Shadow Speaker, page 6
Palm trees, green tall cactuses with sweet-smelling flowers, and other plants were cultivated to make the graveyard beautiful. One of the strange carnivorous plants had grown near the center of the graveyard next to a giant cactus. It bloomed lovely blue flowers once a year and only fed on small rodents, so those who maintained the gravesite left it alone. Sammy led the way, the cat at his heels, as they moved past the palm tree that they usually sat beneath. Ejii frowned.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Your father’s grave,” Sammy said.
“No! Why?” Ejii asked. Suddenly her armpits felt prickly.
“For motivation,” Sammy said.
It was one of the first things that Mazi Godwin had ever taught Ejii. She had been nine years old and her father had been dead for two months. Ejii had sat behind Sammy and Arif; she was unveiled and feeling terribly vulnerable about it. Mazi Godwin had taken them a half mile out into the desert and sat them down on the sand. As Ejii crouched low, trying to be invisible, she listened.
“Ejii, you’ve lived all your life in your body, but you’re new to what you are, so I speak to you today,” he said. “Your abilities stem from sight. We shadow speakers are born eyes open and able to see clearly for miles. We can see in the dark, and the shadows are with us helping our minds to see. They’re earth’s messengers. Your eyes and mind will be further affected by them as you grow.” His words pulled Ejii in. She sat up straighter.
“In a few years, you’ll feel ‘the Drive.’ You’ll want to go out into the world and see and affect. And this very act of traveling will push you to progress, to evolve. It will happen in bits and pieces and it will be different for each of you. For now, to push your abilities, to push for the Drive, you must go to places that move your blood. It doesn’t matter if this is in a good or bad way.”
He’d then taken them over a sand dune where a spontaneous forest of beautiful flowers had grown. Ejii had laughed with delight. That was the first day Ejii had ever been able to hear the shadows’ staticky whisper. Sammy’s current idea of going to her father’s gravesite was a good one.
Ejii didn’t visit her father’s grave for the exact reason that she was going to it now. It made her terrifyingly alert. Two years ago, she’d gone during the day on a whim, and when she got there, with each step she took toward the gravestone, the shadows that were always with her grew louder and pressed closer. She’d barely been able to throw the flowers she’d brought at her father’s gravestone before fleeing.
His grave was the grandest in the cemetery. Jaa had let the chief’s wives build it. Ejii guessed that the fact of his missing head gave Jaa enough satisfaction. His gravestone was carved in the shape of a detailed house made of solid black marble. It came up to Ejii’s waist. The front of the grave house, facing his grave, was inscribed with:
In Memory of the Great Chief of Kwàmfà
Your Great Design Will Be Erected
Ejii, Arif, and Sammy stood before it for a moment. Ejii shivered. The shadows were pressing, but they were silent. Sammy brought out a stick of incense from his pocket. It smelled like a field of sunflowers. Ejii smiled. It was her favorite and would help her focus. Arif used his e-pal’s side socket to light it.
Ejii watched Sammy and Arif walk away and then turned to the gravestone. She stepped forward, placed a hand on the cool smooth marble, and sat down on the dry grass with her back against the stone. Her father’s remains were right beneath her. She focused on the sweet-smelling incense, thinking of Mazi Godwin’s words, “Don’t try to listen. Relax and hear. It’s not something you can force, it’s something that happens.”
For a few minutes, all she could hear were their usual soft whispers. Her mind kept wandering to her father’s moldering headless remains, so close. She was on the verge of running off when the darkness around her deepened. She froze. It was similar to what Ejii imagined a fish would feel like when it was thrown back into the ocean after being caught. She felt at home and welcome and a little scared.
The sound of the shadows were like static softly blowing on her ear or that high-pitched sound she often heard in her ears when things got really quiet. Now, again, for the second time in her life, these everyday sounds took shape in her head. Blue and round. It was such a satisfying feeling that Ejii found herself smiling. She waited, flaring her nostrils to inhale the smell of the incense. She heard the shadows laugh at her. She took in a sharp breath of surprise.
“Wow,” she whispered, fighting to maintain her concentration.
Then they went silent. Ejii felt her legs falling asleep but she didn’t dare move. She was hearing the rumble of gas in her belly, trying to keep all thoughts of her father at bay, when the shadows spoke. Go, they said in unison. War will come if you don’t. Go with the warrior Jaa. Go to the golden meeting. There was a pause. The box that sits in the center of your mother’s glass people, go with that to the meeting as well. Then in a teeny tiny tinny voice that Ejii had to strain to hear said, You are growing. But you won’t advance here. You are like a cow who has eaten all the grass in her field. The butcher has come. He is at your doorstep. Go.
Ejii let out a loud breath and opened her eyes, feeling as if she’d stepped into a new world. Everything around her pulsed with life and possibility, colors underneath the shadows. Oh yes, she could feel something stronger now. She covered her mouth with her hand and looked around. Her father’s grave felt solid against her back.
“Okay,” she said loudly, suppressing tears. But what box are they talking about? She heard their footsteps from not far away.
“Well?” Sammy said.
“I heard them, again. They . . . they said that I was a fat cow and now the butcher was coming to kill me at home!” she said, wiping a tear from her eye. “That I need to go. They mentioned war again. And that I have to bring some box in my mother’s room.”
“Do you need any more reason to go now?” Sammy said.
“It’s not realistic,” she said, rubbing her forehead. “It’ll be like running away from my mother.” She thought about her father’s wives.
“It’ll be what it is,” Arif said. “If you’re not running away, then it’s not running away.” He paused. “You don’t normally disobey your mother. If you do it now, it would be for a good reason, not an evil one.”
“Yes, but . . .”
“The shadows never lie,” Sammy said.
“No,” Ejii said. She hated the thought of disobeying her mother like this, let alone leaving her. But to stay meant risking war and possibly a fate like Kambili’s.
“So?” Sammy asked.
Ejii bit her lip and looked at the ground.
“Ejii, if you don’t learn how to lead, you’ll only be led,” Arif said.
She frowned, squeezing her eyes shut. She took a deep breath. She felt untethered, like her feet were leaving the ground. She wanted to hug her mother and hear her mother tell her what she should do and then do that. She opened her eyes and looked at both of them. “Ok. I’m going.”
“We’ll help you,” Sammy said. “You only have a few days before Jaa leaves. There’s a lot to do.”
Arif held out a hand and pulled her up.
• • •
When Ejii got home, she was relieved to find that her mother wasn’t home. She’s probably at the market, Ejii thought. Not much time. She ran to her mother’s room. The table that carried her mother’s collection of glass people was tiny, only about a foot in diameter. It was made of braided wicker and dyed a dark blue. Ejii’s mother didn’t care for material objects; however, this was the one indulgence she allowed herself.
The figurines were arranged in a spiral that circled to the table’s center. Ejii hesitated as she stared at the object in the center. The object was a sort of inside joke between her and her mother. It was egg-like and about the length of her pinky finger. Its hard outside was a shiny, dark brown that would have been smooth if it weren’t for the grooves carved into it. It looked as if some artistic insect had gnawed squiggles into it. The squiggles revealed a light brown cork-like material.
Was it a seed? A piece of fossilized wood around which a substance had grown hardened? The home or egg of some sort of creature long dead, gone or still dormant? A stone? Who knew. Ejii and her mother had been guessing for seven years. Since they joked about it so often, they had to call it something; they’d settled for “egg stone.”
Seven years ago, a cranky old Igbo man had come selling all sorts of objects like jagged shards of quartz, old worn-out rings that looked as if they’d been worn by fat-fingered Yoruba kings, various colored stones, chips of silver, worthless things children tended to be attracted to. Ejii had been one of those children crowding the man, but it was her mother who had picked up the strange object.
“What’s this?” her mother asked the old man.
“No idea,” he said. “Found it in the sand on my way here. Buy it or put it down.”
Her mother bought it for less than what it would cost to buy half a boiled egg.
It’s sort of like a box, Ejii now thought. A round box. There was nothing else on the table. She plucked it from its spot and quickly left her mother’s room.
CHAPTER 7
The Nerve
The next day, Ejii met with Sammy and Arif at the market. When she passed the old woman who sold palm nuts at the entrance of the market, Ejii hunched her shoulders.
“Demon,” the old woman shouted in her quivery voice, throwing a palm kernel at Ejii. “Ride the green wave back to where you came from, o!”
The kernel bounced off Ejii’s chest, leaving a tiny oily red mark on her blue garments. Ejii bristled with anger but she quickly moved on. No matter what, the woman was still an elder and thus entitled to Ejii’s respect. Still, respect for her elders didn’t stop Ejii from imagining wringing the woman’s neck. She had been harassing Ejii for years.
As Ejii walked through the market, she looked around. Everyone was going about their business as if the Earth was still just earth, as if the world wasn’t on the brink of war. What else should I expect people to do? she thought. Still, there were a few visible changes. The number of women selling veils had increased; people were buying them for their daughters out of fear that a new chief would pop up when Jaa left. Almost every vendor carried copies of the classic Chinua Achebe novel Things Fall Apart, and the books were selling like crazy. And more people had their e-pals tuned to the news, the volume turned high.
Ejii met up with Arif and Sammy in the fruit section. Sammy had borrowed a donkey from his aunt to carry everything. He said using the donkey was no problem, but Ejii had a feeling that he hadn’t asked for permission. Sammy had a way of making things happen by quietly working around people.
They took out their e-pals and looked at their list. Though Ejii would be traveling with Jaa, all three of them felt it would make a better impression to come to Jaa as an adult fully prepared to travel, with her own supplies. They’d each typed up a list last night and sent them to each other. Then, through a series of e-messages, they’d compiled them into one list, crossing out and adding items.
“Let’s see what you have,” Sammy said.
“Come closer,” Arif said. The three of them stepped to each other and Arif brought out a large wad of francs. Ejii’s eyes grew wide. Arif glanced at her and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, putting the roll back in his pocket.
“But it’s your savings,” she said.
“Only half,” Arif said.
She’d brought all of her savings, but it wasn’t a third of Arif’s half. And Sammy, coming from an even poorer family, didn’t have any savings at all.
“His parents are rich,” Sammy said. “There’s plenty more where that came from.”
“Hey, I saved all this,” Arif said. “As you said, my parents are rich, not me. They give me only what I need, not what I want.”
“Anyway, there are ways of getting things without money,” Sammy said, smiling mischievously at Arif. Arif returned the smile, giving Sammy a friendship handshake. Ejii felt uncomfortable. When Sammy and Arif shook on things, it often meant trouble.
As they shopped, Ejii noticed herself walking a few steps behind Sammy and Arif. It was habit. She wondered if Sammy and Arif were aware of it at all. She didn’t ask. By the time they bought everything on the list, Ejii was glad Sammy had “borrowed” the donkey. It was a lot of stuff. Thankfully, Sammy and Arif didn’t have to break any laws to buy things. But Sammy did have ways to save them money. They’d bought a camel saddle for next to nothing from a man who owed Sammy some huge favor. Another of Sammy’s aunts gave them two pairs of sandals for the price of one. And an old man gave Sammy one of his smaller, more beat-up paring knives for free.
“I like this boy,” the old man had wheezed, slapping Sammy on the shoulder. “Helps me set up every Saturday and Sunday!”
It was Ejii’s idea to seek out fellow Changed to do business with. “I think they’ll go cheaper with us,” she said. She was right.
They bought a leather camel bag decorated with orange leather fringes for a more than reasonable price from a woman with long dreadlocks. The area in her booth was cool with a breeze that didn’t seem to exist anywhere else. She was a windseeker, a meta-human with the ability to fly. Ejii recognized her as the woman who’d been flying in the air crying and wailing during the earthquake. They also bought a large thick goat-hair tent treated with weather gel and a wool rug from a merchant who had the ability to disappear. Many of his carpets were flying carpets and made a dusty racket because he’d had to tie them down. The seller was a timid young man who kept fading away every time the carpets thrashed too hard.
The used capture station was the most expensive item. This small appliance would be Ejii’s source of clean fresh water, and out in the desert, water was life. They bought it from a young man who was, ironically, a rainmaker. “This one is very noisy,” he said. “But it brings good water, as good as a mere machine can bring, at least.”
“You can bring better, right?” Ejii said, smiling.
“Of course. But you can’t afford my services,” he said.
There weren’t many Changed who sold food. People were reluctant to buy such items from them. But, between the three of them, the food market was full of relatives. In this way, they were able to buy all of Ejii’s foodstuff heavily discounted. They avoided most of Ejii’s relatives. They didn’t want word to get to her mother too quickly.
The sack of sweet juicy dates was Arif’s idea. “They’re delicious fresh,” he’d said. “And when they dry up, they’re still good for you. The perfect travel food.”
The last item on the list was a haircut for Ejii. It was her idea. Arif didn’t like it and said so, but Ejii insisted. She wore her hair in tight cornrows but she thought it best to cut her hair low. “For travel,” she said. “Hair carries a lot of energy. I want to start fresh.” Plus, it would be cooler in the sun and she wouldn’t have to worry about washing it for a while. She’d also considered traveling disguised as a boy, but her already curvy figure wouldn’t allow her to really fool anyone.
“Oh,” Arif said, when she stepped out of the hairstylist’s tent. “That looks different. It actually looks really nice.”
Ejii smirked. “Thank you.”
“I hope it won’t make your mother suspicious,” Sammy said.
Ejii didn’t think it would, but the thought still bothered her.
“There’s one more thing on the list,” Arif said.
“No, there isn’t,” Ejii said. “We’re done.” She held her e-pal up to him. “See?”
Arif barely glanced at it. “This way.”
He stopped at a booth selling jewelry, looked for a moment, then chose a pair of silver hoop earrings. He bought them from the seller and presented them to Ejii.
“A going-away gift,” Arif said.
“I can’t take these. I’ve spent so much of your money already,” she said.
“Just take them,” Sammy said, taking the earrings from Arif. He shoved them into her hands. “You just shaved all your hair off. You need to . . . accessorize or something.”
When she put them on and looked in the jewelry seller’s mirror, she grinned.
“You look like a queen,” Arif said with a smirk.
“Yeah, a queen who was beaten up by her king,” Sammy said.
Ejii punched him in the shoulder as she looked closer at her face. She touched the scratches on her cheek from her fight with Fadio. They were scabbed over and would soon be completely gone.
That night Ejii sat on her bed feeling guilty. Sammy had taken all the supplies to his house and hidden them in his father’s shed, and she’d hidden her new earrings in her pocket. Her mother liked her new low-cut look, saying that it gave her a majestic look. The secrecy made Ejii feel dishonest and sneaky. She hated how her mother was so unaware of what she was planning to do. She felt especially bad about the camel she was going to take. Earlier that night, she’d gone to his small hut behind their house.
“Onion, good evening,” she said to the camel.
Onion raised his head. “Good evening,” he said in his guttural voice.
Ejii set the bucket full of onions at his feet.
“You have questions for me,” Onion said, slowly getting up from his bed of dried grass. First he straightened his back legs, then knelt on his forelegs and stood up tall.
“Yes,” Ejii said. She looked around. She could see her mother in the kitchen. “And you can say no, if you like. I’ll understand.” She told the camel everything. As she spoke, Onion lowered his head into the bucket, crunching on the juiciest onions first.
Onion was not like other camels. He was one of the few who could speak; one did not have to be a shadow speaker or any other type of meta-human to understand him. After the great change, Onion had realized that he had a bulge near the top of his long neck, a large developed voice box. He’d been hearing human beings speak all his short life, for he was just a calf. It was not hard to do the same. “Onion” was the name he chose for himself because he loved onions.
