MISFIT

CHAPTER NINE

Essien tracked his wife and found her in no time, he arrived with his wife through an underground tunnel, and into the safe house.

"Mom!" Kuzo rushed to his father who held his mother in his arms.

"Is she alright?"

"She's just tired, she'll be fine"

"Dad her hands" Kuzo pointed out. Essien placed her on the couch and stared at her hands.

"What is wrong with her hands?"

"They had become dark as if they were covered in soot"

Kuzo grab a blanket now.

"Stay with me baby…stay with me" Essien grabbed his tool kit and drew her blood with a syringe just as Kuzo appeared.

"What's wrong with mom?"

"She's been poisoned"

Fiji whimpered.

Essien tested her blood and found it poisoned with uranium.

"His mind went blank, he had no idea what to do next"

Essien wrapped a cardiogram reader around her wrist, it determined her heart rate.

Kuzo monitored it while holding unto her hand.

"Her heart is stable"

"Its spreading slowly"

"there has to be a way to stop it"

"I have no clue" Then it hit him, he remembered she had said once that if ever he was poisoned he should grab a leaf from the binju tree….she had brought a seed with her knowingly and had saved it till she got married to Essien, that was when she planted it because she knew she would have to treat illnesses and save the lives of the people she loved.

Essien walked to the plant that takes a 1000 years to fully mature, it was still in a pot. He grabbed a leaf.

What's her heart saying Kuzo?"

"Still stable"

Essien crushed the leaves, mixed it with  water, found a syringe and retracted the liquid then he injected it into her veins. Then they waited,

***

Essien was first to notice her come around, his son was fast asleep on the couch with a blanket over him. Essien rushed to his wife placing his coffee mug on the counter. He sat before her and took her hands. They had returned to normal.

"Essien" She said the moment he took her hand.

"Hey, you scared us, what happened?"

"Kuzo, is he alright?" She said weakly.

"He's fine"

Maia sat up and saw her son asleep, she gave a sigh of relief.

"It is you we are worried about" Essien said.

"Han, he's back, I don't know how"

"Han?" Essien scanned his memory for a Han in her history.

"My sisters fiancée"

"How, I thought you took care of him in the Congo war"

"I did but Han is here and I don't know how he's not aging either or why his memory which I erased came back"

"His father possessed the soul stone once, do you think….?" Maia knew what he was assuming and it worried her, she looked at Kuzo.

"No…it couldn’t possibly affect our children could it?"

"I don't know baby"

"It's not safe here, for you and for Kuzo, Han used Kuzo to get to me who knows what he would do next, we need to leave"

"Where are we going to go?"

"Another time, I'll go find a home for us, you two stay here, I'll be back in 24 hours, if I'm not, take Kuzo to the fallen temple, stay there, I'd come for you both"

Essien helped her stand. He nodded.

She took one last look at her son Kuzo and then she unlocked the safe that held the time capsule. And with an ancient art, she walked into the elevator and psyched her energy with the capsule. The elevator was engulfed in a blinding light and when it subsided, she was gone.

"Was that mom?" Kuzo was awake.

"Yea, she's going to find us a new home"

"Why do we have to leave this place?"

"It's not safe Kuzo, we could be in trouble, we have to go, and you need to understand why"

"I understand"

"Good"

"It's almost daybreak"

"Can I at least say bye to my friends?"

"No, no one can know where you are or what's going on and in times like this I can't trust that your voice won't be traced, whoever caused that airbus accident knew you would be on it"

Kuzo was silent.

"We'll be fine, I promise"

The elevator sparked again and out walked Mabu.

"You're back already?"

"Already?, I was gone for 8 years, and I have found a place for us"

"Well great, I'll go pack" Kuzo said.

"We can't take anything from here back there, oh except this" She grabbed the young binju tree which was in a pot.

"Back there?" Essien asked.

"Wait, back there, we aren't going back in time are we?" Kuzo sounded worried and freaked out.

"I'm sorry Kuzo we have no choice"

"Damn mom"

"The future is far too advanced they will find us in a blink and the past is too primitive you both won't survive, I picked a time where there was someone I could trust and it’s a time where technology was growing so you could manage with the gadgets and games at least you're used to that and we won't need clothes, I got an apartment and stacked it with clothes for us all so, we're good to go"

"Wow, I love time travel"

"The first time your father time travelled he fell sick, don't fall for it, it really isn't a nice experience, let's go"