“You . . . you asked if . . .”

“Yeah, I told him we needed to not only get there, but we needed a dang ride. He’s cool with it. He took me up to show me how it would be. Better than any roller coaster! Whoo!! Was awesome.”

Sunny needed to sit down, and she sat right there on the ground. Grashcoatah bobbed his head to the beat, resembling anyone enjoying the beats of Nas. “What am I seeing?” Sunny whispered. “This is . . . this is so weird.”

“Eeeeeeeeeee!” The girlish-sounding screech came from the doorway right behind her.

“Don’t!” she heard Chichi shout. “Just listen to me!”

When Sunny turned around she saw her brother’s bulky form walking toward the open doorway, dragging Chichi along as she tried to pull him back inside.

“He wouldn’t listen!” she shouted. “He wanted to see and he wouldn’t listen!”

“What the hell is that?!” Chukwu screeched. “What is THAT?!”

The grasscutter roared with shock and disappeared. But Chukwu had gotten a nice five-second view of him.

“What was that?!” Chukwu screamed again. His eyes were red and wide, sweat beading on his face. “It’s still here! I can smell it! It smells like incense! WHAT WAS THAT?!”

They all stood there in silence. Then Sasha said, “We have to leave!”

“Right now,” Orlu added.

“WHAT WAS THAT?” Chukwu shouted again.

Soon curious neighbors would look out their windows or come out of their doors.

“Grashcoatah!” Sasha shouted. “Reappear!”

A few seconds passed and nothing happened. “Please,” Sasha insisted. “He’s seen you. It’s too late. All we can do is go. But we can’t go unless we can see you.”

More seconds passed and then slowly, gradually, the grasscutter showed itself.

“Chineke!” Chukwu screamed. He grabbed Sunny and tried to shove her behind him. “WHAT IS THAT?!”

Sunny fought him, trying to get in front of him, but he was too strong. “It’s not going to hurt you,” she said, trying to move past him. He shoved her back.

“It’s a monster! It’s a spirit! Mmuo! This is witchcraft!” Spit flew from his mouth as he spoke, and his red eyes were glistening with shock.

The bottle of water in her backpack and the containers of food sloshed and shifted as she tried to push past him.

“Get on,” Sasha said. “The council will be here any minute now!”

He climbed onto the beast’s back. Chichi hesitated for a moment. “Don’t worry,” Sasha said. “His fur is really, really strong. I don’t even think it’s completely fur. You can yank it and he doesn’t feel it. Come on!”

Chichi grabbed the grasscutter’s fur and climbed up. Orlu looked at Chukwu. “We . . . I’ll keep her safe. We have to go or worse things will happen, trust me. You’ve seen what you shouldn’t and we’ll suffer the consequences. Not you.”

“I’m not letting my little sister on that thing! Where are you even going?! WHAT IS THAT THING?!”