Scythe

On the way to the Capitol, the night before the conclave, Curie tells Citra her final test will be tonight and that it is the same every year for each candidate. The test is taken alone. When they arrive, a drawing determines that Citra will be tested last. She waits in a room with Curie while Rowan and the other two candidates leave. At one point she thinks she hears a gunshot.

She is summoned to a room. When she enters, she sees Scythes Mandela, Meir, and three others whom she does not recognize. On a table are several guns, vials of poison, and various blades. The scythes tell her that they wish to see how she gleans and that she is to have a “unique subject for [her] to demonstrate” (408). There is a hooded figure nearby. Citra removes the hood and reveals her brother, Ben. One of the scythes holds a box out and asks her to draw a slip of paper that will reveal a randomly chosen weapon.

Ben will be revived if she renders him “deadish,” but she knows that he will remember, and so will she. The piece of paper says knife on it. They tell her that if she can do this, nothing else will ever be as difficult again and she will be prepared for her work as a scythe. However, she can refuse the test and leave at any time. She talks to Ben, and he asks to see the knife. He then asks if there will be ice cream in the revival center. Citra stabs him with the blade and lays his body on the floor. Meir excuses her and says they will reveal the results tomorrow.

Outside the room, Curie is waiting. She says that two of the candidates could not go through with the test. Rowan drew a pistol and shot his subject before the scythe had even finished reading the instructions.

At midnight, the immunity of Rowan and Citra expires. As he goes to the Capitol steps, Rowan notices that many scythes avoid him or glare at him. One man wishes him well and hopes that they can share a tea when it is over. During the legislative business, Citra is annoyed that there is more talk about the four dead scythes than about the Tonists who were so cruelly gleaned. Curie tells her that if Citra is ordained, she hopes that she will stay on with her as a junior scythe.

Rowan enters, and Curie tells Citra not to look at him or talk to him. Citra thinks of the rumors she has heard that Rowan killed the other scythes: “If she was chosen today, Citra would not defy the edict to glean Rowan—but she did have a plan that might save both of them” (419).

Rowan is afraid to die, but he is more afraid about what he is becoming. The night before he shot his mother with ease. He has decided that he will not glean himself if he wins, but he will defend Citra, wreaking as much havoc and death as possible. At six that evening, after business concludes, he and Citra are asked to stand.

Rowan and Citra greet each other and then are asked not to speak. They agree to accept their judgment, and Scythe Mandela says that Citra will wear the ring of scythehood. Rowan congratulates her as the crowd applauds. Citra announces that she will be known as Scythe Anastasia “after the youngest member of the family Romanov” (427). Xenocrates says that her choice is inappropriate. The Romanovs were known for their excesses and Anastasia “did nothing of note” (428).

Citra agrees and then says that is why she chose her: “She was the product of a corrupt system, and because of that—was denied her very life—as I almost was” (428). Citra vows to be the change that Anastasia never had a chance to be. Curie gets to her feet and applauds, and the other scythes join her.

Citra tells Mandela she will use a blade on Rowan. She looks at the scythe’s ring on her hand and then punches Rowan in the face with it. She raises the knife to stab him, and the Parliamentarian in the crowd shouts for her to stop because Rowan now has immunity since the ring came in contact with his lips. Rowan tells Citra that she is a genius, but she claims it was an accident. As the scythes debate what to do with him, Citra tells him that there is a table of blades within arm’s reach and a car outside waiting for him. He tells her that he loves her, and she says, “Same here. Now get lost” (431).

Rowan fights his way out of the building. Citra looks at his blood on her ring and kisses it. When Rowan gets to the waiting car, Scythe Faraday is his driver.

Scythe Anastasia writes that there is a rumor of someone who has been burning corrupt scythes to death with fire. He is not an ordained scythe, but the people are calling him Scythe Lucifer: “If ever Scythe Lucifer comes my way, I hope he’ll see me as one of the good ones. The way he once did” (435).