CHAPTER EIGHTEEN – SLUMBERS.

Uloma had never felt as frightened in her life as she was feeling now. She looked up from where she was huddled in Emenike’s bamboo bench. 

“They are not extinct.” 

She muttered, her terror-stricken eyes pleading for something she already knew the answer to. In front of her, Asiya looked like she pitied her. 

“I told you, you were not ready.” 

She said in a near whisper, the revulsion on her face mirrored the action of Uloma’s stomach just a full minute ago. Uloma shook her head, shaking all over; the chill she felt would not go away. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard the splinter of bones; she saw the explosion of the little boy and that woman. 

“You must have questions.” 

Emenike’s deep voice boomed from his desk. They were now back in his office. But Uloma had no questions; her mind was blind, and the only thought and image there was the exploding image of a boy and a woman. Blood, there had been so much blood. Uloma made a whimpering sound. She knew she was crying, but her sobs were so quiet against her chattering teeth. 

“I don’t think this child can save us, Emenike. Our whole existence cannot be reliant on her. Look at her, she fell apart.” 

Uloma heard Eligwe's disinterested voice say. Even the contempt in his voice did not get through to her. The blood clouded her vision. 

“I will take her home. Show me where she lives. Asiya, you call her friends, they may be able to help her.” 

Uloma felt Eligwe lift her gently. She curled into him like she would Abali, resting her head against his chest. Her head felt heavy, and he felt so solid, so there. He was not like the beings of darkness, with their tentative existence as if they only existed because they were compelled to, like smoke and shadows. 

“The Council will want to see her even more urgently now.” 

Asiya said. She sounded like she felt sorry for Uloma. 

“I am afraid so.” 

Uloma heard Emenike reply as she and Eligwe vanished into oblivion. 

Inside her room, Eligwe placed her gingerly on her bed and made to leave, but Uloma would not let go of him. 

“Stay, please. Don’t go” 

She whispered through her chattering teeth. 

“I am scared. I don’t want to be by myself.” 

She said, letting go of him and slumping into her bed.  

“Your friends will soon be here. Emenike has sent for them.” 

He whispered. Uloma shut her eyes tight. 

“I keep seeing them, the woman and that child.” 

Uloma sobbed. 

“I can take the visions away for a time. I can give you slumber.” 

He leaned into her, his brooding eyes never leaving her tear-soaked eyes. He reached out his hands to her face, almost like he was afraid of what his hand would do. Her face burned where he touched her. 

“You will sleep.” 

He whispered his face close to hers. She could feel his breath on her. Abali was the only other male who had ever been this close to her. He ran his finger over her face almost tenderly and repeated the phrase. Her last thought was how much his voice sounded like a sad song. As she fell into a dreamless slumber, his deep, brooding eyes watched her as her consciousness took a break. 

~ 

Sometime later, Uloma woke up temporarily to a shouting fit. She could hear Ekama’s stormy voice shaking down her palace; somehow, that was comforting. She returned to her sleep, but it was no longer dreamless. 

It was a sunny day, and Uloma was feeling it in her bones. Sort of bones, she thought proudly, it had been a struggle, but she had learned how to stay longer in the human world.  She nodded up at the sun, feeling her prowess. She remembered Oge’s whistling and humming and started to hum the tune, her bare feet tapping happily on the hot earth as she made her way to Oge’s. 

“Well done.” 

She heard the chilly voice of a woman behind her. She groaned. The voice would be beautiful, but not to Uloma, not at that moment. Uloma turned around to a tall, attractive woman with impressive wild hair. 

“Mother.” 

Uloma groaned. Her mother’s human form was for the benefit of any human who could perceive her. In this form, she was more digestible to their minds. Ulo rolled her eyes. 

“What you would not do is roll that eye at me. You have been visiting the human realm a lot. I will no longer permit this blatant disregard for your teachers; return to class at once, Ulo.” 

Uloma’s mother scolded, her beautiful human face contorting, her perfect abyss eyes staring daggers at her daughter. Uloma lowered her eyes. Since when does Death care about people breaking rules? Her mother was getting on her case for nothing, as usual, Ulo mused irritably. 

“Mother, everyone skips class.” 

“You are not everyone; you are my daughter. You should be setting examples for the realm. I will not argue with you.” 

She said, cutting off Uloma, who was about to protest even more. 

“I will walk you back to school myself if you want to be treated like a child.” 

Death in her human form threatened because Uloma was still standing there, her feet stubbornly planted on the earth, unmoving. Uloma groaned again and walked past her mother, back to the point from which she had appeared. She was livid; her mother had no right to tell her what to do when she was never around. 

“Ulom, I will be looking out for you.” 

Her mother’s strict voice called after her. Uloma did not bother looking back; she knew what it meant. Her mother was saying that she would be hyper-vigilant, which meant every time Uloma crossed into the human world, her mother’s consciousness would alert her. 

~ 

Uloma was startled awake. She was sitting upright on her bed before she realized it had only been a memory. Great, she thought, because wasn’t it that day with her mother refusing her to see Oge that all these had started? She shuffled onto her feet, Ekama's noise making its way into her room. This was all her fault, Uloma thought. If only she had listened to her mother and stayed away. If only the frustration of trying and failing to find Oge a child had not driven her to offer herself up to become human, maybe none of this would have happened. Tears threatened again, but she swiped them away. A woman and a child were dead because of her, and what did she do? Fold up and cry? Uloma, get yourself together, she thought. She felt bile rise to her mouth, but she ignored it. She had to fix this somehow; more people could die. The thought sent prickles of fear down her spine. More people could be dying even now, a small voice countered at the back of her head. Uloma shuddered, her face set in grim determination. She would no longer crumple if this were in any way her fault. ‘And it is,’ that small voice quipped. Then she had no right to be the one who fell apart. Ulo closed her eyes and reopened them to wind swirling and Ekama threatening thunder. 

“What right do you have to be here like this in her house, just you, eh?” 

Ekama was yelling. 

“I have told you a thousand times, young woman, that she asked me to stay here.” 

Eligwe replied, his voice and face unfazed by the storm whirling all over Ekama. He looked almost bored, sitting there on the cane chair, as if he belonged in that very room, in this same palace. 

“Why won’t you move on from this irrelevant topic and focus on why you were all asked here?” 

Eligwe continued, his eyes roaming lazily over Ekama’s thundering face. She had sparks and thunderbolts framing her oblong face. Uloma decided that it was now or never to make her presence known because Ekama looked like she was stuck on repeat, but not for long. Her feet were no longer even touching the mud floor. 

“He is telling the truth; I did not want to be alone.” 

Uloma said to her friend. Abali was by her side already, Ekama only spared her a look, as if she was too wired to just pack it in. Ulo tried to smile to reassure her, but her face only grimaced, as if the act of smiling was a long-forgotten prowess. 

“Hey.” 

Abali said, in a small voice, pulling her into a hug. Maybe the voice was not that small, but with Ekama’s wind whirling through the room, it sounded small. Ulo breathed in his scent, and the emotions surged and roared up again without warning. The tears threatened, but she knew she would not shed them. 

“But Ulom, he put you into a slumber.” 

Ekama was protesting, her voice sounding a little calmer than it had since she arrived here. Uloma could have sworn that voice had filtered through her sleep and had woken her from her slumber. 

“Yes, but I asked him to.” 

Uloma replied from inside of Abali’s arms. 

“Okay, now that we are done with all that drama, can we talk about the summon? They will not forgive tardiness.” 

Uloma pulled away from Abali reluctantly at the sound of Asi’s voice. He always felt safe, but she didn't need to hide right now; she needed to face her responsibilities, whatever they were, head-on. She thought, sniffing and biting the inside of her jaw. She looked around her living room for Asi. Where had she spoken from? A shadow moved, and Ulo caught the movement from the corner of her eyes before her sister stepped out of the wall, where the shadow had stood. She looked even more tired than she had looked earlier. Her glittering attire was gone. Uloma had no idea she could miss that annoying shimmer in her sister’s wrapper, but she would take it over this dimmed Asiya. 

“Asiya, I don’t think Uloma is ready to cross over just yet. She has never been trained. Look, maybe a little more time, in a day or two, we could...” 

Abali was saying, but Asi shook her head, cutting him off. 

“My mother gave express instructions that Uloma is to be brought to the gathering.” 

“Mum spoke with you?” 

'And not me?' Was what Uloma wanted to say, but she heard the falter in her voice. Asi’s eye never missing a thing, kept her piercing gaze on Ulo. 

“Yes.” 

She said, her chin and jaw set, but there was no Asiya's malicious enjoyment in those words. No, Mother came to me and not you, so I win. In her eyes, dead seriousness was the only thing in those piercing eyes. Uloma realized she had never thought of Asiya’s eyes as piercing, intense, yes, but not piercing. Asiya turned away from her sister and to Eligwe. 

“We have him. He can transport her to the Cave and train her on the go. It's the best we can do. Mother must have anticipated all this; that is probably why she asked him to come even before we knew what was coming. We must leave now; they are waiting. I can feel my sisters calling.”  

“But...” 

Abali tried to argue, but Uloma shook her head at him. 

“Asiya is right. I know I can’t stop you two from coming with me, but I am going. This is something I have to do, and I am doing it.” 

She looked over at Eligwe now; he was considering her lazily. He nodded at her. 

“Let's go.” 

He mouthed, stretching his tall body lazily. He offered his long hand to Ulo. 

“I will take her.” 

Abali said, pulling Uloma away. Uloma grimaced again. 

“Abali, it's a long journey to the Cave, even I know that you can only travel that distance with creatures of darkness as a creature of darkness. Haven’t we learned that I may not be completely of darkness, we can’t test the theory of whether or not I am completely of darkness now.” 

She touched his chest and pulled away sadly from him. 

“I don’t know what I am, or why any of this is happening, but we know Eligwe’s kind are welcomed wherever they go. Let's let him help us.” 

Uloma could hear the age in her voice. She felt like something in her was broken, something seeing that strange woman, touching the woman, and that child took away from her. Something she could feel would never be the same inside her head. In front of her, Asi led the way through the wall into darkness.