Ada is born and the ogbanje spirits become trapped inside her body, distinct from her rather than fully merged.

Saul kills a python with a machete, unknowingly driving away the goddess Ala who had appeared to watch over Ada.

Ada's sister Añuli is struck by a truck in the street; Ada blames herself and refuses to visit her in hospital.

Saachi accepts a job in Saudi Arabia and leaves her children behind with Saul.

Ada attends a celebration with her friend Lisa where music and dancing awaken the ogbanje within her for the first time.

Ada begins cutting herself to cope with the overwhelming loneliness and the hunger of the spirits inhabiting her.

Soren repeatedly rapes Ada while claiming to be in love with her.

A new spirit named Asughara is born inside Ada, created by trauma too deep for Ada to face alone.

Ada meets Ewan, an Irish student with a girlfriend back home, and the two begin an on-and-off romance.

Asughara's monstrous brothersisters appear and demand she return home, pushing her to decide to kill Ada.

Ewan breaks up with his girlfriend, gets sober, and returns to Ada to give himself to her fully.

Ada and Ewan get married happily.

Ada's marriage to Ewan deteriorates because she cannot give herself fully to him; he begins drinking again and moves away.

Ada takes half a bottle of pills in a suicide attempt, but her lover calls and she is rushed to the hospital.

Ada meets a priest named Leshi in Nigeria who sees her true nature, asks searching questions, and transforms her.

Freshwater follows Ada from birth, when ogbanje spirits become trapped within her body, through her childhood in Nigeria and her mother's departure for Saudi Arabia. The most pivotal blow comes in college, when Ada is repeatedly raped and the ferocious spirit Asughara is born from the trauma Ada cannot bear to process alone. Ada finds love with an Irish student named Ewan, but her inability to give herself fully eventually causes the collapse of their marriage. Pushed to the edge, Asughara convinces Ada to attempt suicide, but she survives and later travels to Nigeria where a priest named Leshi sees and names the truth of who she is. Through Leshi's intervention, Ada begins to accept her spiritual nature rather than fight it. The novel ends with Ada embracing her identity as a child of the goddess Ala—a god dressed in human skin.

The core arc of Ada's life and spiritual transformation.

Saachi places a pottu on infant Ada's forehead to try to ward off the evil she senses within her child.

Ada's father Saul names her a word that unknowingly translates to the egg of a python, having prayed for a daughter.

After her mother leaves for Saudi Arabia, a lonely Ada turns to Yshwa, praying for him to hold her like a child.

Ada arrives at a small college in Virginia at sixteen, two years younger than most of her classmates.

Ada meets Malena, a Dominican student who is also inhabited by gods and occasionally disappears when her inhabitant takes control.

Soren begins asserting control over Ada by ordering her not to eat her plate of eggs.

Ada moves in with her friend Itohan and cuts off all her hair, mourning her past self and marking a new beginning.

Asughara uses Ada's body to sleep with Itohan's younger brother throughout the summer.

Itohan's mother walks in on Ada and her son and warns Ada never to share a bed with an unmarried man.

Saachi notices that Ada is deeply unhappy and no longer eating normally during her college years.

Ewan breaks up with Ada, telling her his girlfriend back home makes him happy.

Saint Vincent begins appearing in Ada's dreams, creating a body with a penis and exploring gender expression freely.

Ada starts wearing a binder to flatten her chest and begins kissing women at clubs.

Ada's uncle Uche dies; he had been the only family member who accepted her relationships with women without needing explanation.

Ada prays directly to Ala, who appears and instructs Ada to find her tail so she can complete the circle.

This pool traces the supporting characters and secondary events that shape Ada's journey from early childhood through her final spiritual acceptance. It begins with Saachi's human efforts to protect her unusual child and Saul's unknowing significance in naming her. Ada's path through college is marked by new friendships, relationships, and the gradual expansion of Asughara's control over her body and appetites. Key figures like Malena, Itohan, Uncle Uche, and Ewan leave lasting impressions on Ada's sense of self and belonging. As Ada moves through adulthood, the gentle spirit Saint Vincent guides her toward exploring her gender expression, nudging her toward a body that better reflects all that is inside her. The pool closes with Ada's direct communication with the goddess Ala, who gives her the final key to understanding her circular, python nature.

The people and quieter moments shaping Ada's world.

The ogbanje sew their iyi-uda oath object into Ada's womb and bones so it cannot be destroyed without also destroying Ada.

Ada is baptized as an infant; the ogbanje contemplate the sacred water flowing from the mouth of a python.

Ada learns to recognize her terrifying childhood dreams as false and develops a mental bridge to escape them.

Ada writes in her journal and names the ogbanje Smoke and Shadow, unwittingly granting them more power through the act of naming.

After the assault, Ada confides in a friend who tells her to seek Christ's forgiveness, deepening Ada's shame and driving her from Yshwa.

Asughara takes Ada to Planned Parenthood after a pregnancy; a worker's judgmental comment causes Asughara to vow never to return.

Malena tells Ada she received a spiritual message that Ada would attempt suicide and that she intervened to save her life.

Ada confesses her love to Ewan; he does not say it back, but they speak about what their children would look like.

Ada and Asughara confront each other in the marble room; Asughara reveals her own deep pain and Ada apologizes as they cry together.

Ada tells a therapist about Asughara for the first time; Asughara forces Ada to stop attending therapy immediately.

For the first time Ada experiences sex without Asughara taking over, then cries and tells Ewan she never had sex without a mask.

Ada and Asughara talk as friends in the marble room; Ada asks her never to leave, and Asughara asks Ada to follow her.

Yshwa appears to Asughara in the marble room, sees her true pain clearly, and offers her unconditional love.

Ada undergoes breast reduction surgery; Saachi objects to the procedure but then personally cares for Ada during her recovery.

Ada accepts that she is a god living in human skin, embodies the python, and finds peace in Ala's presence without fear.

This pool focuses on the internal turning points and spiritual revelations that define Ada's transformation from controlled vessel to self-possessed god. It begins with the ogbanje securing their hold by hiding their oath object inside Ada's body, ensuring no one can destroy them without destroying her. The rape and its aftermath are examined through their emotional and spiritual consequences: shame, unwanted pregnancy, and the first cracks in Ada's relationship with Yshwa. As Ada grows older, the confrontations inside the marble room of her mind become the true battleground—between Ada and Asughara, between Asughara and Yshwa, and finally between Ada and her own terror at what she is. The intimate, dark conversation Ada and Asughara share before the suicide attempt reveals how deeply entwined protector and destroyer have become. The pool ends with Ada's full acceptance of her divine nature, finding in the image of the python not death but the endless, circular beginning that is also an end.