The Manifestor Prophecy: Chapters 9–13

by Angie Thomas
In this first book of the Nic Blake and the Remarkables series, twelve-year-old Alexis Nichole Blake is an exile in the Unremarkable world who wants to learn how to use her Gift as a Manifestor, which includes controlling the elements, summoning objects, and creating illusions.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–8, Chapters 9–13, Chapters 14–19, Chapters 20–24
35 words 1 learner

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. stuffy
    lacking fresh air
    A thick blanket of dust covers the stairs, and it gets stuffier the farther down we go.
  2. lurch
    move abruptly
    Bertha spins and lurches forward, knocking me, Alex, and JP off our feet.
  3. optimist
    a person disposed to take a favorable view of things
    JP always sees the good stuff. Dad once said he’s an eternal optimist. I asked him what that meant. “It could be pitch-black outside, and JP would find the one star in the sky. You’re lucky to have him as a friend, baby girl.”
  4. shambles
    a condition of great disorder
    “The online fandom would be in shambles. The wiki may crash.”
  5. delicacy
    something considered choice to eat
    The Vampire inhales deeply. “Mmm, mmm, mmm! Manifestors. One of my favorite delicacies.”
  6. abode
    housing that someone is living in
    “Isn’t—isn’t seafood better?” I stammer. “I know some good spots around the city.”
    “Girl, why waste my time? A meal wandered into my humble abode.”
  7. beckon
    summon with a wave, nod, or some other gesture
    She beckons us. “Come.”
  8. alleged
    declared but not proved
    Alleged Msaidizi thief and kidnapper Calvin Blake was brought into custody a short while ago.
  9. drone
    an aircraft without a pilot and operated by remote control
    Dad’s surrounded by Guardians as tiny drones fly around him.
  10. bombard
    address continuously, as if with a barrage
    Voices from the drones bombard him with questions as the Guardians lead him forward.
  11. ransack
    steal goods; take as spoils
    We found two kids ransacking the place. It was unbelievable! They ran off and grabbed this poor Unremarkable kid as a hostage.
  12. naive
    marked by or showing unaffected simplicity
    “I can see why they’d think that. I’m very kidnappable,” JP says. “That’s what my great-uncle Benjamin Lee says.” He deepens his voice, “‘Boy, you so naive, somebody could snatch you up and you’d let them.’”
  13. wistfully
    in a pensively sad manner
    Dee Dee sighs wistfully. “He wanted to see what was on the other side. He went to the light and became a ghost, but he had a connection to the Msaidizi.”
  14. conjure
    summon into action or bring into existence
    John could find the Msaidizi, but for you to talk to his ghost, I’d have to conjure him.
  15. roost
    a place where birds or bats take shelter and rest
    In the story, this boy named Wiley went looking for poles to build a hen roost, and the Hairy Man attacked him, but Wiley’s hounds scared him off.
  16. lucrative
    producing a sizeable profit
    This house is creepier than my uncle Willie’s funeral home. Lucrative business, always in demand, but creepy.
  17. lynch
    kill without legal sanction
    I’ve heard about lynching. Dad said it happened a lot to Black people back in the day. If they did something illegal, like drink from the wrong fountain, an angry mob might hang them from a tree.
  18. shabby
    showing signs of wear and tear
    In the distance, a shabby shack on stilts comes into view.
  19. coarse
    rough to the touch
    He’s shorter than I expected, with red eyes, cow hooves for feet, and coarse black hair all over his body like his dad had in the story.
  20. tacky
    tastelessly showy
    “He had some of the finest threads you’ll find in the swampland. I can give you suits worth more than that root.”
    I doubt his dad’s tacky wardrobe is that valuable.
  21. bleat
    cry plaintively like a sheep or goat
    He’s a sheep.
    “Baaaa!” he bleats.
  22. antic
    a playful, attention-getting act done for fun and amusement
    Using his powers as a Shapeshifter and a Prophet, he’d give other enslaved people hope with his prophecies about freedom and his stories about the legendary tricks he’d pull on slave masters. Tales of his antics spread from plantation to plantation.
  23. neutralize
    make incapable of military action
    “That’s almost impossible! She’s the Devil’s daughter. I’ve heard she’s just as powerful as Manifestors. We’d have to neutralize her to break any curse keeping us inside.”
    “You wanna kill her?”
    “Impossible. We should restrain her with a binding juju and make a run for it.”
  24. guise
    an artful or simulated semblance
    However, Guardians, under the guise of firefighters, found the centuries-old Nephilim bound in an upstairs room.
  25. exclusively
    without any others being included or involved
    “LWTV spoke exclusively with President DuForte regarding these developments,” the reporter says.
  26. conspire
    act in agreement and in secret towards a deceitful purpose
    Besides that, she’s been under Guardian surveillance since 1921, when she conspired with terrorists to destroy the original Black Wall Street.
  27. lapse
    a mistake resulting from inattention
    “We’re investigating the lapse in surveillance,” General Sharpe says.
  28. apprehend
    take into police custody
    “Blake absolutely stole the Msaidizi. It’s plain as day! We’re gonna remove the Gift from him and wipe his memory. The children are guilty too. They must be apprehended immediately!”
  29. plethora
    extreme excess
    You’ve arrived Someplace Safe, one of the original safe havens of the Underground Railroad. Here you will find a plethora of history commemorating this wondrous place where many Remarkables and Unremarkables found themselves as they sought freedom and safety.
  30. integrated
    formed or united into a whole
    This is an older version of a virtual assistant. She uses a projection processor, as opposed to an integrated processor.
  31. virtual
    occurring, existing, or carried out over a computer network
    She appears as a hologram. We have a virtual assistant at home, and it’s simply part of the house.
  32. confection
    a food rich in sugar
    Anyone with sense knows caramel is the superior confection.
  33. forge
    make something, usually for a specific function
    John Henry forged a special connection with the weapon.
  34. materialize
    come into being; become reality
    More of Uncle Ty’s handwriting materializes.
  35. understatement
    something said in a restrained way for ironic contrast
    “You’re dealing with a lot.”
    Understatement.
Created on Tue Jan 16 12:10:20 EST 2024 (updated Wed Jan 17 16:13:44 EST 2024)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.