"Just give me the necklace!" " Mari." " Huh?" "Mari?" "You okay?" "You're sure you wanna coffee?" "After what just happened I could use something stiffer." "Coffee's good." "Thanks, Chuck." "I'm beat." "If you wanna stay, and I hope you will, your room's how you left it." "The girls at school..." "They said my mommy was a junkie." "That's why she gave me up." "What's a junkie?" "It doesn't matter, because it's not true." "Those girls, they were just being nasty." "Then why did my mummy give me up?" "You were just a baby when the foster agency placed you with us." "You didn't even have a name." "But you did have something." "Something we've been waiting to give you until you were old enough." " What is it?" " It belonged to your mother." "Chuck asked a friend of us about it and he said it was an Anansi Totem." " What's that?" " I don't know, sweetie." "But I have a feeling that one day." "It might help you find the answers to all your questions." "Doctor Macalester?" "Office hours were over 20 minutes ago." "I'm Mari McCabe." "I called earlier?" "Of course." "My apologies." "Come in." "You said you had an artifact for me to look at?" "Yes." "Though, I'm not sure it's an artifact." "Normally, this is where I'd say, 'My eyes are up here.'" "This is... extraordinary." "Where did you find this?" "I guess you could say it's a family heirloom." "I don't really know anything about it." "I don't even know where it's from." "That type of stone is indigenous to the M-Changa Province in Zambesi." "And it has something to do with Anansi, right?" "Anansi." "A trickster god." "According to a legend he fashioned a totem which he gave To a warrior named Tantu." "When I was a kid I looked up 'Anansi' in encyclopedia." "I'm sorry to waste your time." "I honestly don't know what I was expecting to learn when I came in here." "What did you want to learn?" "I don't know." "I..." "It's stupid." "Oh, I have three PhDs, so how about you let me be the judge of what's stupid?" "I've had this thing since I was 10." "And I always thought it was just a piece of junk jewelry." "But, lately... some things have happened to me." "And now I think it might be the key to finding out more about my family." "Who's your family?" "That would be the 52-million-dollar question." "Sorry to waste your time." "It's said the totem grants its wearer access to the "Axé"" "of the Animal Kingdom." "It means..." "life force, power, essence." "The totem harnesses the "Axé" of any animal the wearer conjures up." " What?" " You know, speed of a cheetah, agility of an antelope, strength of an elephant, etc." "Relax." "All of this is just a myth." "In reality that pendant is just a finely polished piece of stone." "Too bad." "If it was magic, I might be able to get something for it online." "Thanks for your time." "You know the McCabe woman?" "The one who tombed up the 3 gangbangers you hired to steal the Anansi totem of her?" "She just walked out of my office." "That certainly is a fortunate turn of events." "I can get her back here any time you want." " But in return..." " Relax, Dr. Macalester." "Once I have the totem in hand, you can consider your next expedition fully funded." "And the girl?" "What will happen to her?" "Don't worry about Mari McCabe, Professor." "I need her alive." "For now."