Book I, Chapters 1-3 Summary

Chapter one begins with the Quaker children delighting in the arrival of spring. The boys play leapfrog while the girls are proper young ladies that enjoy the smell of pure water on the air. The girls walk along the street, enjoying the sights and sounds of the town. Dionis brushes up against a cask and marks her dress, something that would certainly earn her a punishment from her mother. Dionis tells Hopestill about the ivy and the power of the little plant that has the ability to split open a stone wall. Hopestill thinks the idea is ludicrous and intends to ask her father. Dionis' father is on the West Coast, so the girl must rely on what she has been told.

The girls encounter the boys from the Fragment Society School, also known as "Fragmenters". The...