Akata Witch

“I can pass all that right now,” Sasha boasted.

“Me, too,” Chichi boasted back. “With my eyes closed.”

Orlu scoffed. “Yeah, well, the rules say you can’t yet.”

“Screw rules,” Sasha said. “They’re made to be broken.”

“Only when you’ve mastered them,” Orlu said quietly.

“So the third level is one that very, very, very few ever pass, that’s Ndibu. It’s like getting a PhD. To pass it you have to attend a masquerade meeting and get a masquerade’s consent. A real masquerade, not a bunch of men and boys all dressed up.”

“A real one?” Sunny asked quietly, as if to speak of them too loudly would call the spirits from their dwelling place in the other world.

“Yeah,” Chichi said. “And that means you have to die in some way or something. I don’t really understand it.”

“So what’s the last grade?” Sunny asked.

“Oku Akama. No one knows how you get there. In Nigeria, only eight living people have reached it. Four live around Leopard Knocks. Anatov is one-he is the ‘scholar on the outside.’”

“But he’s not that old,” Sunny said.

“No, he isn’t. He’s only fifty-something, I think.”

“Ugh, how can such a mean guy be so important?”

“Sometimes too much knowledge can make you mean. You know too much.”

Orlu loudly sucked his teeth. “You always make excuses for him. Teacher’s pet.”

“You wish you were,” Chichi said, looking smug. “Anyway, Kehinde and Taiwo are twins who passed the last grade, and they went on to become the ‘scholars of the links.’ An old woman named Sugar Cream is the fourth, the ‘scholar on the inside.’ She lives in the Obi Library most of the time. She’s the oldest and most respected. She’s the Head Librarian.”

Sunny frowned. “Librarian? Why is that such a big-”

“Let me tell you something Chichi and Sasha have a hard time respecting,” Orlu said, putting his fork down. “Leopard People-all our kind all over the world-are not like Lambs. Lambs think money and material things are the most important thing in the world. You can cheat, lie, steal, kill, be dumb as a rock, but if you can brag about money and having lots of things and your bragging is true, that bypasses everything. Money and material things make you king or queen of the Lamb world. You can do no wrong, you can do anything.

“Leopard People are different. The only way you can earn chittim is by learning. The more you learn, the more chittim you earn. Knowledge is the center of all things. The Head Librarian of the Obi Library of Leopard Knocks is the keeper of the greatest stock of knowledge in West Africa.” Orlu sat back. “One day, we’ll take you to the Obi Library. You’ll see.”

“Wow,” Sunny said. “I like that.”

Orlu smiled and nodded. “It’s great, isn’t it?”

“People are too focused on money. It’s supposed to be a tool, not the prize to be won.”

“Spoken like an upward-standing Leopard Person,” Chichi said mockingly. “No wonder my mother likes you so much.”

Now Sunny understood why Chichi and her mother lived the way they did. “Your mother doesn’t care for material things, does she?”

“Neither do I,” Chichi said. “My mother’s reached every grade except”-she paused, not wanting to speak its name-“the last. And people think that someday she will.”

“Chichi’s mother is a Nimm priestess,” Orlu explained. “One of the last princesses in the Queen Nsedu spiritline.”

Before Sunny could ask what that was, Sasha said, “Not all Leopard People live by the Leopard philosophy.”

Orlu nodded. “Like any other place, there are killers even here in Leopard Knocks. There are people who only want power and money, who don’t earn any chittim at all, who’d rather steal what they want. Some people are rich in chittim, yet are still set on having power and Lamb wealth. I think they’re the most dangerous.”

It made sense. There were flavors of “Leopard-dom,” too, they explained. For example, Orlu’s parents owned a fairly large home and another home in Owerri. Unlike Chichi’s mother, they liked nice things.

Sasha frowned and looked at Chichi. “You know what? We’re an Oha coven, aren’t we?”

Orlu sucked his teeth. “Come off it, we’re too young,” he said just as Chichi smiled at Sasha and said, “You think so, too?”

“Think about it,” Sasha said. “First, there are four of us. There aren’t any more in our group, right?”

“Nope,” Chichi said.

“Right. Second, one of us is an outsider-me, being from a different country, a descendant of slaves and such. Right, Orlu?”

Orlu shrugged, refusing to respond.

Sasha chuckled. “And one of us is outside in.” He gestured at Sunny. “Black on the inside but white on the outside.”

Sunny sucked her teeth but said nothing.

“Just telling it like it is,” Sasha said lightly.

“And two of us are girls and two of us are boys,” Chichi added.

Then together, Chichi and Sasha said, “Balance.”

“Whatever,” Sunny grumbled. “What’s an Oho coven?”

“Oha,” Sasha corrected. “An Oha coven. It’s a group of mystical combination, set up to defend against something bad.”

“So, what does that have to do with us?” she asked. “What bad thing are we-”

Suddenly, they all looked above her head. Sasha cursed loudly. Sunny looked up just as whatever it was exploded. Warm, wet air that smelled like rotten meat enveloped her. She threw her arms over her head and ducked to the side, falling off her chair. Things hit her head and arms and dropped on the table. She heard Sasha spit several more curses as white chips rained down, clicking and clacking. Something black fell lightly onto the table as well.

Sunny quickly got up and looked. “What is-is that hair?”

There were tufts of it all over the table. It looked like the floor of a barber shop. “And-and what the hell is that!” She pointed to red chunks of raw meat among the hair tufts. She felt her gorge rise.

“Relax,” Chichi said.

“Ugh, in a restaurant?” Orlu said. “Filthy!”

“Come on, the place is open,” Sasha said. “It’s not like we’re indoors.”

Sunny looked at the table a little more closely and screeched. The white chips were teeth!

Mama Put came bustling from behind her counter, all apologies. She shouted orders at one of her employees to clean up the mess immediately.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Chichi told the woman.

“It’s the goddamn tungwa’s fault,” Sasha said, brushing a tuft of hair off his shoulder. “Damn it. Anatov told me about these. Disgusting!” Sunny wanted to burst out laughing at the nastiness and absurdity of it all and at their nonchalance. Every time she thought she had reached the threshold of weirdness…

“Tungwas are just things that dwell at Leopard Knocks,” Orlu explained. “Floating bags of teeth, bone, meat, and hair. They explode when they’re ready.” He shrugged. “Don’t know what they are. Might be creatures that just don’t develop right. We deal with them like we deal with mosquitoes, flies, and cockroaches.”

Sunny shuddered. Mama Put gave them each a free bag of chin chin. Sunny gave hers