Nadia Knox and the Eye of Zinnia

by Jessica McDougle

  “Is this normal?” Mrs. Haynes asked Bantu as she snapped pictures of the birds from different angles.

  "No…" Bantu hesitated. "Birds don't usually get this close to humans; they mostly stay in the trees in this area."

  “What do you think has got them down on the ground?” my dad asked.

  “I’m not sure, but something seems off,” Bantu said, scratching his head.

  Suddenly the red bird and blue bird began to sing. Their whistles sounded like wind chimes tinkling and high pitched. When their song stopped, a small green bird hopped from the bush. The green bird turned to face us, but instead of a beak and little bird eyes, the green bird had a human face.

  “Vidogo,” Bantu said anxiously.

  “What’s a vidogo?” asked Mr. Haynes.

  “They are the helpers of Guardian Souls” Bantu answered. Opening his wings, the green bird showed a tiny spear that he had been holding. Smiling wryly, the tiny bird chirped and the others pulled out their spears, falling into a triangle formation. “Nobody make any quick moves,” Bantu said calmly. “They are attracted by movement and sound.”

  “What are they going to do?” Chris asked.

  “I’m not sure, but I’m sure they were sent by the guardian soul,” Bantu answered.

  “But they can’t touch us, can’t they?” Charlotte asked.

  Before Bantu could answer, Teddy yelled, “They can't touch us if they can't catch us!" and took off running further down the ridge.

  "Teddy, no!" Bantu yelled, sprinting after him. The vidogo followed, half-hopping and half-running behind them.

  “Nadia, do something,” my mom yelled, grabbing my arm. I looked down at my necklace and saw that the Eye of Zinnia was just a small green marble sitting in the middle of the medallion, not glowing, not shining, just sitting.

  Looking back at my mom, I said, "I don't think there's anything I can do. These aren't Guardian Souls. I don't know how to get rid of them."

  "Well, we're not going to sit here and watch," Chris said, running behind the birds.

  Following Chris's lead, we all ran after them. By the time we caught up with them, they had Bantu and Teddy cornered up against a tree. Spears raised in the air, the birds let out a tinkling war cry and began hopping towards Bantu and Teddy.

  “What do we do?” Charlotte cried.

  “I’m not sure, but if they are like birds, maybe they’ll like the same things birds like,” Chris said. Pulling out a granola bar, he crumbled it into chunks in his hand. Following his lead, we all did the same. “On the count of three, toss the granola bar,” Chris said. “One.., two…three…”

  Tossing with all of our might, we let the granola bar fly into the air in the opposite direction of Teddy and Bantu. Hearing the granola hit the ground, the vidogo turned and looked behind them. First, the little green bird hopped over to the granola, holding a piece of it in his tiny baby- sized hands. Watching him, the others followed. As they studied the granola, we tiptoed away from them and headed in the direction of the river.

  "Phew," Teddy said. "I thought I was a goner for sure."

  “You shouldn’t have run like that, Teddy. You put everyone in danger,” Bantu said.

  “You said that Guardian Souls couldn’t touch us,” Teddy protested.

  "But vidogo are not Guardian Souls. They are only their helpers. They are not bound by the same rules as Guardian Souls."

  “What rules are they bound to?” Teddy asked.

  "I'm not sure. I have only heard stories of vidogo, I have never seen them in person until now."

  “So, guys, I hate to interrupt, but they’re back,” Chris said, pointing behind us.

  As we followed his gaze, we saw the little colorful birds half-hopping, half-running with their spears pointed towards us.

  “Should we run now?” Teddy asked, looking up at Bantu.

  “Yes, we should run now,” Bantu said.

  As we sprinted down the ridge, the vidogo followed, letting their trill war cry fill the air.

  “Quickly, we’re almost there,” Mrs. Haynes panted. “Maybe Uru can help.”

  As we rounded the corner just before the river, the vidogo began closing the gap between us. Tiny spears flew past our knees.

  "Ow!" Teddy said as tiny spear poked him in the back of the leg. "That hurts worse than a paper cut."

  But as we got closer to Uru, the vidogo began to slow down. "There she is!" Charlotte shouted, pointing to where she was waiting for us by the river. When we got to where Uru was standing, the vidogo stopped completely. They let out angry chirps, looking between us and the river, waving their arms as if they were trying to fly. Water splashed from the river onto the shore. The vidogo hopped angrily, screeching at the water.

  "I don't think they like water much," I said pulling out my canteen.

  "If they don't like water, let's give them water," Teddy said, spraying the red bird. Screeching as if the water burned, the little red bird hoped backward, trying to get away from it. Stumbling over the feet of the blue bird, the red bird fell backward into the river with a tiny splash. The other vidogo watched their little friend flap frantically as he swirled and spun with the river's current, then they hopped into the water after him, crying out as the water wet their feathers and soaked their faces.

  “Wow, that was strange,” Charlotte said as she put her canteen back in her knapsack.

  “Come on, Uru is waiting for us,” my mom said.

  Uru didn't have any supplies except what she was carrying in a small brown satchel tied around her waist.

  "Sorry, we're late. You won't believe what happened on our way here. We were attacked by the vidogo," my mom said, wiping her brow.

  “The vidogo are pets of the Guardian Souls,” Uru said. “Let’s get on our way so that we will reach the midway point by midday.”

  “Uru,” my dad said, walking up to her, “how are we traveling, and exactly where are we traveling to?”

  "We are first going by river. We will sail the length of the river until it forks to split in two different directions."

  "And then what?" Chris asked, securing his life jacket.

  “I will only tell you information as needed, and right now that’s all you need.”

  While Uru was talking, Bantu and Mr. Haynes retrieved our canoes from our last river trip and carried them to the ridge. I was a little nervous with Uru being in our canoe. It was hard enough paddling with four people. Who knew how difficult it was going to be with a fifth person?

  The beginning of the trip started just like the trip before, dodging roots and rocks in the river. As we floated slowly down the river, I looked over at Charlotte. I could tell she was remembering her last experience in a canoe. I could understand why she was nervous. The expression on her face looked like she didn't know whether to cry or throw up.

  The further down the river we got, the deeper the water seemed to get, and the harder it was to paddle. It was almost as if we were trying to paddle uphill.

  "Uru, how much farther?" asked Mr. Haynes, sweat pouring from his brow.

  “We must keep going. Soon the fish will start to jump, and it will get more difficult.”

  “Fish jumping? Like salmon?” Charlotte asked.

  "No, not like salmon, closer to piranha," Uru said without looking up. As we kept traveling up the river, we got farther and farther away from the shore, sailing into what looked like a wall of swamp trees. The trees created a canopy covering us from sunlight. We had only been traveling a couple of hours, but the African sun was merciless on the river. The emerald green water reflected light like it was a mirror which seemed to make the heat more intense, so the shade from the trees was welcome.

  “Thank goodness for a little relief,” my dad said, fanning himself with his sunhat.

  "Yeah, no kidding," Teddy said.

  Looking around, I was amazed by the beauty of our surroundings. It was like a postcard. Then all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something pop out of the water.
It was like a pinkish-orange flash, gone just as quickly as it appeared. A few minutes later there was another, and then several more.

  “Flying fish,” Chris called out.

  "Be careful!" Uru shouted. "Don't let them land on you. They will bite you. They are carnivorous, and a group of them could devour a grown man in half an hour!"

  Just as Uru said this, one flew up at Teddy’s face, knocking him out of the canoe.

  Everyone began shouting frantically. “You must get him out of the water!” Bantu said. Reaching over, I snatched the paddle out of Charlotte’s hands and stuck it out to Teddy.

  “Charlotte, help me pull him up,” I called out behind me. Looking back, I saw that Charlotte was stuck in shock. I shook her with my left hand. “Charlotte, snap out of it, we’ve got to get him out of the water.”

  “Huh? What?” Charlotte stammered.

  “Help me get Teddy!”

  Looking into the water, Charlotte saw Teddy trying to fight of the fish flying at his face. Finally realizing what was going on, Charlotte wrapped her arms around my waist and said, “Okay, I’m ready, we can do this.” Sticking the paddle out over the water, just above Teddy’s head, we tried to get low enough so that Teddy could reach it.

  “Grab on quickly!” Bantu said, as Charlotte and I balanced ourselves on the edge of the canoe. Teddy splashed as hard as he could to get to the paddle. All the while, fish were flying at him, trying their best to land on his skin. There was so much commotion in the water it was hard to see where Teddy was and how close he had gotten to the canoe. Mr. Haynes was holding Mrs. Haynes back so that she wouldn’t jump into the water with him.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, Teddy was able to get a good grip on the paddle. Charlotte and I used every muscle we had to pull him back into the canoe. Once he was safely back in the boat, Mrs. Haynes and Charlotte began checking him for bites and other injuries.

  “You are a lucky boy,” Uru called from the other canoe. “Falling into this river and only having a couple of bite marks and some scratches. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen someone get so lucky in these waters, especially someone your size.”

  “I thought I was a goner for sure,” Teddy said, trying to catch his breath. “Again.”

  It was a pretty bad day for Teddy.

  “Look,” Charlotte said, “the a fork!”

  “Alright everyone! Paddle towards the right side of the fork,” said Uru. As our canoes slid down the right side of the fork, the water seemed to get a lot lower, until it was so shallow we had to get out of the canoes and walk through the water. “From here we will have to walk until we get to the waterfalls in the mountains.”

  “Waterfalls?” I said.

  “Yes,” said Uru. “Ruby Falls. It gets its name from the color of the sun at sunset. It looks like a large ruby in the sky.”

  As we sloshed through the river, the sun was at its highest point in the sky, signifying midday. “I’m hungry,” Chris said as we were walking.

  “We have to keep going. We want to reach our destination before dark,” my dad said, handing him a granola bar.

  Once we reached the waterfalls, we were surprised to find out that our next direction was up. We had to climb up the falls, which is a lot harder than it sounds. The rocks in the mountains are sharp and jagged, and you have to grab on just right so that they don't slice your hand. Just looking up at the mountain made my hands sweat. I couldn't believe my dad did it for fun. The thought of having to go up a mountain without any line tethered to my waist made me dizzy.

  "I'll wait for you guys down here," I said wiping my damp hands on my shirt.

  "Don't be silly, you got this," my dad said patting me on the shoulder. Shaking my head, I took a step backward.

  “No thanks, I don’t think I can.”

  "It is alright Nadia. You will be fine," Bantu said.

  "We must get going. We don't have much sun left," Uru said starting to climb.

  As I watched everyone else climb up, I began to feel light headed.

  “Nadia,” Bantu called down. “I cannot fight this fight alone.”

  I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and reached up to grab the first rock I could get. Placing my foot on a low rock, I boosted myself up. I could feel the sharp rock pressing into my sweating hand. As I kept climbing, I could feel the sweat pouring down my arms. Just as I was about to make another step my hand slipped. I tried to swing myself back towards the mountain so that I could try to get a grip on another rock. Out of nowhere came a small gray bird flapping in my face. Trying to swat the bird away I accidentally looked down. Seeing how far away from the ground I was I got nervous. Feeling dizzy, I froze up.

  “Nadia, where are you?” I heard Charlotte calling from above my head.

  "I'm still climbing," I called back in a small voice.

  "You can do it, Nadia, just keep looking up and you'll be fine." She called back.

  Taking a deep breath, I gathered my courage and grabbed hold of a rock and pulled myself up and started climbing. By the time I got to the top with everyone else, I was exhausted. They patted me on the back while I wiped my hands on my shirt and took a long sip from my canteen.

  “Where do we go next?” asked Mrs. Haynes running her fingers through her wind tangled curls.

  “Are we going to the top of the mountain?” Teddy asked.

  “No, we are going through the waterfall,” Uru replied.

  “Through the waterfall? You’re joking, right?” asked Charlotte. “Isn’t it up against the mountain?”

  "You will see. Water creates illusions. We see what we think should be there, not what really is," Uru answered. "We must all hold hands very tightly. If the chain is broken, we will not be able to enter the waterfall. We will choke from the force of the water."

  “I can’t do this,” Charlotte said.

  “Yes you can,” I said, squeezing her left hand tightly. On my other side was Bantu, squeezing my left hand. Soon we were all joined, pressing hands tightly together, and without another word, Uru lead us to the waterfall.

  I could hear Charlotte breathing loudly in my ear. I squeezed her hand. "Just keep your feet moving, and you'll be fine," I told her.

  “Everyone take a deep breath and prepare to go through the waterfall,” Uru said.

  Stepping into the waterfall was an experience like I had never had before. It was like ice-cold needles stabbing my sun-parched skin. It was hard to see anything with the water showering down on us, not to mention the waterfall covered a cave, which was dark.

  "Keep walking straight," Uru called. The loud sound of the cold water crashed against my ears making everything sound muffled. Once we made it through the cave, we were standing on a ledge overlooking beautiful flowers and luscious fruit trees. Butterflies decorated the air like tiny colorful helium balloons bobbing in the air.

  "This is amazing," Chris said.

  As we listened to Chris' voice bounce off the rocks surrounding us, I could hear the sound of rushing water. I assumed that was the waterfall until we started climbing down the other side of the ledge. As we climbed down, I could hear Chris ask, "Is that the ocean?"

  “I seriously doubt that it’s the ocean,” Charlotte said. “We’re nowhere near the coast.”

  "Look!" Chris said motioning with his head.

  Looking down, I felt the blood rush to my head. Realizing how high we were, my hands began to sweat. I started remembering how much I didn't like heights.

  "I probably shouldn't have looked down," I said squeezing my eyes shut to make everything stop spinning. Once I opened them again, I could see what looked like black sand with turquoise waves rushing to and from the shore.

  “This is amazing. How is this possible, if there is no ocean here?” my dad whispered.

  “Some things must remain secret,” Uru said looking sternly at him. Once we reached the ground, Mrs. Haynes wasted no time taking pictures.

  “This is spectacular,” she said, rushing around snapping pictures.
Beautiful gray birds flew over our heads calling out to one another.

  "It's like being inside a Ndeveni painting," Chris whispered in awe. We were so distracted by the beauty behind the waterfall that we didn't notice the women walking around carrying baskets.

  “Welcome to Maji territory, land of the mermaids,” Uru said with a smile.

  Chapter Twelve

  Uru stood in front of us at the entrance of their village. She had her hands out.

  "Before you go any further you must first be blessed, or else the enchantment on our territory will be disrupted." Holding her hands high above her head, she closed her eyes. In a sing-song voice she spoke, "Be pure of heart, and swift in hand, enter these visitors into our sacred land." As she spoke, she touched each of our hands. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or not, but I swear I could feel the power of the enchantment run through the palms of my hands as Uru touched them. With my fingertips still tingling, I turned with the rest of the group towards the entrance of the village.

  Uru led us through the massive wooden gate and stopped just beyond the shadow of the protective wall.

  "This is unreal," Charlotte gasped. As she looked around, she caught the attention of one of the women holding baskets.

  The lady walked over to our group. Her face was very stern as her eyes surveyed each one of us. Catching sight of Uru, she spoke in a quiet, friendly voice, “Welcome back, Uru. Who have you brought with you?”

  "Simone, this is Bantu. He has come along way to show his friends part of his heritage. I offered to show them all the part that he didn't know."

  Looking at each of us, Simone asked politely, "What has interested you about our people?"

  All of a sudden I began to feel very uncomfortable. As I waited to hear how my parents were going to answer, I watched a small group of girls playing a game with some brightly colored ribbons, and my stomach began to ache.

  "We came to Africa in search of a lost tribe, and it turns out that the tribe we found is not the tribe we should have been looking for," my dad answered politely.