The darkness was lifting as the Murks broke away from one another and chose which member to harass. The fire exploded with light and for a moment, Sunny had a clear view. She saw the backs of several members’ red shirts as they fled into the bush, some toward the way they’d come, others in opposite or adjacent directions. One member ran right into a tree, falling onto his back, a Murk scratching and slapping at his head. And there was Capo on the ground. He’d fallen over his own chair and was too drunk to get up with any speed. Beside Sunny, Chichi was quietly laughing her head off.

Sunny jumped up.

Chichi hiccupped as she fought to speak. “What the hell are . . .”

Stop, Sunny thought. At the same time, she dug within and touched but did not bring forth her spirit face. She didn’t touch her juju knife. This was hers. Natural. Her temples ached and her skin cooled, just as Sugar Cream had said it would be. She didn’t hesitate. She held out her hands and pushed as one would push water. She’d stopped the rush of time. Silence. Complete and total silence. And stillness. She didn’t look at Chichi. Nor the suspended Murk that was flying after one of the suspended members. There was Adebayo, looking over his shoulder, a Murk right above his head. Sunny didn’t bother with him, either. She walked to where Adebayo was looking. Toward Capo.

As soon as she saw him up close, she didn’t doubt what she’d done. The ground beneath him glowed a dull red, in the shape of curled and sprawled skeletons. She could see them all over, just beneath the ground. And Capo himself glowed with the same dull light, especially his hands and mouth. This guy was a Lamb version of Black Hat in the making. He’d killed with his hands and mouth. Cannibal. Ritual killer. Sunny felt her belly roll with nausea. How did her brother manage to fall in with these guys? This man? Chukwu was lucky to manage to fall out alive.

Capo was the only thing that was moving. He rolled onto his back, clasping his throat. He wheezed loudly, his watering eyes bulging. Sunny felt light-headed but otherwise perfectly fine. She looked down on him with disgust and pushed back her black hood. Capo’s eyes grew wider.

“Do you know who I am?” she asked.

Still wheezing for air, slowly he nodded.

“You will die in less than a minute,” she said. “You aren’t albino, so you can’t move outside of time.” She paused, utterly enjoying the look of pure terror and approaching death on his face. And she enjoyed the fact that she was lying to him. This was far more than a mere medical condition; it was her being a Leopard Person born with a specific talent that she was practicing every day and . . . night. And it was her being her. “I’m Chukwu’s child witch of a sister,” she said. “You see me clearly. My name is Sunny Nwazue.” His eyes were starting to close. “My brother will return to university. If any of you people lay a finger on him, I will bring a painful death to every one of your relatives and then you, especially you—I know what you’ve done. Do you understand?”