"What happens to the rest of us?" It was the first thing Lekan could think of. What happened to the kids who weren't fortunate enough to have a lawyer who cared way too much?

She could tell that the question shocked Nehemiah too by the way he recoiled for a moment before straightening and fiddling with the tie on his neck — she wondered why he wore it when he had only come to see her. She narrowed her eyes and wondered if there was another reason entirely.

Nehemiah gave a shrug, it wasn't an 'I don't care what happens to a bunch of delinquents shrug', it was an 'I hate that I can't do anything about it shrug'.

"They will most likely be split up across detention centers in the country." He said. Lekan did take a seat this time, moving quickly to settle on the sofa by the bookshelf.

"Country?" She repeated incredulously, then shivered when she realized that she'd face the same fate if Nehemiah didn't win the trial. She could be sent all the way down to the north, away from her mother, the only life she knew. The thought scared her.

"I'm sorry, Lekan, this is why we have to win the trial. And why I have to remind you that this isn't the time to get in trouble, in a few days or a week's time, some government officials will be coming to do a final assessment of every student, we will need a good score, please, Lekan."

At first she was offended, already in the motion of pointing her finger at him then the anger fizzled. Nehemiah might be infuriating in lawyer mode, but he had her best interests at heart and he was right, she couldn't afford to get into a fight, or get caught breaking into somewhere. She couldn't afford to go ghost hunting.

"That's why you brought my mother, isn't it? So she can talk sense into me?"

Nehemiah only gave another shrug, brushing off a stray thread on his patterned red tie. Folu was frowning deeply at her daughter as if it was a stranger that sat before her instead.

"It wouldn't hurt to try." He said.

Now Lekan was really angry. "Of all the things I've gotten into, do you think I do it because I am a troublemaker, do you think I get off bringing myself shame?"

Nehemiah was taken aback. "No, Lekan. You've gotten into trouble because you wanted to help somebody, wanted to be the hero, that's noble and all but it won't win you this case!" He snapped.

He stood up sharply and glanced at his phone. "Talk things out with your mother, I need to talk to your matron."

Then he walked out and she was left alone with her mother.

Lekan could summon a lot of memories of her father, she could remember the things even her mother had forgotten about the man she loved, but she had never gotten along with the woman, they were like fire and water. Folu had long wanted to give up the battle with cancer but Lekan wouldn't let her quit and when she discovered what lengths her daughter went to keep her alive, she began to resent herself.

Nehemiah was foolish for thinking he could patch them up, or that Lekan would listen to anything Folu said.

They sat in silence for a tense moment before Lekan sighed and decided to get it over with, the sooner she got rid of her mother, the better.

"How is the treatment going?" Lekan asked stiffly, it was all they ever talked about, the fact that Folu was sick, possibly dying. They didn't have anything else to talk about and Lekan couldn't exactly mention the strangeness of Mary Slessor, even if she wanted to bad to just confess everything to an adult, to someone who might have and answer.

Folu nodded, shifting slightly on her wheelchair.

"Very well, the doctors are working hard." And that was that, just because it was all they could talk about didn't mean Folu liked to talk about it. She would give a brief sentence about how the doctors were doing their best and that was that, she never said if she was any better, or how her Bible club Alisha had formed with a few other women in the hospital was going.

Folu never talked the good or the bad, to Lekan, it was as if she wanted to separate Lekan from that aspect of life and Lekan wasn't sure if she did it out of spite or love.

"Alisha visits a lot." Folu added, shocking Lekan. It wasn't the fact that Alisha apparently visited a lot, it was because her mother had willingly given up information about herself.

"Really?" Lekan probed.

Folu gave a slight nod. "She never lets me alone for a second when she visits and sometimes, Nehemiah comes along too."

That was even more surprising. For the first time since she arrived at Mary Slessor, she realized she was slowly missing the outside world, there wasn't much to miss but she enjoyed coming around the hospital and helping the nurses with the geriatric ward. People often associated hospitals as omens of death, maybe they were, but it was also the place where many lives were saved, there was life in it, no matter how bleak.

"It is good that you have company," She said. There was nothing else to be said so she stood up, wiping her sweaty palms on the blue uniform that was compulsory to wear during class hours.

"Olamilekan," Folu said suddenly in a quiet voice. "Please, be very careful, the dreams I've had about you are not good ones."

Lekan wasn't sure what to be more amused by, the fact that her mother was still dreaming of her, or the fact that bad omens were hot at her heel. Still, she gave a nod.

"Yes, ma."

She walked out the door and almost straight into the shadowy figure outside it. Zeke was grinning.

"So, Olamilekan, that is your name?" He said, crossing his arms as if he had figured out some grand secret. It was then it occurred to Lekan that he didn't know her name and that she had kept it from him deliberately.

She didn't answer, only began to walk and he took the cue, following her step for step. The last thing she wanted was her mother hearing her speak to thin air. Lekan lowered her voice and spoke through her teeth.

"Why were you listening in?" She hissed. "Has nobody taught you eavesdropping is a rude thing to do?"

"To be fair, I died too young." He still had his smile on his face. He wouldn't be smiling when she told him.

"Don't be stupid," Lekan rolled her eyes. "You died at. . ." she trailed off because she didn't know how old he was.

"Seventeen." He offered breezily, if Lekan didn't know better she'd think he didn't even care a thing about his death but when she peered closer to his face, his jaw was tightened at the reminder and she instantly felt bad.

"Yes, seventeen, you learn basic manners at three or four." She finished her previous words.

"Well, I didn't, if I did, then don't you think I'd remember." He gave another cheeky grin and Lekan stopped near the football field where a team of boys in their white shirts and blue trousers had gathered to play, she doubted any of them would notice her standing at watching, boys were obsessed with sports, they wouldn't notice that she was talking to someone they couldn't see.

She watched as they began to divide themselves into teams of seven, some of them taking of their shirts to differentiate one team from the other. When she looked back at Zeke, he was watching her.

"Don't let me ever catch you eavesdropping again." Lekan warned him.

"Alright, Olamilekan." He said with a shrug, Lekan looked down at his feet, noticing that he wasn't quite on the ground, he wasn't floating either but he looked like a cardboard cut out in the middle of humans, it was strange.

She wrinkled her nose, patting it down when she did so, Lekan thought her nose was big enough, it was worse when she scrunched it.

"Don't call me that, everyone calls me Lekan." She admitted, he might as well call her by the name she preferred if he knew.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Lekan?" Zeke asked.

She recoiled with surprise, how much of the conversation had he overheard?

"How'd you know?"

"I don't know anything, but I assume you want to, I did overhear a conversation, your matron was on the phone with someone I assume to be the disgraced Warden." He said. It didn't escape her notice how he referred to his father as 'the warden'. Lekan wondered if he didn't believe the man was his father but she didn't dare voice her opinion aloud.

"Mary Slessor is shutting down." She told him and when he nodded, she knew he knew. She was in the motion of saying something else when the football came flying, she flinched away in time but realized the ball wasn't headed for her, it had passed through Zeke effortlessly but he winced as if it had hurt him.

Three shirtless boys jogged over, two of them shooting Lekan curious glances.

"Stay there, you hear, and wait for the ball to hit your face next." The third one snapped. Lekan arched an eyebrow at him when he continued to stare at her, refusing to be intimidated by the height he had over her.

"Noah, leave the girl alone." His mates called out, only then did he give a huff and brush past her, not before Lekan caught the several scars that lined his fair back.

Noah returned with the muddy ball and he and his friends jogged back to the field to resume their game. But he kept casting her glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking, a chill ran down Lekan's spine when she realized that he had seen her speaking to Zeke, even if he couldn't see the latter.

"Idiot boys," Zeke's irritated voice came, he was now standing at her left, leaving the right he had stood.

"Yeah." Lekan said faintly, she was still staring at Noah, remembering his narrowed eyes when he had stared her down.

"So, you were talking about Mary Slessor." Zeke pointed out when she didn't speak.

"Yes, it's closing down, in a matter of weeks."

"So?" He asked carelessly.

Lekan snapped her head to his.

"It means everything's changed, I can't keep goose chasing with you, Zeke, I have to win the appeal and this means being a good little girl. I'm sorry."

She expected the outburst, the screams, she even shuddered as she wondered if he'd reach out and hit her but when she looked back at Zeke, he was gone, like he had never even stood there.

Lekan deflated, unsure if she was relieved or disappointed. She sighed and began walking away from the field just as another football shot flew over her head, she raised her hand in a vulgar gesture and resumed her walk, ignoring the catcalls she got from the sweating boys.

They could play around all they wanted, she was going to get the hell out of Mary Slessor.

Sometime in the evening, she was on the way to the cafeteria when she almost ran into the hurrying mathematics teacher. She had parted her lips to tell him off when she realized who he was.

"Good evening." She greeted with a smile that was faker than the gold necklace he wore on his neck.

Mr. Adekunle frowned at her. "Lekan, isn't it?"

"That's my name." She bobbed her head.

"Well, take care," he stepped out of her path to resume walking but was blocked when she fell into step with him.

"Sorry, sir, I was wondering, will you be around tomorrow? I have some questions regarding a particular topic."

"I'm sorry, Lekan, I don't think so, I'm sure you have heard news of this place being shut down." He said hurriedly.

Lekan feigned a gasp.

"Yes, yes, as shocking as the sudden deaths."

Lekan hid her smile, he had given her an opening.

"Of course," she hoped her nod was wise. "One of the dead boys was in your evening maths class, Osas, if you remember."

Mr. Adekunle's frown deepened. "No, I don't, that's sad."

Lekan shook her head, the man was so dense that he didn't understand that she was accusing him of possible murder. She wanted to cut off his spiel but his next words caught her attention.

"It is a strange thing anyway, I gave a different list of names to be printed at the office for the noticeboard but I got a different list printed, cross checking the test scores told me that some of the students in the evening class didn't even fail, there must have been a mix up." He told her, forcing a smile on his face as if it was a funny anecdote.

Lekan didn't even register the pat he gave her shoulder, she didn't stop him when he resumed his walk towards the gates.

There had been a mix up, someone had handpicked the list themselves. Someone had deliberately chosen twenty three people to die.

***

The girl's father returned on one of his famous visits, he came with a warning.

"Be careful of the wolves in cow skin."

The girl corrected him. "No, daddy, it's wolves in sheep clothing, not cow skin."

He gave a wry smile. "Some things supersede logic, it doesn't make them illogical."

When he left, the girl mulled over his words and his warnings. It wasn't a coincidence when her father's brother, her uncle Wale visited that evening, offering to pay for all her mother's medical bills also while sponsoring his niece's education.

It wasn't also a coincidence that he had spent more than half of the time talking about his authentic jacket made solely out of cow skin.