“I gave the house girls a few more days off,” Adebayo said, unlocking the door. “Your brother . . . he owes me. We’ve been eating trash for two days.”

After taking long showers, Chichi and Sunny cooked up a meal of edikaikong soup and fried plantain. They all ate and then watched a Nollywood movie on the wide-screen TV. Then the sun was going down. Adebayo was engulfed in video games on the huge TV, and he’d put on bulky headphones to experience maximum sound. Chichi and Chukwu sat on the couch too close to each other, chatting quietly. At some point, Sasha had left the room. Orlu took Sunny aside.

“We need to leave tonight,” he said.

Sunny rubbed her forehead and sighed. “This is all moving too fast; I can barely catch my breath.”

Orlu nodded, patting her on the shoulder.

“Maybe we can convince the grasscutter to take us when it’s dark,” Sunny said.

Orlu nodded. “But what if he refuses?”

“And what if he makes too much noise? What if my brother comes out to see what is going on? What if . . . Orlu, I can’t go in that basement again,” she said. She shivered, suddenly feeling tears come to her eyes. She hardened herself, thinking of the damage that had happened there. “I won’t.”

“Don’t worry,” he said, taking her hand.

While Chichi kept Chukwu preoccupied with her batting eyes and idle conversation and Adebayo played his game, Sunny and Orlu went to the kitchen and packed some of the food into their backpacks. They filled plastic containers with frozen jollof rice and goat meat they found in the front of the fridge, and Sunny fried more plantain. They also found packets of biscuits and bottles of water in the cabinet. Her brother and Adebayo had cleared out most every other cooked item in the fridge.

“That should be enough for a day or two,” Sunny said. “Hopefully, it won’t take longer than that. Sugar Cream says time is different in Osisi. You know how days passed when we were in Udide’s cave for an hour? It’s the opposite in Osisi. If we can get there quickly, we won’t have to worry about it so much. When the timeless wilderness mixes with our world, time dilutes, I guess.”

“Can you hold that?” he asked as she tested out her full backpack on her back.

“It’s heavy but . . .” She hoisted it up higher. “I think I’ll be okay.”

“Remember, if this goes right, you’ll be hanging on to fur, hundreds of feet in the air, and holding that backpack.”

“I can do it,” Sunny insisted.

Orlu laughed and shrugged. “Okay.”

They both looked at the window. It was dark outside. Time to go. In the living room, Sunny saw Sasha walk past Chichi and Chukwu on the couch. He gave them a dirty look and came straight to the kitchen. Chichi turned to watch him pass. The ends of Sasha’s cornrowed braids were undone, his shirt was rumpled, and he weaved slightly as he walked. And the grin on his face was enormous and almost scary. He was carrying his MP3 player and ear buds in his shaking hands.