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Mellower Seduces General Matsika
The Praise Singer, or Mellower, is the Matsika children's best friend. When Tendai, Rita, and Kuda need necessary passes and tickets to go on an adventure across the city, but are too afraid to step up to their father, the Meddler steps in to trick Matsika to hand over the needed supplies through Praise. -
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The Ear the Eye and the Arm
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Children are Kidnapped at Mbare Musika
The Matsika children are out for an exploration of the city, and what an exploration it will be. While resting at the bustling market of Mbare Musika, the children come across a genetically engineered blue monkey. But what would a story be without the monkey biting Tendai, and the children being attacked by Chloroform. Their kidnappers take them to their home, Dead Man's Vlei to be put to work. -
Mrs. Matsika Contact the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm Agency
When her three children have gone missing, Mrs. Matsika's only option is to call the best detectives in all of Harare - the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm. -
Tendai finds Ndoro while working in Vlei
While Tendai is fetching water for the She Elephant in Dead Man's Vlei, he comes across a peculiar looking shell. When he removes it from the riverbed, he finds it is a ndoro - "a spiral-shaped, heavy white circle hung around the neck; its significance has been lost to urban Zimbabweans, though once it had great spiritual value for them." Tendai takes great care of the ndoro throughout the book, always wearing it as a sign of good luck. -
The Children Escape the Vlei
With the guidance of Granny, Tendai, Rita, and Kuda manage to escape the Vlei, but barely. With vlei-people and eventually the She Elephant chasing after them, they barely make it into a bus to make a safe escape. -
Children Accepted into Resthaven
After the Matsika kids escape the Vlei, the bus driver drops them at Resthaven, a sacred place where nothing from the city may come in, nor any city traditions - "Monomatapa's Country." The children are welcomed into the society through Trashman, a friend of Kuda's from the Vlei. Some people think they are witches, some think they're fine, others think Tendai has a "shave" for storytelling, some think he was born to be a Spirit Medium. -
Resthaven Witch Ceremony/Escape from Resthaven
To try to prove the children are witches, Resthaven's spirit medium holds a witch ceremony, where he tests suspects by giving them a horrid drink, to make them throw up. If they do not vomit, they are witches. With the help of Myanda, a former citizen of Harare, Tendai, Rita, and Kuda make it out of Resthaven and hopefully to safety... -
Children Attacked on Subway
After leaving Resthaven, the children find themselves questioning where to go. They decide to visit the Mellower's mother, for they know where she lives in Borrowdale. When a group of Masks, a gang who kill and steal for fun, attack, they barely make it onto a train without getting hurt. -
Ear, Eye, and Arm Investigate Resthaven/Obtain Sekai
When Ear, Eye, and Arm figure out the children are in Resthaven, they hop across Harare as quickly as possible to find them. But with the children escaping moments before, their hopes are not fulfilled. When Arm scares the people of Resthaven to try to find the children, he ends up with one of Chipo's twins, Sekai, who he takes back to the Cow's Guts with him -
Children Find Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham; Put to work
When the children reach Borrowdale, they find the Mellower's mother, who unhappily lets them in. After learning that Rita has chicken pox, the children fall ill, but once they recover, they are put to work around the house, eventually learning that Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham will keep them until General Matsika offered a reward. -
She Elephant Takes Children to Masks
After a long fight with Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham, the She Elephant is able to abduct the children from 25 Horsepool Lane. When Tendai wakes from his intoxication, he realizes who he is with - his original kidnappers. The children find themselves being taken to the Masks, their only thoughts being of death. -
Ear, Eye, and Arm Talk to Animal Fanciers' Society
Finally making it to Borrowdale, specifically 25 Horsepool Lane, the detectives pull information about the children out of the women taking part in the Animal Fanciers' Society meeting. They find out how Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham was treating them and had her arrested and taken to Waa Waa Prison. Additionally, they find out the She Elephant has the kids. -
Mhondoro Posesses Arm
When Arm comes to know he has been posessed by the mhondoro, or spirit of the land, he is joyful yet terrified. The mhondoro leads Arm as well as the other detectives to the roof of the Mile High MacIlwaine, where they finally see the Matsika children, but with the Masks, out of their reach. -
Children Taken to Gondwannan Embassy
Upon arriving at the Mile High MacIlwaine, the children are snuck into the Gondwannan Embassy. There, they see a luxurious area, until dragged behind a curtain to a dusty, monotonous room with a lone chair in the middle. Tendai is attached to the chair only to be sacrificed for the Gondwannan gods. -
Arm Invades Gondwannan Embassy
Arm knows something is going on inside the embassy. He invades, only to be knocked out by the Big Head Mask. This action eventually leads staff from the Starlight Room to invade, releasing Tendai. -
Mhondoro Posesses Tendai
In the middle of a raging fight inside the Embassy, Tendai notices a strange voice inside of him - he realizes it's the Mhondoro. The Mhondoro leads Tendai through the batttle - fighting it it as well, through Tendai's ndoro - but it leaves him as soon as it's over. -
Reunion of Children and Parents
Following the fight inside the Gondwannan Embassy, Tendai, Rita, and Kuda are reunited with their parents, whom Kuda doesn't even remember at first!
