Incarceron

The group explains to Claudia and Jared that, according to stories, Sapphique was the only one to ever escape Incarceron. Gildas assumed that he would become an important personage upon escaping. Claudia tells the group about her theory that Finn is really Giles. She wants to get him out of Incarceron so that she can expose Sia’s crimes, reinstall the true heir, and avoid marrying Caspar. She admits that there are no maps of Incarceron, but she plans to enter through the gate and lead the group out.

Evian overhears Claudia and Jared speaking to the group through the key, so they sever the connection. Claudia tells Evian that now that they’ve located Giles/Finn, they don’t need to assassinate Sia or Caspar; she can just retrieve Giles and have the others dethroned. Evian claims that Sia will never let anyone see Giles and will just kill Claudia, Jared, and Evian when she realizes what they are planning. Evian still insists on killing Sia and Caspar shortly after the wedding. He also wants to kill Claudia’s father, but Claudia makes him promise not to do so by threatening to tell Sia about Evian’s plot. Evian swears on “the Nine-Fingered One” (303) that he will not harm the Warden, then leaves. Neither Jared nor Claudia knows who the Nine-Fingered One is.

Tonight, Sia is holding a meeting with the Warden and others, so Claudia plans to enter Incarceron then, while they are distracted.

Blaize has special food, and the group cannot understand how he gets it. He also has an incredible number of books, many of which are lists of names and numbers; they are records of Incarceron’s prisoners, and if a name is touched, images of that prisoner are shown. Finn and Keiro find their own names and are disturbed by how many images there are. Attia searches for Claudia’s name but claims that she cannot find it. This suggests that Claudia is not a prisoner of Incarceron and that Outside exists.

Gildas finds the diary of Lord Calliston, Incarceron’s first prisoner. The diary confirms that the Sapienti founded the prison, hoping to make it a utopia, but instead, inmates started turning against each other and Incarceron began “thinking for itself” (311) instead of following instructions. Dystopia unfolded, but Lord Calliston wasn’t sure if it was humans’ fault, Incarceron’s fault, or both.

Claudia instructs Evian to start arguments to lengthen Sia’s meeting so that she will have more time in Incarceron. Claudia does not know her father’s combination, but the key opens the gate.

Inside the gate, instead of Incarceron, Claudia finds an exact copy of her father’s study from home. Jared opens the desk drawer, and the key it contains is the hologram. This suggests that they are standing not in a copy of the room, but in the same room. They surmise that the gate acts as a portal. They also notice that the chair is too far away from the desk, suggesting that its purpose is not what it seems.

Blaize says that he found the tower he now lives in, and it was abandoned. All the books were there already, and he doesn’t know who put them there. Keiro suspects that Blaize wants their key; Attia thinks he is holding them prisoner in his tower and will not let them leave.

Claudia tells the group the gate did not lead to Incarceron after all, but she still wants to find a way to help them.

Blaize offers the group a meal, then leaves the room. Attia tastes the food first, but the apple burns her.

The food is poisoned, so Gildas gives Attia an emetic, but she does not regurgitate all of the poison. There is nothing else that Gildas can do. Finn gets another magic life ring from Keiro and puts it on Attia; this strengthens her pulse. They carry her outside the tower and board Blaize’s flying ship.

Sia has asked Jared to leave once the wedding is over. Now, Claudia thinks she should fear Sia more than she fears her father. Suddenly the Warden appears, looking disheveled.

Finn and the group take off in the flying ship. They are not sure why Blaize didn’t stop them from leaving after trying to poison them.

Claudia’s father has finally realized that she has his key. She doesn’t understand why her father would participate in Sia’s plan to fake Giles’s death and imprison him. He says that Sia forced him to do so, but he won’t reveal how. The Warden knows that Claudia has been speaking to Finn and believes he is Giles; he points out that there is no real proof of this. Although Finn has the same tattoo that Giles had and is the right age, it is also true that the prison recycles dead bodies to make new inmates, so Finn could have gotten the tattoo this way. The Warden also tells Claudia that Finn lied about how he got the key; he actually got it after Maestra, to whom he promised safety in exchange for ransom, was murdered. The Warden demands the key, but Claudia says that Jared has it.

Finn’s group sails through the sky for hours. The key becomes warm, which Finn interprets as confirmation that they’re going the right way. When they encounter a storm, the ship tips onto its side, and debris tears its sails. An eagle tries to take the key from Finn, so he gives it to Gildas, who goes below deck. The eagle leaves. The group comes to a wall, which they believe is the boundary of Incarceron, but they are about to crash into it.

Originally, the only way in or out of the prison was supposed to be through a portal, and the Warden would have the only key. However, it is implied that there are other exits that the creators did not intend.

Claudia meets Jared. Earlier, he took a small piece of metal from the Warden’s study, which he now puts under a microscope to show Claudia. She stares at it in bewilderment.

The group’s ship slides down the massive wall, which is studded with small doors, through which bats are flying. There is a cube on the wall, and Gildas says that Sapphique landed on a cube, so they have to jump onto it. Keiro tries to steer the ship toward the cube, which is difficult in the storm.

Through the microscope, Claudia sees a pride of tiny, living lions. Jared says that there are also other microscopic animals. He thinks that this was the prototype for Incarceron. He surmises that Incarceron is a miniature, shrunken prison. This would explain why nobody has ever found it despite the huge number of prisoners it contains. The entire prison could likely fit in the Warden’s hand. Jared does not know whether the shrinking process is reversible, but he portal is likely in the Warden’s study. Claudia wants to enter Incarceron and rescue Finn and the others. She does not plan to return the key to her father, and Jared does not plan to leave even though Sia has ordered him to do so.

Finn’s group steers the ship onto the cube, but it crashes and cracks.