Haiti.

Mariam sheathed her small figure in a red long sheath dress, tied her moist hair in a high ponytail and wore simple flip flops. She is in a hurry at the moment so there is no use taking care of how she looks. If she doesn't see Silas any minute from now, she will cut off every single strand of hair from her head. And she adores her hair more than anything in her body.

Taking a few currencies with her, she tucked her phone inside the large pocket of the dress and made her way to the door only for her to break into series of curses. Only Madina knows the address because Mariam never bothered to know it by heart and Silas loves his privacy more than anything. She cannot just tell a taxi to take her to the exact place. He resides deep into the woods.

"Madina, you know you are the only one that knows the address and you still make me appear like a fool?" She gritted out, her tiny hands tightening in fists beside her.

Madina sucked her lower lip inside her mouth, her hands tucked behind her with a sheepish smile situated on her lips. "I was waiting for you to recall that."

She knew Mariam was mad and she should thread carefully beside the lady but she couldn't help this little play of hers. Mariam's life was to tacky, she needs a little sprinkle of Madina's playfulness to make it a little merrier. That's how Madina had always been, playing and toying around with people's lives around her. She hates when people are too serious when life is nothing but.

Mariam was not getting the joke and instead, is slowly raging up some more. "Is this a joke to you? Do you find this funny now?"

She sobered up. "No. Not at all. Which is why I brought this red silk along too."

She hastily changed into a red silky flowing gown and followed Mariam outside the hotel to hail a cab. Madina quickly gave the address to the man who gave a single drunken nod before he set off. She wanted to stop him and get another but Mariam is so edgy, anything will trigger her. But a drunken driver? What if they get themselves killed because she is so selfish at the moment? When had Mariam never been though?

They made it to the 5th street where they are going to start hiking down a mountain. Mariam didn't feel a thing, no leg pain nor cramp like she normally feels before they arrive at Silas cave. That case had always haunted Mariam for reasons unbeknownst to her but who wouldn't be shit frightened upon entering that place that has power from every inch of it.

From the bumpy stone walls with fingerlings of tree roots growing through, dirt and dead leaves tracked in by animals or blown in by the wind, twigs, animal scat, clumps of fur, chewed bones —freaking bones— tracks in the dirt, scary thick spiderwebs, bright sunlight at the cave's entrance that diminishes as one moves away from it to eerie darkness that'll make anyone pee in his pants and lesser person to faint.

It smells like wet stone, animal scat, musky fur, decaying animals, rotting vegetation, stale air, stagnant water, wood smoke, char from food cooking, sweat or body odor. He doesn't eat the food, his pets —if you can call huge bull dogs and a small hyena pets.

Mariam gulped thick air before murmuring his name at the pits of the cave, the usual way he instructed her to do whenever she comes. Her head started throbbing at the back of her occipital spine, she's dead tired but this needs to be taken out of the picture. That guy, is going to pay if he's done something to get her this restless. What she's done will be nothing compared to what is going to happen to him. He will regret ever knowing who she was.

"Silas." She called out again, her voice trembling at the gush of wind that roared from inside to their faces. Power. Sorcery. Strength.

A minute later, his rumbling voice came from within. "Mariam Abdou Baldé. Come in."

Mariam's heart thundered in her chest and head but she stepped inside, drawing Madina with a sharp tug at her red silk. The cave is dark, in an eerie way that's gripping her guts in an uncomfortable way, like always. She made herself stalling, stopping to listen intently at the insects, tugging Madina's silk more firmly that she hissed. A prickle disturbed her scalp, hairs standing all over her naked arms and her stomach quivered with unease.

"Fear not, Mariam, this is not your first time." She heard the amusement in his voice reserved only when talking to her.

She's seen him talking to others and Silas is the last person she would call nice in her life and she's seen not myriad of them.

"I'm not afraid, Silas. Where are you? Is it me or this cave just got deeper and creepier than usual? Please, please show yourself now." She begged, her voice cracking a little at the end when something crawled on her leg but she couldn't see it.

He appeared wearing white, like his hair and beard. The man doesn't look a day older than forty but his entire full hair is grey along side his beards making her wonder whether he dyed it. He looks great, fair skinned unlike most of the people in Haiti. He told her he was an American but decided Haiti was far better place for sorcery than where he came from so he settled here.

Not many people knew about him in the country. Most of his clients are foreigners like her because they bring more mysteries into his life. He is not doing sorcery for the sake of the money, he's got no use of it but to be in a different world where things are far disparate from where he's been. Each client brings about a world filled with enigma that always caught his interest. Like Mariam's life. To him, she will forever be a mystery no matter how many times she's unsheathed herself. 

"You were afraid, dearest Mariam. And I thought you got used to my home thus far." He clicked his tongue before settling down on a risen stone.

Mariam heaved a sigh, removed her hand from Madina's silk and sat down in front of him on the floor. It doesn't matter where, she would sit inside the water if he asks her to. While she arranged her hair, Silas stared at her like he always does whenever she comes. He said he is reading what she was there for and predicting her future through her stars.

Being an Aquarius, she's always intrigued him in ways he doesn't understand. But man, he's never asked her to do anything inappropriate even though he knows her line of business. He never questions her and always support her like a father would which sometimes makes it uncomfortable. She does not need a father figure in her life, she is good with just her mother. Her father was gone, no one should replace the void because it'll make her hatred lessen for him.

Silas face became grim as he continued to stare at Mariam making her uncomfortable. She didn't say a thing, only squirmed in her place as her stomach grew heavier by the second. Maybe something is terribly wrong in her future? But what could go wrong when she's got money to do everything? Or is her father going to come back into her life?

That's the worst thing she could think about at the moment. Nothing could beat that. Right?

Silas summoned a small clay urn to his hand, he checked the content before passing it to Mariam without saying a thing. Holding onto it, she blinked at him in surprise. She's seen magic, dark kind of sorcery whenever she comes down to Haiti but for some odd reasons, this one strike her as danger. Silas might not tell her everything but her guts aren't lying, terrible things are going to take place in her life. Sooner rather than later.

"This is going to be the last time you are coming here, dearest Mariam." Silas gave a small sigh, twirling his long elegant finger on the sand below them.

Mariam's lashes swept up away from the urn, she blinked at him in bewilderment. "What? Why?"

"That's what the future just showed and a lot is going to happen in your life." He sounded so faraway, making something punch an organ within her.

"I don't understand your riddles, Silas. You are like the best sorcerer in this entire world, I don't see why I'll abandon you for any other. What's going on?" She sat up, suddenly worried that she is missing something very obvious.

Leave Silas for who? Everyone wants the best sorcerer and she's seen how those rich folks travel the world for better ones all the time. No one could come close to Silas. God knows she doesn't know how she managed to shackle the man but she did. One bump on the way was all it took for her life to take another turn.

"I do check the future, but I don't control it. That's what I saw in there and I have no doubt about it. There are a few things that are going to take place in your life that you would appreciate, deeply." He anchored his attention solely on her face —she wants to cry.

"Like what?" Her voice came out in a small whisper, a barely heard murmur.

"You getting married to someone you are going to fall in love with. No, you're already deep into that love actually. Mysterious, huh?"

Her face fell at that, she sat straighter as if to warn him. "Silas! I don't like you joking. You know I take everything you say very seriously."

"And you think I'm joking?" He pointed at himself with a raise brow looking austere like a discipline master in college.

He continued, dragging his hawkish gaze to the urn he gave her. "You are already in love with the guy you came to complain to me about. And no, he didn't do anything to make you feel for him. In fact, he is a great man. He's never done anything related to sorcery, witchcraft or such."

Speechless!

Mariam is utterly and brutally speechless and that has happened not more than thrice in her life. Her expression became blank as white canvas before painting. She is suddenly overheated in the warm cave, her head throbbing from behind. Her fear just got proven and there is nothing she can do about it. But argue....

"But... but that is impossible! I don't even know his fucking name. Crap. This is all bullshit and some twist of fate. Aren't you mistaken? Check very well. Or maybe he's got a better sorcerer that you cannot see what he is doing?" She is rambling now, extremely nervous and filled with anxiety.

Silas gave her a one shoulder shrug, drawing unknown signs on the sand and perusing over them critically. Weird. "I know good people when I see them. This man is obviously in love with his fiancée whom he is going to get married to in a few days. He doesn't know you neither does he care about what you do or have. But destiny is going to bring you together and fortunately, I'm going to play my part in this union."

"I'm lost, Silas. I've never been in love. He is not my type! He doesn't have any money to begin with. And you just said it yourself, he is going to get married. I don't love anyone. I don't." Mariam's eyes are crossed with exasperation and fear.

Madina chirped in right then, catching on something he said that Mariam didn't. "You said you were going to play a part? What part is that?"

"I'm going to manipulate the events that are going to take place and make you the bride. The time is not here but there is something I will do to aid this conjugation." He rubbed both his hands, the signs on the floor closing in process.

"Why do you sound happy?" Mariam gave Silas a blank stare at the heavy drip of joy in his tone. She doesn't like it.

"It's about time you start your life afresh, dearest."

"I don't want any life! I want to keep this life going till I die."

He shook his head like she's just committed a sin by saying that. The sin she's committed is coming to him in the first place and now that things are going to turn out for the better for her, he cannot be anymore happier. He's never felt connected to any of his client but Mariam. The little girl he bumped into in New Orlean who was looking for an astrologer but bumped into a sorcerer. He offered and she accepted.

"That... is not something I'm going to wish for a Muslim like you, dearest. You are young and strong. There are so many greater things for you to do than waste it on older men's beds." He didn't mean to sound harsh nor rude but he did, Mariam flinched.

Mariam was quiet for a long time processing everything he's just said then enquired. "Is my future going to be bright? Is it going to be mutual love?"

It made her want to puke thinking about love and such nonsense. When Jannah had talked about it, she thought it was a wishful thinking but not so much anymore. Is she going to find love like the one Jannah shared with Adnan? If so, then her life won't be so bad anymore.

"No. It's going to be the bumpiest road you've ever driven, dearest. But there are better things at the end of the long run. Like light at the end of the tunnel, things are going to be great with time. You just need a little bit more patience." He explained, now sounding like an elder giving advise.

More confused than ever, she whispered again. "What kind of love is this?"

"It is all sorts of love. It is a love I've never seen in my entire life. It is a love that people are going to live to make an example of. It is a love that scorches the soul and makes the heart restless. It is a love that will make you vulnerable but stronger at the same time. It is a love that is filled with sacrifices, devotion and so much sorrow."

"That doesn't sound exactly perfect, Silas. Don't make Mariam commit suicide at the thought of being in that kind of love." Madina jeered trying to lighten the maladroit air, it did nothing.

"Oh, Madina. We have different kinds of love. Eros, Ludus, Storge, Pragma, Mania and Agape but Mariam's is going to be more of the Mania. It is obsessive, possessive, protective, risky, jealous, raw, coarse and...rough." Silas gave both of them a creepy smile.

"I'm gonna puke." Mariam made a dull sound of vomit at the back of her throat and she threw up.

HER mind was pleasantly clouded, focusing only on his mouth and his hands. He kissed her patiently, without urgency, and it seemed that the more eager she became to deepen the contact, the lazier he got, making her work, making her seek his elusive kisses until she thrilled with frustration and tangled her fingers in his hair to hold his head still. The faceless man that stole her first kiss.

Chuckling softly, he rewarded her efforts with a long, thorough kiss, his tongue plunging deep in her mouth. Somewhere in the back of her mind was the surprised realization that not only did she want him to go on kissing her but she was hungry for the touch of his hands in a romantic way. Not the way she was used to... but he pushed her away harshly, she fell.

Mariam opened her eyes with a startled breath, sweat trickled down her neck to her pajamas shirt. She took a deep breath and let it out, erased the perspiration doting her forehead and neck. What was that? She knows because this is the fourth time it's happened and she cannot get over it every morning. It's becoming constant since she daydream about it too. Obsessive much?

The guy in her dream or nightmare was none other than the person Silas said she was in love with. He's provided her with a name. Abbas Bāmanga Tukur.

Groaning, she left her bed and went to take shower. There is no way she is going to allow that to keep happening when she knew where the roots should be tied. She is going to Katsina that very day like Silas had instructed her to. He's told her to do weird things and go to weird places in the state and just wait for his signal because in his words, she would see them. She cannot wait. Yay her.

Madina came in right then with a takeaway filled with Mariam's favorite breakfast. They are going together to Katsina and using first class plane to be discreet.

"Hello, lover girl!" Madina teased, placing the takeaway on the desk for her to eat. Mariam rolled her eyes but went back for the food anyway.

Mariam long accepted that she is not in love with this man but she'd do everything in her power to possess him. Maybe become his sugar-lady or something? There is no way that guy is older than her with more than five years, she is blessed with giving people age base on appearance, dressing or the way they talk. And that guy is not older than thirty, max. That's why she is into older men.

"How many days are we to spend there again?" She asked in between chewing.

Madina gave her a severed look. "You are going there to get married so, eternity."

"Are you mad? I'm supposed to live in that dingy state just because I married a guy there? You must be nuts."

"I'm not but that's how it should be. Women leave their parents house to go live wherever the husband wants." Madina shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm not just any woman if you've forgotten."

"I know but love makes us do craziest things. Believe it or not, you're going to bow down to another man's wishes as long as you are in love with him. Don't sweat it. Love is sweet."