“Where is the money?” she asked. “I’ll get it for you.”

He frowned. “What? No, no, it’s in a secret spot. It’ll be . . .”

“In your room?”

“Yes,” he said.

“What if Ugonna sees you?”

“He’ll be sleeping.”

“Not if you wake him up. And what if Mom or Dad comes out of their room? I know they heard us come in. Sometimes Mom checks on me. She’ll come and listen at the door. She doesn’t think I know, but I do.”

“Shit,” he hissed. “Well, what do you want me to do? I need that money.”

“I’ll get it.”

He considered it for a moment. “What will you say if Ugonna wakes?”

“He won’t. You know I’m better at sneaking than you ever will be.”

Chukwu nodded. “True. Okay . . . There’s a loose floorboard near the window. The front right leg of my bed is on top of it. The money is inside.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll be right back.” She paused. “Shut your eyes and close your ears.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

He frowned at her, but then did as she said. She ran to the door, made sure it was locked, glanced back quickly, and then passed through the keyhole before he opened his eyes and asked her why she was asking him to do something so weird. The feeling was one of compression and coolness. It wasn’t the same as when she’d done it that first time, back when she thought she was working the first juju of her life but was really using her natural talent. Since then she’d done this many times and it was easier and easier. However, the feeling was sharper, too. More deliberate.

She came out on the other side of the door and then ran toward the room Chukwu and Ugonna used to share that was now just Ugonna’s. She checked to make sure the door was locked. It was. She passed through the keyhole. Ugonna was sprawled out on his bed, sleeping noisily. He preferred to study on the floor, so this was where his schoolbooks and sheets of paper were scattered. His large-screen TV’s screen saver flashed images of shiny sports cars into the darkness of his room. Good, she thought. She could see. Soft jazz music played. Even better, background noise, though she shouldn’t need it. She ran to Chukwu’s bed and waited.

She was still insubstantial, gravity affecting her but not as much as it would if she were all there. If Ugonna awoke and looked right at her, he’d see nothing, but he might sense her presence, even if he was a Lamb. Especially knowing how attuned he’d been lately. All the more reason to move faster.

She felt herself warm up and the smell of Ugonna’s room slam into her. Sweat, cologne, and there might have been an orange rotting behind something somewhere in the room. She looked at Ugonna as he shifted positions. He was sensitive, all right. He was asleep but he knew she was there, that’s how Anatov described this kind of thing. She didn’t have much time.