Someone was watching them.

Kendrick tried not to sneak glances at the table several feet away from where he and his mother sat, he partly didn't want to let them know he was on to them and also because he was afraid of receiving another slap to the neck by his mother - the one she had given him minutes ago still hurt. He wasn't sure whether to be alarmed because for all he knew, The ORION Project might have sicked these guys on him but it was hard to think so because these men didn't look like the regular youths that made up most of The ORION Project.

He angled his phone slightly, pretending to glance at it, so he could get a better view of the them at their table, wincing when his mother chucked the napkin at his face, he folded it neatly and met his mother's furious gaze with a gulp.

"Have you paid a single attention to what I have been saying these while, Ken?" She said through gritted teeth. "I did not come all the way here so you could stare at your phone all morning."

Kendrick wanted to point out that he had been staring at a blank screen but that would only earn him another slap.

"I'm sorry, ma. I thought I saw someone." He was quick to apologize, he couldn't help but sneak another glance behind him, and this time, he caught the eye of one of the men who seemed to be watching them and when he did so, he feigned nonchalance, letting his gaze sweeping over the cool interior of the restaurant as if searching for the waiter.

His mother had insisted on them visiting a Chinese restaurant that was in the affluent part of Ikeja - a far drive from his hostel - and was almost sandwiched between the Domino mall on the right and the mall on the left, it was almost hard to miss but they seemed to enjoy a lot of business, obvious by the filled seats even though it was quite early for business, It made Kendrick wonder what it looked like during lunch hours.

He had also noticed that whenever he ate out with his mother, she always insisted on a Chinese restaurant, he wasn't sure if it was for his benefit or because she missed Chinese cuisine.

"Is anything the matter, Ken?" His mother asked, brows furrowed as she set down her cup of tea, she hadn't eaten, only asked for a cup of tea and watched him devour all the foods he had missed eating.

"Everything's fine, and I'm not regretting switching schools." He said firmly, a little too firmly that made hurt flash on her face before she schooled her emotions into that blank look that was so similar to his. His mother was a petite woman and was a good foot shorter than he was but she was even scarier than his father.

She sighed, stirring her tea.

"Of course, we do worry that switching from a perfectly good university to a whole new world was not the best decision but we worry because we care." Her accent made an appearance as it usually did whenever she was irritated or angry. Right now, it was a mixture of both emotions.

Kendrick looked up from his half eaten egg roll to see that the men were standing up, one of them brushed at his suit jacket, lifting it up and briefly flashing something beneath his belt. A gun.

Kendrick felt a cold shiver snake down his spine and this time when he met the gaze of the man with the gun, the man smirked, a slight tug of his lips and walked out with his companions. Kendrick was still watching the door even after they were gone.

He nodded absentmindedly at what his mother was saying, her voice barely audible among the ringing and low chatter in the room. Death had just looked him in the face and was boldly foreshadowing his own death.

He stood up, chair scraping against the tiled floor and turning more than half of the eyes in the room in his direction, he ignored them and the incredulous gaze on his mother's face that was slowly turning red with anger - she probably thought he was being rude and embarrassing her in public.

"I'm sorry, ma, I need to make an important phone call outside, and it can't wait." Kendrick said hurriedly, knowing well that he was going to be getting an earful and more slaps from his mother later but he was more concerned by the people that had most likely threatened publicly.

He didn't wait for his mother's permission, striding out the room, nodding swiftly at the doorman who pushed open the door. Kendrick burst into the open air, half expecting the men to be waiting by his mother's car but they were gone, he scanned the cars in the parking lot as if one of them would suddenly reveal them.

Lost and fury rising quick in his chest at the thought that this was some sick game from Joshua Phillips, he whirled on his heel, walking to the doorman who was eyeing him as if he was crazy.

"Three men just came out of here like two minutes ago, did you see them drive away?" Kendrick fired.

The doorman stammered before settling on a barely intelligible sentence, most likely taken aback by Kendrick's intensity.

"I - uh, no . . . no, sir." The man stuttered.

Kendrick shook his head and wandered back to his mother's car, searching for any sign that the range rover had been tampered with, the tires were in tact and there were no broken windows or unlocked doors so he did the next best thing - dial Amina's number.

She picked up on the third ring.

"Kendrick," her voice was curt, even annoyed. He didn't care.

"Call off your dogs." He snapped into the speaker. "I've just basically been slapped with a threat in the face with my mother present, if this is one of your initiation processes, then it is not the least bit funny."

For a second, she was quiet and when she spoke again, she didn't sound angry, she didn't sound like anything.

"Explain."

And he did, recounting the moment the men entered and when he noticed the gun. When he was done, her voice came calm.

"You better thank your God you were in public or we would be packing your guts back into your stomach." She drawled as if she weren't talking of his death.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Get the hell out of there now, Grace reported the same thing and I noticed someone tailing me this morning. Meet me in school, at the sports center."

Amina hung up. Kendrick gritted his teeth so hard he was afraid they would break then he wondered who the hell would want him dead if it weren't ORION.

***

Grace disliked Amina Khalid intensely, it might be the cocky way she spoke or how she managed to be effortlessly confident but Grace hated everything about the Muslim girl. It was why the last thing she would ever want to do was spend more time necessary in the presence of the said girl but in this instance, she had no choice.

A few minutes ago, her soccer class had ended and throughout it all, she had noticed the eyes of a muscular man watching her from the bleachers, she had also noticed him from the bus she took this morning, maybe on another day she wouldn't have noticed him or waved away the fact that he was turning up everywhere she went to if she hadn't joined the founder of all stalker activities - The ORION Project itself. While she had been running laps around the track field, she had stopped for a second to retie her shoelaces and caught his gaze again, this time, he had smirked slowly until she was forced to look away, chest pounding in anxiety.

So she had called Amina because she didn't know what else to do, and surprisingly, Amina hadn't been angry, she had just muttered a few words and commanded Grace to remain at the Sports Center until she got there. And there she stood, by the bleachers, arms crossed over her chest and a blank look on her face.

Grace rounded off her conversation with a panting Tope, telling her she had to speak with someone and that they would meet in the next class. Tope looked suspicious, narrowing her eyes but saying nothing. Grace felt somehow that they were both keeping secrets from each other, she tried and failed to remember the last time they had spoken uninterrupted, either by Tope excusing herself to answer a call or Grace too lost in her problems to bother to answer Tope's texts.

The last thing she would want to say to her best friend was admit she had joined the most exclusive cult on campus and possibly nationwide.

Grace flicked away a strand of hair from her cheek, and waved at Dayo - a boy that probably would be her friend if she weren't so painfully awkward. She picked up her backpack walked out the enclosed field and to where Amina stood, waiting, regal as ever in a fitted black top and red trousers that were flared at the ankles. She wore a red hijab with flowery designs on them and her put together dressing made Grace glance down at her sweat soaked soccer shorts and white Juventus jersey.

"He's long gone, in case you were wondering." Grace said as a manner of greeting. What did you say to a girl that wasn't exactly a friend but someone you were forced to put up with. True to her words, the stalker was long gone, there one moment and gone the next when she called Amina. It made things all the more suspicious.

"I didn't expect him to stick around." Amina drawled, untangling her arms so they rested by her side. "Kendrick just called me, some people were following him too."

Grace felt her eyebrows jut up in surprise.

"Shit, is he alright?" She asked.

A surprised look crossed Amina's face briefly.

"He's on his way here." She replied. "I've called Joshua and he's aware of the situation."

Grace wanted to scoff but she held it in, settling for the usual scowl that appeared on her face anytime Phillips was mentioned.

"So what's up?" Grace pestered. "Who was that man?"

"Just a scare," Amina rolled her eyes, she was barely wearing any make up except for her red painted lips and it made Grace wonder how one person could be gifted with such long lashes. She knew she was being superficial, stupid even but it seemed to her that whatever she had, Amina had almost ten times of it. It didn't help her sour mood.

"Scare?" Grace exclaimed. "Scare, what if he had a gun on him?"

Amina rolled her eyes again.

"God, I've forgotten how annoying newbies are." She sassed. "The mission assigned to us is top secret, one Joshua trusts me to handle." There was a ting of bitterness in the tone of the Hausa beauty as she mentioned Joshua but her next words took on a cheerful beat that made Grace wonder if she imagined it.

"There will always be enemies, Grace darling. Someone's trying to scare us from the prize, or from finding out something." Amina told her, patting Grace's shoulder condescendingly. "We'll be fine as long you don't chicken out. Besides, no one would shoot you in broad daylight."

"Easy to say, when you probably live in a multi millionaire mansion at night." Grace snipped.

Amina didn't say anything for a while but then she nodded as if she understood.

"Grace, We are ORION, you are ORION and we do not leave one of our own vulnerable. You will be fine, your family will be. Like I said, this is a scare, those phonies have no power compared to ours." Amina reassured.

Grace fumed silently, she didn't want to be a part of ORION, she wanted her life to return the mess it was, a normal mess, instead of this complicated one.

"If you still feel scared, I can call Firepemi to tail you around until the day is over, he's got nothing to do as a final year student." Amina offered.

If this was a test of bravery - because ORION was always playing games - then she failed badly because she nodded in agreement. If she was going to die, she might as well go down with an ORION member.

"Thanks for the help." Her answer was sarcastic, Amina pretended not to notice.

"Also, concerning the mission, meet me by the university library, there's a few things we need to go over before it tomorrow." Amina announced.

Grace narrowed her eyes and wondered if ORION had something to do with the lecture free day for diploma students that had been announced in the WhatsApp group for students this morning.

"Sure, whatever." Grace snapped. Amina narrowed her eyes, in the motion of saying something when Kendrick's voice interrupted. He looked bedazzled, hair sticking up and he looked like he had chewed his lips too many times over, they looked red and Grace looked away when he caught her gaze.

"What did I miss?" He asked Amina.

"Nothing that Grace cannot fill you on, I have things to attend to." Amina said flatly, she didn't say another word, only spinning on her heels and leaving, she got into her car that was parked in front of the sports hall and drove away. Grace wondered if she drove if everywhere around campus and almost snickered at the thought.

"What's wrong with her?" Kendrick asked Grace, looking from the car that was fast disappearing into the wide open gates and back at Grace. Sometimes, Grace hated the way he stared at Amina, as if she was something he partly admired and partly loathed.

You only want him to stare at you, her mind mocked.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Grace said, tone clipped.

***

"One, two, three, go!" Sanmi shouted, then watched as they messed up the dance steps for the hundredth time. He rubbed his head and let out a frustrated hiss as he pressed the stop button on the music player.

They groaned, mid step and whirled around to glare at him. They rehearsed in the sports hall, clearing out the badminton nets and using the court to dance, in a matter of an hour, the badminton players would come in and send them out, Sanmi needed them to get the fucking dance step before he lost his mind.

He grimaced as his stomach rumbled, but knowing he couldn't stomach the thought of eating something, he had tried to this morning and ended up puking in the bathroom. His hands shook in his pockets and he couldn't stop the wave of dizziness that seemed to overcome him every few minutes, he was sure that if he touched a hand to his neck, he would be boiling hot - it was what happened whenever he went too long without drugs, it was only a matter of hours before he went crawling to Phillips for his next dose and he dreaded it, the same cycle over and over again.

"Stop fucking whining." He snapped. "Now, again."

He resumed the music, Burna Boy's thick voice crooned in harmony with Lily Allen's. His crew spun around, then crouched, bobbing their head in synch with the music and again, Sanmi paused the music.

He was about to resume shouting profanities at them because it was the only thing that was distracting him from the itch in his throat when he heard a familiar voice call his name.

When he spun around, Tope was walking towards him, still dressed in her soccer kit, he knew very well that she was coming from a class because when he had arrived earlier, he had spied the field for a look at her because he was a fucking creep. Now, he tried not think of how those shorts clung to her voluptuous thighs because if he did, then he'd be seeking for something else to distract him.

"What's up?" He asked, trying desperately to feign nonchalance because he couldn't bear to see the look on her face when she knew he had never quit taking drugs.

The argument that broke them apart wasn't his inability to accept that she had been pregnant and that he was going to have to take responsibility, no, she had forgiven him for being a piece of shit even when he had coerced her into an abortion, although they had broken up, she had been determined to be his friend. They had stopped speaking because she found his stash of drugs, because she had found out he also dealt what he took.

Tope looked nothing like the woman that had given him the cold shoulder yesterday. She was wide eyed and barefaced, sweat dripping down her chin.

"Can I speak to you, without an audience?" She asked hesitantly, casting a suspicious glance at his crew who made no attempt to hide the fact that they were watching their conversation, even though they were used to seeing other girls seek him out. Sanmi caught Hayley's frown and looked away.

He nodded at Tope, gesturing that they move to the seats by the court. He leaned against the wall, waiting for her to speak.

"This is about ARTEMIS." She said flatly, making it clear that she wouldn't be speaking to him if it weren't and it didn't cut him like he thought he would, after all, he had been the one to suggest that they broke off their relationship because he knew how much he was toxic to her, maybe one day, he might get over her.

"I know, you don't look particularly happy to see me." He shrugged. "Get straight to the point, Tope, so you can get far away from me like you want to."

She didn't deny it, only nodded in acknowledgement of his words.

"ARTEMIS was hesitant to trust you at first, but there is something you must know, before we put our plans into action." She said, tone detached as if she had rehearsed it a million times in front of a mirror.

"And that is?" He questioned, wondering why she sounded ominous.

"I'll pick you up, eight pm, tomorrow. Then you'll find out what."

He nodded, waiting for her to scurry away and surprised when she didn't.

"You might not like what you will be told, but I swear to you, it is the truth."