by Kwame Mbalia
“Get on,” the voice commanded.
“Get on what?” I asked.
“I think he means the lily pad,” said Ayanna.
My eyes widened. “We’re supposed to ride this?”
“How else are we gonna get to the palace?” Gum Baby shook her head, climbed down off my shoulder, and hopped onto the pad, jumping up and down and splashing the rest of us. “Gum Baby is so glad you’re not the brains of this operation. Good help is hard to find these days, otherwise Gum Baby would be looking for a new sidekick.”
Ayanna snickered and Junior snorted as they climbed aboard. I glared at them all as I carefully stepped onto the lily pad. Much to my surprise, it was rigid and pretty stable. “I am definitely not your sidekick. Ever.”
She sniffed. “Not with that attitude. Gum Baby’s gonna demote you to minion soon.”
“I—”
But before I could tell her how I really felt, the lily pad moved, with a lurch that sent me stumbling to the waxy floor. It began to rise in the air like an elevator, ferrying us up a waterfall to the palace in the sky.
“Sweet peaches,” I mumbled, flattening myself and staring into the sky as a fine mist sprinkled over us.
“Same old Tristan,” Ayanna said. “Hey, would you stop that!” she shouted to Gum Baby, who was dangling off the side and kicking her feet into the waterfall. I swallowed a nervous lump and counted to fifty. But, for all my discomfort, the ride was relatively smooth.
We came to a stop in front of an arched entrance to the palace. It was flanked by small ornamental trees growing out of crystal-clear pools, and birds trilled in the branches. Tiny silver, ruby, and sapphire fish with neon fins circled us, darting through the air so fast they looked like a rainbow.
“Get off,” came the disembodied voice. I looked around, confused. A shadow was flitting away in the distance. Was that our captor? Was the mysterious goddess waiting for us inside the palace? We were going to have to proceed cautiously and take our first opportunity to escape. Nana was waiting for me, and our getting thrown into an emerald dungeon wouldn’t help anyone.
But of course Gum Baby was the opposite of cautious. “Hurry up! Gum Baby hates suspense,” she called as she scuttled into the emerald-green palace.
“Hey!” I shouted. Ayanna and Junior took off after her, leaving me alone. I muttered something I shouldn’t have and ran to catch up. I slipped in between the trees, their flowers giving off a minty smell, and plunged through the two green pillars at the entrance.
“No. Way,” I whispered, skidding to a stop.
Inside was a giant open-air atrium filled with miniature fruit trees growing on pedestals, marble-lined ponds filled with fish so colorful I thought they were flower petals at first, and in the middle of it all, a deep pool so blue I mistook it for a painting. A throne floated on top—a living ornamental tree whose branches had been woven into a chair shape and covered in wildflowers of all different colors.
And at the foot of the chair, surrounded by colored pencils and scattered papers covered with drawings, sat a tiny bunny so familiar I thought my face would crack from smiling. She looked up as we all approached and let out a squeak of happiness.
“Tristan!”
“Chestnutt!” I said with a laugh, and scooped her into my arms. “What are you doing here?”
We all sat around a small pond filled with more of the tiny fish that Chestnutt called cichlids. These particular ones appeared to be neon purple with bright-blue fins. Every so often they leaped out of the water, dazzling us with aerial displays. It would’ve been amazing if Gum Baby hadn’t been trying to hit them with sap balls.
Some people, I swear.
“It’s so good to see you,” Chestnutt said. “But you shouldn’t have come. It’s dangerous here these days, what with the Shamble Man’s random attacks and that giant vulture trying to eat everybody. How did you get here? Did Anansi bring you?” The tiny brown-and-white bunny nibbled a piece of fruit from one of the many trees, and I had one of my own, a horned melon called a kiwano that tasted like a cross between a cucumber and a kiwi.
I popped another piece in my mouth, chewed and swallowed, then leaned forward. “No, Annie did. Keelboat Annie.”
Chestnutt grinned. “Of course she did. Where is she?”
I shook my head, wincing. “We got separated.” I ran down everything that had happened since the fight with Reggie. Had that only been yesterday afternoon? It felt like years ago. I hesitated when I got to the part about John Henry. I could feel Junior’s stare burning a hole in the side of my face, but once again I skipped the fact that the folk hero was slowly fading.
The bunny shuddered. “Everything is falling apart,” she muttered.
“What do you mean?” Ayanna asked.
Chestnutt hopped to her pile of sketches and rummaged around, finally pulling out three and dragging them in front of us. “You see this?” she asked, tapping the first picture. It was a giant storm cloud, gray and black with bolts of green lightning streaking through it.
“Yeah, that’s the storm outside, right?” I stared at it. “I forgot how good your sketches are.” The way Chestnutt had drawn it so close to the ground and with sharp lines, it looked ominous. Deadly, even.
“Thanks! But that storm has been hovering over the same spot for weeks now,” Chestnutt said, her voice growing grim. “And it’s growing larger. That alone is worrisome, but when you add these next two things to the mix…”
She pulled the second and third pictures forward. One was of a face I knew all too well—the masked figure of the Shamble Man. Red eyes that glowed like coals stared out from the paper, and I could feel the hatred in his gaze. I quickly moved on to the next portrait and paused. The person in it seemed familiar, but I couldn’t quite place her.
It was a beautiful brown woman, her hair braided into a single twist that curled down her back. Her eyes were like opals and her skin seemed to shimmer. I leaned closer. She almost looked like the spirit girl from the barn, Ninah.
He’s taken my mother.
With Ninah’s words echoing in my ears, I sat up straight. “Is this…?”
“You’re looking at Mami Wata, the goddess of Nyanza, the source of the City of Lakes,” said Chestnutt. “And, as of two days ago, missing.”
MISSING.
All the lakes and waterfalls in the palace froze for a fraction of a second as that word echoed around the palace, a pause so brief I thought I was imagining it until I saw Junior scanning the area as well. Our eyes met, and for once he didn’t glare at me. I guess we were both worried.
I leaned closer to Chestnutt, recalling Ninah’s words. “Was she…taken?”
The little bunny nodded. “We think so. That’s why I’m here. I’m on a mission for the Warren. They wanted someone here to investigate Wata’s disappearance.”
I didn’t need a network of cute and fuzzy spies to figure out what had happened. “It was the Shamble Man, wasn’t it?”
She nodded again. “Most likely. And it couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”
“What do you mean?” Junior asked.
Her ears drooped. “There was supposed to be a big summit. All the gods were supposed to attend. From the Sands, the Horn, the Grasslands, and MidPass. Nyame was planning on hosting it in the Golden Crescent. ‘The Future of Alke,’ he called it. But then Mami Wata disappeared and that giant vulture showed up. I was sent here to find clues about where the goddess could be.”
“And?” I asked. “Did you find any?”
“Yup, yup!” Then Chestnutt hesitated. “Well, a few. But I need to confirm them.”
I shook my head and a wry smile crossed my face. “Look at you. Keeping secrets. You’re a regular spymaster. Brer Rabbit would be proud. The real Brer Rabbit, not the impostor in the SBP.”
She wrinkled her nose. “SBP?”
Gum Baby, still trying to hurl sap balls at the leaping fish, missed and stomped her foot. “Story Box Phone. Bumbletongue’s trying to be less bumbl
y, so he’s making up words now.”
I ignored her. “Chestnutt, that monster—the Shamble Man—he has my grandmother. He came to my world! Stomping around and destroying my grandparents’ house. And he took her. I have to find him. I have to save her.”
A giant sigh that felt way too big for such a tiny bunny escaped from between her whiskers. “I haven’t pinpointed his exact location yet. I’ve been trying for days.”
I sat back, frustrated. The others remained silent, Ayanna staring at her staff and Junior tossing a few stones in the air. Too many pieces of the puzzle were still missing. Why kidnap Mami Wata? What could the goddess have that the Shamble Man needed? Why take Nana? Trying to come up with answers felt like trying to grab greasy ice with my toes. Im-poss-i-ble.
I blew out a puff of air. “If only I’d listened to Ninah when she first tried to warn me. Instead, I acted like a blockhead.”
Chestnutt sat up straight. “Wait, you saw Ninah? Everyone thought she’d gone missing along with Mami Wata, since she was one of her favorite daughters. Where is she? If anyone can fill the lakes again until Mami Wata gets back, it’s her.”
I winced. “I don’t know where she went. Everything got confusing after the Shamble Man arrived. And why aren’t the lakes working? It’s so dry out there.”
“More like City of Fakes,” Gum Baby said. She flipped a sap ball and it knocked down a fish. “Got it! Wait. Oh no, fishy! What did Gum Baby do?”
Chesnutt hopped around in agitation. “It has something to do with Mami Wata and her power. Do you know her story? Maybe if I heard it, or saw it, we could figure out what to do next.”
I felt my cheeks grow hot as Ayanna and Junior looked expectantly at me. I mumbled a response. “I…can’t remember any stories. It’s Nana. I don’t know, ever since she was taken, whenever I try to think of one of her tales, I get…I just can’t do it. I know I have to try and work through it….”
“And have you tried?”
I glanced at Ayanna. “No.”
Silence filled the space, broken only by Gum Baby’s sobs as she cradled the fish she’d knocked out of the water. After a moment, Chestnutt brightened and hopped in a circle, thinking hard. “Wait. You have Anansi, right? He could probably tell you the story. It was his Story Box for a while. Why don’t we ask him?”
I flinched, but before I could say anything, Junior beat me to it. “He can’t. It’s broken.” He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded at me. “Go ahead, then. Show her.”
I had no choice. I pulled the broken SBP out of my pocket and laid it in front of us. Chestnutt’s ears drooped so low I thought she’d trip on them.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I think I broke it when I landed. Plus, it got wet and now it won’t turn on.”
Chestnutt studied it. “Did you put it in rice?”
Something hit me in the back of the head. “Ouch!” I said. My hands came away sticky, and I looked up to see Gum Baby pointing at me, her face covered in sappy tearstains.
“Th-that’s what Gum Baby told that fool, but he didn’t wanna l-l-listen. Big head and hardheaded, too. I should’ve hit him with the sap balls and not the f-f-fishyyyyyy!” She collapsed into wails, blowing snot sap everywhere as she sniffled.
I threw up my hands, stood, and stomped over to Gum Baby. I knocked the fish out of her hand and back into the water. After a few seconds the fish wriggled, then swam away. “There, see? It’s fine. And enough about rice—it isn’t going to fix a cracked phone!”
“Depends on what kind of rice you put it in. And…” Chestnutt’s voice trailed off, and she froze. Then, she exploded into motion, diving into a pile of papers. Gum Baby and I watched her, confused, as the pile shook and then exploded. The bunny emerged, quivering with excitement, a rolled-up note in her mouth. I unfurled it.
“Look!” said Chestnutt. “Lady Night! She can help you.”
“Who?” I asked.
“I’ve heard of her,” Ayanna said slowly. “Bits and pieces. She’s a boo hag, right?”
Chestnutt nodded. “Yup, yup! She can help you.”
I froze. “A boo hag?”
“Yup, yup! She lives on the outskirts of the Golden Crescent, in the area the folks from MidPass moved into. According to the Warren’s notes, she fixes up magical items and even enchants a few of her own. If you can get her to repair the Story Box—I mean, the SBP—you and Anansi can use it to figure out where the Shamble Man has gone and rescue Mami Wata and your grandmother.”
“Wait, wait,” I said, holding up a hand. “How can the SBP do that?”
“Because the Story Box is attracted to stories. Do you have something of your grandmother’s?”
I started to say no, then paused and slapped my forehead. “I do! Nana’s quilt!”
“Great!” Chestnutt said. “The Story Box is drawn to that sort of thing. It can collect stories from objects like a wolf tracking a bunny.” She shivered a little at her own analogy. “So maybe you can track your grandmother that way. And if that doesn’t work, you could always get Anansi to tell you a story about the gods. Then the Story Box will be attracted to him like a magnet.”
I was getting lost. “Who’s ‘him’? Anansi? What are you talking about?”
“No…Never mind. It’s just a theory. The Warren doesn’t want me spreading rumors.”
“Please, Chestnutt, if you have information that can help, I want to know it. I have to find Nana. Who knows how she’s holding up. Please, tell me,” I begged.
Chestnutt’s ears drooped lower than I’d ever seen them go. She sank into a tiny furry ball, and her voice was a whispered squeak so faint I had to lean close to hear her. “I think the Shamble Man is a god of MidPass.”
THE RAFT SOARED THROUGH SKY, HEADING WEST TOWARD THE looming thunderclouds. We’d left immediately for Lady Night’s home with one of Chestnutt’s famous hand-drawn (paw-drawn?) maps, leaving the fuzzy little spy behind. She’d wanted to come with us but couldn’t leave her post. The sun was low on the horizon, and the City of Lakes acted like a prism behind us, sending brilliant multicolored rays into the sky, a rainbow guide to Alke. It was a beautiful sight that would soon be gone forever if the water goddess wasn’t found.
The storm lurked ahead, an ugly bruise threatening to roll over us all, a final finishing punch that would cap off a brutal round for Alke. Mami Wata gone. Nana gone. John Henry slowly disappearing from this world.
And the person responsible…was a god from MidPass?
I mean, I trusted Chestnutt, you get me? Anyone who didn’t listen to her was a fool. And yet I understood why the Warren didn’t want her spreading that information. If everyone started blaming MidPass for the current troubles, would they ever trust them again? Would they even allow the refugees from the burned-out island to stay?
A god from MidPass. Who could it be?
Images flashed in my mind, and I recoiled from each, refusing to believe that any of the gods I knew could’ve turned into such a monster. Could’ve unleashed plat-eyes and forced them to harass spirits and the living. Could be working with Kulture Vulture and his band of scavengers.
Miss Sarah and Miss Rose?
Brer Rabbit?
High John?
Impossible. Right?
I shook my head and collapsed onto the raft. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I just had to find this Lady Night and see if she could fix the SBP. We could take things from there.
But one picture kept worming its way back into my brain, poisoning my thoughts and turning my stomach:
The Shamble Man holding John Henry’s hammer. Where would he strike next?
“We’re here!” Gum Baby shouted an hour or so later, her tiny voice barely carrying over the wind blowing around the raft. She struggled to hold the vessel steady, even with the step stool she’d made out of sap to anchor herself. The sun had just set, leaving Alke to deal with the gathering storm, and a new horror: the dark clouds now had a faint tinge of green around the edges.
I
gripped Anansi’s adinkra nervously, but it was cool to the touch. For now. Maybe I was just imagining things.
The raft shuddered. It felt like all of a sudden we began to drop, slowly at first, but then quickly picking up speed.
“Gum Baby?” I asked, my voice filled with uncertainty. The ground couldn’t be that far away. A gleam flashed in the distance, then another. That had to be the palaces of the Golden Crescent in the distance. A dark smear rose to meet the stars to the northeast, a high wall that obscured the silvery clouds. Isihlangu, the mountain fortress.
That meant we were somewhere between the two regions of Alke. From the looks of it, I was about to learn exactly where very soon.
“Gum Baby!” Ayanna called out. She seemed a bit worried as well.
A group of hills rolled beneath us; on top of the highest one, a collection of lights twinkled around a sprawling ranch-style compound containing a large, flat building and several small log cabins. The faint sound of jazz music drifted up to my ears.
Sounded like we were about to crash Lady Night’s party.
Literally!
“Gum Baaabyyy!” Junior screamed.
The raft landed, skidding down a grassy hill straight toward the wooden fence around the compound. I braced myself and squeezed my eyes shut.
WHOMP!
The impact threw us forward, and for the second time that day I found myself facedown with a sticky demon on my head. I groaned, unable to form words because the breath had been driven from my lungs.
Gum Baby scrambled off the raft and brushed grass from her clothes. “Gum Baby’s getting good at this pilot job. Landing in the dark with no gumming lights? Ten out of ten, thank you for flying Sap Attack Air, take all your Bumbletongues with you.”
“Sap Attack Air is a horrible—”
A ball of sap struck the side of my head and I shut my mouth, contenting myself with thinking of all the ways a diminutive folktale character could be disposed of discreetly.
Just then I realized the jazz had stopped. A door in the main building opened, and light spilled out of it. Before I could move, six or seven large men and women with axes and pitchforks surrounded us, suspicion in their eyes. As quick as oily lightning, Gum Baby slipped out of sight in a tall clump of grass, leaving me, Ayanna, and Junior to face the music. I glared after her, ready to let loose a few insults, when all of a sudden several sharp pointy objects were shoved into my face. I bit back what I was about to say and tried my best to look innocent as I righted myself and stood up slowly and carefully with my hands raised.