Chapter Twelve
I made one stop before I left. Elder James opened his front door, glowering at me and then pointedly at the watch on his wrist. I apologized for the time, praying he wouldn’t send me packing.
I could have asked Sekou to meet me, but it was easier and quicker to make the surprise stop and hope he wasn’t out.
Elder James let me in with a wary look and a warning to make it quick. I apologized, rushing up the stairs to Sekou’s room.
“Ada?” He was startled and just out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his long torso and another around his neck, which he used to dry his freshly cut temp fade. He craned his neck through the doorway at the stairs. “Uncle James let you in?”
“I told him I’d be quick,” I said. I eyed him. “Do you mind?” I gestured to his towel and went back to the living room while he got dressed. When he came back out, dressed in gray jogger sweatpants and a pink tee, I gave him the quick rundown of what I was planning.
“What the hell?” His voice was like a foghorn.
I slammed my hand over his mouth. “Shhhh, your uncle is down there!”
Sekou peeled my fingers off his face. “This is the worst idea. You can’t be over there alone.
Nana Ama … I don’t even want to think about the bricks she’ll shit.
” His whole vibe was one big, blaring stop sign.
“I get the news about Naira is hard. Hell, I don’t even want to believe it, but the cops couldn’t find anything. So how will you?”
“I’ll figure it out,” I said. “I have my ways.”
He scoffed. “What ways? It’s not the Isle. It’s Charleston. You know, big city, lots of crowds and noise. Plus, you don’t know what’s out there.” He hesitated. “Can’t you just talk to her?”
And tell her I was on the hunt for the truth behind Naira? That I thought Nana had something to do with it?
“That’s a no. She’ll keep me from going.”
“Not a bad idea,” he grumbled. He switched to plan B. “Then I’m coming with. Naira’s my friend too.”
I shook my head. “No. One of us needs to be here when shit hits the fan and they realize I’m gone. You can tell them I had to deal with her loss on my own before her Homegoing. They’ll believe you. You gotta stay here.”
Because I can’t lose you too, I didn’t finish.
I held up an envelope, and he took it. And then he grabbed me up and pulled me in.
I’d never felt as vulnerable and as strong as I felt the moment Sekou hugged me.
And when I felt wet drops soaking through my shirt, I was undone, completely.
Entirely. We stayed like that until Elder James said it was time for me to go home.
The next day, when I knew Nana was distracted with Isle business and then working in her shed, I left my island home.
The weight of what I was doing, the stand I was making against my grandmother wasn’t lost on me.
I was going against my grandmother’s wishes.
I was leaving a place that had been my safe haven.
I didn’t know what was waiting for me, but I was taking a leap of faith, reversing the course my ancestors took when they fled their captors. They’d seen the beacon of light from the Isle and they’d used it to find their way. I had no light guiding me as I sped away.
Even if I came back empty-handed, having learned nothing new about my best friend, knowing that I hadn’t given up on her would be enough for me. I had tried, even when the weight of it all felt too much to bear.