The cramped space between the walls felt like the only real place left. The water noise covered our words, but not the tension.
“You sure say your mama worth all this?” Chijioke said. His voice was low, like traffic from a nearby street.
“Yes na!” I huffed, the anger feeling good after so much fear.
Chijioke’s almost-smile was not a nice sight. “The vault is not a room. You think the Orishas are foolish? It is a core. A beating heart that moves. It is where they turn our pain into power.”
My weak hope shriveled. A moving target. How do you find a heart in a body this big?
“But there is a way,” Uzo said, his melted face shifting. “There is a record. A Census.”
Tunde nodded, his eyes bright. “I hear am for their mouth. The spirit wey dey run am, Eze, dey proud. He think say nobody fit touch am. He keep ledger for tablet. E get every soul there. Where dem dey. Their… strength.” He glanced at me, and I knew he meant my mother.
A ledger. A list with my mother’s name. The thought was a lightning strike.
“If we get this ledger,” Chijioke said, leaning in so close I could see the cracks in his spirit-form, “we see everything. We see where the vault’s core will be. We see the weak points. We fit make hole. Small one. Just enough.”
“A rescue mission,” I whispered.
“A sabotage mission,” Chijioke corrected, his eyes hard, locking onto mine. “Your mother is one soul. We break the flow, we hurt all of them. The mission is everything.” The way he said ‘everything’ felt like a door slamming shut.
The plan was simple and terrifying. During the next shift change, Tunde would cause a distraction. Uzo knew the back routes. Chijioke would grab the ledger.
“And me?” I asked.
“You dey look out,” Chijioke said, his tone dismissive. “You stand for corner. You see guard, you scratch your arm. Simple.”
Lagos had taught me that simple plans always broke. “And if they catch us?”
Chijioke’s gaze was a physical weight. He looked at me for a long second, and I saw no loyalty in his eyes, only cold calculation. “If dem catch us, you be human spy. Dem go kill you on sight. Me and Uzo? Dem go send us to the deepest part of the river. Tunde’s family go disappear.” He paused, letting the threat sink in. “So, we no go get caught. And if you think of running… remember, I know wetin you be. One word to the Mmuo and your mission end.”
The deal was sealed. I was on a leash. My secret was his insurance.
We broke apart, slinking back to our duties. I passed a still pool where the Orisha admired her reflection, a being of pure, flowing light. I caught a glimpse of myself beside her glory—a pale wisp of a thing, the bottomless eyes in my skull staring back. But at my temple, a single strand of hair was now grey. I stared at it. The amulet felt like a block of ice against my chest, sucking the warmth from my bones.
So I had a plan, and I had allies. But as I looked at that grey hair, I knew the cost was already being paid. Tomorrow, we would steal from a god. And my life was the smallest bet on a table where Chijioke was the only one holding all the cards