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1-Page Summary of The Young Elites
Overview
The book begins with an excerpt from a newspaper article about the mysterious blood fever that has killed thousands of people. It then goes on to describe Adelina Amouteru’s history, including her relationship with her father and sister. The story is set in Kenettra, a fictional country, where the illness originated and spread.
Adelina’s father arranged for her to marry an older tradesman. She refused, so he chased after her in the storm and they fought. While they struggled, Adelina produced black nightmarish figures from the earth that startled him and caused him to crash into his horse. The horse killed him, not Adelina.
While Adelina waits for her unjust judgment day in the Dalia prison, we visit briefly with Enzo Valenciano. He has just received a letter via dove from someone named “The Messenger” and decides to leave town.
In Dalia, Adelina’s time is running out. Members of the Inquisition Axis (Kenettra’s police force) take her to a stage where she will be executed. The Lead Inquisitor of Kenettra, Teren Santoro, is there to watch her die. Before she burns in flames, Adelina uses her powers again and creates an illusion of locusts in the sky that distracts everyone on stage so a masked figure can rescue her.
Enzo, a mysterious figure from the previous chapter, tells Adelina that he and his supporters have brought her to Estenzia, the port capital city of Kenettra. Enzo shows Adelina his powers over fire and tells her he is the leader of a group called The Dagger Society. He asks Adelina if she wants to join them and punish all those who wronged her. She agrees after resting for some time. Her first training session reveals that she has strong connections with fear, fury, passion, and ambition; Raffaele Laurent Bessette (The Messenger), is alarmed by these findings but Enzo decides not to kill her because it would be too risky for their organization.
The next day, Raffaele takes Adelina to meet the other Daggers. Two of them are friendly enough, but one is hostile towards her. She doesn’t yet have control over her powers and can only conjure up illusions when she feels like she’s in danger. Still, Enzo sees something in her worth investing in and continues training her.
Teren is in a dark place, thinking about his past with Giulietta and how he needs to find Adelina. He gets information from a street urchin that leads him to Fortunata Court where he finds Adelina. She doesn’t want Teren to kill her sister, so she agrees to give him information on the Daggers if he lets her go.
5 days pass. Adelina trains with the Daggers in the cavern. Her powers are progressing slowly and she’s frustrated with how slow it is going. Spider taunts her, which makes her more upset and angrier about everything that’s happened to her recently, which then fuels her powers even more. She creates black figures like those from when she killed Enzo’s father, but they disappear almost as soon as they appear. Just before things get out of hand between Adelina and Spider, Raffaele diffuses the situation by coming over to stop them from fighting each other any further. Shortly after that, Enzo comes over to gather everyone for a mission except Adelina; he wants to speak with his sister privately first.
Adelina meets with Teren and tries to avoid answering his questions. She tells him that the Daggers are planning something for the Tournament of Storms, but does not reveal much else. He warns her to be more forthcoming next time or he will punish her. Instead of going back to Fortunata right away, Adelina goes to a horse race in Estenzia. One of the competitors is Star Thief, who we learn is actually Lady Gemma Salvatore from House Salvatore.
