Night wrapped the mansion like a cold shroud. The Christmas lights outside blinked softly—innocent, cheerful—but inside, the air was heavy. Too still. Too aware. Something was coming.
Ayo felt it first.
A whisper in the dark.
A shift in the walls.
A strange sweetness in the air… like burnt sugar.
He slowly rose from the couch.
"Banji… Emmanuel… Adeoluwa… something is wrong."
The boys shared uneasy looks. Kelvin and Moyin were still upstairs with Madam Sugar, checking the strange rhythmic sound that had begun trembling through the walls like a heartbeat.
Then—
A faint knock.
Three slow taps.
One long drag of silence.
Banji swallowed. "Who knocks at this hour?"
No one answered.
Ayo stepped forward and opened the door just a crack.
Cold air swept in.
Standing outside was a White Mask.
Pale. Still. A robe as white as bone, a face hidden behind the cult's expressionless mask.
Emmanuel gasped. "How—how did they find us?"
The masked figure raised its right hand, revealing a cube of sugar, pure white but stained red at the edges.
A warning.
A mark.
A message.
It dropped the cube on the doorstep… then stepped backward into the darkness, vanishing without a sound.
Adeoluwa slammed the door.
"What does that mean?"
Ayo crouched and lifted the cube. Etched into it was the Twin Sugar Cane X, twisted and cracked. Around it swirled the Sweet Blood Spiral.
"They're getting closer," he said quietly.
Then a scream tore through the mansion.
Kelvin.
The boys ran upstairs at full speed. Another scream—thin, sharp, terrified—echoed through the halls.
They burst into Madam Sugar's private room.
Kelvin was pressed against the wall, shaking. Moyin held him, her hands trembling.
"What happened?" Ayo demanded.
Kelvin pointed at the window. "Someone was—standing there. Watching me."
Banji rushed to the window, yanking the curtains aside.
Nothing.
Just the innocent glow of Christmas lights outside.
Moyin lifted her phone. "I took a picture."
The boys crowded around.
In the reflection of the glass—just behind Kelvin—was a White Mask, half-hidden, staring straight into the room.
Emmanuel stepped back. "They're inside the compound."
Ayo's voice dropped. "No. They're inside the story now. They've started something."
The room went quiet.
Then a soft chant drifted through the air. Distant. Whispered. Sweet and terrifying:
"Adùn… Adùn…
Sweet is the blood…
Sweet is the soul…
Sweet is the offering…"
The lights flickered.
The heartbeat in the walls grew louder.
Madam Sugar stepped into the room, pale, shaking.
"They're calling on him," she whispered. "Adùn… the God of Sweet Blood."
Ayo faced her. "Why now?"
Madam Sugar's lips trembled.
"Because sugar… always melts under heat."
A loud bang shook the mansion.
Then another.
Footsteps outside.
More knocking.
More White Masks.
The mansion was surrounded.
And somewhere among them, a deeper voice joined the chant—smooth, charming, deadly.
White Sugar.
Ayo's jaw tightened.
"They're not warning us."
Banji grabbed a metal stand.
"They're coming."
Kelvin steadied his breath.
"We fight."
Moyin stepped closer to Ayo, her voice thin but steady.
"And we survive."
The footsteps grew louder.
The sweet smell thickened.
The chant rose.
Sugar was about to spill.