so smooth, he scared me, Mar. I ain't never had one roll up on me like that, I swear. I didn't know what to do."
"Who is he?" Marlene asked again, this time her tone carrying more concern.
"I don't know, but dayum!"
"Okay, sister. Pull it together. At least give me a name to run through my mental database and black book."
Damali stared at Marlene for a second and then burst out laughing. She covered her mouth and shook her head. "I don't know," she mumbled.
"You don't know?" Marlene was incredulous.
"I don't know his name," Damali said, wheezing through a sudden case of the giggles. "Didn't need it. If you'd seen him, you wouldn't have been focused on the details, either."
"Oh, Lord," Marlene said, placing her palm over her forehead as she stared at Damali. "Markings, description, something so I know not to flat-out ice this brother if he rolls up on you quietly in the compound."
Damali glanced around the room as though someone else might be there, and she leaned in to Marlene so closely that their noses almost touched. Her voice dropped to a hissing whisper. "Mar. He's a Neteru!"
"What!" Marlene said louder than she'd intended. "Oh, shit." She yanked Damali deeper into the room and then dragged her laughing into the bathroom and shut the second door. "You have got to be mistaken. Get out of here!"
"For real," Damali said, her gaze leaving Marlene's to scan the abandoned tub. "Girl, he had this sexy Neteru tattoo on his chest, eyes blazing gold and silver. Stepped out of nowhere, apexing, chile! Soaked up the colors from the light on my bathroom floor, and busted a move on me like... I get the shivers just telling you." Damali began walking in a circle as Marlene opened her mouth but didn't close it. "But I had enough sense to tell him to back up, I didn't know him well enough yet to jump into anything too wild, and... but, shit, he was apexing, and--"
"On the summer solstice? And you're a Leo--a child of the sun... ooohhh... shit!" Marlene ran her fingers through her locks and also began walking in a circle. "Chile, now you listen to old Mar, hear? This is nitroglycerine. Waaaay too volatile a situation to be joking around and playing with. Carlos, God bless his soul, will freak. Do you hear me? And, by rights, I need to diplomatically get up with Father Pat to find out when and where a second male Neteru could have been made. That's not even supposed to happen." She looked up at Damali with pure terror in her expression. "Unless we're at the exact end of days and Heaven is opening its gates." "For real, Mar?" Damali said, new realities killing her mirth. "This is it?"
"How else would another one have gotten made?"
"He said he had to incarnate for this one last time to learn the lesson of selfless sacrifice, and I was going to be his biggest challenge yet." Damali was breathing hard and fast as she spoke in run-on sentences. "He said he could deal with guiding and teaching me, as long as he was in spirit, but the moment he came into the flesh, he was losing it. I mean, you should have seen this brother--but, but, I thought Nzinga was my guide, my Neteru mentor off the female council. How did he get to be my mentor, Mar? How come he's my music muse?"
"What!" Marlene nearly shouted again, and then clasped her hand over her own mouth for a second. "Your muse?" She grabbed Damali by both arms and her voice came out in a fast, rushing hiss. "Muses are supposed to be spirit-manifested inspiration, not flesh!"
"I know, I know," Damali whispered quickly. "He came to me while I was mentally composing in the tub!"
Marlene's eyes darted around the room. "He pierced the veil? Shit! Music is the most sensual... girl... oh, Lawd. Listen, sweetie--"
"Mar, he gets turned on and turned out every time I compose. How the hell am I gonna work, now?" Damali's voice had become a fervent plea. "He said I'd had him in abstinence for a year, hadn't communed with him, feel me? You should have seen him. Said, and I quote, 'detriment to my soul, I need you now.' The brother was begging so hard and so smooth... I almost fell on the floor. Then, then, Mar, he kissed me, sent a sound wave inside me that blew my freakin' mind. He was so