LOGINI woke to grueling screams. Battle cries. The clash of metal against metal. Grunts.
I pushed up from where I laid, wrapped in a blanket. I must have been exhausted if I had slept through all the screaming up until now. I was groggy, as I squinted my eyes trying to see through what looked like a mist.A mist?The smell of smoke and something burning instantly wafted into my nose, causing me to cough as my body jerked painfully. Shit! Everything hurts.The scSHERNEIL.A sigh escaped my parted lips as I watched Mav step out of the room, his shoulders stiff and angled in a painful way. If anyone had told me this journey would lead me to all the things I had found out recently, I'd never have believed them. In a way, I certainly didn't know how to react to the new knowledge that Mav's mother was alive and his twin sister even existed. At points over the past two days, I had wondered if all of this was just a silly... dream. One I'd wake up from as soon as I closed my eyes.But it wasn't.It was as real as anything else in my life.I couldn't begin to imagine how hard this must have hit Mav.I walked up to the bed at the same time Lisa made her way to the window Mav and I had just stood at, her shoulders sagging as she gazed out at the vast view.I needed something to keep me distracted. Something that would stop me from engaging in a conversation with her. It was all I had don
It meant that, just like Baba, my mother never wanted me. She left me and took my sister with her. What a terrible son I must have been to be abandoned at birth. And with Baba's hatred for me, at that. That must be the only possible explanation for it. The only reason why she would have kept my sister with her and dumped me with Baba, never looking back.I laughed. I actually laughed because I didn't know what else to do. It was either laugh or give in to the rising panic. To be the pathetic bastard I've always been. I wouldn't give her, this sister of mine, the pleasure of seeing any weakness.I continued to laugh, my body shaking from the impact. I laughed, and laughed, and laughed until my eyes filled with tears."BiBi..." Sherneil started, looking at me with an emotion I couldn't decipher. Damn it! I didn't need her pity. I didn't need anyone's pity."I'm fine," I waved my hand dismissively, still laughing, before I extended my legs down the b
There was a loud buzzing in my head as I stared blankly at the woman before me, her words replaying over and over again in my head. A sister? How? When? It makes no sense whatsoever, no matter how hard I try to make sense of it, it doesn't. I couldn't have a sister. It... "My name is Monalisa, but you can call me Lisa," her voice cut through my thoughts. She had a small smile on her face, a hopeful look gleaming in her eyes. I took in her current attire. A long black brown mudcloth poncho gown, with three quarter sleeves and a deep V by the neck. She had brown hair with a touch of red at the edges that was twisted into dreadlocks and packed into an updo atop her head, with cowries fitted into the hair all over. Tons of coral beads adorned her neck, with a silver-eyed choker tightly fitted to her throat. Her eyes were the same shade as mine, same with the shape, a white mark made directly beneath her right eye and jaw. To pu
The darkness was calling to me. Beckoning me toward it. Its empty voice lulled me into a daze. I was drifting in the nothingness, eager to embrace the darkness that called to me. I was standing in the middle of a dark pit, with nothing and no one in sight. It was just me, and the darkness. Pure, bleak darkness that seemed to call my name and beckon me deeper into it. I took a step. Then another. And another. I had no idea where I was going, but with each step, something dropped in my chest. A certain crippling fear that wrapped itself around me, muddled with the darkness and the depth of the insanity in my mind. I was starting to lose my damn mind! Yet, I kept walking. My feet crunched over objects I had no idea what they were, but when I marched on something and it screamed, I paused, and in a blink, I was flung away. I found myself falling down deeper into the pit, the dar
MAVERICK.Bubbles of deep laughter filled my ears.My heart filled with excitement.My body shook with excitement.I am... happy."I will count to ten before I come find you. Make sure you hide carefully!" Baba's voice boomed across the large courtyard. I was standing there laughing with tears of excitement filling my eyes.It was a younger version of me, playing with Baba."5... 6... 7..."I ran toward the big mango tree hovering in the courtyard. It was the rainy season, so a lot of leaves were scattered around from the rain last night. Thankfully the leaves weren't dry, so they didn't crunch underneath my feet. I hid behind the tree, breathing heavily.I crouched down, dropping my knees to the pavement and the leaves until I was hidden under the resting chair Mama always sat on to read in the evenings, using the grass as a barrier."10!" Baba's voice glided across. "You know the rules, right
Robyn ran. Even with her sharpened gaze, the brush of stones and trees proved hindrance. She wasn't used to this terrain, just as much as I wasn't. The smell was strengthening on our heels, and the snapping of the twigs grew louder. They were closing in on us. We sprinted through the thick trees, Khalil flying slightly above us. He seemed to be slow, despite having wings, and I wished there was a way he could fully shift and take off in the air with us. Surprisingly, despite not shifting, Mav seemed to be running fast. As fast as Robyn if I dared say so. Amadi must lend him strength in his human form, or maybe he spent a lot of time conditioning his stamina. Exhaustion was slowly setting in. I could feel Robyn slowing her pace, but she didn't stop, neither did Mav nor Khalil. We kept running and the creatures continued to chase after us, almost as if their feet landed in the tracks ours left behind."We will feed on your fears and tear at your core," a h







