Bone

The group is close to the abandoned temple. Kingdok attacks, and they duck into the secret tunnel. Grandma has been here before, and she knows that they will begin to hallucinate as they descend. Kingdok destroys the entrance with his jaws, forcing them to run.

A battle breaks out between the Valley dwellers at Old Man’s Cave and Briar’s armies. The headmaster and another Ven-Yan monk watch as the mountain explodes, and they anticipate the apocalypse with a verse: “Great darkness falls across our generation. May we be equal to the burden” (859). The headmaster orders a retreat.

The Locust resurrects Briar. Because she botched the ritual, only part of his powers escaped into the waking world. He urges her to return his missing powers to him.

Fone’s Moby Dick dream is projected into the real world: He is dressed as Ishmael, and Phoney is dressed as Captain Ahab. Fone dismisses the hallucinations as the product of a natural gas leak.

Thorn collapses. Grandma is concerned that the Locust attempted to possess her soul. From the temple, the group can see that the Valley has been destroyed. Briar planted ghost circles everywhere; Thorn can see where they are because she “tore off” a piece of the Locust and acquired some of his powers. She reports, “Only some of the destruction is real. The rest is only an illusion” (872).

To avoid stepping into ghost circles, Grandma and the Bones must follow Thorn’s footsteps. They trudge through a field of ash. Phoney insists that they need to leave for Boneville at the next opportunity and makes Fone promise to go with him.

Grandma believes Lucius is dead. Thorn says that, if he fell into a ghost circle, she might be able to recover him. She presses two fingers to her forehead and tries to locate him with her new Dreaming powers. She collapses from the effort. Fone runs to her. When he touches her shoulder, they enter a ghost circle, where they see a portion of the forest: “We’re just inside the ghost circle, but I think you’re safe as long as you hold on to me… let’s back up slowly” (886). They step out safely. Thorn locates a spring where they can access fresh water, and they set up camp for the night.

That night, Fone dreams of sinking in the ocean, where he is swallowed by the Red Dragon.

In the morning, the Moby Dick hallucinations are gone. Thorn and Grandma use their dreaming abilities to try to locate survivors and identify ghost circles in their path. Thorn is wearing a hooded cloak, which reminds Fone of Briar. Thorn tells him that wearing the hood is “a Ven-Yan concentration technique” (901). She says that the ghost circles ahead are “spreading” with no end in sight.

Ghost circles encapsulate a part of the Dreaming that is “only void and nothingness” (902). If Briar’s ritual had succeeded, then the entire Valley would “be a ghostly nether-world” (903). The piece of the Locust inside Thorn is holding the ghost circles in the physical world. Grandma knows people in Atheia who might be able to help remove it.

Rat creatures ambush the group, separating Fone and Thorn from the others. As Grandma prepares to defend Phoney and Smiley, Smiley realizes that Bartleby is among the rats.

Thorn and Fone are confronted by Briar. She beckons Thorn to help finish the ritual and serve the Locust. Briar is also a Ven-Yan-Cari, but two are needed for the ritual. Briar says that the piece of the Locust inside of Thorn has made him her master. “Any power you have comes to you from the Locust himself….. You did not steal it….. He gave it to you….” (915). She also tells Thorn that she was slain by her father, cut in half with the sickle she now wields.

Thorn struggles to resist giving Briar her hand; the Locust inside her can influence her. Briar realizes that Fone has a piece of the Locust inside him, too. Briar decides to kill Thorn because Fone would be the “weaker partner.” Bartleby and Smiley chase her away. The Bones, the Harvestars, and Bartleby flee together.

The rat creatures give chase. Thorn is able to direct the group, allowing them to circumvent the ghost circles, but the rats fall in and disappear.

Wendell and some Ven-Yan warriors tend to the war dead and search for survivors. The casualties are high; we see a field of bodies covered with white sheets.

Lucius is badly injured, but he is found alive. Ted helped the search party locate him. Lucius is devastated to learn that Jon Oaks died in the battle and blames himself. He believes Grandma and Thorn are still alive and expects they’ll be in Atheia. He wants to go there immediately.

The headmaster of the monks and his party believe that the war is a hopeless effort: “The Locust is free, and the end times are upon us. We will do whatever we must to preserve our way of life” (933). They label Lucius a traitor to the queen and have a guard posted around him in the infirmary.

Thorn detects a glut of ghost circles directly ahead of Atheia, so the group must chart an alternate, roundabout course. The final panel of the chapter is an image of Kingdok, alive and taking shelter in the ruins of the mountain temple.

Smiley collapses from hunger. There are no rations left. Fone and Thorn resolve to enter a ghost circle in the hopes of foraging. When they enter, they find a root cellar and gather produce. Thorn hears whispering voices begging to be saved. Fone can’t hear them. They identify themselves as poor, injured farmers and say, “Your mother sends… a… message… […] …seek the crown of horns…” (948). The voices warn that the Locust approaches, searching for his missing pieces: “Take piece of locust back from your friend… Leave the ghost circle. Now” (949). Fone and Thorn leave the ghost circle.

Wendell visits Lucius in the infirmary, and Lucius tells him about his past: He was the commander of the royal guard, and he was in a love triangle with Briar and Rose: “Rose was beautiful and kind… I was in love with her. But Briar seemed more grown up—in women’s ways, if you know what I mean. As usual… I picked the wrong one” (953). Wendell breaks down; Euclid is his best friend, and he hasn’t been found yet.

Smiley recovers from his collapse, and the group is able to continue traveling. Bartleby says he was rejected by his peers for his association with the Bones.

Thorn collapses in front of Tanen Gard, the sacred dragon burial ground, which hasn’t succumbed to the ghost circles. They have to pass through it to get to Atheia, but the penalty for entering is death.

Thorn is running a high fever and cannot walk on her own. Grandma explains that Ven-Yan-Cari are sensitive to evil and that she’s likely responding to the piece of the Locust inside her.

The gorge surrounding Tanen Gard is reportedly bottomless. The group crosses a narrow stone arch to get to the other side. Thorn must be carried, but halfway across, she recovers from her fever, apparently healed by being in Tanen Gard. They make it through safely, which Grandma says has never been done before. Thorn senses that they’ve also passed the field of ghost circles.

Lucius leads the villagers towards Atheia. The monks remove their hoods and agree to join the villagers. Fone finds stone carvings on a hill. Grandma explains that these are prayer stones: “On the stone is a prayer asking the dragons for balance between the world and the Dreaming” (980). From here, it will take roughly two days to reach Atheia.