BOOM.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVZ8Ye6ciL
Amina jolts awake, her chest heaving as if she’d been drowning. The sound isn’t just outside—it’s inside her skull, rattling her teeth.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAWsk7PWkE
BOOM. BOOM.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQtn9A8W2k
She stumbles out of bed, legs tangled in her sheets, and crashes to the floor. The room tilts. Her mouth tastes like ash.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtpm335JKb
"Papa!" she screams, scrambling to her feet.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIowcY6HHNf
The drums don’t stop.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2n1Go3Wm0P
She bursts out of her room, heart hammering, and collides with her father’s chest. His arms lock around her, steadying her before she falls.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8iRSTWGBQE
"Shh, nne," he murmurs, but his grip is too tight. "It’s the dibia. He’s here."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnDUYu9cMm
Amina blinks up at him, disoriented. "Now? But—I didn’t prepare, I didn’t even—"
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6vovvKMAPZ
"He doesn’t want preparation," Papa Chukwuma says, voice low. "He wants truth."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9TfdOhmul
Amina turns—and freezes.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJedYIy8lZu
Ifeanyi stands near the compound gate, dressed neatly, his jaw clenched. But Emeka...
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjyUpsBcFfo
Oh God.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8HpMCCRKC
Emeka’s eyes are unblinking, his face slack. Dried mud streaks his arms like cracked earth. He doesn’t react when the drums grow louder.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWpdVkWzCs
He doesn’t react at all.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5Q7Geb79Q
The dibia arrives like a storm given flesh.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24Ck8so2pl
Six dancers move ahead of him, their bodies painted in white and red, antelope pelts slung over their shoulders. Their feet stamp the earth in perfect sync—THUD. THUD. THUD.—kicking up dust that hangs thick in the dawn light.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYMPo1rJNk
The drummers walk backward, their hands a blur. The rhythm isn’t music. It’s a warning.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrI0lC7EC0W
Amina’s mother clutches her wrapper, her lips moving in silent prayer.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmqi3uMZk5
Then—silence.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdntAm0QfsI
The dancers stop at Grandma’s hut. For three heartbeats, nothing moves.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZm5j5pl85
Then a scream tears through the air.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFRpe0fiyE
One of the dancers—a woman with bones braided into her hair—drops to her knees, clawing at her throat. The others circle her, chanting low.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNhR0qenEi
The dibia steps forward.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIHYxAczFz
He crouches, dragging his fingers through the dirt. His nails leave deep grooves, embedding an ankh symbol —right at Grandma’s doorstep. Then he spits onto the symbol.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkB9BGSQshc
The saliva sizzles like water on hot iron.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsaIxMbt2U
Grandma’s hut stays dark.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNKeMQCRL3
The dancers move again, this time toward Amina.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBEGIsofw0
The lead dancer—a woman with a face painted half-white, half-black—locks eyes with her. There’s no emotion there. No pity.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpVs5KLyEo
Amina’s breath hitches.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Y2Bq1BbgR
"Papa—"
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlP0Axc1vkJ
Her father’s hand tightens on her shoulder. "Let them work."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBlrcvmEE0
The dancer grabs Amina’s wrist. Her nails bite deep.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8UMtsADfhu
"Don’t hurt her!" Papa Chukwuma barks.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41xYtZFVj5
The woman hisses, baring teeth filed to points.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWbbBXWOhL
Then she yanks Amina forward.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECg5eG7yPN
As they drag her into the circle, thunder cracks—but not from the sky.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljsMtB5Pk4
From her room.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVEWIL8Kc8
The walls shake. The window rattles. A gust of wind tears through the compound, howling like something alive.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNiXSXxBV4
Amina’s lips move without her permission.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLjjrfBAHx
"Ọ bụla mmiri ga-ezobe anya..."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NpFfLOpfD
The words aren’t hers. The voice isn’t hers.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmD6fpBCJJm
It’s the river’s.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRkVRIGCDy
The dibia steps into the circle.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZSLgrvYmT
Up close, his eyes are black as holes, endless and wet, like a drowned man’s. His hair floats around his face, drifting as if underwater.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaYk8xDHio
He doesn’t speak.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1iEfbl3jm
He doesn’t need to.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsqAYMg0mI
Amina’s skin prickles. The chant spills from her lips faster, louder—
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJcXh3L49H
Then Emeka shrieks.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0NHBoWwV8
"OGU M GBARA! Ọ NA-ERI M!"
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVSGkfETEp
His voice is raw, guttural. His body convulses, arms flailing like a man possessed.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDzITOdINL
Ifeanyi and Papa Chukwuma grab him, pinning him down before he hurts himself.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapgY0FOQvr
The dibia doesn’t even glance their way.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7r3aCyz7Dk
He lifts Amina’s chin, forcing her to meet his hollow gaze.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38j5LwPg5Y
And finally, he speaks.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK90T478FNV
*"You have been claimed."*
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXX9b5cYR2
Two dancer women grip Amina’s arms, their fingers digging into her skin like roots seeking water. Against her will, her body moves—jerking, twisting—in perfect sync with the dancers. Her feet drag lines in the dirt, forming symbols she doesn’t recognize.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM31I6EQsWu
She sings in unison with them in the unknown language , but her voice isn’t her own. It’s layered, doubled, like two rivers merging.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFrTYyDssp
Then—chaos.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqiAxHecoN
Emeka snarls, his muscles coiling like a sprung trap. With a force no human should possess, he hurls Ifeanyi and Papa Chukwuma aside like rag dolls. Before anyone can react, he lunges at Amina, his fingers clamping around her throat.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1gg6iDFoc
"Child! You are mi—"
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmWkIunAAm
The dibia’s staff taps his forehead.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRLsC8DKKz
Emeka’s body locks. His eyes roll back, and he collapses like a marionette with cut strings.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLugtwbZFVQ
"He has been claimed too," the dibia says, voice hollow as a burial drum. He slings his staff across Emeka’s back, and the boy convulses, gasping as if the wood weighs a thousand pounds. Two dancers pin him down, their painted faces unreadable.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX78hzyVRAr
"Where are his parents?" the dibia asks, black eyes fixed on Papa Chukwuma.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgcVSgz2Smd
"His mother is at work. He has no siblings or father," Papa replies, voice tight.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbfPEmUmjp
The dibia nods. "Then you will accompany us."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFly8Axxg7
He turns to Amina, leaning close enough that his waterlogged breath ghosts her ear.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBui8bCFelC
"Alọwí ánọ́bị̀ dúnàte."(Rest, oh one guarded by thunder. The enemies are close.)
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQd9xMRXAfo
The words slither into her skull, untranslatable to anyone else.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ37pwyiJSb
Then, louder, for the others: "A water demon holds them all in trance. She will not leave until she takes what she came for."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofTdPwaqnX
He lifts his staff, pointing to the market road. "Buy a scapegoat. I will trap the demon inside it and sacrifice the beast. Only then will this end."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjJCTSsPr6
Before he can finish, Emeka’s body arcs off the ground, his mouth stretching wide in a silent scream—then he drops again, limp.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOc0F2olU3t
Grandma observes from her hut, her knuckles white on the windowsill. Behind her, the shadows ripple.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJpLQInZi8s
Mami Wata materializes, her form half-transparent, flickering like a dying torch. *"This dibia has nerve,"* she sneers. "Thinking I’ll crawl into a goat like some biblical fool."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLzurlO38S
Grandma’s lips curl. "They’re onto us. It won’t be long now."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwn51psC0Ql
Mami Wata drifts closer, her voice a venomous whisper. "Then we kill Emeka. And the dibia. Tear down this weak barrier they’ve draped over your hut—it’s nothing."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVcvMwBbV53
Her fingers brush the wall, and the air shudders, the invisible wards straining.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTwfLBjI0fp
"That talisman is the real threat," Mami Wata hisses. "The thunder coiled inside it… it’s not just protection. It’s a weapon. Forged by the gods themselves."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQyGpS9j4C
Grandma’s smile fades. "Then we take it from her."
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELqNujPMyf
Outside, the dibia’s drummers begin anew.
6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLyLqR7Gi2v
