Chapter Seventeen: Superblood – Ritual, Power, and the Weight of Family

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Lony dreams of dominoes falling in lines that represent his family lineage, threatening to knock him over. He sits in rosebushes outside his house, cutting his finger with a pocketknife given by Orvil and dripping the blood into a hole he digs, then burying it. He tells himself he does this to collect blood, not to feel pain—unlike the cutting kids Loother described. Lony has googled blood, Native Americans, and magic, and found that “Cheyenne” means “the cut people,” which convinces him his act is part of a tradition. He also builds a rubber-band ball, which he imagines as a power object connected to a light inside his chest. He makes lists of “Super Indian” powers—flying, shape-shifting, superblood—and collects “superfacts” about the universe, such as the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center. Lony feels distant from his Native identity and resents the weight of carrying it. When an earthquake shakes the house, Lony runs inside and finds Orvil cutting off his ponytail with scissors. Orvil dismisses the long hair and keeps cutting. Lony wants to cut his own hair but Orvil stops him. Lony picks up the severed ponytail, and the earthquake makes him wonder if his buried blood or Orvil’s act caused it.

Key Events

Lony dreams about dominoes representing his family line, with each falling domino threatening to knock him over.
He cuts his finger in the rosebushes and drips blood into a hole, then buries it.
Lony recalls giving blood to Orvil in the hospital and wonders if it saved his life.
He builds a rubber-band ball, thinking of it as his power, inspired by a scene from Donnie Darko.
Lony creates a list of “Super Indian” powers, including flying, thunder/rain control, shape-shifting, and superblood released by cutting.
He writes down three “superfacts” about the universe: the Milky Way’s central black hole, the universe’s expansion rate, and that observable matter is less than five percent of existence.
Lony reflects on feeling worse than Orvil about their Native heritage, wishing he could live a normal life without the heaviness.
An earthquake occurs while Lony is outside burying his rubber-band ball next to the blood spot.
He finds Orvil in Opal’s room, cutting his own ponytail with scissors. Orvil says long hair is “stupid” and a ponytail is like a horse’s butt.
Lony asks if the hair cutting is a Native thing or an anti-Native thing. Orvil deflects and denies Lony permission to cut his own hair.

Character Development

Lony: Reveals his internal struggle with self-harm, which he reframes as a ritual rather than a cry for pain. His curiosity about blood, magic, and Native traditions shows his search for identity. The rubber-band ball and lists of powers indicate a desire for control and transcendence. He feels inadequate compared to Orvil and wishes to escape the “heavy” burden of being Native.
Orvil: Appears in a moment of defiance—cutting off the hair that symbolizes Native pride or tradition. His line “Hair doesn’t mean shit anyway” and his refusal to let Lony join him suggest he is acting out of anger or shame, not simply a haircut. The earthquake seems to connect to his act, although the cause is uncertain.
Opal: Though not present, her rule against stepping over someone’s body is recalled by Lony, reminding readers of her role as guardian of Cheyenne customs.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Blood and Ritual: Lony’s cutting and burying of blood is a personal attempt to connect with ancestral practices. He justifies it by googling “Cheyenne = cut people” and ideas of sacrifice. The blood is both a literal offering and a metaphor for inherited pain.
The Rubber-Band Ball: A symbol of power, control, and a desire for invincibility. Lony imagines it as the same “growing ball of light” in his chest that he can flex in dreams to make things happen. Burying it next to the blood suggests a hybrid ritual merging imagination with physical action.
Family Lineage as Dominoes: The dream sequences position Lony as a domino waiting to be knocked over by the accumulated weight of his ancestors’ unresolved trauma. This reflects intergenerational trauma and the feeling of inevitability.
The Universe and Superheroes: Lony’s “superfacts” about black holes and dark matter echo his search for meaning beyond a painful reality. His list of “Super Indian” powers critiques stereotypes while also longing for empowerment. The term “superblood” directly ties his cutting to potential power.
Hair and Identity: Orvil’s cutting of his ponytail is an act of rebellion against a cultural symbol. Lony’s fascination with the severed hair and his own desire to cut his hair suggest a similar struggle with what Native identity means. The earthquake coinciding with the cut implies a seismic, perhaps sacred, event.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter Seventeen deepens Lony’s character, showing the dark side of his coping mechanisms and his loneliness. It introduces the motif of blood as both vulnerable and potent. The earthquake and Orvil’s hair-cutting create a charged atmosphere that suggests external forces reacting to internal turmoil. This chapter sets up Lony’s potential transformation and parallels Orvil’s journey, questioning what it means to carry or reject heritage.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Lony cut himself and bury his blood? Lony cuts himself not to feel pain but to obtain blood for a ritual he believes connects him to Cheyenne traditions. He read that “Cheyenne” means “the cut people” and researched blood sacrifice in pre-European Native cultures. Burying the blood is his way of offering something sacred in the hope of gaining power or protection.

2. What does the rubber-band ball represent for Lony? The rubber-band ball represents a growing source of personal power, which Lony associates with a light inside his chest between his heart and stomach—the same place he feels he can flex to make things happen in dreams. He uses the ball as a physical manifestation of that power, intending to eventually use it for flying or disappearing. It is a coping tool that gives him a sense of control.

3. How does the earthquake relate to the events in the chapter? The earthquake occurs right after Lony buries his rubber-band ball next to the blood spot and while Orvil is cutting his ponytail inside. Lony is unsure whether his ritual or Orvil’s action caused the tremor. Orvil’s response, “Strong medicine,” suggests that the earthquake might be a supernatural outcome of the hair cutting, linking personal acts of defiance or ritual to larger natural forces. The ambiguity underscores the theme of unseen connections between human actions and the world.