Chapter 9

Emily and Jessica returned at 4:00 A.M. Asanga was still seated on the canapé crying softly as she became more and more convinced that Emily and possibly Jessica had eaten the cake. She had not even bordered to lock the front door. Sleep was far from her eyelids though she had downed three Piña coladas.

Roxanne was beside her at a loss for what to do. She went to the fridge from time to time to get yogurt to eat. Asanga had not spoken to her except when she asked for more detail concerning the fee drive. She had dozed off several times on the chair.

Asanga and Roxanne jumped to their feet when they heard noises from the front door as Emily and Jessica entered. Their faces bore morose expressions and each of them carried two white bed sheets wrapped in bundles. They headed for Asanga's bedroom without saying a word to either Asanga or Roxanne.

Asanga and Roxanne followed.

Emily lifted Asanga's mattress and tossed the bundles she was holding. The bundles fell next to the bundle containing Ebaneck's bones. She held up the mattress so that Jessica could toss in her own bundles.

Asanga watched with horror. Emily opened the drawer by the side of the bed and tossed in two smartphones while Jessica tossed in a smartphone and a normal phone. It was the same drawer where Ebaneck's phone was.

"Emily, where have you been?" Asanga managed to ask in spite of the dread she had for the answer.

Emily burst into tears and sat on the floor. "I did not mean to kill them. The first guy was really nice. His name was Ateba. He…we were just kissing and suddenly ants started coming out of my body and ate him alive."

"And the second?" Asanga asked not believing her ears

"When the first one happened, something kept saying in me that I should go to Mini Ferme. When I got there I met this guy, I don't remember his name. He took me to a room and as…" she paused to sob. "…as we started kissing the ants came out and reduced him to bones. I am sorry mum. I have never done this before…I have never kissed anyone before in my life"

"I felt I should not leave his bones there so I got the bed sheet off the bed and wrapped his bones in it," Jessica said

"You too?" Roxanne cried

"Ssh," Asanga said "Tell me what really happened?"

"When we came to the house we were hungry and there was nothing to eat except a cake we saw on the kitchen counter. We sent Roxanne to buy yogurt. But before Roxanne got back Jessica cut a thin slice of the cake and tasted it. When she told me how good it tasted I also took a slice…"

Asanga walked over to the bed but she sat on the floor. Tears were streaming down her face. Her hands were trembling. Although she had guessed that Emily could have eaten the cake, it still came as a horrible shock as she heard the words Emily and Jessica were speaking.

"I am finished…I am finished" Asanga said almost inaudibly.

Emily knelt down beside her with a bewildered expression on her face. If her mother, Asanga Priscilla could say the words 'I am finished' then it had to be really serious.

"Mum, what have we done? What did we get ourselves into? It was just a cake…right?"

Asanga looked at her daughter unable to find the words to explain that she was now possessed by an ancient formicine deity.

*

Otafion woke up with a fright. The air was freezing and hung heavily like a wet blanket. His hand went instinctively to the drawer beside the bed where the remote of the air conditioner was. He pressed the power button to switch it off but realized the gadget was already off as it instead came to life. He pressed the button again to switch it off again.

He got off the bed and padded to the window thinking he must have left the window open. The window was closed. He wondered where the cold was coming from.

Something frightful in his dream had woken him up but he could not remember what it was. He looked around still trying to figure out why the room was so cold. He walked over to the closet and took out a black leather jacket and put it on.

He could hear the wind howling outside. He wondered if he had left a door open in another section of the three-bedroom house. That had never happened but he decided to go and check all the same.

He squeezed the handle of the door. The metal was cold and moist. He pulled the door open. Normally, he expected to see the hall that led to his living room and the door which led to the kitchen. However, he did not see any of that. He saw the clearing he and Asanga had been to in Asanga's village when they went to destroy the shrine. There were people standing in a circle at the edge of the clearing all clad in white frocks and in the center where the tree was supposed to be he saw Asanga and two teenage girls kneeling down facing each other. He recognized one of them to be Asanga's daughter.

"Come and take your place." He heard someone say. It was a female voice. He went over and knelt down where Asanga and the other girls were.

A man came forward from the circle of people standing around them he bore a tiny basket from which he brought out six cubes of sugar.

"Open your mouth," the man said to Emily. When Emily did, he placed two cubes of sugar in her mouth. He did the same for the other girl and Asanga only that he placed one cube in Asanga's mouth.

It was now his turn to receive his own cube of sugar. He tried to shout some scriptures from the bible but he could not remember any. He could not even remember the name by which every knee would bow. He knew he had read somewhere in the bible that there was such a name but his memory failed him.

When the old man saw that he was struggling in his mind to remember the scriptures, he chortled.

"Open your mouth, my son"

Otafion obeyed. The man placed the cube in his mouth.

As the cube started to dissolve he saw a stream of ants crawl out of tiny holes in the ground and climb on him and into his mouth towards the sugar. He saw ants climbing on the girls as well. For them, they were more than willing to allow the ants to enter them. Emily opened her mouth wide so that the ants could enter freely.

Otafion pursed his lips so that none of the ants should enter but two men of enormous musculature came from the circle of onlookers and grabbed him. One of them held his cheeks in an iron grip and forced his mouth open.

The ants came out in thousands from the ground and entered his nostrils, mouth, and ears. Otafion screamed in horror.

"You are a guard to the Mukenge shrine. If you ever desert your post, the Mukenge will eat you alive"

He heard the female voice say.

He saw Asanga spit out the cube of sugar from her mouth and stand up.

"None of you should come near me," Asanga said "I am not ready for this nonsense"

The hefty men who had forced him to submit to the ants left him and turned their attention to Asanga who was making her way toward the edge of the circle of onlookers. They grabbed her and proceeded to pull her back to the place where Emily was.

Asanga kicked and pulled and screamed.

"You can't force me. I am not part of this nonsense. I told you people before"

"You are too stingy. You want to eat your money alone." This time it was a man's voice "Let's see how you will eat the money. You will lose everything even your daughter."

"No, no! Let go of me" Asanga shrieked

Otafion woke up sweating. He realized he had been dreaming. He was on his bed. The room temperature was normal and everywhere was quiet. His hand went to the drawer beside his bed and grabbed his phone. The clock app on the phone said the time was 12:01 A.M.

He dialed Asanga's number.

*

"No, no! Let go of me" Asanga screamed in her sleep and woke up. She had cried herself to sleep after Emily and Jessica told her that they had eaten the cake. Jessica had decided to stay with Emily while Roxanne had gone home to her parents but not before Asanga warned her not to tell anyone about what had happened to Emily and Jessica. To emphasize her point Asanga had added:

"The ants would eat you alive if you tell anyone what you have seen here today"

Roxanne nodded eagerly. When she left Asanga started having second thoughts concerning her decision to let Roxanne go home.

She fixed dinner for the girls: fried eggs and boiled ripe plantains which she bought from a nearby mart. She herself had no appetite for food. She downed two Piña coladas instead.

When she lay down to sleep, thoughts of everything that had happened since big Mammy died rolled through her mind and she sobbed quietly until she fell asleep.

She reached for her phone which lay beside her on the bed. Just as she was about to pick it up, it started ringing. Otafion was calling.

She paused only for a split second to make up her mind to answer it.

"Hello papa," Asanga said

"Sister Priscilla, how are you? Sorry for calling you this late."

"No problem Papa, I was even awake" Asanga replied "I just woke up from a terrifying dream"

"That is why I am calling. I also had a nightmare and you were in it, actually you and your daughter that is why I decided to call you." Otafion said.

They spent the next several minutes exchanging details of their nightmares and they realized they had had one and the same dream.

"What do we do?" Otafion asked, trying as much as possible to hide the panic in his voice.

Asanga sighed. "I don't know sir. Frankly, I don't know"

"Your daughter is now the priestess and I am her bodyguard," Otafion said

"It looks that way," Asanga replied

"And your daughter's friend and you are the handmaids of the priestess" Otafion continued

Asanga sighed again. "That was what was about to happen but they won't get me. I am not part of that nonsense. I am a Christian, you are a Christian."

"I am not sure. I could not remember any scripture from the bible. Not even one. Don't be stubborn sister Priscilla. Just accept your fate." Otafion said "the Mukenge will eat me alive if I desert my post. What do you think it would do to you?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I am not going to let a bunch of covetous men force me into becoming something I am not ready for. They have already taken my daughter; I am not going to let them take me."

"Your daughter ate the cake you baked, right?" Otafion asked

"Yes" Asanga answered

"I saw it in a dream. Oh God, what have I got myself into?"

Emily's voice came in a high-pitched shriek.

"Papa, I have just heard my daughter scream in her room, let me go and check what is wrong."

"Okay, call me and let me know what is happening"

"Okay sir," Asanga said and hung up. She ran to Emily's room.

*

The three men sat in the middle of a chalk circle. They were in darkness except for a few candles in front of them: Nem Taseng, Uncle Joe, and Uncle David. Each man was naked except for a white loincloth marked with blood stains around their waists. They were in Nem Taseng's parlor. It was 12:01 AM. Each man had his fingers interlocked in front of him with his eyes closed and mumbling the sacred creed of Mukenge.

Nem Taseng opened his eyes and cleared his throat causing the other two men to pause their mumbling.

"Everything went well except for that stubborn niece of yours." Nem Taseng said

"That child is very stubborn. That is how her father was and ended up being consumed by Mukenge." Uncle Joe said

"Exactly, he was told that he could not have sex with his wife during the festival week but he did not listen. He went ahead and touched his wife and Mukenge ate him alive."

"David, we know the story of Asanga, you don't need to remind us," Uncle Joe said

Nem Taseng cut in. "This is another festival week starting today. If we don't bring the daughter here to resume her post to offer the sacrifices the consequences would be severe."

"But the two girls have offered three sacrifices already. Even Priscilla herself offered one." Uncle David said

"No!" Nem Taseng said sternly "Those are sacrifices of wrath. Mukenge is angry and besides, she has not yet been ordained. She must be brought to the village for the proper ordination rites."

"The girl?" Uncle David asked

"The girl and her two handmaids…immediately," Nem Taseng replied

"How are we going to do that?" Uncle Joe asked

"The bodyguard will bring them." Nem Taseng replied "He was very instrumental in bringing Asanga here for the infestation. He would be useful again to bring the daughter for the ordination"

"What if he resists?" Uncle Joe asked "the same way Priscilla is resisting"

"He can't. He has no spiritual strength. He is full of greed and fear" Nem Taseng said

"He is a fake pastor," Uncle David said, "He is very very fake…in fact, he is so fake that…" He stopped talking when he noticed Nem Taseng and Uncle Joe looking at him with pain mixed with surprise in their eyes.

"Sorry," Uncle David said "You may continue what you were saying"

Nem Taseng sighed. "As I was saying we would use the bodyguard. I have something special planned for him if he dares resist."

Uncle Joe chuckled. Then all three men burst into laughter.