The Jumbies

Back at Corinne’s house, Pierre and Severine are in the kitchen; she is preparing a stew. The narrator relays this chapter through Severine’s perspective, which reveals that the jumbie has used magic to cloud Pierre’s vision. It turns out that, because of Severine’s magic, Pierre sees a storm raging outside, which keeps him from going fishing. The narrator also reveals that, with the magical stew cooking on the stove, Severine also plans to control Pierre’s thoughts. Because of the storm, he thinks he sees, Pierre tells Severine he is worried about Corinne, who has not returned from the market. Severine stirs her stew and lies to Pierre, telling him she saw Corinne safely leave the market with Dru and Mrs. Rootsingh.

When Severine finishes the stew, she ladles a bowl for Pierre and eagerly watches him eat. As he greedily eats the bowlful of stew, Pierre’s eyes cloud over. Severine is pleased as he asks for a second helping, right as Corinne walks in the door.

As Corinne enters her house, a foul smell emanating from Severine’s stew nauseates her. She rushes to her father’s side and begins talking to him, but he does not seem to recognize her. Severine mockingly offers Corinne some of her stew, but the girl slaps the bowl away.

Corinne yells at the jumbie to get out of her house, but Severine chases her around the kitchen, trying to force her to eat the stew. Corinne calls out to Pierre for help, but Severine tells Corinne that her father cannot see her. He can only see the visions she has created, such as the wild storm outside. Severine threatens to kill Corinne and tell Pierre that the storm he sees has killed her. Corinne is frightened, particularly as Severine reverts to her “horrific” jumbie form. However, Corinne’s stone pendant momentarily mesmerizes the jumbie, and Corinne’s anger gives her the strength to shove Severine away.

Severine dumps the pot of hot stew on Corinne, burning her. Corinne runs out the kitchen door and dumps a bucket of rainwater on herself, but the stew’s magic keeps burning her. She runs down the hill to the sea, where she submerges herself, and the burning finally subsides. From the water, Corinne sees Severine standing in her kitchen door. She cries out to her Grand-père and her mother for help; however, the sound of the waves is the only response she hears.

This very brief chapter follows the white witch, who returns to her hut in the swamp after working at the market. As she settles in, she begins to peel the orange Dru gave her, pleased by the fruit’s beautiful aroma and bright color.

As the witch tastes the fruit, a series of sudden, shocking revelations dawn on her. First, an ordinary child could not have grown such a fruit; therefore, Severine will want to take Corinne for herself. She also realizes that protecting Corinne from this fate will require powerful magic that surpasses the witch’s own skillset. Finally, the witch wonders why Nicole La Mer hid her identity from her.

The chapter opens as Corinne lies in her father’s fishing vessel, surrounded by people: her neighbor Laurent, Bouki, Malik, and Victor, one of the village fishermen. Corinne smells food cooking and realizes it is early evening. The crowd around the little boat recedes and Bouki and Malik stay to help Corinne up; she is in a daze.

Bouki and Malik lead Corinne toward their cave shelter, where they invite her to spend the night. On the way, they stop at the village bakery, where Hugo is closing shop for the night. Through the shop window, they see Hugo place two pastries on a counter and disappear into the back; Malik hurries in and snatches the pastries, which become the children’s dinner. At their cave, Bouki and Malik are kind and hospitable, offering Corinne soft blankets with which to sleep. She is surprisingly cozy in their cave home but is too troubled by her situation to sleep. She cannot stop thinking about her father looking lost in his own kitchen, and Severine, whose cruel laughter echoes in her mind.

The next morning, Bouki supplies a breakfast of sugarcane, coconuts, and bananas, which helps Corinne to feel stronger and more confident. She tells the boys that she is leaving to get Severine out of her house, but Bouki stops her. Because she could not make Severine leave the day before, Bouki reasons, Corinne should not return to confront her again until she knows exactly what she will do. They resolve to consult Dru, who knows a little about jumbies, and the three set out for Dru’s village. On their walk, however, Corinne doubles back and quietly runs in the direction of her house, leaving Bouki and Malik behind.

When Corinne reaches her house, she rushes to her father’s side; Pierre looks old, and his eyes are cloudy. She squeezes the juice of one of her oranges into her father’s mouth and suddenly, the clouds clear, and he finally sees Corinne. Pierre tells Corinne to run, just as Severine brings a rolling pin down on the arm of his chair, near where Corinne stands. Severine is in her jumbie form; she has shriveled skin covered in bugs and thin, dark hair. Her eyes glow yellow, and she is tall and lanky, like a tree; the green fabric in which she usually wraps herself barely covers her. Severine is not a La Diabless, but Corinne has no idea what kind of jumbie she is.

Severine avoids the shafts of light streaming in between the cracks of the shuttered window as she speaks to Corinne. She tells her that her mother, Nicole, was her sister, a jumbie, who took pity on humans. She tells Corinne that Nicole pretended to be a human, but that it was from living among people that she died. Corinne is horrified by Severine’s words, but scans the kitchen for anything to fight Severine off. The jumbie continues by telling Corinne of her plan to convert the island’s humans to jumbies; if she cooperates with this plan, Severine will spare her. Corinne pretends to be interested as she moves toward one of the shuttered windows, planning to fling it open. The jumbie approaches Corinne, shrinking to human size and promising to teach her to use her inherited magic powers. Corinne throws open the shutters and the jumbie collapses to the ground.

Severine quickly recovers and grabs Corinne by the throat, but the stone pendant around her neck burns Severine’s hand. Corinne takes off the necklace and holds it out, hoping to fend off the jumbie, but Severine knocks it from the girl’s hand and throws her out the front door just as Dru, Malik, and Bouki arrive. Severine makes thorny, poisonous vines sprout from the earth, encasing Corinne’s house and walling the children out.

Back inside the house, Severine prepares more stew to feed Pierre; she must reapply her magic ritual for two more nights before it fully takes hold. As she works, the jumbie mutters to herself about Corinne—she should have changed her first. Nevertheless, as Severine shovels spoonfuls of stew into Pierre’s mouth, she feels confident she will win against Corinne and have the jumbie family she wants.

Severine decides that two nights is too long of a time to wait to convert the rest of the island’s humans to jumbies. She decides to begin her plan that evening. As the sun begins to set, she sings out the window to the rest of the jumbies, letting them know to get ready. Severine takes Corinne’s necklace and makes her way to the forest, marveling at the power held in its stone: Forming Magic, “an ancient power that was created at the very same time the earth was made” (131). Severine is unsure how to unlock the stone’s power, so she hides it from Corinne atop a cliff. She whispers another message to her fellow jumbies, and the forest comes alive with the sounds of creatures making their preparations: That night, the jumbies’ battle for the island will begin.

As Corinne and her friends sit on the beach, the gleam of Corinne’s necklace, dangling from a cliff above, catches Malik’s attention. He points it out to Corinne, and she resolves to get it back, feeling as if the stone is calling to her. Corinne remembers her father’s story of her mother giving her the necklace right before she died. She had told Corinne to guard it and that the necklace would protect her. Bouki is unsure whether Corinne will be able to retrieve the necklace, but she tells her friends they do not need to help; she will get it on her own.

The sun begins to set as the group starts down the road toward town. Corinne tells Dru that she should go home so Mrs. Rootsingh will not worry. At that moment, a creature as tall as the trees appears in the road; he has sharp teeth, the face of a dog, and chains cover his human-like body. The creature is a lagahoo, a male type of jumbie; at the sight of the beast, Malik, Bouki, and Dru flee, leaving Corinne.

The lagahoo jumps into the air, trying to land on Corinne, but she runs underneath him and sprints down the road. The lagahoo chases Corinne at full gallop, and she runs until she feels her legs might give out. Just as she feels like she cannot go on, Corinne hears a whimper and turns around: The lagahoo’s chains are tangled in the branches of a tamarind tree, and he cannot move.

Corinne understands that if this jumbie is out on the attack, others must be as well. Severine’s battle has begun, and Corinne needs to help her friends.