Free The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste Page A

lost.
    Her heart pounded faster. She looked around for a clue of which way to run, but all the trees looked alike. She tried to feel the air against her cheek, but all she noticed was sweat dripping down her skin. Her legs felt weak and wobbly. She couldn’t get them to move the way she wanted to. The douens had her surrounded.
    The army of tiny douens was closing in, their calls growing louder and louder, when a small frog hopped into the circle and stopped in front of Corinne.
    â€œOh,” the douens said, distracted by the frog. “Oh, oh, oh.”
    It hopped once toward them. The douen closest to the frog leaned in. A few licked their lips. Just as one of the douens lunged at it, the frog hopped out of reach. It hopped closer to the douens again, and hopped away when another one of them tried to grab it. Each time, the frog drew them farther and farther away from Corinne.
    Was that the same frog from the well? Corinne barely had time to wonder as the frog lured the douens all together. When they all lunged for the frog, the jumbies landed in a heap, some with their fingers just a hair’s breadth from the frog’s back legs. The frog turned and hopped toward a barely noticeable path. Then it turned again and hopped away deeper into the forest. Without the douens’ sounds filling her head, Corinne could think clearly. Her legs began to work again. She sprinted down the path the frog had revealed. Her injured leg hurt, but she didn’t stop.
    A few moments later, she burst out onto the road and stood panting and blinking in the sunlight.
    Dru was right.Jumbies are real.

17
    The Jumbies
    D ru held her sari up over her knees as she ran hard toward the well. She spotted Corinne and stopped herself by grabbing on to Corinne’s shoulders. The girls held on tight to each other until they found enough breath to speak.
    â€œI’m sorry I didn’t believe you about the jumbies,” Corinne said. She pointed to the forest. “There are douens in there!”
    Dru held Corinne’s hand. “I got away from Mami as early as I could. What about Miss Severine? Did she come back?”
    Corinne’s legs felt like they might fail her again. She shook her head no.
    â€œIf she went into the forest last night like we thought, and there are douens in there, then we’re sure she can only be one of them too.”
    â€œI know,” Corinne said. “But she is not like the little men, the douens.”
    â€œNo. My mother said she must be a La Diabless. A devil-woman,” Dru said. “Have you ever seen Miss Severine’s feet? She always wears that long dress.”
    Corinne frowned. “What do you mean?”
    â€œLa Diabless are always beautiful women, but they have one cow hoof instead of a foot,” Dru explained. “They lure men into the forest and kill them.”
    Even with the long dress, Corinne was sure she would have noticed if Severine walked with one cow hoof. “No. Not a La Diabless.” Corinne knew her father was safe on the sea that morning. “If she was, she would have killed my father the first night. What else could she be?”
    â€œWhatever she is, you have to stay away from her,” Dru pleaded. “Our kind and their kind don’t belong together.”
    â€œBut she keeps coming to us,” Corinne said.
    â€œTell your father to lock the doors.”
    Corinne knew that her father did not believe in jumbies , and he would not believe Severine was one . There was only one person Corinne thought could help them, even though she got a cold feeling at the thought of her. “What about the white witch? She knows magic.”
    For a moment, both girls hesitated.
    Corinne picked up the basket that she had left on the road and looked toward the market. “The faster we get this over with, the faster everything will be the way it was,” Corinne said, as a way to coax them both.
    The girls held hands and headed