Chapter 23: A City Beneath Shadows
Cassandra Ikemba leaned against the polished railing of the Ikemba Corporation's upper balcony, the setting sun casting gold over Lagos. Below, the city pulsed with life: honking danfos, shouting vendors, neon signs flickering to life, and the Atlantic breeze laced with salt and spice. It had been years since she last walked these streets—not as the Ikemba heiress, but simply as Cassandra.
She turned, finding Marie sitting on the edge of a planter, tying her boot. Jim and Leslie were by the lobby's glass wall, eyes wide at the endless horizon of skyscrapers and movement.
"I'm going out," Cassandra declared, slipping on a pair of dark shades and dusting imaginary lint off her black coat.
Marie looked up. "Out? Like, out out?"
Cassandra smirked. "Yes, Marie. Not everything is spirits and domains. This is Lagos. It lives."
"You've been here before," Jim said, adjusting his collar. "We haven't. It's basically a foreign realm to us."
"That's exactly why you should come. You can't just hide behind marble walls and miss the soul of the city." She winked. "Also, there's suya."
Leslie tilted his head. "Suya?"
"Meat," Cassandra replied. "Glorious, spicy, absolutely illegal-in-some-planes kind of meat."
As the group gathered near the exit, the elevator doors slid open with a soft chime. Standing in her usual sleek black uniform, arms crossed and hair neatly wrapped, was Sia. Her aura alone froze all movement.
"Where do you think you're going?" Her voice was calm, but there was iron beneath it.
Cassandra stepped forward, arms spread in faux innocence. "Just stretching our legs. The others haven't seen Lagos. They deserve a walk."
Sia's eyes narrowed. "Rose said nothing about authorized movement. The city is not secure. You're Soulborne-class students, not civilians. The Veil has—"
"I know," Cassandra cut in gently. "But keeping us locked up like war prisoners isn't helping. We need to breathe, Sia. We need to live."
Sia glanced at Joshua's door across the hall. He hadn't emerged since his talk with Rose. Tension sat heavy on him. The girl Karen hadn't said much either since arriving.
"You'll take security detail," Sia said finally.
Cassandra grinned. "Naturally."
Sia sighed through her nose. "And stay out of the Island District. No neon gangs, no market riots, no soul fights."
"I make no promises."
"Cassandra."
"Fine," Cassandra relented, then gestured at the others. "Let's go before she changes her mind."
As the group disappeared into the elevator, laughing lightly for the first time in days, Sia's smile faded. Her fingers ghosted over the comm device in her ear.
"Deploy Shadow Unit 3. Track from distance," she murmured. "They're bait. And the Veil… is watching."
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Across the city, in the sweltering maze of Surulere's abandoned textile district, the Veil operatives stood around a table of soul-etched maps. Shadows gathered unnaturally behind them, warping reality in unnatural folds.
"The girl is here," said a tall man clad in dusky robes—his voice distorted, mechanical, as though borrowed. "The prodigy. The one with the Proto Domain."
Another operative nodded. "They're exposed. The Ikemba shield doesn't extend over the entire city. Now's our chance."
"Not yet," whispered a woman with no eyes, her face veiled in ash-colored silk. "The boy is still near. And the Warder's kin walks with them."
A third operative, slouched in a corner with a blade strapped to his back, exhaled smoke from his nostrils. "Let them play tourist. The streets will eat them alive."
The leader turned back to the map, eyes lingering on the heart of the city—Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Yaba, and eventually Banana Island where Rose's corporate tower stood.
"When they scatter," he murmured, "we strike."
And in the distance, thunder cracked over the Atlantic horizon—quiet, but ominous.