Tobi was still typing.
Kade watched the three dots appear and disappear on the cracked tablet screen.
Then another message arrived.
TOBI: He’s knocking now.
Kade’s blood ran cold.
KADE: Don’t open the gate.
TOBI: Wasn’t planning to. The man is calling me by my government name. Even my landlord doesn’t do that.
Kade looked at the black symbol spreading across his shoulder.
The Veil Stalker had marked him.
So why was something already at Tobi’s house?
He typed quickly.
KADE: Is it a man or a woman?
TOBI: Man. I think.
KADE: What does that mean?
TOBI: It means every time I look through the window, his face looks different.
Kade stopped breathing.
The creature had followed him.
Or there was more than one.
Neither possibility was comforting.
KADE: Stay inside. Lock everything. I’m coming.
Tobi replied immediately.
TOBI: You just told me not to come to you.
KADE: Plans change.
TOBI: You sound like a Nigerian politician.
Kade almost smiled.
Then the tablet displayed another message.
TOBI: Kade.
TOBI: He’s stopped knocking.
A pause.
TOBI: I can hear him in the kitchen.
Kade ran.
His ankle protested with every step.
His shoulder felt as though someone had pressed hot iron against it.
He ignored both.
Tobi lived fifteen minutes away on a good day.
With an injured ankle and something supernatural hunting them, Kade estimated he could make it in ten.
Fear was excellent motivation.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a substitute for functioning ligaments.
He stumbled at the junction and caught himself against a parked tricycle.
The driver shouted something unpleasant.
Kade didn’t stop to apologize.
A blue window appeared.
[PHYSICAL CONDITION DETERIORATING.]
[RECOMMENDATION: REST.]
"Tell that to the monster."
[HOST RESPONSE NOTED.]
Kade gritted his teeth.
He was beginning to suspect the System enjoyed being useless.
His tablet vibrated.
TOBI: I’m in my room.
TOBI: Door locked.
TOBI: Whatever that thing is, it just called me Mum.
Kade frowned.
KADE: Your mum?
TOBI: No. YOUR mum.
Kade’s stomach tightened.
The creature was using Adunni’s voice again.
But why?
It could imitate anyone.
Why keep choosing his mother?
He remembered the way it had spoken through his bedroom door.
The flowerpot.
The neighbour’s cat.
A memory only Adunni should have known.
Something about that detail bothered him.
The creature hadn’t simply guessed.
It had known.
And Kade was beginning to wonder whether the knowledge had come from his mother—or from something that had happened to her.
He pushed the thought aside.
Tobi first.
Questions later.
The compound gate was open.
That was the first thing Kade noticed.
The second was the silence.
Tobi’s street was usually noisy even before sunrise.
A nearby bakery started work early. Its generator rattled like a bucket of loose bolts.
Today, Kade could hear the generator.
He could hear distant traffic.
He could even hear someone arguing over the price of bread.
But inside Tobi’s compound, there was nothing.
No footsteps.
No television.
No movement.
Kade stopped outside the gate.
His System activated.
[SPIRITUAL RESIDUE DETECTED.]
[ATTRIBUTE: MIMICRY.]
[WARNING: HOST TRACKING MARK REACTING.]
Pain shot through his shoulder.
Kade grabbed the wall.
The black symbol beneath his shirt burned.
Then something whispered inside his head.
Hungry.
He froze.
It wasn’t the creature’s voice.
It came from deeper.
From the place where the Hollow Wraith’s memories had settled.
Hungry.
Kade clenched his jaw.
"Not now."
The sensation faded.
He entered the compound.
Tobi’s room was at the back of the building.
Kade knew the layout well.
He had spent enough afternoons there arguing about football, borrowing money neither of them had, and eating whatever Tobi’s mother left in the kitchen.
The familiarity made the silence worse.
He approached the corridor.
Something moved behind the curtain at the far end.
Kade stopped.
"Analyze."
[TARGET NOT CLEARLY OBSERVED.]
He took another step.
The curtain shifted.
A woman emerged.
Adunni Adeyemi.
Kade’s heart stopped.
She wore the same blue wrapper he’d seen her wearing the previous evening.
Her hair was tied back.
Her expression was tired.
"Kade."
He couldn’t move.
His mother smiled faintly.
"My son."
For one terrible moment, he wanted to believe.
Then he noticed her feet.
They weren’t touching the floor.
Kade stepped backward.
"You’re not her."
The woman tilted her head.
"Why do you keep saying that?"
"Because my mother doesn’t float."
Her smile widened.
"People change."
"So I’ve heard."
The creature moved.
Its face collapsed inward.
The familiar features stretched into a dark, narrow skull.
Black fingers emerged from beneath the wrapper.
Kade turned and ran toward Tobi’s door.
"Tobi!"
A voice answered from inside.
"Kade?"
"Open!"
"How do I know it’s you?"
Kade nearly laughed.
"Because I’m the idiot who borrowed your five thousand naira and still hasn’t paid you back!"
The lock clicked.
Tobi pulled the door open.
"Seven thousand."
"What?"
"You owe me seven thousand."
"Can we settle accounts after we survive?"
Tobi looked past him.
His expression changed.
"Oh."
The creature emerged from the corridor.
Tobi slammed the door.
Something struck it immediately.
BOOM!
Both men jumped backward.
Tobi stared at Kade.
"What did you bring to my house?"
"Trouble."
"I can see that!"
The door shook again.
Kade grabbed a wooden chair and wedged it beneath the handle.
Tobi dragged a small cupboard across the floor.
They pushed it against the door together.
The impacts stopped.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then a voice came through the wood.
"Tobi."
Tobi went pale.
It was his mother’s voice.
"Open the door."
He took one step forward.
Kade grabbed his arm.
"No."
Tobi swallowed.
"My mum travelled yesterday."
"Exactly."
The voice returned.
"Tobi, please."
His friend’s face twisted.
Kade tightened his grip.
"Look at me."
Tobi turned.
"That thing isn’t your mother."
"I know."
"Then don’t listen."
Tobi nodded.
The creature laughed softly.
And the door began to bend.
Kade looked around the room.
One window.
A narrow bathroom.
A ceiling fan.
A mattress.
Two chairs.
And a collection of football jerseys Tobi treated with more respect than most human beings.
No weapons.
No obvious escape.
The window faced a neighbouring compound separated by a high wall.
Kade approached it.
Metal burglary bars.
Fixed into concrete.
"Of course."
Tobi joined him.
"Any ideas?"
"Several."
"Good."
"They’re all terrible."
The door cracked.
A black finger pushed through.
Tobi stared.
"That is not a normal finger."
Kade ignored him.
His System displayed a warning.
[HOST TRACKING MARK: ACTIVE.]
[SPIRITUAL LINK DETECTED.]
Kade looked at his shoulder.
The mark.
The creature had followed him through it.
But that didn’t explain how it reached Tobi first.
Unless—
He remembered the messages.
Tobi had contacted him while he was still near the creature.
The tablet.
The location.
The creature had marked Kade.
Could it also follow his connections?
That possibility was frightening.
But it remained a guess.
He couldn’t afford to mistake guesses for facts.
"System. Analyze the mark."
[TARGET: SPIRITUAL TRACKING MARK.]
[FUNCTION: MAINTAINS A LINK BETWEEN HOST AND MARKING ENTITY.]
[CURRENT STATE: ACTIVE.]
[REMOVAL METHOD: UNKNOWN.]
Kade frowned.
"Can the link work both ways?"
A pause.
[INSUFFICIENT DATA.]
"Can it transmit energy?"
[POSSIBLE.]
"Can it transmit memories?"
[UNKNOWN.]
Kade looked toward the door.
The creature was still pushing through.
Its fingers had reached the cupboard.
He needed a way to break the connection.
He needed—
The hunger stirred.
Devour.
Kade froze.
The System hadn’t spoken.
The word had risen from somewhere inside him.
He looked at the mark.
A black thread extended from it.
Night Sight revealed something he hadn’t noticed before.
The thread passed through the wall.
Toward the creature.
Kade’s pulse quickened.
It wasn’t just a mark.
It was a connection.
And connections could be broken.
"System."
[AWAITING QUERY.]
"Can DEVOUR target spiritual energy without consuming the creature itself?"
The response took longer than usual.
[DEVOUR TARGETING REQUIRES IDENTIFIABLE SPIRITUAL STRUCTURE.]
[PARTIAL ABSORPTION: POSSIBLE.]
[SUCCESS DEPENDENT ON TARGET RESISTANCE AND HOST CAPACITY.]
Kade stared.
Possible.
Not guaranteed.
But better than waiting for the door to collapse.
Tobi noticed his expression.
"What?"
"I might have an idea."
"Is it one of the terrible ones?"
"Probably the worst."
"Fantastic."
Kade pulled his torn shirt away from his shoulder.
The black symbol pulsed beneath his skin.
Tobi stared.
"What happened to you?"
"Long story."
"That thing did this?"
"Yes."
"And you’re just showing me now?"
"I’ve had a busy morning."
The door split.
A black arm reached through.
Tobi grabbed the cupboard.
"Kade!"
Kade pressed two fingers against the mark.
"Analyze."
[SPIRITUAL LINK IDENTIFIED.]
[TARGET RESISTANCE: LOW.]
[WARNING: LINK CONNECTED TO ACTIVE PREDATORY ENTITY.]
He swallowed.
"Devour."
The System responded.
[PARTIAL DEVOUR INITIATED.]
Pain exploded through his shoulder.
Kade screamed.
The black symbol twisted beneath his skin.
Something pulled back.
Hard.
For a moment, he felt the creature on the other side of the door.
Its hunger.
Its anger.
Its awareness.
And beneath those sensations—
Fear.
Not fear of Kade.
Fear of something else.
Something that had sent it.
Kade saw a fragment.
A dark room.
A figure standing behind a curtain.
A voice speaking a single command.
Find the woman.
Then another.
If she is gone, find the boy.
The memory shattered.
Kade fell to his knees.
The black thread snapped.
[PARTIAL DEVOUR COMPLETE.]
[SPIRITUAL ENERGY ACQUIRED: 2 UNITS.]
[TRACKING MARK DISRUPTED.]
[WARNING: FOREIGN INSTINCT CONTAMINATION DETECTED.]
The creature screamed.
The sound shook the room.
Its arm withdrew.
The door stopped bending.
Then came a heavy impact.
And silence.
Tobi waited ten seconds.
Then twenty.
Finally, he whispered, "Did we win?"
Kade was on the floor, shaking.
"No."
"Did it leave?"
"I don’t know."
Tobi looked at the damaged door.
"Those are two very different answers."
Kade tried to stand.
His legs refused.
The hunger inside him was no longer whispering.
It was roaring.
The two units of spiritual energy he’d consumed were almost nothing.
Yet something about the act had awakened an appetite he couldn’t explain.
He could sense Tobi beside him.
Not simply hear him.
Sense him.
A faint warmth.
A living presence.
Kade turned.
For one horrifying instant, he imagined reaching into his friend’s chest and pulling that warmth free.
He jerked backward.
Tobi noticed.
"Kade?"
"Stay away."
His friend’s expression changed.
"What?"
"Just—"
Kade pressed his palms against his temples.
"Give me a minute."
Tobi didn’t move closer.
But he didn’t leave either.
Kade shut his eyes.
The foreign instinct pressed against his thoughts.
More.
He clenched his teeth.
"No."
More.
"No!"
The System appeared.
[FOREIGN INSTINCT DETECTED.]
[SOURCE: RECENT SPIRITUAL ABSORPTION.]
[HOST COGNITIVE RESISTANCE ACTIVE.]
[RECOMMENDATION: AVOID FURTHER DEVOUR UNTIL STABILIZED.]
Kade stared at the warning.
For once, he didn’t argue.
He concentrated on his breathing.
In.
Out.
Again.
He thought about his mother.
About the way she always complained when he left his shoes in the sitting room.
About Tobi laughing so hard during a football match that he spilled malt over the remote.
Ordinary memories.
His memories.
He held on to them.
Slowly, the hunger weakened.
Not gone.
Never gone.
But quiet enough that he could think.
Kade opened his eyes.
Tobi was sitting opposite him.
He held a plastic bottle of water.
"Here."
Kade accepted it.
His hands were still shaking.
"Thanks."
Tobi watched him drink.
Then said, "You’re going to explain everything."
Kade lowered the bottle.
"Everything?"
"Everything."
"That could take a while."
Tobi looked toward the broken door.
"I’ve cancelled my morning plans."
Kade almost smiled.
Then he remembered the memory.
Find the woman.
If she is gone, find the boy.
His mother had been the first target.
He had been the second.
That changed something.
The creatures weren’t simply attracted to the System.
Someone had given them instructions.
Kade looked at the black mark on his shoulder.
It was fading.
But the memory remained.
A room.
A curtain.
A hidden figure.
And a command.
"Someone sent it," he whispered.
Tobi frowned.
"Sent what?"
"The thing outside."
"Why?"
Kade looked toward the damaged door.
"To find my mother."
Silence.
Tobi slowly lowered his eyes.
Then he said something Kade wasn’t expecting.
"Your mum came to see me yesterday."
Kade froze.
"What?"
"Yesterday afternoon."
"Why?"
Tobi hesitated.
"She asked me a strange question."
Kade leaned forward.
"What question?"
Tobi looked directly at him.
"She asked whether you’d started seeing things that weren’t there."
Kade’s mouth went dry.
"What did you tell her?"
"The truth."
"Which was?"
"That you were still seeing Barcelona win the Champions League every season."
Kade stared at him.
"Tobi."
"I know. Bad timing."
"Very."
Tobi’s expression became serious.
"I told her you were fine."
Kade swallowed.
"What did she say?"
"Nothing at first."
"And then?"
Tobi looked toward the window.
"She told me that if anything happened to her, I shouldn’t let you go looking for her alone."
Kade sat motionless.
His mother had anticipated danger.
She had spoken to Tobi before disappearing.
And she had left instructions.
"Did she say anything else?"
Tobi nodded slowly.
"One thing."
"What?"
"She said there was a difference between being powerless and being unprepared."
Kade felt something tighten in his chest.
That sounded like her.
Exactly like her.
Not a stolen voice.
Not an imitation.
The kind of advice she had given him all his life.
He looked at his hands.
For twenty-one years, he had believed he was powerless.
Now he possessed something dangerous.
Something hungry.
Something he barely understood.
But power hadn’t saved him from the Veil Stalker.
Observation had.
Improvisation had.
And Tobi had helped him survive simply by refusing to abandon him.
Kade looked toward the broken door.
The creature was gone.
For now.
But whoever had sent it still existed.
And they were searching for Adunni Adeyemi.
He stood slowly.
Tobi rose beside him.
"Where are we going?"
Kade looked at him.
"First, somewhere safer than this."
"And after that?"
Kade remembered the dark room from the stolen memory.
The hidden figure.
The voice.
Find the woman.
He clenched his fists.
"After that, we find out who sent those things."
The System flickered.
[MEMORY FRAGMENT STORED.]
[UNIDENTIFIED COMMAND SOURCE DETECTED.]
[ANALYSIS INCOMPLETE.]
Then another message appeared.
[WARNING.]
[FOREIGN INSTINCT ACTIVITY: DORMANT.]
[DORMANCY DOES NOT INDICATE REMOVAL.]
Kade stared at the words.
He had survived another encounter.
He had learned something useful.
And he had paid for it with another piece of someone else’s hunger.
He looked at Tobi.
For the briefest moment, the warmth of his friend’s living energy shimmered at the edge of his vision.
Kade looked away.
Because the creature outside wasn’t the only thing he needed to fear.
Something inside him was learning.
And the next time it became hungry, Kade wasn’t certain that saying no would be enough.