Chapter 32

The study group could not have picked a worse time to kick him out. With tests right around the corner, he needed their help more than ever before. Luckily for him, the strongest member of the team, Nomsa, was fully on his side. He was impressed by how loyal she was. She came up with a brand-new study schedule for them to follow. She split up the courses between the two of them, and brought out all the notes that she had taken carefully during the entire semester. Luyanda understood that she was overcompensating for the others, and deeply appreciated it. After a week of studying with her, he was exhausted, but felt much more prepared than he ever had before.
With their normal lectures having come to an end, the university halls were more deserted than usual. It was therefore easier to spot who was around and who wasn’t. Luyanda made a point of going to university everyday, at Nomsa’s behest, and spending a lot of his time with her, studying in the student’s centre. From time to time he would spot some of his classmates wandering in and out of the centre.
It was quite weird to see Jabu around campus. He was always with Yisa and Amina. “The terrible trio,” Nomsa called them, jokingly. Luyanda wished it were only a joke. On the few occasions when they had crossed paths , they would walk past each other as if they were total strangers, avoiding each other’s eyes. Jabu especially made a brave and determined effort to treat Luyanda as if he did not exist. Luyanda also looked away, doing his best to keep up his side of the farce. Luckily for him, the terrible trio seemed to spend very little time in the museum. They were constantly on field trips and research jaunts with Uru, an arrangement that suited Luyanda just fine. He did not know how he would react if he came face to face with Uru at any stage.
“He’s up to something,” he told Nomsa one day. They were seated in the study centre, going through their notes on the Anthropology of Ancient African Societies and Cultural Beliefs. “He hasn’t been in the museum in weeks.”
“I am sure Jabu will let us know in case of anything.”
“But what if Uru suspects him?”
“Do you think he does?”
“I don’t know.”
“I suggest we focus on passing the tests next week. You know you have to get your average up if Bimba’s going to let you into the exam.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I only need seventy percent and I’ll get in.”
“Easier said than done.”
In the following days, they wrote a total of three class tests. As was to be expected, Bimba’s test proved to be the most difficult. “What the hell is wrong with her?” Luyanda grumbled as they stepped out of the testing centre. “It’s as if she wants everyone to fail.”
“I didn’t find it that bad.”
“Of course you didn’t. You’re a bookworm. Did you even realise that she brought in a lot of stuff that wasn’t in this semester’s work? I mean, that question about the Sao people’s migratory patterns - where the hell was that from?” Nomsa didn’t answer. She was staring straight ahead. Luyanda followed her gaze. Her eyes were fixed on Jabu. He was scuttling out of the test centre. A few metres away, Yisa and Amina were waiting for him. He drew up to them, and the three of them hurried away.
“It’s as though they’re policing him or something,” Nomsa observed. “Maybe that’s why he hasn’t yet made contact.”
“I’m so sick and tired of these smoke and mirrors,” Luyanda growled, “and of these tests.” He directed an angry kick at a waste paper basket.
“Come on,” Nomsa offered. “Let’s go to the cafeteria. I’m sure you’ll feel much better after you’ve had something to eat. I know I will.”
They were busily tearing into some chocolate croissants when their pads vibrated angrily. It was Fela that spot up first.
“Hey Nomsa. Your test results from Ancient Cultures have just arrived. Would you like to see them now?”
Nomsa stole a glance at Luyanda. He pretended to be deeply focused on his next bite of chocolate croissant. “Go ahead,” he mumbled through his full mouth, eyes fixed on the flakes of chocolate dotting the croissant’s surface.
“Yes, Fela.”
“You got eighty two percent.”
“Yes!” Nomsa pumped her fist in the air. Then she saw the scowl on Luyanda’s face. Her arm fell limply to her side.
“Do you want to check yours?” she asked.
“Oh, why the hell not?”
“Don’t be like that,” Nomsa remonstrated. “I’m sure you passed.”
“I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we.” Luyanda flicked his wrist.
“Yeah, Msiza. What were you saying just now?”
“Your test results from Ancient -”
“Go ahead,” Luyanda interrupted. “Let’s get this over and done with.”
“You got sixty eight percent. You do not have examination entry.”
Luyanda groaned, and hung his head. “Two percent,” he groaned. “I missed it by two percent.”
“Maybe you should go and see her,” Nomsa suggested, “talk her into giving you a re-mark, or something. It’s only two percent.”
“Like hell,” Luyanda banged his fist on the table. The students sitting at a table across from them turned and looked. Luyanda ignored them. “There’s no way I’m grovelling to that woman. Hell no. No can do. No ways.” He folded his arms defiantly. “That’s exactly what she wants.. She wants me to go and beg for marks, just so she can have the satisfaction of saying ‘No’. Well, I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to satisfy her pride.”
“I wonder who’s being proud here? You or her?”
“I don’t care,” Luyanda answered. “She’s had it in for me since day one.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I’ll figure it out later. I’m going home.”
He picked up his backpack and trudged off.

When he got home, Luyanda found Maddie in the kitchen fixing their supper. He wasn’t much in the mood for talking, and so he went straight to his room. He lay on his bed, and stared at the ceiling. He wondered when and how he would break the news to his parents. He would have to repeat the whole of first year. His parents would be livid. They had insisted that he focus on his studies and not take a part-time job, but he had been adamant on sticking to his plan. His teeth clenched at the memory of Ma Selina. All so distant now. All such a waste of time. Now here he was. His life was a wreck. His parents had every right to tell him, “We told you so.” Maddie’s hollering came to his ears. Dinner was ready. He plodded down the stairs like the walking dead, and sank into his seat at the dinner table with a sigh. Devon bounced in a second after him, grinning from ear to ear.
“What's happening today?” Maddie asked, glancing from one of them to the other. “It’s like one of you just got a death sentence and the other won the lottery.”
“The good news is,” Devon said, squirming in his seat like an excited child, “we kind of did win the lottery. Remember that draw we entered for a month-long all expenses paid cruise to the Mediterranean?”
“Yes?”
“Guess who’s heading off for a month-long, all expenses paid cruise to the Mediterranean?”
Maddie dropped her fork and shrieked. She leapt out of her seat and hugged Devon.
“Oh honey, and it’s on our anniversary month, too. This is the best present ever! Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She gave him a loud kiss.
Luyanda forced a grin onto his face.
“This calls for a toast,” Maddie said.
“Marjorie, line up some champagne.”
The domestibot standing by in the corner whirred across to the fridge, and returned with a bottle of champagne. It placed it on the kitchen counter, and plucked three chutes out of the cabinet overhead.
“The damn thing is finally learning,” Maddie said, as Marjorie poured the bubbly into each of the glasses. Devon cleared his throat dramatically.
“A toast. To our twentieth anniversary. And to the next twenty!”
They raised their glasses.
“Happy anniversary guys,” Luyanda smiled.
As his parents chatted away about where they would go and what they would do, Luyanda couldn’t find it in his heart to spoil the occasion with the sad news about his academic exclusion. He was glad that news of the trip had driven out any concerns that Maddie had had earlier about his sad face, because he probably would have had to lie, and that would only have made things worse.

The next few days were a blur. The cruise was leaving in two weeks time, and his parents ran around like headless chickens to get everything done in time. Devon had to finish up some of the programming projects in the office. Maddie also had to finish off some reports before leaving. And in between all of this, the evenings were spent poring over pictures and travelogues, and doing 3D tours of the ports where they would drop anchor.
“I wonder if they will let us stay a little longer in Barcelona,” Maddie asked, swivelling her head around as she gazed into her visor. “I mean, there’s just so much to see and do.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged,” Devon answered, staring into his own visor. “Woah, get a load of this view!”
“Where are you?”
“Off the coast of Gibraltar. At sunset.”
“Oh, we’ve got to see that, dear. Do you think they’ll let us?”
To Luyanda, it felt like the roles were reversed. His parents were acting like giddy, excited teenagers, and he was carrying the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. His mother somehow sensed his mood, and pulled her visor off.
“What is it, Lu?” she asked. “Ever since we found out about the trip, you’ve just been moping about the place the whole time. You’re not jealous, are you?”
“No, it’s not that,” Luyanda replied, sulking.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go,” Maddie replied. “I for one am not comfortable with leaving you alone in the house for so long.”
“No!” Luyanda spluttered and choked on his hot chocolate, spilling it all over the floor. “Are you crazy? That’s ridiculous.”
“But we’ll be gone for a month and you’ll be all alone.”
“Trust me, I’ll be fine. I’m a grown up.”
“Won’t you get lonely though?”
“No, I won’t. I’m planning to spend lots of time at Jabu’s dorm. We’ve got the finals to study for, remember?”
Maddie sighed, a worried frown creasing her temple. “Are you sure?”
“Sure, I’m sure. I’m positive. You guys go off and have a fantastic time.”

Two days later, Luyanda kissed his mother goodbye and gave his father a hug. He watched them as they hurried into the airport, excited to catch their flight to Barcelona, where the luxury cruise would begin.
As he drove his mum’s hoverer home, his pad vibrated.
“Yes,” he said. Nomsa’s hologram popped up beside him.
“So, are they on their way?”
“Yes,” Luyanda answered. “We can finally throw that pool party you’ve been talking about so much.”
“Very funny. I’m just checking up on you to see if you’re okay. You know how weird you’ve been acting lately.”
“I’ll be okay,” Luyanda answered. “It’s just one month of instant meals. It can’t be that bad, can it?”
“Welcome to the student life,” Nomsa jeered. “I hope you’re ready to pull of a couple of all-nighters. The exams are four weeks away. We don’t have much time left to prepare.”
“What’s the point?” Luyanda shrugged. “I’m going to repeat first year anyway.”
“Wrong attitude. You’ve still got four other subjects to do. And I’m not going to let you fail any of them. There’s no giving up now. Not if I can help it.”

Luyanda and Nomsa spend that night studying in the student centre. The arrangement suited Luyanda just fine, because he didn’t enjoy being home all by himself, despite what he had told his parents. When it was way past midnight, Nomsa stretched out her arms and yawned.
“I think I’m ready to hit the sack,” she aid.
“So am I. Let’s get out of here. I’ll walk you across campus.”
“It’s cool. I can take care of myself.”
“Don’t be silly,” Luyanda insisted. “Let’s get going.”
They had hardly made their way half through the library lawns when they heard a distinct rustling in the bushes nearby.
“Did you hear that,” Nomsa asked, her voice trembling.
“Who’s there?” Luyanda called, taking a step towards the bushes. The greenery parted and Jabu emerged out of the hedge.
“Dude!” Luyanda gasped. “What the hell are you doing out here at this time of night?”
“Why were the two of you so long in there?” Jabu whispered.
“What’s wrong?” Nomsa lay her hand on Jabu’s shoulder. He jumped back.
“What’s the problem? Why are you so scared?”
Jabu’s wary eyes scanned the lawn.
“I think I was being followed,” he said.
“Followed?” Luyanda asked. “Who’s following you? What are you going on about?”
“I found out what they’re looking for,” Jabu mumbled.
“What do you mean?” Nomsa asked. “Who’s looking for what?”
“I don’t have much time. Yesterday, I was finally able to sneak into Uru’s study, undetected. I found a whole pile of hard copies on his desk. All of them about heraldic totems. Mainly about thrones and stools and stuff.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember he asked me about that missing stool,” Luyanda said.
“What missing stool?” Nomsa asked.
“Didn’t I tell you guys about the stone stool that he asked me to ship back?”
“No, you did not,” Nomsa said. “You’ve been holding out on us, Lu. I think it’s time you came clean about everything you know.”
Luyanda brought them up to speed about all the trips to the Shadow Realm. This time around he left nothing out.
“Oh my word,” Nomsa said, her eyes widening in the dark as Luyanda got the the end of his tale. “That stool’s probably a throne of dominion.”
“A what?”
“Don’t you guys read your books?”
“Nope!” Luyanda and Jabu said in unison.
“The throne of dominion is an artefact that confers the power to rule empires. You’ve heard of the Golden Stool of the Ashanti?”
“Yes,” Luyanda scratched his chin. “I think so.”
“Well, it’s one of the thrones of dominion, though not the most powerful. If just touching the stool takes you to another place and time, it sounds like its way more powerful than most.”
“So if Uru suspects that I had the stool at some stage, why hasn’t he just come after me?”
“Because,” Jabu answered, “he’s certain that you know nothing about it’s whereabouts. That’s why he’s trying to track it down himself. You’ll just waste his time.”
“So if Uru gets hold of this stool…” Luyanda started.
“He will essentially crown himself king,” Jabu said, “and be able to raise an army that likes of which has never been seen in our lifetimes. That’s the other thing he’s been trying. Remember those concoctions that he gave us to drink at the party?”
“Yes,” Luyanda replied. “What about them?”
“He’s been trying them on himself. He’s trying to see if he can replicate our powers in himself.”
Nomsa gasped. Luyanda felt a sudden chill clawing at his tummy.
“But he hasn’t managed yet. I’ve been sabotaging his experiments and slowing things down. So far, all he can do it take on some of our powers when we are beside him. But if he finds this stool I don’t think he’d even need our powers anymore.”
“But Luyanda. You said you left it in the Shadow Realm, right?”
“I’m not sure,” Luyanda shrugged. “Neither did Keita. The thing about the Shadow Realm is that it doesn’t follow our rules. Keita didn’t tell me much else about it.”
“So basically that stool could still be here in the real world?”
Luyanda shrugged.
“It’s not impossible.”
Jabu gasped and ducked behind a clump of bushes. Luyanda and Nomsa exchanged a glance.
“Jabu?” Nomsa asked again. “Are you okay?”
“I have to get back,” he whispered. “I can’t be seen here.”
“There’s no one else around,” Luyanda said, scanning the surroundings. “You’re being paranoid.”
“He’s right, Lu,” Nomsa said. “It’s best if he gets back as soon as possible.”
“So when will we see you again?” Luyanda asked.
“I’ll come back tomorrow. Let’s meet here again at the same time.”
“You sure?”
“Meet me here at the same time,” he repeated, and slinked off into the night.

Nomsa and Luyanda just stood there in silence for a few moments. Luyanda wondered if any of it had happened, or if it had all been just a dream. Nomsa’s voice broke the silence.
“Let’s get going.”
She spun around and headed off. Luyanda followed after her.
“So what are we going to do?” Luyanda asked. “Uru’s making moves. We can’t just sit and do nothing.”
“We are going to do something,” she said. “We’re going to find out where this stool is, and get to it before he does.”
She turned off the lawn, onto a cobbled walkway and up a short flight of steps.
“Why are we headed back to the library?” Luyanda asked.
“Because that’s where we are going to start.”
They spent the rest of the early morning scouring every article and book they could find about thrones, stools and other regal totems and artefacts. As the sky outside turned a light grey, Luyanda threw in the towel and declared that he couldn’t continue anymore. They decided to go home and press on after they’d had a few hours of sleep.
Their next attempt later that afternoon yielded the same results. The librarian only made things worse. She refused to give them access to the postgraduate section, which Nomsa suspected held a lot of the information that they needed.
“I wish Keita were here,” Luyanda muttered as they walked out of the library. “He’d know what to do.”
“Hey! What if we asked Dr. Bimba?”
“What? Are you out of your mind? You want us to ask her?”
“Think about it,” Nomsa replied. “After Keita, she’s probably knows the most about ancient cultures.”
“You’re speaking about the woman who wouldn’t let me do her exam just because of two percent.”
“Which is more important: your exam or finding the stool?”
He shrugged. Nomsa was right. He followed her into the History Department building and down the familiar passage that led to the lecturers’ offices. They stood in front of Dr. Bimba’s door and knocked.
“Yes?” Her reedy voice floated out to meet them. Nomsa took a deep breath, plastered on a beaming smile, and entered. Luyanda stepped in behind her and shut the door gently. Bimba was buried behind her tablet. Nomsa cleared her throat. Bimba held up a long, thin finger to shush them, her eyes glued to her screen. Then she looked up.
“Morning, Doctor,” Nomsa started, shooting a glance at Luyanda. “We need your help with some research we are doing.”
“Always glad to assist,” Bimba answered, putting down her tablet. Nomsa shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“Well,” Bimba said, “what is it?”
“We wanted to find out more about stools,” Nomsa said.
“Stools?”
“Yes. Stools. Thrones. Seats of governance. That sort of stuff.”
Bimba straightened up. “Interesting question,” she said. “I wonder what sparked your interest, considering that you only study African pre-colonial governance in second year.”
“Some of the students are thinking of organising a pub crawl quiz night, as a fun way to revise, and we just want to be super-prepared for any questions.”
Luyanda coughed and swallowed down his surprise. He had never expected Nomsa to lie to a lecturer.
“Oh,” muttered Bimba “And what makes you so sure they’re gong to ask about stools?” She shot a beady eye from Nomsa to Luyanda and back to Nomsa.
“Let’s just say we somehow managed to get a sneak peek into some of the questions,” Luyanda replied, playing along.
“Isn’t that cheating?” Bimba asked.
“I prefer to call it preparation,” Luyanda answered firmly. Bimba frowned, narrowing her gaze. Luyanda’s heart fell to his stomach. Bimba would never help them. It was a waste of time. He ought to have known better than to go along with Nomsa’s half-baked scheme. He was already turning towards the door when Bimba’s face lit up and she burst out laughing.
“I’m just playing with you,” she said. “No reason not have a little bit of fun once in a while, eh? Actually, you’re in luck. I co-authored a paper about the Golden stool of the Ashanti some months ago, and I came across quite a lot of material about other stools of dominion in the course of my research. Let me see if I can’t find it for you.”
She flipped open her tablet and tapped a couple of times. She stared at the screen, frowned, and tapped again.
“Interesting,” she said. “I don’t remember deleting any of my materials. I always hang on to it.”
“Maybe you moved it to another location?” Nomsa asked.
“No. I know exactly where I keep everything. Someone’s deleted it.”
“You think it could be a virus?” Luyanda offered.
“There are people who are paid handsomely to make sure that we never get viruses.” She said, as she tapped again on her tablet. She arched her eyebrows. “Wow! Even the journal article is gone. That’s unprecedented. I’m going to have to report this to the IT guys. See if they can recover my stuff. That’s going to take some time.” She turned to the two of them.
“ I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”
“No worries,” Nomsa said. “It’s not your fault.”
“Tell you what,” she said, standing up from her desk and walking across the room to a bookshelf beside the door. “I think I’ve got hard copies of most of my research somewhere here. One of my first lecturers always used to say to keep a hard copy of everything.”
She pulled out some files, and a silver flask fell to the ground with a thud.
“Oh my goodness,” she gasped. “I wonder who put that there.”
She tittered, placed the flask back on the shelf, and flipped through the files that she had pulled out.
“Aha! Here we are.” She extracted a wad of papers and placed them on her desk.
“These are the printouts of some of the stuff I found about different stools that are scattered across the continent. I remember that a lot of them were fakes, some of them were destroyed, and some are completely at large.”
Nomsa grabbed the pile and started flipping through it.
“You can keep that for as long as you need, but I’ll need it back as soon as you’re done. You’ve seen for yourselves that all my other research is gone. This is the only stuff I have left, it seems.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Nomsa said, as she tucked the papers into her backpack. “We’ll take good care of it.”
“I think we’ll be leaving now,” Luyanda said, standing up. “Thanks a lot.”
“Glad to be of assistance,” Dr. Bimba said. “Oh yes,” she added, “and let’s keep the matter of the flask between ourselves, no? We don’t want people getting the wrong impressions, do we?”
“What flask?” Luyanda asked.
“That’s the spirit,” Bimba replied with a grateful smile.

They headed back to the library and spent the rest of the day going through Bimba’s research. They kept working late into the night, snapping away at photos and illustrations, and noting down any information about the potential whereabouts of various stools.
“A lot of this is hearsay,” Nomsa said, yawning. It was about midnight. “But I think we have enough to go on. I’ve read this so many times over that I think whatever is in it that may prove useful is safely tucked away in here,” she said, as she tapped her forehead. Luyanda glanced at the time.
“It’s almost midnight,” he said. “Let’s go and see Jabu.”
They left the library and made their way to the same spot where Jabu had met them the night before. They stood there, waiting in the chilly night air, and stamping their feet on the ground to stay warm.
“Why’s he taking so long,” Luyanda muttered, checking the time again.
“He’s only half an hour late,” Nomsa answered. “By Jabu’s standards, that’s still being on time.”
“I don’t know” Luyanda muttered. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Let’s just give him a bit more time,” Nomsa said, folding her arms and rubbing herself to stay warm.
“Something’s not right,” Luyanda repeated. “What if they’ve busted him?” Nomsa was quiet. Even though she didn’t say anything, Luyanda knew that she was worried.
Half an hour later, Msiza chimed and informed them that it was one a.m. Luyanda groaned.
“Okay,” he said. “The way I see it, we have two options. Either we call it quits and try again tomorrow, or we get to the bottom of this right now.”
“I think we should go to Uru’s house and take a look.”
“I’ll go,” Luyanda offered. “It’s night. I can travel quickly in the shadows.”
“What? And leave me alone here wondering what’s going on? No ways. I know I can’t move as quickly as you and Yisa, but a cab can get us both of us there all the same, okay?” She folded her hands again. Luyanda knew better than to argue with her. They called a cab, and half an hour later, they were outside the gates of Uru’s mansion.

After the cab had receded into the distance, the silence and darkness that seeped out of Uru’s estate engulfed everything around them in an unsettling gloom. The wind rustled through the leaves of the trees overhead, and in the distance, they could make out the faint tinkling of the fountain playing in the garden.
“Seems like nobody’s home,” Luyanda said. “Will you allow me to take a look?” Nomsa nodded. Luyanda melted into the shadow of the wall looming over them. From there he glided along the shadows of the trees, making his way towards the shade cast by one of the outer walls of the house. As he slipped into it, he smashed headlong into a solid barrier. He stumbled out of the shadow, taking on his full form and grabbing his stubbed nose, eyes watering. He had no idea what had just happened. He stepped back into a shadow in the gardens, slipped around to another side, and tried to seep into another one of the house’s shadows. Again, he slammed hard into a wall that he could not see. A few more tries met with the same result. He retraced his steps, and startled Nomsa as he stepped out of the silhouette of the tree beside her.
“You need to stop doing that!” Nomsa gasped, pressing her arms to her chest as she attempted to catch her breath. “You’ll give someone a heart attack one day.”
“I couldn’t get into the house.”
“What happened?”
“I think Uru’s found a way to block me.”
Nomsa creased her brow. “That’s not good. I don’t know how else we can get in there. I can’t climb up that.” She peered up at the massive wall looming before them.
“You could blast it,” Luyanda suggested.
“Uh-uh,” Nomsa shook her head. “I’m nowhere near strong enough.”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
Nomsa scratched her head, and peered at the wall dubiously.
“You do realize that I’ve only once done — that thing, right? I don’t even know if I could do it again.”
“What choice do we have?” Luyanda threw up his hands, exasperated. “Our friend could be in there. He could need our help. And you’re afraid to try?”
Nomsa was quiet for a moment. “Okay,” she said. “Stand back.”
Luyanda stepped back, whilst Nomsa shut her eyes and pressed the palms of her hands together. The stirring in the leaves overhead grew louder as a wind whipped up about them. He glanced at Nomsa. She leaned forward, palms pressed firmly together, and inhaled deeply. A speck of water landed on Luyanda’s cheek. He looked up into the sky. A dark cloud wheeled over their heads. He shot a worried glance at Nomsa. She kept her eyes shut, and was rocking back and forth on her heels now. The wind grew louder.
“Nomsa,” Luyanda shouted. “I think you need to stop —.”
A flash of brilliant light tore through the sky with a deafening crash. Luyanda was thrown onto his back as he felt the ground shudder beneath him. He staggered to his feet, rubbing his backside and dusting off his clothes. Nomsa was on her knees, panting for breath. He turned to the wall and gasped.
A pile of scorched bricks lay where the wall had been a few seconds earlier.
“Wow!” Luyanda gushed. “Nomsa, that was terrific.”
Nomsa didn’t say anything. Luyanda helped her to her feet.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I just need to catch my breath,” she said. “But let’s go. I’ll be fine.”
They picked their way over the debris and into the garden. The lightning bolt had carved a track across the garden and right up to the mansion’s door. They followed the pale footpath and made their way to the mansion’s entrance. The majestic door lay off it’s hinges, blackened and burned.
“Oops,” Nomsa whispered. “I didn’t mean to destroy it.”
“You saved us time. Come on.”
Luyanda tiptoed into the house, pricking up his ears for any sounds. There were none.
“I think I can become a shadow now,” he said. “I’ll be able to check the entire house in seconds.” Nomsa nodded. Luyanda morphed into the shadows and flitted across the entrance and into the lounge. No one was there. He glided from room to room, finding no one at all, except for a green-eyed cat in the kitchen that sensed his presence and hissed at him before shooting off into the dark. Other than that, the house was entirely deserted. When he was just about to give up and go back to the entrance, a soft moaning came to his ears. He paused, and listened carefully. It came again, from underneath the floorboards. Whoever or whatever it was that was making that sound, it was beneath him.
He slipped through the floorboards, and landed inside a cold, dank basement. There, lying in a corner, bound and gagged, was Jabu.

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