Incantation

Over the next few days, the looting continues. Estrella’s grandfather installs a new lock and nails the windows closed. At night the family must take in the animals to protect them. Dini sleeps in Estrella’s room secretly. He sleeps peacefully while she cannot. One evening, she goes on a walk with Catalina and regrets the distance between them. She tries to bring up a happy childhood memory of racing donkeys. Catalina is happy to remember winning, not realizing Estrella let her win. After talking about the donkeys and their nicknames, Catalina pulls her arm away and says that Estrella was always prettier than she was. After voicing this insecurity, she warns Estrella to stay away from Andres. 

Someone breaks into the deMadrigals’ house to steal food, and in response Estrella’s grandmother pledges to leave a basket of food in the yard for anyone who is hungry. She then worries that Estrella’s pearl necklace was stolen. Estrella tries to avoid confrontation by lying that the pearls are safe in the box, but her grandmother wants her to wear them so they’ll stay safe. When Estrella says that it’s too hot out to have them on her skin, her grandmother knows she’s lying.

Even though she hates doing it, Estrella goes to Catalina’s house to have the pearls back by dinner, as she promised her grandmother she would. Catalina insists that Estrella gave the necklace to her, but when Andres appears and calls out to Estrella, the girls begin fighting about him instead. When Estrella insists that Catalina return the necklace, Catalina appears not herself. Estrella’s heart pounds; she is aware that Catalina has the power to hurt her in retaliation. Catalina refuses again and slams the door. 

After Estrella explains the fight to Andres, Catalina calls him in for dinner. He returns with the pearls and fastens them around Estrella’s neck himself. As he walks her home, he reveals that Catalina lied to him about a boy named Philippe giving Estrella the pearls. Estrella tells him the truth; she doesn’t know Phillipe and doesn’t love him. She loves someone else. They kiss, and Andres asks her not to let her grandfather promise her to someone else. When she worries about taking him from Catalina, he tells her that marriage was never going to happen. When Estrella feels pangs in her chest, she remembers her mother’s memory of meeting Estrella’s father: She felt a pain, like being stabbed by a knife. However, Estrella’s feelings of love are complicated by seeing Catalina watching her with Andres. She refuses to promise herself to Andres, unsure she deserves him. 

Estrella cannot eat or sleep. Instead, she worries about how Andres would react to her being a hidden Jew. She puts the pearls back in her treasure box and sleeps with it under her bed. When the riots calm down, people return to their usual routines. However, Estrella’s family is still worried. When her mother spreads her cards to look into the future, she sees sorrows. Estrella and her mother wear a red thread under their arms as a secret amulet for good luck. When Estrella hears a nightingale in the fields at noon, she tries to chase it away but cannot find it. It is a bad sign, her mother agrees. 

A boy who works for the Muslim doctor comes to the yard despite Muslims not ever venturing to the deMadrigals’ part of town. While Estrella’s grandmother tries to chase him away, he insists on delivering a box. Abra comes out and uncharacteristically shushes Estrella’s grandmother. The boy is delivering a box of chickens from the Muslim doctor’s wife, who has died. Abra is in disbelief, believing that she never gave the woman anything to deserve this. The chickens are different than their own, and in the box are blue eggs. The grandmother takes Estrella away so Abra can grieve alone. 

Estrella hears someone crying in her grandfather’s study. In the cellar, her grandfather and Señor deLeon, Friar deLeon’s father, are watching over a bleeding man. Estrella’s grandfather stitches him up carefully. Estrella spies on them and remembers the book burning: Possessing medical texts was almost as bad as having Hebrew books.

Though Estrella waits quietly, she startles her grandfather, who drops his tools. When she cleverly answers his questions about what she saw, he is surprised but pleased. Estrella declares that their family should have run away 100 years ago rather than live like this, but her grandfather responds that if they did that they would be running forever. He explains the Kabbalah, and she reveals what she knows about the gates from her dreams. He then uses a key to open the secret room in the cellar, which Estrella sees is lined with books. He begins to teach her Hebrew.

One day Estrella’s grandfather brings her into the study not to learn but to give her the name of a man in Amsterdam who can help them flee Spain. When she suggests giving the name to Luis or her mother, he surprises her by saying that if they run, Estrella may have to flee alone. He tells her that the world isn’t easy: That’s why there are 10 gates they must pass through. He teaches her the gates’ names: crown, wisdom, intelligence, love, judgment, compassion, endurance, majesty, foundation of the world, and kingdom.

After Estrella begins this journey of learning, a letter arrives from her brother congratulating her. When she burns the letter in a special bowl, her grandmother is upset with the burn marks, but she understands when Estrella explains that she burned her brother’s words into it. Together, the family eats Luis and Estrella’s favorite meal from the bowl. 

That night she dreams of Catalina. In the dream, Catalina is falling on the other side of a gate, but Estrella doesn’t reach out to save Catalina. The gate is made of black feathers and is so fragile it might fall apart, so Estrella stays still and silent. Estrella feels guilty about the dream and goes to the Plaza. However, Catalina isn’t alone, and she laughs with the other girls and heckles Estrella about how she’ll find neither pearls nor Andres in the well. Estrella draws the water from the well as Catalina admits she doesn’t know who Estrella is; she reveals to the other girls that Estrella’s family doesn’t even cross themselves right.

After sneaking out to the olive tree, Estrella tells Andres her secret Jewish identity. When she is done explaining, he kisses her and they promise to belong to each other.