As William arrived back at the mansion, he could hear his father and Charles speaking to someone in the entrance hall. He jogged towards their voices — Harrison stood in the hall speaking to his father and Charles.

‘Harrison!’ shouted William from across the hall. For the first time in months, he felt something like genuine joy.

‘William! Holy cow you have grown. A man indeed!’ said Harrison in response, his quick, black eyes taking William in. Tall and slim, like William, Harrison was good looking, strong and lean. He stood a head above Charles, who was stockier and broader and looked Edward in the eye, but none of the boys matched the brute strength of their father. Harrison walked over to William to embrace him, but William stepped back.

‘Just come back from a run bro. Not smelling great!’ said William, with a smile on his face. ‘Let me shower and then we can catch up. So brilliant that you’re here,’ said William, taking in every inch of Harrison. He was the same but slightly older. William hadn’t seen him in three years and they only spoke occasionally. ‘You must be dying of heat in that suit!’ said William as he passed the group of English men and began to trot up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

William’s smile faded as he entered his room. Quickly, he shut the door and locked it behind him. His heart was racing as he immediately pulled the spare mobile out from under his armpit. Taking it out of the packet, he threw the phone on his bed and scratched in his suitcase, at the back of his closet, for the charger. Once he plugged it in, he turned the phone on silent and switched off the Wi-Fi. He didn’t want any of Dad’s cronies picking up another number and coming to look for it. The phone buzzed with Karabo’s last message. He desperately wanted to respond to her but knew he needed to be careful. He turned the phone off and decided to message her later. Besides, Cedric was the most important person to get hold of. Cedric was vital to his plan and he had to understand and agree to work with him.

Cedric Khumalo, Mzi’s father, was the direct descendant of the great Matabele tribes of Zimbabwe. Two years ago, Cedric had been holidaying at his game farm in Zimbabwe, along with his family, Karabo, her mother and Isla. The farm was part of the ancestral land of the great Matabele tribes and on one of the game drives, they had visited a cave. It was here, unbeknownst to them, that Edward followed and trapped them.

Edward was after the fabled Matabele treasure, but Cedric didn’t know where it was. To save Isla’s life, William betrayed Karabo and told his father that she was the key. That’s when Karabo had used her powers as a sangoma-in-training to reveal where the treasure was hidden. Once Edward and his men had taken all the gold, ivory and diamonds from behind the waterfall in the cave, William had begged his father to untie them. Edward laughed at his empathy for Cedric and his friends and left him behind as he sped off with the treasure. When William had gone back to untie everyone, Cedric had seen something in William and took him in. William respected and admired Cedric and felt like he owed the man his life. He’d given him the chance to start over and be better than his own family would allow.

As she walked back to her dorm room, Karabo still felt annoyed but knew she had bigger problems. At least William had warned her about his low battery power before telling her that she needed to get in touch with Cedric. Karabo knew that phoning Cedric directly to tell him to trust William was probably not going to work. She had to think of a clever way to reach him. At that point, her thoughts were interrupted by a stench emanating from her person. First things first, she needed a shower.

As she stood under the water and let it stream over her head, Karabo closed her eyes and an image of Jessabelle appeared in her mind. Cedric would accept the explanation of William’s actions from Jez; she had a way of making sense out of nonsensical information and could be rather persuasive. Karabo switched off the tap and made her way back to her room. In ten minutes, she was dressed and waiting at the school entrance for Jez.

The red Porsche pulled up as Karabo reached the ornate gates of Dayeton College. The door unlocked and Jez’s petite face, smothered in large black sunglasses, peered at Karabo through the window.

‘Hop in, Karabs.’

Climbing into the cool car, with the smell of leather permeating everything, Karabo strapped herself in and Jez pulled off. As they drove, Karabo explained what she needed from Jez.

‘You want me to tell Cedric that William isn’t the evil guy they all think he is, and that he is actually trying to bring Edward’s entire illegal global business down, and he needs Cedric’s help to do this…’ Jez summarised Karabo’s earlier explanation.