**Chapter Five: The Drummer’s Secret**
301 Words
Toba’s dad used to be the top drummer at the village shrine. Before he got sick, he taught Toba rhythms that none of the other boys knew. These weren’t just beats—they were a language.
One evening, while Toba and Awele were chilling by the river, he started tapping a pattern on the ground with a stick.
“Do you know what this means?” he asked her.
She listened closely.
Slow. Fast. Pause. Fast. Slow.
She shook her head.
“It means ‘Open your ear. The ground remembers,’” Toba said.
Awele blinked. “What does that even mean?”
“Come with me,” he replied, getting up.
He led her into the older part of the village, where old shrines were buried under grass.
They stopped at a circle of stones, each one carved with swirls. Toba knelt and lifted one stone, revealing a small wooden box underneath.
“My dad told me to hide this if he ever… changed,” Toba murmured.
Inside were bits of an old journal, written in Igbo and English.
They belonged to Mama Nnenna.
Awele felt a lump in her throat.
She turned a page and noticed one line circled in red ink:
> “The shrine is not sealed. Only asleep. If she walks the unseen path, she will awaken it—and they will come.”
Toba let out a breath. “She knew.”
“She knew everything,” Awele replied.
Then she flipped to the last page, which was mostly blank except for one line:
> “When the moon bleeds, find the Flamekeeper. Only they can seal the gate.”
Awele felt her heart race again.
Toba looked at her. “You’re the Flamekeeper, aren’t you?”
She didn’t say anything.
She didn’t need to.
- Writer
