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Spark
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Chapters 11-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary
A few days later, Mina sees an injured Professor Dano post a flyer about a thunderstorm that all students must “attend.” Mina reluctantly enters the raucous dining hall to share the news. As she approaches her friends’ table, she hears everyone chattering about her lightning relay strategy, and she realizes that they like and respect her. Ferro and Zek clamor about how they want more of her new ideas. When there is a break in the conversation, Mina shares the news about the thunderstorm. Everyone is thrilled, and chaos ensues. Mina and Pixit fly out a window to escape. Although excited, Mina worries about not being able to hold lightning. Pixit is confident that she can do it in the storm.
Later, as students gather outside, Mina wonders where the storm came from. Then, when Chauda tries to scare Pixit, Mina stands up for her beast and asks Jyx to put a stop to it. After listening to her friend, Jyx instructs Chauda to apologize. Mina feels good knowing that she did not have to speak loudly to be heard. The professors instruct students to stay on the outskirts of the storm and watch the experienced guardians. They should remain with their partners and leave the storm if necessary. Then, Professor Werrin provides final reminders not to leave the barren lands and not to cross the mountains. She says all who flout these rules will be punished. Mina, worrying about Professor Dano’s injury and the people beyond the mountains, flies on Pixit toward the storm.
Chapter 12 Summary
Mina is overwhelmed by the storm’s power, and she clings to Pixit. Suddenly, bright white lightning illuminates everything. Despite warnings to remain on the outskirts, Pixit dives further into the darkest clouds. Mina watches other storm guardians harvest lightning. Cracks and buzzes surround her as she tingles with energy. When beasts surge around her, one bumps into Pixit, and Mina slips. Then, wind and rain pummel him into a spiral. Mina falls off Pixit. Quickly, he grabs her in his claws, and she crawls up his leg. Then, Jyx flies beneath her, and Mina drops onto Chauda. However, the beast cannot carry two people, so she, too, falls. They all plummet onto the mountain.
In pain, Mina calls for the others. She apologizes and admits she cannot spark. Following the sound of her friend’s voice, Jyx declares Mina’s problem: lack of faith in herself. Then, she encourages her friend to keep talking until she can find her. As they discuss returning to school, they realize that they have fallen outside of Alorria.
Chapter 13 Summary
They panic, and Jyx worries that her parents will consider her a failure. Mina, however, suggests they tell everyone that they fell but not where they fell. When they prepare to leave, they discover that Pixit’s wing is injured, and he cannot fly. Jyx gets hysterical, but Mina deduces that they have a little time before people notice their absence. So, she instructs Jyx and Chauda to get help. In the meantime, she and Pixit will walk across the border. When Jyx questions the plan, Mina reminds her that she promised to listen.
Now alone, Mina and Pixit climb the steep, wet mountain. Suddenly, they hear voices behind them. Panicking, Mina and Pixit try to fly. They crash, and Mina loses consciousness. When she wakes, kind voices reassure her that she and Pixit are okay. Observing the strangers, Mina realizes that they are “outsiders:” people who live beyond the borders of Alorria. One of them is named Neela, and she explains that they are a search-and-rescue team. She says they have tended to both Mina and Pixit, but Neela advises them not to fly right away. As soon as they patch up Pixit, they promise to escort them to the border. A man named Varli requests that Mina not steer future storms in their direction. Neela adds that Alorrians should be mindful of who they hurt when they corral storms. Mina’s mind races in confusion. Then, an angry girl named Eione declares that Mina does not care. After Neela reprimands her, Eione falls silent, but others voice fears about the 10-year storms, for the last one demolished their outpost.
Then, rolling Pixit onto a hammock, the rescue team carries him to the border. Neela explains that they are not permitted to go further than the border. Giving them food and water, she urges them to rest on the ledge nearby until someone comes to retrieve them. If no one does, Neela offers to take them in. Mina thanks them and tells them her name. Then, Mina and Pixit crawl to Alorria.
Chapter 14 Summary
Mina and Pixit fall asleep but are awakened by Jyx’s shouts. Zek and Ferro are there, too. With a net holding Pixit and Mina, they fly back to school. As the boys babble, Mina feels like she is with family. When Pixit worries that they will be expelled, Mina reassures him that they will be fine. Then, she thinks guiltily of Eione and the others. When they land on the practice field, Professor Werrin, Professor Dano, and others surround them. Jyx makes a show of saying how they found them in Alorria. At the infirmary, the nurse tells them that Pixit cannot fly while his wing heals.
Because they are grounded, Mina works on her essay. She wonders, though, how the “outsiders” know about upcoming storms and why they still face disasters even though Alorrians do not. Just then, Jyx bursts in with news that the students will visit the city to watch rehearsals for the festival. Because they will travel by river ship, Mina and Pixit can go. Mina remembers that the festival happens every 10 years. She thinks again of “the outsiders” she met. When Pixit suggests a connection between them and the festival, Mina dismisses the idea.
Chapter 15 Summary
In the city, Mina sees many spectacles: sun guardians making light dance on buildings, rain guardians manipulating water to look like confetti, and more. As she crosses a glass bridge, Mina spots the quotation, “A true heart is never a mistake” and feels like she is meant to be there. Once she makes it through the capitol archway, she notices murals of Alorrian history. An under minister welcomes them through a lightning-powered speaking tube that amplifies her voice, and the woman’s image is projected onto a wall. When Pixit needs to use the bathroom, Mina takes him down a hallway.
While waiting for Pixit, Mina is spotted by the prime minister, who is accompanied by an entourage. When Mina is unable to speak, the Alorrian leader encourages her to ask questions. Mina remains silent, so the prime minister chatters about the Ten-Year Festival. When her entourage pushes her to keep moving, she wishes Mina well and begins walking away. Mina, however, blurts out a question about the connection between the festival and the storms beyond the border. The prime minister freezes. She bans Mina from the day’s events, and a guard drags her away. Pixit emerges from the bathroom, and Mina begs him to get Professor Dano. Then, she is deposited in an empty room. Not daring to leave, Mina paces. Knowing she did nothing wrong, she realizes that even though the prime minister did not answer the question, she knows the answer: The festival causes terrible storms beyond the mountains.
Chapter 16 Summary
Pixit arrives with Professor Dano. When Mina tells him that she upset the prime minister with a question about the storms beyond the mountains, Dano deduces that she crossed the border the day she crashed. He is visibly afraid. However, because Mina did not reveal her name to the prime minister, Dano believes they can avoid further trouble. He hurries her out of the room, through a back door, and back to the ship. On the way, he concocts a plan: Mina will claim to be sick. Back at school, she will receive a leave to visit her family—an academic suspension—so if the prime minister visits, she will not be present. Dano explains that rumors are circulating about the storms beyond the border, which is why Mina’s question caused such a response. Dano does not want the prime minister to “make an example of a promising student” for spreading “false propaganda” (190). As they get on the ship, she marvels that he called her promising.
On the ship’s lower deck, the smell is already horrid. Professor Dano acquires a bucket with vestiges of fish stew that look like vomit. Spreading a little on his robes as proof of her illness, he returns to the city to tell everyone that she is sick. Meanwhile, Mina worries that she made a mess of things just when she was beginning to fit in. However, Pixit encourages her to ask more questions. Everyone returns, and Mina pretends to vomit. Hearing about the prime minister’s speech, Pixit urges Mina to tell her friends what happened. However, she worries that if she speaks up again, she will cause more problems.
Chapters 11-16 Analysis
As Mina grows in confidence, she begins to emerge as a leader. During her first time in the dining hall, her classmates chatter about her innovative lightning relay strategy, and Zek tells her, “We want more of your ideas!” (132). Their respect and admiration give Mina a sense of belonging. Later, when Chauda teases Pixit, Mina tells Jyx that it is not okay to target someone because they are smaller or vulnerable. Instead of dismissing her, Jyx listens, and Mina acknowledges to herself that it is “nice” to be listened to “even though she hadn’t spoken loudly” (135). This interaction gives her confidence, and she sees that people value and trust her. Then, when she and Jyx accidentally land outside of Alorria, Mina overcomes her fear, assesses the situation, and takes charge. When Jyx balks at the idea of leaving her there to go get help, Mina reminds her of Jyx’s earlier promise, saying, “Remember the lightning relay? You said you’d listen to me” (152). In this moment of duress, Mina finds not only her voice but also the confidence to take charge. Instead of backing down when Jyx challenges her idea, she pushes back by reminding Jyx of their exchange after the relay. This marks an important step in the theme of Discovering Voice Through Courage and Ingenuity.
Mina’s interactions with her classmates and the non-Alorrians across the border contribute to the theme of Building Trust to Bridge Differences. When she falls on the wrong side of the mountain, Mina is saved by a rescue team of non-Alorrians she calls “outsiders.” After they care for her and Pixit and deliver them to the border, Neela, the leader, gives them food and water and tells Mina, “And if for some reason your people don’t come for you, follow this path down to the Dern outpost. We’ll house you for as long as you need” (160). Even though the Alorrian storms that the guardians control wreak havoc on their lives, Neela and her companions still offer to help Mina, believing that it is “the right thing to do” (161). Her generosity demonstrates that trust and compassion can transcend political and cultural differences. This theme is on display in a different way when Mina’s friends fly her and Pixit back to school. As they chatter during the flight, “the words flowed around Mina. But instead of making her feel anxious or like she wanted to hide from all the talking, they made her feel safe. […] It felt like family” (164). Despite Mina’s natural preference for quiet, she finds solace and comfort in their loud conversations, seeing it as a sign of trust and inclusion. Together, both these experiences highlight that people do not have to be similar to form meaningful bonds.
These chapters also develop the theme of The Importance of Environmental Awareness and Responsibility. When Mina is rescued on the mountain, she learns that the storms shepherded to Alorria to harvest lightning cause destruction to those outside her country. Varli tells her, “[T]he next time you want to play with the weather, we’d appreciate it if you’d steer your storm away from our outpost” (156). His request highlights that Alorrian storms regularly damage this community, while his use of the word “play” indicates that the Alorrians fail to consider the consequences of their actions. While the Alorrians are careless about creating storms, the storms have a huge impact in the non-Alorrians’ lives. Neela reinforces this idea when she notes that Alorrians erroneously believe “they can control the uncontrollable” (158). These exchanges highlight the rescue team’s awareness of ecological interconnectedness in contrast with the Alorrians’ self-serving denial.
However, the journals of the first guardians imply that the Alorrian government already has this knowledge, though it continues to behave irresponsibly. Mina begins to grasp all of this when Jyx shares the news that the Mytris students will visit the city to observe preparations for the Ten-Year Festival. Mina thinks, “Every ten years? That was how often the bad storms came, the outsiders had said” (170). At this moment, she recognizes the connection between the festival and the storms. However, she resists this realization, reassuring herself that “the Alorrian government would never let the celebrations proceed if they were dangerous to anyone, even people outside the borders” (171). Mina’s genuine belief in others’ compassion and kindness leads her to dismiss what she already knows. Ultimately, she is aware of the problem but does not yet take responsibility for its solution.
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