The MarkBy Edyth Bulbring

Notes compiled by CJ Foster

Chapter 1: The Monster● Handler Xavier causes panic on the beach so that everyone flees and their belongings can be stolen

by Kitty and Juliet (Ettie).

● A locust attempts to stop Kitty, but Ettie saves her by distracting him (pretending to have a

seizure).

● Ettie cares deeply and is protective over Kitty.

● Ettie wears many “masks” - she pretends to be someone she is not (a mask of distress, “a nobody”)

● After the curfew siren, Ettie returns to Section O (section orphanage) in Slum City where she

shares a room with Kitty.

● Juliet cares deeply about Kitty but does not show it.

● Kitty can not fake things, she wears her heart on her sleeve (does not wear masks).

● Handler Xavier uses the orphans to make money in the game (by stealing)

● Handler Xavier takes the credits they have stolen and tells them to take the items to Cowboy in the market to sell for credits.

● Ettie hides a book she stole under a paver (paving stone) in her secret place.“secret library”.

Chapter 2: Cowboy

● Cowboy – a smuggler or illicit dealer and is described as a thief that steals from thieves.

● After Ettie sells the stolen goods to Cowboy, she buys mango and water for herself and Kitty, before

she goes to the Muti Nag (Witch) to collect bug juice (a fermented drink) “for” the orphan warden.

● Misstress Hadeda is Witch’s pet bird (appears to be very scary), she insults Ettie and threatens her

with Savage City (a prison).

● Muti Nags damage the eyes of Hadedas to make them go blind so that their telling senses increase

(they tell the future).

● Witch and Nelson (an unfamiliar man) are playing scrabble and discover that Ettie can read when she

rearranges the letter tiles.

● Once Ettie is out the room, Witch & Nelson discuss whether Ettie could be the “one” the tellers (birds)

speak of.

● After giving the bug juice to the orphan warden (who feeds it to the babies at night to make

them sleep right through), Ettie checks the cots and shows compassion towards the babies by

tucking them in and assuring them that things will be better in the morning.

● Back in her room, she applies a harsh chemical cream to the numbers on her spine (she is

trying to remove the number) and reads Peter Pan.

● Kitty has disappeared but returns after sunrise.

Chapter 3: Drudge School

● Kitty arrives home under the influence of bug juice (their equivalent to alcohol). Her designated trade is

a pleasure worker at the Posh clubs.

● While Kitty goes with Handler Xavier to the parade, Ettie goes to school where she learns to be a

drudge.

● Ettie looks like a Posh (her skin is unusually fair – pus coloured) she uses this to her advantage when

stealing in “the game”. She pretends to be Posh.

● Ettie cares about Kitty but does not approve of Kitty’s actions. e.g. Ettie scolds Kitty because she was

drunk and says that she could have been caught by the Locusts.

● Ettie hates school because she does not want to be a drudge – her fate.

● She hates that The Machine allocates people’s trades to them.

● Ettie is intelligent enough to question the system and she wants to escape it.

● Ettie tries to be invisible at school because she wants to avoid getting into trouble.

● Ettie avoids making friends because she doesn't trust anyone.

● Ettie tries to be a model student. She behaves in a way that makes her teacher believe she has been

suitably trained to accept her role as a drudge.

Slum City is divided into different sections:

● Section AR (Attitude Readjustment).

● Section O (Orphanage)

● Section PT (Past Traders)

● Section F (Families)

Chapter 4: Reader

• Ettie goes to Mangeria City to visit the Beautiful Like Me Beauty Parlour, where she steals more “cream”

to apply to her mark.

• The beauty parlour is owned by a character named Me. Ettie has a surface level relationship with him –

he lets her stay in his parlour to avoid the locusts if she misses curfew.

• After stealing the acid cream, Ettie makes her way up the stairs of the beauty parlour to visit a

character by the name of Reader.

• Reader is an old blind man who taught Ettie to read when she was just 9 years old.

• She brings him books (stolen books) in exchange for reading time or lessons.

• Reader appears to be happy to see Juliet but Juliet does not does not appear to care.

• Reader delights in Juliet’s company but does not make it obvious to her.

• He makes her read to him while he pretends to sleep on the couch.

• He accepts any book she brings him (even if he already owns a few copies of the same book).

• He continually makes her tell him how and when their “relationship” started.

• Ettie does not realise that Reader enjoys being around

her and instead thinks he is keeping their relationship

“strictly business”.

• Ettie steals a book from Reader’s library and is caught

when it drops to the floor Infront of Reader.

• In that moment Ettie realises Reader is blind – He

pretends not to know that she stole his book and tells

her to be safe as she goes home.

• As Ettie approaches the boom to return to the

orphanage – she pretends to have sun-sickness so that

no one touches her (she is hiding the stolen cream and

book under her shirt).

• A locust tries to stop her and grabs her shoulder – she

dropped the cream while walking and he picked it up

and gave it back to her.

Chapter 5: Posh Trouble

• Ettie is reminded of a time when she and Kitty were smalls and Kitty refused to drink bug juice before

bed because it stopped her from dreaming (she was the only small who was conscious while sleeping).

• Handler Xavier and Juliet head to the square (Posh entertainment area) to play the game. Juliet

pretends to be a posh – she looks like a Posh because of her light coloured skin. She wears sunglasses

to cover her “cow eyes” as they will give her identity away. By acting like a Posh, it becomes easier to

steal from one.

• Handler Xavier sells fake toys that appear to dance to music (tries to pass them as magic).

• The truth is nearly exposed when a Posh boy begins asking too many questions about the toys. Ettie

(who is disguised as a posh) saves the game by purchasing multiple toys which encourages the crowd

to do the same.

• The Posh boy watches Ettie and tries to find out her name. His name is Nicholas.

• Nicholas finds Ettie attractive and she feels the same way about him. She runs away before telling him

her name.

Chapter 6: The Festival

• This festival is a mass marriage ceremony.

• Everyone attends the festival and no one works on this day.

• At the age of sixteen, people are assigned ‘fate-mates’.

• Mates are pre-determined by the marks on their spines.

• Posh only marry Posh.

• Traders only marry traders.

• The Mangarians are excluded from the festival – they decide whom their children marry within the

Mangarian circle.

• Once married, if you give birth to an unhealthy baby it will be thrown onto the reject dumps to die.

• There is drama at the festival this year – a Posh is causing trouble. He hesitates and cannot marry his

fate-mate, he searches the crowd. At that moment a girl in the crowd collapses and clutches her

stomach. These two individuals have been intimate (this is against the law) and the girl is pregnant. The

locusts carry both of them away.

• The girl will be forced to ‘go down the river’ (abort her baby) once her child is born it will be thrown into

the river and the “problem” will be gone.

• Ettie meets Nicolas at the festival again. They arrange to have a date next Sunday at the tree museum.

Chapter 7: The Riot

• A riot has broken out in the streets and this is the perfect opportunity for Ettie and Kitty to steal.

• Kitty and Ettie get separated.

• The three individuals who started the riot are caught by the locusts and are publicly arrested by the

Locust warden.

• The one prisoner’s back is temporarily exposed and there is no mark. Ettie discovers this phenomenon.

• They are accused of:

• Starting a fire in the food market

• Burning down the tree museum in Mangeria City.

• A character by the name of Cockroach (The Head of the Locusts) approaches the Locust warden and

whispers something in his ear. After this the Locust warden becomes more harsh towards the accused

and hypes the crowd to anger. There is underhandedness as It is clear that Cockroach told him to get rid

of the prisoners.

• The accused are then trampled to death by the crowd once the locusts leave them exposed.

• The fire reminds Ettie of the beginning of her relationship

with Kitty.

• There was a fire in the orphanage when they were still

smalls. Juliet was fast asleep (she consumed bug juice). Kitty

tried saving Ettie from the fire while Xavier tried to stop her.

Eventually, Kitty saved Ettie, but she was badly burned and

scarred in the process.

• This is why Ettie feels as if she owes Kitty her life.

• After the riot had died down, Ettie sees Nelson (Witch’s

friend) and a few others enter a building very suspiciously.

• She realises something is going on and she wants to know

what it is.

Chapter 8 : The Experiment

• Ettie is curious to know what they are doing so she climbs across rooftops and

settles on the roof of their building to lip read. She sits by an open window and is

able to hear what is being said.

• The three prisoners (from the riot) were part of an organisation of resistance

fighters (The rebel movement), and were taken to savage city to be incarcerated.

The laboratory erased their marks and told their parents that they had died, but

they actually used them for human experiments.

• Experiments are conducted in pairs.

• The prisoners escaped from the Laboratory and tried to draw attention to

themselves by creating the riot, so that people will come to know what is really

going on.

• The prisoners then became a liability to the Mangerians, and the locusts were

given orders by Cockroach to start the stampede and leave them unprotected.

This is how they were killed.

• The people inside the room ask for a volunteer who will be willing to get arrested and be sent to the

laboratory for experiments.

• They can then find out how the Mangerians are removing the mark as well as gather more information

about the experiments being conducted in the Laboratory.

• Ettie discovers that everything she knows is wrong, the people around her have been deceiving her

since the beginning of time.

• They have been part of this secret organisation the entire time.

• The members of the organisation include Nelson, Handler Xavier, Witch, the criminal’s parents and Kitty.

• Kitty volunteers to enter the laboratory and find information.

• Mistress Hadeda squawks while aiming at the window - “She’s the one” (she is referring to Ettie) and

the people in the room assume that Kitty is the one who will save them all.

• Handler Xavier and Nelson discuss who will join Kitty.

• Juliet realises that Kitty has been leading a double life all this time - she has been the one in the

permanent mask and Ettie had no idea.

• Kitty is described as “the mistress of the mask”.

Chapter 9 : Graduation• Juliet has been watching Kitty’s every move since discovering her role in the secret organisation.

• The days have become unbearably hot and the traders are suffering in the heat. The Posh escape the

heat by fleeing to Pleasure Resorts along the coast where it is cooler.

• On the night before graduation, Juliet remembers that she can find information about Kitty in the orphan

warden’s filing cabinet.

• All the records of the children in her care are in this cabinet.

• Ettie makes the following discoveries:

• Kitty’s name is Katherine Seven. She was taken away from her parents when she was 4 years old,

they were declared unfit when they committed treason against the state for organising a protest

against the Fate-mate festival. They tried to escape from Savage City and were sentenced to

death. They were eaten by rats.

• Kitty was sent to Section AR for 2 months at the age of 7 because she refused to dance at school.

(They broke both her legs and tortured her until she agreed to obey the system).

• Kitty changed after this and was no longer affectionate towards Ettie – she lost her innocence and was

hungry for vengeance.

• Ettie’s file says her parents left her at the door of the orphanage and walked away.

• It is the day of their graduation and Ettie receives her certificate. Ettie decides to visit the tree

museum in the hopes of seeing a sign of life.

• Ettie discovers a tree that was not completely burnt in the fire as well as Mistress Hadeda’s hidden

nest. She promises not to tell Witch about it as she will blind the chicks and make them tellers.

Chapter 10 : The Plan

• Ettie tries to convince Kitty to open up to her but Kitty shuts her down everytime.

• Before Ettie and Kitty leave Section O forever, Handler Xavier demands that they steal for him one last

time.

• They are going to steal from the Posh in the Pleasure Resorts.

• While Kitty is stealing she sends Ettie a signal by tapping a number. Juliet goes to the room number that

Kitty signalled to her but cannot find her – Ettie searches the hallways and hears Kitty scream from the

floor above.

• Ettie sees Kitty being held by a servant (Festis Four) of the Posh man she was trying to steal from.

Festis is violently assaulting Ettie and Kitty.

• Nicolas walks in and tries to stop him. He lies to the man and tells him they are his cousins but Festis

four does not believe him.

• Nicolas creates opportunity for Juliet to escape before the Locusts arrive, he is left behind with Festis

and Kitty.

• Ettie finds Handler Xavier outside and he is furious that she left Kitty behind. He tries to get her

arrested, but she runs away.

• Handler Xavier tried to get Ettie arrested so that she would be Kitty’s partner in crime - the second

volunteer.

• But Ettie was scared and left Kitty behind instead of staying and fighting.

• Kitty purposefully tapped the incorrect number so that Ettie would go to the wrong room and would not

see her getting arrested.

• Kitty tried to protect Ettie.

• Nicholas protected Ettie by creating an opportunity for her to run from the Locusts.

• The Locusts take Kitty away.

• Ettie rushes back to Section O to retrieve her belongings.

• She goes to see Reader but discovers that he was found and taken to past traders (Section PT) and his

books were taken by the Locusts.

Chapter 11 : The Drudges

• Ettie is the allocated drudge in Section D to work for Mistress and Master Hylton, with her flatmate Dora.

• Both Dora and Ettie will work together for the same Mangerian family - one as the child caregiver and

the other as an assistant to the cook.

• Dora and Ettie have to report to Madame Merriem – She is the Head drudge and house keeper for the

Mangerian family.

• Dora and Ettie do not get along – Dora tries to sabotage Ettie in order to be the child minder.

• Mistress and Master Hylton’s daughter’s name is Larissa and she insists that Ettie and Dora call her

“Little Miss”.

• Larissa will decide which of the drudges will have the privilege of being her caregiver, while her parents

are not around.

• Larissa is very sick – it is a chronic condition.

• Juliet thinks about Kitty and her plan to get arrested.

• Kitty is awaiting trial for burglary after which she will be taken to the laboratory and be experimented

on

• Mistress and Madame Merriam – their relationship is close; Mistress has a pet name for her – Merry.

• Mistress and her husband – there is tension between them; Ettie notices that when Mistress smiles

him, it isn’t real.

The Mangerian family and workers at number 3 consists of:1. Mistress (guardian of culture and heritage)2. Master Hylton (guardian of science and technology)3. Little miss Larissa (has an incurable disease)4. Madam Merriam (with mistress for thirty one years as her caregiver)5. Cook6. Dora7. Ettie8. And a few insignificant other servants.

Chapter 12 : The Party

• Kitty’s trial takes place the next day.

• Madam Merriam, Master Hylton, Little Miss Larissa and Dora, continue to be harsh towards Juliet – they

aggravate her.

• Mistress appears to be interested in Ettie and her opinions. Mistress is the Guardian of Heritage and

Culture so she shares Ettie’s love of trees. They both use ‘my’ when they refer to the trees showing a

sense of possession and a common link between them.

• Juliet wears a “mask” when talking to mistress- she does not let Mistress know her true feelings and

thoughts.

• The Mangerians throw a party and Ettie is on drudge duty – serving them.

• The Mangerians talk about the upcoming elections, and they argue over candidates and entitlement.

• Master Hylton offers up his wife’s position in exchange for keeping his position as Guardian of Science

and Technology (research and experients) - without talking to her about the decision.

• A crack in their relationship is exposed as they argue in front of their guests.

• Nicolas is at the party and he is the son of Bartholomew, a Guardian for Justice and Peace.

• Ettie discovers that he is going to testify at the trial tomorrow and give evidence against her and Kitty.

• Ettie is sickened that he has to testify against them, but she understands that he cannot go against his

family’s wishes.

• Nicolas now knows where Ettie lives, where she works, and who she works for. Ettie feels vulnerable.

Chapter 13 : The Trial• Juliet has a day off of work.

• Cook is harsh with Ettie and gives her many tasks to do before she can leave.

• Ettie overhears Mistress vent about losing her job as guardian of culture and heritage.

• Mistress tries to speak to Juliet, but Juliet hides her true feelings.

• Ettie uses her credits to get into the viewing gallery of the courthouse.

• She sees Kitty who is in a terrible condition and is distraught at the sight.

• Kitty has been tortured - She is a bag of bones and the news trader’s sketch shows that her fingernails

have been removed.

• Festis four’s testimony states that there were three people involved in the crime, but Kitty lies to protect

Ettie and pleads guilty to the accusations.

• Nicolas is called to testify - he also confirms that nobody else was involved (protecting Ettie).

• Kitty is sentenced to five years in Savage City.

• The people in the courthouse rage about the lenient

punishment she received.

• After leaving the court room, Handler Xavier asks Ettie to

help him find out information about Master Hylton, Nicolas

and his family.

• Juliet refuses and makes Handler Xavier furious. He thinks

she is a horrible person and she acts accordingly.

• Master and the Mangerian fifth family have something to do

with the experiments being conducted in the Lab.

• Ettie is determined to figure things out and save Kitty.

Chapter 14 : Porridge

• Master and Mistress leave their home and go to an election campaign.

• While they are away, Ettie plans to:

• To get into Master’s study and look for clues.

• To enter his library and look at his books.

• To get close to Nicolas and find out more about him.

• Ettie poisons the porridge that will be eaten by the servants and Larissa.

• Larissa refuses to eat it.

• The servants get food poisoning are unable to work, this gives Juliet an opportunity to sneak into

Master’s library and study.

• Ettie steals one of his books and she discovers a drudge’s number on a piece of skin and accidentally

breaks the glass container.

• Ettie checks on Little Miss, she is very ill, even though she didn’t have any of the contaminated porridge.

• At this point Juliet sees the extent of Larissa’s illness and why she needs a caregiver.

• Juliet cares for Larissa and takes her to the secret garden outside.

• Juliet tells her a fairy tale and they save a Hadeda chick that had fallen out of a tree.

• Ettie and Little Miss become friends, Juliet realises that she can take advantage of her relationship with

Little Miss to save Kitty.

Chapter 15 : The Laboratory

• Dora is accused of making everyone sick by contaminating the porridge.

• Juliet is chosen as Larissa’s caregiver.

• Larissa is being taken to the lab and she insists that Juliet go with her.

• Master Hylton works in the Laboratory (He is the guardian of Science and Technology).

• Meat and vegetables are created by genetic modification and artificial processes in the Lab.

• Ettie discovers that experiments are being done on young children, and orphan warden is paid to hand

over the children in exchange for credits.

• Larissa is examined and samples of her hair, cells, skin, nails, and spinal fluid are taken - The objective

is to find a cure for her illness.

• Ettie feels protective over Little Miss – ‘I wait for them to hurt her, fists ready at my side.’

• As they are about to leave the Lab, they see Handler Xavier who is selling some orphans - he and the

Mistress share a glance that suggests that they know each other.

• They also see Nicolas who is at the building to see his father (the guardian of justice and peace).

Chapter 16 : Apple Juice

• Mistress’ mother (the President of Mangeria) visits their home.

• She intends to finalise the marriage between her granddaughter Larissa, and Nicolas, the son of the

guardian of justice and peace.

• Juliet and Nicolas have an opportunity to speak.

• Nicolas reveals that he has also tried everything he could to remove the mark from his spine, and that

he has been tracking Juliet since the first moment he saw her, when she played the ‘monster in the

water’ game with Xavier and Kitty on the beach.

• Nicolas reveals that he has a plan to run away and he wants Juliet to go with him, she agrees to run

away with him but on the condition that he helps her save Kitty.

• A cure has been developed that could cure Larissa - it has been tested on many humans but has only

worked on one – Kitty.

Chapter 17 : Deathbed Confession• Handler Xavier visits number 3

• The orphan warden is Madame Merriem’s sister - they have not spoken for fifteen years.

• Orphan warden is dying and wants to make peace with Merriem - she asks to see Juliet as well.

• In Slum City, riots are breaking out. The people are getting sick from food coming from the laboratory -

they believe they are being poisoned.

• The Orphan warden makes a confession - fifteen years ago, Mistress and Handler Xavier had a

relationship and Mistress was pregnant with his child.

• Merriam sent Mistress and the Orphan warden to the river to take care of the ‘problem’.

• But the Orphan warden could not drown the new-born baby.

• Instead she took the child to the orphanage and filed it as an abandoned child left at the door.

• Mistress was then matched with Master Hylton (Fate-mate), and Handler Xavier was matched with a

woman who had passed away since then.

• That child grew up in the orphanage and is Juliet Seven (Ettie).

Chapter 18 : The Procedure• The Guardian of Justice and Peace (Bartholomew) discusses a procedure with Master Hylton that will be

disguised as a vaccine - A gene extraction which removes disobedience – the “Savage gene” untimately

turning the traders into obedient Zombies.

• Juliet and Nicolas plan to save Kitty and escape.

• The procedure (to save Larissa at Kitty’s expense) cannot take place at the laboratory, so Master Hylton

decides to have it done at their house (number 3).

• Before the procedure begins, Juliet convinces Larissa to meet and thank Kitty.

• Nicolas (a locust) is ordered to escort Kitty safely to number 3, he then helps Juliet carry Kitty to

Larissa's room (they were all wearing surgical masks for sterility purposes).

• When they exit the room, Nicolas and Kitty carry Juliet out and lay her on the stretcher (Juliet pretends

to be Kitty).

• Kitty escapes the house.

• Juliet is about to be anesthetised and at that moment she sees a bright light and hears a loud explosion,

and then becomes unconscious.

Chapter 19 : The Golden Goose

• When Juliet wakes up, she realises she has been captured by Handler Xavier and Me (from the

beauty parlour).

• They remove the surgical mask thinking that they saved Kitty but are furious when they see that

they saved Juliet.

• Ettie was separated from Kitty and Nicolas.

• Me (from the beauty parlour) reveals that the explosion was orchestrated by the resistance

organisation when they found out Kitty was going to be operated on, used, then dumped.

• The explosion was a distraction that would allow Kitty and the doctors to escape.

• The doctors were going to be paid to remove the marks of all members of the organisation.

• The machine is solar powered and is operating at a low capacity due to the cloudy weather.

• Xavier lets her go and gives her a list of names to delete on the machine.

• Ettie goes to the river to meet Nicolas and Kitty

• Kitty wants to return to the organisation with Ettie and continue the resistance against the

Mangerians.

• Nicolas begs Ettie to run away with him.

Chapter 20 : The Machine

• Nicolas and Juliet go to the Department of Justice and Peace (Nicolas pretends to arrest Ettie and take

her in).

• They pass his father’s office and overhear him looking for information about his “kidnapped” son.

• When entering the Machine room, Nicolas sets off the fire alarm to evacuate the building. Nicolas removes

the names on the list from the Machine.

• He watched his father erase the names of people who have died from the machine so he knows exactly

what to do.

• The machine marks the people on the list as ‘deceased’ on the system.

Chapter 21 : The Journey• Ettie prepares to run away with Nicolas.

• She goes to the tree museum for the last time.

• When she arrives Mistress is there.

• Larissa blinded the Hadeda chick (Princess Fanny) in the hopes that it would tell them where Ettie was

(this is proof that Larissa truly loves Ettie).

• Mistress reveals that Master Hylton died in the explosion.

• Mistress explains the circumstances of her birth and their separation.

• Mistress tries to persuade Juliet to turn Nicolas in, so that his father agrees to find a cure to save

Larissa's life.

• Juliet refuses and Mistress shows her true character by trying to hit Juliet.

• Juliet realises that Mistress only cares for her other child (Larissa) who is dying.

• This is confirmation that she has no reason to stay.

• Ettie cares for her sister (Larissa) deeply and decides to make the sacrifice – leaving Nicolas behind.

• Ettie returns to the boat and decides to run away without Nicolas, she sets fire to all boats so that Nicolas

cannot follow her.

• The Reader tracked Juliet to the boat and has been waiting for her there, he wants to go with her.