Sunny had hoped she and Orlu could go to her house and study together at the kitchen table while they listened to the rain. However, she’d forgotten, it was the day when Orlu went to visit his auntie in a nearby village.

“Can I go with?” she suddenly asked.

Orlu looked at her with raised eyebrows, rain dripping down his face. “Why?”

She shrugged. “If it’s a problem, then . . .”

“No,” he said. “It’s fine. It’s just . . . will your parents be okay with it?”

“I’ll call,” she said. “It should be fine.”

“All right. But, let me warn you now, I love my auntie, but she’s . . . she’s very set in her ways.”

Two minutes from the school, they managed to catch a danfo. The banged-up small bus was packed with sullen soaked people, and all the seats were taken. Sunny and Orlu squashed in with the people standing in the aisle. Orlu put an arm around Sunny when the jerky motion of the bus nearly threw her into the man sitting beside her.

The ride was only ten minutes. And despite having to stand, Sunny wished it were longer. As they drove, the rain began to come down harder. When they got off, it was like stepping into a waterfall. “Wish we could use an umbrella spell,” Orlu muttered. But both of them knew this would only get them a trip to the Obi Library for punishment. All it would take was one Lamb seeing them walk down the street with not a drop touching their skin or clothes or backpacks.

His auntie’s house was large and white with a green roof, surrounded by a thick white fence. Orlu knocked on the gate, and the gate man quickly opened it for them.

“Good afternoon,” the gate man said. Then he ran back under the shelter of his gate man post. As they walked up to the house, Orlu suddenly stopped. “My auntie is a Lamb,” he blurted.

“Okay,” Sunny said. “So?”

Orlu shrugged.

“Orlu, I’m a free agent,” she said. “You think I’m going to judge you for having Lamb relatives?”

He smiled sheepishly. “True,” he said. “Come on, let’s get out of this rain.”

A young woman opened the door for them. “Good afternoon, Orlu,” she said. She paused, looking Sunny over. Then her smile turned into a smirk. “You have got to be Sunny Nwazue.”

“Kema, stop,” Orlu said.

“Hi,” Sunny said. Kema took her hand and shook it firmly.

“He talks a lot about you,” Kema said. She touched the Mami Wata comb Sunny wore in her Afro. “Pretty comb.”

“Thanks,” Sunny said, nervous. If his auntie wasn’t a Leopard, was Kema? What happened when Lambs touched gifts from Mami Wata?

“Where’s Auntie?” Orlu asked.

Kema’s smile lessened. “She’s in the living room, watching a movie. She’s not doing all that great today. Might be the rain.”

Orlu took Sunny’s hand. “Come on.”

Sunny could smell Orlu’s auntie before she saw her. A mix of cigarette smoke, expensive perfume, palm oil, and illness. She was sitting in front of a large flat-screen television, staring blankly. She wasn’t much older than Sunny’s mother and she was a healthy plump, with a face painted with bright makeup. Her eyelids were a deep purple, her eyebrows were shaven off and redrawn in the shape of thick black bars, her lips were a blood red, and her skin was flawless with light brown foundation. She clearly bleached it, for her light brown face was a great contrast to her dark brown neck and arms. She wore a white blouse and stylish black pants.