"It's not my place to discuss about that one. But I'm his Father," Brother Sabantu admits. I hear footsteps coming from the bar floor, should I tell him that Champo's on his way? "All those who come to this branch of The Faith are my sons. Well, women are more of a mystery."
Hewlett voluntary bends to one knee and then says, "We are more than thankful Brother Sabantu. We will continue to train under you." I still have to find the person Master Dell said would be waiting for me here.
Champo barges through my bedroom door, "I'm back Father, there wasn't any beer in the underground training floor though."
Brother Sabantu turns to face the door, "Who told you to drink my beer?" There wasn't any beer from what I remember though.
Champo snaps his neck my way with a desperate glare, "Why'd you tell him. I was nice to you!"
"What?" I know he drinks and was definitely not nice to me. Wait… I didn't tell Brother Sabantu anything. Champo just sold himself out.
"Thought you were smarter than this, boys. You're not old enough to drink Champo; you know this. I'm not in the mood to talk about this again," Brother Sabantu says. "Clean yourselves up and get dressed. I want all three of you out of this place by 12." He steps out of the room right after. What does he mean, 'be out of this place by twelve'.
"Is he kicking us out!" I ask Hewlett. I look to him when I notice he hasn't answered. Hewlett looks traumatized.
He lets a calm breath out before saying, "Uhhm, no. He is not. At least that is what I am trying to believe?" Oh, he's lost it. Where are we gonna go now? Can we keep the clothes?
"Stop panicking. You two act even weirder than your names," Champo tries to cheer us up. In his own… Champo way.
"Yori?" Hewlett asks.
What's this? "Why did you not you tell me he was drinking? He was only nice to you because you found him drinking." When was he nice! Was I even there?
"He was not nice to me at all. I don't think we saw the same thing."
"His nice is not the conventional kind. It was more of a less mean than nice," Hewlett explains.
"Enough about me. You two get dressed. And no, we're not getting chased out. He asked you two to tag along with me on my errands," Champo blabs in a single breath. He turns to the door and makes sure to slam it behind him.
"He did not ask us though, did he?" Hewlett questions. I was about to ask the same thing. "Oh, and Yori?" Hewlett adds in a very low tone. "Do not mention your Master's grimoire around anyone. It will attract more danger than you realize. I put it in my Ichikota." Is he trying to make me touch that thing? I've been avoiding any talk about my Master to avoid this kind of thing.
"Sure, warp it out. Or whatever an Ichikota does." I might get a clue about who I'm supposed to meet… or cash. Could be both, let's be positive. Hewlett pulls the Ichikota from his robe. Its patterns look nothing like the one Brother Musunga used. As he lays it on my bed, I feel a tug of air flow by. I focus, trying to make out what it is. It's amaka. Hewlett's channeling his amaka into the symbols on the Ichikota. The symbols on the Ichikota glow inwards going out and My Master's grimoire appears out of it. He holds it then says, "Here, but make sure you lock the door before trying to open this." Sure. I can do that. No pressure.
I walk to the door. "Do we both remember it had black smoke gushing out at me?" I ask, locking the door.
"It was not gushing out. It was more a flying away… of black puffs of smoke," Hewlett argues. I plop myself on my bed. That was not convincing Hewlett. At all. "Come on," He almost dangles it before gently putting it next to me.
I guess I can try it. I roll my head over to the grimoire, I look away. My right hand is the closest to it. I shuffle it towards Master's grimoire; flashbacks from that night replay.
The screaming. The smoke.
I push my hand even closer. With my eyes shut, I focus; trying to sense out the amaka. This must be Master's amaka.
I flinch.
My middle finger grazed it!
Master Dell's amaka flickered.
I reach out my finger, one more time. And touch it!
I flip off the bed and as I land in front of the door, I hear its pages flipping around. Master Dell's amaka, it's humming.
Master's amaka hums along with the flipping pages… and then stops. Is it over now?... I think it is.
Geez, even Hewlett was startled by it. "I told you that book has issues." I have to calm down. I can't let what happened get to me. Not with Hewlett around.
I open my eyes.
"Grimoires are not known to hurt people," Hewlett says as he stands on the other end of his bed. "…Usually."
I walk towards Master's grimoire on the bed. My movements feel stiff, forced, almost robotic.
"You don't look too comfortable, I think you should not do this," Hewlett says. Well, you're then one who kept going on about it.
"I plan on leaving this place in a week, no matter how training will go. I have to continue on this errand. Someone's waiting for me, here in Saalku, Master Dell said so." So, I'm doing this. I reach to just above the grimoire, I'm not focusing on sensing amaka but I can still feel the rhythmic hum of it. It's fainter but it's still there.
'Dear Yori,
Run!'