“What? What? Why do you look so excited all of a sudden?” Oware perked up and slithered behind her as she followed Abeni who dashed off back to her bedroom with fire in her eyes, weapons discarded on the floor behind her with a loud clang!

She didn’t answer. Not yet. Just grabbing a piece of paper and that expensive pen found lying around that she’d used before with Baba and drew an inky diagram to represent her thoughts.

Why did they need her? Why would they go out of their way for abandoned resources and a child they didn’t think had awakened her abilities yet? What did he say again?

“So, find out what it is so that the hunt will go as smoothly as possible...”

“It’s the first step.”

“When the time comes and I launch my attacks...”

What’s his end goal? With the village chief’s controlling personality...

“The villages first step is a hunt...and the next step is a series of attacks. Hm...so, he either wants to eradicate all of the ẹda in the maze or the other one....no, that sounds too small for the way he was speaking. Like there’s something more to it. There’s barely any ẹda left in the maze you’re from too...and if he was planning on hunting the other ẹda in another maze, why did he use the word ‘attacks’ instead and not the word ‘hunts’? Plus, ‘attacks’ is plural while ‘hunt’ is not—”

Oware momentarily interrupted her, like the female ẹda felt the need to say this. “You have a freakishly good memory.”

“Thanks,” Abeni always had. “…Now, I could be wrong but....a good guess is that he wants to...hunt any of the remaining ẹda so they don’t interfere and then...attack the places where eniyans live in the Libyan underworld...that’s the only other targets that are valuable on their map. My parents must’ve known that.”

“What! Is he crazy?” Oware scoffed to herself, three eggs bouncing up and down as she protested.

“Tiwa was a sneaky little wench…she even sold my crown to a man from the settlement.”

But Abeni shook her head, still writing. “My guess is that he wants to use me. He probably suspected that my parents left something behind…the map? I don’t know if he knows about it, but he knows that my parents knew something about his plan…it makes sense. That means when they wrote ‘friend’ or ‘neutral’ on the map, they were probably talking about whether those places would welcome us if we moved there or asked for help, etcetera.”

“Wow…” Oware commented then looked down at the paper. “Are you sure you want to write all of this down?”

“I’ll hide it in the stash. I just need to do this to help me think,” Abeni hummed to herself and kept writing. “The village chief is an impatient man with a massive ego, but judging by what they said in that hut and how much my uncle was questioning me…the chief is still scared that I have something he needs. Even if they believe me when I say that the equipment was lost, they’re probably still preparing for the hunt and their next steps and they must be...missing something. Think about it! You wouldn’t be so desperate to keep tabs on an unawakened child if you weren’t missing something that they had, you know?” Abeni turned to Oware who weakly smiled with widened eyes, as if she didn’t expect to be put on the spot.

“Yup, you’re completely right!” Oware quickly put her thumbs up as her lips spread into a tight grin.

Abeni smiled back with appreciation and continued mapping her ideas. “That’s how I was when I came back here. I desperately needed stability so I looked for it. What did he say about that crown again? My Iya sold his crown to the settlement where the merchants are supposed to be from. Look,” She studied the map, the crossed off ‘foe’ replaced with the word ‘neutral’ under the drawing of The Settlement, “My parents thought the settlement was a dangerous place. But selling could be what made them think of it ‘neutral’. Maybe what they need is my parents’ connections then. Maybe, despite allowing eniyans from other places to come here, Aajiz Village still had a bad reputation which is a problem because it means the other eniyans will be on guard against their attacks already? And I would be able to help them as my Iya’s child?” This was the most probable reason for their fixation. Unless he wanted her parents’ list of techniques too to help with the attacks? If he even knew they wrote it.

Oware looked to her. “Then…what should we do?”

Should this be true, there was only one real answer Abeni could reply with.

“...Leave. Take my parents stash with us and warn the eniyans here and everywhere. So that hopefully, they can defeat the chief themselves.”

It all worked out that way. Instead of mindlessly complying or thoughtfully getting out of the chief’s plans, it looked like they would be better of simply...leaving. Hopefully, warning the eniyans her parents deemed trustworthy from the likely attacks they would receive by the power-hungry eniyan ruling this village along the way.

“…Hm,” Oware looked down to her eggs briefly and Abeni was uncomfortable with the lack of a proper response. Trying to reign in her stubborn doubts.

Wait. Did she not want to come with her? Was this the time when Oware realised that she was teasing death by staying with an eniyan who was wanted by hunters who could kill her too? And that if she left with Abeni, she would become a target too? Her children would be a target too. First it was constant hiding then the house arrest and untimely egg laying.

Was this...was this Oware’s last straw? It should be.

But before Abeni could panic and consider begging her to at least think it over, the female ẹda was already looking up and smiling at the white-haired girl, eyes crinkling with the intensity of her smile. Leaving her wondering for not the first time...why? Why? Why?

“Don’t look so nervous, I’ll come! But when were we leaving? And where? That other village? What’s it called?” Oware looked back down to the paper map but Abeni said it before her.

“Sa’id Village would be a good first bet,” Abeni’s still not sure about where yet. She’s honestly just relieved that the other being wanted it to stay with her more than she could even articulate. They could do this. If they worked together they could survive and ruin the awful village chief's likely plans, “Well, for now—”

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Abeni jolted at the sound and Oware bared her teeth until one firm look from the white-haired girl made her head to the bathroom again, struggling to take the paper and three eggs with her. Abeni sprang up from her bedroom floor and rolled her shoulders, preparing herself for who could possibly be behind that door at this time and wondering when they got here.

Could they have heard them talking? They could have pressed an ear to a wall. Or, it was highly unlikely, but what if someone had a mind ability like hers or had enhanced senses like an ẹda? There were still eight junior manipulators here – including her uncle and probably Martin’s mum – that she still didn’t know the abilities of.

Oh, the short sword! The knife! Her messy room! She tidied them all up in a hurry. It didn’t matter who it was, anyone would know a girl like her wasn’t supposed to have a bunch of sharp objects lying around everywhe—

“Open it or I’ll open it for you!”

Oh good. It was just him. Abeni’s mind filled with both understanding and annoyance as she rushed back to creek open the door and saw Uncle Ibrahim dressed in formal clothing with…am invitation in his hands.

Abeni could deal with him. Judging from the smells he was always covered in, she assumed he had either an object or body ability. Plus, he looked down on her. Should he try to fight her seriously, he probably wasn’t a threat. Just an insanely huge annoyance.

Abeni slapped on a pleasant expression. “What is it, uncle?” Why was he back here so soon? It had been less than a day since her house arrest ended and she’d prefer almost any other sight over seeing him again. Seriously. What luck.

Uncle Ibrahim looked Abeni once over with a suspicious expression as if assessing her very being before he changed the productive night she was spending with her friend with just a few simple words. “The village chief himself has officially invited you to the 24^th Annual Aajiz Village Banquet, so come with me.”

Then, without even chancing a glance back into her stone hut, Abeni, already dressed in the same puffy high-waist white dress she wore to her parents' funeral left with him, black running shoes on and all.

Because who was she to refuse?

Besides, now that Abeni had made a decision, she could use some more information. And what better place to gather it than hidden in a crowd of upbeat eniyans?

[Current Total Beings In ‘Abeni’s Army’ – 1]