Sunny wondered if the masks could call out to Anyanwu. “Where are you?” Sunny whispered, trying to calm her nerves. Anyanwu had said they were always one, but why wasn’t she answering? Where was she? Sunny did not like the feeling of being in this scary house with these scary powerful masks without her. There were doorways on the left, the right, and the center that led to other parts of the house. All of the doorways were enormous like the front door. Everything was huge. Whose house is this? Sunny wondered yet again.

They entered every single room in the house and indeed, all were rigged with some sort of juju. And each time Sunny walked into the room, the juju disarmed itself. Had her grandmother embedded something else in her Nsibidi note? Sunny wanted to stop and figure it out, but the longer they were in this place, the more nervous she felt. Whatever she needed to find here, she needed to find it soon. Even if there was something protecting her, the fact was this place was full of jujus that were meant to harm all of them.

For an hour they explored. Sasha and Chichi investigated a library upstairs where they had to work together to bring down and open even the smallest books. Sunny remembered this place from her grandmother’s Nsibidi tour; she could even smell the sandalwood.

“Oh man, these books are soooo forbidden,” Sasha excitedly said. “Not even fourth levelers are allowed to see these!” He and Chichi had dragged a book the size of a suitcase from the lower part of one of the bookcases and when they threw open the cover, it was like a universe slowly swirled within the pages—a billion blue, yellow, red, and white stars rotated in the giant swirl that occupied both pages. Sunny backed out of the room as they knelt down to further inspect the strange book.

“Is that safe?” Sunny asked from the doorway.

“Doubtful,” Sasha said as he read some words that were appearing in the page’s edges.

Chichi had brought out her notebook and pen and started writing things down. Sunny looked for Orlu and found that he’d managed to get the giant front door open again. Apparently what had closed it was simple juju that he’d easily undone. He was outside with Grashcoatah showing him a book from the house.

“Come and help me get Sasha and Chichi out of that library,” Sunny called out the door. “They’re looking at some weird books in there!”

“They’re not going to stop no matter what I say,” he said, holding the book for Grashcoatah. Grashcoatah grunted and Orlu turned the page. He looked at Sunny. “We’ll give them a few minutes.”

Sunny nodded and decided to look around a bit more. Upstairs she found a spacious room with shiny marble floors. It was completely empty except for the trunk of the palm tree that grew through the center. There was a corner near a gigantic window where sunshine streamed in. She sat here and let her body grow quiet. She didn’t like this house at all, despite its artistic walls, library, and masks. Since entering the place, she’d had a bad feeling. But then again, she suspected she’d have a bad feeling upon entering any house that looked like the house of the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, especially without Anyanwu. All she could think was, What about when the one who lives here comes back?