49 pages • 1 hour read
The Iron Trial
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Chapters 16-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
Alex instructs the Iron Year students to make a circle around himself and Drew as he heals him. Call finds himself unaccountably drawn toward the Chaos-ridden wolves that surround them; he leaves the circle and walks toward them. Tamara grabs his wrist and yanks him back, and Call trips and falls. Tamara sends fire at a wolf lunging at them.
Suddenly, Aaron jumps in front of them both; black, smokey magic pours from his hands, and the wolves disappear into it. The Masters arrive. Aaron is hailed as the new Makar, with the power to wield chaos magic. Aaron seems shocked at this. He is taken away by the Masters while Alex escorts the Iron Year students, including Call and Tamara, back to the Magisterium.
Chapter 17 Summary
On the way back to the Magisterium, the Iron Year students discuss Drew’s decision to run away. Jasper declares that he’s a coward, and Rafe doesn’t believe Drew’s accusations about Master Lemuel’s cruelty, but Gwenda, Tamara, and Call suggest that perhaps he was pushed to his breaking point.
Call hears something following them through the woods. He drops back to look for it and sees that it is a Chaos-ridden wolf pup, with tell-tale swirling, colored eyes. Call decides to secretly bring it with him. He picks up the cub and zips it into his jacket. It is friendly and playful.
Jasper tells the story of the Enemy, who used to be a Magisterium student called Constantine Madden. Constantine discovered that he was a Makar and worked with his Master, Master Joseph, on risky experiments involving chaos magic, including putting chaos into animals. Constantine’s twin, Jericho, who was acting as his magical counterweight for an experiment, was killed. Constantine started experimenting with necromancy, reanimating the dead with chaos magic. He and Master Joseph escaped from the Magisterium together when the other Masters tried to stop their experiments.
Tamara, suspicious, asks what is in Call’s jacket; he says that it is his scarf and goes quickly into his bedroom. Call and the wolf curl up together and fall asleep.
Chapter 18 Summary
Call sneaks the wolf pup two sausages from breakfast. The students go to an auditorium. Many adult mages are also there. Master Rufus introduces Aaron, explaining to the shocked audience that he is a Makar. The audience claps for Aaron. Master Rufus presents him with a black onyx for his wristband, symbolizing his mastery of the void. Call, shocked, realizes that the wristband sent by his father had a stone like this and therefore had to have belonged to a Makar, either Constantine Madden or Verity Torres.
Chapter 19 Summary
Call sneaks the wolf pup more food and plays with it in his room. He hears a bang in the common room and comes out to see that Aaron has thrown his boot against the wall. Aaron tells Call that he doesn’t want to be a Makar because Verity Torres died fighting the Enemy at 15 years old. Aaron also tells Call that he lived between foster homes and orphanages before the Magisterium, so he has nowhere to run away to.
Miserably, Aaron says that he needs a counterweight (a magical role that enables Aaron to access greater magic) and that both Constantine and Verity’s counterweights died. Call volunteers to do it, and Aaron is surprised.
Tamara returns and hugs Aaron. The wolf in Call’s room barks, and they all hear it.
Chapter 20 Summary
Tamara opens Call’s door, and the wolf pup bounds into the room. She is shocked and alarmed, explaining that Chaos-ridden animals are dangerous and unpredictable. Call convinces her that the puppy is friendly and not a threat. They start to play with him and plan how to feed him. They call him Havoc.
Call, Aaron, and Tamara discuss the mysterious wristband that Alastair sent to Master Rufus. Tamara explains that the black onyx stone means that it was the wristband of a Makar and that it was someone who left in their second year; therefore, it must have belonged to Constantine Madden.
Tamara suggests that Call may be Chaos-ridden without knowing it. Aaron insists that Call is not, saying that he would sense that as a Makar.
Call’s father sends a very brief note for Christmas.
Call, Aaron, and Tamara are preoccupied with secretly caring for Havoc, including taking him for walks outside the Mission Gate.
Chapters 16-20 Analysis
These chapters continue to explore Call’s mysterious identity, particularly through his connection with Havoc, the Chaos-ridden wolf. Havoc is immediately drawn to Call and trusts him implicitly: “The pup stopped barking, staring up at Call with kaleidoscopic eyes. Then it licked his face” (359). Tamara suggests that the connection between Call and the wolf could indicate that Call, too, is Chaos-ridden; she says, “I’ve never heard of a Chaos-ridden animal being friendly to anyone or anything but another Chaos-ridden” (363). Her observation is a red herring that conceals the truth of Call’s affinity with the animal: Call is actually a Makar and is the reincarnated version of Constantine Madden. Call’s identity is hinted at through his connection with the wolves’ Chaos-ridden eyes in the forest: “As terrifying as they were, though, the more Call looked at them, the more he thought their eyes were beautiful, like the inside of a kaleidoscope, a thousand different colors all at once. He couldn’t tear his gaze away” (304). Call moves toward the wolves instead of away and is confused by this involuntary movement. This unconscious movement hints at the truth—that Call’s essence is Constantine. His spiritual connection with the creatures Constantine created is alluded to, although the full extent of the connection is not made clear at this point in the story.
As Call continues to wonder who he really is, his identity as a Makar is obscured by the revelation that Aaron is a Makar; these individuals are rare enough that the possibility of Call also possessing these skills seems unlikely. The moment of Aaron’s reveal as a Makar is depicted as unprecedented and incredible: “[F]rom the centers of his palms spilled something like smoke—it was blacker than black, dense and sinuous, and Call knew, without knowing how, that it was the darkest substance in the world” (307). The Magisterium holds a meeting of mages to discuss the rare event of a Makar emerging from among the iron students, something that hasn’t occurred for decades; the unusual nature of the incident is characterized in the audience’s shocked and awed reaction: “There were several audible gasps in the audience and a lot of whispering” (341). Once again, this reaction further obscures the truth of Call also being a Makar.
Call illustrates his loyalty to Aaron when he volunteers to be his counterweight after seeing Aaron’s distress and panic at being a Makar. This is a dangerous role; Call’s selfless volunteering shows the connection between the two boys and signals the growing importance of the theme of Friendship and Belonging. Call feels that he has found his purpose in supporting Aaron’s journey as a Makar.
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