The Darkest Minds

As Ruby and Chubs are tending to Liam’s injuries, Lizzie bursts in to say that Clancy was hurt and needs Ruby’s help. Ruby knows it is a trick, and Liam tells her not to go, but she is determined to face Clancy and free her friends from East River on her own. When she arrives, Clancy is fine, having manipulated Lizzie’s mind to make her think he is lying on the floor. Ruby points out that he wouldn’t have come running if she were injured. He quips he at least “would have walked” (445). He says he’ll keep Lizzie nearby to hold Ruby there a while because Ruby “won’t do anything if it means hurting others—not intentionally at least” (445). Ruby unexpectedly scrapes his face with her nails and is able to use her abilities to tell him to let Lizzie go outside. When she tells him to let them all go, though, she loses control of him.

He freezes her movements, and he acts dismissive about her success at controlling him, but she can tell he is also thrown she was able to do it. There are screams and sirens outside, and Clancy seems to have expected someone to have invaded camp, but he says Ruby will be safe.