79 pages • 2 hours read
Pittacus LoreI Am Number Four
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 21-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary
A man appears behind Sam and pushes him down the stairs, but Four instinctively lifts his hands and catches him with his telekinesis before he hits the concrete floor. Sam backs away from Four, eyes wide with shock. Henri is resigned and decides to tell Sam the truth. Sam is stunned, but then he smiles; he says that he knew Four was different.
Four and Henri tie up and interrogate the man who pushed Sam. The man says that three Mogadorians visited them and threatened them if they published any more information about them. They were pale with black eyes and pointy teeth, and they wore sunglasses, long coats, and hats. The Mogadorians wanted to know the source for their story, and they told them about an anonymous man who called with the exclusive. The man talked so fast they couldn’t write it all down, but they printed what they could make out. The anonymous caller said that he captured a Mogadorian and tortured it. They couldn’t tell if he was crazy or not since he kept repeating a bunch of numbers. The caller never followed up with them because the Mogadorians got to him instead.
The man tells Four that the Mogadorians messed with his mind. When he looked into their eyes, all he could see was his death and the death of everyone he loves. He could somehow even feel their death as images of monsters flooded around him.
Four looks at the notes they took from the phone call with the anonymous man. There are no concrete details except they wrote, “1-3 dead” and “4?” The man tells Four that he thinks bright light bothers them because they look in pain when they take their glasses off. They hear a noise from upstairs and realize the Mogadorians have arrived. They narrowly escape using Four’s telekinesis.
When Henri and Four get back home, they argue about leaving Paradise. Henri says that it is too dangerous to stay, while Four is determined to stay now that he has an actual life with people he cares about. He lifts Henri off the floor with his telekinesis until he agrees that they can stay. Finally, Henri relents and says they can stay, but only on the condition that training comes first and that they leave at the first sign of trouble. Four agrees.
Chapter 22 Summary
As it turns to winter in Paradise, Henri trains Four on how to fight while he is on fire. He reminds him that it is important not to breathe the flames in because while his skin is immune to flames, his internal organs can still burn.
One night while Four and Henri are eating dinner, Henri says that he can tell that something is clearly on Four’s mind. Four, who is growing more attached to Sarah, asks Henri if it is possible for Lorics to truly be loved by humans. Henri says that humans can love them how they love each other, but he doesn’t think it’s possible to love a human the same way Lorics love one another. Lorien gave them the gift of loving completely without anger, jealousy, or fear. Henri tells Four that what he feels for Sarah is not what he would feel with a girl from Lorien and that he shouldn’t count on Sarah being his partner for the long term.
Four asks what would happen if a Loric had children with a human. Henri says that it has happened many times, and it usually results in a gifted human. In fact, he says, some of Earth’s greatest thinkers were the product of a Loric/human union, such as Aristotle, Buddha, and Albert Einstein. He also says that the mythological Greek gods were not actually myths at all, but the children of humans and Lorics.
To Four’s dismay, Henri tells him that it is reckless to love a human in their current condition. He says that there is a girl who is the child of one of Four’s parents’ best friends and they used to joke that fate would one day bring them together. Four goes to bed and calls Sarah. Despite what Henri has told him, he knows he is already attached. He realizes he is in love with Sarah.
Chapter 23 Summary
While Four is asleep, he has another flashback of the battle on Lorien. He sees himself at four years old, crying and standing on the tarmac of an airfield where there are people boarding a silver airship. Henri stands behind him watching the sky. Four’s grandmother is kneeling in front of him and tells him to come back to them. His grandfather is distracted, looking at the sky. He has clearly been fighting because he is covered in sweat and blood.
Suddenly Four is inside a large building he has never seen before. A tall white rocket stands in the middle of the building. Two men and a herd of roughly 15 shapeshifting animals rush inside the building, and someone runs up and hands the men something that looks like a swaddled child before they take off. As the doors to the rocket seal shut, there is an explosion in the building. A fire grows at the bottom of the rocket.
When Four opens his eyes, Henri is there. He tells Four he was talking in his sleep, but what Four saw doesn’t sound like a dream. Henri tells him the shapeshifting animals he saw are called “Chimæra.” Four remembers the animal called Hadley he has seen in his visions and realizes that Hadley must be a Chimæra.
Four asks Henri where his family was on the day they left. Henri tells him that they weren’t with him. When Four goes back to bed, he thinks about how Henri likely never got to say goodbye to his family.
Chapter 24 Summary
It is winter break, and Four has been spending a lot of time with Sarah. One day when they are playing with Bernie Kosar in the snow, she throws him a stick. He races after it, only to return from the opposite side with the stick in his mouth. Four and Sarah laugh at how unusual a dog Bernie Kosar is.
Meanwhile, Henri tells Four about a 16-year-old girl he read about in the newspaper who saved an old man from a pile of heavy rubble. He believes she may be Number Nine, especially since she couldn’t be found for comment. After school, Henri tells Four that he read a follow-up article about the girl that says she disappeared.
When they get home, they start their training session. Four has gotten better at fighting and multitasking while being consumed in fire. Now that Four has more confidence in his Legacies, he longs to fight the Mogadorians and seek revenge.
At dinner that night, Four tells Henri that he is going to a party at Mark James’s house. Henri tells him to remember what’s at stake.
Chapter 25 Summary
Sarah, Four, and Sam drive together to the party. When they get there, two dogs, a golden retriever and a bulldog, run up to Four, wagging their tails. At the party, they join up with Sarah’s friend Emily, whom Sam has a crush on. As the night goes on, the party gets messier. The football players have been drinking, and many of them are either passed out on the couch or throwing up. Four hasn’t seen Sarah for the 10 minutes.
One of the football players yells that there is a fire in the basement. As everyone starts to evacuate, Four runs downstairs with a pot of water to find half the basement filled with flames. Outside, Four panics because he still can’t find Sarah. He sees Mark staring at the burning house in horror along with everyone else at the party, when suddenly they all hear Sarah’s scream and the sounds of dogs barking from inside the house.
Chapters 21-25 Analysis
The tension between Henri and Four rises at this point in the novel as Four uses his newfound Legacy on Henri to force him into agreeing to stay in Paradise. Four’s actions here are not one of a hero since he acts selfishly. After seeing Henri kidnapped and tied up, he still can’t face the reality of their situation. The enemies are now close and could find them at any moment.
Four’s growing love for Sarah poses another test for Four that heightens the conflict between the two aspects of his identity: a Garde member with a life-or-death responsibility and a teenager discovering the importance of friendship and love. Even though it is possible for a Loric and a human to fall in love, Henri still makes it clear that it won’t work out. This lends to a common trope in literature: that of star-crossed lovers. Sarah’s name even serves as a symbol for what she means to him, as her last name is “Hart,” and Four can’t imagine giving his heart to anyone else, no matter what Henri says.
Henri’s belief that he may have found Number Nine in the newspaper expands the novel’s universe beyond the small circle of characters the readers have come to know intimately. It shows that the external conflict in the novel, good versus evil, hero versus villain, has far-reaching effects on not only Four, but the entire universe, which will be affected if the Mogadorians succeed.
At Mark’s party, his dogs run up to Four and seem especially attached to him, just like Bernie Kosar is. It is significant since it hints at Four’s ability to communicate with animals, though neither Four nor readers realize that yet.
Once the fire begins at Mark’s party, the rising action of the novel kicks into gear. It is clear that Four has to go in and save Sarah, his last major test before he faces his ultimate enemy, the Mogadorians. The tension rises at this point in the novel, and Four’s tone in his narration shifts to panic. As Four begins to panic, it instills within readers a sense of uneasiness as they experience the chaos through his eyes.
