54 My name is Ikemnefuna

"So what are we going to do next?" her question interrupted his thought process.

"Are you sure everyone has taken the oath?" He inquired hastily.

"Yes, apart from the people that went with me on my just-concluded travel". She replied him seeing no reason why they should be made to take the oath because she felt there was no chance they would have done it.

"They must also take the oath," he said sarcastically.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Woman, are you questioning the gods?

"Of course not" She responded immediately ordering Onumara and all the people that traveled with her to come prove their innocence. They were about six in number. They passed through the same process and to the astonishment of everyone especially Okemmiri no one fell under any spell, no one said or did anything out of the ordinary.

"Is this everyone in the compound?" He inquired.

"Yes, apart from my son sleeping inside" she responded as she was beginning to lose faith in the dibia just like everyone around.

"Something is wrong somewhere," he thought aloud as he began pacing forward and backward. "The gods have never been wrong. Someone has not taken this drink". Now talking to Ego "We have to carry out the exercise again beginning with this man" he said pointing at Ndubisi.

Ndubisi giggled and said "Because of my dear, I agreed to take the oath willingly and was proven innocent. There is no way I'm taking that substance again" he said with no sentiment.

"Then we have a problem" the great one confirmed.

"We sure do; I'm not taking that unsavory substance" he stood his ground.

"If you are truly innocent, you should not mind taking it again" Okemmiri replied.

"I'm beginning to think you have something against me on a personal level," he said as the sparkle of anger began to ignite within him.

"I'm beginning to think you have something to hide," Okemmiri said not threatened by his growing ire.

Ego knew she had to step in, return peace and bring these boys back to why they are here. "It is alright" she began addressing Ndubisi "Dim oma" this was the first time she is addressing him by that in public. It immediately melted away the growing walls of anger around his heart; he smiled.

"Please for my sake, take the oath again and prove once more to us all that you are truly innocent" she pleaded, smiling at him.

"Alright, anything for my love," he said still smiling childishly; turned to the spiritual man and the smile hurriedly died away. "Let's do this one more time," he said.

Okemmiri told him to kneel. Sluggishly he complied; like a priest offering Holy Communion he gave him the Mmiri Ezioku. He stomachs a mouth full, shut his eyes and for over a minute he was motionless. Then suddenly he opens his eyes, stood up and once again began laughing. Few seconds into the laughter, the people could no longer tell whether he was still laughing or groaning, so they keenly watched. It became obvious Ndubisi had fallen under the spell when he screamed and fell back on his knees, his pupils suddenly disappeared and he was left with the white part of his eyes. Everyone just like Ego was too shocked to react, they all watched silently with mouth wide open.

"You can ask him anything right now and he would tell you nothing but the truth" he assured her.

Her voice laden with emotions she said "Ndu, please tell me this is not you. That I am dreaming; that I am having a nightmare" she cried out. He didn't even blink feedback.

"Ndubisi! Ndubisi!" she yelled once more and yet no responses. "Why is he not responding?" she questioned the Dibia.

"What is your name?" the Dibia asked in a thundering voice.

"Ikemnefuna" he responded in a voice that sounded like that of an aged tobacco smoker.

"Ha!" Ego exclaimed. "I am finished! Ndubisi isn't even his name oh" she cried out to Oluchukwu who had come to her side and was now consoling her. "Ndu! Your real name is Nwosu. What other lie have you been telling me?" she directed her questions to him, but yet again he didn't respond.

Okemmiri was wondering how the young man escaped the spell at first, to satisfy his curiosity; he inquired "How did you first escape falling under the spell?"

"I didn't drink; I licked my lips and squeezed my face to give the impression I did".

"Ha!" the crowd shouted in surprise and there was a roar of murmur among them. Someone shouted "Ndubisi! You are indeed tricky!" Everyone echoed "Yes oh!" nodding in agreement.

"Are you the one that entered the room?" the great one inquired.

"Yes!" he replied.

"Why did you enter the room?" he further asked calming everyone down.

"I entered to collect money as Ego does sometimes," he said.

"How did you come to that knowledge?"

"One night in Ego's hut, I noticed she went out and returned with a large amount of money. The next night, out of curiosity and unknown to her, I followed her when she went out only to discover that she went out to urinate. Disappointed, I gave up but resumed spying on her when after some weeks, I saw her come back again with money. Then I kept following her every night till I noticed she was getting the money from that hut. Not long ago, I stole the totem she used to break the spell that locks the room and went to a dibia to duplicate it".