Summary

Chapter 7

Joel is very excited on his first day as Fitch’s assistant, but somewhat disappointed when Fitch wants him to cross reference school graduates with census records and death records. Joel had hoped he would be allowed to do something more related to Rithmatists. Joel is further disappointed when he learns he has to share Fitch with Melody, the Rithmatist from his math class. Melody is having trouble drawing the all-important circles for the defenses the Rithmatists draw, the very basic of Rithmatist skills. For this reason, Fitch assigns Melody to tracing Rithmatist defenses.

Melody becomes frustrated with the tracing, so Joel draws a circle to prove that everyone’s free hand drawn circles are flawed. Melody then tells Joel that all her siblings and her parents are Rithmatists. It is unusual for so many people in one family to be...