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your grandmother was of Leopard spirit. By the way, all this is in that book I just helped you buy. So read it.”
    “Oh, I plan to. Go on.”
    “So Leopard Knocks is the main West African headquarters,” she said. “Sasha, where’s the headquarters in the United States?”
    Sasha smirked. “New York, of course. But I don’t consider that place the head of anything. It doesn’t represent black folks. We are a minority, I guess. As a matter of fact—everything’s biased toward European juju. The African American headquarters is on the Gullah Islands in South Carolina. We call it Tar Nation.”
    Sunny laughed. “Nice name.”
    “We try,” Sasha said proudly.
    “You know how you had to be initiated to come here?” Chichi asked.
    “Yeah.”
    “Well, because we have Leopard parents, Orlu and I have been able to come here all our lives. We knew our spirit faces, so we could cross. We both went through the first level, the initiation, two years ago. It’s called Ekpiri, ” she said. “Most go through it around fourteen or fifteen.”
    “But I’m twelve,” Sunny said.
    “Yeah, you’re early,” Chichi said. “So was Orlu.”
    “So was I,” Sasha said. “I went through it last year. I’m thirteen.”
    “How old were you, Chichi?” Sunny asked.
    She only smiled. Yet again, she managed to keep her age hidden. “The second level is Mbawkwa —you go through that at around sixteen and seventeen. That’s when you really start learning the heavy stuff. You have to pass all these tough tests to get in.”
    “I can pass all that right now,” Sasha boasted.
    “Me, too,” Chichi boasted back. “With my eyes closed.”
    Orlu scoffed. “Yeah, well, the rules say you can’t yet.”
    “Screw rules,” Sasha said. “They’re made to be broken.”
    “Only when you’ve mastered them,” Orlu said quietly.
    “So the third level is one that very, very, very few ever pass, that’s Ndibu . It’s like getting a PhD. To pass it you have to attend a masquerade meeting and get a masquerade’s consent . A real masquerade, not a bunch of men and boys all dressed up.”
    “A real one?” Sunny asked quietly, as if to speak of them too loudly would call the spirits from their dwelling place in the other world.
    “Yeah,” Chichi said. “And that means you have to die in some way or something. I don’t really understand it.”
    “So what’s the last grade?” Sunny asked.
    “ Oku Akama . No one knows how you get there. In Nigeria, only eight living people have reached it. Four live around Leopard Knocks. Anatov is one—he is the ‘scholar on the outside.’”
    “But he’s not that old,” Sunny said.
    “No, he isn’t. He’s only fifty-something, I think.”
    “Ugh, how can such a mean guy be so important?”
    “Sometimes too much knowledge can make you mean. You know too much.”
    Orlu loudly sucked his teeth. “You always make excuses for him. Teacher’s pet.”
    “You wish you were,” Chichi said, looking smug. “Anyway, Kehinde and Taiwo are twins who passed the last grade, and they went on to become the ‘scholars of the links.’ An old woman named Sugar Cream is the fourth, the ‘scholar on the inside.’ She lives in the Obi Library most of the time. She’s the oldest and most respected. She’s the Head Librarian.”
    Sunny frowned. “Librarian? Why is that such a big—”
    “Let me tell you something Chichi and Sasha have a hard time respecting,” Orlu said, putting his fork down. “Leopard People—all our kind all over the world—are not like Lambs. Lambs think money and material things are the most important thing in the world. You can cheat, lie, steal, kill, be dumb as a rock, but if you can brag about money and having lots of things and your bragging is true, that bypasses everything. Money and material things make you king or queen of the Lamb world. You can do no wrong, you can do anything.
    “Leopard People are different. The only way you can earn chittim is by