Now
Lillian quickly drove them back to where Peter and the herbalist were waiting. They were euphoric with the success of their mission.
“How did it go?” Peter asked anxiously when the girls got out of the car.
“She’s coming, Uncle Peter. They’re bringing her. Thank you. Thank you so much,” Rami gushed, looking between Peter and the herbalist.
Peter smiled in relief. “That is wonderful to hear. And thank you too.”
The herbalist nodded. “Let’s go.”
They followed her through the first gate to wait in front of the second wooden gate, which was about four times wider with Nokalu painted on it.
After about fifteen minutes of waiting, the gate slid open, revealing Aba and a woman who looked almost exactly like the herbalist. Aba and the other woman were dressed similarly in simple, straight white dresses with their hair braided all the way to the back into four thick cornrow braids.
The girls screamed with joy as Aba rushed to them, hugging first Rami and then Lillian.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she repeated as they hugged her over and over, refusing to let go. Tears of joy flowed freely between them.
“Uncle Peter! Thank you!” Aba said when she noticed the uncle, whom she had only seen drunk, looking at them fondly.
“I am happy that you’re back with us,” he returned in the most coherent voice she had ever heard from him.
Rami grabbed Aba’s attention again by pulling her into another hug, which Lillian joined and turned into a group hug.
“I’m sorry, ladies, but we need to leave now,” the herbalist told them, breaking up the reunion. She had gone to speak to her sister while the girls were reuniting and returned to their side when she realised that time was ticking. She had to leave, and Zenator had to return to her own servitude. Unlike Rami, she could never take her sister home.
Aba looked back to see Zenator standing at the threshold where she had left her. Her handler’s usually solemn face had a little bittersweet smile.
She watched as the other woman, Zenator’s sister, went to Zenator to say some final words to her. When she stepped back, Aba felt a deep urge to hug the woman who had helped her secure her freedom goodbye.
“No!” Zenator exclaimed when Aba tried to move back to the threshold. The herbalist grabbed Aba’s hand and pulled her away from her sister. “You can no longer cross over to the side she’s on, just like she can’t come over here. Those marks on your arm are the mark of no return: once you cross the threshold, as you just did, you can never be brought back here or used as any blood sacrifice anywhere. That was my sister’s final gift to you.
“Goodbye, Aba. Have a good life,” Zenator told her, turning around to return to her prison.
Aba glanced at the three tiny cuts on her arm, which were already healing. She had assumed that it was part of the Nokolu rites when Zenator had made them.
She looked up again to watch Zenator’s back until she disappeared through the second gate and locked it.
“We should leave now,” Rami said nervously when Aba just stared tearfully at the place her handler had disappeared to. She was quiet as they led her to their waiting vehicle.
“I know we can’t tell people what happened. What are we going to say to everyone about what happened to me?” Aba mused as they drove back to drop the herbalist at home.
Rami and Lillian exchanged glances. None of them had ever thought that far. Aba had been buried already. How were they going to tell everyone that she was now alive? How were they going to break the news? And who was the woman whose body was buried as Aba?
“We will figure it out,” Peter said calmly.
“I think I have a plan that can help,” the herbalist said. “I have been thinking about it since Peter called me yesterday.”
Rami reached for Aba’s hand and gripped it, smiling when her sister leaned on her and put her head on her shoulder.
“I brought you some clothes to change into when we return to the doctor’s house,” she whispered.
“Thank you,” Aba whispered back.
They were all lost in thought as Lillian drove them to their destination, thinking about the last few months and especially the last few days. The whole experience was surreal and they knew that they had crazy days ahead of them when they returned home with Aba. But they did it. They had found her. Nothing else could be more difficult.
When they got to the herbalist’s house, they silently trooped into her living room. They hadn’t spoken much during the journey. Rami was afraid she would wake up from this wondorous dream where she had her sister back. The herbalist showed them a room where Aba could change into the dress Rami had brought her. When they returned to the sitting room, Aba recounted everything that had happened, how Hormeku had lured her by saying that he was planning a surprise for her mother that he needed her help with. With her voice hoarse from emotion, she told them, “He claimed that he wanted Rami to be surprised as well, so he didn’t want anyone in our circle to know until it was ready. He had been building a four-bedroom house that he wanted to give Mom for her birthday, which was four months away. He said it was a gift to make up for everything that had happened, something she would own and do with as she pleased. He wanted me to give my input on furnishing and decoration, which was the only thing remaining. He had hired an interior designer, he said. All I needed to do was to meet with her just once to select the option my mom would like best from the choices she had come up with. I was so excited. Stupid me.” She paused and took a deep breath. “He gave me a drink which was drugged. I woke up in Nokalu, dressed in a white dress. I couldn’t believe it when I realised what he had done to me. He said he had to sacrifice someone, and unfortunately for me, I’m the best person available. I could not believe how evil he was. And for days, I thought it was all a very horrible dream.”
Lillian and Rami also told her about what had happened after her disappearance, the fact that they had held her funeral already, and how they put the clues together after her midnight call. She was disgusted when Peter told her about his experience with Hormeku and expressed her joy at his recovery.
After they had caught up enough, one question remained. “People think I’m dead. My funeral has already happened. How do we explain my reappearance without getting into the family drama? I know we can’t tell people what actually happened.”
“That is where I come in,” said the herbalist. “You’re right, you cannot publicly discuss anything that went on in Nokalu. We can say that, after your accident, you were thrown into the bushes, where some people found you later and tried to help you. I know some people around the route your car was found on who can help with the cover-up. We just need to get the story straight.
“Thank you,” Aba told her gratefully. They were shocked when the herbalist declined to be paid for her help.
“I’m doing this for Zenator,” she said. “She has waited so long to be able to help someone. This will make her happy, and it’s the least I can do.”
They left the Volta region soon after that, with the herbalist promising to meet up with them when they go to break the news to Aba and Rami’s mother about Aba’s return.
