The Raven King
51 pages • 1-hour read
Nora SakavicThe Raven King
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Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, rape, child sexual abuse, child abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, antigay bias, self-harm, addiction, and substance use.
Chapter 9 Summary
The Foxes leave Abby’s house on Saturday morning and get lunch before visiting a party store to buy costumes for a Halloween party at a club called Eden’s Twilight on Friday. Neil questions whether they are too old for costumes, but Nicky explains that the club offers free drinks to anyone in costume. Andrew jokingly suggests that a milk-carton costume with a missing-person notice would be perfect for Neil.
Neil proposes inviting the upperclassmen to the party to build team unity, arguing that talent alone will not get them to the semifinals. Aaron immediately rejects the idea, but Andrew surprises everyone by agreeing, telling Neil to ask Matt about an incident from the previous year and then extend the invitation.
Officer Higgins travels from California to speak with Andrew. Higgins explains that his investigation into Richard Spear turned up nothing and that he now suspects someone else. When Higgins says the name “Drake,” Andrew freezes and asks how many children are involved. Higgins replies that there have been six since Andrew. Andrew leaves with Higgins briefly and then returns and dismisses Dan’s concerns.
Neil invites the upperclassmen to the party. Matt explains that last year, Andrew gave him speedballs to break his addiction, an extreme method that Andrew had cleared with Matt’s mother. Renee notes that Andrew was invested in Matt’s recovery because watching him struggle affected Andrew and Aaron’s own sobriety.
On Friday night, all nine Foxes have dinner at Sweetie’s after their game. As Andrew’s medication wears off, Kevin quietly offers him pills; Andrew refuses. The group then goes to Eden’s Twilight, where Roland, the bartender, serves them. Most of the team members ingest a powdered drug called cracker dust and head to the dance floor. Neil stays behind and questions Andrew about his disconnection from people and his relationship with Renee. Andrew deflects, telling Neil to ask Renee himself. Neil stands alone watching the dance floor, feeling lonely.
Chapter 10 Summary
Neil seeks out Renee to ask about her connection with Andrew. She reveals her violent past as a gang member in Detroit. At 15, she was arrested, and her testimony led to the imprisonment and subsequent murders of her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. After juvenile detention, Stephanie Walker adopted her and gave her a new life and faith.
When Neil asks why she and Andrew have never dated, Renee reveals that Andrew is gay but that no one else knows. She also explains that Kevin is secretly dating Thea Muldani, a former Raven on the National Court. Renee offers her friendship to Neil, sensing shared darkness in their pasts, and then asks for help choosing a birthday gift for the twins.
On Saturday, the twins’ 20th birthday, Nicky bursts into Neil’s room in a panic. His mother, Maria, called and invited him, Aaron, and Andrew to Thanksgiving dinner, but Nicky hung up because he knows Andrew will refuse. Desperate to repair his family relationship, Nicky begs Neil to persuade Andrew.
Neil agrees and goes to speak with Andrew privately. Andrew reveals that his last foster mother, Cass Spear, wanted to adopt him. To prevent this, he got himself sent to juvenile detention. On his release, Andrew told Nicky’s father, Luther, a secret to prevent being sent back to Cass. However, Luther dismissed Andrew’s disclosure as a “misunderstanding.” Neil proposes that the entire group attend the dinner, and Andrew agrees on the condition that Nicky change the date from Thanksgiving and formally invite Neil and Kevin.
When Neil asks if Andrew killed his mother, Andrew implies that he caused her death because she kept abusing Aaron. He calls this confession “a secret given on credit” (192), for which he will expect a favor later. Nicky successfully reschedules the dinner, and Neil resolves to attend to ensure that Andrew does not harm Luther.
Chapter 11 Summary
On Sunday, Andrew’s group drives to Columbia to visit Exiles, an Exy specialty store. Kevin has Neil fitted for a heavy racquet, purchasing one for immediate practice and ordering two more with the team credit card. Neil finds the racquet unwieldy but trusts Kevin’s judgment.
They drive to the Hemmick family home in a Columbia suburb. At dinner on the enclosed back porch, tensions rise as Maria and Luther criticize their son for being gay. Andrew is openly hostile. Luther says that they want to make reparations for past mistakes. Andrew and Luther argue privately in the kitchen, and then Luther returns alone looking defeated.
When Neil goes inside to check on Andrew, Maria casually mentions that Andrew is speaking with Drake. Neil connects this to Officer Higgins’s investigation and realizes that the dinner is a setup. Luther explains that Drake is Richard and Cass Spear’s biological son and Andrew’s former foster brother. He asked for their help in reconciling with Andrew.
Neil grabs his new racquet and Aaron and rushes upstairs. They find a locked bedroom door. Neil kicks it open, revealing Drake sexually assaulting Andrew on the bed. Aaron strikes Drake in the temple with the heavy racquet, killing him instantly. Andrew, bruised and bleeding, lies on the mattress laughing uncontrollably.
Kevin runs downstairs, and Neil covers Andrew with a sheet. When Nicky and Luther enter, Andrew confronts Luther, revealing that Drake’s abuse was the secret Luther had dismissed as a “misunderstanding” years ago. Andrew states that Cass took in six more foster children after him, implying that Drake had other victims. Aaron, horrified that Luther knew about the previous abuse, screams at him to leave.
As sirens approach, Andrew removes his armbands and gives them to Neil. When Neil takes them, he sees and feels severe self-harm scars on Andrew’s forearm. Andrew threatens to kill Neil if he reveals them. Neil hides the armbands between the box spring and bed frame as the police arrive.
Chapter 12 Summary
Neil learns that Aaron has been arrested for Drake’s death and waits at Richmond General Hospital while Andrew receives treatment. Coach Wymack arrives, summoned by Kevin. Neil refuses to give details to the police or to Wymack about what happened. He urges Wymack to contact Officer Higgins about Drake.
Andrew is released, severely injured but still smiling from his medication. At the Hemmick house, they find Betsy Dobson, the team psychiatrist, waiting with Abby. Andrew blames Neil for creating the mess by pushing for the family dinner. Consumed by guilt, Neil confronts Andrew, asking why he never told Higgins the truth about Drake. Andrew explains that Higgins was friends with Drake and would not have believed him.
Neil accuses Andrew of failing to protect the six other foster children in Cass’s care. Alluding to Andrew’s self-harm scars, he asks if they were the price of staying quiet. Andrew grabs Neil and whispers that Drake had intended to abuse Aaron as well, revealing that this was his motive for sabotaging the adoption that sent him to juvenile detention. Neil concludes that Andrew’s medication completely numbs his emotions but that his self-harm scars are evidence that he once felt everything.
Overwhelmed, Neil runs into the night. He returns exhausted and sleeps on the couch. The next morning, Wymack tells Neil that Andrew’s lawyer is coming to handle Aaron’s case.
Betsy takes Neil on errands to retrieve Andrew’s car, buy groceries, and purchase a new practice racquet, as his was taken for evidence. In the car, Betsy attempts to counsel Neil about the previous night. Neil explains that he brought the racquet for self-defense, knowing that Drake was dangerous. At the Hemmick house, Neil retrieves Andrew’s armbands and is shaken by the bloodstained mattress.
Neil overhears Wymack, Abby, and Betsy discussing a plan. When Neil demands answers, Betsy reveals that she will have Andrew committed to Easthaven Hospital for withdrawal from his medication. The process requires approval from the original prosecutor, who is upstairs. Wymack estimates that it could take four to five weeks, meaning that Andrew will miss the rest of the fall season. Neil tells Betsy to do it, recognizing that this is Andrew’s only chance at real recovery.
Chapters 9-12 Analysis
This section’s narrative structure uses foreshadowing and the deployment of a Chekhov’s gun to build tension toward the climax of Chapter 11. Seemingly disparate plot points—Officer Higgins’s investigation, the mention of the name “Drake,” and Nicky’s desire to reconnect with his family—are woven together to create a sense of tragic inevitability. The visit to the Hemmick house is framed as an attempt to mend familial bonds, but the underlying narrative currents signal impending disaster. Neil’s new Exy racquet, introduced as a sign of his athletic progression, is later transformed into a murder weapon. Its weight and power, initially discussed in terms of scoring goals, ensure Drake’s death. The novel draws on the motif of Exy, illustrating how the characters’ sports tools become weapons of self-defense. The pacing, which moves from mundane team outings to a tense family dinner and then sudden, graphic violence, mirrors the deceptive nature of trauma—a calm surface often masks a volatile reality.
The theme of The Interplay Between Lies, Identity, and Survival is explored through Neil’s evolving moral compass. Initially, his decision to orchestrate the team party and the family dinner is an act of survival; building team unity is a means to secure his place and uphold his deal with Andrew. He uses manipulation, a tool honed during his life on the run, to achieve these ends. However, the catastrophic outcome of the dinner forces him to reckon with the consequences of his actions, as he realizes that his survival tactics have directly contributed to another’s suffering. This crisis marks a significant shift in his character, from a focus on self-preservation to a nascent sense of responsibility for others. These chapters also dismantle Andrew’s established persona, exposing the trauma that his medicated apathy and violent unpredictability conceal. Andrew shifts from being an enigmatic antagonist to being a complex survivor of abuse whose defense mechanisms are a form of self-destructive protection.
Secrets paradoxically function as the primary currency through which relationships are built and trust is tested. Characters trade pieces of their pasts as collateral, creating a fragile network of shared vulnerability. Renee reveals Andrew’s sexuality to Neil, a secret that provides him with a new lens through which to understand Andrew’s guardedness. Andrew, in turn, offers Neil a confession about his role in his mother’s death, framing it as a “secret given on credit” (192), an explicit acknowledgment of their transactional but deepening bond. This economy of secrets highlights the characters’ shared understanding that in their world, knowledge is both a weapon and a shield. This motif culminates in the revelation of Andrew’s hidden scars. His removal of his armbands to expose the physical evidence of his psychological pain is a breach of his most personal defense. The revelation provides new context for Andrew’s claim that “[he] do[es]n’t feel anything” (232), underscoring the emotionally numbing effects of his medication.
The events at the Hemmick house dissolve a biological family structure built on denial and betrayal, thereby solidifying The Creation of a Found Family in the Wake of Trauma. Nicky’s parents’ unwillingness to accept their son’s sexuality represents a fundamental rejection of his identity. Meanwhile, their manipulation of their nephews, exposing Andrew to his former abuser, represents a complete failure of familial duty. In stark contrast, the Foxes react with instinctual loyalty. Aaron, who has been consistently hostile toward Andrew, kills Drake to protect his twin. Neil coordinates the immediate response and later promises to protect Kevin in Andrew’s absence. The interventions of Wymack, Abby, and Betsy further cement this theme, as they assume parental roles and make the difficult but necessary decision to have Andrew committed for treatment. Their actions, rooted in concern for Andrew’s well-being, stand in direct opposition to the Hemmicks’ negligence. The crisis deconstructs the illusion of traditional family stability while strengthening the team’s bonds in their shared experience of trauma.
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