Atlantis
The dock’s fishy smell was making me nauseous. Or maybe it was just exhaustion and hunger.
At any moment, the chief’s soldiers could show up. Or the Adze. I don’t think any of us cared much, at this point. Come what may. Ejii stood at the very edge, looking out at the water. Who knew what she saw. Arif stood a ways off, looking at the deserted buildings behind us, his black shadows whirling around him. He seemed to be letting them loose more and more. Fadio and Lifted stood on the other side sharing a stick of gbana. I stretched out on the dirty wooden floor, listening to the water rush in and out below.
I looked back at Ejii, taking a moment to really think about her. Things had been moving so fast that I hadn’t had a chance to think about the kiss we’d shared. If I walked up behind her now and took her hand, she’d probably inundate me with images of terror and then shoot me with her seed shooter. I missed the Ejii I knew from our journey to Ginen. The Ejii who wasn’t so spiritually wounded yet. But then again, she’d probably say the same about me, I guess.
I allowed our kiss to flood my mind. Her lips had been soft and warm, she’d had a smile on her face. When she’d looked up at me afterward, in that moment, nothing burdened her. I got up and went to her. She glanced at me and then resumed looking at the horizon.
“I can’t see anything,” she said.
“That doesn’t mean nothing’s there.”
She nodded. “It’s funny,” she said. “When I was a little girl, I always wanted to come to Lagos.”
“Oh yeah?” I said, smiling.
“I knew it was too fast for me,” she said. “But everything seemed to happen in Lagos. Celebrities were always making appearances, the greatest variety of Changed came from there, and the weirdest news always came out of there. I figured I’d always be entertained and I’d fit right in.”
“In many ways, that’s true,” I said.
She shook her head and laughed. “No, I was only dreaming. This was when my father controlled my life. Back then, I knew I’d never leave Kwàmfà. Then after Jaa came along, everything in my future pointed to her. Even when I didn’t know it.” She paused. “Now she’s gone. Now my mother’s gone . . .”
We were silent.
She leaned close to me. I could feel her breast on my elbow, her warm breath in my ear. Every part of my body crackled like fat in a bonfire. “I’ve never told anyone this,” she whispered in my ear.
“Not even Arif?”
She shook her head.
“Told anyone what?” I asked, feeling lightheaded and suddenly nervous.
She grabbed my arm. I tried to pull away. “No,” I hissed.
“It’s the best way,” she said. “She showed this to me.”
• • •
Then I could smell saffron, red pepper, cardamom, and warmed honey. And I was feeling red silk over my face, over my arms. High-pitched laughter twittered around me like a flock of small birds, birds with sharp beaks made for stabbing. I looked around, I stood in a desert, before a pyramid. The wind blew dust and more of the sweet spicy smell. I inhaled it and felt rejuvenated.
Then I was more Ejii than me. At least in mind . . .
Ejii had many visions of the future, since the Old Woman had opened her up to them. They took her without her permission and they always showed her things that mattered. But this was different. Was this the past, present, or the future? Her visions only took her to the future, as when she fell into people only took her into the past and present.
“I died a wonderful death,” a voice said. With each word, blood-red flowers of all shapes and sizes fell to Ejii’s feet. “A warrior’s death, Ejii. I had to get out of your way so that you could play. When death comes, embrace it. It will come soon,” Jaa said. A pile of red flowers was piling before Ejii as Jaa spoke. “Three hundred trained, armed monsters.” She chuckled. “They put my sword to the test.” She laughed and several small red and yellow canary-like birds flew into the sky. “Dikéogu’s illness is Gambo’s. As is the cure.” Jaa paused. “Don’t fret about me, Ejimafor.” Her voice grew harsh with rage. “But you best kill that chief, that corrupted spirit of the bush.”
• • •
I came back to myself hearing a sound like the foghorn of a ship. I tried to focus on the water. Had someone come? No. The sound was coming from me. I was groaning, my mouth hanging open, saliva dribbling down the side. I closed my mouth and smacked my lips. My mouth felt dry and cracked.
“’Jii,” I slurred. “You ’ave to stop that.”
The look on her face sobered me up instantly. I’d never seen her look so nakedly terrified. She glanced at the others and then at me. “I fought like hell to stay alive,” she whispered. A rose fell to her feet.
Both our mouths fell open.
“Has that ever . . .”
“No,” she said, kneeling down to pick it up. She held it to her nose and then held it to mine. It smelled strong and fresh and felt like silk against my nostrils.
“After all that’s happened,” she said, “I don’t want to die yet.” She threw the rose into the water, where it floated. Bobbing up and down, slowly taken out to sea.
“Who said you . . .”
“Didn’t you hear what Jaa said? ‘When death comes, embrace it. It will come soon.’ I’m afraid to go to this place, Dikéogu.”
I couldn’t argue with her there. And what was all that business about me being ill? I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to go either. But behind us was only more trouble. If anything, I just wanted to be exactly where I was at that moment. I hesitated and then took her hand. She looked up at me and moved closer, resting her head against my chest as she looked back out at the horizon. Behind us, I could hear the whisper of Arif’s shadows. I didn’t dare look back.
“Something’s coming,” Ejii said.
I sighed. And I didn’t ask her to tell me what, either. Whatever it was would come regardless. After about a minute, Ejii laughed and let go of my hand. She turned to the others. “Get ready,” she said. “He’s coming.”
“What’s so funny?” I asked, despite myself. One minute she’s near tears and now she was laughing. That’s a woman-thing that continues to confuse me. I mean, was I supposed to be afraid or relieved? Annoyed? I chose to be afraid. Our ride was coming. That meant the journey to what I was sensing to be a horrible end was continuing. I also sensed, as Ejii did, that we were almost to that end.
I grabbed my backpack and then looked around as if there was something else to do. Lifted and Fadio took some remaining puffs from their gbana before throwing it in the water, where something large and pink snapped it up. Arif came striding to Ejii and me, a dark look in his eye. He looked at Ejii for too long. She didn’t look away. His shadows whirled around her, blowing the hem of her garments, but that was it.
“What is it?” Lifted asked.
“A fishing ship,” Ejii said. But she was still smiling. She’d also taken Arif’s hand and pulled him closer to her. What was Ejii playing at? What was Arif’s problem? Even after all we’d been through, some things still mattered. Like choosing.
Arif met my eyes. There was nothing in them but triumph. Honestly, I didn’t know I was competing. I didn’t know I had competition. Hell, I didn’t have competition. She’d kissed me. But then I thought about the earrings. She still wore them. A fishing ship was coming on the horizon to take us to goddamn Atlantis and this was all that clouded my brain. It would have been refreshing, if I weren’t so angry. Still, my moment of normalcy didn’t last long. It essentially lasted up to the moment I saw the fishing boat.
I don’t know anything about fishing, but to my eye, the boat seemed big enough. I’d bet about thirty people could stand on it without it having any problems. It had a roof made of a shiny, metallic pink cloth, and on the hull in big black block letters, it said, “Mami Wata’s Step-Brother.” A powerful motor whirred at the back, swiftly bringing the boat right up to the dock.
“So you’ve made it!” the Desert Magician proclaimed, standing on the very edge of the boat.
I groaned, rubbing my hand over my bushy hair. I was in no mood to deal with this guy or whatever he was. It always seemed to come back to him. The goddamn camelshitty Desert Magician. We are nothing but pawns. I’ve always felt this way. Even when I was back home, I felt something greater at work. Something that couldn’t care less about me as an individual. Something more than part unhinged.
He nimbly hopped off the boat and stood there for a moment staring at us. At least I thought he was staring at us. Who could tell what someone was looking at when he had dreadlocks covering his face? But I had a strong sense that this was what he was doing. And for that moment, I felt a sort of horror. You could feel his sight probing deep into you.
“You should have expected me, the keeper of the crossroads, dweller of borders,” he said. “You always need me to grant you access. To translate.” He didn’t move, slightly leaning forward. “You’ve lost so much, the five of you,” he said. “The princess Jollof made a choice. She was not surprised to meet death.” His words touched my ears and heart. It was the first time he’d ever sounded completely serious. “When a fire starts from the shrine, no precaution can be possible.” He nodded and looked at me. I was sure he was looking at me. I stepped back from his gaze. “Your owl sends greetings.”
“She . . . she’s with Dieuri, right?” I asked, grappling with the fear bubbling in my belly.
“She sits at his table as we speak. Tearing apart a mouse whose destiny will be different the next time around,” he said.
I stood up straighter. “Will you take us to Atlantis, magician?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Doesn’t it sound ridiculous? Atlantis. Not far from the Pillars of Heracles, according to the great white man, Plato. The great island containing a great civilization. Of course I will take you. It’s not far. Come aboard my ship and rest a bit.”
He pointed to Arif. “But you, my boy, come, let us talk first.”
We all got on, except for Arif, who walked toward the land to speak privately with the magician.
“Can you hear what they are talking about?” I asked.
“No,” Ejii snapped. “My ears aren’t like my eyes.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I said.
“I can’t read him, either.” She seemed panicked and I wasn’t sure why. “The magician is like a universe,” she said. “If I tried to read him or anyone near him, I think I’d die.”
When the magician and Arif returned to the boat, Arif took Ejii’s hand and took her to the far side of the boat. They put their heads close together as they talked. Honestly, Arif had always had a kind of nerve that really angered me. He had this habit of not explaining himself and just doing. Even if I stood next to them, I probably wouldn’t have heard all they shared. Two shadow speakers together are like having identical twins with organically dueled e-legbas. They communicated on so many levels, you couldn’t possibly keep up.
Anyway, what was peculiar was that Arif seemed to shine. In light. No shadows. The sun touched every part of him. I remembered the last time Ejii had met up with the magician. Her shadows hadn’t returned to her until we’d left the magician far behind. Maybe it was the same with Arif.
Thank God for at least that.