from Fast Facts for Free Agents
7
Night Runner Forest
Again, they were hurried out of Anatov’s hut. A little way down the path back toward Leopard Knocks, they stopped. Orlu, Sasha, and Chichi just stood there.
“What’s the problem now?” Sunny asked. “Who’s Kehinde?”
“Sunny, weren’t you listening?” Chichi asked.
“Just tell me again. Unlike you, I don’t have a photographic memory.”
Chichi chuckled. “Okay. There are eight living people in Nigeria who have passed the last level, right? Four of them are Anatov, Sugar Cream, and the twins named Taiwo and the one we’re supposed to go see, Kehinde. They are the scholars of Leopard Knocks; they’re kind of like elders, but not all of them are super old—only Sugar Cream, really. The problem with seeing Kehinde is he lives in Night Runner Forest.”
“Is that far away or something?” Sunny asked. She didn’t want to take another funky train.
“Humph,” Orlu said. “Now I know why he chose tonight instead of Saturday afternoon for this. You can only enter Night Runner Forest at night.”
Chichi cursed. “And it disappears in”—she looked at her watch—“four hours.”
Sunny looked at her watch. It was one A.M. Chichi was referring to sunrise. “We’ll be back by then, right?” she asked.
“Let’s go,” Sasha said. “We use a vévé to get there, right?”
“Yeah,” Chichi said, looking intense. “If we work together.”
Sasha knelt down and took a small bag out of his pocket. He drew on the ground by making a fist and letting the powder sift out. “This,” he said to Sunny, “is a vévé, a magical drawing. The faster you draw it the better. But you can’t make a mistake.”
“You memorize them?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Is it hard?”
The drawing looked like a tree with a circle around it and four Xs around the circle:
“Not for me,” he said.
“What will it—”
“Just watch.” He brought a dagger from his pocket and stabbed into the center of the vévé. “One of you has to say it,” Sasha said. “I don’t speak Igbo.”
“Let Sunny,” Chichi said.
Sunny shook her head, stepping back. “Let me just watch this first time.”
“You learn faster by doing,” Chichi said, pushing her toward the vévé. “Take a deep breath and loudly say, ‘Night Runner Forest come,’ in Igbo.”
Sunny started sweating. Who knew what would happen if she messed up?
“Go on,” Orlu said softly.
She spoke the words in Igbo, making sure they were loud and clear. Instantly, the vévé started to rotate in the dirt. It sounded almost solid as it pushed aside pebbles and scraped over the dirt. This magic was happening because of her own words! When it stopped, the top of the tree Sasha had drawn pointed off the path and into the forest, toward a new but darker path that hadn’t been there before. Occasionally, a firefly flashed its tiny light.
“Orlu,” Sasha said, “you first. You have the best defense.”
Orlu stepped in front. “Okay,” he said, looking around. “Let’s move.” He brought out his juju knife, held it up, and moved it vertically before him. “Bring light,” he said in Igbo. A firefly rushed to him and hovered before his face, flickering orange light every few seconds. “Tomorrow is a better day to find a mate,” Orlu told it. “Tonight, please bring light for my friends and me.”
For a moment longer, it hovered, still calling its mate. Then it must have decided that Orlu’s cause was worthy, because it began to blaze the brightest light Sunny had ever seen come from an insect. She thought of the ghost hopper that lived in her house. Maybe this wasn’t the usual type of firefly.
“That lightning bug has attitude,” Sasha said. “For a second there, I thought she wasn’t going to give us light.”
Orlu shrugged. “It’s her choice, isn’t it? She has the right to think about it. Plus, the ones with attitude have the best light.”
The firefly must have been listening because it burned brighter. Orlu chuckled. They started walking. As they moved along, the trees they passed were taller, wider, and closer to the path. “So does anyone know what Kehinde looks like?” Sunny asked, wanting to break the silence and focus on something other than the creepy forest around them.
“I hear he’s very tall,” Sasha said.
“I’ve heard he’s really, really short,” Chichi said.
“Well, that helps,” Sunny said drily.
“Doesn’t matter what he looks like,” Orlu said. “This is Night Runner Forest. If he lives here, he’s powerful. If he’s passed the fourth level, he knows that the body is just the body. For all we know he could be a shape-shifter.”
“No,” Chichi said. “He’s not a shape-shifter. Kehinde was born physically perfect, no deformities or anything.”
“Why does Anatov want us to meet him?” Sunny asked.
Suddenly, the forest heaved with life. Leaves shook. The ground hummed. Branches creaked. And a high-pitched chittering seemed to come from everywhere. “Down!” Orlu shouted.
Sunny dropped to the ground, her hands over her head. Bats. Tons of them. She shut her eyes as the air grew very hot and then cool. Above the chittering noise, she heard the scuffle of feet.
“Chichi!” Orlu screamed. “Watch out!”
Sunny began to get up, but a bat smacked her in the side of her face. Then another. She dropped back down. “What do I do?” she shouted.
“I can’t reach her,” Sasha shouted, his voice cracking.
Chichi cried out. Now Sunny didn’t care about being smacked or bitten by bats. She stood up. Around her was chaos. The night was full of bats. All she could see was Orlu’s firefly still burning bright, the bats whipping and zooming around it. Orlu stood with Sasha only a few steps away. Where was Chichi? A bat snapped up the firefly and everything went dark.
“Everyone!” Orlu shouted. “Close your ears! Sasha, do it! Make it as high as possible! Bats can hear ultrasonic sound!”
Sunny clapped her hands over her ears, but not fast enough. For a moment, she heard a shrill noise so sharp she thought her head would explode. She pressed the heels of her hands to her ears as hard as she could. Gradually, the sound went so high she could no longer hear it. But the bats must have, because they fled. Some dropped to the ground, dead. The forest was silent, except for the sound of things falling. Seconds passed. Chittim clinked against each other.
“Bring light,” Orlu said, out of breath. “For the sake of your mate who has been eaten!”
Immediately, a firefly came and shined a brilliant light. Sunny felt a twinge of sadness for the insect. All around them were dead bats. Piled around and on top of the dead bats were many copper chittim. Chichi sat nearby, holding her arm. A deep gash on her forearm was bleeding freely.
They all ran to her. “Are you all right?” Sunny asked.
She nodded.
Orlu was looking at Chichi with admiration. “Man, Chichi, if you hadn’t handled it, we’d all be dead,” he said.
“Yeah,” Sasha said. “That was good juju work. I didn’t even see it.”
“The bats were a diversion,” Chichi said weakly.
“What?” Sunny asked, starting to cry. “What was it?”
“A bush soul,” Chichi said. “Spirits, affinities, that live in forests like this. They attack people, steal their bodies. They always have the respect of animals that swarm, move in packs . . . like bats. Bush souls hide in them and use them to distract.” She hissed as she looked at her arm. “I saw it in the swarm of bats. I slashed it with my juju knife. Sunny, when you hurt something with your knife, it’s mirrored on your own body. But if I hadn’t, we’d all be dead. It would have taken us all.”
“We’d have arrived at Kehinde’s hut as zombies,” Sasha said.
“That looks really deep.” Sunny winced, staring at Chichi’s wound.
&nbs
p; “I’ll be okay,” Chichi said, slowly standing up. “Mirrored wounds heal in a few minutes . . . unless it’s mortal.”
As they waited for her to heal, Sunny stood watch. Orlu and Sasha picked up their chittim. “We got them for camaraderie, right?” Sasha said. “Teamwork.”
“Yeah,” Orlu said. “Lesson learned.”
“How many?” Chichi asked.
“Fifty,” Sasha said.
“You can’t divide that by four,” Chichi said.
“Maybe you guys earned more than me,” Sunny said.
Orlu shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. How about we pool whatever we earn together?”
Sasha looked annoyed. “I know exactly what I want to buy with my share.”
Sunny felt utterly useless and undeserving.
“Sasha, don’t be greedy,” Chichi said.
“Whatever.”
“Let’s vote on it,” Chichi said. “All in favor of—”
“No, no, forget it,” Sasha said with a wave of his hand. “You’re right. I’m being greedy. Sunny, put it all in your purse. It’s probably best that you carry it. You keep it, too. I’m voting you as treasurer. All in favor?”
“Aye,” Orlu and Chichi said.
“All against?”
Sunny laughed.
Once they got going, they moved faster than before. It was mainly Orlu who protected them, blocking and undoing. From left, right, forward, and behind, things came at them. Black-skinned fairies with the wings of flies and clothes made from spiderwebs threw poison spears at them. There were mosquitoes that weren’t really mosquitoes. A three-foot tall masquerade in the bush just stood there, watching them pass. Something that looked like a giant wasp stung Sunny’s leg. Immediately, both her legs went numb and she fell to the ground.
“It’s just an insect specter,” Orlu said as he touched the sting with his knife. He made a popping sound with his lips. “They’re the result of insects people smash. Most angry spirits come from deaths by acts of cruelty. If the insect is angry or a vengeful type, it’ll return as one of these.” Slowly the feeling in her legs returned. The bruise on her hip from falling remained, though.
By the time they arrived at the tiny hut, Sunny was exhausted. The area around the hut was free of trees, bushes, even grass. It was as if the forest was afraid to get close. But they were too tired and had been through too much to be afraid. Even Sunny didn’t think twice about stepping onto the barren, parched earth. The door of the hut was covered with a white cloth—at least it looked white in the firefly’s light. There was one window, also covered by a white cloth.
“Oga Kehinde,” Chichi said loudly, “Anatov sent us. We’re his students.”
A light went on inside the hut but there was no answer. Sunny frowned. There couldn’t possibly be electricity here, in the middle of nowhere. She didn’t even hear a generator. “Oga Kehinde?” Chichi said again. She turned to Sunny. “Aha, I hope the man is home, o.”
“Which students are these?” an incredibly low voice asked in Yoruba-accented Igbo.
Sunny stepped back, sure that a giant was about to emerge. “What’d he say?” Sasha asked. She quickly translated.
Chichi spoke up. “My name is Chichi. And these are Sasha, Orlu, and Sunny. Please, speak English if you can. One of us doesn’t know Igbo.”
There was a pause as the door’s curtain was pulled aside. “Ah, the princess, the American, the dyslexic, and the albino,” the man said in perfect American English.
“What’s he mean by ‘princess’?” Sunny whispered to Orlu. He shushed her.
Kehinde wasn’t a giant but he was pretty huge, taller than Anatov. Sasha glanced at Chichi, giving her an “I told you so” smirk. Chichi made a face at him.
Kehinde wore only a long black rapa with large white circles and squiggles. He looked a little older than Sunny’s father but far more muscular, as if he spent all his time chopping wood. And he must have done it in the sun, for his skin was nearly black.
He had a braided goatee almost to his waist. At its tip was a bronze band. Sunny would have thought he looked ridiculous if he didn’t look so cool. He scrutinized them, a lit pipe in his mouth. First she had to put up with Anatov’s incense addiction and now she’d have to try not to breathe in this man’s disgusting smoke. “Sit,” he said.
They sat down right there in the dirt. He held out his hand and pressed his fingers together. The dirt behind him began to build itself. Soon Kehinde had a chair made of dirt. He sat down and took a deep pull from his pipe. Slowly letting out the smoke, he said, “Bring light,” in his thunderous voice.
Now his English was tinted with a Nigerian accent. Unlike Orlu, he didn’t have to plead with the insects. Dozens of fireflies made the whole area brilliant with light.
“Hmm,” Kehinde said, winding his beard around his long index finger. “Would you all like something to drink? You look . . . parched.”
“Yes, please,” they said.
A monkey about the size of a five-year-old child came running out. Its fur was light brown with hints of red, and it had a long strong-looking tail that swung in circles as it ran. It threw a bottle at Sunny. Thankfully, she was quick enough to catch it. The Fanta was ice cold. Orlu caught a malt, Sasha a Coke, and Chichi a bitter lemon. All were thrown with equally wild finesse. The caps popped off with a hiss.
“You made it,” Kehinde said. “If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have been worth my time.”
Sunny frowned, irritated.
“What’s that?” Kehinde asked her. “Speak up.”
She glanced at Sasha, Chichi, and Orlu. They looked as angry as she felt.
“Why—I just—” She pressed her lips together and then shouted, “We could have all been killed!” She paused. “Honestly, what kind of ‘teacher’ does that to his students? We met with a bush soul! What if it had done us in? My parents don’t even know I’m gone!”
“If you’d have all perished, we’d have found you and your bodies would have been returned to your parents with . . . explanation,” Kehinde said.
Sunny’s mouth fell open. What kind of barbaric coldhearted man was this?
“Come now,” Kehinde said, pulling out a newspaper. He shook it at them. “Have you seen the news lately? If you haven’t noticed, a person’s life, especially a young person’s, isn’t worth much these days. The world is bigger than all of you. Chances have to be taken. But thankfully, here you are.”
Sunny was about to say more, but he held a hand up. “Shut up, now, Sunny,” he said. “You’ve said enough.”
“No,” she snapped. “I—” The smack on the back of her head was hard enough to make her vision go blurry for a second. She turned to stare at Chichi, who’d hit her. “Shut up,” she hissed. Sunny was so stunned that she did.
Kehinde smirked and nodded, satisfied. “I don’t make a habit of meeting Anatov’s groups of students, but Anatov thinks you’re useful—useful to the Leopard People as a whole, though all this might be harmful to you as individuals. But that’s life, eh? We’ll see. Sasha, stand up.”
He stood.
“You like trouble?” Kehinde asked.
Sasha cocked his head and then said, “If I can find it.”
Kehinde actually smirked. “I like this one,” he said to himself.
Orlu sucked his teeth with annoyance.
“Okay. Well, it grows late,” Kehinde said, standing up. “I have other appointments, social occasions, places to visit, visitors to entertain.”
That’s it? Sunny wanted to shout. All that and now he was going to send us right back into his crazy jungle? Nevertheless, when she stood up, she felt refreshed, despite her annoyance and bruises. She looked back at the path. If they survived the walk back, it would then be the funky train home, most likely. What time was it? She didn’t dare look at her watch.
The monkey came out again. “Hey, I wasn’t done with mine,” Orlu snapped, as the monkey snatched his malt. It took all their drinks.
“G
otta be quick,” Kehinde said. He shook each of their hands, patting Sasha on the back and whispering something in his ear, to which Sasha nodded and said, “Okay.”
Then Kehinde pulled something small and shiny out of his goatee. He threw it toward the path, causing a small burst that sent creatures Sunny couldn’t quite see scurrying in all directions. They were all waiting for us, she realized in horror. When the dust settled, the path was gone. In its place was a shorter path leading to Anatov’s hut.
“You’re lucky that I’m a nice guy,” Kehinde said with a wink.
“I’d have figured out how to do that,” Sasha said. “Once I know the way back, I can do that.”
“Not in the Night Runner Forest,” Kehinde said, darkly. “This place would just laugh at you and then lead you toward more potential death. Eventually, Sasha, I’ll show you how to do it. Till then, be on your way.”
When Anatov saw them come in, a look of such relief passed over his face that Sunny understood then and there just how close they’d come to death. She felt a ticklish sensation in her belly. The feeling lasted through the smelly, sneezy, funky train ride back and her short walk home. Chichi came along to help her sneak inside.
“Imagine the skull and do what you did before,” she said. “Remember, you’ve already done it once. You got yourself through the keyhole, not the skull.”
Like her second time crossing the bridge, getting inside was wonderfully easy. In seconds, she materialized inside her room. She smiled when a bronze chittim fell at her feet. Quickly, she opened her bedroom door and looked in the hallway. The chittim that had fallen earlier were still there. She took them into her bedroom and softly shut the door. It was five A.M. She had two hours until she had to get up for school.
Cooking and Recipes
If you are a girl and you are fortunate enough to marry a Leopard man when you grow up, you must not only know how to cook non-magical meals but the occasional magical one as well. As with any other Nigerian man, the way to a Leopard man’s heart is through his stomach. A free agent woman who cannot cook Tainted Pepper Soup for her Leopard husband is done for. Thankfully, this recipe is very easy to follow, even for you. Practice and master making Tainted Pepper Soup now or you will be sorry later.
Akata Witch: A Novel Page 9