Root Magic

Janey makes them clean up the rice before dinner and sends them to bed early.

While Jay goes to wash up, Jez speaks to Dinah, asking if she’s a witch. The doll’s voice echoes in her head, saying that the family is “two-head” (223). A “two-head” means someone who is partly in the real world and partly in the magic one, and it’s a term for a witch doctor.

Jez lays in bed, feeling weightless. She feels her spirit rising out of her body, but Jay yelps, pulling her from her thoughts. Jez returns to her body, and Jay explains that he thinks he broke his toe because he stubbed it. She tells him to rub it. When he asks why she seems distracted, she says that she is just sleepy. However, when she tries to rise out of her body again, she can’t.

The next morning, Saturday, Jez is tired, having tried all night to float.

She and Jay go meet Doc for their root magic lessons. Doc explains that the amount of strength one needs for a spell depends on the problem. Jez asks about tricks that they can play on people, and Doc warns her that someone can be seriously hurt.