Colonel Graff—yet unnamed—decides that Ender is the one they’re looking for, though his plans for Ender remain mysterious. They order a doctor to take out Ender’s monitor—a device inserted in the back of Ender’s neck that has followed him for the past three years. In the doctor’s office, Ender assumes he “washed out” as a Battle School candidate, like the other children whose monitors are removed. He’s more relieved than disappointed, thinking maybe “Peter [his brother] won’t hate me anymore” (1). Despite the doctor’s claim that the monitor is designed to be temporary, Ender has a severe reaction to the monitor’s removal, and the doctor shouts for a nurse to pin him down.

Ender returns to class a while later, dazed and feeling the effects of the monitor’s absence. The other kids notice his missing monitor and mock him for washing out, calling him a Third. Ender has two older siblings—a brother named Peter and a sister named Valentine. Ender’s parents received special government permission to have a third child, ostensibly hoping that Ender would be the “one” they need. After school, a bully named Stilson and his friends corner and threaten Ender. While Stilson’s cronies hold him, Ender—taking control of the situation—laughs them off: “You mean it takes this many of you to fight one Third?” (5).