A Forsaken Prophecy

Lord Shop’s soldiers escort Theo and a badly injured Polly out of Lavnonshire. Lord Shop informs Theo that he told the public that Theo was kidnapped, preserving the family’s reputation. On a private train, Theo confronts his father about his cruelty and neglect, then attempts to negotiate terms for his cooperation. He demands a ceasefire, that the original agreement with the Colsons be upheld, that the terranium from Idia’s Seam be distributed to those who need it most, and that Nina and Polly be acquitted.

Shop dismisses Theo’s demands and reveals his true strategy: He never intended to find the Seam himself. Instead, he will allow Nina and Patrick to act as “rats” who will find the “bait” for him. Once they have uncovered the terranium, he will move in with his army and seize it. When Polly reveals that she used her power to send Patrick and Nina a message about the Seam’s location, he has his soldiers slice open Polly’s forearm, causing her to lose consciousness from blood loss and pain. Horrified by his father’s ruthlessness, Theo uses his water Charmer abilities to summon a massive wave from a nearby marsh, derailing the train. As the car is hit, he holds onto Polly, and the water cushions their fall.

Patrick, John, and a traumatized Nina flee into the marshes outside Lavnonshire. As Patrick comforts Nina, he feels a stinging, scratching sensation on his forearm. He discovers that words are being magically written on his skin; it is the translated text from The Stewards’ Testament, which Polly is transmitting to him. The message reveals a secret history: Idia’s own countrymen killed her and her sisters and became the first Artisans. The text also contains the phrase “widow’s lace.” Nina immediately recognizes this as a type of red flower that grows only in her hometown of Scurry, revealing it as the location of Idia’s Seam. Just then, they hear a distant crash, the sound of the train derailing.

Nina, Patrick, and John arrive in Nina’s hometown of Scurry, a grim and impoverished mining town. The familiar sights trigger painful childhood memories for Nina, who recalls her mother pointing out the unique “widow’s lace” flowers. Seeing wanted posters with her face, they realize they need a safe place to hide. Nina reluctantly leads them to her childhood home to find her father, Fletcher Harrow. They discover him in a state of severe physical decay due to his bluff addiction. He fails to recognize Nina and becomes aggressive when she has no money for him. Patrick intervenes, and John placates Fletcher with whiskey until he passes out. The experience leaves Nina deeply shaken, and Patrick resolves to find them lodging elsewhere.

In Kenton Hill, Donny, Gunner, and Tess read a false newspaper report that Patrick signed a truce with the House, recognizing it as propaganda designed to fracture the Miners Union. Their despair is interrupted by the arrival of Theo and Polly, who have survived the train crash and made their way north. Polly is unconscious and feverish. Theo urgently explains Lord Shop’s plan to let Nina and Patrick find Idia’s Seam and then ambush them, after which Nina would become dispensable. He reveals the key to its location is the phrase “widow’s lace.” Scottie identifies Scurry as the only place these flowers grow. The Colsons realize they cannot send help, as the tunnels to Scurry are too dangerous and their allies have abandoned them. Determined to warn Patrick, Tess insists that she and a small group go to Scurry immediately.

Patrick, Nina, and John find rooms at a desolate pub in Scurry. Nina remains distraught after seeing her father, but she rejects Patrick’s offer to help her escape, reaffirming her commitment to the fight. She asks Patrick to stay in the same room as her. He agrees and rests a reassuring hand on her forehead until she falls asleep.

Early the next morning, Nina sees a newspaper article claiming that Theo and Polly were killed in a train crash. Overcome with grief, she goes to her father’s house. Fletcher is muddled but tender toward her, embracing her and praising how she’s grown.

When she returns to the pub, Patrick sits with her as she cries and tries to process “the deaths of those who weren't always friends, but weren't quite enemies” (391). At her insistence, the group searches for the Seam. They enter a mine, and Patrick’s powers allow him to sense a large terranium deposit. John and Patrick conclude that they’ll need the help of some local miners to extract the ore.

The group is ambushed in the pub by local miners led by an imposing man named Harland “Kicker” Seymore. Nina identifies Harland as her uncle. Patrick reveals his identity as the Alchemist and announces he has located a massive new terranium seam. He asks for their help with the operation in exchange for weapons and a share of the profits. He demonstrates Nina’s power as the earth Charmer to prove they can bypass the mine’s dangerous gas pockets. Harland greedily agrees. Nina warns Patrick that her uncle is a bluff “hawker” who profited from her father’s addiction and cannot be trusted, but Patrick insists they have no other choice.

The Scurry miners celebrate their new deal by drinking heavily through the night. Patrick and John only pretend to get drunk while observing the crew. Harland becomes increasingly crude and boorish. Enraged by his behavior and the memory of how he exploited her family, a drunken Nina tries to confront him. Patrick intercepts her, carries her over his shoulder up to her room, and stays to prevent her from going back down. The forced proximity ignites the tension between them. Nina confronts him, and they both confess they are still in love with each other. Giving in to their feelings, Nina begins to undress, and Patrick abandons his restraint.

Nina and Patrick have sex and then fall asleep together.

The next morning, Nina and Patrick affirm their commitment to each other, though their future remains uncertain. They descend into the Scurry mine with Harland and his crew. Patrick uses his Alchemist senses to locate the seam, and Nina uses her earth Charmer powers to break down the rock wall, pausing periodically to let pockets of dangerous methane gas dissipate. After hours of exhausting work, she breaks through a final barrier to reveal a massive, glittering wall of black terranium ore, Idia’s Seam. The discovery is so awe-inspiring that the miners fall silent. Their canary, a bird used to detect toxic air, dies.

The miners emerge from the pit, victorious and celebrating. Patrick uses his Alchemist power to extract the liquid idium from the rock, giving a flask full to Harland as a first payment and warning him to honor their deal. As Patrick and a weary Nina walk back to Scurry, feeling triumphant, their celebration is cut short. They see fountains of water erupting within the town and realize that Artisans are attacking.

Donny, Gunner, Tess, Scottie, and Theo arrive in Scurry by boat. To search for Patrick without being noticed, Tess directs Theo to create a diversion by using his powers to burst the town’s plumbing. The resulting chaos allows the group to move through the streets. While hiding from the police in an alley, they are discovered by Patrick, leading to an emotional reunion. Patrick leads them to safety, where Donny is shocked to hear the voice of his father for the first time in two years.

The reunited group retreats to the relative safety of Fletcher’s house. The Colson family has an emotional reunion, but Tess remains hostile toward Nina and John. Theo urgently explains Lord Shop’s plan to ambush them and insists they must immediately re-bury the Seam. Patrick refuses, arguing the terranium is their only hope for victory. Donny informs him that their allies have all abandoned the Union.

Patrick desperately tries to concoct a plan that will allow him to retrieve some of the ore, but his mother tells him that he’s done enough. Nina realizes that Tess’s lung disease has worsened, making her dependent on a steady supply of bluff that only Patrick can provide. She then reveals that, years ago, John murdered Polly’s grandfather, Sullivan Prescott, to steal The Stewards’ Testament, a book Polly had inadvertently revealed by telling stories about her grandfather in Kenton Hill. John then tried to sell the book to the House for a private truce, abandoning the Union to save himself. Patrick realizes his father’s treachery caused the attack on Kenton Hill and the debts he’s been paying ever since. John tries to justify his actions as necessary to protect his family. Enraged and heartbroken, Patrick banishes his father, who leaves without another word.

Devastated by the revelations, the group agrees to leave Scurry at dawn. Patrick is crushed by a sense of failure, but Nina comforts him, and they resolve to re-bury the Seam before they go. In the morning, a newspaper announces the discovery of the new terranium seam and falsely frames Patrick as a willing ally of the House. Simultaneously, a public bulletin is posted declaring Scurry under official occupation by the Lords’ Army and ordering all residents to evacuate.

As Nina and Patrick head out to bury the Seam, they are intercepted by John, who asks for a moment alone with his son to apologize. Patrick agrees, leaving Nina waiting on a nearby corner. In an alley, John reveals that he always planned to keep his deal with Lord Shop and that he has already alerted the House to their location. He blames Patrick’s love for Nina for ruining his original arrangement, and then hints that Tess “ain’t perfect neither” (453). At that moment Tess emerges from the shadows with a rifle and shoots John in the neck, killing him.

While waiting for Patrick, Nina sees the newspaper announcing the terranium discovery. Suddenly, a raid siren blares, and the town erupts in chaos. As residents flee, Nina runs to find Patrick but is ambushed by her uncle and his men. Harland accuses her of betraying them to the House, revealing that John told him they were planning to cut the Scurry miners out of the deal. His men tie Nina to a statue in front of the town church, intending to use her as a bargaining chip with the arriving army. Pushed to her limit and remembering the legends of Idia, Nina unleashes the full, catastrophic force of her power. The ground splits open, the church collapses, and the entire town of Scurry is torn apart by a massive fissure.

As the ground quakes, Patrick urges his mother, who is in shock, to flee to the docks. He runs back into the disintegrating town and finds Nina tied to the statue. He frees her just as a series of gas explosions causes Scurry to collapse into the earth. They are chased down the hill by a massive landslide of rock and debris. Nina, though barely conscious, uses her power to form a protective shield, diverting the landslide around them before she faints. Patrick carries her to the boat, where he lies to his brothers, claiming he was the one who shot their father, to shield Tess from responsibility. As their boat escapes upriver, they hear the whistle of the House’s train arriving in the ruins of the town.

In the smoldering ruins of Scurry, a young miner from Harland’s crew named Tripp thinks about his childhood as an orphan hiding in the church, where he often watched Nina and her mother pray. In the present, Lord Shop and the Lords’ Army have captured Tripp, along with Harland and the other Scurry miners. Harland’s group had taken idium and attempted to hold off the soldiers with their new access to magic. Shop offers the defeated miners a deal: They can have more idium if they work for him to excavate the Seam and reveal Patrick’s whereabouts. While Harland remains defiant, Tripp speaks up, suggesting Shop no longer needs Patrick. To prove his point, Tripp levitates a piece of terranium ore from his pocket, revealing himself as a new Alchemist and offering his services to the Lord.