Welcome back to the sixth day of our book club read-along for OwlCrate's January book, The Ivory Key!
Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 35-45 of The Ivory Key, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.
Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box! Don't forget, you can also post about the readalong on Instagram with the hashtag #OCTheIvoryKey for another chance to win!
The story continues...
Chapter 35:
Ronak
Ronak jumps down into the hole and throws the rope to Amrit. Luckily, Amrit has a salve that is an antidote that seems to do the trick. They are not in just a hole, it seems Kaleb fell into a long forgotten room. Ronak wanders, feeling some sort of strange magic, and is joined by Riya. They find a silver lever and once pulled dissolves the wall to reveal a whole city below. Visala. The founding city of Ashoka that simply disappeared 500 years ago.
Grabbing his father’s journal Ronak confirms what he thought - through Visala underground they should be able to reach the temple.
Chapter 36:
Vira
They are able to cross the city with little difficulty and on their journey notice a mural of Savitri and Niveda, but Savitri isn’t the maharani, Niveda is. They exit the city into the Syena Fort looking over the city of Ritsar which had been lost to the Lyrians eight months earlier. In the distance they can see their destination - the temple in the middle of the lake.
Chapter 37:
Riya
Inside the temple they enter the goddess Vaishali’s room with minutes before the equinox. There is a ray of light slowly starting to illuminate a stone goddess carved into the wall in an alcove that exact size and shape as the mirror. They insert the mirror and when the light hits it eight different stones of the wall start to light up with the Kamala Society symbol and when pressed in order the wall behind them disappears revealing a stone hallway. To their surprise when they enter the wall seals them in from behind and Ronak reminds them “the only way out is through.”
The hall leads to a spiral staircase which they start to climb, and Riya accidentally knocks over a lamp in one of the windows, spilling oil on her hand, which feels oddly magical.
Chapter 38:
Ronak
They eventually reach a room at the top of the stairs, which also seals them in after they enter. Inside are twelve statues of archers surrounding a room with a large tiled floor. They know it must be some sort of puzzle, so cautiously move forward, but when Ronak steps incorrectly and archer shoots at him, grazing his thigh. They figure out that they can only step on tiles that make of the image of the Kamala Society.
Chapter 39:
Vira
Once they have all made it across they open the door on the other side of the room which literally leads to...nothing. A drop outside. They appear to be about halfway up one of the gopurams, with no obvious way to get across to the other. Riya decides to climb higher to get a better view and in doing so drops her knife, which lands seemingly in mid air. They discover an invisible magical walkway, which twists and turns all the way to the other gopuram.
Chapter 40:
Kaleb
Inside there is a pool with stone steps hovering above it, and at the top floats a box. They have found what they’re looking for. Kaleb advises them not to touch the water, sensing something is off. Being the mayaka, he goes first and climbs the unsteady stairs to the box, which has a pale yellow haze surrounding it. Not knowing if the yellow will hurt him, Kaleb grabs the box out of the air.
Chapter 41:
Riya
The flames in the lamps around them flare green, lighting up the room around them brightly. They need to go. Riya runs back down the stairs followed by Kaleb, but all of a sudden the ground shakes and he drops the box. Riya dives after it, sinking her hand into the pool catching the box before it sinks. Before their eyes the box, and the room, begins to crumble. Nothing of the box remains save the hinge and Riya on a whim grabs it before they all flee.
Chapter 42:
Riya
They flee down the stairs, Riya and Ronak following the others, but Ronak is slow due to his injury. When they reach the temple floor it is disintegrating around them and as they run a huge pillar collapses, blocking off their only exit. The water begins to rise, eventually submerging them, and Riya cries as a blue light flashed and the pillar shatters into pieces. Then there is darkness.
Chapter 43:
Vira
The bridge was sinking as they ran, and once at shore Vira collapses on the grass, crying for the loss of the Key. She then realizes, looking back, that Ronak and Riya didn’t make it out.
Amrit and Vira sit alone processing what happened as Kaleb has gone to search for Ronak and Riya. In their distraction they don’t notice that they are now surrounded by Lyrian soldiers.
Chapter 44:
Ronak
Ronak swims, dragging Riya behind him. He can see land, and summoning the last of his strength heads for shore. When they make it Riya wakes and they use each other as support to go in search of the others.
Chapter 45:
Kaleb
Kaleb finds Riya and Ronak coming around the lake, and helping take some of Ronak’s weight, they all head back towards Amrit and Vira when they notice they have been captured by the Lyrians.
They follow the group back through Ritsar to Simha Fort, deciding it will be best if they all go in and leave through the tunnels back to Visala. But they have to first get inside.
Riya comes up with a plan and after she steals Kaleb some Lyrian style clothing it is up to Kaleb to get through the main entrance to the fort and to the otherside, which is mostly unguarded. He manages this just fine and is even lucky when the guard at the other entrance seems to think he is her relief. Ronak and Riya enter and he directs them towards the kitchens, where the tunnel will be. Now it’s up to him to find the dungeons to free Amrit and Vira.
Questions:
- Why do you think it appears that Niveda is the maharani in the painting?
- Why do you think Riya's hand had a blue glow as the pillar crumpled to pieces?
- Why do you think the hinge intrigued Riya?
- With Ronak's injured leg, how do you think they will make it back to Ashoka?
- Tomorrow is our last day! Any predictions for the last section of the book?
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