“Ooo lawd,” Cousin Neicey says. “I’ll be glad when they done with whatever they building back here. Them trucks so noisy all day and night.”

“The sign,” I say, pointing.

“What it say now, chile?” Ms. Leola holds a hand over her brow, squinting. “You know I can’t see in that sun like that. Only brought my readers.” She jiggles the glasses hanging around her neck. Aunt Niecey and Cousin Keisha peer upward, squinting too.

“What’s Rooted?” Keisha asks, pulling her neon braids over her shoulder, her lip gloss poppin’.

“It’s a community center I’m building here to connect our community to our roots. Part of the work I’m doing in East Row is to make sure anyone who wants to visit Ghizon can. And anyone with ties to the Ancestors will be shown how to access and wield their magic.”

There’s no way I’m the only one ever with ancestry there. If the onyx warming to Julius’s fingers is any indication, East Row is an untapped mine of magical people who just haven’t realized it yet. And I’m not going to let access to resources or information stifle our ability to come into our power.

“Yo, the sign look so dope,” Julius says. One side of the building is a solid wall of glass with windows rimmed in gold. “Rooted” is scripted in bold letters beneath the image of a jpango tree. Its leaves make up parts of the letters.

“It’s looking good, isn’t it?” I say.

“It is.”

“Two more months and it’s ready, they said. I told Bati I’d let him come see it. Promised him some of Ms. Leola’s cooking, too.”

“Oh, he ain’t going back, then.”

We laugh and I spot Cousin Keisha on her Instagram Live with the building in the background talking about “my cousin is a Queen” and she might be royalty too, so they better double tap her video.

“Keesh wild, man.” Julius laughs into his fist.

“You better recognize melanated royalty,” I say, smirking.

“Nah, but for real, nothing is going to be the same after this, Rue.” He throws an arm over my shoulder.

“No, it won’t.” I lay my head on his shoulder. “And it shouldn’t be.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Is It Really The End?

Wow, the end of this duology feels like the end of an era. This book was a grind. I wrote, revised, and edited it during a pandemic, where life meant limiting time away from home, being isolated, and pretending to be okay with it. Emotionally and physically exhausted from all the protocols and sanitizing and safety measures and stress of worrying about loved ones. And somehow, despite it all, I was able to put together this final iteration of Rue’s story.