Outlander Book Club: An Echo in the Bone Chapter 96 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

This chapter is a short one. We get everything from Jem’s point of view, and we learn that he is somewhere dark and cold. He hasn’t gone back in time, though. Rob did take Jem to the stones, and Jem was disappearing through them. Rob pulled him back, and now we find out that Jem is in the same tunnels that Bree was back when Rob and the others played a prank on her.

The tunnels aren’t just cold and dark. They hurt Jem, and we know from Bree that there is a portal somewhere in there. What would happen if Jem went through that? Let’s not think about that, right?

At one point, Jem senses for Mandy. There’s a small light in his hand, which is supposed to be connected to his sister. Jem realizes that is sister is safe. Rob hasn’t gone back for her. He wants to know more about time travel, and Jem refuses to tell him. Would that mean Rob will go for Mandy to get answers?

Jem stays very calm in this moment, and I love seeing him. He has Bree’s composure when it comes to a sticky situation. He realizes that there’s a train somewhere in the tunnel, and he feels for it. Seeing how Bree managed it, he’s able to get the train going. As Jem gets the train moving away from the big doors that are locked, he thinks about Mandy. Will she be able to tell their parents where he is?

Something else that I take away from this is how Jem is so much like his mother. And we know Bree is very much like Jamie. It’s no wonder Jem thought of his Jamie in this chapter.