Outside Reading, post 4

In this section, Gemma finally opens up to her friends and tells them about her strange powers, and her ability to visit another world, the realms. She takes her friends to the realms, and immediately her friends are intrigued and fascinated. Once the girls are in the realms, they realize they can do magic, and of course this delights them. Gemma is also quite interested, but mostly because in the realms she can visit her mother. Gemma's mother warns her about her powers, telling her she must not take them out of the realms, or else something terrible will happen. What this terrible thing is, Gemma's mother refuses to say. She talks about some kind of evil taking over the world, the usual doom, "It isn't safe yet. Once you do that, once you bring magic back through the portal, it's fully open. Anyone who knows how could get in" (Bray 291). Obviously Gemma is frustrated, because she wants to know the truth, and her mother is being quite vague. However, she follows her mother's orders. After all, she went through all the trouble of entering the realms for her mother in the first place, so she wouldn't want to bluntly disobey her in such a fashion.

Kartik continues to demand that Gemma stop using her magic. He sends Gemma a note, pleading with her to stop entering the realms. Gemma notices that "There's another word scribbled hastily, then crossed out. Please" (Bray 283). Previously we have only seen Kartik as a tool of sorts, some kind of force opposing Gemma and trying to prevent her from doing magic. However, after this, we can understand that Kartik is truly desperate, and actually cares that Gemma is safe. The fact that the words please is crossed out shows that he is trying to keep a strong image of himself, though he still cares about Gemma's well-being. Meanwhile, Gemma is starting to have somewhat tender feelings for Kartik. Even though she is often annoyed with his interference, she often has what she considers dangerous thoughts about him. When Felicity tells Pippa of the one time Gemma kissed Kartik to allow the other girls to get past the Gypsies, and that she was a "Noble, self-sacrificing girl who endured his kiss only to save us", Gemma thinks "It is so convincing that I almost believe her myself" (Bray 272). This proves that Gemma is denying the fact that she may have a bit of a crush on Kartik. This information makes the reader think that perhaps Gemma is afraid of her own feelings, and that even though she does tend to be rebellious at times, she still is fearful of associating with Gypsies, supposedly wicked people. Perhaps she is not as brave as we have once thought.

Later on there is an assembly day, when the parents of the girls at Spence Academy come visit. It is during this scene when the weaknesses and the longings of the other girls are emphasized. Felicity was so happy at the thought of her father for the first time in two years, but then completely broke down when she got a form letter from a secretary that her father would rather go to another event. This shows that even though she puts on a brave, happy face, inside she longs to have someone who cares about her. Pippa also is having troubles. Her parents have arranged her to be married to a fifty-some year old man. She absolutely loathes him, as the other girls well know. However, when they see the two of them together for the first time, they are stunned by how frail Pippa acts. Usually she is a spunky girl, but around her fiance she is quiet and withdrawn, and on the verge of tears. She is definately looking for true love, and now her dreams have been shattered. Ann also is hurting, because her parents have been dead for years. During the entire day Gemma notices how Ann is constantly nervous around all the other parents, and wishing she could be left alone. However, she puts on a brave face and tries to be optimistic. This shows that even though Ann usually seems plain and simple, she is undergoing much pain from the loss of her parents. Maybe there is more depth to her after all.