CHAPTER THIRTEEN

After being severely injured during hand-to-hand assessment, Violet is carried to the Healer Quadrant where she insists on being mended rather than transferred to the Scribe Quadrant, despite Dain's pleas. Back in the barracks that night, she discovers her late brother Brennan's hidden journal from her sister Mira, which contains crucial secrets about how challenges are assigned and how to prepare for them.

Dain carries the severely injured Violet to the Healer Quadrant through the covered passage. Though he attempts to convince Winifred and the mender Nolon to allow her to heal naturally and transfer to the Scribe Quadrant for safety, Violet refuses, insisting she will not leave the Riders Quadrant. She fears that needing frequent mending will mark her as weak, and she is determined not to give her mother the satisfaction of throwing her back out. Nolon mends her shoulder despite Dain's objections, and the process is agonizing. Later that night, back in the barracks, Rhiannon greets her with relief. Violet discovers a journal hidden in her bunk—written by her deceased brother Brennan five years ago and annotated by her sister Mira. The journal reveals that instructors assign hand-to-hand challenges a week in advance based on strategic weeding of weaker cadets, and that cadets can discover their opponents beforehand if they know where to look and can move unseen through the grounds. This knowledge gives Violet hope and a plan for survival in the challenges ahead.