The first thing Tobi did after nearly being eaten by a supernatural creature was complain about his door.
"Do you know how much that thing costs?"
Kade stood in the middle of the damaged room, staring at the splintered wood.
"Your door?"
"Yes, my door."
"A monster just tried to kill us."
"And it failed. Congratulations to everybody involved. Now who’s paying for the door?"
Kade looked at him.
Tobi looked back.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Kade sighed.
"I’ll pay."
"With what money?"
"You’re making this difficult."
"Because you don’t have money."
"Neither do you."
"Exactly. Which is why the door is a serious matter."
Despite everything, Kade laughed.
It hurt his shoulder.
It hurt his ribs.
But he laughed anyway.
For a moment, the world felt normal.
Then the System appeared.
[HOST CONDITION: STABLE.]
[FOREIGN INSTINCT ACTIVITY: DORMANT.]
[SPIRITUAL ENERGY RESERVE: 19 UNITS.]
Kade’s smile faded.
Nineteen units.
Seventeen from the Hollow Wraith.
Two from the Veil Stalker’s tracking mark.
He had no idea whether that was a lot.
Judging by how easily the Stalker had nearly killed him, probably not.
"What’s wrong?" Tobi asked.
"Nothing."
Tobi folded his arms.
"Try again."
Kade hesitated.
Then he looked at the damaged door.
"Do you remember what my mum told you?"
"About not letting you look for her alone?"
"Yes."
"Of course."
"Did she give you anything?"
Tobi frowned.
"Like what?"
"A letter. A key. An address. Anything."
"No."
Kade looked away.
Tobi scratched his chin.
"Actually..."
Kade turned immediately.
"What?"
"She asked whether I still had my old schoolbooks."
Kade stared.
"What?"
"My schoolbooks."
"Why?"
"I asked her the same thing."
"And?"
"She said I should stop throwing away things just because I thought they were useless."
Kade frowned.
That sounded like his mother.
But why would she care about Tobi’s schoolbooks?
"Did she mention a particular one?"
"No."
Tobi paused.
"She did ask whether I still had the mathematics textbook we used in SS2."
Kade blinked.
"Mathematics?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Maybe she wanted to remind you that you failed further maths."
"I didn’t fail further maths."
"You got thirty-eight."
"That’s not the point."
"It was the point when your mum saw your result."
Kade ignored him.
His mother had visited Tobi shortly before disappearing.
She had asked about an old textbook.
And she’d warned him not to let Kade search alone.
That wasn’t random.
At least, Kade didn’t think so.
"Where’s the book?"
Tobi looked toward the cupboard.
"Somewhere in there."
"Find it."
Tobi stared at him.
"Now?"
"Yes."
"After everything that happened, you want us to study mathematics?"
Kade walked toward the cupboard.
"Tobi."
"Fine. But if a ghost comes out of my textbook, I’m transferring schools."
"You finished secondary school four years ago."
"Then I’m transferring countries."
The book was beneath a pile of old notebooks, two broken chargers, a football boot without its partner, and a certificate Tobi insisted would become valuable someday.
Kade pulled it free.
The cover was faded.
Several pages had come loose.
Someone had drawn a football formation across the back.
Kade recognized the handwriting.
His own.
"Why do you still have this?"
Tobi shrugged.
"Sentimental value."
"You used it to kill cockroaches."
"Memories are memories."
Kade opened the book.
Nothing unusual.
Equations.
Examples.
Exercises.
A few pages containing answers neither of them had understood at the time.
He flipped through it carefully.
Tobi watched.
"Looking for hidden treasure?"
"Something like that."
Kade reached the middle.
A folded sheet of paper slipped out.
Both men froze.
The paper landed on the floor.
Tobi looked at Kade.
Kade looked at Tobi.
"Please tell me you put that there," Kade said.
Tobi slowly shook his head.
Kade picked it up.
It was a page torn from a small notebook.
At first glance, it appeared blank.
Then Night Sight revealed faint markings across its surface.
Silver.
The same strange shimmer he’d seen on his mother’s window.
His heart accelerated.
"System."
[SPIRITUAL RESIDUE DETECTED.]
[ATTRIBUTE: CONCEALMENT.]
[SIGNATURE COMPARISON AVAILABLE.]
"Compare."
[MATCH FOUND.]
[SIMILARITY TO PREVIOUS RESIDUE: 96%.]
Kade stared at the result.
The same signature.
The window.
The warning note.
Now this paper.
Whoever had used that power had been connected to all three.
He unfolded the page completely.
Tobi leaned closer.
"There’s nothing on it."
Kade looked at him.
"You can’t see the writing?"
"What writing?"
Kade turned the paper toward the window.
Under Night Sight, the markings formed a rough sketch.
Not a map exactly.
A circle.
Three intersecting lines.
And a symbol resembling an eye with a vertical cut through its center.
Beneath it were four words.
WHERE THE WATER FORGETS.
Kade read them aloud.
Tobi frowned.
"That sounds like something a poet writes before asking for transport money."
Kade ignored him.
At the bottom of the page was a second line.
Smaller.
Almost invisible.
DO NOT FOLLOW THE VOICES.
Kade felt cold.
The Veil Stalker had used his mother’s voice.
The warning couldn’t be a coincidence.
But was it meant for him?
Or had his mother been investigating something similar?
He turned the paper over.
Nothing.
"Analyze."
[TARGET: SPIRITUALLY CONCEALED DOCUMENT.]
[MATERIAL: ORDINARY PAPER.]
[CONCEALMENT METHOD: UNKNOWN.]
[SPIRITUAL SIGNATURE: MATCHES PREVIOUS OBSERVATIONS.]
[ADDITIONAL DATA: UNAVAILABLE.]
Kade frowned.
The System could detect the concealment but couldn’t explain it.
That was becoming a familiar disappointment.
Tobi watched him.
"You’re doing it again."
"Doing what?"
"Talking to something I can’t see."
Kade hesitated.
Then he folded the paper.
"There’s something I need to tell you."
Tobi sat on the bed.
"Does it involve the thing that tried to eat me?"
"Yes."
"Wonderful."
Kade took a breath.
And began explaining.
Twenty minutes later, Tobi was staring at him.
"You ate it?"
Kade nodded.
"The first one."
"With your mouth?"
"No."
"Good. Because I was about to ask some serious questions about your upbringing."
Kade rubbed his forehead.
"I’m telling you the truth."
"I know."
That surprised him.
"You believe me?"
Tobi gestured toward the broken door.
"A creature with your mother’s face just tried to turn me into breakfast. My standards for believable stories have changed."
Kade looked down at his hands.
"The first creature gave me something."
"Power?"
"Something like that."
"Can you fly?"
"No."
"Turn invisible?"
"No."
"Read minds?"
"No."
Tobi considered this.
"So what can you do?"
"See in the dark."
Silence.
Then Tobi said, "Congratulations. You’re a rechargeable torch."
Kade threw a pillow at him.
Tobi caught it.
For a moment, they smiled.
Then Kade’s expression darkened.
"There’s something else."
He told Tobi about the memories.
The girl running through the forest.
The crying woman.
The hunger.
And the strange room he’d seen when he consumed the tracking mark.
Tobi listened without interrupting.
When Kade finished, he leaned back.
"You’re sure those memories aren’t yours?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Because I’ve never been a twelve-year-old girl running through a forest."
"Fair point."
Kade stared at the folded paper.
"But what if the memories are useful?"
Tobi frowned.
"Useful how?"
"The thing that attacked us was sent by someone. I saw part of it."
"Who?"
"I couldn’t see the person’s face."
"Then maybe you shouldn’t go digging around inside a monster’s head."
Kade looked at him.
"I don’t know how to stop."
Tobi’s expression changed.
"What do you mean?"
Kade hesitated.
Then he told him about the hunger.
Not everything.
He couldn’t bring himself to describe the moment he’d looked at Tobi and imagined consuming his energy.
But he explained enough.
The whispers.
The foreign instincts.
The feeling that something inside him wanted more.
Tobi was quiet for a long time.
Finally, he said, "Then we find out how to control it."
Kade looked up.
"We?"
Tobi shrugged.
"You owe me seven thousand naira. I’m not letting you become a monster before you pay."
Kade laughed softly.
Then the System appeared.
[MEMORY FRAGMENT AVAILABLE.]
[SOURCE: HOLLOW WRAITH.]
[REVIEW POSSIBLE.]
Kade’s smile disappeared.
He stared at the notification.
The girl.
The forest.
The thing wearing a man’s face.
He had avoided thinking about it since the first DEVOUR.
But now he wondered whether there was more.
"System."
[AWAITING QUERY.]
"What happens if I review the memory?"
[HOST WILL EXPERIENCE A STORED FRAGMENT.]
"Will it affect me?"
[FOREIGN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE POSSIBLE.]
"Can I stop it?"
[REVIEW CAN BE TERMINATED BY HOST COMMAND.]
Kade considered that.
He didn’t entirely trust the answer.
But he needed information.
He looked at Tobi.
"I’m going to try something."
Tobi immediately stood.
"That sentence has never ended well."
"Just watch me."
"For what?"
"If I start acting strange, call my name."
Tobi stared.
"Kade, you’ve been acting strange since primary school."
"I’m serious."
The humor faded from Tobi’s face.
He nodded.
"Okay."
Kade sat on the floor.
Closed his eyes.
And whispered, "Review memory."
Rain.
Cold earth.
Bare feet striking mud.
The girl was running again.
Kade felt her terror.
But this time, he knew it wasn’t his.
He held on to that thought.
This isn’t me.
Branches whipped against her face.
Something moved behind the trees.
She stumbled.
Fell.
Scrambled upright.
Ahead stood a building.
Small.
Old.
Its walls were covered in faded markings.
A narrow stream flowed beside it.
The girl ran toward the entrance.
Behind her, the creature laughed.
"Come back."
Its voice was gentle.
Familiar.
The girl sobbed.
"You’re not my father!"
Kade felt her fear sharpen.
The creature stepped from the trees.
It wore a man’s face.
A face the girl recognized.
But its shadow moved independently across the ground.
The girl reached the building.
She struck the wooden door with both fists.
"Please!"
Something moved inside.
A bolt slid.
The door opened.
Kade caught a glimpse of a hand.
Dark skin.
A narrow silver ring.
Then someone pulled the girl inside.
The creature stopped at the threshold.
It hissed.
The person inside spoke.
A woman’s voice.
"Names have power here."
The creature recoiled.
The woman continued.
"You were not invited."
The creature screamed.
Then the memory began to dissolve.
Kade fought to hold on.
He wanted to see the woman’s face.
Wanted to understand the building.
But the scene was breaking apart.
The last thing he saw was a symbol carved above the doorway.
An eye.
Split by a vertical line.
The same symbol on the paper.
Kade’s heart lurched.
Then the memory changed.
For an instant, he saw water.
A narrow channel.
Concrete walls.
And a rusted sign.
Most of the lettering had disappeared.
Only three characters remained.
...OJU
The memory shattered.
Kade opened his eyes.
He was lying on the floor.
Tobi knelt beside him.
"Kade!"
Kade gasped.
His chest hurt.
Sweat covered his face.
Tobi grabbed his shoulders.
"Are you okay?"
Kade nodded.
Then shook his head.
"I don’t know."
"You started screaming."
Kade stared at him.
"What?"
"You kept saying somebody should open the door."
Kade swallowed.
He hadn’t remembered saying anything.
The System appeared.
[MEMORY REVIEW TERMINATED.]
[FOREIGN EMOTIONAL RESIDUE DETECTED.]
[HOST IDENTITY STABLE.]
[WARNING: REPEATED EXPOSURE MAY INCREASE INSTINCT CONTAMINATION.]
Kade closed his eyes.
So reviewing memories carried risks too.
Of course it did.
Tobi helped him sit up.
"What did you see?"
Kade reached for the folded paper.
His fingers trembled.
He opened it.
The symbol stared back at him.
"I saw this."
Tobi leaned closer.
"The blank paper?"
"The symbol hidden on it."
"What about it?"
"It was above a door."
"Where?"
"I don’t know."
Kade paused.
"Somewhere near water."
Tobi frowned.
"That narrows Lagos down to approximately half the city."
Kade almost smiled.
Then he remembered the rusted sign.
The letters.
...OJU
He repeated them aloud.
Tobi’s expression changed.
"What?"
Kade looked up.
"Do you know somewhere ending in Oju?"
Tobi thought.
"Plenty of places."
"Near water. Maybe an old channel. Somewhere with an abandoned building."
Tobi scratched his chin.
"Could be a street name. Could be part of a longer word."
Kade nodded.
He couldn’t assume the memory showed present-day Lagos.
It might have happened years ago.
Decades.
Perhaps somewhere else entirely.
But the symbol matched the paper.
That was enough to investigate.
He reached for the tablet.
The battery was nearly dead.
He searched for the symbol.
Nothing useful.
He tried combinations of the words.
Where the water forgets.
Split eye symbol Lagos.
Old shrine near drainage channel.
The results were mostly unrelated.
Then Tobi pointed at the screen.
"Wait."
Kade looked.
"What?"
"Go back."
Kade scrolled.
Tobi leaned closer.
"There."
It was an old community photograph.
A group of people standing beside a drainage project.
The image was grainy.
The accompanying article discussed a neglected water channel and a demolished structure.
Kade enlarged the photograph.
Behind the workers stood a small building.
Its roof was damaged.
Its walls were stained.
Above the entrance was something that might have been a carving.
The photograph was too blurry to identify it.
Kade read the caption.
OLD WATERWORKS ACCESS ROAD — OJUELEGBA EXTENSION.
He stared.
Ojuelegba.
The last letters of the sign could fit.
But the photograph wasn’t proof.
The building might have nothing to do with the memory.
Still, it was the first plausible location they’d found.
Tobi looked at him.
"You’re thinking of going there."
Kade nodded.
"Not immediately."
Tobi raised an eyebrow.
"That’s surprisingly sensible."
"I need to know what we’re walking into."
"And how do we do that?"
Kade looked at the symbol.
"We find out what this means."
By late morning, the city had fully awakened.
Traffic crawled along the roads.
Conductors shouted destinations.
Street vendors moved between vehicles.
Lagos continued as though nothing unusual had happened.
Kade and Tobi sat inside a small roadside buka, sharing rice and stew.
Tobi ate enthusiastically.
Kade barely touched his food.
His hunger was different now.
Ordinary food filled his stomach.
But it did nothing for the strange emptiness beneath his ribs.
He watched a man pass their table.
For an instant, Night Sight revealed a faint blue shimmer around him.
Kade looked away immediately.
The System remained silent.
He was grateful.
Tobi noticed.
"You’re not eating."
"I’m eating."
"You’ve moved the same spoonful of rice around for five minutes."
Kade forced himself to take a bite.
It tasted normal.
That should have been reassuring.
Instead, he wondered how long it would remain enough.
Tobi lowered his voice.
"So what’s the plan?"
Kade unfolded the paper beneath the table.
"We find the building."
"And if it’s full of monsters?"
"We don’t go inside."
Tobi stared at him.
"Who are you, and what have you done with my reckless friend?"
Kade smiled faintly.
"I’ve had a difficult morning."
He looked at the photograph on the tablet.
The old building.
The possible symbol.
The water channel.
He couldn’t know whether the memory was connected to Adunni.
But she had hidden the paper in Tobi’s textbook.
That made the location worth investigating.
He was about to fold the page when something changed.
The silver markings flickered.
Kade froze.
A new line appeared beneath the original message.
The letters formed slowly.
As though invisible ink were rising through the paper.
THE FIRST DOOR IS NOT THE ENTRANCE.
Kade stared.
"Tobi."
"What?"
"Did you touch the paper?"
"No."
The letters continued forming.
IF YOU SEE THE EYE, DO NOT SPEAK YOUR NAME.
Kade’s pulse quickened.
Then a final sentence appeared.
THEY ARE LISTENING.
The System activated.
[ACTIVE SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION DETECTED.]
[SOURCE: UNKNOWN.]
[WARNING: DOCUMENT CONCEALMENT HAS BEEN DISTURBED.]
Kade looked up.
Across the road, a man stood beside a newspaper kiosk.
He wore an ordinary brown shirt and dark trousers.
Nothing about him seemed unusual.
Except that he wasn’t reading the newspaper in his hands.
He was watching Kade.
The man slowly folded the paper.
Then raised two fingers to his ear.
Speaking to someone.
Kade’s stomach tightened.
The man smiled.
Not warmly.
Not threateningly.
Almost as though he’d been waiting for this exact moment.
Then he turned and disappeared into the crowd.
Tobi followed Kade’s gaze.
"What?"
Kade folded the paper quickly.
"We need to leave."
"Why?"
Kade stood.
"Because I think we just told someone where we are."
Tobi looked at the unfinished food.
"Can I at least finish my rice?"
Kade grabbed his arm.
"Tobi."
His friend saw his expression.
The joke died.
They hurried toward the road.
Behind them, the System displayed a new message.
[QUEST PROGRESS UPDATED.]
[FIND THE SOURCE.]
[NEW CLUE IDENTIFIED: SPLIT-EYE SYMBOL.]
[POTENTIAL LOCATION DISCOVERED.]
Then another notification appeared.
This one was different.
Its letters were red.
[WARNING.]
[UNIDENTIFIED SPIRITUAL OBSERVER HAS REGISTERED HOST SIGNATURE.]
Kade stopped.
His heart pounded.
Someone had found him.
Not the Veil Stalker.
Not a creature wearing stolen faces.
Someone human.
Or close enough to pass for one.
And somewhere in Lagos, a person now knew that Kade Adeyemi had discovered the hidden message.