58 pages • 1 hour read
B. B. AlstonAmari and the Night Brothers
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 20-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 20 Summary
Dylan receives all the attention for their win, and Amari feels that things at the Bureau are no different than at her school—she’s still an outcast here. Agent Fiona reassures her that those who count know where the credit for their win lies. Dylan uses Maria’s spare key to get into VanQuish’s office, where Amari accesses Quinton’s schedule from the day he went missing. Quinton planned to meet with Horus, the director of the Department of Good Fortunes and Bad Omens, and someone named KH. Amari returns to her dorm room to find that someone has defaced her wall with a picture of her with her eyes crossed out and a stake through her heart with the words “No magicians allowed” beneath it. The other students begin chanting the words after seeing the cruel imagery.
Chapter 21 Summary
Elsie escorts Amari back to her apartment. Amari is undone by the cruel graffiti on her wall and does not want to return to the Bureau, but Elsie supports her and encourages her to keep fighting, reminding Amari that Quinton would do the same for her. Dylan uses his tech-magic to transport himself through Amari’s TV into her apartment and convinces her not to quit the Bureau. He helps her experiment with spells, advising her that she has to believe in herself because her magic can sense her doubt and won’t work otherwise. Amari is horrified when Dylan turns to a section of the spell book for “Magick Most Foul.” He wants her to try a spell that would inflict a vivid hallucination of a foe’s worst fear upon them, but Amari staunchly refuses; she doesn’t want to use magic to hurt people like Moreau does. To make it up to her, Dylan uses his dad’s transporter to take Amari to the old Van Helsing lake house, where he has secretly been practicing his illusion magic. Dylan has created a vivid, beautiful forest, and teaches Amari to “paint” illusions too.
Chapter 22 Summary
A detective visits Mama to update her that Quinton’s case has gone cold. Furious, Amari kicks the detective out, but she is unable to reassure Mama about Quinton since she can’t tell Mama about the supernatural world. She goes outside and sits on her roof, and Jayden stops by. Jayden helps Amari recognize her own talent; she’s just been comparing herself to Quinton her entire life and failing to see her own potential, when in truth, she’s a “legend” in their neighborhood. Amari realizes that it’s unfair for her to measure herself against Quinton; his supernatural ability is Super-Genius Aptitude, meaning that he could learn anything once he’d seen it once. How can she compare her best efforts against Quinton’s supernaturally enhanced ones?
Suddenly, Amari—and everyone else in the Bureau—receives an ominous voicemail. It warns them that they are about to suffer the consequences of not acquiescing to the magicians’ demands, accompanied by a video showing the Van Helsing house being attacked.
Chapter 23 Summary
Dylan and his family have made it through the attack with minimal damage. However, other families were attacked as well, and they were not as lucky—many people were seriously or fatally injured. Amari returns to the Bureau and resolves to start believing in her ability to rescue VanQuish, but now she faces animosity from people who believe that she had something to do with the hybrid attack.
Amari visits with Director Horus and learns about her fortune. Her fortune suggests that she has great potential; however, there is a threat to the Bureau from magicians. There appears to be a magician protecting Amari but also one attacking her. Amari learns the reason Quinton visited Horus: He wanted to know if Maria would ever betray the Bureau.
Chapter 24 Summary
Amari gently breaks the news of Quinton’s suspicions about Maria to Dylan. Although he’s hurt at the suggestion, Dylan understands and is determined to prove that Maria wasn’t a traitor. Amari learns about the Black Key, the object needed to open the Black Book. To protect the secrets of the Black Book, the Black Key is held by a Key Holder who is honor bound to never reveal themselves. Not even the Bureau can know about the Key Holder; they have pledged to never bring the Black Book and its Key together. If they do, they will be immediately dissolved by the Supernatural World Congress, and all the Bureau’s members will be banished from the supernatural world. Dylan and Amari prepare for their second Junior Agent tryout; any awkwardness dissolves between them as they once again commit to being a team.
Chapter 25 Summary
Dylan and Amari pass the second tryout. Dylan hears a rumor that it will involve extensive knowledge of the Bureau’s layout, and he shares this information with Amari so they can prepare. The knowledge comes in handy when they learn that the second tryout is a scavenger hunt around the Bureau. Amari uses her illusions in one part of the scavenger hunt to distract a dangerous plant while she and Dylan retrieve the given object.
After witnessing Amari’s clever use of illusions, their chaperone, a Ranger named Becca Alford from the Department of Creature Control, says that Amari has shown her that magicians aren’t all bad. This encourages Amari that she can show people that not all magicians are like the Night Brothers. Dylan and Amari further distinguish themselves at the end of the tryout when they are given an opportunity to admit that they had foreknowledge of the tryout, and Amari thinks of how Quinton would want her to behave and chooses to be honest. This was part of the test too; the rumors about the tryout were leaked intentionally, and Dylan and Amari’s honesty demonstrates that they are trustworthy, earning them an invitation to the final tryout.
Chapters 20-25 Analysis
Chapters 20-25 build the final bits of rising action before the pace accelerates ahead of the climax. Chapters 20 and 21 illustrate the effect that open prejudice has on Amari. This develops the theme of the same subject, but also develops Amari’s arc regarding Self-Confidence and Discovering Identity. This continues through Chapter 21, when Dylan teaches her that she has to believe in herself in order for her abilities to work, as her magic can sense her doubt (247). The link between her power and her self-confidence symbolizes the key conflict that Amari must overcome in her personal journey and foreshadows the climactic realization that occurs in the upcoming chapters.
Dylan also introduces Amari to foul magic in Chapter 21. His familiarity with it establishes a clear distinction between the two characters: Dylan is comfortable using foul magic, while Amari is appalled at using magic that has the potential to harm others. This is the first clear example of Dylan’s willingness to inflict harm upon others, and it foreshadows the core ideological difference between him and Amari. Amari's rejection of foul magic here is an example of Amari’s unwavering compassion and showcases Amari’s ability to remain hopeful and caring even when cruelty has been enacted upon her.
In Chapter 21, illusions as a motif are introduced for the first time as a method of self-expression. Up until this moment, Amari has been caged by the perception that magic is bad and can only be used for harm. Seeing that illusions can be used to create beautiful things—and particularly the term around how they are created, “painting” illusions, suggesting creativity and expression—helps her begin to find her self-confidence and accept her identity.
Jayden’s reappearance in Chapter 22 also develops the theme of Self-Confidence and Discovering Identity. Amari’s conversation with him helps her see herself from a different perspective, and she realizes that perhaps she’s more like Quinton than she thought—she too might have the power to help others, even without Quinton’s supernaturally enhanced intelligence. The significance of this moment resurfaces at the end of the novel when she passes the opportunity to broaden her horizons onto Jayden.
Stakes heighten in Chapter 23 as Moreau’s apprentice brings the fight close to Amari for the first time. Before, the monster-hybrid attacks happened to the Bureau’s outposts, and Amari was not directly affected. Now, with her friend and his family directly impacted by them, Amari can feel the gravity of the situation. This reflects the shift to a more serious tone as the narrative ushers the action toward its climax. The VanQuish investigation, the reveal about the Black Key, and the suggestion that Maria might be the one behind it all build the tone of mystery and danger that accompanies the plot. The implication about Maria inserts a note of treachery and betrayal, as well as a sense of irony: Quinton suspected his own partner, and it is Amari in the end who is betrayed by hers—Maria’s brother.
The second tryout for Junior Agent in Chapter 25, like the first tryout, demonstrates qualities in Amari that make her a good agent, like her trustworthiness. It further highlights how inaccurately Amari sees her own intelligence, because while she feels herself to be inferior, she continually demonstrates that she’s very smart and capable. Her decisions and insights help her and Dylan achieve victory, but furthermore, she is the one who confesses to the cheating; Dylan doesn’t. This furthers comparisons between the two foil characters and highlights Amari’s good, honest, and trustworthy traits. In addition, the scene with the Ranger in Chapter 25 develops the Hope in the Face of Prejudice theme as Amari is able to show that magic can be used for good purposes. This foreshadows how Amari will use the power of self-expression to change people’s minds. This realization will become important for her both in her final tryout, when she shows people who she really is, and at the climax, when she chooses hope over hate.
