Sunny thought Orlu had lost his mind, but then the grasscutter grunted, shoving its tongue into the backpack and taking more than half the grass.

“Good,” Orlu said, smiling. “What is your name?”

Sunny gasped as the image burst in her mind. A huge field of green, green grass under a lovely sun in the sky. Chop! Chop! Chop! an enormous pair of flat teeth cut at the grass like a lawnmower.

“Grasscutter?” Orlu said. “That’s your name?”

It grunted. Another image burst into their heads. They saw Udide’s Book of Shadows suspended in midair. The pages opened up and flipped this way and that way until they found one of Udide’s many stories. An image of an old man and a grasscutter in deep discussion rose from the pages. The old Efik man had a strong accent. His yam farm was constantly raided by a grasscutter and he’d had to travel into one of its burrows to negotiate with it. In the story the grasscutter had liked how the man said its name.

Orlu pronounced it the way the old man did. “Grashcoatah? That’s how you want us to say your name?”

It affirmed a happy assent by blowing air through its nose.

Sasha laughed. “Oh my God.”

“Well, would you like another name?”

The grasscutter grunted an obvious no.

“Okay, Grashcoatah,” Orlu said. “We understand.”

“Ow!” Chichi screeched. “Who pinched me?!” She looked at Grashcoatah. “You did!”

Grashcoatah grunted gleefully and whipped and snapped its ten-foot-long narrow black tail.

“Well, most of us understand,” Orlu said. “Will you come with us?”

It took more grass from the backpack.

“We can show you more than more of this grass,” Sasha said. “We can show you a place where the grass is different colors!”

Grashcoatah purred deep in its belly, its eyes lidded with pleasure.

“Don’t lie to it,” Orlu said.

“I’m not,” Sasha said. “I heard that there are all kinds of weird grasses in Osisi.”

The ground vibrated as Udide approached them. “This is what you wanted?” she asked.

Grashcoatah suddenly disappeared down the cave behind them. But Sunny could hear its soft grunting. The creature was still there.

“Yes,” Sunny said.

“You will treat it well?” she asked. Sunny could sense the threat behind Udide’s question. Saying yes was only a small part of Udide’s request. If anything happened to Grashcoatah, they would suffer.

“Yes,” Sunny said.

“Then go,” Udide said. “But there is one thing.” She pointed a great leg at Chichi and then at Sunny. “The venom of my people is in both of you now. It will never leave you. It has decoded and bonded to your DNA. I can find you anywhere. I will know where you are at all times.”

Sunny shivered. In all the excitement, the ache of the bites had retreated to the back of her mind. Now she felt their heated ache again.

Chichi gasped.

“Yes, you know what I am talking about, Chichi. You know more than you let on. You are not ignorant. Not completely. You have heard rumor. You have heard myth. You have heard gossip. You know who to ask. When you finish this quest, bring me what is mine. Go to your people and bring it back. This one, Sunny, she is of the warrior clan of your people. She will be your ‘woman show,’ your bodyguard. If you don’t bring it back, I know where to find you.”