by Kwame Mbalia
“Gum Baby knows you ain’t laughing.”
I looked up to find her sitting on Junior’s shoulder, the two of them apparently in mid-conversation. Something about seeing the two of them cutting up like old friends sent a hot spike through my chest. And thinking about that made me angry. Let her sit on his shoulder for a change. We’d see how he liked shampooing his hair seven times in a row to get all the sap out.
Gum Baby leaned next to Junior’s ear and started to whisper, looking back at me several times to make sure I was watching. “And then we were flying, and somebody was screaming his head off….” I rolled my eyes and kept walking.
We reached a large chamber with a huge doorway. I mean enormous. Another waterfall splashed down in front of it, and it was so large the noise was deafening. This room—it stood out like a pimple in the middle of a forehead. Black stone columns covered with intricate engravings framed the entrance that stretched all the way to the ceiling.
“Gee, I wonder who’s inside,” I said.
Gum Baby shook her head, her box braids flinging sap everywhere. “Some people just don’t listen. Gum Baby told you already. Three times!”
“No, it was just a…Never mind.”
Junior bit back a smile and I narrowed my eyes at him as I walked up to the waterfall door. I took a step forward—
And got knocked on my butt by a thousand buckets of water. Gum Baby shook her head at me, then hopped down, walked to the left side of the door while staring at me, and pressed a button I hadn’t seen. Silently, but still shaking her head and maintaining eye contact, she marched back over to Junior, scrambled up onto his shoulder, and pointed. A giant seam seemed to split the wall of water in half as it slowly stopped falling.
“Now,” she said, slowly, “do you want to try again?”
Just once I’d love to visit Alke and not get soaking wet.
We moved inside, and the first thing I noticed was how dark it was. It surprised me, because, well, Nyame was the sky god. I associated the light of the sun with him, from the clothes he wore to his golden eyes. But in here it was as if night had fallen and was here to stay. I could barely see a few feet in front of me, and we moved cautiously forward until—
“I’d say that’s far enough.”
The voice rumbled low from the far corner, shaking my bones and rattling my teeth. My heart swelled at its familiarity, even as the beginnings of unease tickled the back of my neck.
“John Henry?” I called. “It’s me, Tristan.”
A deep sigh sounded. “I reckoned as much. Knew when I saw you in the wall you’d find yourself here, some way, somehow.”
I took another step forward. “I saw what happened, what the”—I looked around, then inched closer—“what the Shamble Man did to you. I need to find him.”
A rumbling sound filled the room. It took me several seconds to realize that John Henry was chuckling. I could feel the vibrations in my feet! The tiny doll looked concerned, and Junior’s eyes were wide as he moved behind me. Good. Not so tough now.
“Listen to you. I knew you’d find your strength, Tristan. Reckoned it’d take you a bit longer, but you’re a leader. People look up to you. Might go so far as to say they depend on you.” There was a creak in the darkness, like someone was shifting in their seat, and I frowned. But John Henry kept talking. “So I need you to hear me very carefully. Are you listening?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m listening.”
“And who else is in here? Gum Baby? That you?”
“Gum Baby’s right here.” Her voice was so soft and full of worry that I looked at her. What did she know that I didn’t? Was it the reason John Henry was staying here in the dark? How badly injured was he?
“I am here as well,” Junior said. He cleared his throat. “If that is all right, sir.”
John Henry grunted. “Told you about all that sir business. Nyame still ain’t letting you roam around?”
Junior kicked at the floor. “No.”
Now what did that mean? Why would Nyame want to keep an annoying know-it-all like Junior inside the palace? Was he grounded? Everyone seemed to know something about the skinny boy but me, and it was starting to get irritating.
“That’s just fine,” said John Henry. “You need to hear this, too, and all of you better listen.” He paused, and I felt the room go silent, like the calm before the storm, or the disappearing ocean before a tidal wave. Again I heard furniture creak.
“Don’t. Go. Looking. For. The Shamble Man.”
The words landed like hammer blows. I stared at the darkness in disbelief. How could he say that? Why wouldn’t John Henry want to find his attacker? What could scare John Henry? Was the Shamble Man in league with the Maafa and the iron monsters? I had so many questions and no answers, and my patience had worn thin.
“You don’t understand. He took my—” I began, but John Henry cut me off.
“Oh, but I do. Now’s not the time to be a hero, Tristan. It’s the time to be a leader. Sometimes them things ain’t the same.”
“But—”
“NO!” The shout rattled the stone walls, and dust fell on us. Heavy, labored breathing followed, then the creaking sound you hear when someone reclines on a bed. A long, drawn-out exhale came next.
“He’s dangerous, Tristan,” John Henry said. “You don’t know him like I do. He’s angry. At all of us, but you especially. Leave him alone in the Storm Lands. Right now he has my hammer, and I just…” His voice faded for a moment. When he spoke again, it was with the weariness of someone ready to accept defeat. “I asked Gum Baby to bring you here so I could tell you this, face-to-face. Leave this to the other gods. They’ll handle it.”
He has my grandmother! I wanted to scream, but before I could, the words John Henry had just spoken registered in my mind. What did he mean They’ll handle it? He wasn’t going to help? The only thing that could keep John Henry from standing up and doing what was right was if…
I squeezed the Gye Nyame charm on my adinkra bracelet and activated the powers of the sky god. When I opened my eyes, the entire room was revealed like a picture drawn in invisible ink. Gold-and-silver words outlined everything, from the floor to the walls to the ceiling. They wove together to give shape to the room, and I shook my head in disbelief. No matter how many times I used this power, I was amazed. Alke was really a giant story, and it was no wonder Anansesems were so revered here.
Then I saw the bed.
And the figure sprawled on top.
John Henry lay on his back, his head propped up by a pillow the size of an armchair. The massive god had his hands folded across his chest. From the waist up he looked fine. His story swirled about him, fragments of folktales collected into a legend so powerful it had inspired millions in this realm and in my own.
But his feet—especially his right one—were slowly disappearing.
His story, which framed his body and made John Henry himself, was slowly unraveling and disappearing off into the darkness.
At first I thought something was wrong with my eyes. Or with the adinkra. Whatever this was, it had to be impossible, and I didn’t want to believe. But as I watched, the god lying in the bed lifted his head and stared at me. In that moment I knew, and he understood that I knew. No wonder he was being kept in a dark room. No wonder everyone wanted to keep it hush-hush, so as not to start a panic. If it could happen to the leader of MidPass and one of the strongest gods in Alke, it could happen to any of them.
John Henry was starting to fade away.
MY FINGERS CLENCHED AND UNCLENCHED ON THEIR OWN.
Gum Baby and Junior let me be as we hurried down the hallway. They shot me glances every so often, but nobody spoke. The magnitude of what I’d seen tore through my mind, leaving me no chance to even think about forming words, let alone sentences. John Henry. Fading.
How had the Shamble Man’s attack led to the unraveling of his story?
Before we left the giant folk hero, I’d promised him I was going to make things right, n
o matter what anyone said. “Would you just sit by if it was your grandmother?” I’d asked.
John Henry had only sighed and said, “I reckon I wouldn’t. But that’s what friends are for, Tristan. To help you see things you might’ve missed ’cause you’re so fired up. Don’t let your anger get ahold of you. Or else you might find yourself standing right alongside the Shamble Man. But I can’t stop you. Just know, if you’re not careful, you could make things worse.”
I wasn’t sure how things could get any worse. John Henry was down for the count. The Shamble Man had Nana. Had he hurt her, too?
Dozens of frightening answers to that question rattled around in my brain, leaving no room for anything else. I could barely manage to place one foot in front of the other, so it was a big surprise when a hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder and stopped me in my tracks.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I looked up in confusion at the sound of Junior’s voice. We’d returned to the sitting room where Miss Sarah and Miss Rose had left us. Gum Baby had scampered off somewhere, leaving me and the new boy to make idle small talk. Great.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Where’d Gum Baby go?”
“She said something about getting the gang back together. I don’t know. But stop trying to change the subject. You’re not fine.” His hand dropped away and returned to cradling the satchel he’d had slung over his back. “I can tell.”
“Oh yeah?” I challenged. “And just how do you think you can tell?”
He shrugged. “Because I’ve seen that expression before. The one you’re wearing right now. It’s the expression you have when you realize someone you’ve looked up to isn’t invincible. They aren’t perfect. I’ve worn that expression. And I was in the room back there with you. Everyone knows the stories about you, Tristan. The boy with all the gifts from the gods. Your eyes went golden in the room with the big guy. That’s Nyame’s power—seeing the stories, right? So you know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think you saw something terrible in there. Something all the gods around here know and won’t share. They won’t tell me, and I’m guessing they didn’t tell you, either. But you saw it. You saw it.”
There was something in Junior’s tone. Something raw. Jealousy? No, it was more subtle than that. He was envious. Of me. The realization jarred me out of the funk John Henry’s state had put me in. I would give up all my powers if it meant I could have my grandmother back. I wanted nothing more than to walk with Nana back to our farm in Alabama and have everything return to normal.
“You wanna know what I saw?” I asked.
Junior nodded, a desperate hunger in his eyes. “I do.”
I opened my mouth to tell him, then paused. The look on his face was something between fear and horrified anticipation. That’s when I understood. The knowledge could hurt him. If the gods could fade, the people of Alke could fade. Weren’t they stories, too? Granddad had said that people did funny things when faced with their own mortality. I didn’t want to start a panic. It’s the time to be a leader. The words of John Henry echoed in my ears. So I didn’t tell the complete truth.
“John Henry is…sick,” I finally said.
“Sick?” Junior searched my face. “Is it bad?”
I hesitated, then sighed. “Maybe. I don’t know. What I do know is that if I don’t find the Shamble Man, John Henry won’t be the only one suffering. That’s the number one priority right now.”
He nodded, then stopped and looked at my hands. “Hey, weren’t you wearing gloves before?”
I winced. This dude was sharp. I was hoping no one would notice I’d taken them off back in the room. “Yeah, I…Well, they were John Henry’s, and I wanted him to have them back.” What I didn’t tell him was that the gloves were imbued with the steel-driving man’s strength, and I thought they might restore a little bit of his power. It was a long shot, but I could hope.
Luckily, I was saved from having to explain anything more, because Gum Baby returned, this time on the shoulders of Ayanna, who was carrying a familiar rectangular piece of wood on her back. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in great shape.
“Your raft!” I said. “What happened to it?”
A thick crack wound its way through the magical craft. It had been smeared with pitch, and thin ropes were tied around it, trying to keep it from splitting any further.
Ayanna shot a stern look at Gum Baby, who was doing her best to avoid eye contact. “Someone was supposed to borrow it for an hour and ferry supplies to the workers rebuilding the market, but somehow that certain someone crashed into a minaret and nearly brought the whole tower down.”
“Gum Baby thought she saw a rainbow,” the little rascal said with a pout.
“Whatever happened, we have to go. Now,” I said. “Before someone comes along and tells us we’re being foolish.” I quickly summarized my exchange with John Henry, once more leaving out the details of his affliction. I didn’t know exactly how much Ayanna and Gum Baby knew, and a problem shared was a problem doubled. It was up to me alone to fix this.
“‘The Shamble Man is in the Storm Lands?” Ayanna said. “That doesn’t sound good. If he went where I think he did, we all might be in trouble.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Storm Lands is a nickname for Nyanza, the City of Lakes in the Grasslands. According to Annie, a powerful goddess lives there. If the Shamble Man attacks her…”
Ayanna didn’t finish the thought, but she didn’t have to. The image of John Henry fading away was seared into my mind. “I have to make sure that doesn’t happen,” I said grimly.
“We do,” Ayanna corrected.
“Yeah, stop hogging all the glory, Bumbletongue.” Gum Baby was unfolding her sap suit and preparing to climb inside it again. We all stared at her, and she looked around. “What? Not yet? Oh, excuse Gum Baby, she thought it was business time. Y’all still lollygagging. Gum Baby’s sorry, go ahead and waste a few more seconds. She’ll wait.”
I shook my head, but she was right. It was time to go. Before I took a step, Junior cleared his throat. “I can’t go with you.”
Ayanna frowned. “Why not?”
Personally, I didn’t care. No one had invited him anyway. But I kept my mouth shut and tried to seem shocked. “Oh no, why not?”
He rolled his eyes at me. “Nyame wants me to stay where he can see me.”
“Why does he care so much?” I asked. It was like Junior was on house arrest, which didn’t exactly make me want to trust him.
Junior shrugged. “All I know is, if I stray more than a few yards away from the palace, our favorite sentry statues stomp around the Golden Crescent trying to find me, or Miss Sarah and Miss Rose swoop down out of nowhere and yell at me. But I can at least distract them for you. Give you a chance to get a head start.”
“Oh,” I said, surprised at his offer. “That’s…actually pretty cool. Thanks.”
Junior raised an eyebrow. “I’m not doing it for you.” He turned and flashed his wide smile at Ayanna. “I’m doing it for her.”
Ayanna had the nerve to blush.
Aaaaand just like that, it was time to go.
We found Keelboat Annie at the marina, on the deck of her boat, yelling at the water.
“I don’t care if the waves itch! You better start actin’ right or Imma give you more than an itch to worry about.” The goddess looked up as I walked over with my eyebrows raised, Ayanna, Gum Baby, and Junior a few yards behind me. She’d changed into a long floral dress, and her hair was smoothed into a long braided ponytail that draped over her right shoulder. When she shook her head, it twirled circles in the wind. “’Scuse all the yelling. Some rivers are just always complaining.”
Behind me, Junior shuffled his feet. “Is she…arguing with the water?” I heard the boy whisper. “Orrrr…”
Gum Baby patted his ankle. She’d hitched a ride in the cuff of Junior’s pants. Good luck to him getting out those stains later. The morning I returned from Alke,
Granddad had looked at me for a solid five minutes when he’d caught me trying to wash the sheets from my first encounter with Gum Baby. You know the look. The Boy, if you don’t…look. Then he walked off grumbling and shaking his head, and the next day I found two bars of soap and a brand-new washcloth stacked on the dresser in my room.
Ayanna held back a laugh as Gum Baby started lecturing Junior in a very serious tone. “Sometimes when a goddess and the magical body of water that carries her everywhere love each other, they argue. Gum Baby’s seen it all the time. So no, it’s not about you. Take a seat.”
I jogged up to the boat. “Hey, Annie, do you think you can give us a lift? We have to get to the Grasslands region, and fast. To, uh…” I looked to Ayanna for help.
She snorted. “Nyanza.”
“Right,” I said. “Nyanza.”
Keelboat Annie whistled. “Nyanza, huh? That’s no pleasure jaunt. Especially with ole Frothy Bottom down there grumbling.”
“Please,” I said. “It’s an emergency!”
“What, the big shots in the palace couldn’t help you? You had to come back here to beg a ride from me?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” I said, stumbling over my words as I tried to think of a way to placate a ticked-off goddess. “It’s just—”
“BWA-HA-HA-HA-HAAA!” Keelboat Annie’s laugh exploded out of her, and the whole boat shook as she threw back her head and slapped the hull. “Hoo-whee! The look on your face. Get on in here, y’all, it ain’t no problem. Giving folks rides is what I do. Never let it be said Keelboat Annie is petty. Powerful, yes. Punctual, you betcha. But petty? I’ll leave that to high-and-mighties in the palace.”
