A big fat zero stared at Lekan right in the face, she was about to chuck it in the middle of her notebook when she heard the teacher clear his voice loudly. When she looked up, she saw that he was standing right in front of her, a patient smile on his face.

Things were changing too fast for Lekan to keep up with, apart from Dr. Munachi suddenly taking the place of the former therapist, this morning a new teacher had arrived and declared declares himself their new mathematics teacher, when someone raised a hand to ask of the old one, the new man who had introduced himself as Adekunle, waved off their concerns with a half hearted excuse about the former maths teacher quitting.

No one had bothered to be suspicious, Lekan hadn't even really been either, she suspected this short man with the kind smile had anything to do with cults, she only didn't like that he started the class with a surprise test, claiming that the questions were only basic ones that everyone should be familiar with. It didn't matter to him that many of the kids in here had never been given the privilege of education, the ones that had been given probably chose to drop out for reasons that varied from reasonable to stupid.

Lekan had never been given that privilege, what she learnt, she had learnt from her former neighbour's children. She wasn't bitter about it, she had stopped caring and she wasn't about to start, not when she had already made a deal with ghost boy to do all her assignments in exchange for finding his killer.

Lekan knew the deal was unfair, no street smart girl would ever take it, so she had added chores to the list and Zeke had grudgingly accepted.

As she stared back up at Adekunle, it suddenly dawned on her that this man probably didn't come to play and when she forced a smile on her face and he frowned, she knew she was in shit.

"You didn't get one question right, Olamilekan." He said, crossing his arms and jerking his head at the blank piece of paper in her hands. Her classmates giggled and someone loudly began to chant the olodo song before he was quickly chided by the maths teacher.

Lekan gave a shrug as if it explained everything and winced when his frown deepened.

"Did you even put any effort in?" Adekunle continued saying. "These were basic questions." So you said, Lekan wanted to retort, instead she nodded.

Adekunle whirled on his feet and walked briskly to the board, tapping the equations on whiteboard with the blue capped marker in between his knuckles.

"Because you are juvenile offenders doesn't mean you cannot make something of your time here, even going as far to take external exams when you get out of here." He announced loudly, he got a few snickers from several students who had accepted their life of crime, although they were quick to hide their laughs when he looked their way.

Lekan noticed that no matter how hood these kids feigned, they still feared the iron hand of the Warden, she wondered what worse he could do to them when they were already living it.

"Your former teacher might have let this slide —"

"I liked him better." Lekan mumbled a little too loud making the class roar in approval, she even got a few winks and hollers of praises from her mates but Adekunle was not pleased, a muscle ticked in his jaw and he gave a forceful rap of his knuckles on the board.

Again, she flinched when his eyes met hers, if he didn't hate her before, then he definitely did now.

"But I will not!" He shouted above the ruckus. "Because of this, I am creating an evening class starting today, right before your dinnertime."

The class quietened at that, in collective shock.

He gave a stiff smile. "We'll meet in this same class, and I'll be posting a list on the noticeboard of the ones who desperately needs the classes." His gaze returned to Lekan's. If he expected dismay or a public announcement of her disapproval, then he was very disappointed, because Lekan grinned big.

The Warden was a Muslim man who stuck religiously to his prayer times each day, he took a fifteen minute break to pray at the mosque just opposite Mary Slessor. His office was always left open, she knew this because whenever he did, he would head over to the cafeteria first to hand over the keys and Cook would jokingly tell him that it didn't matter since he never left it locked in the first place.

Then he'd shrug and reply that there was nothing of value that anyone would want to steal.

Usually the evenings were spent rearranging the chairs and tables in the cafeteria in time for dinner, and they were watched over by stern staff members, especially Cook, whose eagle eye never missed anything, it would have been impossible to sneak out.

Mr. Maths teacher had just given her the perfect time to break into the Warden's office.

***

Osas sidled onto the seat besides her and Lekan sighed. People like Osas thought that a single conversation with them automatically meant friendship and nothing but a sharp rebuke would dissuade them, Lekan would have done that, but she was in no mood to be mean.

She expected him to begin talking, but he only put his book on the table and started copying down what the maths teacher was writing on the board. She cast him a sideway glance, shielding her eyes when the setting sun cast a golden halo above his head.

He still didn't say a word, only standing up momentarily to shut the windows and resumed his writing again, Lekan mimicked his actions when Adekunle turned around the assess the scanty classroom. Lekan had been surprised when she had stepped in, she had expected the class to be full of failing delinquents but there were only twenty four of the normal ninety something students that crowded the classroom, and she was the only girl amongst them.

It took several seconds of copying for Lekan to notice it, how everyone seemed to fade, like hazy shadows out of their bodies. All of them, except her and the teacher who had already began to explain his written words.

Her pen clattered on the desk, then dropped down to the concrete floor. Lekan blinked and everything was back to normal.

She stood up sharply, ignoring the look Mr. Adekunle shot her.

"I need to use the toilet." She said shakily, already striding away without the baffled looking man's permission. When she burst out of the classroom into the empty hallway, she realized that it had been unusually warm inside whereas it was breezy out here.

Something was wrong. And it wasn't the first time she had seen it.

Lekan knew grimly that all twenty four of them would die, she didn't just know when, only that it would be soon. It troubled her as she ran down the staircase and out of the classroom building.

She had seen people walk on the street, their spirits half separated from their bodies and they never even knew that their deaths were near. She couldn't predict how they would die, no, that wasn't how her abilities worked, her powers were only a siren, an alert and it couldn't do anything more than that.

As she walked, she wondered if every strange thing that had happened recently were somehow linked. Everything had began with Mary Slessor. Lekan bit her lip as she remembered her first interaction with Zeke, the strange thing he had told her that had stuck with her;

"How many people have died here recently?" He asked.

". . . If you mean here in Mary Slessor, then none." She had answered.

"None? I'm surprised." He said, toying with a lock of his hair. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."

Lekan stopped right in front of the Warden's office, looking left and right and coming up empty. There was no soul in sight, the cacophony of noise that could be traced to the cafeteria was enough answer.

The emptiness was almost eery, but it was not as scary as the fact that Zeke knew something. That something strange was happening right under their noses.

She reached forward and twisted the door knob, stepping back as the door creaked open then stepping in after a second of feeling stupid.

The inside was dim and smelling of old papers and the tangy smell of deodorant. She moved quickly, grabbing onto the photo frame and her eyes greedily scanning the cursive words.

Zeke Folarin Badmus — beloved son.

Lekan was still staring at the grinning picture of Zeke, so intently that she almost didn't hear the thud of fast approaching footsteps. Without thinking, she scurried under the wide desk, folding herself, it was only when she heard the Warden's voice did she remember that she left the photo frame lying face down on the desk, rather than standing upright like it had been.

"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"

He paused, seemingly listening to whoever he was speaking to on the phone.

"I know, sir, it has to be willing, we simply cannot force anyone into being a sacrificial lamb — even the Christians' Jesus Christ was willing." He boomed a laugh so sudden that it made Lekan start, hitting her head against the wood of the desk, the sound was covered by his continuous laughter.

The laughter soon quietened down almost somberly, in a manner that chilled Lekan to the bones. He muttered one word that had her heart thudding.

"Soon, death is a call we must all answer."

Lekan held her breath as his feet drew nearer, there were no words spoken, nothing at all, even as she felt him reach for something and drag it across the desk.

She didn't dare breath until his footsteps rescinded and he opened the door to shut it on the way out. When she slithered from under the desk, she saw that the frame still lay face down but there was a bloody hand print on the back, it hadn't been there before.

***

It was the noise that woke her in the middle of the night, the distinct cry of a female voice almost drowned out by the sharp clang of the loud bell downstairs. The words the woman screamed were loud and clear.

"Awon omo meta! Iku ti de!"

Death is here.

When Lekan dashed downstairs with more than half of the girls in the dormitory, three bodies were piled right in front of the boys dormitory, a crowd was quickly gathering in front of them, Lekan pushed through to get near enough to catch the gory sight; bloody wrists slit in three savage lines and bleeding out in front of them. One of the dead boys was familiar, even in the dark, Osas.

***

The girl was staring at the little girl. It was the first time she had ever seen a child ghost and there was something quite about this girl that she couldn't help but stare at. She was wearing checkered pyjamas that were sizes too big for her, and even in death, her eyes were clear and child-like.

The girl wondered if the little girl knew she was no longer living.

"You can see me?" The little girl asked. "Nobody can see me."

The girl didn't know what to say to that, she could only stare.

"Can you find my mommy?"

She still didn't say a word. The little girl's lips wobbled with unshed tears, the girl wondered if the dead could cry.

"Please?"

It was the last words that were her undoing, she turned around, losing herself in the crowd on the sidewalk, feigning another stranger on the sidewalk who saw nothing.

The girl never saw the little girl again, but many times did she wonder, what happened to the souls of the dead that refused to move on?