Akata Witch: Chapter 20 Summary & Analysis

Mud and trees fall from the sky, the storm stops, and chittim rains down around Sunny. Sunny’s fear turns into pain—she’s very sore. Chichi calls for Sunny and then sends her to check on Orlu, who’s still with the toddlers. When Sunny finds them, the toddlers are alive and clinging to Orlu, who’s unconscious. They beg Sunny to not hurt him. Sunny shakes Orlu and his eyes fly open. He explains that he brought the toddlers back to life and points to a huge pile of chittim. As Sunny leads Orlu and the toddlers back to the obi, she explains that Black Hat killed himself and brought Ekwensu through. Sunny explains that she somehow sent Ekwensu back—and Orlu says that the elders sent the four of them for a reason.

Sasha is awake when Sunny, Orlu, and the toddlers enter the obi. They figure a council vehicle is going to show up soon, so they set about gathering all the chittim they earned. Sure enough, a van arrives 30 minutes later. On the drive, Chichi explains to Sunny that Chichi’s mother knew Sunny’s grandmother, and in a dream recently, Ozoemena taught her the juju that Chichi used. It’s called a “bring back,” and powerful scholars can give it to someone when they die to bring back a person’s worst sins. Sasha and Orlu join the conversation; they realize that the Oha covens that didn’t survive probably took the place of the kidnapped children they saved. The driver stops at the police station, and he and Orlu take the toddlers inside.

Once the toddlers have been delivered, the driver turns the van onto a bumpy road that he says leads to Leopard Knocks. As the van reaches a bridge, everyone closes their eyes except Sunny. She feels her spirit face come forward as the wheels hit the bridge, and she looks around at her friends’ spirit faces. Orlu’s face is square, green, and decorated with tiny Nsibidi symbols. Sasha’s spirit face is that of a fierce parrot, and Chichi’s face is long and made of marble. She can’t see the driver’s face. At the end of the bridge, Sunny closes her eyes and pretends to open them with everyone else. She feels a bit guilty for looking at everyone’s faces, but she’s glad she looked.

The van stops at the Obi Library just as the sun comes out. The driver explains that he’s taking all the chittim to Sunny, Sasha, Orlu, and Chichi’s homes and drives away, leaving the four to enter the library alone. The atmosphere in the library is excited now, and Samya shouts happily when she sees the kids walk in. She leads them to Sugar Cream’s office, where they tell Sugar Cream everything. Sugar Cream praises them, Sunny in particular. But she warns that it'll be easier for Ekwensu to return now that she’s come through once, so they’ll need to start preparing in the physical world. Then, Sugar Cream hugs each kid in turn—and tells Sunny “Okay.” Sunny has a mentor.