“Shhh,” Chichi said, still staring toward the trees. “Don’t speak.”

Sunny had to resist the urge to scream. If she screamed, someone from the kitchen might hear and come to investigate. Then he or she would see the glorious giant bristly spider with legs powerful enough to part trees standing in the shadows. Would seeing Udide be a breach of the Leopard rules? Udide was more than a magical beast. Udide was one of Chukwu’s deputies . . . a deity.

Udide blasted a thick puff of breath at them. Burned houses, that was the specific smoky smell. Sunny and Chichi clutched each other, the soon-to-set sun beating against their backs.

“Didn’t I tell you that I can find you anywhere?” Udide asked, her voice vibrating in Sunny’s head like a passing train. By the look on Chichi’s face, the same was happening to her, too. “The venom of my people is bound to your very DNA.”

“I know what you want,” Chichi said, straining. A line of red tumbled from her nose to her lip. Sunny touched her nose and found that hers was bleeding, as well. “Please!”

“You have heard rumor,” Udide said. “You have heard myth. You have heard gossip. You know what I ask.”

Sunny shook her head. “We don’t . . .”

“We can’t go in there,” Chichi said. She paused. Sunny was shocked to see that Chichi looked absolutely horrid, tears streaming down her face. “The last time my mother was there, they nearly killed her!” She took a deep breath. “Because of me. They . . . they nearly killed her.”

“It is a story,” the spider said. “My story. Written as a ghazal on a tablet-shaped Möbius band made of the same material as your juju knife, albino girl of Nimm, so you will recognize it. It will call to you. It cannot be broken. It is mine. One of my greatest masterpieces. It belongs to me. Go there, get it, and bring it back to me. My venom is in your blood. The doubled albino girl is a Nimm warrior; this story has made that clear. She will be your woman show.”

Sunny frowned, rolling the idea in her mind. Woman show? Her brother had worked as a “man show” during wrestling matches when he wasn’t wrestling. A bodyguard. She would be Chichi’s bodyguard.

“You are a Nimm warrior, Sunny. Like your grandmother,” Udide said, retreating into the trees. Her voice was fading now. “My venom is adhered to your DNA.” Then she was gone. Chichi stood there, silent, tears flowing from her eyes.

“Let’s go,” Sunny said, putting an arm around Chichi. Never had she felt so much taller than her best friend. So much bigger. Physically so much stronger. Chichi looked up at her with trembling eyes and pressed lips.

“What is it?” Sunny asked. “Why are you looking like that?”

Chichi only shook her head and tiredly looked away.

“Let’s just get home,” Sunny said. “We’ll deal with all this later.”