The Marrow Thieves: Word Arrives in Black Summary & Analysis

Frenchie wakes up early the next morning, grabs the rifle, and creeps out. He checks Rose's tent—she's alone—and starts to walk. Clarence, Miig, General, and some other men flag Frenchie and invite him to hunt. They spend the day out in the wilderness. Clarence tells Frenchie that as they get closer to the coasts, there's more water. The middle of the continent is poisoned. Clarence says that once it's safe to return to their homelands, they can start to heal. Frenchie, confused, asks how they can go home when home is gone. Clarence patiently explains that they can use their knowledge to heal the land.

Frenchie hears a high whistle and General pulls Frenchie to the ground. Frenchie feels panicky, but General explains that scouts got an animal. Frenchie's group joins the scouts and their buck, and the hunting party returns to camp around mid-afternoon. Frenchie feels smug and then giddy when Derrick jogs up to them and complains that Clarence didn't wake him up. Clarence says that Derrick needs to get himself up like Frenchie did. Rose runs over, touches Frenchie, and compliments the buck. Frenchie feels inexplicably angry, remembers her dancing with Derrick, and rudely tells her to go watch Derrick wrestle.

Rose looks hurt, which makes Frenchie feel flustered. She asks what he's playing at and calls him Francis, but Frenchie asks her to call him French—Francis is what people he respects can call him. He feels horrible immediately, and Rose leads him away from the group. They argue, Rose accuses Frenchie of having changed and of being a jerk, and Rose says that she'll leave after they get Minerva. Frenchie insults Derrick again and says that he won't chase after Rose. Rose starts to cry and Frenchie feels ashamed. He meanders to Dad's room and flops facedown onto Dad's bed.

Dad returns to his room about an hour later and when he's sure Frenchie is awake, he starts to tell Frenchie how he ended up in the city. He says he ran away when he was thirteen. He stopped at an old church first. The church was supposedly a "medicine house," but it didn't look right. Dad says he wanted to find something real, and that's why he went. He didn't care about God, but he knew that his family wouldn't look for him there. He says that he suffered from rages that he barely remembered. He closed his eyes to pray for an answer, and he heard crickets and birds. He got on the highway and went to the city, where he found Mom.

Dad and Frenchie hear someone shouting for Dad and they make their way out of the cave. A priest shouts that they'll move Minerva tomorrow, and Miig, Frenchie, and Chi-Boy look at the priest with terror. They adopt defensive positions, but Dad yells that this is Father Carole, their spy. Carole says that they're taking Minerva to the airstrip to take her to the capital. Carole tells Frenchie that the Recruiters have to pass nearby to get there.