Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

Tristan makes his way toward the Maafa, past a grieving Sarah hunched over Miss Rose, and Nyame, who tells Tristan he is making a mistake. Tristan persists despite the disapproval of the adults. He makes his way aboard the ship, where Fox greets him. Fox asks Tristan if he is sure bargaining with the Maafa is the right thing to do, but Tristan tells him that this is the only way. Tristan then talks with familiar figures—Fox and Netta, a girl he met back at the Thicket—who are possessed by the Maafa so that it can talk with Tristan.

Tristan strikes a bargain. He knows the lesson John Henry taught him—that running from your pain never allows you to escape it—is a good one and that the Maafa is simply the pain that the first settlers of MidPass, survivors of the world slavery made, brought with them. Tristan tells the Maafa that he will tell its story, which appears in glowing outlines on the Story Box, to prevent the Maafa from being dominated by Uncle C, who is only out to use the Maafa until he gains the Story Box.

The story of the Maafa shows John Henry and the others striking down the Maafa as a great black monster, banishing it to the Burning Sea. The Maafa, the pain of Midfolk who escaped from slavery, haunted and hunted the people of this world ever since. The Maafa agrees that if Tristan will tell its story and so keep it from being forgotten, it will go back to the bottom of the sea. The Maafa accepts the bargain. Brer Fox comes back one more time to caution Tristan about the trickiness of trusting his foes, and then he fades away. Tristan’s next task is to deal with Uncle C.

Tristan finally meets Uncle C, who turns out to be Uncle Cotton, the growing of which fueled so much of slavery in the United States. Uncle C at present looks like part dandily dressed man, part soggy cotton scarecrow. Tristan insists that Uncle Cotton return his memories and Eddie’s journal in exchange for the Story Box. Uncle Cotton gives Tristan back his memories back but forces Tristan to help him by uncovering more of his body. Uncle Cotton then reveals that Tristan will have to break through a door of a small room where the journal is buried.

Tristan does help, but Uncle C, who is gaining strength, tells Tristan that he must help him completely by giving him the Story Box. He even tries to bribe and browbeat Tristan by claiming that Tristan has only become a hero because of him. Uncle Cotton offers to make Tristan his heir once the box transforms him into King Cotton. Tristan convinces Uncle Cotton to withdraw his roots and vines from the Maafa first. When Uncle Cotton grabs the Story Box, it turns into a treasure box. He opens it, and out pops Gum Baby, who hurls insults and sap balls that trap Uncle Cotton. Unable to move, Uncle Cotton is forced to give up his hold on the Maafa. The Maafa breaks apart and begins to sink to the bottom of the sea, taking Uncle Cotton with it.

Tristan and Gum Baby emerge into a ghost bus, and Eddie, who looks and sounds exactly like the boy Tristan remembers, tells Tristan that Uncle Cotton has used Tristan’s storytelling to track Tristan and his companions to each of the places the monsters destroyed. Uncle Cotton used these stories to reinforce the Maafa. Tristan is overwhelmed and glad to see his friend, but Eddie tells him that it is time for Tristan to go so Eddie can finally stop being Tristan’s haint. Just before he disappears, Eddie reminds Tristan again that he is talking to the wrong character. Tristan and Gum Baby enter the next room over. It is a dark cargo hold that is filled with slimy water and so low overhead that it is impossible to stand. Tristan can see an ironbound door that must be an exit, and just in front of the door is a small body, which Tristan gathers up and takes with him.

Tristan floats to shore with others, many of them people who disappeared from Alke in the previous months. Chestnutt and Ayanna, healed by the forest fairies, are also there. When he arrives, Tristan sees all the heroes and gods he met along the way, but he is worried because the Midfolk and Alkeans are still separated and eyeing each other with suspicion.

Brer Rabbit finally shows up, and he belittles Tristan and demands to know why Tristan didn’t follow his instructions to bring the Story Box back to him in the Thicket. Tristan uses his self-control to keep his anger in check, however. He sets Gum Baby to the task of touching each of the gods with Nyame’s adinkra. When Brer Rabbit demands the box, Tristan pretends to trip, doing so close to the body Tristan rescued from the cargo hold. Tristan reveals this figure—the real Brer Rabbit. The one passing himself off as Brer Rabbit all this time is Anansi, the old trickster and thief.

Nyame uses his powers to command Anansi to reveal himself to everyone in his true, spider-like form as a skinny man. Tristan tells everyone his theory of what happened. Anansi wanted to gain all the stories in his world and beyond and so emptied the Story Box of everything. The hoard of stories he and Brer gathered attracted the monsters to Alke before Tristan ever tore a hole in the sky. Eager to gain more stories once the Story Box was depleted, Anansi told no one of the threat and assumed Brer Rabbit’s identity. Everyone is stunned by his selfishness.

Nyame hands down his punishment: Anansi will stop collecting all the worlds’ stories for himself, help close the tear, and stay in Tristan’s world for 20 days to help Tristan complete the folklore collection project that Tristan and Eddie were to turn in before Eddie’s death. Nyame transforms the Story Box into a smartphone and traps Anansi in it. Nyame warns Tristan that Tristan is responsible for any mischief the little trickster gets up to. Tristan says goodbye to all his friends, especially Ayanna, on whom he seems to be developing a crush.

Tristan begins his journey home. He meets John Henry and High John, who are building a bridge between MidPass and Alke to bring the people together. Tristan rides Old Familiar all the way to MidPass, then pops out back into Alabama. Although weeks have passed there, in Alabama it is the same night that Tristan left. Using the phone almost like a VR set, Tristan helps Anansi to repair the hole with spider silk. Anansi insists that they need to hurry since there are only twenty days to his punishment.

Tristan springs a surprise on Anansi: He explains that the difference in how time acts in the two lands might mean a long stay in Tristan’s world. Tristan thumbs through the phone, noting many apps, including a story collecting one called Listen Chile. He begins recounting the story of his adventures immediately as the first step in working on the project he and Eddie began. Tristan closes by recapping all his adventures, opening the story with the lines his grandmother uses to begin all her stories.