₦airaland Forum

Chapter 19
Lambe class started with him talking to them about things they knew. He told them how everyone was against them, and they should understand there was no time to think on their feet. Thus, everything they must do from that moment must be out of their muscle memories. Kukoyi tried interrupting several times, but Lambe’s outstretched hand and scornful look shut him up.
To start with Kukoyi and Dezzy, he played a game with them. With his charms, he would hide an object. Kukoyi was to seek out what he had hidden, and Dezzy was to find a way around it.
‘That simple!’ Dezzy wondered. ‘I would have created a better task’.
Lambe gave his curt, sarcastic nod. ‘Then, you should be able to do it without worries’.
Dezzy eyes stayed on him as if she sensed a sort of mischievousness on Lambe’s part.
‘Whenever you are ready?’ Lambe said as he brought out another ado and poured the powder on his hand. It looked fun to Simi.
In no time, he was forming an unidentifiable object in the air. The mystery came when the object seemed to be hidden in the air. They didn’t know what it was, but they could see its shape. It was as if the object was cloaked in a watery object.
‘There it goes…’ Lambe’s voice trailed off as the object drifted towards the bush near them.
‘That one, I’ve gotten it already’, Kukoyi blew air into his hands and rubbed them eagerly. He looked at Dezzy and rolled his shoulders. ‘Dezzy, are you ready?’
She nodded. Her left leg was at the front as if she was ready to compete in the race.
‘You don’t need to stay here!’ Lambe instructed.
‘Argh!’ Kukoyi yelled as he spun towards Lambe. ‘I was about to pin down its location’.
‘Really?’ Lambe said. ‘Then, please do. God no go shame us’.
Kukoyi closed his eyes and switched his head from one side to another like a possessed person listening to voices from different places. His twitching head didn’t stop for a long while. Simi slowly bent her head to look at Lambe while ensuring she was still consciously watching Kukoyi. A wicked smile hung from Lambe’s lips, and his brightened eyes were rich with mischief.
‘What’s happening?’ Simi asked him.
‘He’s not seeing anything’, Lambe said and scoffed.
Kukoyi opened his eyes, glanced at Dezzy, and back at Simi. ‘I don’t understand this at all. I would think I had a grasp of something strange. Then it eludes me…’
‘What did you hide?’ Dezzy asked Lambe.
‘When you start looking for the riches Oranmiyan kept, you won’t know what they are?’ Lambe noted.
‘They are gold and riches. My mind can find those ones!’ Kukoyi grumbled.
‘From what we studied, they were created with the same concealing charms used to create the object I sent away and this ring on my hand’, Lambe explained. He raised his fingers to show them the big ring. Simi’s stomach churned at the thought of having such a bulky, hideous looking ring on her hand.
Lambe pocketed his hands in his dansiki, which Simi had witnessed him change with his charm. When Dezzy asked for some, he told her he made the charm specifically for himself, using his own hair. ‘The best way is to work together with Dezzy…Tell her what you see or feel, she will tell you what to do?’
‘Why would I stress the beautiful young lady when all I need is to show her the direct path?’ Kukoyi said.
‘Because she’s the one given the strategy power…Not you. Your own is to seek and discover’, Lambe pointed out.
‘I can do all…’ Kukoyi countered.
‘I don’t doubt that!’ Lambe stated. ‘But she has it as power. Think.’.
Kukoyi’s angry glare didn’t make Lambe’s smile disappear as he used his head to direct Kukoyi towards the forest. When it seemed that Kukoyi didn’t have any other choice, he decided to move towards the forest and search for the object.
Lambe turned towards Simi, rubbed his hands together and moved towards her. ‘FFO, let’s work. Now, I will be taking you through a series of journies. I hope you’ve eaten.’
Simi shook her head. ‘But my moimoi…’
‘Oh! That’s true! I woke you guys. Lazy bunch of people. Men have died in their sleep and because they slept…’
Simi pouted and pointed at the kitchen. ‘I will just get the food. It’s in the kitchen. We still warmed in yesterday…’
‘Good choice’, Lambe called. ‘But bring it here. You must learn how to eat as if your life depended on eating fast!’
Simi wished she had the perfect reply for him, but how he kept calling her ridiculous names reminded of how fat she was. She knew that one thing was sure: after their search, she would ensure she did everything needed to get herself slim. Once, she had tried slimtea, but it was a waste of her time. Also, she had visited the gym, but her money couldn’t cater for the next month. Moreover, when she saw the other ladies' banging body in the gym, she knew she wouldn’t get there in a month, or a year or even two years.
‘Hurry up!’ Lambe instructed.
She sighed as she hurried to the kitchen. Dezzy had preserved the food in such a way that it still felt fresh.
‘Answer me!’ Lambe urged from outside. The crack in his voice was audible and reminded her of Lagos touts. The same fear that came whenever she heard them returned. Thus, she hurried out with the food.
‘Eat! Eat! Eat! You don’t have time. Lambe instructed.
Simi gurgled the food and was afraid that she would choke on it.
‘Ah!’ Lambe exclaimed. ‘If there was gunshot everywhere, is this how you will do?’
Burbling, she glanced at him and took a while to paint. The food was definitely choking her. Quickly, she drank the sachet water by her side and was in haste to eat the remaining food.
‘Good!’
‘That’s was bad!’ Simi muttered. ‘I could have died.
Lambe shook his head. ‘Time doesn’t hate us. He doesn’t love us. It just keeps moving. So, if we spend it well, we have lost something that could be turned in our favour. You would have died if you were that slow. In battles, you don’t wait for the enemy to reload their gun. You jump them. Get the first chance and be ready to let loose.’
Simi stared at him in wonder.
‘What?’ Lambe asked.
She shook her head.
‘You don’t understand me?’ Lambe wondered.
Simi nodded.
‘Ehn! Why are you nodding as if you’re dumb?’ Lambe lamented.
Simi stared at him in awe and licked her fingers. That was the only way she could get herself composed.
‘Not to waste time, I will like to take you through some journeys’, Lambe came nearer and brought out his ado.
‘Journeys! We’re leaving this place?’ Simi asked.
‘Yes, ke! You will need to leave this place and follow me to the places I will take you through!’ Lambe replied.
‘Are you sure I’m ready?’
‘Who’s the teacher here? You or me?’ Lambe questioned.
She stared at him, and he gave her a thumbs-up. ‘Good response! The thing now is that we will find you a way to fit into everything we do here! And that’s by travelling’.
Simi looked at the forest. Despite not seeing Kukoyi and Dezzy, she could see the forest's shaking as the two of them shook leaves and tree, with Kukoyi’s voice becoming louder per time.
‘What if they find it before we’re back?’ Simi wondered.
‘Those ones?’ Lambe said offhandedly. ‘They will never find it till we go to bed today!’
Simi grunted but refused to say anything.
‘You think I’m lying?’ Lambe said as he poured the pink substance on his palm and licked the powder. She watched him swallow it and as his face became disgusted. ‘That boy is too egocentric. He believes he knows all and wants to lead the way. That’s why he fails. Instead of giving the job of creating paths to the slim thing of a lady, he is there making mouth as if he knows all.
‘But he’s really good!’
‘Shut up!’ Lambe shouted as he pocketed his ado. ‘What does that fool know? Nothing. He just keeps guessing, or he’s trying to prove something. Whatever it is, I don’t care? And that girl, what’s her name again…?’
‘Dezzy…’
‘I didn’t ask you’, Lambe barked. ‘I don’t even what to know. Very unwise girl. She’s just acting like she’s strong. She’s a baby. You will know she has a crush on him.
“Ah!’ Simi shouted.
‘May rat eat your mouth! Who are you ‘ahing’ for?’ Lambe shook his head. ‘Let’s get going. I know what to do! Because of her crush, she’s not doing her job, and he’s killing her talent’.
‘Dezzy can never love Kukoyi. They’re like brothers’.
‘It’s okay. It’s okay. I can’t let them be my trouble now. The first lesson is this…’ Lambe held her shoulder tight and slapped her immediately.
‘What!’ Simi yelled and jumped back. She didn’t see that coming at all. He gestured for her to come nearer. ‘What’s that rubbish?’
‘First lesson… Be a boy scout!’ Lambe kept gesturing for her to come nearer.
‘I don’t like that!’ Simi shouted. ‘What’s all that rubbish?’
‘You must be prepared?’
‘Npresiko’, Simi grumbled.
‘Listen! You might wake up in the midst of a war or a flying arrow. What will you do?’ Lambe said without guilt. ‘Come nearer!’
‘You’re a bad teacher!’
‘Yeah! Colour me lousy. I don’t mind. As long as I keep you alive, I’m okay!’ Lambe said. ‘Come nearer for the second lesson…’
‘I’m fine here!’ Simi said, trying to avoid his hands.
‘Never…’ He said and longed forward to slap her. She was faster this time as she moved out of his reach. ‘Forget lesson two! Good! Good! I will spring this lesson up again and again…’
‘I see why they hate you… I am joining them soon… That’s not fair!’
‘Nothing, my sister, is fair in love and war…’ Lambe moved nearer, and she withdrew. ‘That’s enough! Let’s travel…’
‘If you do anything strange, I will disappear without you…’ Simi threatened.
‘When you’re not drunk!’ Lambe said. ‘Which of all these gods is kind like that o… Yes! Let’s look for the Ibejis…’
‘Who?’
‘No… No….’ Lambe said, and she could see the excitement in his eyes just as she could hear in his voice. At that point, he looked like a young boy that was entering a car for the first time.
‘What are you saying?’ Simi asked.
‘Please… Take us to the time Erinle was having his first hunt. I’ve always wanted to watch it…’ Lambe said with glee. She could bet she saw his eyes sparkle.
Simi cautiously moved towards him. ‘We can go to twelve times, right?’
‘Yes…’
She closed her eyes and thought of Erinle in his hunting times. Lambe tugged at her.
‘Take us back! Take us back!’ He yelled.
When she opened her eyes, she saw a stampede of Elephants rushing towards them and a lone man chasing. The elephants were pulling and falling trees on their paths.
‘Back ooo…’
Simi was mesmerized by what she saw that the only thing on her mind was back to the field.
‘Ah!’ Lambe snatched his hands off her hand. ‘What did you do?’
Simi felt her body vibrate as she opened her eyes. She sighed but couldn’t shake off the horror of what just almost happened to her there. At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel sad at what had just happened there.
‘What did you do?’ Lambe asked.
‘I went where you told me to go…’ Simi murmured as she was now catching her breaths.
‘How can that be Erinle’s first hunt…?’ Lambe asked.
Simi shrugged. She wasn’t a seer to know how why his first hunt was like that. ‘Who is he?’
‘A god! A great Yoruba hunter’.
‘No wonder!’ Simi sighed and sat on the nearest stone. ‘He’s a god. They always get things fast’.
‘Order. Order, girl. Order. They followed orders…’ Lambe explained. His flushed faced told her she had just ruined his expectation. He must have had great imaginations about the hunt.
‘What order?’ Simi asked.
‘Order. As in order. They don’t throw things at people. They were men before they were gods. Even those that came to the earth first. They still started out using the order of men’.
‘Well, I don’t know….’
Lambe walked in a circle, his eyes fixed to drying leaves. ‘You must have done something wrong?’
‘I’m not sure again sef!’
‘Did you add his first hunt?’
‘I don’t know. I just thought of his hunt!’
‘God!’ Lambe lamented. ‘And you had to take us to the most terrible ones. In front of those Elephants. God saved us…’
‘Yeah…That should be all the training, I guess…’ Simi rose to leave.
‘No…’ Lambe pulled her. ‘We’re going back. This time, you must add those words. His first hunt, and you want to land on the safest place…’
She stared at him again. ‘It’s like you’re using me to visit the places you’ve always wanted to visit since you were a child…’
‘Of course, girl. Of course. But you have to learn on the way. Thank God you didn’t do that in wartime or whisk us off into a warzone…’
‘We’ve been there! Dezzy and I’. Simi smiled at the thought of Dezzy fighting in a war.
‘Keep shut! Let’s go!’

Chapter 18
‘Where is this place?’ Simi wondered as she looked from one person to another. Two wraps of chocolate were already empty and wrinkled within her palm. They didn’t seem chatty, even Lambe. Instead, they went explored the house, which had everything they needed- a cushion, a well, a bed, a rug.
‘I think it’s a sort of camp out for some important people,’ Kukoyi said. ‘I’ve tried looking for information about the owner. He’s in London, dead’.
‘Oh! I was beginning to wonder why no one had come to make a claim to the house’, Dezzy said.
Lambe dumbed himself on the dusty floor, with his back against the wall, receiving a scornful look from Kukoyi.
‘Na you sabi.’ Lambe said offhandedly.
Their new home was dusty and filled with arrays of cobweb. Kukoyi wouldn’t do anything unless they all took care of the house. ‘Well, guys’, Kukoyi clapped his hands. ‘Let’s make it our home…’ He looked around as if he was studying a cloth in a store. ‘At least, till we need to move out…’
Giving the guys pointers, Dezzy and Simi went about cleaning the house. It took a while, but they were free after two hours. Dezzy went to the top of the house and scanned everywhere to highlight specific points and landmarks to expand their old map.
‘Please, y’all know the rules’. Kukoyi was staring at something on his tab.
‘When do I get to use a tab…?’ Simi asked as she headed to the room to dust her bed. Being the baby of the house, they gave her bed, making her happy that being the youngest worked in her favour.
‘I found candles…’ Dezzy called as she returned from the kitchen.
‘And books….’ Lambe came out of the kitchen, caressing one of the books. ‘Did I say lots of books?’.
Simi shook her head.
‘Probably in your head’, Dezzy said scornfully.
Lambe stomped the ground, raising the dust, and clamped his hands by his side as he sang a secondary rhyme. ‘Education! Education! Education is my key! Gold is good! Silver is good, but Education is my key!’
Simi’s eyes brightened excitedly. ‘I know that song… We used it as a marching song when we were in school’.
Lambe smiled. ‘That’s impressive. You must have a great man… Oh sorry! Or a great person as your proprietress or proprietor. Whichever. I don’t want to be gender bias. If I make an assumption without all the facts, C.C. Hunter believes I’m not intelligent. And boy! I’m intelligent’.
Simi nodded and chuckled.
‘Whatever you do!’ Dezzy gritted as she came near. ‘Don’t you dare shout here again…’
‘Oops!’ Lambe covered his mouth. His rough hair was ruffled by a bit of breeze from outside.
‘I wanted to read out the instructions for you, Lambe…’ Kukoyi shouted.
‘You don’t have respect for elders. I’m older than you… In all ways. You can’t buy that age in the market. As they say in Spanish, Yo comprehendo’.
Kukoyi scowled at him. ‘Yo no comprehendo nothing’.
Lambe’s eyes widened in excitement. ‘You speak Spanish? Tu hasblas Espanol?’
‘What! What! What!’ Kukoyi blinked. ‘One, I don’t understand your language…’
‘Spanish is not my language’, Lambe dismissed.
‘I don’t care, Lambe. I really don’t care. I don’t understand, and I’ve never spoken or tried to speak Spanish in my life.’ Kukoyi turned around. ‘Why should I?’
Kukoyi yawned.
‘Two, I don’t care about your age fiasco. I wasn’t raised in your useless country. I was only pushed back home by the desire to end this debacle.’ Kukoyi went over to the window and opened a side, allowing fresh air and the queer smell of green leaves filled the room.
‘Three’, Kukoyi continued. ‘These are the rules around the house!’ Kukoyi glanced at his phone. ‘No noise in the house. Pick things after you when you’re done. No unnecessary wandering around the compound. Wash your plate after you are done. No slacking. Always be prepared!’
Lambe stared at him. Then, he glanced at Simi, who opened her palm. She desperately wanted to leave, but their discussion intrigued her. Then, Lambe glanced at Dezzy, who repeatedly nodded.
‘You people forgot to add “Live”…’ Lambe chuckled as he watched the window. ‘God forbid, if you die on this mission, will you say you used your last days on the run and living like people in bondage…?’
‘Consider us like erm… John Wick! No time for fun until we’re free!’ Dezzy explained.
‘Good example! Let me give you a bit of wisdom: Which of these two did you remember after everything Deadpool or John Snow!’
‘Deadpool na’, Simi said.
‘Jon snow is also a good sword fighter’, Dezzy argued.
‘You see! Okay! Okay! Ogogo or Odunlade Adekola!’
‘Ogogo is a veteran! Dezzy argued.
‘But you will definitely remember Odunlade… I probably asked the wrong questions. Which of these people do you think will overcome any problem and have few scars when they are done…?’
‘Scars? I don’t understand anything you’re saying!’ Dezzy shouted and turned to others. ‘Or am I the only one?’
‘He’s the clown!’ Kukoyi said after shaking his head.
Simi bit into her lower lips and stared back at Dezzy.
‘You see? No one understands you’, Dezzy said.
Simi understood, but what fun would it be taking Lambe’s side now?
‘I’m saying emotional scars! Which of these people do you think we will sit in front of wines and chicken and chips to discuss it and laugh about it?’ Lambe asked.
The mention of the food sent Simi’s stomach rumbling.
‘Does it matter?’ Dezzy wondered.
Lambe sighed. ‘That’s the meaning of live. Deadpool guy will come with a little emotional scar. Odunlade, too because he’s somehow funny. And Mercy Johnson! All this boils down to living. Live… And Live… And Live…See me as the American musician Dave Gohl when he was saying, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s gathering people together to do something fun. And with these few points of mine, I think I have been able to convince and not confuse you that you need to live’.
‘I…’
‘And people that were… Uhm… suffering in ‘Living in Bondage’, they still had fun. Slaves have fun. Who are you to live a grim life?’
Simi awed face gradually evolved into a big smile, and she burst into laughter, especially when she saw the looks on both Dezzy and Kukoyi’s face. Still chuckling, she returned to her room.
As she cleaned her room, her mind went back to Ekele. Firstly, he didn’t know her, and that was painful on its own. Now being the head of those chasing her was worse. Throughout the day, they all rested. Even Dezzy laid in bed. Later in the day, upon Kukoyi’s suggestion, Dezzy left home for a day and returned with three food bags.
‘Where did you get this?’ Simi wondered as they entered the kitchen.
‘Kukoyi’s ATM card. I had to go sneak off to Black Town to use the ATM card… Took more than ten bikes’, Dezzy said.
Simi helped offload the items. It had been a while she sighted several things in the bag. The dull happy look of green vegetables, the coarsely sweet scent of iru, the crunchy feel of garri, and several other items that caused the worms in her stomach to rumble. As she offloaded the other bags, she took her time to inhale and hold their scents- raw pepper, food seasonings, salt, freshly blended pepper, raw meat, and fish. They had been living on junks since she met them. Seeing this made her mouth water.
‘I was starving for real food’, Simi mumbled. ‘Not just coke, biscuit, chocolate…’
Then, Simi saw the eko, and she could perceive the smell of moin-moin but couldn’t find it.
‘You bought it for me!’ Simi's heartfelt, like bursting with excitement.
‘You should see the MoinMoin there too’, Dezzy was busy washing the vegetable from the water Kukoyi fetched. While Dezzy was gone, Kukoyi and Lambe had gone to fetch water after much pestering and nagging from Kukoyi.
Simi said excitedly. ‘I see it… I see it…’.
‘I got a small hand blender. We can make MoinMoin for you on the run too. All we need is many beans?’ Dezzy said.
‘Will it not be better to just buy on the road?’ Simi wondered because she couldn’t even think of the load she might have to carry.
‘Running!’ Dezzy said. ‘We’re always running. I bought enough Eko to last for days…’
Simi nodded. They took their time to cook. Simi only tagged along because she knew she wasn’t really a good cook despite all the lessons she took on cooking. In the evening, they all rested again. This time, it was like solidarity for Dezzy, who was yet to have enough rest.
‘People! Come here! Come here!’ Lambe shouted the following day. ‘Wake up! Without hard work, nothing grows but weed. Thus sayeth my favourite pastor, Gordon Hinckley. He even said every citizen adds to the strength of a nation. Get up!’
Simi yawned and rolled on the bed. The first time she slept on such a luxurious bed was at Max’s place. After her first night on this bed, she had requested that Dezzy slept with her because her presence made Simi feel excited and not think about Ekele.
Dezzy jumped out of bed. Despite Simi’s plan to remain in bed, she crawled out and entered the sitting room just in time to hear Kukoyi scolding Lambe about noise.
‘Mechie on!’ Lambe yelled as he grabbed his bottle of gin again. ‘Your life’s essential to Nigeria and the world. If Yoruba land is taken, the world will be destroyed’.
‘Ah! Did you wake me for this cock and bull story?’ Dezzy strutted towards the room.
‘Come back, my friend. You don’t believe me. Suppose Yoruba is taken from the rest of the world by Yeside. She likes to conquer. She would firstly make this place like heaven like Dubai like that foolish land in The Lorax animation, and she will try to cause wars in a quick year to take over Nigeria, Africa and the world…’
‘Please, spare me!’ Kukoyi said.
‘Dodo!’ Simi couldn’t help saying.
‘You don’t know anything. She won wars in a time of no technology. What will she do in the time there’s tech! Tell me! You think Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates are taking over the world by what they are able to build abi? This woman was so strategic. I’m a child of history, and since I didn’t meet stories, I met histories’.
Kukoyi gritted. ‘Your trouble…’
‘So, let’s go out now for training…’ Lambe bowed as he pointed towards the door.
‘You’re kidding, right?’ Kukoyi yawned.
Lambe clicked his tongue. ‘If you want to survive that fierce headache and get your money, we’re going out for training…’
Dezzy turned back towards Lambe, making Simi sigh. Dezzy’s refusal would have given Simi a reason to crawl back into bed. ‘What do you stand to gain?’
‘Are you an automated player or something? I told you I just want that power vanquished. Well, you guys can now give me anything you make from selling those items, but for now, we’re in this together…’
Kukoyi stretched. ‘All right, Lambe. Let’s do this!’

Tags: Missmossy, Lakesc, Germaphobe


Chapter 17
Dezzy simply carried her bag and was on her way out.
‘Simi, can you go now?’ Dezzy asked.
‘Yes…’
‘Good! But I have to search for a place, and I really need to get out of this place before I feel tempted to fight!’ Kukoyi said from afar. ‘Let’s just get fresh air while I get myself together.
‘Hey! Walk with me’, Lambe said to Simi as he hurried to her side.
‘Don’t make the mistake of manipulating her…’ Kukoyi said.
‘I still really don’t know your gain…’ Dezzy shouted again.
‘He said…’ Simi was explaining, but Lambe touched her slightly.
He nodded at her. ‘I can fight my own battles…’
‘Spare me that rubbish’. Kukoyi wasn’t rushing like he was taking his time to soak in his environment.
Lambe seemed to hurt. ‘I’m fighting for peace in Nigeria! And…’
‘That’s your own concern o’, Dezzy interrupted. ‘What good does Nigeria have for us?’
‘At least, we’re not running about in the forest. When I joined that group of seekers or whatever they called themselves, they never agreed with me that the queen was looking for the power. I saw it first, but they castigate me until those in my clan, the name we call each group within the seekers' group… Every member of my clan got killed. If I weren’t prepared, too, I would have been gone.
This aggravated Simi. ‘I haven’t seen her, but I have seen what she told that woman chasing us. Dezzy, you remember, right?’
‘Of course, Rhinny!’ Dezzy grumbled. ‘They are all the same: useless.’
‘That’s because children of nowadays don’t like to read… You people don’t follow the right people on Twitter, Facebook, and our own Nairaland… Read…’
‘How does that track?’ Kukoyi wondered and scoffed.
‘Like who reading epp?’ Dezzy chuckled.
‘It helps you prepare for your battle… And…’ Lambe raised his voice when Dezzy wanted to reply to him again. ‘That’s how I learnt more about this. I followed the right people on these sites. You can’t follow Nairalander Naptutwo or Explorer and not have a great sense of history.
‘Cut to the chase!’ Kukoyi scolded. ‘I won’t be bored to death by some historians…’
‘When you wake a spirit, whether they be good or bad, their spirits tend to be taken up by what the Christians call demons’.
Simi was interested. ‘You’re a Christian’.
‘Me? Kiriyo?’ Lambe gave her a funny glance. ‘Never. I just began to read up on things I got in the religion sections. That’s how I knew about the way God has used his power in the past. I sort of agreed that Jesus did a miracle, and I like some of his teachings, though. But I still love my power. Back to what I was saying.’
‘About damn time!’ Kukoyi sneered.
‘Na you sabi!’Lambe replied. ‘Demons will fill up those spirits because you have taken them from their abode…’
‘Lesson time!’ Dezzy mumbled.
‘I wasn’t even telling you directly. Simi is the greenhorn here. She’s a fresh fish. She can still be bent to reality. You guys are old and would break if I try to bend you…’
‘I’m worried sick at the way you keep referring to us as children… This generation. Are you that old?’ Kukoyi spun, stared at Lambe for a while, and faced his journey again.
Lambe yawned. ‘I’m old enough to konk you if none of you didn’t have power. Please, stop interrupting me. At least till I’m done.
‘Have it your way!’ Kukoyi replied.
At the moment, a cold breeze rushed past them through the leaves. Simi still noticed Kukoyi trying to keep a distance from Dezzy because of Lambe’s revelation. Even Simi hadn’t gone near her, and she wondered if that would count for her also being afraid. But she didn’t mind. She wanted to hear Lambe’s story.
‘So, when these people woke that woman, they allowed an evil spirit take over. This spirit will corrupt her… Look at it this way, this woman, Yeside, is a natural atomic bomb. She’s that powerful. One of the best warrior to have almost become Ooni of Ife. Even before getting the power and getting killed overnight, she had won several wars and battles. Very little history was written about her because they wanted to smear the horror of some of the things she did to get that position. She was detailed, finicky, and deadly. Her dream had always been one Yoruba. Everything about her was done with finesse and grace. She destroyed lands. You can see what I’m trying to explain now’.
Simi nodded. ‘How? How did they get the information?
‘Well, from obscurity…’ Lambe said. ‘It became a myth and story and horror… And some initiates began taking interest before the seeker group took it upon themselves to find out the real information… Whew! Information is good!’
Lambe clapped his hands excitedly. ‘You’re doing well. Now, look at the demon that might possess her. I don’t if you know about the biological weapon!’
Simi shook her heads.
‘Do you watch America movies?’ Lambe asked.
Simi smiled. ‘Yes. A lot!’
‘What are you now learning from the movies you watch?’ Lambe asked. ‘The actions…?’
‘I…’
Lambe waved her off. ‘Resist the urge to shalaye. A biological weapon is… Let’s say a type of diseases that had been engineered that is created in a lab to kill people…’
‘Oh! Like in 24 hours!’ Simi said excitedly.
Lambe raised a high-five for Simi, which she slapped excitedly. ‘You watched the series?’
‘All!’
‘Ah!’ Lambe yelled and placed his hands on his head. ‘And you don’t know biological weapon…’
‘But she just told you now!’ Dezzy intervened. Simi had never felt happier.
Lambe sighed. ‘Well, when you mix that weapon with a nuclear weapon. That’s trouble for the world. That’s what this woman is now…’
‘That bad?’ Simi wondered.
‘More than bad. She’s strategic, finicky, and focused. When her power is mixed with that of a demon, she will be ferocious. She will be feared. If she could do such things when she was in the 18th century, 21st will shake…’
‘She must be stopped o…’ Simi agreed.
Lambe gently touched Simi’s shoulder and exhaled. ‘Good! We just have one less idiot in the world. And now, I just learnt that I can get money from it…’
‘Dial it down a notch’, Kukoyi said rapidly. ‘We’re not giving you a dime…’
Lambe stared at Kukoyi for a while and burst into Olamide’s song, Oil and Gas. Simi didn’t even know if she should laugh or block her ears from his horrible voice. So, she walked forward and held Dezzy’s hand.
‘I trust you to always keep me safe, even in the sleep’, Simi said and could feel tears in her own eyes.
Dezzy, who had been frowning before, inhaled sharply and nodded, her throat making a gurgling sound.
‘Alright! This is where I can describe the place to you her… There’s a house like that not far from where we were before…’
‘I don’t know where we were before… I mean, I don’t know its exact location….’
Kukoyi shrugged. ‘I only need us to get back to our former place…’
‘Then why did you make us …’ Lambe complained.
‘I told you before. More so, those men were still lurking around the house. I couldn’t stay in that filthy place any longer…’
‘So, you endangered us to get fresh air. Lambe burst into Tope Alabi’s song, Aye le Ibosi o…
Kukoyi hissed.
‘Just think of your former house, a plus sign, and this type of house’, Lambe said.
‘Can she do that?’ Kukoyi wondered.
‘Yes…’
‘Cool!’ Kukoyi was genuinely amazed.
‘There’s more to what all of you can do. I have studies more histories and Odu Ifa’s to know how to help you…’
‘Let’s go…’ Kukoyi urged.
‘Simi, your weapon!’ Dezzy advised.
Quickly, Simi brought a wrap of chocolate.
‘FFO’, Lambe grumbled.
‘Leave her!’ Dezzy grunted.
‘I said let’s go…’ Kukoyi shouted. ‘Ah!’
They came nearer and placed their hands on Simi’s hand. Lambe did the same. Kukoyi tried hard not to touch Dezzy. Simi closed her eyes and thought of the house.
‘We’ve to start training as soon as…’ Lambe’s voice trailed off. ‘Wawu! That was cool… Even my one doesn’t work as smoothly as this. Can we try it again?’
‘Hunger!’ Simi groaned.

Missmossy:
I wish I have some powers too Divepen1, such an exciting story. The imagery appears so real, do keep up the good work.

Thanks for this comment, especially about the description.

Oya! What power do you want?

Chapter 16
‘I think I can move now…’ Kukoyi announced in hushed tones.
Simi smiled at him and wondered why she wasn’t even angry. She understood that they had tried to make her confident in the mission by not telling her about their pain. Lambe remained slouched behind Simi, still drunk. He repeatedly mumbled incoherent sentences under his breath, dozed off, and jerked up as if something was wrong.
‘Are you sure?’ Dezzy asked as she moved near him.
Kukoyi nodded. ‘To start with, let me address the elephant in the room. I’m really sorry again. I should have said something, but I was pushing hard…’
‘Too hard, in fact, Dezzy sighed. ‘You could have killed yourself. All this race will be for nothing’.
‘It’s hard.’ Kukoyi shrugged and glanced from one person to another like a teacher trying to regain his students’ trust.
Simi glanced at Lambe, whose head kept slipping towards his chest. ‘Are you sure he can help us?’
‘Think so…’ Dezzy said.
That aroused Simi’s curiosity. She glanced at the warrior’s face, which was serious. ‘You seems sure!’
‘So sure!’ Dezzy repeated and focused on sharpening her knife.
Simi glanced at Kukoyi for help in understanding what Dezzy meant, but Kukoyi looked lost in thought as he scratched his nose.
‘Have you seen any place?’ Simi asked him.
Kukoyi shook his head. ‘There’s always something to ruin it, and I’ve lost that map. I am yet to create something concrete with this map. The owners. The… Ah!’
‘Then, we wait!’ Dezzy announced.
Kukoyi stared at her for a while, nodded, and crouched. ‘While we wait, I think I perform best when I’m distracted. The first time we met Lambe, he was also drunk. He told us that he knows about our power but didn’t tell us how…’
‘It’s through your birthmarks. The rules say that the selected must have the birthmark’, Lambe said drowsily.
‘Then, he came to tell us we shouldn’t go. He wanted to tie us down, but Dezzy got him. She fought him and would have killed him …’ Kukoyi paused and looked over at both Lambe and Dezzy. ‘He’s slippery.’.
‘In what way?’ Simi asked.
Dezzy sighed. ‘Like a fish. I don’t know how to explain. He keeps transforming to different things’.
‘That’s how stars do!’ Lambe mumbled.
‘Are you saying he…’ Simi turned to Lambe. ‘Do you have power?’
Lambe rose and stretched. ‘Context… Do I have power? I don’t know if it can be measured with the same way you measure power?’
‘Always rambling’, Dezzy strutted towards the sofa Lambe had abandoned. At the same time, Lambe sat on the ground.
Simi glanced at him and wondered what he was doing on the ground when the sofa was large enough for him to lie. He smiled at her.
‘That’s the way I regain my strength.’ Lambe explained.
‘But I didn’t talk’, Simi stared at him in wonder.
‘Well, your expression said it’, he glurped again and yawned. ‘I need to get back to life… And now that you people have given me hope…’
Dezzy and Kukoyi gave him different delirious looks, and Simi didn’t bother trying to advocate on his behalf because he did not seem to need it.
‘I found it…’ Kukoyi jumped up and grabbed his bag. ‘I found a suitable place to hide!’
‘Easy, tiger!’ Lambe scolded. ‘Have you ever considered trying to find if we’re still being searched for?’
Dezzy grinned as she glanced at Kukoyi, who frowned for a while and turned, closing his eyes.
‘Alright! Alright!’ Kukoyi said. ‘They are still in the woods…’
‘Then, let’s wait here!’ Lambe said and repeatedly tapped the air. ‘Let’s all remain calm. We can make good of this situation.
‘Yeah! Like… ‘Dezzy edged forward and clasped her hands under her chin. ‘Why will you help us!’
‘Since Mr Wise over there had given me a grand solution, I think we can work together,’ Lambe said.
‘I still don’t see how you’re invested in this thing’. Kukoyi gently sat on the edge of the sofa.
‘I told you before. Lambe scowled.
‘You probably didn’t know that of all the things you’ve ever told me, the only thing I heard was “I’m leaving”’ Kukoyi rested in the chair.
‘Me too, I think’, Dezzy said.
‘Well, you….’ Lambe said and pointed at Dezzy. ‘You’re a warrior. You people are always like zombies; you do what a perceived leader wants.’
‘We don’t have a leader…’ Simi blurted out.
Lambe nodded sarcastically. ‘You don’t. I’m just blind to see this apari here telling you guys what to do!’
‘Well, he’s the oldest and the first to see us’, Simi argued.
‘What does that mean?’ Lambe shook his chin and opened his mouth wide as if he was exercising it.
‘It means we respect his opinion’, Dezzy replied.
Lambe nodded sarcastically again. ‘Respect his opinion like you people respect the opinions of Noah Porter, which says that you should remember that what you believe will depend on what you are…’
‘Yeah! Whatever!’ Dezzy rolled her eyes.
‘Again, the coast is clear…’ Kukoyi announced as he picked his bag again.
Dezzy gently rose. ‘Then, go we shall… Meanwhile, who will drag this old bag of drunkenness…’
‘Inside life… Sometimes, you have to burn yourself to the ground before you can rise like a phoenix from the ashes. Jens Lekman said so.’ Lambe rose and began to fiddle with something under his cloth. In a short while, he brought out another ado and dropped some dose of the powder in his hands. Looking at them while he kept staggering, he licked it and mumbled something under his breath.
‘Whoo!’ He shouted as he jumped and looked sober. Simi’s mouth opened in wonder, and she didn’t close it as she looked at the other two to be sure they saw what Lambe did.
‘Show off!’ Kukoyi said and walked out.

Chapter 15
Simi stared at Lambe as she dusted her body after they crawled out of the underground. ‘How did you do that?’
‘And why will you have an underground?’ Dezzy asked.
‘Please, don’ interview me!’ Lambe shunned her.
‘Let’s get out of here!’ Kukoyi ordered.
‘Let’s wait a bit, Simi pled.
Lambe sighed and slumped into the cushion as if they weren’t there.
‘You remember him, right?’ Kukoyi asked.
‘I’m not sure. You know this running and we trying to get the treasure things are making me worry more about being alive’, Simi replied as she sat on the edge of the cushion.
Kukoyi nodded. ‘He was the one that came to us to find the places and destroy it.’
Simi became interested. ‘Why?’
‘We told you, girl… It’s some unsubstantiated rumour that he believes that they want to use the powers of the golds to wake the fallen queen or, should I say, wannabe queen, who had enough persuasive power to lead Yoruba to war against every other tribe!’ Kukoyi explained, the longest Simi have heard him talk without a pause.
‘But we heard it, and I thought we told you too’, Simi wondered.
‘It’s a lie…’ Kukoyi grunted.
‘It’s true, awe! You’ve mistaken bombs for daisies or, as we say, you can’t recognize charms, voodoo, or how do this people call it?’ Lambe said.
‘Who doesn’t know charm?’ Dezzy tugged at Simi’s hand and moved towards the door.
Lambe shouted. ‘You can’t recognise charm, and you’re calling yours vegetable…’
Kukoyi stood straight. ‘The notion you’re spewing isn’t accepted. We can still blow up the place and still destroy those power’.
Lambe looked up at Kukoyi as if he was just seeing him in a new light. ‘As the great magician, Shina Peller, once said, we ought to know that Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gun powder. We are not doing well at all. Until the recovery rate is higher than the rate of infected persons, then can we be less perturbed’.
Lambe bowed.
‘Wait! are you saying I’m an infect…? You know what? Whatever! We’re leaving’, Kukoyi led the way out of the house.
Dezzy placed a hand on Simi’s shoulder. ‘Rhinny, let’s just go’.
Simi looked at him longingly and wished she could have a reason to fight off Dezzy’s hand from her body. But the drunk had nothing to offer.
Lambe cleared his throat. ‘Young girl, to answer your question, I used charm. The same one I used to get you into hiding!’ Lambe sat up, shook his head, downed his bottle of dry gin, and exclaimed excitedly.
‘Get lost!’ Dezzy yelled.
‘I was lost until you came and found me!’ Lambe shouted. ‘I can help all of you…With your problems…’
Kukoyi, who was now at the door, stopped. ‘What problems…?’
Lambe looked around, frowning until he saw another bottle of rum. Simi had heard it was the toxic version of the palm wine. Lambe hurried to it and gulped it down.
‘We’ve studied about you people for too long to know what problem you’ll face…’ Lambe explained.
‘Learn where?’ Simi asked.
Lambe yawned. ‘It’s a long story. My eyes are too heavy to tell you, but if you stay here, I might tell you… And even hear yours?’
‘Who will have the time to listen to a drunk?’ Kukoyi asked and paused as he moved nearer. ‘Your time of helping us was good, and I must thank you for that. But we’re loners. You’re not good enough to handle us!’
‘And you think you’re the one’, Lambe burst into laughter. ‘Have you been able to control the way you feel like bursting when you seek out a thing…?’
Simi turned to Kukoyi. Dezzy frowned.
Kukoyi looked from one person to another. ‘What does it matter? At least, I’m helping out…’
‘Was that why you couldn’t find a place to hide?’ Simi wondered.
‘Yes! Was that why?’ Dezzy wondered.
Kukoyi inhaled. ‘You guys had better shut up! A single slip up, and you want to take this drunk’s words over mine!’
‘He said nothing!’ Dezzy shouted back at him. ‘I should have kept making plans, but I was foolish to leave the rein with you. You look all-knowing, but you’re a lie!’
‘C’mon, Dezzy. That was the first time the headache took over!’ Kukoyi punched the wall.
‘Really?’ Lambe asked.
‘Yes!’ Kukoyi spun. ‘The first time that mattered!’
‘What if I told you I know how to quell it?’ Lambe offered. ‘And your fine head will last for days…’
‘Good! You’ve scored one above us’, Kukoyi hissed. ‘Let’s go!’
‘Go where?’ Dezzy pushed the way forward. ‘You all answer to me…’
‘I don’t think that’s wise unless you have learnt to control your blood rage…’ Lambe said.
Dezzy kept quiet as she glanced at them furtively.
Simi frowned again. ‘What’s that?’
‘It’s a good thing!’ Dezzy said and moved away from Simi’s side. ‘It’s good for a warrior! I read about it…’
Lambe yawned. ‘Is that so! Baddest! How many times have you woken to feel like killing these two in their sleep?’
‘Oh!’ Kukoyi jumped back.
‘But I didn’t…’ Dezzy shouted and stared at Simi with pleading eyes. ‘I didn’t. I always left for training in the night’.
Simi nodded as she seemed to understand why she sometimes hears incredible grunts whenever Dezzy was training, even in the middle of the night.
‘And I’m always fine!’ Dezzy ranted. Her eyes were becoming devilishly red. Even Simi had to sit upright as she felt fear burning her up. ‘I’m fine…’
‘Not from my side of the room’, Lambe shouted.
‘Dezzy…’ Kukoyi called with a low tone.
Dezzy turned towards him. ‘Do you think I can’t control it?’
Lambe scrambled up. ‘This is not even it. This one you’re seeing is not it. The blood lust is worse and vicious. I won’t push you to the edge. At least, not yet!’
‘Please, don’t’, Simi pleaded. Sweat had covered her body now. ‘What about me?’
‘You!’ Lambe said and laughed. Simi stared at him in wonder. ‘You?’’ Lambe turned to the others. ‘This is the one that disappears, right?’
Dezzy pouted and nodded. Lambe crouched and laughed. His tired eyes bulged as he gargled and tried not to choke. But he couldn’t stop himself, pointing at her. By now, spits were dripping down his mouth.
Simi opened her mouth repeated and couldn’t say anything. After a while, she found her voice. ‘What’s wrong with him?’
‘I told you this man is insane. See, I’m now afraid of Dezzy’s anger than before… I’m sorry about that, Dezzy’, Kukoyi said and gestured for her to calm down.
‘No qualm, Eagle’. Dezzy walked to the other side of the room.
Simi didn’t know if she was to help Lambe or let him choke on his girth. After a while, he paused.
‘Your solution is food… Foodie!’ Lambe said at last.
‘We know that already’, Dezzy said, bored.
‘No… No… Not that! Her own is if she wants to be sustained for a long time like six travels, she needs Eko… Those paps…’
‘We know what Eko is…’ Kukoyi snapped.
‘Yes. I know you know, but it’s the one in leaves…’
‘We know’, Dezzy said dryly.
‘Wait! Now, if she wants like eight travels, she can mix it with honey!’ Lambe explained, and his smile began to grow again. ‘If she wants like twelve travels, she needs to eat it with Moin-moin’.
‘You means beans cake?’ Simi said.
‘English student. Akara is a beans cake. And how’s it a cake, if sugar can’t be added, but all in all, you will eat moin-moin’.
Simi chuckled and glanced at Kukoyi, who rolled his eyes and suddenly began to laugh. Dezzy too grinned, smiled, and began to laugh. Simi wondered if she should cry or laugh but soon, they made her the focus of their laughter.
‘We’re in!’ Kukoyi said, glanced at the others, and they nodded.

Chapter 14
Luckily, the bed of flowers cushioned her fall; yet, it hurt. Her body ached as she rolled to the ground, wrapping herself in the dust. While at it, Kukoyi had taken a few seconds to finish his slide down. Just as Dezzy was beginning to get down, the person at the door got there.
‘Stop…’ Someone shouted from the top where Dezzy was.
Simi turned with her hands raised as she assumed the order was meant for her. Dezzy’s hand was fast as she was quick to grab a knife from her trousers and threw it at the person that gave the order. It hit him on the chest, making him yell. Dezzy didn’t wait and slid down the pipe.
‘Get up!’ Dezzy yelled and beckoned on them to follow her. They sped off into the more significant part of the forest. ‘Any ideas?’ Dezzy asked Kukoyi, who was now between her and Simi.
‘I’m searching…’
‘Do fast!’ Dezzy yelled.
‘Did you kill him?’ Simi asked.
‘No… He didn’t die. The idiot’, Dezzy grunted.
‘Good! Because I can’t be in a group that kills people’, Simi said as she panted after then. Her side hurt, but she couldn’t stay back to bear the consequences.
By now, the voices behind them had increased and were only drowned by a high-pitched voice. The trio soon disappeared into the bush. Simi couldn’t appreciate the little rest they had. It had reenergized her, giving her the hope that they could escape now.
‘Can you disappear now?’ Kukoyi asked.
‘No…’
‘Then, keep eating…’ Dezzy ordered.
Simi didn’t need a second order before she grabbed her bag and pulled out a bar of chocolate. They raced on.
‘You, Dezzy?’ Kukoyi wondered.
‘Don’t have the ability to escape, do I?’ Dezzy’s grunting voice was mixed with the call from behind them. The men weren’t relenting in their search for them.
‘Then, we’re in trouble because I can’t get anything concrete too…’ Kukoyi’s voice lingered as they came into a street. It was as if the street was just plucked out of obscurity. Simi couldn’t remember such a street from the map Kukoyi made Dezzy draw.
‘That… Strange!’ Dezzy said.
‘Hun! Hun!’ Simi swallowed hard.
By now, she felt she could try disappearing again. But she didn’t want to give them false hope because immediately, the electric sparks feeling sent a surge through her body. It was better to eat one more chocolate to be sure that she was doing the right thing.
‘Let’s go’, Dezzy’s high pitched shrill brought Kukoyi back to the reality of what laid ahead. People walk up and down the street, engaging in several things.
‘I’m getting something’, Kukoyi announced.
‘Lead the way’, Dezzy shouted.
Pausing for a few minutes, Kukoyi turned from one side to another. ‘I got it! I got it.
He sped off towards another bush path. Simi wished they weren’t entering another bush, leaving behind the beautiful houses. They could hide in one of the houses until they were sure that everything was in perfect order.
Kukoyi kept turning. But for Dezzy, who was hot on his pursuit, they would have lost him. If this was a typical day and they weren’t chased, Simi would have decided that this was fun. But that day, she couldn’t agree that there was any fun side to what they were doing.
‘Here!’ Kukoyi pointed at a single desolate house surrounded by different trees like they were explicitly planted to throw people off the scent of the house. Quickly, they rustled through the leaves to get through to the house.
Dezzy kicked the door and bumped into the house. Simi was the last to enter, but she did just as a bulky man was jumping out of his sleep from a jagged cushion, which was the only tangible thing in the house aside from the numerous beer and dry gin bottles.
‘You?’ Dezzy and Kukoyi said in surprise.
‘See what the cat dragged in’, the man said.
‘I’m not ‘you’… I am your brother and friend, lover and supporter, guide and teacher, Lambe…’ As he rose, a bottle of drink rolled off his side.
‘What are you doing here?’ Lambe asked.
‘We’re being chased!’ Simi blurted out, avoiding the eyes of the others.
‘Didn’t I tell you to follow me!’ Lambe asked.
‘To what end?’ Kukoyi asked.
‘We just need a place to hide! Whatever this is, you can settle it later’, Dezzy replied.
Dezzy, Lambe, and Kukoyi nodded.
‘Alright, follow me!’ Lambe dragged himself off the floor and meandered around the chair for a while as he gulped and staggered. ‘Oh! I forgot…’
Kukoyi shook his head. ‘This is why I never believed him initially’.
‘Can see more of what you saw then!’ Dezzy nodded.
‘Haba! Do you still need my help, or should I just negodu like Nelson Mandela said that we should forget our past… And you two are my past’.
‘Please…’ Simi pled before they could say their mind. ‘We will be so glad if you did that…’
Lambe glanced at her. ‘Oh! The baby of the house! Orobo, I can never let anything happen to you…’
‘Take us!’ Dezzy growled. Her grip on the knife in her hand was now hardened.
‘Calm down! An old man can’t be in the market and see a new baby’s head hanging improperly.’ With that, Lambe pushed the chair for a while, but he was losing balance in his drunkenness. ‘I’m okay! I’m okay…’
‘What are you doing?’ Simi wondered as she spun towards Kukoyi. ‘What’s he doing?’
Dezzy shook her head. ‘We should go!’
‘I’ve got nothing else’, Kukoyi lamented. ‘Simi, is it back?’
She gritted and shook her head.
‘Then, we’re done for!’ Kukoyi flopped his hands by his sides. ‘Killed by a drunken master’.
Lambe gulped. ‘Lailai! We will find you guys a place. Oya! Let’s push this together…’
Dezzy and Kukoyi stared at him in astonishment. Simi couldn’t spend another minute without doing something. If pushing the chair would get him to do what they wanted, she wouldn’t mind. So, she joined him. As soon as they pushed the chair a little, he told her to stop.
‘This is it!’ He mumbled.
Quickly, he brought out an ado, a small plant that looks like a calabash, from his pocket, poured out a pink powdery substance, licked it, and spat on the spot the chair used to be. Immediately, a trapdoor appeared.
Even Dezzy was impressed.
‘My lady, Aigbodezzy first’, Lambe said.
Dezzy glanced at him, shook her head, and rushed towards the trap door. When Simi got there, they were staring at something that looked like a dungeon.
‘Thank you! Thank you!’ Simi kept mumbling as Dezzy urged her to enter. In a short while, the three were scrambling through the trap door.
‘Remember to lock it from behind!’ Kukoyi called as he pulled the door over them.
Lambe said something that was muffled by the sound of the trap door. They remained there through the noise that went about in the house. Simi pushed against the wall as she hoped that things would go just as she wished- that every problem stopped and they were taken back in time permanently, not just this one that they had to keep disappearing. If she had that choice, she would return to the orphanage home, where she would have told the others her adventure.
With that, she closed her eyes and slept off. After a while, something rattled above, making her jump out of her sleep. Dezzy touched her thigh.
‘We’re fine.
Simi nodded. After the commotion stopped for a long while, the trap door opened, and Lambe poked his head inside. ‘They’re gone!’

Lakesc:
Cant simi just time travel and save everyone the stress.. Thanks for the update.

Remember, she can't feel it at that point.

Chapter 13
In a few seconds, they came across the large blue GP tank, empty and massive, the biggest Simi had seen. Kukoyi scrambled up it, his leg fighting to hold on to something. After a little while, he was already in the GP tank. 
‘You’re next!’ Dezzy said and urged Simi on. 
 Simi couldn’t get herself up the tank. Dezzy had to push her up, grunting as they both fought for strength. When she eventually got to the edge of the GP tank, Simi couldn’t climb through as the hole was too tiny for her. She could see the disgust and frustration in both of their eyes.
‘Hide behind the tank’, Kukoyi advised.’ ‘And don’t you make a sound’.
Dezzy wouldn’t agree to leave her behind. Beckoning to Simi with rapid twitching of her fingers, Dezzy withdrew. ‘Try climbing’.
Simi stared at in wonder.
‘Get up! I will help you. Dezzy’s hushed voice made Simi know she couldn’t debate it.
‘How hands are tied!’ Kukoyi’s voice reverberated in the tank. ‘Let her go…’
‘No’, Dezzy murmured. 
‘I can’t enter, Simi complained. 
‘We will force you through!’ Dezzy grunted.
With Dezzy pushing her from behind, Simi couldn’t get herself to climb the tank. She grabbed the edge of the tank, making her feel like a dying man hanging desperately to straws: It just couldn’t work. 
‘Ha!’ Simi grunted after the third trial. ‘I’ll just stay down here!’
‘Good choice’, Kukoyi sighed. ‘That’s one person doing the right thing’.
‘I’ll stay here with her!’ Dezzy announced. 
Simi glanced at the dark young lady in front of her. Her afro was now tried into a ponytail, projecting her ferocious look. 
‘Move to that side’, Dezzy ordered and pointed to a space behind the tank. She looked around and dropped down speedily. ‘Eagle, stay down there! They’re here!’
The other part of the levelled ground was filled with water from rain. Kukoyi couldn’t keep quiet in the tank. The vibration of his moan didn’t bode down well with Simi, who glanced at Dezzy for help. Dezzy’s tiny eyes, however, were darting within their sockets, staring into nothing. 
At the thought of how she had been the reason they stayed back, Simi couldn’t hold back the tears dripping down her eyes. If only she had been serious with her Keto, she wouldn’t be too fat to miss the opportunity. When all this was done, that would be her priority. She couldn’t bring herself to wipe away the tears in her eyes because they were the only thing hugging her at that moment, and she wanted their comfort.
Dezzy, without looking at her, took Simi’s hand and squeezed it gently. That did it for Simi. The tears began to pour down in a torrent. Trying hard not disturb the peace, Simi quivered and whimpered. She couldn’t stop the influx of memories of the good times she had spent alone. Living alone had been easy for her- no string, no close friend, no worries, no running, no care about money. Just her. 
A gunshot reverberated from the house below. Seizing the opportunity, Dezzy crawled to the little fence around the GP tank and peeked. Moving her head from one side to the other, she grunted. Quickly, she backed into the tank again. 
‘Okay!’ Kukoyi murmured from the GP tank. ‘I can’t do this anymore!’
Simi and Dezzy turned to see what he meant. Within a few minutes, Kukoyi was dragging himself up the tank. When he got out, his body was soaked with sweat as if his pores were. Even his trousers, as well as his feet, were wet. 
Their noise must have attracted someone because noises edged towards them.
‘We’re going to use this pipe to slide down’, Dezzy rose and pointed below. 
Simi scrambled up to see what Dezzy meant. What Simi saw was more difficult than Dezzy presented it. The bare ground didn’t seem like the best thing to cushion their fall. The only good thing down there was a large bed of flowers with exquisite colours that might have been a point of attraction, but it looked like a coffin right now.
‘I can’t possibly do that’, Simi blurted out before she could stop herself. 
‘Of course! If not that we need you, I’d have left you behind!’ Kukoyi grumbled. 
‘Whatever you want to do, do it now…’ Dezzy moved away and glanced at the voices coming up. 
‘I can do it! I can do it! I can do it’, Simi chanted silently. She wished those words could give her the courage she needed to jump down.
‘Go!’ Dezzy growled. The eyes changed colour, giving Simi the chills. 
Simi, heaving terribly, nodded and climbed down. She held the pipe and was sure she must have looked like a mother bear on a straw. Clenching her teeth, she gradually slid down. 
‘Over here!’ Someone shouted from the hidden door to the tank. 
That was enough motivation. Simi grabbed the pipe and began to slide down, but it was just too much. Her grips and body weren’t just doing her any favour in this matter. As if they were expecting her to think of it, every part of her body became slippery as she couldn’t hold on anymore. By now, her veins were now popping in public. 
Simi fell, screaming all the way.

Chapter 12
‘It’s all my fault’, Simi’s voice quivered as they raced through the tunnel. 
‘Tell me about it’, Kukoyi exclaimed from behind.
‘And run faster… Are you a snail or something?’ Dezzy ranted as she used her hands to guide Simi further. 
Simi gasped. ‘It’s my fault because if I didn’t…’
‘I didn’t mean you should literally tell me about it….’Kukoyi snapped, panting.
Simi’s mind was everywhere at once, wondering what the essence of a power she couldn’t use of. She needed food and rest. Swallowing the morsel of bread, she ate at the beginning; she wished everything happening weren’t real. All she ever wanted in her life was joy and nothing more. 
Death, love, and peace had all eluded her as if they worked in sync. Every time things seemed to pick themselves up in her life, as if her dream of a happy life was finally coming true, something else would rear its ugly head.
‘You’ve got to do better than this?’ Kukoyi yelled. She could hear the edge in his voice. 
‘Eagle! Keep your voice down!’ Dezzy’s hand left Simi's shoulders. 
‘I’m sorry!’ Simi pleaded. ‘It’s my fault. They wouldn’t have found us. We would be free from all this. We wouldn’t be on the run now. I only missed Ekele…’
‘Keep quiet!’ Dezzy ordered. 
That worked. Simi rammed another morsel of bread into her mouth. Munching it would help her stay quiet. She was doing all she could not to choke on the bread. It had a flavour that made her happy. 
When they got to the end of the tunnel, it was blocked. Dezzy rushed forward, squeezing herself into the available space between Simi and the wall. Despite the way Simi flattened herself, Dezzy grunted.
‘Sorry about that!’ Simi murmured. 
Sands dropped from the top as Dezzy pushed it. Simi got out of the way, her free hand doing the work of shading her eyes. Sunlight flooded the hole as Dezzy gently pushed the trapdoor up. 
‘Stay back!’ Dezzy’s hushed tone, alongside the intensity with which she held her baton, made Simi stay put. Even Kukoyi, who had stepped forward to help, moved back. 
Scuffling up with the stairs made of two holes in the wall, Dezzy looked everywhere and glanced down. ‘Out of harms’ way’.
Kukoyi climbed after her. Together, they pulled Simi up. She felt terrible for slowing them down and becoming a burden that they had to help up. The thought of being a baby and a liability played on her mind.
 However, she didn’t have to dwell on them as a gunshot resounded from the farther side of the forest. At the same time, several noises and instructions followed them. Simi knew she had no option than to escape before anything could stop her. Following Dezzy’s trail, she was dashing through the forest, smashing the weed. 
‘We need you…’ Kukoyi yelled from far ahead of Simi. He ducked and raced. ‘You have to use the power now’.
‘Nothing’, Simi said. Someone shot the tree around her. Jumping in fear, she screamed. ‘Yeh!’ 
‘They’re not shooting to kill us. Get away from under the tree branches! Dezzy’s voice echoed alongside Simi’s repeated squeaks. 
Although Simi wasn’t sure she heard well, she tried her best to avoid the tree. More tree branches fell on their path, and they were soon intermittently slowed down by the trees. Simi wished she wasn’t running for her life. This seemed fun.
‘Get us a house, Eagle...’ Dezzy shouted. 
‘Yes’, Simi nodded and could feel her body vibrating. ‘You were finding those houses!’
Kukoyi paused, wide-eyed. Glancing at his wristwatch, he pointed to their left. ‘There! There!’ He raced off, and the two ladies were already trailing after him. Dezzy ran past him. ‘Follow me!’
‘What are we doing?’ Simi shouted hysterically. 
Instead of the house they had hoped for, they encountered more bushes. Simi had never gone through this path before. She glanced at their right, wondering if Kukoyi hadn’t made the wrong choice. 
He pointed to their right, and they came near a bit of stream. Another set of thicker bushes were lining up for them to pass through. Even the ray of the sun seemed afraid to peek through giant trees. Some of the dry leaves tore at Simi’s skin, making her squeal.
 By now, her breathe was pumping faster than her legs. Dezzy sometimes had to pause to urge her on. They ran on. She could still hear the noises of their assailants, whom she had hope would have given up on chasing them. After a while, they ran into a street. 
‘There!’ Kukoyi yelled.
 He dashed for the back of an open two storey house. The occupant must have decided to leave it empty since they were somewhere in the house. 
‘Who?’ A short man came bounding down the stairs in wonder. They paused at the sight of him. By this time, their bodies were glistering from sweat. The sweet smell of burnt jollof rice filtered into the room, making Simi’s stomach rumble.
‘Killers! Hide!’ Dezzy rambled.
‘Killers?’ The man whimpered and jumped back. 
‘Yes! Outside! People are coming!’ 
‘Hide! Hide!’ The man shouted. ‘Go upstairs! GP tank!’
They didn’t’ understand him. He looked at them. ‘That’s your own. I’m hiding elsewhere!’
Dezzy sprang towards the stairs. ‘He said upstairs!’ 
‘Where is he going?’ Simi wondered as she followed her. Kukoyi, too, raced after Dezzy with unexplainable agility. When they got upstairs, they discovered that another step led upwards again. 
‘I’m… Tired!’ Simi cried and rested on her knee, winded.
Every part of her body was aching. She was afraid that if she continued running, her heart would burst through her body, putting an end to everything like she had ever wanted in her life. 
‘C’mon!’ Dezzy called from atop the stairs Simi could see.
‘You know they can’t catch you. They mustn’t. We haven’t come this far to stop here! We keep moving… Up and up!’ Kukoyi ordered.
‘Let’s do this’, Dezzy urged her. 
Nodding, Simi held the rail as she ran upwards.

Chapter 11
With her firm hand pulling Simi down, Dezzy ensured they were well-hidden and leaned towards Simi, then whispered, ‘eat and… Time?’
Careful not to make any noise, Simi munched away at another sausage roll. It enlivened her, deadening the pang of hunger. Looking at the time, she was stunned to see that it indeed did what they wanted.
‘Date and time?’, Dezzy asked again in her hushed voice.
‘Today is… Oh! May 2017… twenty-third’, Simi explained.
‘It looks like it’s for us’, Dezzy nodded. ‘Quiet…’
‘Yes, Madam Asake’, a man said and looked about with his shifty eyes, and he looked back. The eyes seemed like a glitch on his neatly shaved face.
‘So, to why I brought you here, Priest’, the woman explained. ‘I had a dream…’
Her pause made Simi peak further to see if something came up in the room. For the first time, she looked at this woman and could see her pointed chin, which enunciated how slim she was. Her dark skin shone as if she spent the whole year in a drum of oil. The only whose skin had ever shone so was Dezzy.
‘Madam Asake, you can narrate it, and I told you just call me Suseyi’, said Suseyi.
‘Alright… Suseyi, I dreamt about a woman. She said she’s Yeside. She was dressed like a warrior… And I don’t know. She oozed power. She told me that there were two female Ooni of Ife’, Asake explained.
Suseyi shook her head. ‘Just one.
‘She said she was the second, that she died before she could be named’, Asake said.
‘How’s that even possible?’ Suseyi replied.
‘What do you mean?’ Asake asked in wonder.
‘It’s just that. After the first woman’s actions, the men promised not to allow a woman Ooni…’
‘Mysognyst’, Asake lamented. ‘No wonder she said she ensured everything was done in secrecy…’
‘I only know of one, Luwoo Gbagida. I heard stories about her valour…’ Suseyi said.
‘I know what I heard’, Asake growled.
Suseyi kept quiet sharply. ‘Are you certain she’s the one?’
‘It’s blurry. I don’t know her…’ Asake explained. ‘Her warlike disposition did it for me, though. She was finicky, just like extra neat, neatly plaited hair. Even one could see the freshness of the cloth she wore.
Her white teeth were like she used the best floss in the world. If she… To cut a long story short, she said she wants to use me’.
‘Is that good?’ Suseyi asked.
‘This is kind of something in your forte!’ Asake said. ‘You should be the one telling me.
Suseyi seemed to think for a while. ‘I’ve heard of people being used like the Egungun. My dad made me read their history once, and I can say that it wasn’t all that fun…’
‘Cut to the chase!’ Asake snapped.
‘I’m saying…’ Suseyi edged forward. ‘Describe the whole thing…’
‘Uhm…’ Asake repeatedly blinked as if her eyes couldn’t be controlled. ‘She had a beautiful white horse that seemed as if she washed it every minute. I mean, even the toes were thoroughly neat. It must have taken her all the time in the year to care for such beast. They came towards me, and she halted just where I was standing. I think I was sitting in front of you, checking my future…’
Suseyi nodded. ‘I see why I had to be here!’
‘Yeah! We were like in an open space. Everything is fuzzy, but I still remember this. She beckoned on me to climb the horse. We did. I didn’t even argue with her. I couldn’t. I sat in front of her, and she rode off to a mountain. I can’t even remember if she rode at all. I just knew that we were on this mountain and she pointed at a beautiful land. I saw most of Yoruba land from here. Everything felt small. Then, she chanted something and told me to stretch my hands. And she spat on it. Oh! Thinking of that now feels gross’.
‘I must assume!’ Suseyi grunted.
Asaka cast a delirious glance at him. ‘She told me to wipe my eyes with it. I did, and then, I saw it. A great country. Like Dubai…Skyscrapers, castles, light and order. I saw them all. Then… Then… And I saw it- The name, Yorubaland, was written on it but ‘twas written in Yoruba… Like Ile Yoruba’.
Her pronunciation was mixed with a foreign accent that made Simi chuckled, getting a grimace from Dezzy.
‘That’s massive…’ Suseyi said, interested.
‘You’ve not heard the half of it. What I saw really knocked me senseless. I couldn’t believe it myself. There was total order like I was back in Texas. Well, Texas is still somewhat rough, but it still is a light-year far from Nigeria’s sense of order. The light, the beauty… Hmmm! I think I understand the dream. We need to recreate Yorubaland’.
‘On that aspect, Madam, you’re right!’ Suseyi said.
Asake sat straight. ‘I think I know what she also wants. She was saying something about how we need power to get what was before us, and for us to get such power, we need some hidden powers. And she wants me to talk to you.
Suseyi’s eyes shone as he edged forward again. For a moment, Simi doubted he wouldn’t fall. ‘I have it…’ Suseyi said with glee. ‘I know. You have the influence. We can work together.
‘I don’t understand you’, Asake said. ‘My political ambition is still underground. So, there’s no influence anywhere.
‘Ah! Maami, you don’t know what you are doing even you’ve not done anything. Your name is everywhere…’
Asake nodded. ‘That doesn’t still account for what you said before about having a sort of knowledge.’.
‘I have it. A group of us, gathered by me, of course, have been studying an old manuscript, written by some Yoruba scholars, passed down from an oral tradition and then scripted out’.
‘Suseyi, keep it under wraps. You’re speaking more gibberish than I have ever seen you done in my life’, Asake advised.
‘Excitement ni!’ Suseyi said and sat up. ‘I’m super excited. This is what I should have been looking for instead of the many people that I’ve been gathering...’
‘Talk to me!’ Asake shouted, and there was a brief silence in the room. ‘Stop going around the bend’.
Suseyi nodded repeatedly. ‘This scroll I found in my grandfather’s property. It was written in a didactic poem in the Yoruba language. I and a friend, Prof. Lolade, at the University of Ibadan. We have translated a part of the poem and know that it contained seven powers that only three people can find’.
‘You’re beginning to make sense’ Asake rubbed her hands together. ‘Where can we find these people.
Suseyi rested in his chair, dejected. ‘No one knows. For years, we have been setting traps and spies everywhere, on several forums to follow discussions relating to the attributes expected of them’.
‘And?’
‘But we can’t find them.
‘How does that track? Get good hackers to search the internet. If they have to find ways of doing it on the dark web, it’s simple…’
Simi and Dezzy shared glances, and she felt like rushing at these people and yelling at them for causing all the trouble in her life.
‘We never thought of that. And of what use when all we do are being monitored? Do you remember the last time a girl was murdered and her body was found on a lake, that people claimed she was used for money!’ Suseyi asked.
Asake shook her head. ‘I’m not sure I do!’
Suseyi replied. ‘Oh! It was a popular story. She died near a riverbank. Oya riverbank to be precise’.
‘Still fuzzy!’
Suseyi sat up in agitation. ‘Her eyes were missing… Let me spare you the cruel things that were done to her. But it was the same time Soka news was trending…’
Asake’s eye widened in the realization of what he was saying. ‘I think the story rings a bell. So, what’s the girl’s story?’
‘She was one of ours!’ Suseyi explained. ‘Fervent worshipper of the gods. She was ready to find the information, but we have another group after this information for their own gain..…’
‘You’re saying the girl was crossed off?’
Suseyi sighed. ‘It was a gruesome experience. She was the only one that almost got near the truth. And I heard she was an orphan…’
Asake swallowed hard. ‘Is there a way I can see pictures of her.’
Suseyi’s eyes were now red. ‘I’ll probably find out. It really hits close to home. I’ll get you pictures!’
‘Yes, the pix. As many as you can find…’
‘Does it matter?’ Suseyi wondered. ‘They killed her. So, we went on a massive search for the group. At that moment, we stopped our search and started killing off the members of the other group. It was a serious war.’
‘Did you gain anything?’
‘Nothing. Well, to some extent, we got to carry out our vengeance… And now this sect is dispersed, just a handful of them are still alive.’
‘Sagacious decision’. Asake slapped her head. ‘You people wasted resources on vengeance…’
‘Madam, it was more than that. Now, we have cleared the path for all other works… But this death roused the authority's attention, who is now always on our tail, sniffing out information about us. I sometimes have to fortify our people every week, for them not be discovered’.
‘That’s real work!’ Asake clasped her hands. ‘Then, I will pull some strings. And you’re sure with these three people, we can find them’.
‘Yes…’
‘Why can’t you find them with some spiritual vision or something…’
Suseyi shook his head dejectedly. ‘Somehow, they are being protected from our view. We only know or can describe their body structures. One is fat, one is slim, and one is like a warrior. We think the slim one is a man’.
‘Congratulations’, Asake hissed. ‘You’ve just gotten us nothing. I will call my guy. He’s a good physicist. I’ve seen some crazy things he can do. He owes me. I got him out of jail for trying some stuff on NASA. Together, we can find these people.
‘You think so?’
Asake nodded. ‘Ekele is resilient. He’s always searching like he’s on drug as if he was police dog…’
Suseyi heaved and fiddled with his agbada. ‘The one that disappears is the most important. Others are needed, but without that one, we will be running in circles’.
‘I’ll work on that. And we need to merge with those other groups. Get me their leaders. They want money. We want power. We can figure something out together and remember my pix…’
Dezzy glanced at Simi. ‘Time to go, girl’.
Simi shook her head. ‘We need answers…’
Dezzy tightened her grip and replied with a hushed voice. ‘We can always come back…’
Simi shook her head. ‘I don’t think that’s how it works. I have never been able to go back to the same past…’
‘We need to regroup’. Dezzy’s vein was now protruding. ‘We can now search for the scroll later from him. You get me?’
Simi nodded, grabbed Dezzy hands, and closed her eyes.
‘Oh! I’ve never been this relieved’, Kukoyi grunted.
Simi opened her eyes just in time to see her bag flying her way.
‘One of your traps just exploded…’ Kukoyi threw each of their nets at them.
‘People are here?’ Simi wondered and looked about to be sure she wasn’t leaving anything. She touched her pocket and still felt the paper she had of Ekele. ‘God! I need food. Real food this time….’
‘We’ve got to move…’ Kukoyi stretched his hands and gestured at Dezzy to do the same.
Simi shook her head, ran for the table and grabbed a morsel of bread. That should help for the road.
‘You ate…’ Dezzy cried. ‘Just now. And God knows I want to fight… It’s like a drug’.
‘I can’t feel my powers…’ Simi said.
Dezzy looked frustrated. ‘We’ve been to a lot of places.
Kukoyi stared at the agitated Dezzy and the tired Simi. ‘When we get to the tunnel, you have to disappear…’
Simi shook her head. ‘I don’t think I can do that?’
‘Why not?’ Dezzy asked as she crouched at the centre and pulled at the centre cover to reveal a hole. Dust puffed from it, making Simi cough.
Simi said. ‘I’m too weak…And I’m feeling this electricity. I have eaten, but it’s still there.
Kukoyi pulled her towards the centre. ‘You’ve got to try…’
‘You don’t understand’ Simi scrambled into the tunnel. ‘It’s like when you have food in your body. You know it’s there. When I can disappear, I know. I don’t guess that again. I just know. With this weakness, I can’t even do anything.
‘Move’, Dezzy growled. ‘I guess we have to run… Can you run?’
Simi nodded, afraid that Dezzy didn’t ask how fast because she was slow, always coming last in all races.

Lakesc:
Thanks for d update...

You're welcome.

Missmossy:
This is an interesting piece Divepen1, been a long while I read any of your stories. Keep up the good work.

Yeah... I just had to do this for the fun of it again.


Thanks for following and staying ooo

Chapter 10
Simi didn’t really have much to pack. So, she got her clothes ready, folding them as small as she could.
If I have allowed those ones to capture me, they would have treated me well, Simi thought.
Filling her backpack, repeatedly testing the weight, and jumping to ascertain that it would hinder her, Simi was sure ready.
They slacked two days later when nothing happened. Dezzy now took it upon herself to train each of them for battle.
For Kukoyi, she would hide things without his knowledge and time him as he searched for the items. Seeing that he was becoming better, she would mix up ten things together to confuse him, limiting his search to the same time as the first training. It worked the first few times but, after a while, Kukoyi was beating her to everything. Sometimes, though, Simi would see Kukoyi go behind the house and return later, looking pale, moving his head sideways.
‘In a few days, we would have mapped a plan’, Kukoyi assured them. ‘I will have gotten enough extra locations as hideouts’.
Kukoyi had been studying the histories of Oranyan, wondering where he could have possibly made plans on where these things would be. Yet, he was getting nowhere.
Dezzy’s training was simple at first. She made Simi open different snacks and eat as fast as she could. With Dezzy’s voice bellowing at her to beat time and breathing down her neck, Simi always found herself sweating at the top of her head and wiping tears off her face. Before, she would have easily swallowed a bar of chocolate, but per time, Dezzy reduced the time., making her tired.
Alongside individual training, she ensured they were physically fit.
‘I said jumping jack… I didn’t expect to see some jumping jerks’, Dezzy shouted and clapped as Simi and Kukoyi reduced their pace.
One day, Dezzy came jogging from the forest and stopped near Simi just as Kukoyi was leaving the field to finish the mapping. Dezzy watched him go, brought out a wristwatch, and gave it to Simi. ‘I don’t know how much this will do, but it has date and time’.
‘Where did you get this’ Simi asked but was glad to have a wristwatch.
Dezzy crouched near her. ‘I don’t want Kukoyi to know, but Lambe gave me before he left that I should give it to you any time we find you, I should give you'.
‘Oh! I’m liking the man already’, Simi said.
‘I don’t know. He has good sides to him too…’ Dezzy said and smiled while her eyes remained focused on a sprouting flower. ‘He said he had enchanted the clock or something. So, now you can easily tell time.
‘You seem to like him’, Simi smiled at her.
‘Me? Lambe? Never! Now, get back to t…’ Dezzy looked at Simi all over and rose. ‘Do whatever you were doing.
She stretched her body. Before her arrival, Simi had been watching the empty field, wishing for many things, but most of all, a chance to get back to the orphanage home. Simi swallowed hard at the thought of getting a gift from them, from Dezzy. She blinked back tears and looked up. ‘Thanks’.
‘You can easily track the date and time with this, even if you go back to 0001’, Dezzy replied.
‘I’ve never tried this before. It might not work…’
‘How would we know if we don’t give it a tryDezzy said. ‘Moreover, I trust that drunk of a man. Remember, we don’t want Kukoyi to know where it is from. Just tell him I gave you.
Nodding, Simi strapped the watch around her wrist.
‘That, Rhinny’, Dezzy said and placed her hands on Simi’s shoulder. ‘Is a new part of your weapon’.
The thought of the weapon scared Simi. So, she shook her head. ‘Uniform… It’s a part of my uniform’.
‘Whatever you say, Rhinny’, Dezzy walked away with a gait that Simi instantly craved. ‘I’m to get back to my training with Eagle’.
Simi nodded again and stared at the wristwatch. This was the best gift she had ever received from a stranger. She looked up and shouted, ‘thank you.
Dezzy waved dismissively and dragged Kukoyi to training. Per time, her training with them became intensive. Although, sometimes, Simi felt Dezzy didn’t know half of what she wanted from them, if she didn’t, she never showed it, always throwing commands and instructions at them, urging them to be swifter and better.
‘Argh!’ Kukoyi yelled one day and swept off everything was on the window. The books there flipped and tore off. Pens rattled.
Immediately, Dezzy dashed for the papers.
‘Useful?’ She asked Kukoyi.
He shook his head. ‘But wait!’ He snapped the paper. ‘Alright, you can burn it.
Dezzy had made it a point of duty to burn every piece of paper Kukoyi used, which she believed could be used to trace them and detect their plan.
‘You might need to intensify…Have your training in one of the travels. We need info’, Kukoyi was now sitting at the edge of the doorway, a big frown plastered on his face.
‘Why?’
‘We might need to go into the enemy’s territory! Like the source of the problem itself’, Kukoyi stated. ‘We have to redirect our search…’
‘You’re sending her to her death…’ Dezzy said. ‘I’m not letting her go alone…’
‘I didn’t know you care!’ Kukoyi snapped.
‘I want to know where all these will end… And have my share…’ Dezzy said as she got ready. ‘So, I care!’
‘I don’t want to sit here being worried sick about anybody anymore. You’re not my family.’ Kukoyi paused while Dezzy plugged more knives into her leather clothes. ‘Let’s end this debacle, and I can get back to the state’.
‘I’ll be fine…’ Simi said, not sure she heard herself right.
Dezzy nodded. ‘Because I’ll be with you, and I’ve trained you well.’
‘Yeah! Simi would take your firm hand’, Kukoyi snarled. ‘The plan is simple. Get in, find anything you can from them, keep your head down and get back…’
Dezzy came nearer. ‘We’ll be back…’
Simi looked at them, feeling like their babies again. ‘I thought we want to train on my eating skills…’
‘Yeah! Consider this your training. You’re doing it on the go.
Simi sighed, with her heart racing, her mind still focused on her last encounter. ‘I’m ready.
She closed her eyes and thought of why the people chasing them started.
‘Where are we now?’ Dezzy asked.
She opened her eyes to see that they were in a forest and could see two people sneaking into the waters. Behind them was a vast house fenced as if nothing will ever see the internal part. Unable to describe what was wrong with her, she began to munch her sausage roll.
‘Time?’ Dezzy asked.
‘Wow! It worked’, Simi whispered hurriedly, excitedly. ‘It’s the year… This thing is wrong’.
‘What’s it saying?’ Dezzy asked.
‘2337 and 05 and 06’, Simi said, confused.
‘Let me see…’ Dezzy dragged her hands and stared at the wristwatch. Simi’s repeatedly glanced at Dezzy. ‘Wow! This looks real. You brought us to the future…’
‘No…’ Simi pulled her hand away and stared, ‘Let’s go!’
‘Let’s go’, Dezzy said after watching her swallow. ‘Can we?’
Simi nodded.
‘Now, think of something that can help us get the information we need’, Dezzy ordered.
Simi repeatedly blinked as she closed her eyes.
‘I don’t know what this means now!’ Dezzy growled.
They were behind trees. Just some feet away, they could see a teenage boy blowing flute with such skill that beat those of anyone Simi had ever encountered. Even Dezzy’s eyes glowered in admiration. A teenage fighter could be seen practising with a stick as if she was a machine implanted with the skills to fight.
‘Year?’ Dezzy asked.
‘I don’t understand again’, Simi said and looked away.
‘What now?’ Dezzy said, not pulling her eyes away from the teenagers.
‘It’s 1427, 16, and 7’, Simi said.
‘Ah!’ Dezzy said. ‘No… No. Have you eaten?’
‘Not yet?’ Simi looked away at the realization of that.
‘Please… You’re wasting all these things’, Dezzy growled.
While Simi waited for the electric feeling to dissipate, Dezzy stared at the teenagers with rapt attention.
‘I’m ready’, Simi said.
‘We have to leave now?’ Dezzy hissed. ‘I was enjoying that girl’.
‘Maybe we should wait a bit, Simi suggested.
Dezzy shook her head. ‘To the place we’re going. And think hard on the fact that these people want to catch us, and we want to find out our history or something’.
‘By the way, I moved from one time to another, Simi giggled.
‘My friend, close your eyes’, Dezzy urged. Simi heeded her, and after a while, Dezzy nudged her. ‘We’re here.
When she opened her eyes, they were crouched behind a seat in a large sitting room, with two people talking- a rich slim woman and a man dressed in agbada.

Chapter 9
Dezzy and Kukoyi tried to pry more information from her mouth, but she couldn’t give them more.
‘See! I just want to know we’re still safe here!’ Kukoyi said. ‘It took me a great deal of time to get this location. And we’re still trying to pinpoint all the places we will be going from here.
‘I’m sorry… I’m too surprised’, Simi said. She hated the way she felt like their baby sister. Even at her age, she looked huge and should be considered their agemates.
‘Unsuprise yourself and talk, Rhinny…’ Dezzy suggested.
Simi glanced at them. ‘I don’t know. I saw… Thought of the boy I first loved, Ekele. I told you about him already na. He was always dancing across…’
‘Cut to the chase…’ Kukoyi grunted.
Simi nodded. ‘So, I wanted to go the past to search for him…’
‘Ah!’ Dezzy yelped. ‘A boy! You risked your life for a boy…’.
She glanced at Dezzy and could see the visible anger. Even Kukoyi’s face showed how displeased he was. That moment took her back to the time in their orphanage home when they had to talk to Mr Mankinde. The same displeasing look on his face was what she could see on Kukoyi’s face, making her always wish her mother hadn’t dropped her in the first instance.
‘You don’t know how it feels…’ Simi yelled back at her. ‘Because all you do is to be high and mighty. Fighting like a machine. We’re all humans. We have things we cared about and those we care about. This gift wasn’t given to me to make money also…’
‘Yeah!’ Dezzy replied and hissed. ‘It was given you to chase down your teenage crushes and find love in…’
Simi clapped angrily. ‘Please, are you not also a teenager…? Only Kukoyi can call us teenagers. You’re just what? 18-19’.
Dezzy raised her head and made a mockery of Simi. ‘Yen! Yen! Yen! Can you hear yourself?’
‘I’m saying the truth...’
‘Even if I were ten years old, I wouldn’t have been this foolish…’ Dezzy shouted, snorted, and threw her knife into the board she had placed near the entrance. The knife sank as if it was punched in by someone near the board, rattling a little before finally staying put.
Swallowing hard, Simi turned to Kukoyi. ‘Can you hear her calling me foolish?’
‘Don’t back me into the corner here!’ Kukoyi shouted her down. ‘You have to face the music. This was a foolish act. How many times do I need to tell you these guys led by one foolish scientist guy have a way of finding us…?’
Tears welled in Simi’s eyes as she watched them. They didn’t know a bit of what was happening to her.
‘Do you think I don’t have who I also love?’ Dezzy’s hoarse voice almost made Simi’s anger dissipated, but she wouldn’t give in to emotional blackmail.
‘Yian!’ Simi rolled her eyes and went to fill her snacks bag. This was a recipe for her to become fatter. She wished her phone and earpieces were there to help her drown the sound of their voices.
‘I have a child…’ Dezzy said, almost in a whisper.
Simi’s paused, and, at last, the drop of tears fell from her eyes.
‘My baby needs to see me, but here I am, running for my life. When they first chased me down, my baby would have been dead by now if it weren't for my ability. They killed my husband, and I only escaped through a tunnel I started building when the power came. I wished all these things could stop…’
‘You have… had a husband?’ Kukoyi asked.
Dezzy nodded.
‘At your age?’
‘Yes… Early… The baby made us marry early’. Dezzy replied.
That did it for Simi, who burst into tears and turned to them. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I really miss him. I miss everything. I want to go home. I’m tired. What did I do for them? And the person they are using to search for us is Ekele… Of all the people in the world… Ekele’.
Everyone remained in their position. They left Simi to wallow in her tears, wishing she hadn’t made that foolish decision. She saw Ekele, who was more handsome than before. This time, his hairs were full and neatly shaped. If she saw him somewhere other than where she saw him, she would have revered him for life.
Gently sliding down beside Simi, Dezzy grunted. Then, she placed a hand on Simi’s folded leg.
‘So, this boy…’ Dezzy said, and her voice trailed off.
‘Ekele’, Simi added as she searched for the paper she made in her pocket.
‘You saw him?’
Simi nodded. ‘Yes, I thought of him, and I was behind him. All these men ready to kill in front of him…’
‘Did he recognize you…?’
Simi sighed and shook her head. ‘I’m not sure. He didn’t know my face before…’
‘He didn’t…’ Kukoyi started saying, but Dezzy raised her hands, making him stop.
‘He might not be the one!’ Dezzy patted her legs.
‘I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. Why was I born? To be chased and killed? Was I created to die? Why did my mum get pregnant if she knew she would dump me in front of an orphanage home?’
‘Well, I can tell you were born to…’ Dezzy paused, making Simi turn to her with rapt attention. Simi searched her eyes for the answer that was about to be revealed. Dezzy shrugged. ‘It’s for you to…You were born to take us to the mountain’.
Simi frowned.
‘Remember when you took us to that err… mountain…’ Dezzy said with a big smile.
Simi chuckled.
‘Yes! You’re yet to master your power…The person you saw might not be Ekele’, Dezzy assured her.
At the same time, Kukoyi left where he was plotting his plan to join them. Simi looked up and resigned to the berating that would follow. He was still visibly angry.
‘I like this place… I really do. I’m not sure anyone will find it in a long while. Kukoyi stood in front of her with his hands akimbo. ‘Did you figure out the time of day they saw you?’
‘I don’t get you’, Simi said.
‘I mean, when was the time? Today, last year, yesterday…’ Kukoyi wondered.
‘I really don’t know…’
‘What do you remember?’
‘They were holding guns. I couldn’t possibly look for time’ Simi was becoming angrier by the seconds.
‘Let her be…’ Dezzy glanced at Kukoyi and rose.
‘Everyone should get ready to move….’Kukoyi advised as he began to arrange his clothes into his bag.
‘As always’. Dezzy was flexing her muscle again as she poised herself to throw another knife.

Hecattee:
I tried joining but it's saying I can't join cos the link has been reset

Yes ooo...

Raachukwu:
Please sir, the link isn't working

Try again. I've corrected some things. If you're still unable to connect, them a PM will hasten the process.

Raachukwu:
Please sir, the link isn't working

Please, send a DM.

Kingcredo:
Please when is the training starting, and how can I access it?

Click the link up there.

2. The first class started already. Second class begins soon.

WaterWalker5:
I did but your site won't open on Chrome and on my deep web browser
Do you have an alternative link to your WhatsApp

Please, send a PM.

WaterWalker5:
What's the WhatsApp number
I'm interested

Click the link on the advert.

Jashub:
Looking forward to it.

It's on WhatsApp