For the longest moment, all Lekan could hear was the sudden cry of an owl piercing through the night. She startled and almost dropped the phone at her ear, when she recovered, Dr. Munachi was already speaking.

Lekan thought briefly about chasing after the sound but she thought better, it was possible that it was a trap, a scent to lure her away.

"Necromancy, Lekan why are you asking about such things?"

"Because I think something strange is going on, and I think necromancy is the end goal." Lekan cut it, she felt relief after, it felt great to unload everything she had been keeping to herself even while knowing that there was only limited help that the doctor could offer, she couldn't exactly waltz down from her house or office and banish whatever evil roaming Mary Slessor.

"I found five coffins, Doc, five coffins and none were empty, someone is preserving the bodies, they looked like they have been dead for years but they didn't even stink."

Everything was tied back to Lekan, it seemed like she was the only one who could do something, make an attempt at finding the truth. It was empowering, and at the same time, made her feel alone. Before, Lekan had found power in sketching images, in deciding the fates of the characters she created on paper, now they felt hollow to her, a mockery of the truth.

Dr. Munachi was quiet before expelling a breath sharply. "My vision is coming to pass."

"I remember your vision being about fire, not necromancy." Lekan reminded her.

"I had another one." The doctor admitted. "In my vision, I saw an owl perched on the big sign outside your dormitory."

Lekan flinched at the mention of owl. "I've seen an owl around here recently." The same owl that she found out was a clock, a sign to draw out people.

"Then you must know that owls are harbingers of death, Lekan whatever it is that you are investigating, I'd warn you to stay out of it, I've been working behind the scenes with your lawyer so we can get you out of that place faster."

Lekan wasn't sure which was more surprising, the fact that Nehemiah was still in contact with the psychologist that Lekan had told him to cut off or the fact that Dr. Munachi wanted her out of Mary Slessor.

"What happens to others who aren't so fortunate to get out?" Lekan asked, hissing as she felt the sting of a mosquito bite on her left arm, they seemed to be in swarm around her and when she stood to leave, one was buzzing defiantly in her face.

"Lekan, you are not a hero, no matter how much you think you are, you are a convey and your job involves death — not standing in its path. And if what you say is true, then everything is even more dangerous, necromancy is no joke, and whoever is behind it is desperate, they won't make it easy for you."

"I know, I know." Lekan snapped, it wasn't easy to forget when everywhere she looked, she saw people unaware of their own impending deaths.

"I fear that Blood Moon have found their way into Mary Slessor, necromancy is not uncommon with them, among other terrible things."

"I have never told anybody this before, not a single soul the story I am about to tell you, but when I was around your age, I had just finished school at The Blue Water Academy, I was young and full of ideas, I once believed Blue Water and Blood Moon could form an alliance of sorts, just because we were on opposite sides and using opposite magic didn't mean we could co exist like yin and yang."

"I attended one of their cult meetings in disguise as one of the ordinary people who admired their power, and I watched them rip a new born child limb from limb for a ritual that gave blood money." Dr. Munachi said, her voice was even, casual too but when she paused and resumed again, there was a slight tremble in her voice. "Whoever is affiliated with Blood Moon is dangerous, you must tread with caution."

"I was thinking the same thing about Blood Moon," Lekan agreed. "Except, I don't understand why Mary Slessor is their target."

"Fresh blood." Dr. Munachi stated flatly. "Like all their magic, necromancy involves taking a life in exchange for a life, and there is an abundance of blood where nobody would look twice if it was spilled continuously. It is why it took fresh deaths to unearth fifty previous mysterious ones."

"And the thing about necromancy is that there is no telling how many years it can take to resurrect the dead, how many to die for the dead, the process is life sucking and almost impossible."

Like eight whole years and almost fifty dead kids.

Lekan clenched her free fist, it was another case where society continued to sneer down at the children it had failed. It was scary that many that had died had no one to fight for their justice.

"What can I do, Doc?" Lekan asked wearily, she leaned against the clothing pole and sighed. "I can't let this happen."

She could almost see Dr. Munachi shake her head.

"No, there is nothing you can do, Blood Moon might be more flamboyant than Blue Water but they do know how to cover their tracks. Please, Lekan, stay out of trouble, the kind of trouble that could end you — permanently."

Lekan was tired of another adult telling her to mind her own business, she was tired of her ideas being kicked down before they even had a chance to bloom. She gritted her teeth and muttered a quiet goodbye, she was in the motion of hanging up when Dr. Munachi cried out.

"Listen, Lekan, there is something I forgot to tell you about necromancy."

"There is no form of resurrection that brings the dead back to the lives they once were, they never return whole, but as revenants." Dr. Munachi said frantically. "Revenants are blood thirsty monsters, Lekan, you would be better off destroying the bodies in the coffin before they return to life."

"— or you won't have to wait for this killer to pick you off one by one, the revenants will devour everything and everyone in their path."

***

"Hey, Lekan, over here!"

Lekan almost didn't hear Feyi's boisterous voice call her among the cacophony of spoons scrapping against plates and the loud chattering in the wide hall. In fact, she looked lost, gripping tightly onto her breakfast tray and thinking that maybe Feyi had mentioned joining breakfast as a cruel joke, maybe she was sitting with her friends and giggling about it.

Lekan was wondering why she even cared when she felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned around to face a smiling Feyi.

"Silly girl, I've been shouting your name since forever, follow me."

Then she began walking, sashaying like a queen as people standing made a way for her. Maybe she was indeed queen because the usual table meant for five only had more than ten gathered around it.

Lekan caught the eye of one of her roommates and instantly regretted her decision to sit with Feyi. Out of all seven girls she shared a room with, it was Julianna who had a bone to pick with her the most, after all, Lekan had sprained her arm on her first day and even now, she still carried the arm like a weight instead of an extension of her body.

Feyi didn't have to squeeze through the ten, they immediately scooted their chairs back for her to pass and when Feyi patted down the empty seat besides hers for Lekan to sit, their mouths dropped.

Lekan hid her smile behind a cough. She set her tray on the table, hoping they would resume talking, but they didn't, they still stared.

"Sorry, this is Lekan, Lekan meet everybody." Feyi said, they were still curious but they didn't dare to voice it. Soon, they reluctantly returned to their meal.

"Don't you want butter on that?" Feyi asked, eyeing Lekan's plain bread with contempt. Lekan didn't fail to notice that the other girl's plate was half eaten, and the slices of bread left twice the three on Lekan's plate.

"Cook said the butter was finished when the line got to my turn." Lekan said with a shrug, she topped a slice with scrambled eggs and covered it with another.

"That woman just hoards food like it wasn't bought for us." Feyi said with an eye roll and sure enough, the table were murmuring their agreements. "I can get you butter if you want it though."

Lekan shook her head as she took a bite of her sandwich, she was partly amused that Feyi was acting like they were friends when all they seemed to share was their desire to find Osas's murderer, even then, Feyi sought for closure, for truth, Lekan wasn't even sure why she did.

Although it was nice to act like a normal sixteen year old while she had the chance. She chewed slowly and swallowed, taking a gulp of her tea before she bothered to answer Feyi, the latter wasn't offended though, she just kept smiling, both sides of her smile different in colour.

"No, I don't want any." She said, then added after a beat. "The Warden is back now."

It was enough to launch the table into fresh conversation that they were even reluctant to leave as the bell clanged thrice, signifying that breakfast was over.

Feyi's friends carted off with her empty tray and that of Lekan's, insisting that it would be no problem at all. Lekan wondered why they treated Feyi so queenly, she didn't see any reason to, Feyi wasn't the prettiest girl in Mary Slessor, she didn't seem to be the smartest or even most cunning. It wasn't until after the table was clear of other did Lekan question why aloud.

Feyi leaned back, burping into her rolled up sleeve.

"There is no reason for them to fear me or love me, what they think of me is only an illusion. I came into Mary Slessor a scared girl who happened to take out that fear on the weakest girl she could find. People saw, people talked and I played into their lies, I let them think I am the strongest, the most wicked."

Lekan decided then that she liked Feyi, so she leaned forward and said a secret of her own.

"I can see ghosts, have been seeing them since I was five and I have a ghost friend here called Zeke." Lekan deadpanned.

Feyi didn't bat an eyelash.

"Trust me, Lekan, I have seen worse and we right now, we are living worst."

***

They were outside as soon as they heard the owl cry, but still they were too late, again. There was a boy slouched outside the cafeteria, leaning against the clothing pole, he looked like he was sleeping, his bloody wrists whispered a different story.

Feyi had turned around and hurled up the dinner she had been so gleeful to eat earlier that evening.

Lekan just stared and stared until she decided that she had had enough.

"Call the first adult you can find for help." She told Feyi in a voice that she assumed was calm — it wasn't, it trembled as if she was on the brink of tears.

Now she could almost feel the walls closing on her as she stood inside the hidden room, she didn't feel the sting of her finger, she could only hear her own breath come in and out, shallower than the last time.

Whoever had left the coffins wide open hadn't been bothered to close them. Lekan drew closer, but she wasn't focused on the wide open eyes of the supposedly dead, she didn't even pay much attention to the fact that the first body had vivid green eyes that bored into hers unblinkingly.

All she could see was the red streaming down his chin, blood, fresh blood.

Lekan's hand hovered hesitantly then she felt for a pulse on his cold, cold skin. A steady pulse beat beneath her fingers, Lekan recoiled, almost slipping.

Her eyes were wide with terror and the walls were closing it, or maybe it was the way she couldn't find breath in her lungs, the way she gasped for it, reaching but never quite touching.

The bodies in the coffin weren't dead, they were very much alive.

***

It was on the forty first day they let her speak to someone that didn't echo in her head, a fragment of the living. She rasped out the first number, the first name she could think of, not her mother's, not her father's — he was long dead.

"Uncle Wale, I want to talk to Uncle Wale."