“But he’s my son …” his voice trailed away as he stared into her blank face. This was futile, he realized. How could she, a spell made flesh, possibly understand?
Here’s the thing you need to know to understand this story: I was meant to be an only child. The doctors, when they examined my mother, only counted one heartbeat.
It happens on your way home from dropping your brother off at school. You’re stopped at a red light. There’s a soundless flash that makes your ears pop and the world go blank. You stand on the brakes, hard, trying to push the pedal right through the floor. As your eyes squint themselves open, the horizon pulses distantly, once, twice.
It is prohibited for an Osu to interact in any way with the Nwadiala, and that includes using your gifts against them. It is woven into our initiation rites, and to speak or even think of such is considered blasphemy.