Dr. Munachi was back the next day as if Lekan had wished her into existence, and this time with none of her calmness. She had her short hair in a neat afro but her fair face was bare of any make up and she made no attempt to hide the bags under her eyes.

Lekan hadn't known she wanted to see the doctor so bad that when she appeared in the cafeteria, taking her usual seat in the middle of the circle of plastic chairs, Lekan heaved a sigh of relief, Dr. Munachi was the only adult Lekan could speak to about the strange occurrences in Mary Slessor, Dr. Munachi was a sign that whatever was going on wasn't all in her head.

The class was different than the usual, Dr. Munachi offered a listening ear to anyone who wanted to talk about the traumatic deaths of their mates but nobody said a word, they seemed reserved, more quiet and Dr. Munachi saw it and pursed her lips. She rounded off the session with an assignment asking them to describe what they understood grief as but she never asked for the assignments anyway so Lekan wasn't sure anyone actually wrote in them.

She hadn't written a single word in hers.

After the session, Lekan wanted to corner her but she moved to where a sulking Cook stood and seemed to whisper something to the other woman. Lekan stiffened again, deflating when she caught Hassan's gaze opposite her, he and Tunde shared the same session with her but she hadn't spoke to them.

The both of them were Osas's closest friends, at least, it appeared so on the outside, and while they didn't look physically affected by his death, they did seem withdrawn. As other students began to scatter, Hassan was quick to approach her, Tunde trudging behind him.

"Lekan," he said with a stiff smile.

"How are you, Hassan?" She greeted awkwardly.

"I'm fine, how are you?" He asked in the same awkward manner, shuffling his feet.

"I know the two of you were closest to Hassan, you must be taking his death badly." She said, hoping she sounded sincere. She partly was, but she couldn't deny that she was fishing for information too.

"We're taking it as normally as we can, he was our roommate." Tunde said from behind Hassan. "We thought to check on you too."

Lekan was taken aback.

"Why?"

Hassan shot her a strange look. "Osas told us he was friends with you and we did see you talk to him once or twice."

Lekan wanted to correct them but she wondered why Osas had lied?

"Sure, I'm doing fine." She lied.

Hassan nodded.

"Good, I hope this doesn't affect your night school." He leaned forward and whispered it as if it was a secret he didn't want anyone finding out. Tunde too looked around them.

Lekan recoiled. "Yes, the class." What night school?

Hassan shot her another look, his thin eyebrows raised. "Yes, the night school he usually escapes for during the night, he said a bunch of you gather at the cafeteria to read at night, Osas is — I mean, was a bookworm."

Lekan recalled the Warden's phone call.

"I have the names already,I must say, your man is an efficient one." He said, for a brief second, Lekan thought he had seen her but then she saw his boot clad feet walking towards the door to slam it shut. "Yes, we plan to train them soon"

Little by little, she was beginning to think that the Warden might have done it after all. But why?

"The night school is on halt for now, we don't want to risk getting caught." She told them, plastering a smile on her face.

The suspicious look cleared from Hassan's face and when he moved to go, Lekan tapped his shoulder, an idea already forming in her head.

"I left a notebook with Osas, a few days ago, I was wondering if I could come by later to collect it."

Hassan shared another glance with Tunde but Lekan wasn't looking, Dr. Munachi had finished her talk with Cook and was now packing up the briefcase she usually carried.

"Okay, if you are given permission, they haven't taken his things yet." Tunde said.

Lekan waved them goodbye and walked over to Dr. Munachi who was bent to buckle her shoes. When she raised her head she didn't look surprised to see Lekan but the knot in her forehead smoothened with relief.

"Lekan, is there something you want?" She asked.

Lekan gave her a frown and jerked her head outside.

"We need to talk." She said and began walking, knowing well that Dr. Munachi was behind her.

The outside was wet with the previous night's rain and Dr. Munachi gingerly skipped the puddle of mud on the short steps of the cafeteria.

"Is there a place you wish to speak in?" Dr. Munachi asked.

Lekan sighed, knowing she was about to make a big mistake, she should have listened to Nehemiah and read her books instead but the fact that someone was out there planning their next kill was too distracting, even as she knew there wasn't really anything she could do to stop it. Lekan still hoped that the answer lay within finding the so called killer, maybe if she found them, she could stop them.

Nehemiah was right, she had hero complex, the desire to be like the characters she sketched.

"Outside here is fine," Lekan said, she didn't dare look at the clothing line that led all the way backyard, back to the graveyard.

"You can talk now." Dr. Munachi said, sneaking a glance at the silver wristwatch on her right wrist. "I have no where to be."

Lekan snorted at the doctor's attempt to act important.

"We both know that you'll listen to me even if you have a goddamn appointment with the president."

The older woman's eyes flashed with annoyance but she said nothing. Lekan inhaled a deep breath.

"I want you to teach me to use my powers, train me."

Lekan wished she could have captured the sudden bulging of Dr. Munachi's eyes, she would have laughed too but there was funny about her decision. If she were a smart girl, she'd stay away from cults, she'd stay away from the same thing that killed her father — seeking things that should be left alone.

"This is a surprise," Dr. Munachi stalled for time, searching for the trickery in it and finding none. "You said you wanted nothing to do with your kind."

Lekan itched to correct her but she shrugged. "I guess I'm curious."

The doctor deflated as if she had been expecting Lekan to launch into a story of how the supernatural called out to her in a vision. "Curiosity is good, I'd be glad to teach you and I'm sure we can work out a timetable for when I come here."

Lekan held up a hand. "Wait, let's not get ahead of ourselves first, I have conditions."

Dr. Munachi raised an eyebrow but said nothing, good, Lekan thought, she's learning to play my games.

"You will be benefitting more from my teachings, I am not honing your skills for my benefits, Lekan."

Lekan barked a laugh. "I don't know you, not one detail, not where you live or if you are really who you say you are. Trust me, I know there must be something you stand to gain."

Dr. Munachi parted her lips then clamped them together again.

"Don't worry, Doc, you'll tell me when you want to, I am fine with not knowing now." Lekan said easily as if they were two friends discussing. "I can call you doc, right?"

"What are your conditions?" She finally asked.

"One, I have the right to withdraw from your teachings whenever I wish." She waited for the doctor's nod of agreement.

"That seems fair." Dr. Munachi said.

"Two, I want you to look into the death of Zeke Folarin Badmus, no questions needed." Lekan said. "I've written that name down and I'll give it to you to look into, use the internet or your psychic powers."

She nodded again.

Lekan smiled. "We'll get along just fine. Third and last, I want a phone."

Dr. Munachi blinked slow. "A phone?"

"Yes, a phone, I need one, you can afford to buy me one, right?"

The poor woman spluttered through her words. "Yes, but that is not the point, phones are contraband here, remember Lekan?"

"You might go around wearing that." Dr. Munachi made a sweeping gesture at the blue uniform Lekan wore, the pinafore was barely up to her knees and the material was tight around the bust. Mary Slessor clearly expected all its students to be thin, but Lekan was round in all places and she didn't plan on losing any weight.

"But this is not a school, Lekan, Mary Slessor is a juvenile detention center!" She exclaimed.

"Calm down, doc, you'll give yourself a heart attack." Lekan snapped, her fists clenched tight. She could never forget.

The doctor inhaled deep but whatever was in for her seemed to keep her anger in check.

"Anything else?"

Lekan shook her head. "I might come up with something."

Dr. Munachi smiled but there was something in it that Lekan did not understand.

"Okay then, we have a deal and we start tomorrow."

***

Lekan gripped onto her pass as she mounted the staircase that would take her up to the rooms upstairs. The matron in charge of the boys dormitory hadn't suspected a thing when Lekan had marched into the lobby and said she wanted to see a friend, there wasn't a reason to be suspicious anyway. There was no rule that stopped girls from visiting boys as long as it was during the day and as long as they wrote their name down and stuck to the visiting time.

She had been given a pass that expired in ten minutes, if she wasn't down after then, she'd be in trouble. Lekan only hoped that what she found didn't require too much of her time.

She wasn't sure if was an advantage that most of the boys were watching a football match on the field, apparently it was a finale they had been anticipating. Lekan had never understood the appeal of watching grown boys fight over balls, then again, most people felt the same way about comic books. The hallway looked eery in its emptiness, and as her sandals dragged along on the concrete floor, she couldn't help but glance over her shoulders to see if there was someone behind her.

The evening sun cast a glow on the faded brown walls from the windows on the left wall of the hallway she had stepped into. She had asked and knew that that Hassan and Tunde's room was on the first floor, this floor. She also knew that it was the last room on the right. It was why she was surprised when she came to a stop in front of the wide open door and saw that there was already someone inside, a girl who knelt before the bunk bed in the room and was patting it down.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lekan asked. The girl jumped and almost hit her head on the bed above, she was taller than Lekan was and skinny thin.

When she turned, Lekan was taken aback by the hostile frown on her face.

"What the hell are you doing?" The girl shot back, relaxing a bit when her gaze swept over Lekan less discreetly. Lekan was offended that the girl had automatically declared her less than a threat and at the same time impressed. Usually the scar on her face had people stiffening on sight but this girl's face wasn't spotless either, patches of her face were fair skinned and others were dark, it was the same way with her arms and her exposed legs. Vitiligo — Lekan remembered it was called that.

Lekan waved her pass in the girl's face.

"I have a pass to be here, I wouldn't say the same thing for you." Lekan said with a saccharine smile. The girl scoffed, confirming Lekan's suspicions. It made her wonder how she had managed to sneak in, although it didn't seem all that difficult, she had met the matron snoozing in the lobby when she arrived.

"That old witch hates me." The girl cracked a slight smile.

Lekan laughed softly. "I wonder why."

"Something about visiting my own boyfriend too much." The girl hummed, she crossed her arms, eyeing Lekan with renewed interest.

"Let me guess, Hassan's girlfriend?" Lekan asked carelessly. She was already glancing at the abandoned backpack at the right corner of the room, it was separated from the other bags near the laundry basket on the left. She assumed it was Osas's, he wasn't even gone a week and they were already casting him from their lives.

"No, I'm Feyi." The girl said slowly as if the name was supposed to mean something.

"Tunde's then?" Lekan asked as she stepped into the room, although cubicle was the more accurate term, the rooms in the dormitory were built small, but this one was smaller. She thought it must be that way since only three boys shared the room — two now.

The girl gave her a strange look. "I forget you're new here, you wouldn't know."

Lekan cast her a glance, it seemed like everybody had heard of her but she barely knew anybody. Her roommates went out of their way to pretend she didn't exist so bonding with them was out of the question.

"Know what?" She asked.

"I'm Osas's girlfriend." Feyi laughed hollow. "At least I was."

***

The girl had seen ghosts wander on their own, sometimes in twos or threes, but never in clusters like they were gathered now, just outside a popular supermarket.

She wondered why and when she pretended to stumble nearer, she saw that they were gathered around a pudgy man, he was dead too, he was the same as the shadows gathered around him.

They listened to his words.

"Listen, people, people of Nigeria, we are dead now, but this world is our home and I will supply answers to whatever questions you might have."

The girl didn't doubt that the man had been a business man while he was alive.

"I will answer your questions in exchange for information about your own lives while you were alive."

The girl heard others around him cry out in agreement. It was the saddest sound she had ever heard.