“Go outside!” Sasha mouthed to Sunny and Orlu. He didn’t want Chukwu to hear. Sunny nodded and Orlu pretended to look somewhere else.

“There isn’t much to eat,” Orlu said, his voice, too loud.

“Just need a drink,” Sasha said, grabbing one of the smaller bottles of water. He took a big gulp as Sunny and Orlu watched him.

“Are you okay?” Sunny quietly asked.

“Come with me outside,” Sasha said in a low voice.

Grashcoatah was outside. What had he done? She hadn’t heard any crashes or crunches. Had he eaten the trees? Was he visible? When Sasha left the kitchen, they both quickly followed.

“We’ll be right back,” Sunny said to Chichi, looking her full in the eye.

“Okay,” she said, returning Sunny’s look.

“Everything okay?” Chukwu asked.

“I don’t think so,” Sunny said over her shoulder.

Adebayo cursed loudly, and they all jumped and looked at him. But Adebayo didn’t notice. He couldn’t even hear them with his headphones. His eyes were locked on the military game he was playing with several people online. The guy was in another world. Sunny rolled her eyes and followed Sasha to the front door.

Outside, Grashcoatah stood in the spot where he’d slept. In full view. His head peeked over the concrete wall that surrounded the compound. His haunches were tense, his lovely eyes were wide, his strange brown-white fur was puffed up, and his nostrils were flared. If a giant rodent could smile, this one was smiling. Sasha walked right up to the grasscutter and put a hand on his fur. The grasscutter nudged him with his head and Sasha laughed.

“He just flew me high over Lagos!” Sasha said. “He . . .” Then he again laughed. “He and I have something very important in common.” He fiddled with his MP3 player, and it began to play Nas’s album Hip Hop Is Dead out loud. The grasscutter’s eyes grew wider and his fur tensed, and then he started doing something that caused both Sunny’s and Orlu’s mouths to fall open. Grashcoatah was dancing, swaying side to side, rippling his fur and undulating his body in a sort of wavelike motion. All to the beat of the music.

“He’s a hip-hop head!” Sasha proclaimed. “I came out here and put in my ear buds and was listening to my music and next thing you know, he’s breathing over my shoulder. I put the ear buds to his ear, and he just came alive!” Sasha laughed again. “You should have seen it. It was like seeing a baby hearing music for the first time. I played jazz, blues, some metal, country; he liked them all but nothing got him moving like hip-hop.”

Grashcoatah did a slow turn as he made his fur ripple like tiny waves on water. It was almost hypnotic.

“So I figured, he was digging my music and in a good mood and all, so I asked him what we needed to ask him.”

Sunny held her breath.