Locks and tumblers turned and a rack of steel grating lifted. A thick-bodied, mahogany-toned warrior answered the door wearing only white meditation pantaloons.
"Praisebe to Neter," he said with a big smile. "I'm Mehki, the seer-healer you mind-locked with. "Herukhuti tua en pashet a Set hur Apep. I overthrow Satan's intelligent and animal evil." He paused for a moment and then glanced over Damali's shoulder, suddenly seeming worried that her team might have been harmed. "Where are the others?"
Damali waved her squad in from across the street. "We are all fine-no one from our Neteru squad was lost.Tua-k, Tua-tu, brother. Thank you so much."
Mehki waited until Damali's team was safely inside and then turned the series of bolts to secure the building. Moving swiftly, he went to a ceremonial altar that was arrayed with eucalyptus branches, sacred water, anointed candles, pinecones, garlic, fresh ginger, and spiceslaid out on a long red-and-purple tie-dyed cloth, and gathered an incense holder and a cylinder of clear water. He lit the incense and, within seconds, heavy plumes of pungent smoke filled the air. Without apology or permission, he splashed Guardians and the door and then swung the incensor toward them until the team was nearly choking. Appearing satisfied that no one had burst intoembers, he beamed as he returned his ceremonial items to the entrance altar.
"Mehki greets you warmly, brothers and sisters-welcome to our house. All is in the hands of the Divine and it is our honor to host you," he said, his eyes taking in the large group before him. "I teach Qi Gong body energy systems, martial arts, and am part of the Herukhuti brotherhood," he said proudly.
"Good to meet you, brother," Shabazz said, giving Mehki a Kemetian traditional embrace. "We are honored that you opened your home."
Mike and Inez stepped forward as Damali went around the team introducing Guardians and describing each person's gift.
"You took in my baby girl and my momma," Inez said, offering Mehki a deep Kemetian bow. "Thank you, bless you."
"We are blessed, sister," Mehki said. "You know it is African tradition to add to one's compound-there is always room at the table for one more. Neter blesses a full house. You do know that the baby has sight, a future Guardian in the making . . . every child belongs to the entire village; every elder is to be revered and their wisdom gleaned from." He glanced around excitedly. "The child is strong."
"Yes . . . Ayana is special and I bet Delores is having a good time here," Marlene said with a knowing smile, giving Inez a wink.
"I bet she is," Inez said with a slight chuckle. "And my momma needed somewhere she could hold court."
"We can wake them, if you'd like?" Mehki said, searching the faces around him.
"No, no," Inez said. "If I can just peek in on her and give her a kiss. . . ."
"This must be hard," Mehki said, looking first at Inez and then slowly sending his deep, compassionate gaze around the team. "That's why we had to open the school. We decided we just needed to create a bridge to the future, no matter what happened. Before, in the early days, like when we all got the call to step up, we had lived our entire lives feeling different, not knowing who we were. But have you noticed," he added, his eyes shimmering in the street lamplight that pierced the shop's darkness, "the children are coming faster, stronger, with the gifts-not just to Guardian parents, but to regular parents as well. It's as though the Light is paving the way . . . and somewhere there must be schools that guide these gifted children. We all cannot be warriors forever, and yet, this is also a way to fight the Darkness. Light up one mind and you have cast out an army of demons and affected potential generations."
"That is so true," Damali said in a reverent tone, glancing around the shop. "But where . . . how do you secure the space?"
Mehki nodded, waving his hand toward the left side of the long, rectangular facility. "The bookstore doubles as our library and it has room enough for community classroom space-gotta educate the masses, too.Must give the people small sips of water until they learn how to take a big gulp." He turned to his right and indicated toward the caf�. "But for them to retain the knowledge, they have to eat right. This caf� doubles as our kitchen for the Guardian team and the children's school. We feed the public, but also our own . . . and you have to cook your own and not lean on the toxic poison out there that pollutes the mind, body, and spirit."
"Say it again loudly, brother," Marlene said with a wide smile, looking around the team. "I am still working on these people, trust me."
"Getting off the fried chicken wings is like breaking a drug addiction," Mehki said, laughing. "You know I'm from Philly where the basic saying is, 'Ain't no thing but a chicken wing,' and we were raised on cheese steaks, hoagies, and mustard pretzels served by old men who vended, didn't wash their hands, and seemed like they hadn't bathed in a week. So, if I can change,a Neteru team can-c'mon, now, people."
Tension-relieving laughter filled the sacred space and Big Mike rubbed a palm over his scalp with a wide grin.
"Brother, you killin' me. I'm trying to get off the ribs . . . but you know, every time I think I'm safe, they keep pulling me back in."
"I'm not killing you, man, that pork is," Mehki said, laughing harder.
"I keep telling the brother," Shabazz said, shaking his head. "But I can't do nuthin' with him."
"Yeah, well, wait until Aquila and Urhra get on him. Our team mother and father donot play with the food thing atall . Just warning you . . . and Miss Deloresgot, uhm . . . things explained to her on day one. It's all good."
"Praisebe !" Marlene said, shaking her head as Inez covered her mouth and laughed into her hands. "Now when I see Delores it won't be no mess, if another whole team got on her about her kitchen ways."
Mehki held up his hands, his infectious grin still making members of the Neteru squad chuckle. "I wasn't in it. Now through the center doors in the middle of the facility is where the courtyard is. We've poured enough libations to fry anything that might try to bubble up to the surface . . . and overhead, we have mosquito nets cast from the tops of one building to another, but have spun silver going through it, and then we purified it with incense and prayers, and our tacticals put a serious charge on it. That way our little ones can play out there unmolested."
With a proud nod, Mehki bade the team to follow him out the large center doors. "When we get across the courtyard, you've gotta take off your shoes when you go inside . . . we've got paper slippers at the door. Cool?"
"Cool," Marlene said, eyeing the group hard.
"Brother Mehki, you just have to forgive them," Damali said with a sigh as bodies bristled. "They just came out of a firefight in Detroit and don't wanna drop weapons or do anything that can make them feel vulnerable."
"We understand," he said calmly, "butit's house policy."
"I know," Shabazz said, glancing around at the team. "Weknow."