Incarceron

Finn tells Gildas about his vision, in which Sapphique told him to use the key to unlock time. Finn saw a small door in his vision, and Gildas says that it is nearby in Civicry territory. Gildas thinks they should make their escape that night. However, Keiro argues for staying because they have a relatively good life with the Comitatus; they are well-fed and powerful and will most likely be able to kill Jormanric and take his place. He also argues that it is dangerous to leave Comitatus territory and journey through the unknown labyrinths of Incarceron. Finn wants to escape to discover his true identity. The three men part ways to pack belongings and plan to meet soon. For a moment, Finn sees a girl’s face in the key.

Lord Evian speaks to Claudia alone and tells her about the “Steel Wolves.” A Steel Wolf was the symbol of Lord Calliston, a man accused of treason; he was the first prisoner of Incarceron 160 years ago. Now, the Steel Wolves are a secret group of people who want to overthrow the current administration and get rid of the laws forbidding the use of technology and mandating that everything be “Era.” Evian claims to be a part of this group, which is planning to assassinate Queen Sia and Caspar; they hope that Claudia will help them and then take the throne as a far more effective ruler. Medlicote interrupts to tell Evian that he has documents to read, so Evian leaves. Because Caspar will be arriving tomorrow, Claudia worries that Evian is just trying to determine whether she is loyal to the Queen.

Finn, Keiro, and Gildas regroup with their packs, planning to travel to the door that Finn saw in his vision. However, they are intercepted by Jormanric and his minions, who want the key.

Jormanric now believes that the key can open any lock. He is happy to let Gildas leave, but not Finn or the key. Keiro insults Jormanric and they fight until Jormanric is near death. As Keiro takes Jormanric’s supposedly magical rings, the prison starts a lockdown, turning on lights, sounding alarms, emitting gas, and slamming doors. Before he dies, Jormanric implies that Keiro is the one who killed Maestra, not him. Gildas, Keiro, and Finn sneak away. Finn sees the enslaved person whom Jormanric forced to taste-test his food; he wants to bring the person along. The four of them climb up to the transitway and walk through Civicry territory until they find the door from Finn’s vision.

Claudia tells Jared about the Steel Wolves’ plan to assassinate Sia. Suddenly, the key becomes warm, and voices come out of it. (The voices are Finn and Gildas arguing about how to use their own key to open the door, but Claudia and Jared don’t know this.) Jared and Claudia hear a door open, then the key stops making noise. They conclude that they just overheard a conversation from people who have a similar key and surmise that the keys can be used for communication. Jared and Claudia are confused because the people they overheard sounded afraid, but Incarceron is supposed to be a utopia. Jared advises Claudia against speaking to the people who hold the other key because it could interfere with Incarceron’s ability to run as a paradise.

The Warden arrives and announces Caspar’s arrival, and Jared returns to his tower. Claudia admits that she broke into her father’s study because she senses that he already knows. However, she does not admit to taking the key. The Warden thinks that Claudia’s intelligence and sneakiness will serve her well as a future queen. Feeling bold, Claudia asks why there aren’t any pictures of her mother in the estate. This upsets the Warden, and he warns Claudia not to test his patience, then leaves.

Caspar has come to collect Claudia and take her and the Warden to his palace. He did not want to come, but his mother compelled him to obey. Caspar does not want to marry Claudia any more than she wants to marry him.

Finn, Gildas, and Keiro successfully open the small door, and nothing bad happens. They are still in Incarceron, but now they are in a metal forest and see no people around. Keiro denies being responsible for Maestra’s death. The formerly enslaved person removes some layers of rags and reveals that she is a young woman, which surprises everyone. She was also wearing fake sores to make people want to stay away from her, but she is not really sick. Her name is Attia, and she’s loyal to Finn for helping her. Finn clarifies that he doesn’t want a servant but says that she can come on their journey.

Claudia wonders why her father got so upset when she asked about her mother. She wonders if her mother died of some illness that could have been addressed with modern medicine, and if her father withheld the medicine due to “Era” laws (also called “protocol”). In her bedroom, she asks the key to speak.

Finn hears the words “speak to me” (154) come out of the key. Everyone else is asleep. Finn speaks to the key, stating that he is in Incarceron; Claudia says that she is Outside. Finn is glad to know that Outside exists. He asks if there are stars there; Claudia confirms that there are. They discover that they each have an identical key. Finn asks Claudia to help him escape, but this confuses her because she has been told that it is a utopia.

Claudia practices fencing with her instructor and thinks about Finn’s voice, which sounded familiar to her. His accent resembles those at the palace. The fencing instructor tells her that he is being fired after her wedding, but Claudia plans to remedy this. She thinks that her father and Sia are trying to isolate her from everyone she likes or trusts. Evian visits and reiterates that the Steel Wolves are planning to assassinate Sia and Caspar shortly after Claudia’s wedding; for this, they’ll need Claudia’s assistance. He claims that it is not a trap. Claudia asks Evian what he knows about Giles’s death and is told that one day, Giles went horseback riding without his usual companions. Someone returned to report that he fell off the horse and died. Many people came to mourn him. Oddly, when a man named Bartlett, who helped raise Giles, came to see the body, he laughed instead of crying. This was bizarre because Bartlett loved Giles, and everyone expected him to be devastated.

In the metal forest, snow begins to fall. Gildas believes that they are on the same path that Sapphique took. Keiro disappears, then reappears with a dead sheep. It is partially made of organic material and partially metal, but parts of it are still edible. The others are worried because Keiro has “stolen” from someone by killing the sheep. Keiro protests that they must eat and justifies his theft by claiming that everyone belongs to Incarceron, and Incarceron is the enemy. Gildas remembers when animals were made of organic material. Now, Incarceron recycles both organic material and metal to make new animals and people. In the gang that Attia was originally from, half-men are murdered at birth. By contrast, the Comitatus lets them live, but only by enslaving them or making them into bodyguards. A blizzard starts, and the group takes shelter in a metal tree’s hollow. A picture of Sapphique is carved into the tree. Gildas puts the key into the picture, and the key starts glowing, which bolsters his belief that they are headed in the right direction.

Caspar talks to Claudia while she packs. He doesn’t care if she has other lovers, and he plans on taking lovers himself. The wedding is just a formality so that they can produce an heir. Claudia doesn’t want to live a lie, and Caspar counters that she just wants to be with Giles, or Jared. Claudia threatens to kill Caspar if he ever brings that up again. She leaves the room and goes riding even though she is supposed to get the final measurements for her wedding dress. She sees her father standing in the window of his study and apparently talking to someone, even though the window doesn’t exist.

Claudia asks a child servant named Job if he knows Bartlett. Job says that Bartlett lives nearby but doesn’t like talking about his time at court. Claudia and Jared set off to find Bartlett.

Keiro says that the sheep were freely roaming with no fence, so he’s not too worried about being reprimanded for stealing. The blizzard is still ongoing, so they decide to rest. Finn thinks that by opening the small door with the key, they crossed some sort of boundary and angered the prison, so it might try to punish them. Finn waits until everyone seems to be sleeping, then takes the key out to try to speak to Claudia again. He overhears Claudia talking to Jared, but they don’t seem to hear him. Keiro overhears Finn and asks who Claudia is.

At Bartlett’s cottage, Claudia and Jared discover Bartlett’s dead body. His neck has been broken, and Claudia assumes that someone killed him to prevent her and Jared from interrogating him. Bruises on Bartlett’s body suggest that a larger person killed him, not Job. Claudia and Jared search the cottage and find a parchment with Bartlett’s story, which they take, and a picture of Giles on a piece of gold. The fact that Bartlett didn’t sell the picture suggests that he really did love Giles.