CHAPTER 23

The day after Phillip had eaten with Ogadi, he found himself at her doorstep. He smiled as he pictured the disgruntled expression on her face when she'd open the door.

Phillip hoped to the high heavens that Ogadi would wear those tiny shorts that showed off her toned legs. Ordinarily, Phillip didn't consider himself a leg man but Ogadi was fast changing that about him.

These days, Phillip began to find it hard to remember Ogadi was supposed to be a mission.

Whatever, he thought. No one said I can't enjoy the mission.

At that, he shook his head. This was more than enjoying the mission. It was—

The door opened and his train of thought went haywire.

Ogadi's hair was wet and water dripped down her face. She had a big-toothed comb in her hair and as he predicted, she wore a disgruntled expression on her face.

He was disappointed to note her legs were encased in baggy sweats, as was her upper body.

“You? What are you doing here?” Ogadi asked as she combed her hair, gritting her teeth as she tried to untangle some strands.

“Is that how you greet the person who just located the sacred amulet of Ikala?” Phillip asked.

“You've found it?” Ogadi asked, wide-eyed.

“Of course! Did you ever doubt me?” Phillip asked arrogantly.

Ogadi rolled her eyes, “You should have just sent it as a text or something.”

“And miss seeing your face?” Phillip asked. He was happy to note she seemed flustered by his question.

“So are you going to let me in or not?” Phillip asked casually, leaning on the doorway.

Right on cue, a woman in a floor-length dress and a jacket spoke to them from the door of her house, “O, Ogadi you're back to your fornicating ways, eh? Don't you know you're bringing shame upon your family? All this man wants is to use you and dump you!”

Ogadi rolled her eyes as she replied, “Florence, is it possible for you to mind your business?”

Before Florence could formulate a comeback, Phillip found himself being maneuvered into the house.

“Annoying neighbors?” Phillip asked as he sat down.

“You have no idea.” Ogadi replied as she went back to combing her hair.

“Do you need help with that?” Phillip asked, gesturing to her hair.

“Don't worry, I've got it covered.” Ogadi replied.

Phillip shrugged although he was disappointed by her response. He wanted to do things for her.

“So what do you have?” Ogadi asked him.

Phillip replied, “After days of continuous searching, I found the Sacred amulet of Ikala, and it's quite near.”

“Tell me, tell me.” Ogadi said enthusiastically.

“It's in the Heroes' Square exhibit.” Phillip replied.

Ogadi's face fell. “Exhibit? How are we supposed to get it?”

“I have no idea.” Phillip said and gazed at her as she combed her hair, “You sure you don't want help with that?”

Ogadi gave him a focus on what's important look and Phillip raised his hands in surrender.

“I need to call my grandmother and let her know.” Ogadi said as she abandoned combing her hair and grabbed her phone which had been laying on the table.

Phillip watched as she dialed her grandmother's number and waited for her to answer.

When Ezinne finally answered, Ogadi smiled, “Good morning, Grandmother.”

“Good morning, Ogadi.” Ezinne's no-nonsense voice came across from the phone. “Good morning, Phillip.”

Ogadi's eyes widened comically and Phillip chuckled, “Good morning, Madam.”

“How did you know Phillip was here?” Ogadi asked, awed.

“Well, Florence called to give me an earful on your "fornicating ways" again.” Ezinne said dryly.

“Oh!” Ogadi replied.

“So Phillip, have you found the bracelet?” Ezinne asked.

“Yes.” Phillip replied confidently.

“See? I knew he could do it.” Ezinne said to Ogadi who grimaced. To Phillip, she said, “Where is it?”

Phillip replied, “It's in the art exhibit at Heroes' Square.”

“Really?” Ezinne replied, “That poses a problem. A huge one.”

“Exactly.” Ogadi concurred. “Where are you?”

“Ejike and I are at a commercial park. We're hoping to get to Owerri before nightfall.” Ezinne replied.

“So what do you want us to do? Steal it?” Phillip asked.

“Who's us?” Ogadi muttered under her breath.

“I want you two to wait. Ejike and I will talk this over and let you know what we think.” Ezinne ordered.

“Bye.” Ogadi said with a sigh.

“Bye.” Ezinne replied before she hung up.

Ogadi dropped her phone and reached for her comb but she wasn't fast enough. Phillip got the comb in his grasp first.

“Give me back my comb.” Ogadi said belligerently.

Phillip ignored her hostile tone and replied, “You're having a hard time combing your hair. Let me help.”

Phillip watched as Ogadi seemed to mull his words over before she shrugged and gave in.

Ogadi settled on the floor while Phillip sat on a chair and began to carefully run the comb through Ogadi's hair, apologizing whenever she winced or growled in pain.

With the only sound in the room coming from the comb going through Ogadi's hair, Phillip thought to himself he felt content. He could sit and comb Ogadi's hair all day. What that said about him, he didn't know and frankly, he didn't want to know.

* * *

Ogadi didn't want to breathe too loudly for fear she'd ruin the moment. She couldn't believe Phillip was combing her hair so gently. He was even being more gentle than she was when she combed her hair herself, not that she was complaining. Whenever she inhaled, his scent tingled her nostrils. He smelled nice if she did say so herself.

Even when there were no tangles in her hair, Phillip didn't stop and Ogadi couldn't bring herself to stop him. She was enjoying his nearness. In that moment, they seemed like a couple.

Like all good things, the moment was shattered when her phone rang. She jumped up like a child who'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar and looked at her phone screen. It was her grandmother calling once again.

She answered and put the phone on speaker.

“Grandmother, you're on speaker.”

“Great. Listen up.” Ezinne ordered impatiently, “Ejike is going to tell you what you're going to do.”

“Good morning all.” Ejike said, sounding like a lecturer about to teach his students.

“Good morning, sir.” Ogadi and Phillip answered simultaneously.

“You're sure the amulet is in the Heroes' Square exhibit?” Ejike asked.

“Very sure, sir.” Phillip replied.

“Good. Back in the days, I had a personal assistant called Julius Eke. He's the curator of the exhibit. You go to him and explain everything to him. I'm sure he'll help you.” Ejike said.

“Are you sure?” Ogadi asked skeptically.

“Julius is a good man, he'll understand.” Ejike assured.

“What if he refuses to help us?” Ogadi asked, unconvinced.

“Don't worry, he won't. Just make sure you tell him I sent you.” Ejike replied confidently.

“Fine. We'll take your word for it.” Ogadi replied.

There was a moment of silence before Ezinne's voice came back on.

“This is something you must do immediately.” Ezinne warned, “We have no idea when Dike Aru will decide to make a comeback.”

“Ok. I'll see to it.” Ogadi assured.

“Oh, and take Phillip with you.” Ezinne ordered.

Ogadi sighed, did she really want Phillip with her? On one hand, he always distracted although he did so unintentionally. On the other hand, he had proved himself to be indispensable. He'd even saved her life.

“I will, Grandmother.” Ogadi said.

“Good. May Ala protect you.” Ezinne prayed.

“And you too.” Ogadi responded before hanging up.

Turning to Phillip, she said, “Please wait. I'll change into clothes fit for an outing. I won't spend much time, okay?”

Phillip's disbelief was plain on his face when he replied, “Sure.”

Ogadi huffed as she left for her room. She'd prove him wrong.

* * *

When Ogadi returned to the sitting room in a form-fitting chiffon blouse and ripped jeans, Phillip remarked, “You took twenty minutes but I dare say it was worth it.”

Ogadi ducked her head before she realized what she was doing. Seconds later, she came to her senses. She was a twenty-two-year-old exorcist not a junior secondary school girl being wooed by a senior student.

She also wanted to point out that it was Phillip's fault she'd wasted a lot of time but she didn't want him to know she'd discarded tons of outfits. Most of them had seemed either flirty, demure, modest, or outrageous. Finally, she remembered Phillip was wearing a lumberjack shirt and jeans. There was no way she was going to put in a lot of effort. In the end, she'd chosen her outfit from the discarded pile when she saw how much time had passed.

“I ordered a cab, it'll be here soon.” Phillip informed her.

Ogadi nodded and entered the kitchen where she found Nwata standing watch at the kitchen window. Ogadi guessed the demon had not taken a break for days.

“Nwata, Phillip and I are going out—”

“You're going out with Daddy?” Nwata cried happily.

Ogadi sighed. No matter how many times she tried to convince Nwata that she and Phillip weren't together, it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

“He's not your daddy.” Ogadi persisted, “But yes, we're going out.”

“Don't worry about me, Mummy. I'll watch over the shrine.” Nwata pledged, its wraith-like form vibrating with eagerness.

“Bye.” Ogadi said and returned to the sitting room. Phillip informed her their cab had arrived and they left.

When they got to Heroes' Square, Ogadi was mesmerized by the thirty-five-meter statues of various African leaders such as Ellen Sirleaf, Robert Mugabe and various others that littered the square. While it was not her first time being there, she always marveled at the opulence of the million-dollar statues.

Some people were at the square taking pictures of the statues although it wasn't as packed as a tourist center ought to be. This was because many indigenes of the state saw the statues as an extravagance. If you asked them, the money used to construct statues could have been put to better use like building better roads.

Ogadi agreed with them but thought the statues were evidence of skilled craftsmanship and admired them as such.

They walked past the statues and into the nearby building that housed the cultural exhibit, another attraction to the square.

Unlike the statues, the building was small and shoddy. It had probably been built as an afterthought.

Fewer people visited the exhibit. Nobody was interested in seeing idols.

When Phillip and Ogadi entered the building, a woman in a t-shirt which proclaimed her a guide saw them and pretended not to have seen them. Even as they approached her, she feigned obliviousness and fanned herself with a sheet of paper.

“Good afternoon, ma.” Ogadi greeted.

The woman eyed her angrily, “What do you want?”

“We'd like to see the curator.” Ogadi replied.

The woman stared at a ceiling fan which was making more noise than it was circulating air before she deigned to respond to Ogadi.

“We'd like to see the curator,” she mimicked, doing a horrible of Ogadi before adding, “You think you can just walk in here and demand to see the curator? Don't you know he's a busy man?”

“From the absence of people I'd say he isn't busy at all.” Ogadi snapped, annoyed at the woman's rudeness.

Phillip cleared his throat and stepped in front of Ogadi. When the woman saw his grey eyes, her demeanor changed and she became more agreeable.

“So you want to see the curator.” She smiled.

“If it's not too much trouble.” Phillip returned her smile.

Ogadi rolled her eyes. She wasn't surprised, not in the least.

“I don't usually do this, I mean you have to have an appointment before you can meet the curator but because you said it's urgent, I'll take you.” The woman said.

“You're too kind.” Phillip said and the woman giggled like a school girl.

“Chukwu save me.” Ogadi muttered under her breath as the woman led them through a poorly lit hallway lined with artifacts.

Ogadi would've loved to closely examine some of the objects on display but she knew there was no time to indulge in that.

Some minutes later, they got to a wooden door that had seen better days, and the woman knocked.

“Yes?” Came a voice from inside.

“It's Maggie. There are some people who are here to see you. They say it's very urgent.” The woman replied and smiled at Phillip again.

Ogadi barely held herself from knocking her teeth out. Why was she smiling at Phillip any chance she got?

“Please, let them in.”

Maggie pushed the door open and they filed in.

The office was small and cluttered with files, papers, pictures, and books. A man sat behind an equally cluttered and messy desk. He was dark with a head of shocking white hair although he was in his mid-thirties.

“Have you come for the amulet?” He asked with an enigmatic smile.