Novels by Bamidele Samuel

You came. The voice wrapped around me clear, steady, and far stronger than anything I had faced before. Not fragmented. Not searching. Certain. My breath slowed as the connection deepened instantly, pulling me into that space again but this time, it wasn’t empty. It wasn’t distant. It was… present. Fully. The darkness shifted, forming something more defined still not entirely solid, but unmistakably shaped. Larger. Sharper. Like it was finally beginning to take form. “You were waiting,” I said. Not a question. A realization. Of course. The answer came without hesitation. Like it had always known I would come here. Because it had made sure I would. “You led me here,” I said, my chest tightening. You followed what was already yours. The words hit harder than I expected. Because part of me understood them. Hated that I understood them. “This isn’t mine,” I said firmly. The presence shifted slightly, something almost like curiosity flickering through it. You still

I didn’t sleep. Even when I tried. Even when I forced my eyes shut and lay still long enough to feel the quiet settle around me my mind refused to follow. Because the moment I let my guard down I felt it again. That thread. Faint. Distant. But there. Waiting. Calling. Not like before. Not pulling me forward. Just… existing. Like it knew I would come. And that that unsettled me more than anything else. Because it meant this wasn’t a chase. It was something else. Something deliberate. By the time the first light broke across the horizon, I was already outside. The air was colder than usual, carrying a sharpness that cut through the stillness of dawn. The territory hadn’t fully woken yet, but the guards were already in place, moving with quiet urgency. They felt it too. Not the connection but the shift. The change. Kael approached from behind, his presence steady as always. “You’re ready,” he said. It wasn’t a question. “Yes.” I didn’t hesitate. Because I

The clearing didn’t feel the same anymore. Even after the wolf steadied… even after the presence was forced out… Something lingered. Not the entity itself. But what it left behind. I could feel it in the air like a faint echo, barely there, but impossible to ignore. “It’s not completely gone, is it?” Cassian said quietly. I didn’t answer right away. Because I was still trying to understand it myself. I stepped closer again, slower this time, more cautious, my senses stretching outward. The energy inside me responded immediately. Not aggressively. Not urgently. But attentively. Listening. Feeling. And then I understood. “It’s not here,” I said finally. Kael’s gaze shifted to me. “Then what are you sensing?” I looked down at the ground beneath the wolf. “Residue.” The word felt right. Accurate. “Like a trace of where it connected,” I continued. “Not enough to act. Not enough to stay. But enough to… mark.” Cassian frowned. “Mark what?” I hesitated. Then said

You interfere. The voice wasn’t distant anymore. It wasn’t fragmented. It was right there sharp, aware, and far more present than before. My breath hitched as the force inside the wolf pushed back against me, not blindly, not like a reflex but deliberately. Like it recognized me. Like it was expected of me. “I won’t let you do this,” I said, my voice low but steady. The energy inside me surged in response stronger, brighter, controlled. Not reacting. Answering. The wolf beneath my hand convulsed violently, a broken sound tearing from his throat as his body arched against the ground. “Aflira” Kael’s voice cut in, tense. “Pull back if you need to.” “I won’t,” I said. Because I couldn’t. Because if I did this thing would win. And I refused to let that happen. Not again. Not here. The connection snapped open fully. And suddenly I wasn’t standing in the clearing anymore. I was back in that space. Dark. Cold. But no longer empty. The presence stood closer now. C

“It’ll be stronger next time.” The words didn’t sit well. They didn’t fade. They lingered like a warning I couldn’t ignore, no matter how much I wanted to. Around us, the guards were beginning to stir. Slowly. Unevenly. One of them let out a low groan, his fingers twitching as his head shifted slightly to the side. “They’re waking up,” Cassian said, crouching down beside them. Kael didn’t take his eyes off me. “What did it do to them?” I exhaled slowly, trying to steady my thoughts. “It didn’t hurt them,” I said. “Not directly.” “That’s not reassuring,” Cassian muttered. “No,” I agreed quietly. “It’s not.” Because if it wasn’t trying to hurt them… then it had another purpose. And that purpose was me. The first guard’s eyes opened suddenly, his breath catching as he jolted upright, disoriented. “Easy,” Cassian said quickly, steadying him. “You’re safe.” The guard blinked rapidly, his gaze darting around before landing on me. And freezing. A sharp tension coiled i

“To find me.” The words hung in the air like something solid. Unavoidable. Heavy. No one argued. No one tried to dismiss it. Because we could all feel it now something had changed. Kael rose slowly from where he had been crouched beside the fallen guard, his expression tightening as his gaze moved from them… to me. “Then we don’t let it get any closer,” he said. Simple. Direct. But not that easy. “It’s already close,” I replied quietly. Cassian shifted beside us, his stance sharpening. “Then we track it,” he said. “Figure out where it came from and cut it off.” I shook my head. “That’s not how this works.” Both of them looked at me again. Because I wasn’t guessing anymore. I was feeling it. Understanding it. In pieces. “It didn’t move like something physical,” I explained. “It didn’t cross the boundary in a way we can follow. It… reached.” The word felt more accurate than anything else. Reached. Like distance didn’t matter. Like barriers didn’t matter. Lik