Maizah hesitates before turning the corner into the hallway leading to the meeting room of the Council of Elders. She wipes her perspiring palms on her pants and takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly through semi-pursed lips.

“Don’t be afraid, my little maua,” her father, Amadi, says with a smile. His teeth gleam brightly in the low light of the hallway, contrasting with his black skin. He is standing beside her as she prepares herself.

She eyes him flatly. “You know I hate that name, Baba. I am no flower,” she says. “I am not scared, I am nervous.”

It is a new feeling for her. Maizah always respects her elders, reveres her ancestors and completes her missions, maintaining an almost perfect record. Even with accolades from many within their organization, she has never been called before the Council.

“Well you shouldn’t be that either,” he says, nudging her with his elbow.

“Perhaps, but this is my first time here. Give me some grace.” Her father imitates spitting into his hands, rubbing them together and mumbling a prayer over her. She bats his hands away with a smile of her own. “Stop that, you know what I meant.”

“It will be fine, Maizah. They don’t call you here if you are in trouble.”

His statement goes a long way to calm her emotions. It’s true, she notes. You aren’t summoned to them if you’re in trouble, they send people to find you. She takes another calming breath and wipes her hands again.

“Are you ready?” he asks.

“Yes,” she says, and rounds the corner.

As she marches down the hallway, the large table comes into view. Figures sit around it and confer quietly. Two guards, one man and one woman, clad in the garb of their security force stand on either side of the opening into the room. They watch her approach and the guard to her left stops them when they are near.

“No weapons allowed,” she says.

“I have none,” Maizah replies.

The guard looks at Amadi and he sticks his arms out in an ‘I have nothing’ gesture.

“Who was summoned?” The male guard to their right asks.

“I was, but my father is accompanying me,” Maizah says.

“If your father was not summoned, he will have to wait.”

“It is fine, let them through,” a deep voice calls out from the Council’s room. The male guard glances back into the room, then moves aside as commanded. Maizah and Amadi walk past the guards and into the chamber. The doors are shut behind them and Maizah curls her hands a few times to cool them down. There are seven seats lining the outside of the trapezoid shaped table. Maizah and her father stand at the flat bottom section of the table closest to the opening of the hallway. Two chairs near them sit empty while six of the chairs on the opposite sides are taken by high-ranking men and women. One of the chairs at the top of the shape remains open. A figure stands next to the unoccupied space, facing the windows with his back to them. He turns as they walk up and stand.

“Please, sit,” he says in the same deep voice that called them in.

“Thank you, Brother Imaan,” Amadi says. He puts his right fist over his heart and bows slightly. Maizah does the same and she and her father sit in the chairs. A tense silence passes.

“Have you any ideas as to why you have been called here today?” Imaan asks, his deep brown eyes locked onto Maizah’s. Goosebumps spread across her arms as she feels the weight of his gaze. Imaan, a high elder within the Order of the Magi, wields his powerful aura with precision. There is an oppressive strength within it, but there is also a softness to it. Imaan is the first High Elder in generations with a path to becoming a deified ancestor within their faith–and it is clear to Maizah why.

“I have never been blessed with an audience,” Maizah says, also glancing at each face of the six Elders seated around the table.

“We do not bless, child. That is for the Orisha,” he says and she winces. “We do, however, notice when one of our own shows such promise.”

“Of course, Brother Imaan,” she says, bowing her head.

“No need for that young Maizah, raise your head,” he says, and she does. “You were brought here for praise, not a lecture.”

Amadi nudges her slightly with an elbow. She glances at him sidelong and he is beaming at her. “I told you,” he whispers.

“Thank you, Elders,” she says.

“Don’t thank us quite yet,” says a lighter voice coming from one of the other elders. Amadi tenses next to Maizah and they turn their attention to the new speaker. Her flowing outfit displays varying patterns in a mixture of oranges, browns and yellows. She has a headwrap that keeps her locks pulled up, but leaves the ends spilling from the top.

“Amara has been found,” she says. Maizah creases her brow in confusion, but there is a sharp intake of breath from her father.

“You found my sister?” he asks, the emotions this information elicits are raw in his voice.

“Baba?” Maizah asks confusedly.

“Where is she? How is she? What has she been doing?” Amadi asks questions in rapid-fire succession before a wave of Imaan’s aura stops him.

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“Calm yourself, Amadi. This is why you were not summoned,” Imaan says. Amadi grits his teeth and attempts to do as he was told.

“I beg your forgiveness, Brother Imaan,” he says after his jaw unclenches.

Imaan inclines his head, a gesture of approval. “What Sister Shani says is true.”

“I don’t understand,” Maizah says, staring at Amadi. “Is my auntie alive?”

“I am sorry, Mai. I haven’t seen or heard anything about her in over a century. I thought she was long gone.”

“She is not,” Shani says, shaking her head. “She is alive and has been hiding from us.”

“Why would she hide from us?” Amadi asks. His question is met with silence as all heads in the room turn to Imaan.

“Amara has strayed from the path of Olorun.”

“No!” Amadi yells. Maizah flinches and takes in her father’s wide-eyed expression. He has always been so even-tempered and light-hearted that she has rarely seen this side of him. “No, she would never turn her back on the Orisha.”

“Baba, please,” Maizah pleads. The anger on his face is plain, but the emotion also boils over in his aura as well. Amadi regards his daughter and his face softens. He turns back and addresses the Elders.

“I am sorry for my outburst.”

“We were prepared for this. I’m sure it is hard to hear, but it is true,” Imaan says. Amadi looks at the ground, his jaw flexing as the news swirls through his thoughts.

“How do you know?” he asks. “Please, what has she done?” Imaan clasps his hands and interlocks his fingers in front of him, a contemplative look on his face.

“Maizah,” he says, addressing her instead of her father. “We brought you here to put a task before you. We know that she has fallen from grace because of her son.”

“Her son?” Amadi asks, bewildered. “I have a nephew?”

“Be careful of what you claim, Amadi. It is true that Amara has had a child, but that child is not your nephew.” Imaan says. Amadi tilts his head in confusion

“What does that mean, Brother Imaan?”

Imaan gazes at Amadi for a long moment before answering. “She made a bargain with an outsider. Her child shares blood with demons.”

“No,” Amadi whispers, the conviction in his voice faltering. “No, she wouldn’t.” He hangs his head, dejected.

Maizah watches her father go through the wringer of emotions, unsure of what to do. This meeting has not gone at all like she had assumed it would.

“Were you going to tell him?” she asks, staring at Imaan. “Or were you going to have me do it?”

“We were going to, child. We thought it would be better as soon as we had given you your next mission.”

Maizah bows her head. “What would you have me do, Elders?” she asks.

“You must find this demonspawn. Find him and cleanse your family of his tainted blood.”

“And what of Amara?” Amadi asks, looking up with watery eyes. Imaan studies his face. His expression is hard before it softens.

“We will try to bring her back. Perhaps she is under the control of another. Once the demonspawn is dead, we will help in what ways we can.”

Tears fall from Amadi’s eyes as he closes them whispering, “Thank you.”

“Baba . . .” Maizah says, unable to reconcile the man before her with the man she’s known throughout her life.

“I will be okay, child,” he says. Maizah rubs his back briefly before turning her attention back to Imaan.

“What do we know of this demonspawn?”

“We know where he is, what he looks like, and that you cannot depend on your blessings when facing him. That is everything we have been told.” Cannot use my blessings? Maizah thinks. Most of the order of magi have been given ‘blessings’, or gifts from the Orisha. Maizah’s gift is water manipulation, but she is also blessed with an incomparable sense of judgment and staggering combat prowess. She incorporates all three into her repertoire and knows it will take some practice to adjust.

“May I have that information now?”

Shani pushes a manilla file folder across the surface of the table and Maizah stops it with her hand.

“His name is Mikael and he lives in the U.S. in a city called Toledo,” she says.

Maizah opens the folder and studies the pictures. The man she sees looks to be in his twenties if he ages normally. He has close cropped hair and looks fit. Who was this close that wasn’t able to do it themselves? She wonders. “Who did we get this information from?”

“That is not important. All you need to know is that the demon shares your blood and, as long as he does, your family is cursed.”

“Is this why I have been chosen?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, the only one of our numbers that could’ve handled this from afar, was Amara. While your father’s sister was gifted in the blood arts, we have had no others that have shown the promise that she did. Otherwise, we would be able to handle it from here.”

Maizah inclines her head. “Very well. I accept this task and ask for your leave to go prepare.”

Imaan returns the gesture. “You have our leave and our blessings. May Oxossi guide you in your hunt.”

“Thank you Elders. Come, Baba, let’s go.” She and Amadi stand, bow, and exit the room back into the hallway. As they turn the corner and she’s confident they’re out of sight, she turns on him.

“What is it, Maua?” he asks.

“Did that seem odd to you at all?”

Amadi quickly surveys the hall for any who could be listening. “In what way?” he asks.

Maizah shakes her head. “I have been given many missions and have always been given as much information as I had asked for. Brother Imaan’s insistence that I did not need to know certain things just doesn’t sit right with me–it makes me feel like they cannot trust the source of the information.”

Her father puts a hand on her back and ushers her toward the stairs leading down toward the entrance hall of the building.

“My child, you have always had good instincts. Just like my sister,” he says, stopping halfway down the staircase and staring into her eyes. “Amara was gifted with a strong affinity to blood magic. She was also a gifted diviner and was always able to tell when something was wrong. I think this gift is present in you too.”

“Baba, I–” she starts, but Amadi holds up a finger.

“Now. Do not go against the Elders. Your plan should be to eliminate this boy, but I would study him first. See who he is and see if you can divine who his enemies are. They may have their reasons for not telling you where the file had come from and perhaps there is a bigger story here. Trust your instincts, my flower.”

“And what if I run into your sister?” she asks. Amadi looks down.

“Pray you are not fighting her son if you do. If you find that something is wrong with any of this, abandon your mission and come back home,” he says.

Maizah creases her brow. “I have never abandoned a mission.”

Amadi shakes his head. “Amara doesn’t know you. If you attack her child, she will kill you. Of this, I am certain.”

She flexes her jaw and thinks of the task set before her. “Okay, Baba. I will watch him and trust myself.”

“Thank you,” he says with a sigh of relief. “Now, let us get you prepared.”