CHAPTER 25
Dzidzor almost had no time to breathe nowadays. If she knew this was what it meant to be in Level 2, she would’ve spent more time with the boys than Esi.
Exams were more brutal than she remembered, not out of first-hand experience of course but from the stories her brothers and sisters told her. She had them every week and they were not just papers she had to write. There were oral exams and even physical exams. She had to go to the gym and the library every day to prepare herself for exams, a combination she had not heard of before. Nkosi also kept her very close, inviting her to his office every week to update her with things she was supposed to know about the magical community and Lisa. He had her read books each week to give reports to him, she went with him on missions that were typically not dangerous which normally involved speaking to other Vodun, hosting funerals and weddings and whatnot. Even though it was stressful, she was able to handle it thanks to her abusive family. Besides she liked the constant learning and social activities involved with being Nkosi’s unofficial page.
Things were however not rosy all the time. Caleb’s family caused a ruckus at Wagadu, almost causing a full out fight between the teachers and his family members in the middle of the school yard. They came into the school with masquerade costumes and sculptures of their family gods along with their own fan fair. Classes going in at the moment had to be stopped due to the noise. Then they proceeded to burn the buildings which was promptly put out by the teachers who were nearby with their abilities. This went on for a while until Nkosi came to the scene. As they misbehaved and got louder and louder by the second, Nkosi was a mask of patience and calm, even after he caused their clothes to have minds of their own and march them into his office and broke the sculptures with just one look. No one knows what happened in Nkosi’s office that day, but Caleb was quieter and more reserved since them. He would reach Level 2 the following year along with Esi.
Esi and Dzidzor saw a lot of each other despite the fact that they did not share classes and a dorm room anymore. Esi joined the gym and Dzidzor would go with her to the library as she was an amazing study partner. Although her courses were more advanced, Esi would still pester Dzidzor to teach her The History of Magic and The spirit realm Part 1.
“Why do you want to learn this so badly?” Dzidzor asked genuinely curious.
“Ah! I like learning” Esi said laughing mischievously.
“So why don’t I tell you the spiritual implications of shea butter?”
“You are the Asaase Yaa not me” Esi said rolling her eyes. Dzidzor threw the biscuits they were munching on at her. She threw some back and Dzidzor laughed a bit too loudly.
“SHH!” some students close-by were not happy with the noise. It only made Esi laugh louder and Dzidzor put her hand over Esi’s mouth.
“You’ll kill me one day o Esi!”
“Ma menndwen”
Esi behaved for a while for Dzidzor to begin talking about the spirit realm.
“The history of magic, or Vodun, begins with the spirit realm” Dzidzor read from a leather-bound textbook, Esi leaned in to glance on the words as Dzidzor read
“Ah wait? That’s not possible”
“Which part?”
“This one,” Esi pointed to a line in the book Dzidzor was reading from “, see it says, ‘Spirits of the dead do not have jurisdiction in the physical realm, they only give council to their family members due of the blood covenant of birth’” Dzidzor shrugged “You don’t see anything wrong with it?”
“I don’t know, this is my first time reading any of this” Esi sighed and began to explain.
“Okay. During masquerades, they call upon the gods and spirits to possess them to give messages…”
“But these are gods and nature spirits, created themselves from the beginning by Nana Buruku”
“I didn’t finish. They also call upon the spirits of their ancestors to possess them. Sometimes the ancestors cause things to happen. Earthquakes, causes rain to fall, droughts, famine, good harvest. Even cause enemies of the family to die”
Now that sounded impossible to Dzidzor.
“Are you sure?”
“Would I lie? I follow my dad to these things. Most of them are like highly illegal sef,” Esi lowered her voice “in the chief’s house, the ancestors are called on for more than just council”
Dzidzor looked at the book for a while, not even touching it.
“So, they lied?”
“I didn’t say that o.” Esi said straightening her back “Maybe he doesn’t know” but from the way Esi said it, she knew herself that she was lying.
“Wait wait…” Dzidzor begun flabbergasted. Wagadu was everything to her, her safe haven where there were no lies and everything was right. What Esi was saying was breaking down the security she had strived to build “So what, because of a few magic tricks this Level 5 Vodun is mistaken?”
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Esi was taken aback, Dzidzor had never spoken like this about her traditions before.
“Choose your next words extremely carefully” when Dzidzor didn’t say anything, she continued “Lemme tell you something right now. I know you’ve been through a lot, hell and back even, but Wagadu is just like everywhere else. Everything is politics. I trusted you a bit more than this to believe everything they spoon-feed you Dzidzor. You’re an initiate now, yes don’t open your mouth I know. Have you read anything about initiates? Do you know what they do? They tear down governments, destroy the very fabric of reality people who benefit from it have suffered to build.”
“There’s a way for me to know? Nkosi never…” then the weight of Esi’s words hit me. “He lied to me. How do we get the books…”?
“Oh no,” Esi said getting up with tears in her eyes “there is no we anymore.”
“Esi don’t say that…”
“My tradition and way of life is not a magic trick”
“I was just upset”
“So, it means that if I say that your hunter left you because you’re too naive for him because I am angry, my words are justified?” Dzidzor too stood up, furious.
“How dare you?”
“No how dare you!” when Esi pushed her, Dzidzor flew across the room, her back hitting the wall almost 20 meters away.
The people who shushed them earlier were about to complain when Esi said, “If you are a woman like me, talk”. They sat down, not saying a word.
Dzidzor’s ears were ringing and her back was throbbing in pain. She did not know that Esi was this strong and now she’ll never know more, because she left before Dzidzor got up.
Esi did not speak to Dzidzor for about 3 weeks and during that time, Dzidzor was pouring over the books in the library. She did not speak to Nkosi or go for classes, she felt she had to know exactly what was going on, in full detail about who she was, what her predecessors did and what she was supposed to do. It seems Nkosi had greatly watered down her role and position in politics and in the world because from what Esi said and what she had read, they were more like agents of chaos, but for good in the long run. She hated being lied to, it hated it with a passion, even if it was by omission. She hated being treated like a child, like she didn’t know anything, so she was going to know everything and anything.
There was a Haram book section, restricted for those in Level 5 and above but that did not deter Dzidzor. She learnt a simple face shift spell, one that would transform her face to that of anyone she wanted. Her preferred face was a teacher, Mr. Bright who taught the Spirit Realm, Level 4. She would use his face to get into books that were banned in many religious and Vodun sects and as soon as she began reading those books, she found out why.
When Dzidzor felt comfortable enough, she marched into Nkosi’s office, not even knowing if he was there or not. She caught him in a meeting with an elderly man, almost Nkosi’s age but not a single strand of his hair was white.
“Dzidzor, what a lovely surprise”
“I see you are busy. Maybe another time”
“No, you can stay, sit in the sofa I’ll see to you”
The other man looked uncomfortable and Dzidzor had learned the hard way the truth about uncomfortable adults.
“I’ll just sit outside…”
“Please”
Dzidzor picked a book from Nkosi’s library and then sat in the chair to read it to the satisfaction of the other man. As much as Dzidzor wanted to be polite, she could not help but listen in to the conversation. It was about a rise in Vodun related crimes, beheadings and the theft of body organs. They had tried their best to make it seem like the killings were not spiritually motivated but due to people wanting to sell body parts in the black market but at the rate, Anfas would begin to suspect things.
“It’s time, isn’t it?”
“Unfortunately, my brother. We have worked so hard to keep this at bay…”
“I am currently looking for a loophole in the spell. When I find anything, I’ll tell you”
“And if you don’t?”
“Then Buruku help us all”
The elderly man said is goodbyes quickly then left the office. Once more, Dzidzor had so many questions; Vodun related murders? What does that mean? Why was the Vodun council covering it up instead of doing something about it? Which spell was Nkosi looking into? However, Dzidzor decided to start with what had been on her mind for weeks.
“I have some things to ask you”
“Will it explain why you’ve not been to class and deliberately avoided me?” Nkosi was surprisingly cold to her today. He had never looked at her like that, or used on her that tone of voice. The way he behaved towards her wanted to make her apologize and spend time to make it up to him, but she had to be strong and stand her ground. She took in a shaky breath and said,
“Yes”
“Come sit and tell me” She did so and begun,
“Why are we taught that the dead doesn’t interfere with the living when we know that that isn’t true?”. No emotion showed on Nkosi’s face. He just sat back in his chair and crossed his arms about his chest.
“Who told you that?”
“No one”
“Don’t lie to me”
“Ask the librarian, Madam Hope has seen in come in and out of the library alone”
Nkosi did not say anything for a while, his arms still about his chest.
“Nkosi answer me”
“It was Esi”
“Esi hasn’t spoken to me in 3 weeks!” As soon as Dzidzor said those words, she regretted it. She did not mean for them to come out so loud. “I’m sorry”
“How come you’re suddenly looking into the intricacies of death?”
“We learn it in school…”
“The spirit realm is not the after-life. They are two different concepts”
“Saying the two are vastly different is like saying space is different from the atmosphere”
“You’ve been reading from the Haram section. I’ll take your silence as affirmative, how?” Once again, Dzidzor did not say anything “What Tsali Muhammed said isn’t wrong but it’s bound by the law of transcendence…”
“Once you go up you can never get down. Except with a key”
Emotions flashed on Nkosi’s face; it was fear this time.
“Dzidzor it’s black magic!”
“I am not practicing it! Will you just let me land?”
“Dzidzor it’s dangerous”
“And yet we do it! And then we tell the children that we don’t. And then we say that some ancestors sacrifice their afterlife to stay in the wasteland of the spirit realm to guide us…”
“Dzidzor…”
“While some of these ancestors weren’t even people, but are monitoring spirits!”
None of them spoke for a while, Nkosi’s a mask of fear and Dzidzor’s one of defiance.
“When was the last time we spoke?” Dzidzor scoffed.
“Seriously?”
“Just answer me” she let out a sigh
“3 weeks”
“Then my suspicions have been proved right”
“You’re not even answering my questions”
“Dzidzor, we have not spoken in 2 months”