The Marrow Thieves: Back into the Woods Summary & Analysis

Frenchie believes there's something beautiful about the natural world of today. Vines reclaim electrical poles and pipelines, and animals are doing the same. Miig believes that in 50 years, animals will hunt humans again. Frenchie helps get ready to move out as snow starts to fall. Everyone wants to stay at Four Winds where they feel safe. Wab moves slowly, and RiRi is quiet and seems to be trying to act mature enough to handle the truth. Minerva is the only one who seems to be doing well, and she sings as she sits in the cart along with a barbeque they found.

Frenchie wonders if the Four Winds was good for him. He thinks that it was amazing to get close to Rose, but she's avoided him since that first night. He wishes he hadn't heard Wab's coming-to story, and seeing RiRi so scared eats at Frenchie. He also dreamed about Mitch during their stay, but Mitch died horrific deaths in the dreams and Frenchie is almost relieved to be back in the forest, where it's cold enough to change his dreams. Miig points out buds on trees and says that April is here, which means more illness with the damp rains. Frenchie knows there's no time to get sick, and he remembers Zheegwon telling him earlier in the year that illness makes Minerva nervous: she lost a baby to a cough.

Frenchie looks back at the resort several times, wondering if they'd stayed if Rose might've come to him again. RiRi and Slopper are angry and complain that Miig is making them move. Frenchie thinks that RiRi is young enough that her anger is cute, especially since she discovered a pair of bright pink rubber boots at the resort and is wearing them now. Frenchie remembers how, after RiRi first put the boots on, she worried that the boots might've belonged to an Indigenous girl who was taken to the residential schools. Frenchie had assured her that the boots probably belonged to a rich blond girl. Whether RiRi believes his story or not, she agreed to keep them.

Around noon, Slopper smells cooking. Frenchie corrects him that it's just smoke, and Slopper is confused that there's a fire with no cooking. RiRi points out that accidental fires exist, and Frenchie notices the fear in her face. Miig asks Frenchie to climb a tree and take a look. Frenchie begins to climb a tall pine, feeling content that he's doing something to protect the people he loves, especially Rose. At the top of the tree, Frenchie can see a smoke plume. Trees shake around the plume and then fall. He can hear a rumble and sees a yellow flash. It doesn't make sense. Back on the ground, Frenchie says that what he saw was weird, and Miig calls him to speak privately.

Frenchie is upset that he can't share what he knows is a dramatic and exciting story. He grumbles to himself that Miig is bossy and just wants the information to himself. Frenchie relays what he saw. After a moment, Miig says that Recruiters interrupted Minerva feeding her baby grandson, raped her, and took the baby. He says that Wab was alone for two years before she joined the group, and she followed them for six weeks before revealing herself. She was too afraid to trust them. Miig says that RiRi and Slopper had a parent each when they arrived, but their parents ended up in the schools.

Frenchie asks Miig to stop, but Miig continues. He says that Tree and Zheegwon were captured by a small town, whose residents tried brutally to extract their dreams. Miig found the seven-year-old twins hanging from a rope in a barn, cut open, stitched up, and missing their pinkies. Frenchie wants to vomit. Miig says that he lost his husband Isaac to the schools, and Frenchie watches Miig rub the buffalo tattoo on his hand, his "wedding ring" that he shared with Isaac. Miig stumbles and Frenchie quits asking Miig to stop.