Skin of the Sea

A creature howls in the distance, and the group hurries through the rest of the forest to a foggy clearing, where they come face-to-face with a group of enormous hyenas. Simi tries to talk to them like she does sea creatures, but her powers have no effect. The group fights off the beasts, but another appears for every one they wound. The hyenas break through the groups’ defenses, taking them all to the ground, and Simi curls into a protective ball around Issa, “waiting for teeth to tear into my skin” (240).

The hyenas transform into humans with claws and fur wrappers, revealing themselves as bultungin. Esu bound them to protect the island. Aissa, the leader, smells bultungin blood from Yinka; if she’s one of them, the bultungin cannot harm her. Kola argues Yinka would know if she was a thing like them, to which a boy argues the bultungin are not “things” but “a people that have been scattered because of the fears of others” (243). His agitation causes him to change, and soon all the bultungin are hyenas again.

The bultungin give chase, and the group runs into an opening in the side of the nearby volcano, only to find their way blocked.