56 pages • 1 hour read
Bethany C. MorrowA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Seeing Naema and Effie fight, Tavia instinctually uses Awaken. Naema and others record the fight on their phones. Awaken transforms Wallace into Gargy the gargoyle, turning his flesh to stone with wings that safeguard Effie. Tavia hears Effie moaning, and Gargy lets her inside the shelter of his wings. Effie’s true form is a gorgon:
Her legs are gone. Replaced by a tail [...] My sister’s a gorgon, I’m sure of it. For one, her tail doesn’t taper the way a mermaid’s does. Instead it’s thick and long, coiling around itself so it looks endless. For two, her big eyes have changed. Their shape isn’t immediately noticeable (except to someone who sees her close up every single day) but the scales at the corners are. Everything inside is different, too. Her pupil is a long vertical slit through what looks like golden sand. [...] Her twists aren’t twists anymore; now they’ve got scales of their own. They writhe and curl in the air around her head (211).
Tavia tells Effie that she’s something wonderful, an extreme rarity. She’s in awe of Effie, but remembers her own discovery and wishing she wasn’t a siren every day. Effie pleads to not let people see her, as they snap pictures and record videos.