FIRE & FLOOD (SERIES)

LESSONS

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You can’t run away from problems.

 

When Cody falls sick, his parents move to middle-of-nowhere Montana. No matter what the parents do to prevent his sister (Tella) from receiving the invitation to compete, she finds out anyway and is willing to try anything it takes to save her brother.

 

“The look in [Mom’s] eyes while we packed the moving truck still haunts me. Like she was waiting for something. Or running for something” (Book 1, 5).

 

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We shouldn’t take things for granted (from material luxuries to moments with loved ones). 

 

“Running my tongue over my teeth, I cringe. What I wouldn’t give for a toothbrush and a shower… and a turn-of-the-century toilet. Turns out I never properly appreciated the awesomeness that is toilet paper. Next time my mom asks me to pick up a jumbo pack at the store, I will hold my head high” (Book 1, 61).

 

“I want to take back every bad thing I’ve ever said to [Cody] and replace it with this: I look up to you” (Book 2, 29).

 

“I raise the cake a bit higher. I want to wish for all of our loved ones to heal and for Cody to have never gotten sick and, okay, maybe I wish for a spa day with Mom, who I miss so very much. But since it’s my birthday -- and I want to believe in the power of wishes -- I hope for something that might actually come true: I wish that Cody is happy today” (Book 2, 91).

 

“I want to go home. I want to be in my bed and hear my mother’s footsteps padding down the soft carpet, coming to tell me there are pancakes in the kitchen, and, yes, Dad made sausage, too” (Book 2, 124).

 

“Before we became Contenders, we lived for the future. Now we live in the moment, knowing there won’t be a tomorrow if we don’t conquer today” (Book 2, 154).

 

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It’s easier to get through hard times with the support of others (instead of trying to tackle them alone). 

 

No matter how different people’s stories are, we can bond over common goals.

 

Not only were Tella’s odds of survival increased by joining forces with other Contenders/ Pandoras (from a fire-breathing lion, to an invisible-turning eagle that can hunt, to an elephant that can produce water from the earth), but her loneliness was eased as well.

 

“I look up at the people sitting here with me. We’re not so different. We’re all here out of selflessness. Here to save someone else’s life” (Book 1, 125).

 

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Even if someone doesn’t appear to have a way to benefit us, we should still be caring.

 

Tella took great care of her Pandora (“KD-8”, who she renamed to “Madox”), even when he didn’t hatch yet or demonstrate his powers. She sang to him, gently carried him, and protected him from being bullied by other Pandoras.

 

“There’s a part of me that doesn’t like [Harper] considering us tools in this race. I just want… for these people to be my friends” (Book 1, 114).

 

Even though Titus’s Pandora (a bear) was built to protect Titus, his loyalty changed to Tella due to the care that she showed. She offered the bear (and other Pandoras) a portion of her food (because even though they could likely survive without it, they enjoy eating). She also refused to kill the bear (even though it once attacked her Pandora and her friends’ Pandoras under the command of Titus, and the Contenders were required to kill a Pandora during the second leg of the race). She instead put a ram out of its misery (that was moments from death anyways). Titus, on the other hand, abused the bear and other Pandoras (to feel like he was in control). So when Titus attacked Tella, the bear came to Tella’s rescue, pushing Titus off a cliff.

 

Tella rescued Mr. Larson’s alligator and cuddled with it to keep it warm when it seemed useless (before it revealed that it can supply heat and other sensations through touch).

 

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Distractions can cause us to lose focus on our goal. For example, Tella’s attraction to Guy made her lose focus on why she was in the race in the first place (but it later turns out that this attraction was love, not just lust).

 

“Guy turns his head and looks in my direction… I smile at him. It isn’t something I do much anymore, but right now, feeling his undivided attention -- I give in to temptation… Turning away from him, I shut my eyes. I think of my brother and realize with stinging guilt that it’s the first time I’ve thought of him since arriving in the desert. I’ve been too occupied with the man who’s here now. And for the first time, I wonder -- if that’s exactly what Guy wants” (Book 1, 211).

 

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Life can take unexpected turns, but you’re stronger than you think (especially when you’re motivated by love).

 

“I remember the way I was before I became a Contender. Competing in this race is like becoming a drug addict. One small slip leads to another, and before you know it, you find yourself in an impossible situation and can’t fathom how your life has spiraled so far from what it was” (Book 2, 111).

 

“How did this happen? How did I go from homeschool and teasing Cody and Sunday Fundays to this? I could back out, I think. I could just throw up my hands now and decide this is all too friggin’ psychotic. But then I think of Cody. I know he would do this for me. He wouldn’t even hesitate. Despite all his irritating qualities, I’ve always thought of him as courageous” (Book 1, 41).

 

Guy repeatedly saves Tella and looks out for her because he cares about her and her safety. Later, Guy is able to persevere swimming through the ocean (and make it to shore) by thinking of Tella.

 

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Hard times can cause people to abandon their moral compass.

 

But we shouldn’t rejoice over the misfortunes of others, even if it makes ourselves feel comparatively better.

 

Guy tells Tella: “Many enter the race conflicted. One side of the team says to remember their humanity, the other side says to become an animal, to live and breathe only to win the Cure. I thought you’d go one way or the other, just like the rest… But you’re still fighting like a soldier and trying to protect everyone along the way, too” (Book 2, 220).

 

• “I pray Madox is keeping up with us and that the other Pandoras are, too. Though I remember these people are my competition, I don’t want them to lose their companions” (Book 1, 150).

 

• Tella selflessly saved Caroline when Caroline was drowning in a river: “My legs and arms splay out in a panic and I wonder if maybe this wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. But then I remember why I jumped. That Caroline is in the river, and that I have to help her” (Book 1, 153).

 

• Tella takes care of extra Pandoras whose original owners have died, and then she passes them off to other Contenders who have lost their Pandoras and in need of new ones. She gives Jaxon/Braun an iguana (after his jaguar died) and Willow an alligator (after her rat died).

 

• Titus steals other people’s Pandoras to give himself the competitive advantage. 

 

• “We’re all here to save someone we care about. But Jaxon saw Harper in the ocean; he saw how she struggled to stay above water; and he threw the rescue tube to a Pandora because he believes she will help him win the race. This is what the Brimstone Bleed does to people. Makes us choose between lives. Makes us less human and more animal, desperate to protect our pack mates above all else” (Book 2, 69).

 

• Jaxon redeems himself by jumping into water to save Braun’s pig Pandora from sharks (even though that causes Jaxon to die, getting torn apart from the sharks).

 

• After a ship sank and Tella’s group took inventory of supplies on their life rafts, Mr. Larson greedily takes one of the three remaining granola bars right away (that were meant to split between 8 people).

 

• The Contenders get instructed that as they paddle to the island, they pass by a place with a bunch of different colored flags. The group with that colored life rafts will begin to simultaneously sink. Mr. Larson wants to sink other rafts that are behind them, but Tella refuses to let him do that: “The people running the Brimstone Bleed want us to destroy one another. Maybe they sorted us into groups so that when we turn on one another, no one is to blame. It was a group decision. So I won’t put that on my conscience. This activity teaches us to attack groups of Contenders instead of individuals. But we didn’t succumb to warped temptations” (Book 2, 133).

 

• Tella tells Willow, who may have tried to drown Olivia: “This race can make us do terrible things. Things we never thought we were capable of. You’re so young. If you did try to hurt Olivia, and I’m not saying you did, then it would be understandable. But that doesn’t make it okay. At the end of the Brimstone Bleed, we’ll have to return home, and we’ll have to live with the things we’ve done here. You don’t want to carry more regrets than you must” (Book 2, 143).

 

• “Mr. Larson wants to remove the blue flag from the buoy. Apparently, he’s reclaimed his youth and wants to tie it around his bicep like all the cool kids do. I’m adamant, though. This race is hard enough, and I hate the thought that removing the flag could deter other Contenders from finding base camp” (Book 2, 107).

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We shouldn’t follow Tella’s lead in being vain or prideful. Tella consistently mentions how she’s self-conscious about her curly hair and her freckles. She also envies the looks of Harper (a fellow Contender who’s not much older than her).

 

“I’m discouraged to see my new threads aren’t a wardrobe improvement. I briefly consider making Madox my Toto and clicking my heels together. There’s no place like Nordstrom, there’s no place like Nordstrom” (Book 1, 184).

 

Tella’s pride makes her afraid that she’s too reliant on Guy and that he considers her weak: “I catch Guy’s gaze and recall what he said. Still be back in that jungle if it weren’t for me. As much as I care about Guy, I want to imagine I can prove him wrong. That I can do anything I put my mind to, just like the guidance counselor at Ridgeline High said. And that I can do it all without his help. But I can’t quiet the voice in my head. Can you?” (Book 2, 19).

 

Tella stubbornly tries to go against Guy’s decisions (from ship selection to what type of canned food to open). Guy says to her: “You want to make your own decisions, fine. But make sure you’re choosing the right ones” (Book 2, 131).

 

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We should look to Guy (and Harper) for inspiration on courage and desire for justice. 

 

After Harper wins the second leg of the race, she voluntarily comes back just to help Tella win the whole thing.

 

It’s also revealed that before the race, he diligently trained so that he could be a top Contender and be offered a position of overseeing future races (so that he could take down the agency from the inside). He sees the race’s leaders as “serpents” and got a tattoo of a hawk (which hunts serpents) to symbolize his thirst for justice.

 

Taking down the race from the inside is risky, but as the race continues, it’s shown more and more how twisted the Brimstone Bleed producers are. People bet on which Contenders will win (as if the Brimstone Bleed was an illegal horse race). In each stage, the Creators sabotage racers (by getting hunters to shoot arrows at them, adding explosives to their ships so that they sink, adding blood bags at the bottom of life rafts to attract sharks, booby-trapping flag-poles to trigger an avalanche, and implanting chips into the Pandoras’ heads so that they ultimately turn on their owners as a final test).