The bell above the door rang when I entered Brenda's Boutique. Coldness prickled my skin, and the smell of new clothes and expensive perfume was a pleasant exchange from the smoke-filled air on this side of the city. The government wasn't cracking down on the factories polluting the surrounding area as hard as people hoped. Many civilians would die before they did something about it.

The left side of the shop had a large glass window and mannequins in different female clothes. They varied in size and shape, as Brenda liked it. She hated how other boutiques made it hard for thick and chubby women to find clothes that fit them.

The entrance and front counter stood to the right, and the latter had a glass display with jewelry inside.

"Binti," Bahati said with a smile as he came from the back of the shop. He had dresses slung on his right arm and a measuring tape around his neck. When a customer found something they liked but it didn't fit them, Bahati adjusted it with his cloth magic. "You got the message from the crows?"

"Why else would I be here?" I raised my brow.

At twenty years old, Bahati was one of the brightest young sorcerers in the city. He had short hair, a goatee and mustache, and dark skin with a blue undertone that glowed under both the sun and moon's touch, making him look like an ethereal being.

"How have you been?" I asked, leaning on the counter.

"Tired."

"School?"

"Yes." Bahati studied at Vocational Education & Training Authority (VETA), taking a course in tailoring and dressmaking. He hoped to become Africa's top fashion designer. With his cloth magic, it wouldn't take him long. "The teachers are a pain in the ass."

"Most do it because their teachers were hard on them. And those in your class who'll become teachers will be hard on the next generation. It's a never-ending cycle."

"I know." He placed the dresses on the counter and sat on a tall stool. "How about you? What have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know, solving weird cases, getting summoned by crows. Nothing new."

"But there is something new."

"You mean the necromancer? Yeah, you can call it that." I raised my brow. "What do you know about her?"

Bahati raised his hands. "I'll let Brenda tell you."

"Tell her what?" Brenda asked while coming from the back of the shop. As a chubby woman, people underestimated her until she showed them how powerful her object magic was. There was also no doubt she was Bahati's sister. Apart from their dark skin with blue undertones, they had hazel eyes, plump lips and wide noses, and heart-shaped faces. Her braided hair had colored beads, and she looked like a CEO in her blue business suit.

Bahati turned to her. "About the necromancer."

"Oh." Brenda turned to me. "Binti, I've missed your scowling face." She hugged me. "How have you been? Look at you, Miss I'm-Always-In-Shape." She kissed her teeth. "Give me the secret to your success, eh? I want to be skinny like you."

"But I like the way you look," I said.

"Nonsense." She lightly smacked my shoulder. "You look like an Instagram model. I want that too. I want to be sponsored by diet tea like the Kardashians." She chuckled, then patted her stomach. "I'm tired of sucking in my stomach to look slim."

"It's not working. You should try dieting," Bahati said.

I gasped. "Shame on you, Bahati. You want your sister to starve?" She clasped her hands and gazed at the ceiling. "Jesus in Heaven, please put shame on this boy, and this boy only. Zap him with your lightning, smite him with your thunder, spit at him with your rain, but don't kill him. This stupid boy still has a lot to learn. Amen."

I covered my mouth with my hand, laughing. Brenda was naturally funny. Even when she wasn't trying to, I always cackled when she spoke. If her boutique and weapons smuggling business failed, she'd make a good comedian.

"I still can't believe you can talk to animals," Brenda said, sitting on the tall stool after pushing Bahati off it. "I thought you were joking. But here you are, Dr. Dolittle."

I scoffed. She was the first person to call me that. "Here I am."

"Before I tell you about the necromancer, what things do the animals say about me? Do they also think I'm fat? Old?" She gasped. "I don't have wrinkles, do I? Jesus in Heaven give me strength. I'll try Botox if I have to. I'm not joking."

"She's not joking," Bahati added.

"I can tell."

Being an information broker made Brenda obsessed with knowing everything. It made her a valuable member of the sorcerers' community.

"Please, tell me about the necromancer. I have somewhere else to be," I said.

"A new case? What's it about?" she asked.

"The usual."

"Demons?"

"Hopefully."

She sighed. "That's not good. I'm in the information business, Binti. You tell me something I don't know, and I'll tell you what you want to know. That's how it works."

"I have something you may want to know."

Intrigue swirled in Brenda's eyes before she smiled. "Tell me more."

"Lucifer came to see me last night."

Through her widened eyes, I saw the gears in her head working overtime, wondering what the King of Hell wanted from me. My relationship with Lucifer should've been one-and-done. He manipulated the cosmos to give me moon magic, and I handed over my soul.

"What did he want?" Bahati asked instead.

"Uh, uh." I waggled my index finger at him. "Not until Brenda tells me about the necromancer."

Brenda licked her lips. She had no information about Lucifer apart from what everyone else knew. Desperation clouded her eyes, and I took solace in it. I knew a lot about what was coming: The Antichrist, the apocalypse, and Lucifer's plan to claim Heaven's empty throne.

"Where should I start?" she asked.

"From the beginning."