I smooth my hands on my pants, but the berry’s juice lingers, like a stain, a mark, a memory of my first encounter with the Ancestors that I’m forced to remember. I rub harder but it doesn’t go away.

“Jela…”

“Please. Just stop.”

Her eyes pinch, like she’s discovered a blemish on a perfect portrait. I stare back but it’s more than Rojala I see. It’s buried bodies and forgotten bones; it’s the weight of injustice packed down under the earth, buried under generations of unresolved anger and fear. It’s my father’s death. My mother, bleeding out on the carpet. It’s Yiyo burning.

How can I be who they want me to be if this is all I see?

Rojala stares at me in such wonder, hope dangling in her eyes, willing me to say something that pieces her world back together—something to make the entire life she’s lived underground with meek provisions, the family she’s lost, the pain she’s suffered on this journey alone, the hope ballooning in her chest right now… believable. But I don’t have those words. I don’t have comfort to give her. Or myself. I’m lost. Confused. Scared. And when I feel that way, there’s only one thing that ever helps. Just the thought of it makes my next breath come easier.

“I owe you some corn bread, don’t I?”

She smiles and I glance over my shoulder.

“You trust me?”

She nods and I wrap my hand in hers, mutter a transport spell to East Row just as someone’s hand clamps my shoulder. My magic pulls at us, the world spins, and we’re gone.

Ms. Leola’s is busy as usual on a Sunday. Cooking starts before the sun comes up. The kitchen smells like heaven, notes of buttery, salty something permeating the air. Julius’s hand is still on my shoulder.

“You scared the shit out of me, grabbing me like that!” My heart pounds. I wrap an arm around Rojala to ground myself and exhale. She’s looking around wide-eyed, her jaw hanging open.

“You running through the forest, you had me buggin’. I had to catch your ass!” Lines wrinkle his brow. “And what are we doing here, anyway?”

“Rue, baby, that you?” Ms. Leola says, the door creaking open. “Oh my god!” She pulls me in a bear hug. I hug around her frail body, thin but iron strong. She holds my face and kisses my cheek. “I’m just…” She clutches her chest and turns to Jue. “And Julius.” She kisses him. “You didn’t say you was going for a long time. Where have y’all been? I been worried sick over here ’bout you, boy. Get on here and get something to eat.” Her eyes fall to Rojala, her pale skin even grayer in the midday sun. “And what’s yo name, baby?”