When she finished talking, the council officials just stared at the four of them. For several minutes, it was like this. They did not discuss among themselves. They did not write things down. They did not ask questions. They didn’t even move. They just stared.

“To be doubled is very sad,” Sugar Cream finally said. “Death is always close by, but for you, he will always stand behind you.”

Recalling the image of Death in her peripheral vision, Sunny felt the shiver run up her spine and an uncontrollable urge to burst into tears. Almost. She remained stoic, mostly due to Anyanwu holding her steady.

“Your brother,” a tiny dark-skinned man about her mother’s age said. “We didn’t alter his memory. We gave him the choice of forgetting or entering a trust knot. We told him that to enter the trust knot was the hazardous choice. He was still under the Ujo, screaming with terror every few moments. And even then, he chose not to forget. Instead he chose to remember and suffer because he can never share the memory. We don’t normally allow this with Lambs, because with the wrong people this can cause madness. But for your brother, due to the circumstances and his passion to protect you, we allowed it. What will you do with him now?”

“Protect him,” Sunny said, before she’d fully thought her answer through.

Again the silence.

Not long after that, the four of them were told that they could go. Outside, Grashcoatah was released. And quickly, calmly, steadily, they all walked away from the Obi Library. It didn’t matter that it was nearly morning and they weren’t sure how they’d get home. Best to leave before the shock the council members were in wore off. Best to not run in order to maintain the look of innocence. Once they reached the Leopard Knocks shops, they climbed on Grashcoatah and off they flew.

35

HOME, AGAIN

Sunny arrived back at home around eleven A.M.

It was Saturday and her parents weren’t home. Ugonna was at his girlfriend’s house. But Chukwu was there sitting on the doorstep as if he’d known she was coming. He had his cell phone in his hands and it buzzed as Sunny walked up to him.

“You all right?” he asked, glancing at the text message he’d just received. He put the phone in his pocket and looked up at Sunny. He was wearing sweatpants, Adidas slippers, and a T-shirt. All clothes their aunt had sent from America, clothes that Chukwu only wore when he was trying to passive-aggressively impress.

“Yeah,” she said.

There was a long pause. Neither of them could speak their thoughts to the other and the cause for this was juju, not reluctance.

“Why are you home?” Sunny asked.

“Came to see Akunna. She’s coming over,” he said. “Of all the girls, she’s the coolest. Otherwise, I’d just ask her to come to the university to see me.”

Sunny smiled, sitting beside him. “Such a gentleman.”