Children of Virtue and Vengeance

The elders treat Amari coldly at the meeting. However, she apologizes and explains that the maji’s biggest problem is that Amari—as an untrained tîtán—was able to beat Ramaya easily. She begins to convince the council that they should try trusting Inan and work for peace, but Zélie interrupts her. She shows them a scroll from the temple that would teach them stronger incantations and suggests that they go retrieve more to become stronger and fight. The council sides with Zélie and abandons Amari’s plan.

Inan spots his mother sneaking through the halls and follows her down into the basement. There, she pays Roën and one of his men for majacite, as well as information about the Iyika. Because Roën is masked, Inan thinks he looks familiar, but he does not know for sure who he is. Inan’s mother catches him watching and explains that she did not include him in the transaction because he still cares about Amari.

Inan meets with the members of the war council, who now respect him more for what he has achieved. With the Iyika gone, their roads have opened back up, their food has increased, and Lagos is being rebuilt.

General Jokôye shares that they are tracking the other Iyika. They are moving south, and Jokôye believes that they are coming to Lagos. However, Inan deduces that they are going to the temple to increase their strength. He instructs his council to take the guard and beat Zélie and the others to the temple.

As the elders near the temple in Chândomblé, Dakarai—the Elder Seer—stops the group as he has a vision of the temple. They see Amari’s mother and her tîtáns gathered at the bridge. A few of the elders want to attack them, but Amari convinces them that she has a better idea.

Following Amari’s plan, half of the elders—including Amari and Zélie—use Nâo’s magic to hide in a fog as they walk to the bridge. Instead of crossing it, the Grounders forge a new path using stone across the divide. Once there, Kâmaru forges a tunnel through the side of the mountain.

The group nears the location of the scrolls, but a few soldiers see them and sound the alarm. They run through the halls, with Amari using her magic to send some of the soldiers to their knees in pain. When Armi and the rest of her company reach the wall, Kâmaru is unable to gather enough magic to tunnel through. Amari and Zélie decide that they need to give him time and turn to face more soldiers—the first of which is Inan.

Zélie and Inan pause to look at each other. Although she wants to attack him, she thinks of the moments they have shared together. Instead, Jahi intervenes and sends a whirlwind to clear out the soldiers. As he holds them off, Zélie chants incantations to open the scroll room door. She opens it just in time, allowing the elders to rush in before closing it behind them.

Outside the scroll room, Inan grapples with his feelings for Zélie and his inability to attack her when he had the chance. As Jokôye instructs the guard to kill the Iyika, Inan insists that they be taken alive. His mother argues with him, and he remembers his father’s words: “Duty above all else” (184). However, he considers how he put his duty above his sister and Zélie before and how it was wrong. He commands the guard to take the Iyika alive.

In the scroll room, the group is angry and distraught, unsure of how they will make it back out. Amari gives them instructions to collect the scrolls and assures them that they will find a way, calming them as they follow her instructions.

Suddenly, Zélie’s tattoos on her neck glow a bright gold, shooting forth light with a force that sends the group sprawling. Amari recovers and grabs her hand, causing both of them to float in the air, at which point a navy light escapes from Amari. After several moments, they both fall to the ground.

Zélie’s tattoos now stretch beyond her neck and down her body. She also now can see ashê flowing through the bodies of the elders. She is shocked by how much ashê is in Amari. The vision causes her to remember her isípayá, where colorful tendrils wound together in a rainbow. She tells the group that she thinks she now knows how to defeat the queen.

Zélie tries touching each of the elders in turn, expecting their ashê to flow from their body as Amari’s did. However, she gets no reaction from any of them. She decides that it must be something unique about tîtán magic and instructs Amari to try to pull ashê from others as her mother does.

Amari goes to the wall, where she can feel the heartbeats of the guards on the other side. She concentrates on them and slowly pulls their magic through the wall. Excited, Zélie explains that Amari and her mother are not tîtáns; instead, she invents the term “cênter”—those with the ability to “absorb the powers of tîtáns who share their magic type” (194).

With enough Connector tîtáns, Amari believes that she can overpower her mother. She instructs Zélie to reopen the scroll room door, as she has a new plan to deal with the guards.

The elders barricade themselves behind bookcases as Zélie opens the door. Kenyon creates a huge wall of fire, which waits at Zélie’s back. When the door is open, Jahi sends a cyclone into the flames to push it out into the hall and onto the waiting guards.

Inan and his men are thrown back from the blast from the scroll room. He watches as his mother steps forward to fight, but then he sees Amari stand against her. Amari’s magic grows as she absorbs ashê from the tîtáns and then attacks their mother, causing her to collapse in pain. Inan tries to help his mother, but Ojore pulls him into a room to hide until the elders pass. As Ojore goes to check on their men, Inan flees to follow Zélie.

Zélie stops on the stairs at the sound of Inan calling her name. He takes off his armor and tells her that he is only there to talk. However, Zélie charges him and attacks him with her staff. He uses his sword to defend himself, but he refuses to fight back. She thinks of his betrayal and Baba’s death—but also the way it felt when Inan kissed her. Enraged, she disarms Inan and cuts his side. She jumps on him and prepares to kill him, but then she hears the sound of Mâzeli’s voice, warning her. She turns to see Ojore charging her with his sword and cannot react fast enough to stop him. However, Inan uses his sword to block Ojore. Zélie, concerned only with Mâzeli’s safety, grabs him and flees as Ojore calls for a medic.

Inan worries about how to explain what happened to his mother. To his surprise, Ojore does not reveal anything. Instead, Inan tells her that Ojore saved his life.

Inan’s mother insists on destroying the temple. Although Inan initially resists—arguing that it is part of Orïsha’s history—he relents when his mother points out how big of an asset it could be to the rebels in the war.

Inan watches as his mother pulls ashê from all her guards to split the earth and collapse the temple. He thinks about how if the war continues, it will destroy all of Orïsha.