The connection snapped as quickly as Zeke uttered those words, suddenly, the sun was back and Dr. Munachi was peering at her eagerly, flinching back when Lekan startled, her eyes snapping open.

"Why did you stop?" Dr. Munachi asked, her hands on her hips.

Lekan was already stumbling to her feet, using her bare feet to scatter the circle unwittingly. She quickly slipped on her sandals and dashed towards the door, having seen that Zeke was no where in sight. He had run, disappeared, and this time willingly.

"I didn't stop, Zeke broke the connection, he remembers everything and I think I was right, he has nothing to do with these murders, nothing at all."

Dr. Munachi heaved a sigh of relief, Lekan remembered she hadn't told the poor woman yet that it was the seemingly harmless Cook that was the mastermind.

"I'm going after Zeke." Lekan threw over her shoulder and pushed the door open, outside, Noah startled, jumping from the wall he leaned on.

"Did something go wrong?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. Lekan got the feeling that he had been snoozing off few minutes ago, she didn't blame him, the boys had just finished raking off their portion of weed assigned to them only an hour ago. Lekan felt tired herself, she hadn't been getting much sleep since the murders and she spent every night trying not to sleep, trying not to return to the nightmares that plagued her sleep.

"I just need to find him, Zeke bailed." Lekan said, she swallowed, worried that she wouldn't find him. "I was right, his death was unrelated to —" Lekan broke off, she got the sense that Noah didn't really care what happened to Zeke.

She gave him a pat on his shoulder and was almost dashing off when the door behind her opened and Dr. Munachi stepped out, still barefooted.

"There is something you must know, now that your friend knows the truth concerning his death, the next step is guiding his spirit to rest and you cannot help him if he is not ready." Dr. Munachi said.

"And what happens if he's not ready?" Lekan asked.

Dr. Munachi shook her head. "His spirit will be lost, I'm afraid he will fizzle out of existence, like air."

A shiver ran down Lekan's spine.

"I'm going to find him." And force him to find peace even if that means I won't see him again.

As Lekan walked away, she thought about when she unwittingly guided her father's ghost to peace, it had been a few weeks to Mary Slessor, she had always had a sinking suspicion that it was because of her that he had never found the peace he deserved. Even in death, her stubborn father was hell bent on protecting her so much that she had had to harshly tell him that she had survived when he had died and that she would continue to do so without him.

There hadn't been any supernatural thing that happened after it, he had just disappeared, like he had never been there, not even leaving a farewell word — she hadn't wanted one anyway — and Lekan had known that she wouldn't see him again. Strangely, the part of her that had always wanted him, had died with him.

She wasn't sure what to do with Zeke's case.

She found him where she had first met him, at the back of the cemetery and he was sitting on a headstone, head bent between his laps. If he noticed her presence, he didn't show it by raising his head, he only began to speak.

"I was fourteen when I realized that my family wasn't the typical one, at school I used to be asked how it felt to be born to a home with different religious lifestyles and I used to jokingly tell them that I was both Christan and Muslim, and it was true, I followed my mother to churches on Sunday and prayed with my father when he asked it."

Zeke raised his head, there was no hint of a smile on his lips, his eyes or what she could make of his hazy figure were grim. He was getting harder and harder to see and it scared Lekan.

"People didn't know that religion wasn't the only strange thing about my family, they didn't know that my father had episodes . . . he served in the army before settling down and suffered from PTSD, anytime he had those episodes, he would harm himself so bad that my mother got scared for us."

As Zeke told his story, it was as if he became clearer to her, she was slowly seeing the true Zeke and he wasn't the cheerful boy he made himself to be, maybe he was indeed cheerful, but he was also sad. This Zeke, she understood.

"She couldn't pray it away, and so every time it happened, she would pack my things and send me off to my grandparents, and when I'd return, I would find my father with new injuries that were too strange to be self inflicted. I found out that my mother used to abuse my father physically. She would drug him, and then hit him like an animal, when I caught her doing it, she claimed she was flogging the evil spirit out of him."

Lekan gave a shudder, finding a new respect for the Warden. She supposed she had misjudged him as he had misjudged her.

"Long story short, I did other things to ignore what was going on, I began to harm myself, in hopes that she would leave my father and hurt me instead, but she never did and I learnt to like it, the physical pain hid the one inside, by the time my father got strong enough to break free of her abuse and file for a divorce, it was too late to help me."

Zeke smiled a chilling smile, there was nothing happy about it.

"I took my life right in his office here, and he found me, right there."

Lekan bit her lip, what could she say to him that would make him feel the least bit better? There was nothing at all, sorry didn't cover it and pity was useless to the dead.

"I'm here, right here for you." She murmured. "I will never understand your pain and I won't act like I can try to, but I am here."

"Well, that doesn't matter now, there's only one thing I can do, and that is setting things right. I'm going to do what I should have done before."

He stood, stretching like he had no care in the world.

"What do you need?" Lekan asked.

His face turned serious, smoothening like it usually did when he was serious.

"I'm going to help you take down whatever dark magic is harming Mary Slessor, my life might have been — dark, but when I was younger and much happier, I used to like coming here with my dad, and I made many friends here."

"Then what?" Lekan asked.

"Then I'm going to write a note to my father, and then, I'm getting the hell out of here," Zeke said, he gave her a hint of a smile that boasted of the old Zeke. "No offense, Lekan, but this place isn't for me. Not anymore."

***

"Lekan, meet Malik, Suki and Dara." Feyi introduced, pointing first to the small looking boy who couldn't be a day above twelve then to the chubby girl with the bold tribal marks on her cheeks and the fair skinned girl with a gap tooth grin.

Lekan eyed the three of them warily and shifted so they could take the empty seats besides her, once again, Feyi had chased away her entourage and they were sulking at the table next to theirs — deliberately arranged that way so they could still catch crumbs of conversation.

Lekan cast a wary glance at the entrance of the cafeteria where two police officers in uniforms stood, the rifle slung across their shoulders causing a ripple of unease, the seats that were usually arranged near the door had been shifted far away from it to the center making the spacious hall seem cramped.

At the assembly before dinner, the Warden had officially introduced the officers, saying that they were for everybody's protection. Lekan knew none of her mates thought that way, every body in the cafeteria had experiences with the justice system of the country, they knew the truth and that truth kept them on their toes.

A glance at Noah who chose to sit with his friends this time told Lekan he was thinking the same thing. She averted her eyes and cast them back to Feyi, trying to pay attention to the conversation and wondering why she and Noah seemed to be so attuned to each other's thoughts.

"Are you even listening to what I've been saying or are you staring at your lover boy?" Feyi asked, a teasing smile on her lips as she swallowed a ball of her eba, the watery vegetable stew dripped down from her fingers to her elbows but she paid no attention to it, instead she rolled another ball from her plate and dipped it in the stew. Feyi was a messy eater, Lekan found it endearing.

"Noah is not my lover boy." She answered, glancing down at her untouched food and feeling her stomach roil with disgust, back home she never ate swallows, and would rather starve than eat it.

The small meat on the soup had already been eaten as soon as she had gotten the plate and she knew she would have to give the food to someone to eat, one of the rules of Mary Slessor was to never waste food.

"Hmm, but you're his lover girl, look at the way he looks at you, like how my Osas used to look at me." Feyi countered, she didn't give Lekan the chance to protest, already speaking on the next topic. "Malik is like the chairman of all baby criminals under age thirteen — he's my prison son — and he will be helping us start a riot in a few minutes."

Malik looked up from licking his empty bowl of soup and gave a grin.

"Aunty Feyi says I have to just run into that boy." He said, pointing at one of the biggest boys in Mary Slessor, Ibrahim, they called him, he mostly stuck to himself but when he got angry, he liked to destroy things, Lekan would have congratulated Feyi on a brilliant plan but her eyes strayed to the police officers standing.

"Are you sure starting a riot now is a good idea?" Lekan asked in a hushed tone, leaning closer to Feyi.

"All the more reason to start one," Feyi said, her eyes on the officers too. "So they can see and report the news, you said you'll video it on that your new phone?"

Lekan sighed. "Fine, but if there is any chance of things going to shit, find a way to stop it."

Feyi beamed. "Good, my ladies here will help escalate things, just watch and learn, this is how you start a riot."

It wasn't until Malik was done did he rise with Lekan's half eaten plate and headed straight for Ibrahim's table, feigning a stumble that impressed Lekan and wondered what the little boy had done to warrant Mary Slessor and then crashing right into Ibrahim who was standing to clear his table.

Lekan winced as soup splashed on Ibrahim's uniform shirt, thinking that he would need more than the little detergent they were assigned for washing. The whole cafeteria went quiet at once, some of them gaping at Ibrahim and many others shaking their heads in pity for the disaster to come.

The officers didn't notice, and that was when the chaos started. Someone in the crowd yelled.

"Food fight!"

And like something out an American movie, the tossing of food began at each other, at Ibrahim who took to tossing chairs and snapping the legs of the plastic table, looking around for the little weasel who had scurried away.

Lekan took out her phone and began to video, turning around when a mould of eba hit her right in the chest, she looked and saw several boys snickering.

Before she knew it, she was reaching for the closest plate in sight and sending it flying at them, hitting one in the head. The mood was infectious and she was doing more throwing than recording, Lekan paused briefly to upload the video on a fake Twitter account she just created, she also sent the video to the DM of a popular news channel and when she looked up a moment later, she was too late, there were seven officers standing in front of her rifles in hand.

Lekan froze, fear making her drop the phone in her hand and she realized that everyone were staring at her, the silence was back.

"Olamilekan?" The stern officer in the middle of them asked.

"Yes." Her voice was a hoarse stutter.

"You and your friend, Feyi need to come with us, now."

***

"I am highly disappointed in you, Olamilekan." The Warden said, hands folded in front of his desk. He wore a tight look of displeasure on his face that told her his anger was simmering below the surface, he looked to the officers standing in the office and gave them a nod that told them it was okay to leave.

Lekan and Feyi shared a look.

The Warden didn't speak again until the door slammed behind them.

"I don't see the meaning in this stupidity, and I know I speak on behalf of every staff in Mary Slessor." He continued. "I am not surprised that Feyisola is the mastermind behind this, but to have you join her disappoints me."

"Where did you get the phone?"

Lekan pursed her lips, remembering Dr. Munachi's warning.

"I'm not saying." She said stubbornly.

"I will withdraw my letter of recommendation." The Warden said flatly, Lekan flinched at the open threat and cursed herself for being foolish for forgetting her own trial.

Feyi furrowed her brows in confusion.

"I can't say," Lekan repeated.

The Warden nodded. "Very well, I thought as much, the both of you will spend tomorrow morning clearly the left over weeds and assisting Cook for the rest of the week. And I will be assigning some of your mates to keep an eye on the both of you as from now on, any sign of a rebellion and I will be forced to take steps I don't want to."

"Also, your lawyer asked me to relay your trial date to you, it's in two weeks time, on Monday."

Lekan leaned back in her seat, shaking slightly from his words. She was fucking up her own life for people she didn't know, to save people who didn't even care about her.

"Now, get out of my office."

The girls didn't wait for him to finish before they stood up and headed out the door, they walked together in silence and when they reached the football field, Noah was waiting.

"What happened?" He asked.

"You told!" Feyi accused suddenly. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you."

Noah flinched back, surprised, he turned to Lekan for back up but he saw the slightest hesitation on her face and hissed.

"Neither of you believe me." He said flatly.

"Just because I don't trust you doesn't mean I'm not dying trying to. You of all people should know that trust isn't something that comes easy." Lekan said tiredly, she sank down to sit on the grass and Noah and Feyi followed.

It was that time of the evening that was almost night time and Lekan knew that soon the bell would clang and that they would all be forced inside.

"I think Cook told." Lekan admitted softly. "She must have seen us from the kitchen."

"What do we do now?" Feyi asked, chewing on her bottom lip.

"What can we do?" Noah scoffed. "Our hands are tied, if we do nothing, more people die, if we do something we could get into trouble."

"Me especially." Lekan said, it was time to come clean. "I have a lawyer and he's appealing my case in court, if I fuck up and get into trouble, there's no getting out of Mary Slessor for me."

She waited for their cries of indignation, for them to dub her a sell out, but they didn't, they just sat, staring at nothing.

Feyi's hand found hers first and Noah gave her a slight push.

"If all fails, I swear, I will burn this place to the ground before I let anyone else die." Feyi swore.

The words chilled Lekan, because she knew Feyi and she knew they were the truth.

***

It was a Sunday morning, almost one week later when the fuel tankers arrived, parked in Mary Slessor, courtesy of Dr. Caleb.

Lekan thought that it would be the perfect starter to a fire that could sweep Mary Slessor to ashes, she had no idea how right she was.