This article contains plot and/or ending details.
| “ | Devin raised the flask to his lips and gulped down the Bile.
It was like drinking death itself. But within that blackness, he felt something vast and strong and dark. |
” |
–Book Quote from Chapter 1: Bile[1] | ||
Hunted is the second book in the first series, written by Maggie Stiefvater. From left to right, Conor, Briggan, Devin, and Elda are depicted on the cover. There is a pdf of the book here.
Official Summary[]
The adventure continues in this second book of this epic fantasy series. In the world of Erdas, only a rare few are able to summon a spirit animal in the way Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan have. The bond they share with their animals is a partnership that allows them to access more-than-human abilities.
But what if there was another way to create a spirit animal—to force the bond, giving the human partner total control? And what if someone with selfish intentions was offered this gift... with a catch?
The four young heroes have barely had time to come together as a team, and their own spirit animal bonds are still greatly untested. But now they face a brutal confrontation against an enemy who will break any rule to defeat them.
Plot[]
In the prologue, Devin Trunswick is given the Bile by Zerif. Devin visualizes to himself how having a spirit animal would make him a legend.
In Greenhaven, Abeke is making her way to the training room when Uraza sidetracks her. She comes upon a room full of mirrors that were cluttered with all sorts of items and have a glimpse of a man with tattoos standing inside. She then finally makes it to the training room, late. Rollan and Meilin look at her disapprovingly. In the training session overlooked by Tarik, the children are taught how to defend themselves with everyday things such as brooms, handkerchiefs, pans, lamps, vases, and spoons. Abeke spars with a young Greencloak named Errol, managing to beat him with Uraza's help. After that round, the kids are supposed to take a new weapon. When Abeke is surrounded by the assistant Greencloaks, Tarik calls the fighting off and scolds the other kids for not helping Abeke. Conor is the only one to look ashamed and helps Abeke up, as she realizes that the other kids don't trust her, due to her previous time with the Conquerors.
Olvan enters the room, informing the group of their new mission in Eura. He introduces Finn, a senior Greencloak who would be their scout on the mission. Abeke recognizes Finn as the tattooed man she had seen in the cluttered room earlier. Tarik is skeptical of bringing Finn along but does not question it. Later, the group receives news that Zhong has fallen and that Meilin's father, General Teng, has gone missing. Meilin is upset about this news and questions why she even joined the Greencloaks in the first place. She storms away but is stopped by Finn. He convinces her to let him show her something and takes her to Moon Tower. Finn explains that he has a difficult bond with his spirit animal and that coming to Moon Tower had helped him. With Finn's influence, Meilin begins to explore Jhi's powers and decides to stay with the Greencloaks instead of going to search for her father.
The group is on-board a ship to Eura, where Rollan is looking out at the sea and feeling seasick. Abeke finds him and told him that the waves were a whale's bumpy back poking up and diving under repeatedly. Rollan, since they were alone, asked Abeke how she knew that. Abeke awkwardly said that with the Conquerors' ship, she saw the same waves. Rollan, not very smoothly, asked if she had any inside information about the Conquerors, and she said not much. While talking about their Nectar ceremonies, Rollan realized that Abeke was the first person he un-teasingly told about his strange ceremony.
Once they reached land, Rollan is riding on a rude horse and working on getting smiles out of Meilin, whom he described as the "snotty general's daughter.” Abeke thought that perhaps his horse was jealous of his and Essix's bond, since it was a former spirit animal itself.
While riding, a weasel jumps and attacks Tarik. With the help of Essix's intuition, Rollan realizes that they are being ambushed by Conquerors. He tries to tell his horse to get closer to the battle, but the horse rears and flings him off before galloping away. Rollan runs to Tarik and tries to warn him about a Conqueror's snake, but the snake bites him in the arm, and Essix swoops in to blind the attacking Conqueror before he can kill Tarik. Rollan grabs the sword the Conqueror dropped and holds him at swordpoint after striking him with it. After the Conquerors are chased off, he turns his attention to Tarik, who tells him and Conor that the snakebite was venomous. They realize that Finn, Meilin, and Abeke had disappeared, but decide that helping Tarik was more important than going after them, so they head to Lady Evelyn’s castle that was nearby. Tarik is cared for by Lady Evelyn while Rollan and Conor go alone to Trunswick.
Meanwhile, Finn, Meilin, and Abeke hide as the Conquerors search for them. When the coast is clear, they get out of their hiding out place and decide to head for Trunswick. The next morning, they begin to travel across a purple-green field that has soft spots that will “happily swallow a person,” according to Finn.
Not long after they start walking, Meilin is “swallowed” by a soft spot in the moor. Her arm shoots out of the ground, and Abeke and Finn manage to help get her out. She stubbornly insists that she was doing fine and could’ve gotten out herself, then complains about her wet clothes. They run into some Hawkers, people who sell fake Nectar and spirit animal pelts. Meilin and Abeke hide their tattoos from the Hawkers and pretend to be Finn’s foster children. The man and woman Hawkers are unnervingly chipper, and try to convince them that a black house cat is a black wildcat kit. Abeke then trades her elephant hair bracelet for the cat because she feels bad leaving it caged, eventually revealing its name to be Kunaya. When she goes to claim Kunaya, her tattoo of Uraza shows, and the man threatens to slit her throat if she doesn’t produce Uraza. Luckily, Meilin subdues the man and Abeke gets back her bracelet.
Conor and Rollan enter Trunswick and Conor immediately notices that the flags that once portrayed Briggan now have a picture of a black wildcat on them. Conor is stunned, since Briggan was such an honored beast, a legend, among all Eurans. A guard comes with a bunch of dogs and threatens to throw them in prison because they’re Greencloaks. Devin then approaches with his Bile-bonded black wildcat, Elda, which surprises Conor, who saw Devin’s failed Nectar ceremony. They flee from the guards, but they get caught and are thrown into the Howling House.
Finn, Abeke, and Meilin arrive in Trunswick and spot Essix flying above them. They decide to circle the town and avoid going into it since Finn had a “disagreement” with the Earl of Trunswick, in which the Earl tried to kill him. Before they go, Meilin shoots an insinuation at Abeke about her wanting the Conquerors to catch them. She apologizes, getting a nod of approval from Finn. Essix flies over the Howling House, indicating that’s where Conor and Rollan are trapped, and they agree to wait until nightfall to rescue them.
Night falls, and the town is eerily quiet, making them all uneasy. They get on the inside of Trunswick’s walls and hide in a blacksmith stand near the Howling House, spying on Zerif, Devin, Karmo, Ana, and Tahlia, the four children who have Bile-bonded with legends from different continents. After that, Meilin uses Jhi’s decision-making abilities to help her decide what to do. She decides to tip the water tower over, flooding the Howling House where Conor and Rollan are still imprisoned. They escape into the streets where the Trunswick Massacre wages between the Conquerors and the citizens of Trunswick. Conor is briefly reunited with his mother, and Finn is captured by the Earl, who threatens to throw him back into the Howling House, which Finn has bad memories of. Dawson sends a flaming cart between Finn and his father, allowing them to successfully escape and head to Glengavin where Rumfuss’s talisman is presumed to be.
In Glengavin, the group is warmly welcomed into the castle and introduced to Lord MacDonnell, the lord of his castle, who is unnervingly chipper. Glengavin also happens to have a large garden with Rumfuss in it and is very law-abiding. When Rollan goes over to compliment the musicians, Essix gets caught in something, and the harpist goes to free her. The harpist is punished because she broke a law stating that nobody sits higher than the lord. This makes Rollan angry since the harpist was just freeing Essix.
After a feast, the group is given a place to sleep. In the middle of the night, Meilin sleepwalks onto a window ledge outside of Conor and Rollan’s room. The boys pull her in and notice tears rolling down her cheeks, and Rollan looks concerned for a moment before Conor looks at him and he throws a pitcher of water on Meilin. She slaps him. Then they all go back to bed.
Meanwhile, Abeke and Uraza sneak out of their room to investigate a sound Uraza heard after Meilin returns from her sleepwalking excursion. It turns out to be Devin and Karmo, two false legends recruited by Zerif. Karmo tries to convince Abeke to join them, and return to Nilo, but does that without any success. Karmo then proceeds to use his animal to capture Abeke using the “hard way.” Impundulu electrocutes her, making her limbs go numb, giving her no chance to resist.
Meilin, Rollan, Conor, and Finn try to convince Lord MacDonnell to let them visit Rumfuss. They realize that Abeke has disappeared and hasn’t come back yet. Finn tries to find her while Meilin, Rollan, and Conor, speak to the lord. They learn that Lord MacDonnell once had a hare as a spirit animal, but had driven it away because he had higher expectations. He and Conor play chess before Finn comes back with Kunaya, who has Abeke’s bracelet with a message knotted into it that says: “Help. Devin hunts Rumfuss.” They strike a deal with MacDonnell, promising to find his spirit animal in exchange for entering the gardens to find Rumfuss and stop Devin.
Meilin and Rollan set off in search of Abeke. They follow Kunaya to a carriage where Abeke is trapped in a wooden trunk. Rollan picks the lock and Meilin jokes about him having tutors, being an inside joke the two share. They follow Essix back to the garden.
Conor and Finn are in the gardens, looking for MacDonnell’s hare. Conor finds the place he’s seen before in his dreams, which is located behind the lord’s bedroom. Since the hare is hiding there, they assume that he must miss MacDonnell as much as MacDonnell misses him. They try to convince the hare to give his partner a second chance, which appears to be getting through to him, but he runs away when Conor offers his hand. Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan discover Rumfuss and allow their spirit animals to talk to him. When Jhi gives Meilin a signal to meet Rumfuss, they talk to him briefly, and Rollan offers the Great Beast his freedom in exchange for his talisman. They agree to this deal and Devin, Karmo, and more than a dozen Conquerors arrive igniting the Battle for the Iron Boar. Conor and Finn meet up with the others and plunge straight into battle. Conor aids Meilin, and Rollan comes to help as well, but they’re quickly surrounded. Rumfuss helps by smashing through the Conqueror’s ranks. Jhi crushed a woman. Finn fends off a giraffe.
Suddenly, Conor is attacked Elda and Devin. The fight is short-lived, though, because a mysterious black blur leaps in to save Conor and incapacitate Elda. Most of the Conquerors flee, leaving Devin and Karmo to be captured by them. They’re momentarily anxious about Finn’s whereabouts when they find him, grinning, with his previously dormant black wildcat, Donn.
Rumfuss gives them his talisman in thanks for fighting with him. They bring the prisoners and Rumfuss up to Glengavin castle, hoping to convince Lord MacDonnell to free Rumfuss and allow them to keep the talisman despite not holding up their end of the bargain. Rumfuss then speaks to MacDonnell’s hare and helps them renew their bond. MacDonnell then allows Rumfuss to be free.
Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan go to meet up with Tarik again, leaving Finn behind in Glengavin to become an emissary for the Greencloaks up in Eura. One night, when Conor’s on watch, Dawson approaches him with a letter from the Earl of Trunswick. In the letter, he threatens his family and claims that terrible punishments will befall Conor’s mother unless he hands over the talisman. Conor hands the talisman to Dawson, but he will soon learn that there are consequences to every action.
Back at Greenhaven, Meilin seeks out Jhi’s council to decide whether or not she should go to Zhong. Despite the transparency of the right choice, she decides to leave and go find her father in Zhong.
Trivia[]
- Hunted takes place a few weeks after Wild Born.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ Hunted, Chapter 1: Bile, pages 3-4, line 28-31 & 1-2
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Spirit Animals (Series 1)
Fall of the Beasts (Series 2)
