by Rena Barron
“Brace yourself,” Eli said, winking at me. “You’re not going to believe this.”
That turned out to be an understatement. I took one step beyond the doors and almost collapsed. I inhaled a sharp breath—surprised that I could breathe at all. Eli was right. My mind struggled to make sense of what I was seeing. “Whoa,” I whispered, soaking up the impossible and improbable nature of the moment.
I jumped a little when the doors behind me slammed shut and disappeared. Taking a step forward, I wondered if anyone would fault me if I picked now as the time to freak out. There were no walls, but we stood in a chamber with four pillars for support, one in each corner, smack in the middle of outer space.
Not to shout, but:
OUTER SPACE.
Mental note: don’t go near the edges; no guardrails.
Thousands of fireflies buzzed around the ceiling and lit the open chamber in a soft light. The stars near the pillars where the floor ended and space began were humongous, while the ones farther away looked like grains of sand. A comet streaked by so close that it rattled my teeth.
Once I was over the initial shock, I saw Frankie’s moms, Pam and Dee, standing next to Mama in the center of the empty chamber. The cranky twins were here too, but there was no sign of Nana and the orisha council.
“Do you still think this is an illusion?” Dee was saying to her wife.
Pam, the taller of the two, wore a tweed jacket and jeans. Dee had on high-top sneakers and her white lab coat. When you looked at Frankie and her moms together, you couldn’t tell she was adopted. The three of them wore similar black-rimmed glasses and had genius hair. Think Albert Einstein’s hair, except kinky.
“This could be an elaborate holograph,” Pam answered, narrowing her eyes at the cranky twins. Between the metal detector and here, they had removed their pink bonnets. Both had their silvery hair pulled back into braids that flowed down their shoulders.
“I assure you that it is not,” Miss Lucille said, wrinkling her nose.
Frankie squeezed between her moms, who each wrapped an arm around her. Mama gave me a sad smile as she pulled me into a side hug.
Eli cupped his hands around his mouth and called, “Nana, where are you?”
“Eli!” Jayla’s voice rang out from somewhere. “We can play with the stars!”
“Calm yourself, girl,” came Nana’s voice, shushing her.
“Jayla’s here?” Eli protested. “How long has she known?”
“Now is not the time, Eli,” Frankie whispered to him, her face smug with revenge.
Clusters of stars swiveled around the chamber like mini dust clouds. Each sparkled and glowed a different color. A yellow one there. A pink one here. A green one that touched the tip of my nose as it floated by and left my face vibrating. Imagine that someone shrank solar systems and put them in a bottle. This was like being in the bottle with them if the bottle was big enough to fit eight people.
A light flashed in front of us, and high-back golden thrones shimmered into existence. The council members sat on them in their semidivine state. I remembered the orishas from my comic books—but seeing them like this was exciting and a little scary. They were gigantic, and we were specks of dust next to them.
To the far left sat Shangó, aka Mr. Jenkins, his double axes at his feet, lightning flickering against his skin. He was the orisha of thunder and lightning. Protector of innocence, hardest science teacher at Jackson Middle School. He was known for his strength, but sometimes he got distracted by his curiosity.
Next to him sat Eshu with fire burning in his eyes again. Better known in our neighborhood as Ernest, the Blues Man. He was the orisha of balance, who caused the earth to spin to create day and night and the seasons. But he was also sometimes a trickster.
Nicknamed the grandmother of the orishas because of her wise nature, Nana Buruku sat next to him. Her brown skin shimmered with soft light. She embodied the spirit of earth and all things that supported life, but she hated metal. It weakened her powers. Jayla was sitting on her lap until she spotted Eli and climbed down. She ran to him, and he scooped her up in his arms and spun her around once while she clung to his neck.
Nana shrugged. “She wouldn’t stay with the sitter.”
Miss Mae from the beauty salon sat next to Nana. She also ran the shelter on Forty-Seventh street that helped people who’d fallen on bad luck get back on their feet. I bit my lip trying to figure out her orisha name. She wore a beautiful yellow dress that lapped at her bare feet like a flowing river. The five gold rings around her neck sparked with stars, and her pretty braids lay across her shoulders.
“You’re Oshun,” I blurted out. “The orisha of beauty.”
“Among many other things,” said Oshun smiling at me, and when she did, her face glowed like the first morning sunrays. Eli’s jaw dropped open, and Frankie rolled her eyes at him. “Stop embarrassing us,” she said, under her breath.
I remembered from my comics that the orishas had many responsibilities. Oshun represented fresh water, love, prosperity, and fertility in addition to beauty. Next to her sat our crossing guard at school, Zane, in a green shirt that seemed to blend in with his throne. His dog, General, was at his feet. Both man and dog wore matching shimmering metal tags. General had changed too. He had six eyes instead of two and three times as many teeth.
“Ogun.” I looked at Zane. “The orisha of metal and war.”
Nana turned her nose up like she smelled something foul.
“At your service, little one,” Ogun answered, tipping his head to me.
Eshu said something to Nana in a language that made the room shake.
“Is that Parseltongue?” Frankie nudged up her glasses.
Pam shook her head. “That sounds nothing like Parseltongue.”
“I bet we’re going on a quest,” Eli whispered to me. “Demigods always got quests, so godlings must too.”
We were the equivalent of demigods, like Hercules or Achilles or Perseus. But from the looks of disapproval on the orishas’ faces, we were not at the top of their chosen heroes list. “Doubt it,” I murmured.
Eshu’s eyes burned with fire as he regarded us, then he said, “Welcome to the gods’ realm. We brought you here because it’s easier to show you who we are than explain. By now, you know that the guardian—Elegguá—has been taken—”
“Are you going after him?” Mama spoke up, her impatient voice echoing in the chamber.
“That’s a complicated question,” Eshu answered, his fire dimming a little.
“What’s so complicated about it?” I thrust out my father’s staff. “We have to help Papa.”
“I know this is hard to understand right now, Maya, but we must be careful.” Nana sat forward on her red-and-gold throne. “The Lord of Shadows is very dangerous. If he was able to hurt Eshu and kidnap Elegguá, then that means he has grown powerful again. No one from any of the councils can risk leaving their family unprotected right now. He’ll come after our children to exact revenge against us. The godlings wouldn’t stand a chance. Except for a very few, most haven’t shown any gifts in a millennium.”
I frowned. “How could he grow more powerful if he’s trapped in the Dark?”
Miss Ida spoke up. “Your father discovered that the Lord of Shadows has found a way to tap into the energy of the veil.” She stood as still as a statue and didn’t look like she was even breathing. “He’s absorbing it.”
That got everyone’s attention, including mine.
“So he’s using the veil like a battery?” Frankie grimaced. “That’s clever.”
Eli sighed, shaking his head. “She means well . . . She’s just a little socially awkward.”
“You said very few godlings have shown powers in generations.” I squeezed the staff tighter. “But Frankie used magic against the werehyenas.”
“Yes, she’s one of the few.” Nana nodded at Miss Ida and Miss Lucille. “After the twins here.”
Frankie straightened her glasses. “Does that mean h
uman genes are dominant and orisha genes are recessive?”
“No, but good guess, Miss Williams,” Shangó answered, his voice more like our science teacher’s now. “If we were at school, I’d give you extra credit.”
Frankie beamed as he added, “The orisha gene grows dominant only when provoked.”
We all stared at him, wondering what he was talking about. “If there’s something that awakens it,” he clarified. “One by one, godlings who had no magic abilities started to show the signs right before the second war with the Dark a thousand years ago. The universe has a way of giving us what we need. The godlings helped us push back the darkbringers after the Lord of Shadows convinced a foolish child to open one of the gateways. That said, even then some of the godlings never showed powers and died in battle.”
“Then we should go after Papa now,” I demanded. “Before it’s too late and the Lord of Shadows drains the veil completely.”
“We can’t just waltz into the Dark,” Oshun said, her voice as sweet as music. “We made an oath to Olodumare to protect humankind after our earlier grave mistakes.” She clutched at the gold rings around her neck, staring into space (literally). “It’s much too dangerous for us too . . . You don’t know what it was like before. The Lord of Shadows possesses the power to destroy only in the way the universe can. Our very existence is at risk.”
“Fortunately, your father designed the veil so that the Lord of Shadows can’t cross even if there’s a tear,” Nana added. “The universe only knows the trouble we would be in if he could slip in through a crack.”
“What if we use one of the ancient gateways and catch him by surprise?” I asked, desperate. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand what the orishas were saying, but it didn’t change my mind. “I can get Papa back if you’re too afraid to go.”
“Be careful of your vanity, young guardian,” Oshun said, stroking her elaborate necklace. “Believe me, as the most beautiful of all the orishas, I know much about vanity and the trouble that it can lead to. Your father has been training you in the ways of the staff against our better judgment.” Then she leaned forward, her eyes narrowed and her chin tilted up. “But do not think yourself so accomplished that you can do what gods cannot.”
“I know—” I started to say, but Oshun shushed me, her voice an off-key musical note.
She studied her pink nails. “You don’t know enough to know what you don’t know.”
Her haute couture, beauty queen act was starting to get on my last nerve. So what if I didn’t know everything? I knew that Papa was in trouble and this conversation was a waste of time.
“To answer your question.” Nana sighed, her face looking tired even in her semidivine form. “While the veil still stands, the gateways are the only way the Lord of Shadows can enter our world. He didn’t even know they existed until he befriended a godling in her dreams and tricked her into using a key to open one. She paid for her mistake with her life.” She turned to the twins and blew out a deep breath. “I trust that you haven’t let any other details slip?”
“No, Nana,” Miss Lucille said, her eyes on her feet. It was weird seeing Miss Ida and Miss Lucille so defeated. They were the toughest old ladies in the neighborhood.
My heart dropped in my chest. “You are going after him, aren’t you?”
“We have called to our brethren at the edges of the universe to assist,” Nana said, resigned. “Even orishas can’t travel the breadth of Olodumare in a day, but once they’re here, we will go into the Dark after your father. For now, we must ensure the veil remains intact. If it fails, the Lord of Shadows will stop at nothing to destroy the human world and our children who are bound to it. We must protect them first.”
“I can’t believe this,” I said through clenched teeth. I was so mad that my whole body shook. “Every second that we waste talking, Papa could be . . . he could . . .” But I couldn’t finish my sentence when I saw the anguish on Mama’s face and the shine of tears in her eyes. I wouldn’t let the Lord of Shadows destroy my family. I would find one of the ancient gateways without the orishas’ help and get Papa back.
Thirteen
What dreams are made of
More tears cropped up in the veil over the next few days, but no darkbringers came through the holes. Their presence had been a warning and a challenge. The warning: an army waited on the other side in the Dark. One that was way more dangerous than the darkbringers sent to rough up my neighborhood. The challenge: come look for Elegguá if you had the guts to face the Lord of Shadows.
You want him, the darkbringer had said. Come into the Dark and get him.
Mama took off work to stay home with me. While the whole neighborhood celebrated the Fourth of July, we waited for news that never came. We spent day and night pacing back and forth, staring out the window. Still nothing.
None of the other orishas had the magic to heal the fissures in the veil. If a large tear opened that couldn’t heal itself, more darkbringers could enter our world. The orishas and cranky twins worked nonstop to follow the tears in the veil just in case. But there were too many, and they couldn’t be everywhere at once.
After a week off work, Mama’s rotten boss (my words this time) said either she had to come back or he’d find someone to replace her. That night Miss Ida came over to watch me while Mama went to work. After the council meeting, neither twin would spill about the gateways.
If Papa’s stories were real, then he must’ve mentioned the gateways in them. Something the cranky twins said stood out too. There was an orisha council on every continent to guard their offspring and humans. What if they were also guarding the ancient gateways? If so, then each orisha community would likely be close to one. But where?
Frustrated that I didn’t have an answer, I climbed into bed and curled up on my side. My eyes landed on the Comic-Con tickets on my nightstand. For the first time ever, I couldn’t have cared less about going to the convention. It didn’t matter anymore; nothing mattered while my father was still in danger. If only I had my own powers, then maybe I could open a gateway into the Dark myself. I could do anything other than sit around and wait for news. That was the worst part—waiting and not knowing. I pulled the blanket up to my neck and sank low in my pillow. Although my mind was racing, I fell asleep and entered a dream unlike any other.
In the dream, I was standing in front of my house again when a slippery voice said, “This is my place, little girl, or should I call you Maya?”
A chill crept down my back as I whipped around fast to see the Lord of Shadows floating at the end of my street. It was the middle of the day and the sun was high in the sky, but the space where he hovered was as dark as night. His purple and black ribbons writhed like snakes around him.
“I never thought Elegguá would be foolish enough to take another wife,” he added with a devious smile. “Do you know what happened to his first wife and their three children? Kimala, Genu, and Eleni . . .” His violet eyes grew wide with excitement. “I took them away from him. I took everything that he loved the same way he tried to destroy everything I loved when he created the veil.”
“You’re a murderer!” I yelled, tears choking in my throat.
“I am so much more than that,” the Lord of Shadows said, drawing out each word. “I’m a liberator.”
Anger welled up inside me. He had some nerve talking about liberation, as if I didn’t know what the word meant. He’d done the right thing long ago when he helped the darkbringers. But after Eshu balanced the light and the dark and the darkbringers were well, he went too far. He let his need for revenge turn him into a monster.
“Tell me where my father is,” I demanded.
He laughed. “Why would I make it easy for you?”
I gritted my teeth, wishing I had Papa’s staff to show him a thing or two.
The Lord of Shadows’ many ribbons moved him forth as gracefully as a spider darted across pavement. His legs, if he had any, were hidden beneath curtains of darkness. I stumbled back, reme
mbering what Papa said, his eyes grave and worried. Maya, listen to me. If you ever see the Lord of Shadows again in your dreams, run and find a place to hide.
I wanted to run, but I wanted answers too.
I glanced at my feet, not sure how to find my father on my own. That was when I saw the Comic-Con tickets sticking out of my shirt pocket. The event started in a few days. I remembered something else Papa said before he left. By the time we go to Comic-Con, you’ll understand everything. Why were the tickets here in this dream? Was my subconscious mind trying to give me a clue? The answer was literally right under my nose.
“Comic-Con!” I blurted out, then slapped a hand over my mouth before I said too much. I couldn’t risk the Lord of Shadows finding out the location of one of the ancient gateways.
The Lord of Shadows smiled, eyes bright with mischief. “You seem like a strange little thing . . . nothing like Elegguá’s previous children, but I’m afraid that won’t save you.”
I bit back a curse. I couldn’t believe this jerk. He was taunting me and disrespecting the memory of my half siblings in the same breath.
The Lord of Shadows slithered toward me on his bed of wriggling ribbons. But no matter how hard he tried to come closer, the distance between us only grew wider. My left hand tingled. When I stared down at it, Papa’s staff shimmered out of thin air and lay in my palm. The wood was blacker than night, and the white symbols swirled like dancing rings of fire. The sun, a leopard with raised paws, and a river. I am the guardian of the veil.
There was another message that stood out: a leopard with raised paws with two crosses and a circle. I am the master of the crossroads. This wasn’t a dream but the place where our world intersected with the Dark. Not a gateway like what might be at Comic-Con, but a place where only gods could exist.
My eyes went wide as two things occurred to me at once. First, the Lord of Shadows was a god too. A terrible one, but one no less. He was a celestial being like the orishas. Second, I was at the crossroads because I was a godling, which would be great if I had inherited some of my father’s magic. I understood something else about the crossroads, too. It had magic of its own, and that was how the Lord of Shadows was able to use it to invade my dreams.