Abarat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Minnesota

Candy Quackenbush is from the aptly-named Chickentown, Minnesota, a town in the central United States whose primary industry is chickens. It's a dull little town and Candy is having some trouble breaking out of the disturbing monotony of her life. Upon learning that she and her class must write a project on the history of her town, Candy is informed by her mother that she may learn something of use from Norma Lipnik, a woman who works at a local hotel. Coming across Room 19, Candy is told the story of Henry Murkitt, a man who committed suicide in the very room. Candy also observes an item the man left behind, a sextant. With this material, Candy receives an F on her project and a resulting fight with her mean teacher ends when she is sent to the principal's office. Rather than attend this meeting, she runs from the school and escapes. Heading through town, Candy follows her imagination to Lincoln Street and reaches a sign at its end stating 'Street End'.

She decides on this day that she will continue walking past the sign.

Answer: A key

Candy keeps walking until she can't see Chickentown behind her any longer and in the distance, the hollowed-out remains of what seem to be a watchtower act as her destination to reach. Walking along, she kicks a rock to discover that the ground is littered with odd shells and fragments of brightly-coloured statues.

This is when things get even more odd: a creature named John Mischief (who has seven heads perched on his antlers) emerges from the bushes and introduces himself. He also informs Candy that the building ahead is a lighthouse (this confuses her since Minnesota is nowhere near the sea).

He is also in trouble and running from someone named Mendelson Shape. This proves true when they hear Shape behind them. Mischief asks Candy for a favour as she has met with him based on what seems to be providence.

The lighthouse ahead must be lit and he can distract Shape long enough for her to head up and do it. She agrees and flees to her destination. As the lighthouse has been aged by years of wear, it's difficult to climb without breaking to pieces but she finds the top room and is successful in lighting the device inside (an odd cup and ball game involving a small turquoise ball and a pyramid).

As she does this, she looks outside to see the waves of a sea (The Sea of Izabella) approaching and she realizes that Henry Murkitt was a true story- there was in fact a sea nearby. Shape finally reaches Candy and strangles her upon the lighthouse balcony, but the wood gives away under his weight. As Candy falls unconscious, she plummets to the ground. She awakens soon after having been brought back to consciousness by the Johns. He bestows upon her the item desired by Shape, a key, which he tells her to take home to Chickentown and to protect until he returns. Before she leaves, she asks to see the sea and they head to a nearby jetty. On this, however, Shape pursues them once more and Candy makes the decision never to return to Chickentown. Instead, she will follow John to the Islands of Abarat. John shoots the cup and ball in the tower before they jump off the jetty into the sea.

Answer: Cards

On the Sea of Izabella, Candy and John are washed away by frigid waves. John tells Candy to relax as Mama Izabella takes them where they need to go, but they are soon split up by the heaving of the ocean. Candy comes across four creatures known as sea-skippers who are playing cards in the middle of the sea.

They call upon John Mischief who they also note is a master thief (to Candy's surprise). Nonetheless, they regard the two as important beings and decide to help them reach the island of Yebba Dim Day (permanently positioned at 8 o'clock). Upon their arrival, John is spotted by the police and is forced to flee while the sea-skippers leave Candy to explore the island herself. Making her way through the island she is met by a creature who calls herself Izarith. Living nearby, she takes Candy in to dry her off and the two discuss where she's from, the history of Izarith's people (the Skizmut), and the money Candy has in her pocket (a total of $16). Shockingly, this small amount of money from what the people of Abarat call the Hereafter could pay for more than enough. Candy gives Izarith $11 and with this they can purchase several boats. Izarith heads out to buy some food for Candy and the family.

Answer: The Universal Eye

Mendelson Shape heads back to the island of Gorgossium and the Twelfth Tower to speak to his master, Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight, of his failure in the Hereafter. Carrion is very disappointed in Shape and threatens to throw him into the lime pit, but his value is proven when he lets his boss know that a girl named Candy acted as John Mischief's accomplice and traveled to Abarat. Carrion tells Shape to retrieve her and find the key whether she is dead or alive.
Remaining at Izarith's house, Candy is shocked as a large mechanical bug flies in the door and begins to attack her and Izarith's children. She makes many attempts to get the creature out, but no success is had. Izarith also tries when she arrives home with food, but the creature escapes with knowledge of Candy's whereabouts.
This knowledge reaches Carrion on the island of Gorgossium via a device delivered to him known as the Universal Eye. This technology is composed of several viewscreens showing the surveillance images of the various mechanical creations. Using Mendelson Shape's memory, they are able to locate Candy on Yebba Dim Day. Carrion instructs for a glyph to be made for him to reach Vesper's Rock so that he can collect 'Dust' while Mendelson is to capture Candy.

Answer: Hark's Harbor

Candy departs from Izarith's hungry. Deciding not to draw attention to herself with her remaining money, she decides to steal a few scones while commotion rages on at the destroyed docks. When she escapes from a baker's without being caught stealing, she is intercepted by a man who introduces himself as Samuel Hastrim Klepp the Fifth who agrees that the stealing was fine if she shares it with him.

He hands over his creation, the 'Almenak' and she states the she is from the Hereafter. Since Klepp is a writer of all things questionable and mysterious, he decides to take her to The Press, the location at which he writes his book, so that they can talk about their worlds.

He also states that the 'Almenak' is likely not to sell in its current edition because the people in Commexo City have major plans for Yebba Dim Day...and that can't be good.

The Commexo Kid is the mascot of the name owned by Rojo Pixler who, as Klepp states, would want to be king of the world. When they reach Klepp's Press, Candy is told the story about Hark's Harbor which, according to Klepp, was once a prosperous port on the edge of the Sea which facilitated secret trades between the merchants of both worlds.

Unfortunately, his great-grandfather was commissioned to burn the place to the ground for reasons regarding corruption. Now, many in Abarat only believe that the Hereafter is a topic made for children's stories. Klepp offers to show Candy a bird's eye view of Yebba Dim Day and they head to the top of the tallest towers with his personal elevator.

Answer: Odom's Spire

Mendelson Shape makes his way to Vesper's Rock, a location near Midnight which houses Ignacio, a stitchling creature used by Carrion to crush mummified remains to Dust. After a short talk of the Hereafter, Shape takes flight on his transportation, a large, conjured moth, and he is instructed to find Candy before she moves on from Yebba Dim Day.
Candy, meanwhile, views the world from atop the island with Klepp by her side. Using squid-like creatures as telescopes, she is given a visual tour of the islands of Abarat including the mysterious 25th island (noted as the 25th Hour), Odom's Spire. Klepp, who is knowledgeable, admits that even he knows little about this destination, an island of mystery and secrets. By the time Klepp returned to Candy later on, she had been introduced to all twenty-five islands in the sea. It is at this point, however, that Mendelson Shape swoops in and plucks Candy from her perch. She and the squid atop her head, Squiller, are taken away while Klepp watches on in shock.
They don't get far. While Shape transports Candy from Yebba Dim Day to Carrion on Gorgossium, the moth creation is seen by balloon airships and is fired upon in flight. The group of them hurtle to the ground.

Answer: Princess Boa

As soon as the moth is felled over the Sea, Carrion's psychic link to the creature is destroyed. Though he doesn't mind this, or the fate of Mendelson Shape, he does worry about the girl from the Hereafter as he recognizes her in some way. He feels that perhaps chance has brought her to him so that he may love again. The last girl he loved, one Princess Boa, inevitably foresaw horrible nightmares about him and Carrion realized that she hated him. Now, however there may be something with this new girl...
When Candy reaches the ground on what she believes is the island in the 10 o'clock position (Ninnyhammer), she finds that the men in the balloons who fired on the moth have landed in a field nearby. Amongst these is none other than the creator of Commexo City himself, Pixler, who recognizes the moth as magic. Pixler realizes that Candy is from the Hereafter and tries to persuade her to come along with him so that he too may be able to explore the land beyond Abarat for his own reasons. Candy isn't convinced and thinks that she'll be fine escaping Carrion on her own. When Pixler and his men turn their backs, Candy makes her exit without their knowing.
All this time, John Mischief had remained off the shores of Yebba Dim Day waiting to emerge. Upon returning to the land, he picked up a job volunteering as a digger on a ship known as the Belbelo. The crew of the ship inevitably recognizes John but doesn't mind his reputation. They need someone with nothing to lose and in return he will be able to hide where the law won't touch him: the Isle of the Black Egg (4 o'clock in the morning). Geneva, the woman in charge, explains a story about Princess Boa being taken by a dragon while at her marriage altar. While the Princess was killed, her husband-to-be, Finnegan, killed the creature and proceeded to find others around the islands of Abarat to interrogate and destroy. It's been six years since he left the rest of his crew behind and while they know he's alive he's buried on an island somewhere; this is why they needed a digger. As they make their way through the storm, their ship strikes something in the water. This something turns out to be a dragon.

Answer: Malingo

The dragon only wants one thing, specifically a young girl on the boat by the name of Tria. None of the crew offers her up as a sacrifice to the great beast and so they battle. In the midst of this, John Mischief uses a grapple hook to damage the dragon's face and he nearly gets himself eaten in the process.

When all is said and done, the Belbelo is sunk to the bottom of the sea. John Mischief, having been clamped in the dragon's jaws before being dragged onto a lifeboat by the crew, has many deep wounds.

The group isn't able to rest long on their journey to the nearby island of Nonce (where Finnegan nearly married the Princess and where he is expected to be) before the dragon returns and eats one of the crew members. It is finally put to rest when a flare is shot into its throat. Candy, still on Ninnyhammer, heads onward to a domed house upon a hill and despite her exhaustion she is able to safely arrive at the residence (though she is chased by Tarrie-Cats along the way).

The man inside, Kaspar Wolfswinkel, allows her presence and seems friendly enough...that is until she realizes his hidden agenda. Kaspar actually placed incantations on Candy as she arrived at his house and she is now his hostage. With his slave, Malingo, he places her into a transparent box and takes her memories to examine her mind. Upon reaching a memory that Candy can't identify, she collapses and falls unconscious.

When she awakens, Kaspar is speaking to a man by the name of Otto Houlihan (who Malingo informs her later is named the Criss-Cross Man). Kaspar makes Candy speak to this man on the telephone and she discovers that she fell unconscious when Kaspar took the Pyramid Key (which opens the pyramids of Xuxux) from her thoughts. Houlihan tells Candy that he will be arriving to fetch her shortly. This is when Candy plans an escape for both herself and the abused slave. Getting Kaspar drunk on rum and stealing his staff, the two of them are able to weaken the magician's power long enough to reduce his powers to nearly nothing and they escape out the front door.

Answer: In a glyph

Candy and Malingo head down the path to the forest, but not before Kaspar returns unseen for a surprise attack. Now donning his hats once more and restoring his magical abilities, he can become invisible. Unfortunately, this doesn't last too long for Kaspar as the Tarrie-Cats of the island can see him while no one else can. Malingo stops Kaspar from returning to the safety of his house as the cats' leader, Jimothi Tarrie, arrives and speaks to Candy of her reputation amongst the islands. Many regard her as a good sign from afar sent to transform Abarat for the better. Kaspar returns to the confinement of his house while the others look on. Jimothi isn't able to answer many of Candy's questions before Otto Houlihan makes an appearance. Luckily, Malingo has knowledge of glyphs from reading Kaspar's books and is able to create their escape device while Jimothi holds off the antagonists. Candy and Malingo are able to leave the island safely and escape the clutches of Carrion's henchmen. Houlihan visits Kaspar to receive the Key to the Pyramids of Xuxux. Kaspar is surprised about the girl as she has acclimatized to the world of Abarat much quicker than anyone from the Hereafter could have, almost as if she were meant to be there; her magical capabilities prove this. Houlihan offers Kaspar a deal since he let the girl get away entailing that he act as Otto's slave if he spares him. Kaspar accepts.

Answer: Snakes

Candy and Malingo find themselves heading towards the 25th Hour in their glyph and as its power takes over their craft they are helpless to fight its strength. Candy finds herself in darkness and overhears conversations between her parents from before she was born. Three women, Diamanda, Josephi, and Mespa, claim to be the Sisters of Fantomaya who brought her here to give her a taste of the job she's in for. They state that Candy will be coming to the 25th Hour to do more work of her own in the future. The women show Candy the briefest glimpse of the images and memories held in Odom's Spire and she is more than overwhelmed. They try to explain. Firstly, Diamanda is actually Henry Murkitt's (ex-)wife and she has had visions of Candy's past. She warns Candy that while she is very important for the world of Abarat, she may cause destruction on her journey though she must not falter while doing so. There is much in her path they say, and they mention the names Finnegan and the Requiax. The ladies can't answer anymore questions as Abraham Hollow, the Keeper of Odom's Spire, is arriving. The ladies make their exit and Candy is forced to flee through the darkness or else face unspeakable evils.
Landing on Nonce, the crew of the Belbelo struggle with ensuring that John Mischief is safe. They rest on the beach about two days away from the kingdom on the other side of the island before a monsoon picks up and tears the area around them to pieces. Magically, after the rainstorm, the island of Nonce begins rebuilding itself and gathers their belongings in the process. Mischief awakens after this ordeal and urges the group to continue onward. All the while, hundreds of snakes, brought to the island for the Princess' wedding, sing their song in the woods around them and Mischief claims that they need to head out to listen to their music.
Candy, meanwhile, escapes the darkness of Odom's Spire by quite unorthodox means. She finds Malingo upon landing on the rocky shores of the 25th Hour and the two of them struggle to return to their glyph and escape before the terrors from the tower return. It's too late though- the hideous creatures attack and it seems like the end for Candy and Malingo. Luckily, the two of them find a boat summoned by the Fantomaya Sisters and they are able to flee and leave the island behind them. They let the Sea of Izabella lead them where it wants to.
Candy and Malingo move onwards into one of the night hours and wonder what their future in the world of Abarat may hold. The journeys they must face and the people they may meet all lay ahead.