“‘When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame scorch you.’” Sasha recited. “The book of Isaiah, chapter forty-three, verse two.”

Grashcoatah flew low, playfully touching the surface with his forepaws. No, not green water, water covered with bright green algae. Once they’d passed the first wall of flames and smoke, the sky grew clear and blue. Osisi was a giant megacity of glittering glassy skyscrapers, large colorful stone buildings, and bulky wide leafy trees that looked older than time. It was simultaneously ancient and modern West African. And even from a third of a mile away, Sunny could see that it was full of spirits.

The first building they flew over was a large stone hut flanked by two skinny, impossibly tall palm trees. The hut sat so close to the water that it looked as if it would fall into it. At the very edge, Sunny could see the bottom of the building where the land was crumbling away to reveal roots . . . roots from the building, not the tree. There was also a large greasy shadow looming over the building’s shingled roof that actually shrank away as Grashcoatah flew by.

Above the buildings, Sunny could see several large winged, floating, gliding, swooping creatures. Some were landing on buildings, others just passing through. A large batlike creature clambered its way up the side of a tall skyscraper, tearing at the building’s façade with its claw-tipped wings as it climbed. They even passed another flying grasscutter, and this delighted Grashcoatah so much that he nearly flew into a building.

“Where should we land?” Orlu asked.

“Where the tallest buildings cluster,” Chichi said. “That should be the downtown area where the action is.”

“But we’re not looking for action,” Orlu said. “Not really.” He turned and looked to Sunny. “Do you have any feeling about anything?”

She shook her head. “I know this is Osisi. It’s the place where I was going in my dream. We were in the exact spot from my dream, somewhere back there. I don’t know what to do next.”

“Let’s get on the ground,” Sasha said. “This place is awesome. I’m dying to see more. Did you see that tree covered with spiders?”

Sunny hugged herself. “This place seems like a good place to get killed.”

Chichi laughed. “Something tells me that dying here is not the same as dying back home.”

“I mean, do people, like, work here? Do they pay rent and have mortgages?” Sasha asked. “What the hell? Did you see that building that disappeared and reappeared a block to the left? It created a new space!”

Sunny rubbed her forehead. “Let’s just get on the ground.”

Orlu leaned close to Grashcoatah’s ear. “You all right?”

Grashcoatah grunted.

“Do you like this place?”

Grashcoatah grunted again and happily rippled his fur. Orlu smiled. “But it’s not all great, right?”

An image flowered open in Sunny’s mind. Judging by the looks on the faces of her friends, Grashcoatah was showing them all the same thing. There was a man standing beneath a tree. A coconut fell on his head and before he hit the ground, the tree had bent down, caught the man, opened a mouth full of sharp leaves, and chomped the man’s head off. Blood spurted from the opening in his neck as the body fell and twitched.