

  “For protection,” he says. We slow, then jerk to a stop.

  Protection from what? Yiyo Peak towers ahead, rays dancing around its edges. We sit in its shadow, waiting. For what I’m not sure.

  A rounded patch of dirt skirts the edges of our destination. Closer to the carved mountain entrance now, towering stone columns that look as if they were chiseled by hand stand around the mine’s entrance.

  “Is anyone in there working now?” Zrukis work the mines overnight when it’s coolest out. Sun’ll be down soon, which means people showing up would see us, right?

  “The mine’s closed all week in observance of A’bdu Yoi’ furi.”

  Ah, of course, the “oh so wonderful” Chancellor strikes again.

  “You ready?”

  Brian, his name is Brian. “Yes.”

  Something about the way Aasim stares at me makes butterflies flutter in my tummy. What are we about to walk into? We hop out and my shoes scrape the gravelly ground. Silence sits on us like a blanket. No wind, no rustle from the trees. Aasim leads the way to the carved doors at the entrance to Yiyo Peak. They’re stories tall, higher than any door I’ve ever seen. Higher than Moms’s entire apartment building. And their markings coil and twist in a familiar pattern. Dug into their surface are flecks of gold.

  “It’s so beautiful,” I say, the wind around us picking up. “I’ve never seen black wood like this before.”

  “Jpango,” he says. “The doors are hand carved and painted. This door is generations old. Older than New Ghizon.”

  “How
do you know all that?”

  “Ancient history.”

  They ain’t teach none of that in any Ghizoni book I got. The doors’ carvings are smooth against my fingertips, and a warm sensation moves through me. The spot where the cuff is dug into my side burns hot.

  What the—ow. I snatch my hand from the door and the heat evaporates.

  The heat.

  The scrollwork pattern on the doors.

  That’s where I’ve seen it… the cuff!

  I pull it out, ignoring the whispers, and compare the two.

  Aasim gasps. “She kept it.” His eyes dance with a fire I’ve never seen—a fire reminiscent of the one burning inside of me. I’m warm deep down into my bones, but I hardly notice it.

  “It speaks to me,” I say, knowing how that must sound.

  His eyes grow wider, awe written in lines on his face. “A-and what does it say?” He’s practically salivating. Clearly, I’m missing something here.

  “I don’t know what it’s saying, what it’s trying to tell me. Can you hear it?”

  He shakes his head no, but his smile grows. It’s like there’s something he’s not telling me. Something hanging on his tongue he’s hungry for me to see.

  I don’t see it. “What do you think it means? I don—”

  He presses a finger to my lips. “You just have to see.”

  He pushes Yiyo’s carved doors open and a searing heat washes over me like I’ve stepped into a flame.

  CHAPTER 23

  Seven Months Ago

  SO, MISS?” I HAD asked in my Ghizon History class.

  The teacher had tugged on her robe and turned to face me, her lips pencil thin. “You have a question, Miss Akintola?”

  I’d sat up, trying to make sure I catch every word outta this lady’s mouth. I’d known they worship the Chancellor, but I never understood why. He’s this frumpy, pot-bellied guy with an angry mug and very little hair on his head. All the pictures of him are always the same, too. Him staring with those steel eyes and lips so tight I’m not even sure they know how to smile.

  What do they see in him? I don’t get it.

  “Yeah, so you’re saying the Chancellor just showed up and united all these different tribes on the island of Ghizon by offering them magic?”