She looked at Godwin, the green team’s leader. He was playing goalie. He gave a nod of confidence.

“I’m going to wipe the field with you, ghost girl,” Ibou said. Sunny grinned at him, setting the ball down. “No,” she said. “You’re not.” Ibou had grown about three inches and his shoulders were even broader. But Sunny had grown taller and become more muscular, too. The ref blew his whistle, and Sunny took the ball with her dancing feet. She felt Anyanwu reveling in the art of motion and grace. She kicked the ball to Ibou’s left as he came at her. She did a turn, moved behind him, and caught the ball with her feet. She laughed, spotting her teammate Agaja to her right. He was open. As she passed the ball to him, she could already see Agaja blasting it into the goal.

Goooooooooal!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, a gracious thanks to the Universe for bringing this novel together on its own time.

I’d like to thank my former Penguin editor Sharyn November for helping me strengthen the continuation of Sunny’s story. Thanks to my current editor Regina Hayes for jumping in and making this novel really shine. Thanks to my Nigerian editor Bibi Bakare-Yusuf for helping me smooth away so many of the Americanisms I couldn’t help putting in the novel. Thanks to producer Mark Ceryak and filmmaker Barry Jenkins for those days years ago working on that film treatment that ended up helping me generate some of the ideas in this novel. Thanks so so much to Success T for letting me weave the nonfiction of his own experiences with confraternities into this novel; that chapter was practically word for word. Thanks to illustrator Greg Ruth for the two stunning renderings of Sunny Nwazue that are the covers of Akata Witch and Akata Warrior. Thanks to Jim Hoover, who designed this book’s beautiful jacket, for his meticulous eye for detail and zing. And thank you to my mother, my father, my daughter Anyaugo, Ifeoma, Ngozi, Emezie, Dika, Obioma, Chinedu, and the rest of my family in Nigeria and scattered about the Diaspora, because family na family, o.

The masquerades dance and the ancestors smile,

And these in themselves make it all worthwhile.

NNEDI OKORAFOR is a novelist of African-based science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism for both children and adults. Born in the United States to Nigerian immigrant parents, Nnedi is known for weaving African culture into creative evocative settings and memorable characters. In a profile of Nnedi’s work, The New York Times called Nnedi’s imagination “stunning.” Nnedi has received the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, and the Nebula Award, among others, for her novels. Her fans include Neil Gaiman, Rick Riordan, John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Ursula K. Le Guin among others.

Nnedi Okorafor holds a PhD in English and is a professor at SUNY Buffalo. She divides her time between Buffalo and the suburbs of Chicago, where she lives with her daughter. Learn more at nnedi.com or follow her on Twitter @nnedi.