The Anansi Girl

The Spider's Messenger

The music coursed through my veins like electricity.

I felt it pulsing through me, I have never heard of this band, and I am not a fan of rock music, but this wasn't bad.

I was having fun, Jose is having fun and Sammy was nowhere in sight. Jose and I had arrived, been given the VIP treatment thanks to Sammy and Darius, then the two had wondered off leaving us on our own.

"Great band." Jose murmured. I looked at him not really seeing or hearing him. Something was tingling in my brain, something sort of familiar. 

I turned towards the stage and it was like someone turned on an ACE on full and a blast of cold air hit me square on the face.

In the midst of that chill, was a face. A stunning grinning face that stared at me with eyes that rang of familiarity, though I knew I had never before seen them.

Little Spider, Welcome.

Welcome to the Tribe of Dreams.

The voice echoed in my mind louder than the music, and it vibrated through me stronger than the beats shaking the walls around the club.

The song ended abruptly. Not the one on the stage, but the one in my mind and I went stumbling backward as though someone had knocked me over. 

I felt arms around me, I held fast onto them, thinking they belonged to Jose.

When I looked up, a stranger peered down at me. A broad smile softening sharp and odd black beady eyes.

"You came. I almost thought you would ignore my invitation." 

"What invitation?" I asked.

"Why the Spider's invitation of course." His hand picked up the spider necklace I was wearing. I stared at the necklace and then back at the stranger.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"You know who I am." He replied.

"No. No I do not." I say. I walk out of the stranger's grip and turn to stare him in the eyes. His gaze danced.

"I am a friend of spider." He said.

"A friend of spider?" I reply.

"Yes a friend of spider." He walked around me several times then burst out laughing. I tried to keep track of him but could not, he moved so fast, so haphazardly that I could barely keep track of him in the crowd.

"Why did you come?" He asked.

"Why? Didn't you say you sent an invite?" I replied.

"Yes, I sent an invite, but you did not have to answer. You could not answer, not unless you had a reason first to come." He said. I raised a brow at him and he grinned again.

"So?" He asked.

"So..." I offered.

"What is your reason little spider. What reason do you have for seeking the King of Spiders?" He asked.

"Are you the King of Spiders?" I asked. He laughed so hard I looked around to make sure we were not drawing any unwanted attention.

I hadn't realized until that moment, but we were no longer in the club room. The crowds were gone, the stage stood before me empty, with a single spotlight aimed at an empty spot at the center.

We were well lid but the rest of the room was covered in darkness.

"Where are we?" I asked the stranger.

"We are where we need to be spider. And I am not the King of Spiders. I am merely his humble messenger. When a Nansi wants to speak to the Great Spider King, he sends me. And when the Great King wants to speak to a Nansi, he sends me. I am his humble servant. His slave. His dog, his most devout." The man bowed, as though bowing to a great noble. There was no one in the room with us, I looked around to be certain. We were standing in the midst of total darkness, save for the spotlight ahead of us and the one on the stage.

"Obviously, I am having another mental breakdown." 

"No. Not that. Hmm, for a Nansi girl, you sure are odd. You don't know why you want to meet the boss, you don't know who I am. That's very odd because every Nansi girl knows a child of  Odenkyem, our fathers are one blood you know." He reaches for the necklace, grabs it and the spider on the necklace moves. The legs slightly change position and suddenly we were back in the club, surrounded by music and other bodies.

"Where did you go?" Jose was standing beside me. He did not notice the strange man until he realized I hadn't ripped my gaze away to respond to his question. 

When he turned he planted a firm hand across my shoulder.

"A friend of yours?" He asked, I wasn't sure if he was asking me or the man.

"Yes. We are friends. The name is Skokie." Skokie reaches out to Jose, the two men shake hands, oddly.

"How do you know Nii?" Jose asks.

"Oh, Anyaokyanin and my family were...I guess neighbors back in the home country. Isn't that right Anyaokyanin." When I heard Skokie call my real name I whipped my head around in total shock. No one, except Sammy and my parents know my birth name. All of my legal documents and all of my friends know me as Ninni.

"Are you related?" Jose asked.

"Yes. Yes we are. We are cousins. Distant cousins." The way Skokie said distant made Jose uncomfortable, I could tell from the way his grip on my shoulders tightened and Skokie could tell also.

The two men stared at each other for the longest time. Then someone slapped Skokie on the back. Sammy hugged Skokie.

"Skokie that was amazing. I knew you were good, but this was something else. I didn't know this was your band." Sammy's words drew my attention to Skokie again. He was staring at Sammy and Darius but I could feel his attention on me.

"Thank you. I am glad you could hear me perform." He said.

"Wait, did you send my sister that ticket and the necklace?" Sammy asked.

Skokie stared at me again. He smiled, his gaze dancing again in that bizarre way like there was a tiny person doing cartwheels behind his gaze.

"No. Unfortunately I did not send anything. But maybe next time I will." 

The rest of the night was too uncomfortable for me to make much sense of anything. Jose kept too close, and had an eye on Skokie at all time. Skokie was always grinning, but there was something sly behind his grin, something sneaky that made me shiver every time he aimed his gaze in my direction. 

When Jose dropped me off, we shared an intense kiss. I did not want it to end, but it did and he was gone. 

I closed and locked the door to my apartment, then slumped against the door overwhelmed.

"I never thought he would leave." Skokie said. I yelped when I saw him sitting in my kitchen.

"How did you get in here?" I almost yelled the question at him.

"I walked in like you did." He said.

"Did you break in? That's illegal."

"I did not break in. I walked in."

"What do you want?" I asked getting up from the floor.

"I want you to come with me."

"And where do you intend to take us?" I walked into the kitchen, grabbed the apple he'd taken out of my fruit pantry and placed it back there.

"To meet the King Spider of course." Skokie grabbed the apple from the pantry again and bite into it. 

"Yeah, I'll pass. Please get out of my house." He got to his feet.

"You Nansi girls are so difficult. Come on." He snapped his finger, the room turned pitch black and then there was light and we were standing in the middle of another living room, in a place that was night time and I knew was not my hometown.