64

The door shuts so loud. It wakes me up from my slumbers. I groan and cover my eyes from the light glaring through the curtains. Wake up. Wake up. I close my eyes tighter. My efforts don't bring back my sleep.
The first thing I see when my eyes can tolerate the light is my mother's face hovering over me. She's so close I can practically count the freckles splashed all over her nose and cheeks.
I groan. "Hmm. Get off me, Mama."
She narrows her eyes to the space beside me. That's when I remember.
D'ziko.
I tear out of bed. An angry Mama can only mean one thing. She knows about D'ziko.
I also realise that it's the middle of the night. The clock reads a minute after midnight. Why is Mama awake at this time? Why the hell is she in my bedroom?
Mama screams at the top of her lungs for him to get out of her house. D'ziko plays dead. I know he's awake though. The way his body moves. How tense he is. I also know why he's not moving, to protect Mama.
If she sees his face... Leza forbid it'll be the last thing she ever sees.
"What the hell is going on in here?" Mama asks no one in particular. Anger flashes into her eyes, her lips have flattened into a thin line. "Get up. Get up." She pounds her fists repeatedly into his back.
"Oh, so this is the reason ya've been eating in yer bedroom? How long have ya been sneaking him in here? Was it--" she stops herself. She's noticed the ten pairs of sneakers by the wall.
I brace myself. I've never seen her so angry, so disappointed. She waits a long time before continuing.
"He...he lives here? Under my roof? Leza, Imani. Have ya been using some kind of protection?"
I take her arm. "Mama let's talk about this, please."
She shakes me off, furious. "ya know what happened to me right?" Now she sounds worried. "ya know how hard it was for me? ya want to be like me? A single mother? He'll leave, they all do eventually."
"It's not like that with us Mama--"
“Nonsense. It is--”
"He's my life mate, okay?" The truth spits out before I can stop myself.
She freezes. Her eyes glare, unblinking. "Life mate...?"
“Ja, Mama." But I say it too quickly. I don't have to be a mind reader to know that she’s already figured out there’s more to the story.
I wish there wasn't more. Mama wants to hear more. I don't wanna say more. She thinks for a moment. "Which one?"
The longer the silence stretches; the faster her eyes shift between me and D'ziko; the edgier I become. Finally she stares directly at me. I avert my eyes.
My vision is blurring. I still can't find my voice.
“Who is it?” Her voice grows harder.
I jolt. "D'ziko."
“Ex-Excuse me?” Her fist ball and she takes a step toward me. "The murderer? D'ziko?"
I take two back. “I'm sorry Mama.”
Mama grabs me by the collar of my pink shirt. I brace myself for a slab. It doesn't come. She just sighs, turns her back to me and walks away.
Why didn't she hit me? It would’ve been better than silence. Why isn't she screaming? Demanding more information? Anything is better than a cold shoulder.
"Wait," I call. She keeps walking, muttering angrily. Mama's walking so fast that she almost trips herself in the process.
“Mama,” I say. “Listen, please.”
She gives me a withering look.
I run to keep her pace. "Let me explain Mama, please. Let's sit down and talk please."
Unlike during the day, the hallway is deserted. I follow Mama to her bedroom. It also has a kitchen area, walk-in closet and herbal room.
"There's nothing to talk about." She looks puzzled for a moment, then her face clears. "ya've betrayed yer own people. ya've chosen that monster over us."
"Just listen Mama. Give me a chance,"
Her bedroom is cool and poorly lit. We're in the kitchen area now. She whirls so fast that I'm startled. I have to grab the table to keep my feet firmly on the ground.
"Please Mama. I'm sorry." I pull up a chair and offer it to her. "I apologise. What I--we--did was very disrespectful. I want ya to know that I know that."
She sags into it. “What were ya thinking, Imani?” she asks “Bringing a fugitive here?”
"He had nowhere else to go,” I say. "Mama, he was set up. He's actually Leza's son, not her killer. He's been framed."
Mama looks at me like I'm completely deranged. "Do ya know the risk ya put us in?"
"Mama, I understand and I'm sorry,” I say, feeling a lump in my throat. "He's innocent and we're so close to proving that. Someone set him up."
Close? We’ve made no progress at all but Mama doesn’t need to know that.
"What if someone had seen him?"
“I know, Mama,” I say, promptly.
"What if yer brother had gotten hurt?" She almost chokes on the words. "I want that... thing out of my house."
Ironically, it's D'ziko's house.
“What?” I briefly close my eyes. "He's got nowhere else to go."
And besides the Sky-God wants him here. If anything, Mama and I have no right to be here. I hesitate. Maybe I should let Mama know this.
"Now, Imani. Now."
"Please,” I say, grabbing her arm. Mama. Let's talk first."
She sighs. "Imani."
Kaseke burges into the room, sleep dishevelled and slightly hangover. He's naked. He sleeps in the nude. His eyes frantically search the room. "What's the matter, Mama?"
"yer sister's bedroom. D'ziko. Kitchen. Now."
Kaseke has the grace to look appalled. "D'ziko...?" He rubs at his eyes with his fist. "Here?"
I frown at him. What’s his game plan. And then I realise, Mama would kill us both if she were to find out Kaseke knew and kept it from her. She'd be hurt that both of us didn't trust her to keep my secret.
"Now, Kaseke."
My brother tears out of the kitchen and down the hallway. When he returns, a fully clothed, masked D'ziko follows him.
Mama motions with her hand over the chairs. I go to sit near D'ziko on the opposite side of Mama and she says, pointing at me. "ya. Here."
I sit next to her. Kaseke and D’ziko sit next to each other.
Mama's head swivels back and forth between me and D'ziko. "Someone better start explaining."
Here it is: the moment of truth.
"I'm still a virgin Mama and D'ziko and I don't even hold hands, let alone kiss.” All true except for the touching part. And kissing. “Nothing happened. I swear. He's here because I offered. He didn't even want to be here. I persisted."
We go silent.
"How hard was it to resist?" Mama asks D’ziko, unable to contain her suspicion much longer.
"I'm so sorry, Mama Kaseke,” D'ziko says. "I didn't mean no disrespect on ya or yer daughter or yer house."
His house. This is the moment to tell her everything, the reason we moved here, queen mother bringing Leza’s message, stealing the Bakantwa Sword, D’ziko’s sword.
"ya were in my daughters bedroom. Taking advantage of it. Typical boy."
D'ziko looks helplessly at Mama. "As Imani said, nothing happened. We just slept. All through the night. There was no holding of anything. I didn't even look at her--" He stares at my chest and gulps. I feel suddenly faint. "Her--"
Oh Leza! I want to die.
I look at my life mate, shaking my head violently. "D'ziko!” I manage out.
His eyes lower. "Sorry," he says, seeming to realise how further he’s digging our graves. “I didn't see… I mean, I've never seen her--”
“D'ziko!” I say.
He goes silent.
Thankfully, Mama decides to let it go. She runs a hand through her hair. "Where's yer daddy, boy?"
"Heavens,” D'ziko says, and proceeds to tell Mama about Leza and Thor and Rori. He tells her about his grandparents, about living in the woods with Whele, about his father's yearly visits. About the woman that's pretending to be his mom. Whele pays her to do it. "So Mama had me here. A year later she was killed."
"So ya're seventeen, correct?” she asks, sounding like a perfect imitation of a recognition hungry journalist.
D’ziko nods. “Ja, Madam Rowena."
"How long has this been going on?" she asks. It is in the same voice she uses when she speaks of Queen Mother and Papa as a couple.
So my parents sleep on separate bedrooms? No surprise there. What's surprising is why they got back together in the first place. Unless...it was all for show. At least for Mama. She knows people would expect her to take him back since she claims Papa's her life mate. Papa only came back to our family because of the weight our last name now carries.
Theirs is a union of convenience.
I swallow. "Sixteen weeks?"
“What?” Mama looks at me. At the pair of us.
I can’t think of anything to say. I don’t try to justify. Instead, I fidget with my fingers.
We all wait breathlessly for her to calm down. She flickers a dismissive glance at my silly blush and I just know all is forgiven. She may not approve but she's no longer angry.
"So who do ya think set ya up?" Mama asks D’ziko.
He looks up. "The person who claimed to have seen me kill the Sky-God."
"Mawu?" she asks, giving me a worried look. “He says he saw the whole thing happen.”
Now that makes a lot of sense. When the Sky-God died, King Father and his mother were quick to take the throne. When Mawu lied about D'ziko he knew what our people would do. He knew they’d want D’ziko dead, and now he knows D’ziko is my life mate and he's trying to kill us.
Mama frowns. “Noddon isn't that big. How did ya manage to stay a secret?” --she looks D'ziko up from head to waist, where the rest of his body is concealed by the tabletop -- “because dear Gods, ya don't look like the athletic type.”
I’m mortified. “Mama!”
D'ziko gets up and laces his fingers through mine. “It's okay, Imani. I think it's about time I showed ya how I get around. How I really manage to remain a myth.”
“I thought ya'll didn't even touch,” she says, her eyes on our hands. But she's smiling.
D'ziko chuckles nervously. He walks to the window. He looks once over his shoulder and we all get the message: follow me. And we do.
He opens the window and sits on the ledge.
“Dear Gods!” Mama says. “Boy, get down from there. ya won't make the fall.”
Kaseke looks at me with pity. “This brah is stupid. Who takes risks like this?”
Is D'ziko crazy? We're on the twelfth floor. Hello.
Kaseke holds my hand. His shake or is it mine? Mama closes her eyes and screams as D'ziko let's go and he vanishes into the night. We all run to the window and peer outside. Please Gods let him be okay. Let him be okay. Please. Please. Please.


"D'ziko!" I call as soon as I lay my eyes on him. My whole body exhales.
I turn my gaze toward the back lawn, beckoning to D'ziko as I duck under the window, searching for any signs of injury.
"Ya alive!" I shout, unable to hide my disbelief. “Thank ya Leza.”
"Ride with me tonight," D'ziko says, his eyes glowing in the starless night.
“I…um.” I look at Mama, asking for permission.
“Shall we?” he asks again but this time he is suddenly holding a single blue rose in his hand, right here in my mother's kitchen.
I look at him, sceptical. "Leza! How did ya get up here so fast?”
He chuckles. “Oh, ya’ll see.”
He hands me the rose.
Kaseke snatches it before I can. “Nice move player, but I'm keeping this one for my girlfriend,” Kaseke says. And he means it.
Mama rolls her eyes. “Ya don't have one of those.” She means a girlfriend.
Kaseke nods, the smile vanishing from his face. “Ja.” He places the rose on the desk.
“Ready?” asks D’ziko.
I nod. “Where are ya taking me?”
“That’ll ruin the surprise, now, wouldn’t it?” He winks. “It’s time I showed ya my family and how I managed to escape the man with a chilling smirk. As I said, salt was my greatest weapon.”
He spreads his arms.
I frown. “What?”
“Come on,” he says. “We don’t have all night.”
My frown deepens but walk into his embrace nevertheless.
Suddenly I feel a sharp breeze on my exposed skin and shiver; when I look down we are floating in the air, a strange glowing gold and blue light wrapping us in a bubble.
I grip D'ziko around the neck tighter.
He laughs.
“Are we flying?” I ask. “Can those people see us?”