55 pages • 1 hour read
Rick RiordanDaughter of the Deep
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 15-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 15 Summary
Ana invites Nelinha and Ester to bunk with her in the captain’s cabin, so she does not have to be alone. After Gem says goodnight and they fall asleep, Ana dreams of making Holi pastries with her mother, her father carrying her, and her brother walking her home. When she wakes up, Socrates is gone, and Nelinha and Ester argue. They take her to the sick bay, where Hewett is unconscious and sick. Linzi, an Orca, says regarding his illness, “our best guess is late-stage cancer, maybe pancreatic” (89). They need to get help, but Gem says they cannot send an SOS in case the Aronnax uses it to locate them, and suggests they instead find Nemo’s secret base.
Chapter 16 Summary
Ana is surprised to find that the others follow her commands now. They all go to find Hewett’s map of the sea, and Ana uses her DNA to activate a paperweight that shows the students where Nemo’s base is, three days away. They will have to ration their supplies, but Ana decides to put the trip to a vote amongst all the students, saying “we’ll make this decision together” (94).
Chapter 17 Summary
Although Ana does not like public speaking, she still does her duty and speaks to the entire group of HP freshmen. She thinks, “I didn’t ask for leadership” (95-96), but now that she has it, she will not fail those who depend on her. The students briefly debate Ana’s command and whether the base is real. While they argue, Ana thinks about how unfair this entire situation is to her: “I’ve learned that the world doesn’t care what is right for me. I have to make it care” (98). Still, she resolves to make the best of the situation. She explains alt-tech to the students, and Gem calls for a vote to keep Ana in command and take revenge on the LI. Everyone votes yes, and Ana promises not to let them down.
Chapter 18 Summary
Ana struggles with command while delegating tasks for running the boat. She visits Nelinha, thinking of their first year at HP. Earlier, Gem accidentally revealed to everyone that Nelinha is a scholarship kid. Ana knows it was not purposefully mean, but she still holds a grudge against Gem for humiliating “an orphan—no family, no opportunities, no money” (105). Nelinha shows Ana that she has discovered LOCUS, an advanced alternative to radar and sonar, but suddenly Ester bursts in, announcing that she has something important to show them.
Chapter 19 Summary
The students stare in horror as they watch the video feed from drones that Hewett sent to survey the remains of HP Academy. All that remains is the driveway and debris in the bay. Another students shows Ana an image of the Aronnax under the water and tells her that the world believes all of them to be dead. Ana tells them to turn off the feeds and tell the other students what happened, but to not show them the video. She says, “the others don’t need to see this footage right now. Everyone is already upset enough” (109). She also says they need to keep radio silent to avoid the Aronnax, but then she realizes Ester has been crying.
Chapter 20 Summary
Ana goes to the library and finds Ester, who is upset because she thinks she is at fault for being a Harding and keeping alt-tech a secret from her friends. She explains that she knew Nemo set the Nautilus to be revealed after a certain number of generations, and that Ana’s father was only able to access it two years previously. She feels terrible for keeping these secrets and tells Ana, “If I said anything to anyone, even you…I’m so sorry, Ana” (115). Ana promises that nobody will hate Ester. Ester says that Ana’s parents died trying to open the Nautilus, and she does not want Ana to die too.
Chapter 21 Summary
At night Ana lies awake, thinking about all of this new information. During the day, she worries about supplies and captains the other students. They head towards Nemo’s secret base, worried that the Aronnax might be able to find them, although Gem is confident their new weapons will help in their defense. Ana goes on a dive with Socrates to inspect the Varuna’s exterior for damage, and the two play around a little bit. Ana thinks, “I wish I could stay underwater with Socrates forever, dancing in the silver swirls of bubbles with sunlight rippling through the green” (121). Then, however, Ana is called up to listen to new audio from the school’s destruction.
Chapter 22 Summary
On the recording, in his likely last moments alive, Dev yells about an evacuation. Ana feels guilty that she was not there to save Dev, just as she “never got to say good-bye to [her] parents” (124). Just as her stomach begins to hurt with grief, she realizes that “it’s not just from grief. [Her] period has started” (125). Ester and Nelinha help Ana get comfortable, and Ester tells Ana that she thinks she will be safe at the base. She also gives Ana all of the secrets that she has remembered about HP, which she wrote down. According to Ester, it will also be standard protocol to be issued a challenge before being permitted aboard the base, so while Ana rests, Ester and Nelinha figure out how to beat such a challenge.
Chapters 15-22 Analysis
Gem begins to integrate himself into the group of Ana, Ester, and Nelinha at this stage in the novel. When the three girls take the captain’s cabin, Ana thinks, “maybe he’s contemplating sleeping outside our door all night in case someone else tries to kidnap me” (86-87). He takes his job as Ana’s bodyguard seriously, and his protection extends to her friends as well. Later, when Ana is forced to take command of her fellow students, another Shark asks Gem if he is okay with her leading. He says in response, “Ana’s got good intuition, and her Nemo genes let her operate things we can’t touch. I agree with Dr. Hewett. She’s our best shot” (97). He lends his support to Ana at a time when the students could have been divided on the subject of her leadership. This convinces the students to band together under Ana’s captainship. Gem supporting Ana is his first step in becoming part of her group.
Initially, Ana is nervous to take command of her classmates and the Nautilus. In her words, she has “never liked oral reports,” and public speaking is an important part of leading (95). After Gem leads the other students in a vote to confirm her leadership, despite how nervous Ana is, she still promises them, “I won’t let you down” (100). Ana might be a house prefect, but she has never truly had the lives of other students in her hands. She is understandably nervous, but her commitment to HP Academy and her friends means that she will take on this risk and responsibility.
In the aftermath of the school’s disaster, grief is a prominent emotion about the students. Ana’s parents are gone, her brother is gone, the families of other students are gone, and now even Dr. Hewett is gone, lost in his medical coma. Ana is full of regret, thinking “I should have been there for Dev” (124). She also remembers, “I never got to say good-bye to my parents. Not properly” (124). Her grief for her lost family is so strong that it makes her stomach hurt although she soon realizes that this is also due to period cramps. But underneath the strength that Ana must have in order to protect her friends, there is a great deal of guilt and sadness and regret, a perfect storm of emotional turmoil that makes up her grief.
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