Orlu held her away from him, put her glasses back on her face, and really looked at her. He touched her arm, rubbing a finger over the red marks from Ekwensu’s stings. He brought up his hand and was about to touch the center of her forehead. She caught his hand. “What happened? Did something hit you there?” he asked.

Sunny shook her head.

“Then what is . . .”

“Sunny!” Chichi screamed, running over. Orlu stepped back, his eyes still on Sunny’s forehead. When Chichi got closer, Sunny noticed that there was blood on her shirt and that her arms were covered with raised welts. Then Chichi was hugging her. She smelled of sweat and something sour.

“That Aku masquerade wanted to settle a score,” Chichi said. “It thought that it had a better chance of getting me when Ekwensu attacked you. But it hadn’t counted on dealing with Sasha, the world’s best bug killer.” She laughed and slapped hands with Sasha. Sasha flashed a look at Sunny, his smile faltering the slightest bit. She glanced at Orlu and he looked away.

“Are you all right?” Sunny asked Chichi. “Where . . . The blood, where’d it come from?”

Chichi pressed her lips together in a smile and then shook her head. “I’m fine. Alive.”

The various people who’d gathered began rummaging through what was left of Ekwensu’s home. Some were actively eating the disappearing sparkling dust, others were scooping it into their pockets, bags, and even shirts. They cautiously kept a distance from Sunny and her friends, though some boys were standing around Grashcoatah. They were helping him gather the chittim he didn’t seem to want and offering him handfuls of grass. Grashcoatah happily accepted the grass.

Orlu related the story of what had happened as they watched the people of Osisi collect the dust. The Aku masquerade had tried to pull Chichi into the wilderness so that Chichi could die while it watched. The masquerade saw Chichi’s conjuring it at the Zuma Festival as an attempt to enslave it, and it hadn’t forgotten the insult of such an attempt. It had probably been tracking Chichi from the moment they entered Osisi. Waiting for the right time to strike.

Only Sasha’s quick desperate thinking saved Chichi as the masquerade swallowed her and prepared to cross over with her. Sasha had enhanced the common mosquito-repelling juju, wrapped himself with it, and dove into the swarm. Insects burst around him as he swam deep, deep, deep into the swarm of stinging biting ants, termites, bees, and wasps that were the physical body of the masquerade until he found Chichi. Horrified and defeated, the masquerade vomited them out and fled, but not before inflicting a painful wound on Chichi’s chest. Chichi only felt it after Sasha had dragged her away.

“Turn around,” Chichi said to Orlu and Sasha.

“Why should I?” Sasha said, looking annoyed. “I saved your life. And it’s not like it’s anything I haven’t seen already . . .” He grinned. “More than once.”