A Forsaken Prophecy

The group takes refuge in Tamir’s apartment. While Tamir frantically prepares to flee, Patrick recalls finding a beaten Polly on a pier years ago and recruiting her for the Union. In the present, he demands she translate The Stewards’ Testament. Polly recognizes the script as belonging to her grandfather, a Craftsman who believed their family were descendants of the Stewards, the book’s authors.

When Polly tries to explain her betrayal, Patrick flies into a rage, reminding her that Otto survived the attack she orchestrated. Polly breaks down, confessing the House abandoned her and that she now survives by cheating at cards. After John threatens her, Polly demands safe passage off the continent in exchange for the translation. She demonstrates her ability by deciphering the first symbol, which reveals the names of the three mythical daughters of God—Joan, Dione, and Idia. Patrick agrees to her terms but warns he will kill her if he senses betrayal. John argues they shouldn’t return home, and Patrick reluctantly concedes. Theo insists on staying to protect Polly, and since Nina does not object, he remains with them.

As the group prepares to leave before dawn, Patrick struggles with his lingering desire for Nina and their broken trust. Nina enters his room while he is changing and confesses her fear that she would have killed everyone at Rickers. He comforts her, but then grows jealous when he sees the ink on her thigh left by a Scribbler at the club. Kneeling before her, Patrick tugs apart the split in her dress and uses a washcloth to wash the writing away. He promises that once they find Idia’s Seam, he will make her so powerful that no one will ever touch her again, and he vows to personally kill anyone who tries.

The group travels through a decaying tunnel system beneath Morland. They send Tamir on a different route to Kenton Hill with instructions for Otto to meet him. As they travel, Nina and Theo use their powers in tandem to stabilize the tunnel. John’s casual authority grates on Patrick, and the tension escalates when Nina confronts John for his two-year absence from Kenton Hill. John pulls out a gun and threatens the group for questioning his loyalty. Patrick then challenges his father, asking who revealed Patrick’s abilities to the House. Before John can answer, the tunnel begins to collapse. The group flees and dives into a side passage just as the main tunnel caves in, leaving them in total darkness.

In Kenton Hill, Donny rouses Gunner, who is still weak from a knife wound, to deal with intruders in the western tunnel. They find Scottie and Otto holding two men from the Dunnitch parish, Dirk and Warner. The men demand to know why bluff shipments have stopped and present a newspaper article claiming Patrick has allied with the National House. They accuse Kenton of hoarding resources and demand proof that the Miners Union is still functional. Donny uses his power to telekinetically hold their pistols to their hearts, intimidating them. He gives them a sack of rifles as a show of “good faith” and sends them away.

Scribblers possess the ability to send messages instantaneously over long distances. Back at the pub, Tess reveals she received one such message, or “scribble,” from an unknown source. The message states that Patrick and John are alive and pursuing “rock,” their code for terranium. Donny and Gunner are ecstatic, but Tess remains wary. She warns that Kenton is vulnerable and surrounded by parishes demanding aid and says they cannot celebrate until Patrick returns with a solution.

The group discovers they are in a mine shaft lift. Patrick and John operate the pulley to raise it while all five work together to force open the doors. They emerge in the parish of Trent. The town has recently been burned by the Lords’ Army. They are ambushed by a woman named Edith, who holds a knife to Theo’s throat. She recognizes Patrick and Nina from news bulletins and believes they work for the House. Patrick convinces her they are still with the Union and offers to send for supplies, correctly deducing she is sheltering wounded survivors. Overcome with grief, Edith leads them to a factory where she is hiding the last 140 residents. Nina, seeing over 100 bodies lined up by a ravine, offers to use her earth-charming powers to give them a proper burial. Edith accepts their help.

Patrick reveals that the attack on Trent was retaliation for the strike he ordered, and he is wracked with guilt. He has Polly send a scribble to Kenton requesting immediate aid for Trent, overruling his father’s objections. Edith tells them three police officers are still in town, holed up in the trading post. Patrick and John go to the post, tie up the officers, and burn them alive.

Later that night, Patrick is unable to sleep. Nina finds him and cautions him against taking on blame that isn’t his. He confesses his feelings of failure over the Union’s collapse, admitting he hadn’t planned for her to become a factor. To distract from their pain, he teaches her how to fight, and the lesson becomes intimate, ending with him pinning her against a wall. Nina says she has always trusted him. She asks him to have sex with her, but Patrick refuses, stating their relationship is based on love, not just a physical release for her pain.

Polly shares a further translation from the Stewards’ book that details how the youngest, Joan, was captured and burned at the stake. Believing that there is a connection between Joan and Trent, Nina searches the town. She and Theo find abandoned Artisan houses and gather supplies. During their search, Theo confesses his lasting love for her, and Nina admits she cannot hate him.

In an old schoolhouse, Nina discovers a plaque listing Trent’s founders, which includes the name Joan. She questions Edith, who confirms a local legend that Trent is the daughters’ birthplace and that an indestructible oak tree in the forest marks Joan’s grave. The group visits the tree, and in a flash of light, they see the image of a woman in its bark. Nina feels a powerful, restless rage emanating from the ground. As she returns to the factory, a siren begins to wail.

The Lords’ Army arrives in Trent. Inside the factory, the survivors barricade the doors. Patrick initially accuses Polly of summoning the soldiers, but Edith says a House Scribbler was likely hiding in the trading post before Patrick and John burned it down. Desperate to save her people, Edith holds Nina at knifepoint and demands that Patrick’s group surrender to the army, believing their sacrifice will prevent another massacre. Patrick knows the soldiers will kill everyone regardless, but agrees to go outside. Edith releases Nina, and Patrick tells Theo to prepare to use his water-charming abilities.

Outside the factory, the group confronts the soldiers. Theo, urged on by Patrick’s reminder that Nina’s life is at stake, summons a massive wave from the nearby river, crushing most of the soldiers. As the group flees, two more soldiers corner them. To create a diversion, Patrick offers to surrender himself to save the others. However, one of the soldiers recognizes Nina and aims his rifle at her. John uses his power to drop a pile of logs on the men, killing them. However, one of the soldiers reflexively fires his gun toward the group.

Patrick and John carry Theo, whose stomach was hit by the soldier’s bullet, into a tunnel leading south. Before he loses consciousness, Theo thinks about his love for Nina, which motivated him to throw himself in front of her and take the bullet. He later awakens to find Polly tending to his wound. The two bond over their shared status as outcasts and their feelings of guilt and loss. Polly reveals she was in love with Otto, making her betrayal of Kenton even more painful. Theo insists she is a survivor, not a coward. Polly observes that Nina has become more ruthless, like the Colsons, a truth Theo seems unwilling to accept. They talk about their unrequited feelings, and Theo expresses his hope that he has left a lasting mark on Nina’s life.

The group emerges from the tunnels in the humid, coastal town of Lavnonshire. Patrick is overwhelmed by homesickness and anxiety for Kenton. While resting overnight in the tunnel before reaching Lavnonshire, he had confronted his father for his coldness toward his family, revealing that he had already had Polly send a message home to let them know John was alive. Theo’s condition is worsening, so Nina suggests they seek refuge with Mrs. Trunk, an eccentric Mason (Artisan with power over wood) who runs an antique shop. Patrick reluctantly agrees.

They find the cluttered shop, where the elderly Mrs. Trunk recognizes Nina and Theo from when the two were students at the National Artisan School. She is nonspeaking and communicates by using her powers to play a piano with letters and words carved into its keys. She tends to Theo’s wound, gives him bluff, and offers the group rooms upstairs. When Patrick’s anxiety about their stalled mission boils over, John calms him, reminding him of their family creed, “Till the light comes” (277), and insisting that finding the Seam is their only priority. Patrick regains his composure, steeling himself for the task ahead.