By the time they got to a seashore, Simi couldn't get another word out of her mouth. Pangs of hunger predated over her fat body, ripping off all her rationality, killing her softly, making her wish she could scoop some of the water in the river into her mouth.
'I'm hungry', she groaned.
She couldn't tell them this before now because, throughout the over three-hour journey, she had fruitlessly tried to get answers from Kukoyi. But the wind and the revving engine kept overshadowing her voice, making Kukoyi gesture at his ears to indicate that her words were inaudible. Simi glanced back at the river and then at the forest.
'Follow us! When we're safe, I will tell you all you need to know', Kukoyi said after he noticed the doubt in her eyes. She nodded.
In the forest, they made several turns than Simi could track, never resting for a few seconds. Trees of varied sizes canopied the environment, giving room for droplets of the ray of the sun, creating a theatre light effect, sparkling and bouncing off her skin intermittently. An empty dryness mixed with the freshness of the leaves made her want to be an animal.
If they weren't in the forest to escape their pursuers, and the creepy rustles of dry leaves didn't echo through the distant dark parts, Simi would have loved to make the wild her home.
'This is the only path you must take… There are tripwires at various places', Kukoyi explained. 'Dezzy placed them at… I don't know. Just follow this path!'
Finally, they arrived at a building that lacked only painting yet, looked like an anomaly in a place where only nature throve. The mowed green grass around the house had a puncture made by a lonely bamboo stick and the sad punching bag hanging from the top.
'Welcome to the safe house we use', Kukoyi said as he pushed the door open with his sweaty hand. 'What's your name, by the way?'
'Simi. Simisola Owolabi…' She replied. 'And I'm hungry.
When Simi entered the house, her lips fell apart because of the simple arrangement. Two old black and blue sleeping nets on the neat floor vibrated to the breeze's tunes gliding through the two windows in the room. The only oddity was the little transparent bag beside the snacks at the other end of the room, giving the bare wall and tiled floor a different feel.
Simi's swallowed voraciously at the sight of the snacks huddled together. Her eyes roved around them. Biscuits, sausage wraps, chocolate bars, and soft drinks were artfully arranged on the house's left end. What the house lacked in curtains, it got in the windows nets.
Dezzy, with a hunting knife poking out of her belt, clambered to the snacks, picked two wraps of gala sausage and a bottle of soft drink, and dumped them in Simi's hands. Dezzy and Kukoyi climbed the black and blue sleeping nets, respectively.
'Yours!' Dezzy said and pointed at the third net still wrapped, new and inviting.
Simi's curiosity must have been vivid because Kukoyi shrugged. 'Yes! We kept that for you'.
Hunger took a toll on Simi that she instantly ate gluttonously, only pausing to drink, disregarding the quizzical look mutilating Dezzy's face. Afterwards, Simi popped the net, set it opposite the two strangers' nets, and sat, ready to ask questions.
'Tell me what's happening', Simi said.
'Yeah! You're welcome', Kukoyi said and yawned. 'We didn't mean to save your life.
'What are you expecting?' Simi frowned. 'Thank you?'
'You're welcome. Kukoyi yawned again.
Simi rolled her eyes. 'Tell me what's happening?'
'See, Simi...' Kukoyi said. 'Around 1270, a Yoruba god, Oranmiyan, had a vision that someone would try to outsmart the gods and fuse their powers for selfish gain. This secret was taught to only a secret group. And they, in turn, passed it down to different generations. One of these groups eventually felt the secret should be divided among the seven members of the cult. That way, one of them will handle each part of the information.
'I don't understand you, one bit!' Simi yawned.
Kukoyi edged forward. 'You will, Simi. Follow me. Oranmiyan collected certain gods' original powers and hid them at separate times for people to find!'
'What do you mean by original power?' Simi glanced at Dezzy, scratching her nose compulsively.
'Oranmiyan created a replica of the power symbols of these gods and changed them. Take erm… Sango's axe as an example.
Simi nodded.
'Think Lambe mentioned Yemoja's beads too!' Dezzy added.
'Yes…And Yemoja's bead! Those…'
Simi raised her hands. 'Wait. Wait! Who's Lambe?'
'When we get to that bridge, we will cross it!' Kukoyi explained and paused. 'So, Oranmiyan took these symbols. Sango's axe. Yemoja's beads and the rest. He took these original items and replaced them with ones that would work for these gods' lifetime but can't be used by any other person.
'Ha! Can you skip to the end already?' Simi rolled her eyes and yawned.
'You need this!' Dezzy said as she gingerly picked the skin around her fingernails as if ants infested them.
Simi threw her a frustrated glance.
Kukoyi continued. 'Oranmiyan made the initiates swear never to use the information for personal gain but must always be prepared for three people that have been assigned the duty of destroying these powerful items…'
'How will they find these three people?' Simi asked.
'They will know!' Kukoyi said. 'They are all descendant of Oranmiyan. And they will bear the marks that only the initiates will understand. Oranmiyan made it in such a way that only a set of the treasure will be unlocked per century'.
Simi glowered. 'That is every hundred years'.
'Yes. So, Oranmiyan divided the powers into three and placed them on 21 artefacts. Three per generation'. Again, Kukoyi paused. 'The chosen people couldn't act on these because civilization came and the artefacts were stolen, among the many sculptures stolen in Nigeria'.
'I don't…get. How's that my concern?' Simi wondered aloud.
'It's your concern. It's definitely your concern because that must have been how your power became activated. I touched mine in America, and I sensed immediately that I had to come to Nigeria'.
Dezzy's drowsy eyes called Simi's attention for the first time.
This time, Simi looked her over, surprised that she didn't notice the tribal marks hanging from both sides of Dezzy's face, as well as on her chin, with all three looking like lines on a robot. A tattoo stood out on Dezzy's right cheek, just adjacent to the birthmark on her neck, all giving off the perfect shape of an android face.
Seeing the birthmark made Simi glance at Kukoyi. His own birthmark was conspicuously crawling into view from the back of his neck.
Dezzy saw the movement of her eyes and swallowed. 'Yes. We all have those scars…'
Kukoyi glanced at them quizzically. 'The powerful people are three. But the major one is the ability to visit the past… and future- You'.
The implication of his words dawned on her. 'But I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to visit the future or the past. I don't even have the power!'
'Do you even know how you got this power?' Kukoyi said. 'That will help us know what to do here!'
'I don't…'
'Visited any artefacts of late or something?' Dezzy rolled her eyes.
Simi shrugged and rolled her eyes in return. 'I don't know. Two days ago, I visited that new museum in Black Town, Fortune City'.
'What's Fortune City?' Kukoyi asked.
'This private Island', Dezzy said. 'Been in the news for some weird events'.
'Oh!' Kukoyi blinked. 'So, this place is a private Island. Nigeria's becoming better.
Simi continued. 'Max said he wanted to do valentine week or something like that for me'.
Kukoyi tilted his head sideways. 'Well, we got the other two power. As I told you, I got mine in the States. She got hers…Um…'
'Onikan Stadium', Dezzy said.
'Onikan stadium, yes. I got the ability to seek things out…I know where I can find different things but can't see these treasures unless you take us there. And Dezzy…' Kukoyi and opened his palms, confused. 'There… I don't know how to explain it.
Dezzy sat up. 'Can weaken people, build tunnels, escape. I'm always eager to fight…'
Kukoyi nodded. 'Yeah! She's more like a perfect warrior'.
Simi stared at them as if they were speaking an alien language.
'Don't worry. It will take you a while to understand but let's keep you safe', Kukoyi said and yawned.
'Why do they…those people that were shooting… Why do they want me?' Simi asked.
Dezzy said. 'Power, fatty. You have the power!'
Simi shook her head. With her eyes darting about rapidly, Dezzy went about inspecting the different parts of the safe house. She stopped at the centre of the room and traced her hands around the edge of a circle that Simi was seeing for the first time.
'Why now?' Simi asked.
'Because you posted it online. Just like them, we've been searching for you, because they can use one of us to trace the others'.
'How?'
'Energy trails… Their physicist can trace the lines of our energies. Every day, I also search for you with my power. I discovered you this morning.'.
Simi swallowed hard as she inhaled shaky breaths in the realization of what was happening to her. 'That… Does that mean we're together?'
'Biggy, we've got to stick together now. Live in the shadows…' Dezzy said.
'But…My family?' Simi looked about, trying hard to hide her truth. Quickly, she brought out the picture and pointed it at them. 'I need to contact them!'
'Simi, you're a ghost now….' Kukoyi said. 'At least, for now! You can't reach out.
Simi climbed out of her net, opened her mouth to argue, and kept quiet. Her curiosity still nagged at her. 'And why did they need us? I mean those men!'
'Oranmiyan placed the treasures at various times. Future, past, and present. We were supposed to be the last set…' Kukoyi replied.
Simi's eyes shone. 'That means we can know where everything is'.
'Fast learner', Dezzy said with a smirk.
'So, we have to remain hidden', Kukoyi said.
'And the Lambe you mentioned the other time!' Simi said.
Kukoyi glanced sideways. 'He's…'
'Supposed to die', Dezzy hissed.
'He is a descendant of the original secret groups, and he knows a lot, Kukoyi said. 'But trust me, Simi, you don't want to have him around. He wants something else.
'What's that?'
'He wants us to find the powers…' Kukoyi said. 'He thinks we can save the world or stop those people that are trying to use our power to get the hidden powers'.
'Who has time for that?' Dezzy said.
'Then, what are we doing?' Simi asked. 'Are we not like supposed to make sure the evil they are talking about… does not happen. We can make sure the person that wants to steal this power doesn't do that again!'
'Which power? Which world or Nigeria?'. Kukoyi's voice pitched higher this time. 'Have you not lived here all your life? Do you think saving the powers of the gods is worth anything to us? We'll be heroes, and then what? Die… Like nobody. Die'.
'It's better than nothing o', Simi said and glanced at them. 'We got our power for a reason.
'Not this. Going with Eagle's plan here', Dezzy said and crossed her arms. 'Let's make money and be gone.
Simi let the details sink in as she stared into their eyes.