Symbiosis, page 6
“Well, I think now is a great time for that conversation.” K’Marah looks back at the map.
The dots haven’t moved.
“Umm … okay,” Shuri says. “What does it pertain to?”
K’Marah sighs then, and her shoulders drop. (Shuri hates when this happens. Always precedes some sort of bad news.)
“Shuri?” she says.
“Yes?”
K’Marah meets the princess’s eyes. “I think I might know who is hosting our alien.”
By the time K’Marah stops talking, Shuri feels like a complete numskull and a bad friend.
For one, the little Dora lets the princess know that she’d tried to relay the whole story while they were in the Necropolis safe house. But halfway through, she realized her sole audience member was asleep. (“You are insufferable, Shuri,” she says before starting from the top.)
“About a week ago, I received a cryptic message from a number I didn’t recognize. ‘Think something may be wrong,’ is what it said. So I did what I always do when this happens: I sent a reply that simply read, ‘New phone. Who dis?’ Your good friend Riri Williams actually taught me the tactic. It’s apparently all the rage on that side of the pond.”
Shuri smacks her forehead but doesn’t say a word.
“Anyhow, then I get another message, and this one read … actually, hold that thought.” She goes over to the reading nook to grab her Kimoyo card, then comes back to join Shuri on the bed. “You can just read it.” She taps the screen so that the message thread appears in the air the same way the map did.
Shuri scans through:
Tue 19 Feb 20:32
Unknown
I am sure you would prefer
not to hear from me.
But think something may be wrong.
New phone. Who dis?
This is Henny.
But PLEASE don’t be alarmed!
…
WOW do YOU have nerve!
Didn’t I tell you to LOSE my number?
Last I checked, you poisoned me?
I know, I know. And I am so sorry.
I truly didn’t want to …
As if that actually matters?
I should’ve gone with my gut …
BLOCK!
K’Marah, please please please don’t.
Why shouldn’t I, Henny? Hmm?
Give me ONE good reason.
I don’t have a good reason.
I just … I really need your help.
I went to great lengths to acquire this device.
I could be exiled from this community for
even using it.
This is THAT important. Please.
You have three minutes, Henbane.
Then I am going back to pretending
that you do not exist and that I know
nothing at all about you.
Go.
Thank you, thank you.
This is going to sound strange …
But for the past three days, I have woken
up extremely tired.
Almost as though … I ran a great distance
in my sleep.
My muscles ache and I wake with a terrible
headache.
Sounds like a personal problem to me.
Well, yes.
But I also have these … dreams.
1.5 minutes left.
Which is why I am contacting you.
Last night, I dreamed that I was running
through the royal palace.
Where your friend lives.
My friend’s NAME is Shuri.
And she is the PRINCESS of this nation.
I meant no disrespect …
Anyway, when I woke up this morning
my legs were so sore, I struggled to move
them.
Your time is up, Henbane.
K’Marah, wait!
Please!
K’Marah?
“Wow. You left him on read? Harsh.”
“Did you read the thread, Shuri? He said he dreamed he was running through the palace!” K’Marah exclaims. “And he woke up with sore legs!”
Now Shuri begins to pick up what K’Marah is laying down. “Hold on. Are you suggesting …? No way, K’Marah.”
“I received these messages the day after the initial break-in, Shuri!” K’Marah goes on. “I will admit that the first time I tried to relay this, at some point during the telling, I closed my eyes and must’ve drifted off to sleep as well. When I woke, the creature—Henbane bonded with the weirdo symbiote, I’m guessing—was standing there, staring at us. And you didn’t say a word about what I’d told you—”
“Because I didn’t hear it.”
“Yes, I know that now, but before, I thought it was because you didn’t think it was worth any further conversation.”
The princess’s eyes narrow as she tries to absorb what her friend is saying. “So you think Henbane is the host?” she asked. “Based solely on these messages?”
“Well, that’s the thing.” The text thread vanishes from the air. “When you didn’t make a fuss about it the first time, I decided to let the whole thing go. Blocked him like I should’ve done ages ago.” She throws her hands into the air. (So dramatic.)
“Okay …”
“Well, then last night, he sent me a direct message on one of my social media accounts.”
“Oh my word, K’Marah. You make yourself so unnecessarily vulnerable.”
“Only he knows that I am actually me there. Anyway, that message sounded even more dire. He basically begged me for help. Said he felt like he might be losing his mind, and he has no one else to turn to. That he’d dreamed about being inside the palace again.”
“All right …”
“And then he said something that I didn’t think made any sense: ‘If she has it, tell her to just give it to him.’”
Now Shuri’s eyes go wide. “Wait, really?”
“It didn’t occur to me that what I was hearing from him and what we’re doing with this whole alien intruder thing could be connected until I saw the fake gem just before you put it inside the drone,” she says. “And then I tried to just shake it off. But some of the things Mr. Fury told us about how the creature works—binding itself to a host, and even being able to use that host without its awareness … Remember what he said about the Venom one using Spider-Man’s body at nighttime to do its own bidding—”
“And Spider-Man waking up the next day, completely exhausted …” Shuri says, finishing K’Marah’s thought. She thinks for a moment and then shakes her head. “I don’t know, K’Marah. I hear everything you’re saying, but …”
“Come on, Shuri. Think about it. There are too many pieces that fit!” K’Marah reaches over and taps Shuri’s card so that the map pops into the air again. The three dots haven’t budged from their spot in the mountains where the Jabari reside. “We know Henbane returned to the Jabari-Lands once he was pardoned—”
“I still can’t believe my brother just let him off the hook like that,” Shuri gripes. “Anyway, continue.”
“Whatever your tracking devices got attached to is currently in the Jabari-Lands. Just … chilling.”
“Figuratively and literally,” Shuri chimes in. The mountain range where the Jabari make their home is always snowcapped.
“Yes,” K’Marah replies. “That was the point of the pun.” She shakes her head. “As I was saying, what Henbane describes in his messages aligns with what Mr. Fury told us about the aliens.”
“Okay, fine,” Shuri replies. “But Fury also told us the symbiote chooses its specific host for a reason. Why, exactly, would one choose a boy who isn’t even Wakandan to go ripping through Wakanda in search of some mystical gem?”
“I mean, you said the last person known to have it was that Zanda lady, no? And she’s Narobian. Makes perfect sense to me that a symbiote could bind with a kid who seemed to spend a lot of time with her. Especially if there is truth in what Fury said about symbiote thingies having access to their host’s memories.”
Shuri opens her mouth to respond with a rebuttal … but then closes it. Because she doesn’t have one. Based on the various snippets of evidence, K’Marah’s theory does make a significant amount of sense.
“How do we find out for sure?” she asks her friend, turning to her.
“Well, that part I don’t really know. I doubt texting ‘Hey, that whole give-it-to-him thing you mentioned … were you saying that because you’re being possessed by an alien in your sleep?’ would yield a simple yes or no.”
“Valid,” Shuri replies. And then she yawns. “Guess we can sleep on it.”
“Yeah,” K’Marah says absentmindedly.
And though the princess can tell K’Marah has more on her mind, she decides not to pry this time. “Good night,” she says, climbing into bed.
“Mm-hmm,” comes the reply from her little Dora.
* * *
Shuri’s Kimoyo card is blaring.
“I swear that thing won’t let me live,” K’Marah says groggily from beside Shuri. “Yesterday, it interrupted our Very Important Mission. Today it’s interrupting our sleep.”
Shuri groans and forces her eyes open to check the time: 10:27 a.m.
The ringing stops—
And then starts right back up again. Which is when Shuri really hears it … and sits bolt upright. Because that specific ring sound is set to just one number: Mother’s.
And she rarely calls.
“Shuriiiii,” K’Marah complains. “Must you move so much?” She pulls a pillow over her head.
Ignoring her friend, the princess takes a centering breath and then answers on speakerphone. “Ahh … Shuri’s phone! How may I help—”
“Shuri, please come to the throne room at once.”
And then she—the poised, etiquette-driven queen of Wakanda—hangs up without waiting for a response.
“Dang,” K’Marah says, now sitting up as well. “Guess that’s my cue to leave.”
“Noooo! Don’t leave me, K’Marah!”
“Sorry, Princess,” the young Dora replies as she rolls out of bed to gather her things. “She sounded peeved. You’re on your own this time.”
There’s a knock at Shuri’s door.
“Uhhh … come in!” she shouts, trying (and failing) to keep the quaver out of her voice.
Nakia pokes her head in. “Your immediate presence is requested in the throne room, Your Majesty.”
K’Marah pulls on her boots and makes a beeline for the door. “Byyyyyyye!” she trills like a gloating songbird. “Call me later, okay? If you survive, that is …”
“K’Marah!” Shuri shouts behind her. “Not helpful!”
Nakia laughs. “Come on, Shuri. Let’s go before your mother calls again.”
Shuri sighs.
As she makes her way through the halls in her pajamas (again)—with Nakia in front of her, and a Dora Shuri’s never met bringing up the rear—Shuri runs through all the things she could potentially be in trouble for this time. Had someone seen her drone yesterday morning? Had Mother somehow come to discover that her daughter had a full-blown conversation with the havoc-wreaking being who is currently Wakanda’s Most Wanted, and then hadn’t told her? Had Fury called Ramonda and told her everything he’d been discussing with her daughter?
As the doors loom larger, so does what feels like a plutonium sphere inside Shuri’s belly. It’s the heaviest known metal in the universe, and with each step, Shuri feels like bits of it are seeping into her shoes, making it increasingly difficult for her to move her legs.
Just before the doors swing open, Shuri takes a deep breath that feels like it might be one of her last. She drops her eyes to the floor as she crosses the threshold into the cavernous space. Mother will certainly take issue with her entering the throne room without her back straight and chin aloft, but Shuri is sure this infraction pales in comparison with whatever transgression she was brought in for.
Nakia stops and moves to Shuri’s right side, while the new Dora flanks the princess on the left. She can see the queen’s ornately beaded, pointy-toed shoes.
“Shuri—”
“Whatever it is, Mother, I can assure you that it won’t happen again,” Shuri blurts, lifting her head to meet Mother’s eyes.
They look rather puzzled. “What on earth are you talking about, child?” she asks.
Which is when she notices that Mother is not alone.
There’s a boy beside her—not too, too tall but certainly tall enough. Brown skin, black hair that’s a bit curly on the top, but faded on the sides. Jeans, gray T-shirt with Brooklyn Visions Academy scrawled across it in white beneath a black-and-red hooded jacket. If Shuri had to guess, she’d say he was about fifteen.
And he’s holding a wrapped box.
“As I was saying before you interrupted me …” She flashes the princess a humorless smile that lets her know there will be a discussion about this at a more opportune time. “You, my dear, have a visitor.”
I … HAVE A VISITOR.
His name is Miles Morales, and I was correct in my estimation of his age: fifteen. He traveled all the way here from his home in Brooklyn, New York.
And he came bearing gifts! I must admit: The way he bowed and said, “I present a most humble gift to you, Princess Shuri of Wakanda. I hope it is to your liking,” as he shoved the beautifully wrapped and ribboned box in my direction, was rather cute. In fact, HE is rather cute … But I digress.
Within the box was a lovely beaded necklace and earring set, a bag of assorted candies Miles referred to as “dulces” (“The guava ones are MY personal favorite,” he said), and a second box marked by the silhouette of a man who appeared to be mid-jumping split with one hand straight up in the air. THAT box contained a pair of shoes unlike any I have ever seen before. They are red, black, and white with an oddly curved check mark on the side, and they lace up on top of the foot and come up over the ankle.
“They’re 1s,” he said.
“Wons?”
“Yeah, 1s. Jordan 1s.”
“Jordan won what?” (Bast, how utterly embarrassing!)
“The shoes are Air Jordan 1s. Like the number one.” He pointed at his own feet then. “See? They match mine.”
As it turns out, this Miles Morales was SENT here by one Nicholas Joseph Fury with the blessing of my Super-Hero-mission-preferring brother.
And no clue exactly what Fury told T’Challa about Miles to gain his clearance— or what T’Challa told Mother—but whatever it was, Mother welcomed Miles with open arms and put him in the most lavish of all the palace guest suites.
The MOST bizarre thing: Once I’d opened my gifts, Mother told Ayo to walk us to the palace library. “Good luck with your task, Miles,” she said. “We are thrilled that you have come to assist us, and I have no doubt my beloved daughter will be most helpful.” And she WINKED at me.
I don’t know that I have ever been so befuddled …
That is, until we reached the library, and Ayo left us alone.
The minute she was gone, I rounded on him. “All right, who are you, and what in Bast’s name is going on?” (Not my proudest moment, but all the peculiarity was beginning to grate.)
“Wait, Fury didn’t tell you?” he asked.
“Tell me what, precisely?”
“That I was coming.”
“Ahh … no.”
“Unbelievable,” he said, shaking his head.
Within fifteen or so minutes, I’d heard a series of facts that were so outlandish, had I not been in the thick of some of them with full knowledge of their truth, I might’ve called for Ayo and asked her to have him escorted by armed guard back to whatever mode of transport T’Challa utilized to get him here. But if even part of what he said was true, I knew it all had to be.
Including the part about why Fury sent him: This Miles is somewhat of an expert when it comes to Klyntar symbiotes.
While he was a bit mum with regard to details, Miles told me that he had experience interacting with the symbiote before and was intimately familiar with how the Klyntar function and what their weaknesses are.
But then he said: “Now, I gotta be up front with you: I’ve had, ummm … very different encounters with it. One not TOO bad, but the other …” His eyes narrowed then. “Well, that one I won’t even talk about. Point being, from what I’VE experienced, the symbiotes are about as predictable as Kyrie Irving with a rock in his hand.”
I had no idea what he was talking about.
Me: “Ahhh … So how exactly can YOU help?”
Miles: “Dang. Way to hit a guy right in the self-esteem.”
Me: “No, I didn’t mean—”
Miles: “It’s fine, it’s fine. If nothing else, I can help you figure this one out so we can decide what to do about it.”
Me: “Okaaaay …”
Miles: “Have a little faith in me, yeah? Fury sure seems to. He’s got faith in you, too.”
Which brought me to the question that was really burning me alive. “By the way: What exactly did Fury tell my brother?”
Miles shrugged. “No idea. Had to be similar to what he told my mom. Something made her agree to let me fly halfway around the world to a country nobody’s even heard of.”
“Wait, so your parents don’t know why you are really here?”
“Nope. There’s, uhh … a lot some of the people closest to me are in the proverbial dark about.”
(Feels ridiculous now, but in the moment, I was impressed with his word choice.)
“Huh.”
“He said—and I quote—‘I am completely confident that you, the princess, and her feisty young friend can handle this matter. Involve the queen only if you absolutely have to.’”
“Really?” I replied. “Mr. Fury said that?”
“Verbatim.”
“Wow.”
“That being said, we should probably get started,” he went on. “My mom is expecting me to come home in seven days.”
“Seven days?! What on earth are we supposed to accomplish in seven days?”
“Well,” he said. “The hope is that we’re gonna get rid of an alien.”
K’Marah is initially no help at all. The moment Shuri introduces Miles, the Dora Karami’s eyes glaze over and her head drops to one side as she sighs.
