“So that door is made from some see-through beetle’s wing?” Sasha asked as they walked up to it. “The beetle must have been as big as an SUV!”

The door stood over twenty feet high.

“Bigger than that,” Orlu said, craning his neck to look up at it.

“And it’s impossible to destroy,” Sunny said. “Or so my grandmother said.” But why didn’t she tell me that the house belonged to a giant? Sunny wondered. Hmm, so one can lie or omit facts in Nsibidi. A tiny gold chittim fell to her feet. She wouldn’t have noticed it if she hadn’t been looking down at her feet thinking and trying to piece it all together. She bent down, picked it up, and placed it in her pocket.

“What was that for?” Chichi asked.

Sunny just shrugged. The simple two-story house took up the space of four houses. It was flanked by two normal-sized living palm trees and a large angry-looking bush growing in the back. Sunny stood there, looking up at the place. None of it made any sense. She’d thought that her grandmother had given her the Nsibidi because she found this house beautiful, a peaceful image to show Sunny. Or maybe it was a place that she wanted Sunny to eventually visit. But what could live here?

A group of four women carrying large jugs of water on their heads walked by on the dirt road that passed in front of the expansive patch of wild plants. They waved at the four of them as they passed and Sunny, Sasha, Orlu, and Chichi waved back. One of the women cupped her hands and shouted something in Yoruba.

Sasha and Chichi laughed. Grashcoatah grunted loudly and did a slow turn and then stretched a leg, rippling its fur. Sasha stepped forward, answering back. When did Sasha learn to speak Yoruba? Sunny wondered.

“What are they saying?” Sunny asked him.

“They’re admiring Grashcoatah,” he said. “And they are impressed that we met Udide in person.”

Chichi ran over to the women and spoke with them for a bit. Sunny turned to the door and touched it. It was smooth and domed out toward them like a thick unpoppable bubble.

“Whose home is this?” Orlu asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t figure out why my grandmother took so much time to tell me all about it. I know what’s inside, where everything is. But how come she didn’t tell me that the house itself is gigantic?”

“Maybe she didn’t want you to know,” Orlu said.

Sunny frowned at him.

“There’s no juju keeping it closed,” he said, nodding toward the house.

“The door?”

“Yeah. I don’t sense a thing. What if someone’s in there?” Orlu asked. “We can’t just . . .”

“No one is in there,” Chichi said, coming up behind them. “Those women said this place is abandoned. They don’t know who lives in it or owns the property, but most people stay away. They said some of the local elders will know.”