“There’s no need for us to link in any way.” Nana Ama moved around. She was heading out front to where Lyle’s cars were parked. “Because I know exactly where she is.”
For now, I had to suck up all of my feelings. I asked, following her, “Where’s that?”
She tossed over her shoulder without breaking stride, “The place where our paths diverged. Millner Manor Plantation.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
We followed one after another toward the Explorer that Lyle said we were taking instead of his beloved Ram.
“Ram’s already had enough action for a while,” Lyle grumbled, no doubt thinking about the abalsom we’d captured. “Something like this, we’d better take a ride I can stand to lose.”
But before I followed after Hailey into the back seat, Ama gripped my elbow, stopping me in mid-slide.
“I’ll take my cuffs back now, you little owifo.”
My mouth went dry at her calling me a thief. I’d forgotten just that quick that I’d stolen Nana’s cuffs to give up to some unknown lady in exchange for Naira. I’d betrayed years of trust and bonding between my grandmother only to see her show up here, ready to help me clean up my mess. Returning her cuffs was the first thing I should have done when she showed up on Lyle’s doorstep.
Hailey slid the backpack gently toward me, as if it contained a bomb about to detonate.
Last night, they didn’t feel like anything more than two heavy pieces of cold metal. This time they gave off an energy like theywere humming with electricity, and when my finger touched the first one, it zapped me like static shock. I snatched my hand back to my chest quickly, letting out a tiny yelp. Nana’s mouth quirked in response.
“Do not do that again,” Nana said.
I waited for her to get the cuffs herself. I didn’t want another zap and hesitated going for them again. Nana waited me out. I’d taken something that didn’t belong to me. I needed to give it back.
I sighed, learning my lesson, resigning myself for another jolt of current to my still-stinging finger.
I shoved both hands into the mouth of my bag and grabbed the cuffs hard, bracing my body, baring my teeth. When nothing happened, I looked at my grandmother, who watched me, amused, her eyebrow still raised.
A little embarrassed, I pulled them out and offered them up to their rightful owner. She took them, uncovering them. She looked down at them and they seemed to flash in the spotty sunlight.
She put on the right cuff. It molded like a second skin to her lower arm, a few inches above her wrist. She twisted it, positioning it just right so the blue gem gleamed so brilliantly, beams seemed to come from it.
Nana Ama held her empty hand out, open palmed and waiting expectantly.
It took a second or two… maybe three, for me to catch her hint, and I quickly placed the left cuff on Nana’s outstretched palm.
As we raced through the back roads toward the city, Nana finally started talking.
“Before you begin your questions, child, I will say my piece. And then if you still have questions, we will discuss them after this is over. I can only share enough to help us get Naira back.”
It was more of the same. Nana still keeping things secret when it was her secrets that got us here.
“And Luke,” Hailey reminded. “He must be there too.”
Sekou and I shared a look knowing Luke was the last person on my grandmother’s mind.
Nana said, “If Luke is truly afflicted with the kwandamu—the hollowing—then it is too late for him. I am sorry for it, for what my sister, Effie, has done.”
Hailey put her fist to her mouth to stifle the sob or cry that was going to come out of it. It sucked the air out of the car. Before I knew what I was doing, my hand found hers and gave it a squeeze. I felt Hailey take in a surprised breath and look down at where our hands intertwined.
“What is the kwandamu used for?” I asked.
“To control humans. It is a poison my sister and I learned we could inflict on humans if we were not careful when we fed or hunted. It put them under our sway. It is a violation, Addae, do you understand?” She looked at me in the visor’s mirror. “It is an affront and no different than enslaving a person.”
“But what if the person chooses it?” Sekou asked. “Is it like being an Abotisa?”
It was a question Sekou had to ask, one I wondered myself. But it hurt that he felt he had to ask. It meant he doubted our own relationship. Thought that somehow he might be another version of enslaved to me. All of that from one simple question.
