“Welcome,” Sunny said, smiling at Chukwu as she walked up to the car. “How na dey?”

“I dey kanpe,” he said, giving her a hug. “I’m fine.”

She looked at Adebayo and felt a cool satisfaction when even with his muscles he seemed to shrink in her presence. “Good afternoon,” she said to him.

He grunted, “Hello.”

Sunny waited for Chukwu to greet their parents with Adebayo, drop Adebayo off at his home, and come back. She cornered him in the kitchen when she knew Ugonna was in his room submerged in a video conversation on his computer and their parents were watching a Nollywood film in the living room. Chukwu was microwaving some jollof rice and two large pieces of goat meat.

“Is that supposed to be a snack?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, moving past her to sit at the table. He flexed his arms as he put the plate down. “Gotta feed these.”

Sunny rolled her eyes and grabbed two plantain. “Want some?”

“Of course.”

She brought out a knife and sliced the first one down the skin. She removed the thick peel and put the plantain on a plate and did the same with the next. “So how have things been?” she ventured. “At school.” Her back was to him but she didn’t have to look to see that he’d stiffened.

“Very well,” he said.

“Good.”

“Next semester, my biology professor wants me to be his assistant lecturer.”

This time Sunny stiffened. To be a student lecturer was a highly respected position that students fought tooth and nail to get. It gave you valued teaching experience and broadcast to everyone that you were a top student. In addition, it showed that you had clout. It was one of the biggest reasons people joined confraternities.

“Really?” she said.

She turned around to find her brother looking straight at her. His face serious. “Yeah,” he said. “Everyone is afraid of me.” His face cracked into a smile. “They think I have strong juju, so they don’t want to mess with me.”

Sunny sat down across from him.

“What did you and Chichi do?” he asked.

“Can’t tell you.”

“So you did something?”

“Can’t say.”

He laughed. “That’s what Chichi says. She gets all tricky and mysterious and tight-lipped. You want to know what Adebayo thinks?”

“What does he think?”

“He had terrible nightmares about me when I was gone,” he said. “About me being sliced up and my parts given to some ritual killer. He said he woke up with his heart slamming in his chest. He thought he was having a heart attack. He thinks God sent witches to take his life. Capo, I have seen him, but he won’t even look at me. He gets all shaky, starts muttering about Jesus, and practically runs in the opposite direction. All the teachers, I don’t know what people are telling them. They smile a lot at me and ask me if I need any help with studying. My math professor offered to give me answers to the exam. I said no.”