Blake 1

Sarah Blake

Mr. Bash

English 11

22 March 2019

Summery

Exposition: Riley and Bodhi are on vacation on the Virgin Islands after crossing the
Radiant Boys over. While playing fetch with her dog Buttercup, she ends up throwing the ball
too far and Buttercup disappears into the fog and mist. While looking for him, she finds a dog,
but it was “A dog that wasn’t Buttercup” (Noel 6).
Riley is not allowed to cross anyone/anything over unless it’s assigned by The

Council. Despite that, she says to Bodhi, “I’m not going anywhere till I convince that dog to

move on” (Noel 17). After chasing him for a while, she enters an old, abandoned graveyard

where she lost him. While looking all over for it, she encounters a girl who at first looks exactly

like her. When Riley realizes someone else is being disguised as her, she says, “… transforming

my features into ones that belonged to someone else…” (Noel 29).

After the girl apologized for trying to copy her and introduced herself as Rebecca, she

then puts Riley in her own torturous Hell. Taking her back to a time she desperately hated and

wished to forget. All the torture that Rabacca had put Riley through made her think to herself,

“All I knew was that despite the abundance of sparkles and bows and curls, this was one little

ghost girl who wasn’t made of sugar and spice and everything nice” (Noel 36).

Rising Action: As Bodhi caught up to Riley and kept commanding Riley to leave the dog

alone in fear of crossing the dog over may get both of them in trouble by the council, Rebecca

transforms herself into another girl in which Bodhi recognized when he was still alive on the
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earth plane. Riley describe what happened by saying, “With her glowing-eyes hellhound beside

her -- had tricked both my guide and my dog and stolen them from me” (Noel 42). Rebecca had

trapped them both in a bubble-like fortress that prevented Riley from running to Bodhi and

Buttercup to save them.

After a while of constantly banging and kicking the globe, a former prince by the name

of Prince Kanta approaches Riley to help her save her friends. Even though she kept telling him

that she did not need any help, Riley realizes, “The more responsible part I knew I needed help”

(Noel 53). Prince Kanta “… led me right out of that grave yard, away from the bubble and over

to what appeared to Be a small, straw-covered hut on the sand” (Noel 55). He gives Riley a cup

of tea to transport her into his memories of what happened to him while he was alive. He use

to ba a prince, who lived in a kingdom in which looked like a fantasy to Riley. He shows the

transition from being a prince to a slave. He was transferred to, as Riley described it, “A big,

looming plantation-style home” (Noel 64). The slaves were always beaten for everything they

did. Whether they did a terrible job of what they were supposed to do, or did their best of what

they were told, each and every slave gt beaten to almost their death. She describes his life as,

“He’d gone from a luxurious life of nobility -- to the horrid life of a slave” (Noel 66). As the

memory goes on, Riley realizes, “The one of the master’s daughter… a girl I immediately

recognized as Rebecca” (Noel 69). The slaves of the plantation got revenge on their master and

burnt the plantation down, engulfing Rebecca and her father in the flames. Rebecca was

outraged about what happened and was bottling up all the anger which prevented her from

having the need to cross the bridge. Once Riley knows the whole story, Prince Kanta says to
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Riley, “and because of your deep understanding, you are ready to make the journey inside

Rebecca’s world” (Noel 80).

Climax: The only way to get into Rebecca’s bubble was to relax and not be angry about

what she had done to Riley’s guide and dog. Rebecca fed on anger. The more angry you became

the stronger she would become.

Once Riley melted through the walls of Rebecca’s bubble, she describes the landscape

as, “… a completely dry and barren scene” (Noel 89). The place seemed very empty, open, and

surprisingly huge knowing what Rebecca was doing to Bodhi and Buttercup. After looking for a

while, she finds Bodhi all curled up and shaking from whatever Rebecca is putting in his head.

As Riley concentrates on all her energy to join Bodhi’s, she gets a good glimpse at what Bodhi

was experiencing.

Bodhi knew a girl named Nicole when he was alive. He had a severe crush on her and

was always trying to find a way to talk to her. He also always stood up for her because of all the

hurtful things the other students would say to and about her. Bodhi is so desperate to be

around Nicole again because back on the earth plane she had killed herself because of them.

Rebecca saw that weakness in Bodhi’s heart and used that to lure him into her trap. Once Riley

rescued Bodhi from the repeating dream of watching Nicole die over and over, their next

mission was to find Buttercup and save him.

Once they found Buttercup, Riley was confused of what could have been so bad about

the lovely and spoiled life she and her family had given him. “So why we found him all curled up

into a tight little ball of angst with his eyes shut tight, teeth gnashing together, paws thrashing

and kicking as he wined and whimpered like he was the object of the most horrifying torture
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was beyond me” (Noel 118). Once she got into his mind, she forgot about the day he was taken

from his mother and siblings and into a new, strange home. He kept the whole family up all

night for several nights since he could not calm down and relax. After Riley got him out of his

scary, terrifying nightmare, Buttercup was never happier to see Riley.

Once Riley got her friends back, they found Rebecca and tried to convince her to let go

of everything she has been stuck with. Instead of listening to Riley and Bodhi, she changes the

subject, offers both of them a cup of tea and asks, “Why not give yourself a break and enjoy a

little taste? After all you’ve been through, you deserve it” (Noel 124-125). Both Riley and Bodhi

refuse to accept her drink, until Riley realizes that maybe drinking her tea and getting to know

what she went through right before she died could help her find a way to convince her to cross

the bridge.

Once Riley takes Rebecca’s tea and chugs it down, Riley witnesses what actually

happened to Rebecca. Rebecca was a daughter of a slave owner who abused his slaves each

and every day no matter what the slaves did, whether it was good or bad. She never knew her

mother because she had left them when Rebecca was too young to remember. After years of

being enslaved, all the slaves took revenge on Rebecca’s father. When her father could not take

much longer, he went after them and told Rebecca to hide in her mother’s closet and stay there

until he came back no matter how long it took or what was going on. The slaves ended up

setting their house on fire and engulfed her in her hiding spot. She died by listening to her

father and not moving from the spot where her father told her not to leave.

Falling Action: Realizing what happened to Rebecca and telling her that was no reason

to be mad at everything and taking out all her anger by torturing other people with their own
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horrible memories ticked her off even more and trapped Riley, Bodhi, and Buttercup in her

terrifying world for what she thought would be eternity.

As they were all stuck in Rebecca’s raging globe, Riley went to every soul and, “...

introduced them to that glimmer of silence. They took it from there” (Noel 163). Riley

explained, “It was the only way to keep us from sinking even deeper into Rebecca’s Hell” (Noel

144). Once all the souls were freed, it was down to only three people (and a dog). Riley, Bodhi,

Buttercup, and Rebecca. They tried everything to convince Rebecca that it is all over, but

nothing would make her budge.

Riley had the brilliant idea of trying to force Rebecca to cross the bridge even though it

was against the rules of the Council to do so. “I approached the globe, placed my hands on

either side of the space where her eyes glowed and her cheeks flamed bright red, and I started

to push” (Noel 160). Since Rebecca is enclosed in her little globe of anger, Riley, Bodhi, and all

the former slaves they freed rolled her close to the bridge to let her get a good glimpse of it.

Once she stared into the light for a little bit, she saw the whole truth and released her anger for

the first time since she was killed. Her bubble shattered from around her and Rebecca started

apologizing to everyone for all the terror she had put them through this whole time.

Resolution: Once everyone crossed over the bridge, it was time for Riley and Bodhi to

face the music. I was time for whatever the council was going to do in essence of what they had

tried to do under their noses.

Once Riley and Bodhi were called down to meet with the council, Bodhi repeated over

and over to Riley what they could be in for. “… you should know that there are consequences to

our actions, as you’re about to find out” (Noel 186). Once they talk to the council, they had the
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risk of losing their glow that they had for achieving every assignment thrown at them by the

council. If they did lose their glow because of this, they may never be able to glow again.
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Connections

1) This connection goes for many people around the world. When Riley first encounters

Rebecca and introduces herself, Rebecca mentions that she has never heard the name

Riley been used for a girls name before. “Why, excuse me for saying so, but isn’t that a

boy’s name?” (Noel 31) is what Rebecca reacts with to Riley’s name. There are many

names that can go for both a girl’s and boy’s name. For example, the name Jordan is

used a lot for both genders. Some people think of a girl when they hear that name, and

others will think of a boy.

2) This connection I had with this book is when Bodhi sees Rebecca in the form of a girl he

went to school with while he was alive. He never talked to her, but he longed to see her

again after all the years he had been dead. On page 44, Riley describes Bodhi’s reaction

to seeing her again as, “Though I guess the amount of longing he held in his voice as he

called out her name pretty much answered that last part” (Noel 44). Every time I hear

someone talk to another person who they have not seen in a long time, they tend to

have a longing tone in their voice since they had messed them dearly and was excited to

meet up with them again.

3) Another connection was when Riley was chasing after the hellhound she encountered.

She realized that maybe trying to cross over would not assigned for her to do was not

the brightest idea after all. “Maybe Bodhi was right -- maybe I should stick with the jobs

the council assigned , and ignore all the other lingering souls I happened to come

across” (Noel 76). Some people are very stubborn and refuse to do anything by the
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rules. Most of the cases the people who abide the rules tend to suffer the consequences

afterwords.

4) This connection is based off of when Riley is trying her hardest to enter Rebecca's

bubble of torture. She is banging and kicking the globe while her new friend Prince

Kanta just stands there and watches her struggle. On page 81, Riley screams at Prince

Kanta saying, “… why don’t you come over and help instead of just standing there

watching me fail. Why don’t you show me how it’s done if you know so much” (Noel

81). There have been many times when I would be struggling to do something and there

would be people watching me struggle. In some cases they would help me after a while,

but most of the people would watch in humor and never bother to help me.

5) This connection takes me far back into my past. When RIley is trying to save her dog

Buttercup from the torture Rebecca is putting him through, she watches what happened

to him when he was first brought home to RIley’s family. She describes the night as, “All

of us forced to take turns getting out of our beds so that we could try to comfort him as

he cried and whimpered and refused to relax” (Noel 119). When I first got my dog Daisy,

it also took her awhile to get use to her new home. My family would also take turns

spending time with her so she would be comfortable having us as her new family.
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Visuals

1)

At the beginning of the story, Riley, Bodhi, and her dog Buttercup are playing on the beach as

their vacation from crossing the Radiant Boys over in the previous book. She describes the

scene as, “Summoning the vibration of the sand -- the seashells -- even the haze…” (Noel 4).

This beach almost is exactly like how Riley described the beach she was on. She also describes

the waters as very crisp and clear and soothing to the eyes, which this photo expresses very

well.

2)
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Riley first meets Rebecca in an old, abandoned graveyard that she describes as, “A seriously

decrepit, seriously old graveyard. The kind with crumbling tombstones, sunken graves, and

creepy looking trees with cruel, leafless branches that hovered in such a way they looked as

though they’d pluck you right off the ground in their clutches” (Noel 26). This picture has a good

glimpse of tombstones crumbling and graveyards sinking like Riley described.

3)

While Prince Kanta took Riley into his memories to help Riley take down Rebecca and save

Bodhi and Buttercup, he shows her where he lived before he as taken hostage and turned into a

slave. “... found myself standing before a simple, but still rather impressive, castle, like a

fortress with a sturdy stone wall all around it” (Noel 61). The castle in the picture represents the

castle Riley described very well. Made out of stone, simple but yet fittable for a life of a royal

family, and a nice stone wall around wrapping around the entrance.

4)
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When Rebecca finally accepts the fact that all her angry battles have come to and end, her

bubble of anguish bursts from around her and falls to the ground. The shatter of the bubble is

described like, “As a hail of glass like shards flew about, hovering in the air for a moment in a

way that resembles a shimmering blanker of shars, before softly falling to the ground where

they landed a her feet and melted into the grass” (Noel 169). This photo is of glass shattering

and falling to the ground as Riley described Rebecca’s bubble. The glass in the picture piled up

on the the ground and it somewhat looks like it melted.

5)

After every mission Riley goes on, she gets a different type of glow each time. The glow she had

before she encountered Rebecca was a faint, light green. Her new glow is described as, “Seeing

the way the deeper, richer, shade of green glowed and swirls all around me” (Noel 186). Even

though the glow in this picture is orange, it’s also a strong, rich glow like the one that Bodhi and

Riley now have after crossing Rebecca.

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Works Cited

“Carlisle Castle and City Walls.” Castleforts Battles, n.p., 2019,

castlesfortsbattles.co.uk/north_west/carlisle_castle.html. 29 Mar. 2019.

“Glass Falling and Smashing Into Pieces in Slow Motion.” Shutterstock, Shutterstock Inc., 2019,

www.shutterstock.com/tr/video/clip-7271218-glass-falling-smashing-into-pieces-slow-

motion. 29 Mar. 2019.

Huffpost. “An Insider’s Guide to the Best Beaches in the Caribbean.” Huffpost, Verizon Media,

2019, www.huffpost.com/entry/an-insiders-guide-to-the_n_4387597. 28 Mar. 2019.

John Barr. “Flaybrick Cemetery Birkenhead.” Pinterest, n.p., n.d.,

www.pinterest.com/pin/424253227379429003/. 29 Mar. 2019.

Marasigan, DJ. “Glowing.” Pessimistic Bibliophile, n.p., 2012

tragicworthit.wordpress.com/2015/09/06/glowing/. 29 Mar. 2019.

Noel, Alyson. Shimmer. Scholastic Inc., 2011.