The Atlas Six

This is the first action-led chapter, where the characters gauge one another’s abilities, and alliances begin to emerge. Their medeian powers are demonstrated more comprehensively during the battle. Unlike the other seven, this chapter title (“Battle”) is less of an abstract concept and more of a concrete event. Indeed, now that the six characters are fully revealed, their dynamic is further developed as they need to work as a group for the first time. A physical attack allows each to demonstrate their ability.

The battle echoes the mention of “weapons” from the epigraph and first chapter. For the first time, we see the characters wield their powers as weapons, adding depth to their respective characterizations. In the first part of the chapter, when Atlas asks them to collaborate and establish a security protocol for the house, most of the candidates want to keep their cards close to their chest because revealing their specialties might give the others an advantage in the competition. Their powers, in this instance, are depicted as secret weapons. Later in the chapter, however, they are forced to use their magic to defend themselves against the intruders—thus explicitly revealing their abilities.

The battle is the culminating point of the chapter. When intruders breach the house’s defenses, the six medeians break into three groups to dispatch them. First, Nico and Reina have a brutal, aggressive fight with the intruders where their abilities complement each other. Reina, who was trained in hand-to-hand combat, uses physical force to repel her opponents, while Nico uses magic. Both are relentless and practically minded, able to take charge and not lose their cool. Nico, for example, keeps fighting when he is wounded. Reina then provides him with raw power to give him an “extra charge [...], the hand he’d placed on her shoulder [pulsing] with significance, an electrified buzz” (98). They collaborate easily, initiating the friendship they will develop later in the story, and Reina’s ability to provide life force foreshadows her and Nico’s successful experiment in Chapter 8.

Tristan and Libby initially do not work together well. They misjudge each other, with Tristan thinking he should protect Libby and Libby believing Tristan’s powers to be useless in their situation. However, they soon realize that their abilities complement each other when Tristan understands that he can see through the illusion that Libby does not even perceive. Both pairings (Nico/Reina and Tristan/Libby) do more than depict the medeians using their abilities. They can combine their powers to create unique results, foreshadowing the successful experiments of other pairings in the rest of the book. In short, as Reina later asks Nico, this chapter asks: “Do you understand [...] how alone we are one thing, but together we are another?” (347).

Parisa and Callum are the most dissimilar in their approach to fighting, regardless of the parallel nature of their specialties. Although Parisa does not explain what happened when she and Callum fought the attackers, she is visibly unsettled by something she witnessed. The suspense is resolved in the next chapter when Parisa confesses to Dalton that Callum simply persuaded their opponent to kill herself—which also is his strategy when he later convinces Parisa to jump off the balcony during their telepathic contest. Callum is the only candidate who remains aloof and mysterious, suggesting that he may be the most dangerous. Working from most to least similar pairing, this chapter offers character development that will impact the rest of the narrative. The characters’ willingness to fight—and, more importantly, to kill—is introduced, foreshadowing their upcoming moral dilemma when they are asked to “eliminate” one of the other potential initiates.