Chapter 2 Summary

This chapter introduces the third of the novel's narrators, Maya's grandson Bird. The chapter opens with him awakening in prison, in bed with a young man named Littlejohn. Bird is confused, not knowing where he is or how he got there. Littlejohn explains that Bird has been imprisoned for ten years and is now in Terminal Island in Angel City, which is the former Los Angeles. Bird tries to "ground" himself and Littlejohn balks. Such witchcraft is forbidden. As Bird starts to remember his past, in particular Maya and Madrone, he senses another person in the cell is in pain. Hijohn has just been brought to the jail and has been beaten by the guards to the point of near death. Using a process similar to Madrone's in the previous chapter, Bird is able to soothe the man energetically and heal some of...