It didn’t hesitate to take the handfuls she offered it. She watched as it ate, noticing that it wasn’t just gray brown. When Anyanwu appeared beside her, so dim that Sunny suspected only she saw her, the grasscutter paused in its chewing. It sniffed at Anyanwu and then humphed and continued chewing. Its brown fur was tipped with white filaments that looked like thick spiderwebbing. Sunny frowned and took a chance and stepped closer. It watched her as she reached forth and touched its furry cheek. She’d been wondering what it felt like. Was it sticky like spiderwebbing? No. It was soft. So very soft.
When Chichi fed it, the creature left slobber all over her hand. Orlu shook his head at her, and she swallowed what was surely an exclamation of disgust. Sunny could have sworn she saw the grasscutter’s eyes twinkle. Chichi quickly moved behind Orlu and Sasha, fighting the urge not to rub her wet hand on her clothes.
“My name is Orlu and I am a human being,” he said. “This is Sasha. This is Sunny. And this is Chichi. We are on Earth, a planet. We will show you. Can you read?”
Sunny thought Orlu had lost his mind, but then the grasscutter grunted, shoving its tongue into the backpack and taking more than half the grass.
“Good,” Orlu said, smiling. “What is your name?”
Sunny gasped as the image burst in her mind. A huge field of green, green grass under a lovely sun in the sky. Chop! Chop! Chop! an enormous pair of flat teeth cut at the grass like a lawnmower.
“Grasscutter?” Orlu said. “That’s your name?”
It grunted. Another image burst into their heads. They saw Udide’s Book of Shadows suspended in midair. The pages opened up and flipped this way and that way until they found one of Udide’s many stories. An image of an old man and a grasscutter in deep discussion rose from the pages. The old Efik man had a strong accent. His yam farm was constantly raided by a grasscutter and he’d had to travel into one of its burrows to negotiate with it. In the story the grasscutter had liked how the man said its name.
Orlu pronounced it the way the old man did. “Grashcoatah? That’s how you want us to say your name?”
It affirmed a happy assent by blowing air through its nose.
Sasha laughed. “Oh my God.”
“Well, would you like another name?”
The grasscutter grunted an obvious no.
“Okay, Grashcoatah,” Orlu said. “We understand.”
“Ow!” Chichi screeched. “Who pinched me?!” She looked at Grashcoatah. “You did!”
Grashcoatah grunted gleefully and whipped and snapped its ten-foot-long narrow black tail.
“Well, most of us understand,” Orlu said. “Will you come with us?”
It took more grass from the backpack.
“We can show you more than more of this grass,” Sasha said. “We can show you a place where the grass is different colors!”
Grashcoatah purred deep in its belly, its eyes lidded with pleasure.
“Don’t lie to it,” Orlu said.
“I’m not,” Sasha said. “I heard that there are all kinds of weird grasses in Osisi.”
The ground vibrated as Udide approached them. “This is what you wanted?” she asked.
Grashcoatah suddenly disappeared down the cave behind them. But Sunny could hear its soft grunting. The creature was still there.
“Yes,” Sunny said.
“You will treat it well?” she asked. Sunny could sense the threat behind Udide’s question. Saying yes was only a small part of Udide’s request. If anything happened to Grashcoatah, they would suffer.
“Yes,” Sunny said.
“Then go,” Udide said. “But there is one thing.” She pointed a great leg at Chichi and then at Sunny. “The venom of my people is in both of you now. It will never leave you. It has decoded and bonded to your DNA. I can find you anywhere. I will know where you are at all times.”
Sunny shivered. In all the excitement, the ache of the bites had retreated to the back of her mind. Now she felt their heated ache again.
Chichi gasped.
“Yes, you know what I am talking about, Chichi. You know more than you let on. You are not ignorant. Not completely. You have heard rumor. You have heard myth. You have heard gossip. You know who to ask. When you finish this quest, bring me what is mine. Go to your people and bring it back. This one, Sunny, she is of the warrior clan of your people. She will be your ‘woman show,’ your bodyguard. If you don’t bring it back, I know where to find you.”
Chichi nodded, her eyes wide with terror.
“Smart child,” Udide said. She walked back to where she’d been when they first arrived. She turned onto her back and pressed her thick hairy legs to the ceiling. “Leave me. It’s a new year. Lagos is the tangled web I weave.”
The marbles rolled back to Sunny, and she picked them up. As they left the cave, escorted by a parade of the nastiest spiders Sunny had ever seen, Orlu explained to Grashcoatah that it had the power to make itself invisible. Then Orlu explained why it had to keep itself invisible. Grashcoatah, who glided above them, only grunted that it understood. Whether it would cooperate or not was something they’d have to learn when they exited the cave.
26
FLYING GRASSCUTTER
When they emerged from Udide’s cave into the harsh sun, Grashcoatah took its first look at the world outside. It grunted and then hummed deep in its belly. It did a slow turn in the sunshine, its large feet stomping on the dusty dirt ground. Then it shook out its furry brownish-white coat.
In the sunshine, Sunny could more clearly see its strange brown and white-tipped fur. The white parts were light and feathery and almost floated as if there was a breeze when there was none. She could also see that its eyes weren’t quite blue but a soft periwinkle color, like that of an alien ocean. Its eyes were lovelier than she’d initially suspected.
When it turned those mysterious eyes to her, she sighed. Its gaze was disarming. Yes, mysterious ocean was the perfect description; when Grashcoatah looked at her, she felt the flow of the ocean. The wilderness. Sunny wondered if the others felt the same watery sensation when it looked at them.
“Do you like the outside?” she asked.
It purred louder in affirmation.
Sunny smiled and said, “Well, you haven’t seen anything yet. But . . .” She glanced at Orlu and he nodded. “But . . . so that we can show you things and so that no one will harm you, you need to stay hidden.”
Grashcoatah suddenly disappeared right before her eyes. Sunny felt her entire body grow alarmed. This strange van-sized rodent with strange hair had been standing before her, and then, without one movement, it was gone. No matter how much magic she saw as a Leopard Person, she couldn’t seem to stop having moments like this. Moments where she felt her brain would break; her entire foundation of what is right and what is wrong, what is normal and what is not, what is possible and what is not seemed constantly on the verge of a complete meltdown.
Grashcoatah reappeared and then began to snort as it watched her. It was laughing. It knew precisely the effect its disappearance had on her, and it found this very funny.
“That is just wrong,” Chichi said, but she was smiling.
“Sunny, you should see the look on your face,” Sasha said. When she frowned at him, he stepped back, holding his hands before him, as he grinned. “I’m just saying, your reactions are so extreme. I can see why it’d want to scare the hell out of you. It couldn’t resist.”
Before she said anything, the beast stopped laughing and looked her square in the eyes. It stepped forward, and then it bowed slowly. The gesture was so charming, especially coming from a giant rodent, that Sunny forgot her anger. Grashcoatah nodded and then disappeared.
“See, no shaking,” Chichi said. “It’s going to cooperate.”
Mmmph, the invisible creature said. It was right beside Sunny, judging from the blast of warm beast breath Sunny felt on the sid
e of her face, blowing between her cornrows. Its breath smelled like the sweet incense her auntie in America liked to burn when she was stressed out.
“Thank goodness,” Sunny said. She turned toward where Grashcoatah probably was. “Thank you so much! We . . .”
“Not yet,” Orlu quickly said.
“Oh,” she said. “Oh . . . we, um, we really, really truly appreciate your understanding.” She frowned at Orlu. Grashcoatah only thought it was going with them to Osisi. If they didn’t ask it now about carrying them there, then when? When they needed to leave? No one, not even a smart beast, liked to be asked such things right before the favor had to be done. But for the moment, she was relieved. At least they would manage to get back to her brother’s friend’s place more easily. How long had they been gone? A few hours? He’d be really worried.
“One thing at a time,” Orlu said.
She nodded. At least one phase of their journey was behind them now; they were done with Udide. And now Grashcoatah was going to stay invisible and thus avert the chaos and disaster of a bunch of Lambs seeing what they’d only deem a monster.
Getting the flying grasscutter back to Adebayo’s aunt and uncle’s house was a nightmare.
It was such a ridiculous disaster that Sunny couldn’t stop laughing and saying, “There is a haunted basement with all of our names on it waiting for us at the bottom of the Obi Library!” Then she’d laughed harder as the driver of the kabu kabu carrying her, Chichi, Sasha, and Orlu whimpered and whined as he stared into the rearview mirror and pressed down on the accelerator. Grashcoatah had a sick sense of humor and he (Sunny had just seen Grashcoatah fly overhead and, yes, Grashcoatah was definitely a he) had zero intention of staying hidden to the world.
At first things were okay. Strange, but okay. When they’d arrived at the back entrance to the market, about a fifth of a mile from the entrance to Udide’s cave, they found the market booming. It was packed with people as if it were the middle of any non-holiday week.
On top of this, as soon as they stepped past the first couple of booths, Sunny’s cell phone began to buzz like crazy as it received text message after text message.
“Are you kidding?” Sunny whined as she shoved past a group of women waiting in front of a woman selling large tomatoes.
Orlu grabbed her hand when she got through, pulling her closer. She felt her phone buzz again, this time indicating that she had voicemails, too. “No, I’m not,” he said. “What do your eyes tell you?”
Her eyes told her what she knew was the truth. At least a day had passed since they’d entered Udide’s cave. The New Year was well on its way.
“Udide loves a good story,” Orlu said. “So why not thicken our own plot by throwing us off a few days?”
Sunny felt ill. She knew exactly what all her messages were about. She just didn’t know how severe. Were they from her brother or her parents?
“Hurry up,” Chichi said over her shoulder. Sunny and Orlu hurried after them. Chichi was right. Grashcoatah had told them he would meet them on the outside of the market. It was best not to keep him waiting.
The chaos began long before they made it out of the market. It started with nervous whispering and people losing interest in buying. Sunny caught snippets of conversation.
“Need to get out of here . . .”
“. . . . the other way.”
“Something near the . . .”
“. . . if they’re armed robbers, I have my cutlass . . .”
The four of them kept moving, and soon they found themselves fighting against a tide of increasingly terrified people. Sunny and Orlu grabbed a wooden pole as the deluge of people increased, sweeping past them. Some were screaming, all were rapidly fleeing. When the tide of people slackened, Sunny saw that Sasha and Chichi were clinging to another pole. They silently looked at one another and then broke into a run. When they emerged from the market, the normally packed entrance was deserted. The last few people were fleeing in cars, okada, and on foot. There was a great cloud of dust rising in the open area in front of the market, and Sunny’s stomach dropped.
“You didn’t!” Sasha shouted at the settling dust.
“Don’t!” Orlu said. “Don’t acknowledge him.”
Sasha immediately understood, closing his mouth. He stopped running and walked back between an abandoned cassava-and-melon stand and a booth selling bunches of bushy green ugwu and water leaves. Sunny stepped up behind him. “Why would he do that?”
Sasha laughed. “He thinks this is all funny.”
“I’ll bet he landed in the middle of everyone and appeared for a second and then disappeared,” Chichi said. “Just long enough to make people think they saw something and not be sure of what they saw. There are Leopard rules for beasts like Grashcoatah, too. If he causes too much trouble, the Library Council would come and put him down.”
Sasha nodded. “Yeah, appear for a millisecond and let Nigerians do the rest. Y’all already superstitious as hell. An owl landing in a tree will cause a riot. It doesn’t take much.”
“We have to get him out of here,” Orlu said. “Before people come back, out of curiosity.”
“I have an idea!” Sunny said. She felt giddy, pleased with herself. “Sasha, Chichi, throw out two Ujo. Strong ones. That way all Lambs will be too irrationally scared of this place to come near. And since both of you can produce strong Ujo, we’ll have a large perimeter around the grasscutter.” She pointed at the ugwu and water leaves beside them. “It’s not grass, but maybe we can get his attention with it. He’s certainly never tasted it before. Orlu, you’re good with animals, you approach him. I’ll stand behind you with more leaves.”
They all paused, looking at Sunny. Then Sasha grinned. “Nice one.”
Chichi brought out her juju knife and worked an Ujo. Sasha did the same, throwing his in the opposite direction. Orlu grabbed a bunch of leaves. Sunny reached into her pocket and brought out some naira and placed it in the money box beneath one of the largest bunches. Then she grabbed some ugwu leaves and followed Orlu.
As soon as they stepped out into the open, Sunny heard Grashcoatah humph deep in his throat. Then he made a wheezing laughing sound. “I hope you’ve had your fun,” Orlu said firmly.
Grashcoatah laughed some more, appearing slowly before them. He eyed the leaves they carried, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed toward them. He took a step forward, and Orlu and Sunny stopped.
“Just as you know how to read,” Orlu said, “you know what will happen to you if you show yourself again. Here, this is for you.”
“Pff!” Grashcoatah said, defiant. He rushed forward, and Orlu and Sunny jumped back as Orlu told Grashcoatah, “No, no, no! Not like that.”
Grashcoatah stopped, eyeing them with his large beautiful eyes.
“You want this? I know you can take it. But we know this world and you do not. You carry Udide’s knowledge, but you don’t have access to it all. I know. I’ve read about your kind. We’ll explain our world to you, we can show you books to read, we can tell you about foods you’d love to eat.” He held up his leaves. “These are ugwu leaves and we Igbo people use them in ogbono and egusi soup. They have a nice taste and . . .” He looked at Sunny. “Hold them up!”
Sunny held up her bunch of leaves. “Those,” Orlu said, turning back to the listening creature, “are water leaves. They . . .” He turned to Sunny with a frown. “Do you know what they’re used in? I’m not a cook. I barely know ugwu!”
Sunny shook her head.
“It’s used in edikaikong soup. That’s an Efik dish.” Chichi said from behind Grashcoatah. As Grashcoatah turned to look at her, she pointed at her chest. “I’m half Efik and half Igbo.”
“Sunny and I are Igbo people,” Orlu added. “These are human . . . ethnic groups. Do you know the word ‘ethnic’? Tribes?”
Grashcoatah grunted and stomped his foot. Then he look
ed at Sasha who was standing by his side.
“I’m . . . I’m American,” he said. He grinned. “African American. I have no tribe. Not one that I know of at least.” When the Grashcoatah just looked at him, waiting, Sasha quickly went on to tell Grashcoatah the story of the stolen Africans, the thieving Europeans who stole them, the Native American peoples who got wrapped up in it all, and how he was a descendant of “all that bullshit.”
Grashcoatah listened with complete interest and attention. Clearly, he loved stories just like his mother, Udide the Spider. Then Grashcoatah ate the ugwu and water leaves ravenously; he liked the water leaves much more and went on to eat every leaf in the abandoned booth. The four of them had to pool several naira together to pay for the creature’s meal.
Sunny was relieved when they finally got the grasscutter to consent to fly with them back to Adebayo’s house on Victoria Island. Grashcoatah agreed to fly above them while they caught a kabu kabu. As soon as Grashcoatah disappeared, they got moving. Who knew how long it would be before the creature had another urge to scare the hell out of the citizens of Lagos.
They’d had to walk about a quarter of a mile before they found a kabu kabu who would stop. Chichi and Sasha’s Ujo spell was indeed strong and far-reaching. Up to that point, if there was even a person nearby, he or she would have such a look of terror on his or her face that none of them even wanted to speak to the person. There were several okada that had been abandoned by their terrified drivers as well. Sunny was relieved that none of them had crashed. And people driving cars kept coming and then making a U-turn and screeching off.
“Make na come in!” the driver shouted at them. He was a young man with a shiny bald head, a neat goatee, and a wild nervous look in his eye. “Heard there was something happening around here and where things are happening, there are people who need rides. But the closer I get to the market, the more I feel like I SHOULDN’T BE HERE!”
They jumped in the car and Sunny was pulling the door shut as he sped into a wild U-turn and drove them off, shouting something frantic in Yoruba and then whooping with fear. The farther they got from the market, the more the man calmed, and soon he was back to being rational. As he drove, he apologized over and over. “I’ve had a long day,” he said. “I get you where you need to go, no shaking, no shaking.”
Akata Warrior Page 26
