But things took a turn for the worse as the classes they’ve always had together was canceled, Omotola had a sick feeling that the institute was trying to ease their separation by keeping them apart, like puppies about to be sold off, not siblings with humane feelings.

Drills and tuition became a private activity and their schedules were adjusted to reduce the chance of them being together but instead, the recent turn of event did nothing but agitate them the more as they began to act unruly, Omotola was punished, prodded and confined to her cubicle without meals several times for asking questions, of course the institute needed someone to blame for that because Katie was never seen again, and she was replaced by a stone faced lady who ignored all attempts at conversation.

“Where’s Katie?’’

“Silence…”

“Who are you and when is she coming back?”

“More silence…”

“I bet you’ll scream if I lift you up and toss you from the balcony, I hope you’re a bad conductor of electricity lady, keep that attitude, cos we’ll soon find out.”

“Sniff…silence…”

Omotola wished she could say something positive, like she took a deep breath the way Katie taught her, reined in her emotions and felt a lot better but she lost her temper and zapped the letter “S” out of her new handler’s silence, stone faced lady screamed loudly enough to wake a dead man.

She was severally punished for this. Doctor Mugabe threw her in the laundry room as the institute staff called it, they children dreaded the place, she was hanged like a cloth to dry, her wings clipped to a power line that siphoned all the electrodes in her, using her as a conduit to power the machine, it was a torture slow and agonizing. Her shoulder blades attached to wings bearing her dense weight burned with pain as if they were being ripped off, she hung there screaming and sobbing for a day and an half before she was taken down.

Stone faced lady stopped coming, a small victory at that. She was replaced by a nervous mousy old matron, who observed her rounds with two armed Askari guards, she'd refused to attend to her without protection as she must have heard that Omotola was the one responsible for landing stone faced lady in counseling.

A few weeks after the meeting in her cubicle, she was beginning to doubt if she would ever see her siblings again, maybe they have been taken away, maybe they were being overloaded one by one and her turn was just around the corner.

She woke up one night to see Babybaby’s chubby face all up in her face, she shrieked in alarm as they all laughed at her expense.

“This is getting old,” she said, trying to cover her embarrassment.

“Sorry, sorry Omotola, she piped, you slept like you were dead, had to check if you were britteling.”

“It’s breathing Babybaby,” Omotola corrected, sometimes she forgets she was only six, Babybaby was smart for her age, “all’s forgiven, I’m so happy to see you guys, I thought you were all gone.”

After the hugs and kisses, they shared news and stories about their ordeals, Omotola had to take a bow cos her own travails was nothing compared to the others, Obiora spent four days in the laundry room and Babybaby was not given sweets and treats for two days that she wished she was dead.

They would have chattered till daybreak had Shettima not put an end to their reminisce, he told them the heavily medaled general came with the doctor to inspect him but he did not know what traversed between them as he was scared to even attempt looking into the formidable looking general’s head.

He told them he'd finally found the floor where Logan was being incarcerated and if they needed to get something done they have to start now, on saying this, he told them to gather around him as he spread his dark wings to their full length, Obiora crouching to get at least a shadow from his wingspan then Shettima ported.

Omotola would have screamed if she hadn’t lost her breath as they were sucked into cold darkness, she forced her eyes open into an inky dark as she saw her cubicle fading away like uncolored television, and then the light came back as sudden as it left, dumping them unceremoniously on some unfamiliar floor with infrared lighting.

The other children recovered from the aftershock faster than her, she guessed it was thanks to having experienced it trice when they made for her cubicle, picking themselves from the floor as they stared nervously around.

Shettima staggered, paled face.

"Are you alright?" Orchid asked in concern.

"Give me just a second to catch my breath." He answered, "I have never taken this much number too many times in one night."

“We have to walk from here, Shettima whispered looking tired but stubborn as he led them down the crescent corridor, “the red light here stops me from gathering enough shadow.’’

In silence they moved toward a great metal door yellowed with rust. A warning sign read: CAUTION’’ Quarantine Area….KEEP OFF!!! inked in great fading letters.

“The sign nearly had me turn back the first time.’’ he whispered as he punched some codes on the lock unit, “I got it from a doctor’s head the first time I tried the umm! Peeking into head thing, they change it every week or so I think, hopefully I have the latest pass code or things are going to get messy.’’ he replied in answer to their bemused looks as the metal barrier swung open.

They gathered outside for a moment, afraid to go in, in fear of whoever awaits them inside then summoning courage, they filed in behind Obiora’s larger form as he led them carefully into the forbidden chamber.

The room they entered was large and circular, filled from wall to wall with wirings and dials like the body of a giant generator, in the middle of the room an hourglass like device hummed. A box shaped steel cage sat at the very top surrounded by a moat filled with some glittering fluids that was definitely not water, the hourglass like machine sends the fluid up the cage steel bars and down, the bars of the cage shimmered whenever the liquid touches.

They stood gaping at the strange device and stepped back in alarm as the cage occupant rose up from its interior.

A creature gazed down at them, he was the tallest man they had ever seen. Taller even than Obiora and broader than Bature, dark cocoa skinned, cruel grey hawk like eyes on a face too hard to be called handsome, his long hair was braided up in corn rolls style and decorated with cowries. He had nothing on except a red hand loomed fabric kilt to cover his unclothedness from waist to his knees and held together by a snake skin belt.

Red coral beads adorned his neck and wrists, a solid gold band on each of his muscled arms the size of tree trunks, he stopped right at the edge of the glimmering cage bars glowing with a red aura as the children took in his features, his fierce gaze had them transfixed.

“Why children,’’ his bass voice rumbled like stormy weather, “is this the way you would greet your father?”