Root Magic

At night, Jez practices hovering again, raising her spirit out of her body. She feels like a ghost looking around and learning how to move in her spirit body. She remembers that root is all about intent, and she hovers to the tree where she’d sat with Susie earlier that day. Then, a loud noise from Doc’s cabin scares her, sending her back into her body. She is starving, and she goes into the kitchen to eat rice.

Her mother finds her and calls a doctor, worried that Jez is only eating rice. The doctor says that he can’t find anything wrong with her.

Each night, Jez goes into her spirit body, exploring other farms, houses, and neighbors. She feels like she wants to ascend into the sky but isn’t sure why. As she considers this one night, she’s pulled back into her body, hearing a voice calling for help. She hears more words in Gullah and goes to find Doc. He is surprised she’s awake, and Jez explains what she’s been up to. Doc responds that she might have picked up a haint.

Doc lights a candle and asks how she’s feeling. She replies that she’s fine, and he grabs a different one, questioning if she’s hungry. Surprising Jez, a voice comes out and says that “[s]he’s not hungry anymore. She wants to go home now” (247). Jez grows afraid but focuses on her family, feeling generations of ancestors surrounding her. Doc explains that she’s sharing her body with a ghost. He tells her to lift herself out of her body, and she allows herself to go higher and higher.

Then, the spirit, in the form of a light, separates from her and thanks her. It tells her to follow it, and she finds a gathering of haints. Jez feels content and plays with them. Then, she starts to get tugged back. She doesn’t want to go, feeling like the other spirits like her. However, she starts to miss her family.

She asks an older spirit if this is heaven, and she explains that it is called Zar. Then, knowing that Jez is being pulled back, she kisses her hand as a gift, saying that it will help her.

Everyone is present when Jez returns to her body. It turns out that she’s been gone all day. She finds that the gift from the spirit is a coin, though she decides not to tell anyone about it yet. She also finds that she’s willing to eat something besides rice.

When she goes to write down her experiences in Zar, Jez discovers that pages have been torn out of her rootwork notebook. Her family suspects that someone purposely took them, and Jez realizes that the last time she’d left the book out was when she fell asleep near the marsh and Susie woke her up. She thinks that only Susie could have done it.

Upset, she goes to find Susie but doesn’t know where her house is. She goes to the marsh and yells for her, but Susie doesn’t appear. She goes home.

That night, she hears a police car coming toward the house. She and Jay stay in their room, and the car circles the house. Then something hits the front window, and the car leaves. Janey comes into their room and embraces the scared children.

Disoriented from the night’s events, Jez doesn’t get much sleep. Her whole family knows that it was Deputy Collins who came to their home. Susie isn’t at school that day, and Jay walks home with Jez. When they arrive, Janey gives Jez a new notebook, and she writes down what she remembers.

That night, she can’t sleep, and she starts to open the window when she sees a flash of light outside. She wakes Jay. Jez realizes that it’s Susie. They watch as Susie splits her skin and crawls out of it. Then, something flies into the sky. They realize that Susie is a boo-hag—a creature that goes after rootworkers.

They collect the skin and bring it to Doc’s cabin. Jez remembers that they’re supposed to cover it in salt. After they do so, Jay teases her for being a teacher’s pet, and Jez chastises him for not listening. They fight until Doc tells them to stop. He explains that the skin is causing their anger. They wash their hands in special water, and the twins explain what happened. Jez realizes that Susie was only her friend so she could get the pages from her notebook.

The boo-hag returns and goes toward her skin. Doc explains that she has to pull off every grain of salt in order to get back in. However, the sun is coming up and will roast the creature. Jez feels bad that she’s going to die since Susie was her friend. The boo-hag starts to cry, and Jez goes toward her.

The boo-hag explains that it took the pages so that Jez wouldn’t remember how to kill her. She didn’t want to hurt Jez, but she did want to learn how to leave the island. She is trapped on the island because a rootworker once took a piece of her skin, tethering her to the island. The other boo-hags have all left. Recently, she started having visions of where the piece might be. Jez understands what it’s like to feel trapped. Jez wants to help, so she grabs a bucket and fills it with water. Doc questions her at first, but she asserts that they can trust Susie. The water washes away the rest of the salt. Susie promises to come back.

Jay doesn’t think they did the right thing, but Jez thinks he’s wrong.

At school on Thursday, Jez is unbothered by the other girls’ teasing. She focuses on trying to figure out where the missing piece of Susie’s skin could be.

When they get home, Susie is waiting with Janey on the front porch. Jay says that she isn’t welcome. Jez calms him down. Susie apologizes, saying that she really was Jez’s friend. She only stole the pages because she was afraid.

Jez agrees that she’ll still help find the piece of Susie’s skin. Susie uses her powers and can tell that it’s in a wooden box. When Jez notes that they’ll have to be careful, Susie wonders if it’s because of Deputy Collins. She’s seen him around.

Trying to stay focused, Jez asks about being a boo-hag. Susie explains that she’s a spirit with body. Her skin is magical, and a piece of it has been missing for 12 years. She’s sad that she can’t find the rest of her body. Jez relates this loss to her father and understands Susie’s feelings.

Susie returns the pages she stole. On the last page, there is a note with a dark spot. Susie explains that it’s a promise that she’ll come if Jez ever calls. It’s marked with her blood, and Jez knows that this is a sign of her trust, since rootworkers use blood. Then, Susie leaves.

That night, Jez decides to check the box where Doc kept the Devil’s Shoestrings in his cabin. Jay refuses to come. On her way out, she notices that Dinah’s dress is looking a little dirty, and she wonders if the doll has been sneaking out without her.

Going to the cabin, Jez waits until Doc leaves. She goes in and finds the box. When she opens it, she doesn’t find the patch of skin. However, on the lid, she finds her grandmother’s name: Annie Freedman.

Jez remembers how Gran always relied on her magic to keep them safe. She knows that Gran would’ve used the skin of a boo-hag without a second thought. She realizes that it was always with her: Dinah’s headwrap was the hag skin. She worries that without it, Dinah will be a normal doll, thus severing Jez’s connection to Gran. However, she knows that no matter what, rootwork will always keep her connected to Gran.

She uses sewing scissors to undo the stitching near the hag skin. She replaces Dinah’s headwrap. She goes outside and finds Susie near the tree where they first saw her remove her skin. She gives her the missing piece, and Susie nearly cries, thanking her. Jez replies that it was the “right thing to do,” and Susie wonders if Jez would say that if she knew what she’s done (295). Jez asks what she means, but she flies off, saying that she’ll remember the help Jez gave her.

The next day, Jez wants to be alone, wondering what Susie had done. As she walks home, she detects movement around her but doesn’t see anything.

When Jez and Jay arrive home, Janey and Doc come out of the house and say they’re going to church. Because it isn’t a Sunday, the twins know something is wrong. There, they learn that President Kennedy had been killed. Janey cries, and another woman comforts her. Doc has Jay and Jez follow him and explains that people are mourning someone who tried to promote equal rights for Black Americans.

They go to the cemetery. Doc reminds them that they have to ask permission to take graveyard dirt and leave a present. Taking from one of Doc’s friends’ graves, they leave a little bit of root beer. When they leave, they spot Janey at Gran’s grave. They can tell she’s talking to her mother.

They go home and wait for Janey. When she arrives, she looks tired. However, after she sits down, a smile appears on her face. She says that “Sometimes […] a little talk makes things all right” (306).