Glass Sword: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

Through smoke rising from missile explosions, Mare sees an army approaching. Her horror intensifies when she realizes the soldiers are mere servants, dressed all in red, like blood, and their feet are shackled. Kilorn wants to save the Red servants, but Mare says, ashamed, that there’s nothing they can do.

Shade, Mare, and Kilorn continue to run and teleport through falling steel and glass. Gunfire sounds, and Shade is shot in the arm and leg. Mare sees magnetrons—Silvers who can manipulate metal—clearing paths for the legion. Among them are Evangeline and Ptolemus Samos, two of the executioners who were ordered to kill Mare and Cal. Mare wishes she and Cal hadn’t shown any mercy to Evangeline and Ptolemus in the arena.

Mare and Kilorn grab Shade and find cover. Shade can’t teleport anymore, so Kilorn asks Mare what they should do. Mare realizes that Kilorn is looking to her not as the girl she used to be but as the powerful “lightning girl” she is now. Unwilling to leave her injured brother behind, Mare insists they’ll all escape together. She decides she needs to find Cal, who can help protect her. She commands Kilorn and Shade to run using the cold, authoritative voice Lady Blonos taught her to use in the Hall of the Sun. Then Mare steps out in front of the army by herself.

The advancing army halts, and Maven emerges. He taunts Mare for standing against him alone and calls her an “abomination, the only one of [her] wretched kind.” However, he and Mare both know she’s not the only Red with Silver abilities. An airjet flies low to the ground, and Mare shuts off its electricity. The jet crashes into a formation of Silvers. Mare’s lightning protects her as she runs away without looking back to see the damage she’s caused.

Mare falls, and a missile explodes nearby. Cal guards her from the flames, and Farley helps Mare to her feet. Although Farley tries to drag Mare away, Mare won’t leave Cal to fight on his own. She knows now that Silvers aren’t invincible. Mare creates her own electricity and joins Cal in forming a protective barrier against the legion. They work together to retreat, alternating their fire and lightning. 

Mare, Cal, and Farley reach a dead end at the edge of a river. After signaling for Mare and Cal to follow her, Farley seemingly jumps into the river. Maven steps through Cal’s wall of flames to pursue them, but Cal turns away. As Maven swears to find them no matter where they run, Cal and Mare jump into the river too. To Mare’s surprise, they land on metal and descend through a pneumatic tube into what appears to be a tunnel full of Scarlet Guard members. But when the hall begins to move, Cal realizes they’re in an underwater boat. Weak from fighting, Mare and Cal both collapse.