55 pages • 1 hour read
Spark
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Chapters 17-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.
Chapter 17 Summary
Mina is certain that the festival should be canceled. However, when Pixit pushes her to do something about it, she doubts her capabilities. She is convinced that if she speaks up, it would result in her getting expelled while the festival will carry on anyway. When they get off the river ship, Papa is waiting for them. After Mina hugs her father, she speaks on Pixit’s behalf, and her father embraces Pixit, too. Again, Pixit urges her to speak out about the festival, but Mina stays quiet.
On their way home, Papa tells her that it is okay if she does not want to return to Mytris. When she remembers that she cannot create a spark, Mina tells him that she must “figure a few things out” (200). At the house, Orli dangles a ribbon from her talons for the twins to chase. Mina asks her father a hypothetical question, wondering what he would do if the game the twins played harmed other children. Without hesitation, he says that he would tell them to play a different game. Pixit commends Mina for starting to speak up.
Throughout her week at home, Mina continues to rationalize her silence. Pixit is thrilled when she finally decides to tell her family about the situation. However, when she attempts to get their attention, no one lets her speak. This angers Pixit, and he sparks. Immediately, Mina’s skin tingles. She raises her hands, and sparks fly. Looking at Pixit in amazement, Mina feels like a real lightning guardian. He claims that she is finally being true to herself. Turning to her family, Mina insists on returning to Mytris; then, she reveals the truth about the Ten-Year Festival and why she was suspended.
Chapter 18 Summary
Mina’s family explodes into an argument. Gaton acknowledges the rumor, calls her brave, and supports her. Papa assumes that she misheard, saying they stop storms in Alorria and do not initiate them. Defending tradition, her mother is horrified that Mina insulted the prime minister, and she also thinks the claims are absurd. Meanwhile, Pixit enfolds Mina in his wings. When everyone stops talking, Mina quotes the first storm guardian’s journal and reiterates that everything is connected.
Papa notes that even if all that Mina says is true, then Alorria would do something about it. Mama agrees and adds that Mina could get into more trouble by voicing this publicly. Hugging her, Papa pronounces that she is a good girl who would never cause trouble. When Mina’s mind races with doubts, Pixit reminds her of the prime minister’s reaction to her question. His belief in her soothes her and helps her formulate a plan.
She and Pixit return to Mytris where they are welcomed by their friends and learn that they will soon be tested on their ability to collect lightning. Mounting their storm beasts, they follow Vira into the sky. When they reach the lone thundercloud, Vira explains the task. One at a time, they will enter the storm cloud, harvest lightning, and then exit to throw the lightning back into the cloud. Ferro is first. Mina watches as the cloud gets bright and then darkens. When Ferro emerges, he launches the bolt back into the cloud. Jyx is next, followed by Zek. Finally, it is Mina’s turn. Despite her fears, she and Pixit fly into the cloud. Spreading her fingers, Mina summons lightning. They fly into sunshine where she hurls the lightning back into the cloud.
Chapter 19 Summary
That evening, the friends gather, and Mina announces that she has a secret to share. However, they must promise not to reveal what she tells them. Jyx suggests they each share something confidential because they need to trust each other. Then, Jyx states her secret: Her parents do not believe that she will be a good storm guardian. Then, Ferro pipes in that he lost his river-ship tickets, so he stole some to get to school. After joking around, Zek confesses that he once spread a hurtful rumor about Ferro. Then, Mina explains how Alorria’s storms are hurting people across the border. She says that the prime minister knows yet does nothing. She recounts how she met the “outsiders,” details her exchange with the prime minister, and outlines how Professor Dano helped her. Then, Mina suggests that they visit the outpost, and her friends agree.
On the practice field, Mina asks Professor Dano if she can conduct field research for her essay. He understands and recommends that she and her friends practice long-distance flying. Meanwhile, he will tell Vira that they will be busy. As he walks away, the friends mount their beasts and take off. On the way, Mina thinks about how things will never be the same once they cross the mountain. At the outpost, they find Neela, Eione, and Varli. Thanking them again, Mina asks to talk about the 10-year storms.
Chapter 20 Summary
Inside the outpost, Neela serves tea. When Pixit and Mina wonder about their electricity, Eione retorts that storm beasts are not necessary to create it. Neela adds that they have their own way and their own grand cities. Then, she explains how the outpost monitors daily weather patterns and predicts changes. Some guardians have alerted them about the upcoming 10-year storms. Eione rants about how Alorrian sunshine is selfish because it causes killer storms. Speechless, Mina and her friends listen to terrifying descriptions of the storms. Even though the outpost has bunkers, the structures are not always strong enough to withstand the ferocious weather. Neela and Varli lead the students outside, explaining that they will need to evacuate for the 10-year storms. When they arrive in a meadow filled with gravestones, Mina notes that the dates of many of the deaths coincide with Alorrian festivals.
The friends are silent all the way back to Mytris, and they gather after dinner. Only then do they recount what they saw. After glancing at her essay, Mina grabs her sketchbook and draws what she remembers: the graves, the dates, the silhouette of a person looking on. Then, she replicates the scene on another piece of paper. Beneath it, in disguised handwriting with no names, she writes the facts. Finally, she writes a request for action: Spread the word and stop the festival. Mina’s friends love it and ask her to make copies. They plan to leave the visual essays in student textbooks, listen to the chatter, and discreetly check in with those who seem to agree.
Chapter 21 Summary
Mina draws all night by the light of Pixit’s sparks. In the morning, she grabs breakfast and returns to her room to sleep while the others tell Vira she is sick and distribute the flyers. When she wakes, Mina draws more flyers. Jyx returns with news: Vira thinks the essay is spreading lies, but others had already suspected the truth. When Jyx leaves for dinner, Mina makes more flyers.
The next day, there is a buzz in the dining hall. Rumors fly that someone sent a flyer to the rain guardian school. Then, Professor Werrin announces that students will participate in the Ten-Year Festival lightning relay in the southern farmlands. Instead of cheers, murmurs begin. Surprised, Werrin notes that it is an honor for students to participate. When Jyx whispers that someone should speak up, Kita, another student, steps onto her table, rejects the invitation, and denounces the festival. Some cheer, while others shout for her silence. Fights break out among the students. Mina catches Professor Dano’s eye, and he gives her a slight nod. She and her friends sneak away to discuss next steps. Everyone looks to Mina as their leader, so she suggests that they spread the truth to more lightning guardians during the next thunderstorm.
Chapter 22 Summary
A thunderstorm is scheduled so the guardians can gather energy for the festival. When Mina asks Zek and Ferro if they are sure they want to help, they say they do and that they admire her ideas and her courage. This time, when Mina and Pixit fly into the storm, they have no intention of staying on the outskirts. Deep in the cloud, they bank hard next to a guardian and place a flyer—covered in a waterproof and fireproof blanket—into his hands. Then, Pixit steers them toward other guardians.
Afterward, Mina eats fast because she intends to send flyers by message balloons to other schools. However, Professor Werrin announces that because of recent events, no students or faculty members can attend the festival. Furthermore, the mail has been suspended, and no one can leave the school. These measures are in place until the end of the festival, which has been rescheduled to begin the next day. Mina worries that they have neither the time nor the means to reach more guardians. When Werrin leaves, shouting and fighting erupts. Professor Dano beckons Mina to a sculpture of a lightning beast. He instructs her to have Pixit land on the statue and roar, for the sculpture has a speaking tube within it. Pixit does as he is told, and everyone falls silent. Professor Dano demands that students return to their rooms.
Chapters 17-22 Analysis
Mina becomes a stronger, more confident leader once she decides to speak up about the damage caused by Alorrian weather control across the border. When she first arrives home, she doubts herself:
She tried to tell herself that there was nothing that she could do to stop the Ten-Year Festival and help the people beyond the mountains. She was just one lightning-guardian-in-training, and not a very good one at that. She couldn’t even spark. Who would listen to her, even if she did spark? (204).
Her hesitation reflects her past experiences of being ignored and her insecurity about her limited abilities. Her self-talk is a way for her to rationalize staying quiet. However, with Pixit’s encouragement, she eventually tells her family and her friends everything she knows about the Alorrian conspiracy to hide how controlling the weather wreaks havoc on the people beyond the borders. This step forward imbues her with confidence, and the result is that her friends view her as a leader. When Zek and Ferro profess their allegiance to her, Mina is shocked, thinking that “she’d never imagined herself as someone anyone else would follow” (253). Confidence and quiet charisma replace her earlier self-doubt, and motivated by her ethical impulse to do the right thing, she becomes a leader.
This transformation develops the theme of Discovering Voice Through Courage and Ingenuity. Pixit is the catalyst that provides her with the courage to speak up. He repeatedly pushes her outside her comfort zone, insisting: “<<You should tell people the truth>>” (195). Without his persistent nudging, Mina would have let her doubts overwhelm her. However, she still struggles to speak up. When she tells her friends about the storms and the prime minister,
it was the longest she’d ever spoken in her life, and it made her feel like she wanted to crawl out of her skin, hide under her bed, and let the shell she’d left behind continue the talking. But she knew it needed to be said, so she didn’t stop (225).
Although Mina is passionate about doing what is right, it is hard for her to be the center of attention. However, her willingness to persist despite her fear and discomfort marks her as a courageous leader. Additionally, Mina finds creative ways to broadcast her message since speaking in front of others remains difficult for her. After visiting the outpost and learning of its losses, she channels her grief and determination into making flyers to spread the message: Mina draws the gravestones, explains Alorria’s role in deaths across the border, and writes a plea to “tell everyone” and “end the festival” (241). When her friends surreptitiously deliver the flyers, they amplify her voice. Even though she may not speak the loudest—or at all—Mina finds a way to be heard.
Mina’s reliance on her peers highlights the theme of Building Trust to Bridge Differences. When Mina shares her secret about the storms and the prime minister, Jyx understands her purpose and responds with clarity and solidarity: “Mina [is] surprised that Jyx understood so clearly. […] Mina sometimes forgot Jyx could be quiet and listen too” (22). The friends are so different that Mina must remind herself that she really does know and trust Jyx. This moment of understanding is a testament to the connection they have forged. Later, when Mina asks her friends to visit the outpost, she worries that they will not support her—or worse, that they might report her. Making herself and her goals vulnerable, Mina proposes her plan anyway. The agree to join her, with Jyx saying, “Cool.” This unwavering and immediate support emphasizes the trust between them and the faith Jyx has in her friend. This is also echoed by Zek, Ferro, and the other lightning guardians who join Mina’s cause.
Finally, these chapters also underscore the theme of The Importance of Environmental Awareness and Responsibility. By visiting the outpost, Mina and her friends demonstrate their empathy and desire to understand how Alorrian-controlled weather affects the people beyond their borders. At the outpost, Eione tells them that “every time [their] beasts play with the weather, it messes with the world” and condemns their desire for a perfect climate as “endless selfishness” (236). He explains what Mina already suspects: The sky everywhere is connected. There are consequences to manipulating the weather, and because Alorrians who know about this choose to ignore it, they are selfish. The gravestones make this reality undeniable. Mina and her friends use this knowledge to call others to action by designing and distributing the flyers with Mina’s drawings. On the flyers, she writes: “Tell everyone. / We are killing people. / It has to stop. / End the festival” (241). Their plan to stop the festival is the first step toward Alorrian accountability. The narrative structure mirrors the urgency of their appeal—the chapters become shorter, reflecting the heightened pace and pressure as Mina and her friends try to protect the environment and save people’s lives.
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