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Chapter 8: Crawler

Summary

When El and a group of students see a senior student sitting by himself in the cafeteria, they know he has done something terrible. Gossip in the food line reveals that the student, Todd Quayle, “poached” another student. Todd, who is from the New York enclave, went into another senior’s room the night before and shoved him into the void, stealing his room. Orion confronts Todd, trying to make him feel guilty about killing a fellow student. Todd says that since Orion has been saving so many kids, the maleficaria are getting hungry and venturing farther into the school than usual. Todd says that he even saw a maw-mouth go by, which scares everyone in the cafeteria.

In the library, El and Orion meet with some Dubai enclave kids, along with the students Ibrahim and Nadia, because they can help El understand the Arabic writing in the golden book. The New York enclave is infuriated by this meeting, because they misinterpret it as a sign that El and Orion have chosen to join the Dubai enclave. In retaliation, one of the New York enclave kids, Magnus, sets loose a “crawler,” a small but deadly twist of paper designed to kill El. The crawler creeps toward El, but Orion notices it and destroys it. El knows that Magnus tried to kill her, and that he did so with the support of Chloe and the other New York kids. El goes to her room, angry about the dilemma she finds herself in: she has a perfectly good reason to retaliate against the New York enclave, but if she destroys anyone, it will validate all the rumors about her. 

Aadhya visits El in her room and asks her if she killed the maw-mouth—since no one has seen it and if it were still alive it would be on a killing and eating rampage. Aadhya has realized that El is very powerful after seeing her complete the magic mirror and discover the golden book. El throws up, recalling what the inside of the maw-mouth was like, but then nods to Aadhya. She tells El that she will be sought after by every enclave, but El yells that she does not want to be on any of their teams.

Analysis

This chapter further explores the theme of privilege by revealing the violence underlying the enclavers’ power. Although the enclave kids seem well-mannered, they are often pushed to violence when their safety or sense of importance is threatened. Todd, an enclave kid from New York, poaches a room by pushing Mika, a senior with no alliance, into the void specifically because he believes his status as an enclaver makes his life more valuable. While at first the other students shun him, it is evident that his power as someone who can offer a guaranteed place in an enclave will ultimately shield him from any significant consequences for his actions. Later, Magnus sends a crawler to attack El simply because Orion is giving her too much attention and threatening the social status quo of the New York enclave. In contrast, though El has the capacity for great violence, she resists harming Magnus, proving that despite her lack of privilege, she has more integrity and morality than the enclavers who commit evil and believe their actions are justified.

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