The Witch’s Apprentice
The Witch’s Apprentice
“Hey, Dutch. Mrs. B. said you have a weird theory about time.”
Dutch laughs and tilts her chair back. A footrest pops up, and she reclines before answering my question. “I can’t really take credit for it,” she says. “I heard this griot give a talk a while back, and I’ve thought about her ideas ever since. Have you ever seen the sankofa bird? It’s an adinkra symbol from the Akan.”
None of us knows about the bird, so Dutch describes it. “It’s moving forward but looking back over its shoulder. What if humans did that, too – moved forward while keeping an eye on the past? It’s possible if you give up the idea of monochronic time. That’s where one event happens after another.”
“But… isn’t that how time actually works?” Kenny asks while munching on a cookie.
I have a different question. “What’s the alternative?”
Dutch gets excited and tilts her chair up again. She leans forward and rests her elbows on her knees. “Some cultures are polychronic – they believe multiple things can happen at the same time. So you don’t have to wait for one thing to end before another begins.”
Kavi frowns and loudly sucks the last bit of juice out of her box. “Everything happens all at once? That sounds messy.”
Dutch laughs. “Some people like everything to happen according to a schedule. But some of us…” She shrugs and winks at me. “Some of us like to color outside the lines.”
After returning all three dragons to the magical realm of Palmara, Jax is ready to continue with his training under Ma to be a witch. However, with the sleeping sickness that afflicted Ma now spreading all over Brooklyn and his friends Kavita and Kenny becoming more like the magical creatures they cared for, Jax is worried that Blue has already changed the world. In amidst his worries, one thing Jax is excited about is the witches’ conference in Chicago that Ma is taking him to. Jax will finally have the chance to learn more about magic, and, hopefully, Ma will begin to trust him more as an apprentice. Before they leave though, Jax’s friend Vik entrusts him with a phoenix egg! Vik says Jax is the only one who can take care of it and that he should ask Ma for help with it. Jax, however, does not feel comfortable asking Ma for help and keeps the egg a secret.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, things aren’t going as planned with the conference. Jax isn’t actually allowed in, and Ma’s coven isn’t welcoming Jax into the fold either. Instead, Jax is made to wander around Chicago with Vonn, an age-old watcher, who teaches Jax all about the history of Chicago. After Jax’s first day in Chicago, the phoenix egg hatches, and Jax begins to take on the characteristics of the phoenix. Vonn, knowing the egg has hatched, tells Jax that he should talk to Blue who has something important to tell Jax. After some deliberation, Jax agrees to speak to Blue who tells him that the conference is actually a trial for Sis in front of the Supreme Council. Blue called Jax as a witness, but Ma kept that from him. Jax confronts Ma about this, and she forbids him from going to the trial, but, with some help from a couple of witches in Ma’s coven, Jax is able to sneak into the trial and testify. Feeling isolated from Ma and agreeing more with Blue about bringing magic back into the human realm, Jax is left with the choice of betraying Ma and staying true to his beliefs or siding with Ma who, he feels, isn’t being honest with him.
The Witch’s Apprentice is excellent in keeping tone and theme with the first two novels in the series, Dragons in a Bag and The Dragon Thief. Keeping in theme with more African magic, there is an added layer of Indigenous magic towards the end of the novel that is exciting to see. This novel also dives deeper into the historical aspects of the series, with Vonn and Jax exploring Chicago and learning about both the history of the city and the history of magic. The historical focus in the book draws sharply in contrast to the fight for the future of magic and the realms, with a message that one cannot move forward without having known where they come from.
The fight for the future is also firmly rooted in children’s rights. Blue says himself that he believes the children in the novel are the ones who will make the changes, and that he is only trying to help them do that. In comparison to Ma’s reticent behaviour around Jax, readers will find themselves torn just as Jax is between Ma and Blue’s sides of the story. Jax’s strong moral compass and firm belief in his own rights and abilities to exact change are exciting to see as a focal point in the story.
The Witch’s Apprentice, the third installment in the “Dragons in a Bag” series, is just as fun and exciting as the first two books, but it leaves readers with a more serious cliff-hanger. Readers will be anxiously awaiting the next part of Jax’s story.
Deanna Feuer, an English Literature graduate from the University of the Fraser Valley, lives in Langley, British Columbia, and is currently studying Library Sciences.