Chapter 31

Luyanda decided not to tell her about Uru’s newfound ability to control him. As far as he could tell, she was struggling to come to terms with Keita’s death, and he didn’t want to give her any more bad news. Luyanda still could not bring himself to believe that his spritely African Cultures professor was gone. It all seemed like a bad dream that wouldn’t end. He found Uru’s conduct sickening. For Uru, it was business as usual, and Luyanda was appalled at how callous the man was. He gave his lectures and worked at the museum as if it was the most normal thing in the world - as if he had not just committed the most heinous and barbarous act. But by far, the hardest person to handle was Jabu. Whether it was by accident or by design, Luyanda hardly ever saw Jabu anymore, except in the lecture halls. On the odd occasion when he did see him in the lawns or in the corridors, or even in passing at the museum, he got the impression that Jabu was trying to catch his eye. Luyanda would always avoid his gaze and pretend to be busy with something else. An invisible barrier had built up between them, and their past relationship only made things worse. If Jabu hadn’t been his best friend, if they hand’t grown up together and known everything about each other, then it would have been easier. Luyanda would have found it easier to forgive him. Deep down inside, Luyanda knew that more than hating Jabu, he hated and criticised himself for being such a poor judge of character. If his best friend had betrayed him the way Jabu did, what did that tell him about himself? That was the question that flashed through his mind whenever he caught a glimpse of Jabu, and it ate him up inside. He knew that he couldn’t drop out of university, but at least he could quit his job at the university and no longer have to see Jabu there.
He told Nomsa what he was thinking one day as they were making their way from the student centre to their next class.
“Of course you can’t quit,” Nomsa said. “Keita’s last words to us were to keep a close eye on Uru. How are you going to do that if you quit?”
“But what about seeing Jabu every day, though?”
“It’what I have to do, so I do it.”
“Yeah, maybe it’s easier for you, I guess.”
Nomsa stopped, wheeled around and faced him, eyes flashing. Luyanda wished he could take back his words, but it was too late.
“Maybe you haven’t noticed, but this is tough on everyone. On you, on me and on Jabu also.” She spun around, and stormed off down the corridor. Luyanda swore under his breath, and kicked an empty soda can that was lying on the floor.
“Hey, you,” a voice barked behind him. He spun around to see a janitor pointing a finger at him.
“Pick that up.”
“But I found it here,” Luyanda retorted.
“I said, pick it up or I’ll report you for littering.”
Luyanda glowered at the janitor, picked up the empty can and tossed it into a nearby garbage bin.
“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Whatever,” Luyanda said, as he shoved his hands into his pockets and trudged off down the corridor.

As if things weren’t hard enough as they were, Keita’s replacement turned out to be none other than Hester Bimba. She had just gotten her PhD, and she made sure that everyone remembered it at every turn.
“Doctor Bimba, if you please,” she had corrected Nomsa one day when she raised her hand to get some clarity about the differences between patriarchal chiefdoms and outright monarchies. Bimba had glared at her over her spectacles and dismissed her with a rude, “I’m sure you can find out about it and enlighten us at our next lecture.” Nomsa scowled, and didn’t ask any more questions. Luyanda missed Keita’s unassuming and down-to-earth nature. When Keita didn’t know the answer to a question, he would admit it openly. He wouldn’t hide behind a mask of nonchalant arrogance.
Luyanda started skipping her physical lectures, and substituted them with her virtual ones instead. One day, Bimba cornered him outside the lecture room. He was walking Nomsa to class, and he didn’t look up in time to see her approaching.
“I hope you’ll be joining us today, Mr. Michaels” she crowed. Luyanda wondered why she called him “Mr. Michaels,” instead of Luyanda, as she had always done before she was promoted from tutor to lecturer. “I noticed you haven’t been present for the past three weeks?”
“I’ve er—” Luyanda coughed and cleared his throat. “I’ve just had a bit of a cold, so I’ve been attending classes online.”
“So your cold has lasted three weeks?” Bimba raised an incredulous eyebrow. “You do realize that you registered for contact classes, not an online degree, right?” Luyanda wondered how she knew so much about him, but rather than challenging her assumption, he gave another affected cough instead.
“I’ll be there next week, doctor,” he wheezed. “I promise.”
“Funny how your malady hasn’t been affecting your attendance for your other modules, Mr. Michaels.” She leaned in closer to him, and spoke in a loud whisper. “Don’t forget that the tests are coming - and I determine whether or not you’ll get to sit in the exams.”
She sauntered into the classroom as Luyanda’s eyes widened in horror.

After that, acting mainly at Nomsa’s behest, Luyanda started attending Bimba’s classes, although he felt it was asking for too much to expect him to get there on time. The less time he spent in her lectures, the better. For starters, he and Bimba genuinely disliked each other. Secondly, Jabu would also attend the lectures. Luyanda was glad that Jabu was avoiding him and would hurry off straight after class. But Bimba did not take kindly to his tardiness, and she glared at him every time he walked in late, with his affected nonchalance.
“You’ve got to stay on her good side,” Nomsa warned him.
“I would if she had one,” Luyanda replied. “She practically threatened me into attending her classes. I mean, who does that?”
“Okay,” Nomsa conceded. “I won’t bring it up again.” And she didn’t.
Luyanda, Nomsa, Gina, Emeka and Imtiaz had formed a study group to prepare for the exams. They met for at least an hour a day, when their schedules aligned, and drilled each other on the various topics across the different subjects that they studied. Each one of them got assigned a subject to become an expert in, and present their finding to the group. It was after one of these sessions, just as the others were getting up to leave, that Jabu came and plonked himself right down beside Luyanda.
“We need to talk,” he said, glancing over his shoulder.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you,” Luyanda answered, picking up his bag and rising to his feet. Jabu stood up along with him.
“Hear him out,” Nomsa said, giving Luyanda’s sleeve a gentle tug. Jabu gave her an appreciating look, then shot a dark glance at the others around the table. They picked up their backpacks and left noiselessly. Nomsa followed suit, but hung back, standing within earshot.
“I’m sorry about Keita,” Jabu began. “I didn’t mean for it to end the way it did.”
“Sorry won’t bring him back”
Luyanda stood up, and slung his backpack over his shoulder.
“Wait!” Jabu hissed, and blocked Luyanda’s way.
“What?”
Jabu bit his lip, and opened his mouth to speak. He stood there for a second, gaping like a fish. Luyanda shoved past him and marched away without so much as a glance over his shoulder. Jabu gave Nomsa one look, picked up his backpack and hurried away in the opposite direction.
Luyanda kept walking, his heart pounding within his chest. Nomsa fell into step beside him.
“What did he want?” she asked.
“You should ask him that.”
“You should have given him a chance.”
“I tried, and he just wasted my time.”
“Have a heart, Lu. You think this is easy for him? Maybe he’s having a hard time accepting that he was duped.”
“We saw through Uru’s lies. Why couldn’t he? Besides, you weren’t there when Keita died. You didn’t see the look on Jabu’s face.”
“Just give him a chance.”
“I need to get home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He spun around and marched off down the corridor.

Dinner at the Michaels’ house that evening was a sombre affair. Luyanda poked his fork into the peas and carrots on his plate, with no particular interest. His mind wandered to Keita’s final moments, and another pang of grief swept over him.
“What’s wrong, Lu?” Maddie asked. “You look as though you’re somewhere else.”
“Something happened at school today?” Devon asked.
Luyanda gritted his teeth. This was something that he had sworn he would never speak to his parents about, but the agonising pain was becoming too much to bear.
“I wanted to ask — about when grandma mother died?” he asked, looking at Devon.
“Yeah?”
“How did you handle it? I mean, how did you cope with it?”
“That’s a weird question,” Maddie jumped in. “Why do you want to know?”
Luyanda fell silent.
“Does this have something to do with — ” Maddie glanced from Luyanda then to Devon, “— you know, your birth parents?”
“No,” Luyanda shook his head. “It’s got nothing to do with that. I’m just —just asking, you know?”
“Aah, okay.” She fell silent. Though she had tried to keep her tone nonchalant and light, Luyanda picked up the worry and the concern hidden behind it. He fell quiet, regretting that he had brought it up to begin with. It was Devon that broke the silence.
“The thing about grief is, it comes and goes. It’s like waves on the beach. With time, the tide goes out , and the waves get smaller and smaller, until it seems like they’ve gone altogether. But the tide always comes back - sometimes when you least expect it. We are always losing someone we love, one time or another. To live is to love and to love is to lose.”
Luyanda thought about Keita. He wondered when the next wave of grief would strike. He noticed his parents casting worried glances at him every so often, and he forced himself to smile and make small talk about the university rugby team’s latest losses, a topic that his father was always interested in, because in his day, the Knights would always win.
When dinner ended, Luyanda was relieved to retreat to the privacy of his room. Whilst he was just about to level up on his favourite role playing game ,“Kingdoms of Mali”, Msiza popped up mid-game and informed him that he had an incoming message.
“Who from?” Lu asked, irritated at the interruption.
“Professor Keita.”
Luyanda ripped off his visor and sat up.
“Yes?”
A hologram of Keita popped up in front of him.
“Okay,” Keita said, “Are we recording?” Keita stretched his hand out, and his image became brighter and sharper. “Okay. I think that’s better. Let’s get started.” He cleared his throat and continued. “Luyanda, I’ve scheduled this message to be sent in three week’s time. If you’re seeing it, it means that for some reason or other I didn’t stop it from being sent. Which may mean that I am no more. Anyways, that’s besides the point. The point is…” He faltered, as he struggled to find the right words.
“The main thing is to remember why we are here. For a long time, I have been running away from who I am, from what I was meant to do, because I knew what the final outcome would be. I did my best to avoid it, even though I knew it was inevitable. But I think when one passes, it is always better for it to be timely, rather than untimely, wouldn’t you agree?” He waited, almost as if expecting Luyanda to nod his head. Luyanda leaned forward, his attention wrapt on the image flickering in front of him.
“My affairs are in order. Nothing will be suspected. And most importantly, Uru will be right where we want him to be. His guard will be lowered, confidence boosted and thoughts revealed. This is the only way to defeat him. So please, don’t grieve too long for me. Pick yourself up and get moving and continue with you life. Your friends and family are going to need you now more than ever.” He paused and added, “Especially Jabu.” Luyanda’s heart sank at the mention of Jabu’s name. It was as if Keita read his mind.
“I know, I know,” Keita continued, “It’s harder to forgive him because the two of you were so close. That’s the irony of it all, isn’t it? That it’s often easier to forgive strangers for atrocities than it is to forgive our loved ones for minutiae. But that is often the realest kind of forgiveness. The one that keeps the world going round. The one that this whole battle’s been about, and ironically - the one that you need more than Jabu does. Think of the number of times that Jabu has forgiven you. All the years of your friendship, he’s been happy to be in your shadow, and to be your support. Who can blame him for wanting to forge his own path? Perhaps he took a wrong turn, but so do most of us. Think about that for a moment, when you have time. Because if you do not, you will end up exactly like Uru. You and he have more in common than you would like to think. And that is why it was you that had to stay on, not me.” A lump grew in Luyanda’s throat. He would have given anything to be able to have a real conversation with Keita.
“I have to go,” Keita concluded. “ I don’t have any more to say. Remember, it is vengeance that drives Uru to be a monster. And it will be forgiveness that will destroy him in the end.”
The hologram flickered and went off.

Luyanda spent most of the night tossing and turning in bed. The image of Keita’s bloodied body, lying still in his hands, kept coming back to his mind, no matter how hard he tried to block it out. He got up and replayed Keita’s message again and again and again. It gave him a sense of comfort. Like his old friend was with him again. Eventually, he drifted off into a shallow and dreamless sleep.
The next morning, he and Nomsa had different schedules, but he knew he would see her when their study group met up a little later on. He was surprised to get a message from her asking him to meet at the coffee shop at exactly half past eleven, when, according to the message, she knew that he would have half an hour of free time. “Knows my own schedule better than I do,” he muttered under his breath as their Ancient Languages and Oral History lecture drew to a close. He packed up his things and made his way to the coffee shop.
Nomsa waved at him when she saw him coming through the sliding glass doors. He slide into the empty seat beside her and noticed that she wore a distracted frown.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing,” she said, keeping her eyes trained at the door. Luyanda followed her gaze, and groaned. It was Jabu. He was standing at the door, his eyes scanning the room.
“Hey Jabu, over here.” Nomsa waved. With a curt nod, Jabu headed across the cafe to them.
“What the hell is this?” Luyanda demanded, as Jabu pulled up a chair opposite them, leaned back and folded his arms.
“Consider this a peace negotiation.” Nomsa said, glancing from Jabu to Luyanda. “The two of you need to talk, and I thought that since neither one of you wanted to make the first move -”
“I tried,” Jabu mumbled gruffly,” But he wasn’t interested.”
“Now you both have a chance to talk and too at least agree to disagree. Or maybe even to agree, who knows?”
They sat in an awkward silence for a moment. Luyanda wondered what had brought this idea to Nomsa’s mind. Could she have maybe also gotten a message from Keita? Jabu squirmed in his seat and cleared his throat. Luyanda gave him an expectant look.
“Listen,” Jabu said, running his hands across his face. “This isn’t easy but, I just wanted to say that I am sorry about what happened to Keita. You were there. You know I didn’t mean for any of it - for any of this,” he waved a hand vaguely, “to have happened. None of this was part of the plan. I really didn’t expect for things to turn out the way they—.”
His words died in his throat and his eyes suddenly watered. Luyanda just stared at him. Jabu blinked back his tears and swallowed hard.
“I miss him so much,” Jabu continued. His eyes were red and puffy now. Nomsa scooted over to him, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Jabu broke down and sobbed. Luyanda’s eyes narrowed. For a split second, he visualised himself giving Jabu a punch in the face. He would have felt so good. But there was something about Jabu’s heaving chest, and the tears running down his cheeks, that touched Luyanda’s heart. He had never seen Jabu like that before. He stared at the floor. Jabu was suffering more than he was, and Luyanda couldn’t find it in his heart to hate him anymore. He got up, crossed over to Jabu and Nomsa, knelt down beside them and gave them both an embrace. They remained like that, in a silent huddle, for a long moment, until he realised that people were giving them weird looks. Luyanda disentangled himself and went back to his seat.
“I guess I should also give you an apology,” Luyanda said.
“No,” Jabu shook his head. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“Yes I do,” Luyanda replied. He told them about Keita’s message and how Keita believed that Jabu would turn. “I guess he knew you better than I did, and had more faith in you. I just want to say I’m sorry for not having given you a chance earlier.”
“No need to apologise, man,” Jabu replied, “I deserved it.” Then his face hardened. “That son of a bitch Uru,” he slammed his fist onto the table, “I’m going to make him pay.”
“If you hate him so much, then why do you still spend so much time with him?” Nomsa asked. “Have you been visiting him at his mansion?”
Jabu nodded. “The three of us have been spending a lot of time there.” He stared at his feet, and tugged at his collar. They all knew he was speaking about himself, Yisa and Amina.
“Why?” Luyanda asked.
“Because,” Jabu started, then paused. “Keita also sent me a message. I deleted straight after listening to it, but I remember it pretty well. He told me not to blame myself for what happened, and that no matter what, I was not to break ranks with Uru until I had spoken to you guys and you had told me the plan. That’s why I had been trying to speak to you for so long.”
Luyanda frowned and turned to Nomsa.
“And he also sent you a message?”
She nodded.
“So he had thought about all of this beforehand?”
“I guess so” said Jabu. “He said you guys would have a plan. What is it?”
Nomsa and Jabu gave each other blank stares.
“There is no plan,” Luyanda answered. Jabu’s shoulders sagged.
“So you mean I’m going to have to stay in that hell hole indefinitely?”
“Have you guys moved in there?” Nomsa asked.
“Practically. We spend so much time there that we might as well. Pretending that I like those guys is a tough act to keep up.”
“Not everyone can put up a facade as easily as Uru,” Nomsa said.
Jabu nodded appreciatively.
“I for one find it very difficult. I don’t know how I’ve managed so far. I feel as though everyone’s watching me, you know what I mean?”
“What exactly are you guys doing?” Luyanda asked.
“He’s been taking blood samples, and running tests and stuff. He says he’s trying to find a way to replicate what he did with us at the party.”
“Goodness! Keita was right,” Nomsa affirmed. “He’s building an army using a strange mix of genetics and black magic. Jabu, you need to stay in there until we’ve figured something out.”
“How long will that be?” Jabu glanced from Nomsa to Luyanda.
“I’ve got no idea,” Luyanda owned.
“It has to be soon, though,” Jabu answered. “I get the sense that Uru’s planning something big. He’s been spending lots of time locked away by himself in his study. Yisa’s been taking us for training and indoctrination.”
“Training?”
“Yes, apparently, we also have to master our abilities so that when the time is right, we can teach their use to others.
“No matter what happens and what you do,” Nomsa said, “you’ve got to stay in that house. You understand? You’ve got to find out what’s keeping Uru so busy and focused. It could be the key to stopping him.” Jabu frowned. He didn’t seem happy with the prospect of being a spy.
“And another thing,” Nomsa added, giving them both a warning glance. “The two of you need to keep up the whole being worst enemies thing. You can’t be seen to be on speaking terms.”
“You’re right,” Luyanda said, scouring the room warily. “Think anyone’s seen us already?”
“I think we are safe for now,” Nomsa rejoined. “But we have to break this up quickly.” She got to her feet. Jabu and Luyanda also stood up. “The two of us will leave first,” she nodded at Luyanda. “Then you leave after ten or fifteen minutes.” Jabu nodded and sat down again.
“Hang on,” Luyanda turned back to Jabu. “How are you going to communicate with us?”
“I don’t know,” Jabu said. “It’s way too easy to intercept any messages, so we’re going to have to go old school.”
“You mean face to face?”
“Yes. Leave it to me. I’ll figure out a way to slip past them when they’re not watching.”

They stepped out of the cafeteria, and Fela, Nomsa’s pad, chimed.
“You are late for your next class: Pre-Colonial Cultures with Dr. Bimba. If you run, you will make it.”
“Come on,” Nomsa said, tugging on Luyanda’s hand and breaking into a run. “We’re going to be late.” They sprinted all the way up to the classroom, and arrived there just in time and panting for breath. At that moment, the strap of Luyanda’s backpack came undone, and it fell to the ground, spilling some of its contents across the floor.
“Damnit,” he said, as he quickly grabbed up his things and stuffed them back into his bag. “I should’ve zipped it up properly. You go on in, I’ll catch up.” Nomsa nodded, and slipped through the swinging doors of the lecture room. Luyanda followed her in a moment later.
Bimba was at the front of the classroom. Luyanda saw Nomsa a few steps ahead of him, working her way to her usual place. He followed after her, Bimba’s toneless voice being nothing more than a part of the background noise.
“I’m actually going to be nice and tell you exactly what you need to study for the exam -,” Bimba stopped mid-sentence and turned to stare at Luyanda.
“And where do you think you are going, Mr. Michaels?”
He swung around to find Bimba’s steely stare fixed on him.
“To my seat,” he answered.
“Do you know what time it is, Mr. Michaels?” Luyanda didn’t answer, but just stared at her stupidly. “You are two minutes late.”
“I’m sorry. My backpack broke just as I was —”
“Please leave the classroom.”
“But I was here on time. My backpack — ”
“I’m not going to repeat myself. Please leave.”
Luyanda stood there, stodgily. They eyeballed each other for a long moment. The tension in the air was palpable.
“It’s either you leave, or I leave, Mr. Michaels. Which will it be?”
Luyanda did not stir. Dr. Bimba snapped her tablet shut, sniffed noisily in an offended sort of way, and strutted out the door without another word. Luyanda blinked at the door. Then he turned and stared at the classroom. He felt absolutely blank. He was about to go and sit in his normal spot, when there was a general stirring in the class. People slid out of their seats, picked up their backpacks and made their way out. They gave Luyanda dirty looks as they shoved past him.
“Thanks so much,” Gina said, pushing him roughly aside.
“Yeah, Lu,” Imtiaz grumbled as we trudged past. “You just couldn’t be bothered if the rest of us pass or fail, could you?”
“But I was only ten seconds late. Come on!”
Gina wheeled around.
“You are always late,” she said, sticking a finger under his nose.
“Yeah,” Emeka added, as he came up and stood beside them. “Do you even care about passing?”
“Obviously not,” Imtiaz answered before Luyanda could reply. “Nor does he care about the rest of us. Do you realize that she was going to give us hints for the exam?”
“How would he know that?” Emeka pointed out sarcastically. “He’s never here at the start of lectures.”
“It’s not his fault guys,” Nomsa piped up as she stepped into the tight circle that they had formed around Luyanda. “Bimba was being unreasonable.”
“I don’t know about you guys,” Gina said, “but the question I’m asking is why on earth do we even have him in our study group?”
“What’s that got to do with this?” Luyanda bellowed.
“You seem determined to fail, and we are determined to pass.”
“We have different visions for our futures,” Imtiaz added.
“Our differences may be irreconcilable,” Emeka said.
“I say we kick him out of the group,” Gina continued. “What value has he even added, so far?”
“Guys, guys, guys,” Luyanda raised his hands, “Don’t be so uptight. Relax, will you?”
“Not everyone can be as relaxed as you are,” Gina shot back. “Some of us actually stress because we want to pass.”
“Oh, and I don’t?”
“It doesn’t seem so from where I’m standing.”
Luyanda shook his head in disbelief.
“I say we kick him out of the group,” Gina repeated. “Agreed?”
“Agreed!” Imtiaz responded.
“I second that motion,” Emeka nodded.
The three of them turned to Nomsa. She folded her arms and scowled.
“Let’s go guys,” Imtiaz said. “We need to find Bimba and sweet talk her into giving us those test hints.” He pushed roughly past Luyanda and Nomsa. Emeka and Gina followed him out the room. Luyanda let his backpack drop to the floor, and plonked down on the nearest seat.
“Ignore them,” Nomsa said. “It’s their loss.”
“Is it really,” he asked. Nomsa didn’t reply. She picked up his bag and placed it on the seat next to him.
“I’ve got to go,” she said. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, and buried his face in his hands.

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