seasons | killmonger

18 | Z O L A

Zola looked at the both of us and frowned. She didn't say anything for a few seconds before she sighed. "I'm only doing this for you, Mbali. And as soon as this is done, I want him gone and I don't want to see him back here." She said quickly and left out the room, leaving the two of us there by ourselves.

Mbali turned to look at me and rolled her eyes.

"What?"

"If you would've apologized, this could've been avoided." She mumbled.

"I'm not apologizing twice." I scoffed. "Once is enough."

She opened her mouth to say something else before giving up and following Zola. "Follow me."

The room that Zola went to in the house was dark purple and had candles lined up against the wall like she was trying to sacrifice us or something. She sat in the middle of the floor and glared at me before looking back at Mbali. "Close the door."

She shut it quietly and sat down across from Zola and looked up at me? "What?"

"Sit down."

"If she jumps at me and tries some sneaky shit—"

"Can you please just sit your ass down and listen to me? Thanks you." She gave me a tight lip smile. I sighed and sat next to her, putting my arms on my bent knees.

Zola looked in between us and frowned a little, squinting her eyes. "He claimed you, didn't he?"

I looked at Mbali and frowned. "How'd she—"

"Zola has direct contact to Bast. Zuri had it, but when he died, it was passed on to her. It's pretty much like a game of telephone. Bast tells her, she tells us." Mbali looked at Zola and smiled.

"That all depends on if she wants me to tell you or not, though." She turned to look at me again. "But you? She knows that you don't believe in her."

"Well she's smart." I mumbled and felt Mbali twist as the skin on my arm aggressively. "What? I told you I don't believe in that shit; at least she knows that I'm not lying."

"She says you'll believe in her soon enough. She even knows that you've been questioning what she's able to do." Zola grabbed the cup that was in front of her and started grinding whatever substance was inside of it.

"So she's nosy too, huh? I feel like all of y'all have that in common."

"Why do you need me, Mbali? It seems like he already has his mind made up about our culture... why should I help?"

"Because I need answers from Bast about this. Out of all of the women he's been with while he was here, and the men that I've been with... why is two? I just want to know if you can find out and hopefully just give me something to make this a little more bearable; or even fix this." She tan her hands down her face.

"So you want me... to attempt to bargain with Bast?" Zola chuckled. "That's impossible, and you know stuff like that comes with a cost that I can't repay... one of you will have to and it's not something I'd want to do with her."

I looked at Mbali and shook my head at her. I'd be damned if I was about to bargain with someone I can't even see; let alone if I was about to let her do it— even if she believed and I didn't.