Chichi nodded, her eyes wide with terror.

“Smart child,” Udide said. She walked back to where she’d been when they first arrived. She turned onto her back and pressed her thick hairy legs to the ceiling. “Leave me. It’s a new year. Lagos is the tangled web I weave.”

The marbles rolled back to Sunny, and she picked them up. As they left the cave, escorted by a parade of the nastiest spiders Sunny had ever seen, Orlu explained to Grashcoatah that it had the power to make itself invisible. Then Orlu explained why it had to keep itself invisible. Grashcoatah, who glided above them, only grunted that it understood. Whether it would cooperate or not was something they’d have to learn when they exited the cave.

26

FLYING GRASSCUTTER

When they emerged from Udide’s cave into the harsh sun, Grashcoatah took its first look at the world outside. It grunted and then hummed deep in its belly. It did a slow turn in the sunshine, its large feet stomping on the dusty dirt ground. Then it shook out its furry brownish-white coat.

In the sunshine, Sunny could more clearly see its strange brown and white-tipped fur. The white parts were light and feathery and almost floated as if there was a breeze when there was none. She could also see that its eyes weren’t quite blue but a soft periwinkle color, like that of an alien ocean. Its eyes were lovelier than she’d initially suspected.

When it turned those mysterious eyes to her, she sighed. Its gaze was disarming. Yes, mysterious ocean was the perfect description; when Grashcoatah looked at her, she felt the flow of the ocean. The wilderness. Sunny wondered if the others felt the same watery sensation when it looked at them.

“Do you like the outside?” she asked.

It purred louder in affirmation.

Sunny smiled and said, “Well, you haven’t seen anything yet. But . . .” She glanced at Orlu and he nodded. “But . . . so that we can show you things and so that no one will harm you, you need to stay hidden.”

Grashcoatah suddenly disappeared right before her eyes. Sunny felt her entire body grow alarmed. This strange van-sized rodent with strange hair had been standing before her, and then, without one movement, it was gone. No matter how much magic she saw as a Leopard Person, she couldn’t seem to stop having moments like this. Moments where she felt her brain would break; her entire foundation of what is right and what is wrong, what is normal and what is not, what is possible and what is not seemed constantly on the verge of a complete meltdown.

Grashcoatah reappeared and then began to snort as it watched her. It was laughing. It knew precisely the effect its disappearance had on her, and it found this very funny.

“That is just wrong,” Chichi said, but she was smiling.

“Sunny, you should see the look on your face,” Sasha said. When she frowned at him, he stepped back, holding his hands before him, as he grinned. “I’m just saying, your reactions are so extreme. I can see why it’d want to scare the hell out of you. It couldn’t resist.”