Gregor and the Marks of Secret is the fourth book in the Underland Chronicles

The Underland Chronicles

The Underland Chronicles is a five-part series of fantasy novels by Suzanne Collins, first published between 2003 and 2007. It tells the story of a boy named Gregor and his adventures in a land called the "Underland", hidden under New York City...

 by Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins is an American television writer and novelist.-Early life:Suzanne Collins is the daughter of an Air Force officer. She graduated from the Alabama School of Fine Arts and earned her M.F.A. from New York University in Dramatic Writing....

. It picks up soon after the end of Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods

Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods

Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods is the third book in The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins. -Plot summary:The book starts out with Gregor reading the Prophecy of Blood on a scroll given to him by Nerissa. Soon, a message from Vikus arrives in the laundry room with the announcement...

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Plot

The story takes place in New York where 8-year-old Lizzie is preparing for camp and 12-year-old Gregor is preparing for his echolocation training in the Underland with Ripred. Mrs. Cormaci now knows about the Underland and gives Gregor some pasta to bring to Ripred. Gregor rides Nike, the princess of the bats to the city of Regalia. When under the palace, Ripred informs Gregor that there is one more prophecy that Gregor is in called the "Prophecy of Time". But whenever Gregor asks anyone about the prophecy, no one will answer. Gregor then finds that the Bane has been brought to his lessons, and grown to an even 8'. Ripred taunts the Bane repeatedly and is finally attacked by him. And it is also revealed that the Bane's real name is Pearlpelt and that Snare was Pearlpelt's father. Later, Gregor receives an invitation to a party from still traumatized Hazard and his soon-to-be bond and joker, Thalia. When Gregor returns with a camera, he goes to Ripred to tell him that he gives up on echolocation training, but once there, is attacked by Twirltongue and two other rats. His rager skills kick in during battle, but suddenly give away when he loses his flashlight, revealing that he can only fight if he can see and needs echolocation more than he thought. He escapes and blocks the door and asks also traumatized Vikus from Solovet's betrayal about the strength of the door. When he says it will hold, a now relieved Gregor heads to the party with 3-year-old Boots. There, Gregor meets up with his mom. 12-year-old Luxa approaches Gregor and asks for a dance. Gregor agrees and afterwards takes one look down at Luxa and realizes he likes her. A crown landing right by them kills the moment and they both realize that it's the crown Luxa gave to the nibblers (Underland word for mice) in case they were in need of help. Gregor, his bond Ares, Luxa, and her bond Aurora go to the nibblers' colony and find one of Luxa's friend nibblers dead with a strange symbol on the ground that looks like a lowercase "r". Later, a group of baby nibblers were brought to the palace from the river in a woven basket. This causes Gregor, Ares, Luxa, Aurora, Howard, Nike, Boots, Hazard, Ripred, and Thalia to inspect what is going on. A series of events happens including an earthquake, Luxa develops a crush on Gregor, the team reunites with Photos Glow-Glow and Zap, they find a nibbler named Cartesian, their bats are nearly killed in wind currents, Gregor and Luxa strongly argue, and they find out that a now 12-foot Bane is planning on taking over the Underland. The team heads to a volcano and find that there is a colony of nibblers being herded toward it. They suddenly realize this and try to escape but fall to the ground, gasping for air. Gregor realizes that they are suffocating, and also that the nursery rhyme and song is actually a prophecy and that the part about the nibblers in a trap is happening right now. The nibblers suddenly stay still and when Boots says that they are sleeping, Gregor finally tells her about dying. He then discovers that the queen in the prophecy is not Luxa, but the volcano. It erupts and engulfs the team in smoke. Gregor wakes up lying in a cave. He walks further in to the cave and find the team okay, but knows someone is dead when he sees their faces. He sees Hazard crying and finds Thalia lying in his arms, stone dead. Later, Ripred tells him that he must get his sword, but Gregor is confused at this since he has a sword, but Ripred says he needs Sandwich's sword. Before Gregor leaves to Regalia, Luxa asks why he helped her with the nibblers, and Gregor tells her that he did it because they saved her. The story ends with Gregor gazing at the sword in awe.

Prophecy

The Prophecy in this book is carved into the walls of an old nursery. It is a popular nursery rhyme of sorts, like Hey Diddle Diddle or Humpty Dumpty. Its meaning is unknown until about half way through, after the mass death of the nibblers at the volcano.


Dancing in the firelight,
See the queen who conquers night.
Gold flows from her, hot and bright.


Meaning: This verse talks about the volcano , and the light it gives off in the dark tunnels.

'Father, mother, sister, brother,
Off they go
I do not know
If we will see another'

Meaning: This part refers to the fact that entire families of nibblers are headed toward the pit at the bottom of "The Queen"


Catch the nibblers in a trap.
Watch the nibblers spin and snap.
Quiet while they take a nap.
Father , mother , sister , brother ,
Off they leave. I do not know
If we will see another from the horror.

Meaning: The nibblers are herded into a pit at the base of the volcano. As the poisonous gas is blown towards the mice, and away from the group by the currents, the nibblers start to writhe on the ground in search of air. At the end the mice appear to be napping (according to Boots). Whole families are killed, and the companions are concerned about the survival of the species.


Now the guests are at our door
greet them as we have before.
Some will slice and some will pour.
Father, mother, sister, brother,
Off they go. I do not know
If we will see another.

Meaning: This verse talks about the rat's plan to invade Regallia The rats are the guests at the gates of the city. They have never been welcomed, and will be greeted with violence, as many times before. Some will slice, indicating the use of swords, and some will pour, which talks about pouring boiling oil over the wall and onto the army, which is a common Regalian tactic. The end talks about the perils of war, and how many will die.

Sequel

The sequel of this book is Gregor and the Code of Claw and it starts off with Gregor learning about the final prophecy.

The Prophecy of Time