Untamed Chapter 13

Let’s talk about nouns, shall we? Like why is Neferet a “high priestess”? There’s an implication there, that there’s a regular priestess. Without other priestesses, there’s no point in calling her a “high” priestess. At that point they’re just inflating their own sense of importance. ‘I’m the grand phooba of the wicker people and you will respect me, damn it!’ Unless there are regular priestesses and PCK hasn’t bothered to introduce any. I could see that as anyone less than a high priestess isn’t worthy of interacting with Zoey.

Then there’s the term “priestess” which is troublesome in itself. In modern usage, the term priest doesn’t have to refer to a man. It’s more of a job title like police officer or postal worker. By addins the ess to it, they’re specifying is as a woman’s role and also saying that there are male priests. But maybe the vampires are using an older form and they have to specify, fair enough. The word priest dates back a ways and used to refer to a man but then it also used to refer to only christians.

See, religions typically have their own word for thier leaders; priest, rabbi, imam and so on. Being as the vampires have been worshiping Nyx since the ancient Greeks, you’d think they’d have their own term for their spiritual leaders, perhaps something Greek. Here’s a seemingly appropriate word taken off a list of ancient Greek word, Paideia. Supposedly it means education/culture and both would fit as they’re in charge of schools and teaching the fledglings. But clearly, I’ve put more thought into it than PCK ever did.

Aphro arrives on scene first and hands Zoey a tissue because she has blood on her mouth. Can’t let anyone see that Zoey was making out with a corpse. Then Damien gets to her and tells her they’ll take her to her dorm so she can change.  You mean that you’ll take her back to the dorm and change her, right Damien? I don’t think her majesty is capable of doing such a daunting task without support of at least two people. Then we get what seems to be an innocent looking paragraph.

Some of the Sons of Erebus had arrived with a dark stretcher and a blanket. Aphrodite and Damien were trying to pull me from the building, but I resisted them. Instead I watched, crying silently as the warriors gently picked up Stark’s blood-soaked body and laid it on the stretcher. Then they covered him with the blanket, pulling it over his face.

‘I don’t get it, Vivi. That’s just a paragraph that describes the moment. Some vampires, specifically a few “sons of erebus” show up, pick up the body and cover it. What’s your complaint?’ PCK asked.

Are the “sons of erebus” supposed to be gofers or are they there for protection? Because I was under the impression they were protecting the school from threats. I guess they’re just there for show as they’ve got plenty of personnel to spare if they’re going around, collecting dead students. When you’re making your security force do menial tasks, it means they don’t really anticipate a threat and/or they’ve got nothing to do.

Stark’s dog howls when they carry him away, because of drama. Zoey professes that she can’t stop crying but I don’t believe her. This is the same girl who barely cared that her “best friend” was undead. Then Jack shows up and he’s extremely sad too…for the dog. He says if she comes with him she won’t be alone.

The big blond Lab stepped forward slowly, as if she’d aged decades in the past few minutes, and laid her head against Jack’s shoulder.

So the dog withered and exploded into dust? I mean, dogs, especially bigger breeds, don’t have long life spans. Labs, on average, live about twelve years so if Duch seemed to age “decades” in moments, that means she seemed to have died and rotted. I know PCK is just using a tired cliché but if they’d thought about it, they’d see how silly it looks applied to a dog.

Neferet shows up and Zoey says she feigns concern and kindness. You know, just because she’s evil doesn’t mean she doesn’t care. She might very well care about her students but she thinks the best way to help them is to start a war with humans. She tells Zoey to make sure Duchess is looked after and then she sends the body to the morgue. A good thing she did too or they might have dumped him in the rosebushes.

Zoey tells Damien to stick close to Jack because he’ll need his support. He asks about Zoey and Aphro says she’ll take care of her as will Beavis and Butthead. Why they’re all acting so broken up is puzzling. They knew Stark for what, fifteen minutes? He literally just arrived. It’s not like he’s been there for months and forged powerful friendships with everyone. Yes, it would be upsetting to witness a death but he’s still a stranger.

Zoey realizes, suddenly, that her clothes are all bloody. She says she needs to get out of them and take a shower. Aphro says she’ll show Zoey to the “spa”. Not that the school has one, just that Aphro’s bathroom was redone and it’s special. Butthead says maybe Zoey wants to shower in her own room and Beavis says surrounded by her own stuff.

“Yeah, well, maybe she doesn’t want to remember that the last time she showered off blood, alone, in her own room, was after her best friend died in her arms,” Aphrodite said. Then she added smugly, “Besides, I know for damn sure she doesn’t have a step-in marble Vichy shower in her room, because mine is the only one on campus.”

How rich are Aphro’s parents again? I can understand having a nice house, car and clothes. Fine, those things are either off campus or Aphro can take with her but a shower unit? Those start at around two thousand dollars for the hardware alone, not including labor costs. And while they might be flush with cash, I doubt Aphro’s parents would foot the bill to refinish the bathroom in what is a temporary living space.

When the servants hear about the shower, they urge Zoey to go use it and relax. Nothing quite helps you deal with grief like a day at the spa. Zoey uses the shower and enjoys it then cries when all the blood is washed away. Then she realizes how stupid it is to get worked up about Stark’s death.

It seemed ridiculous because I’d only known him for what was really only an instant in time, but I felt Stark’s absence like it was a hole in my heart. How could that be? How could I miss him so much when I hadn’t really known him? Or maybe I had known him—maybe there’s something that happens between some people at a level that goes beyond time measurements and what society thinks is proper. Maybe what had happened between Stark and me in those few minutes in the field house had been enough to have our souls recognize each other.

That’s when Zoey wonders if she’s seriously thinking about soul mates. Of course you are, Zoey. You’re a brain damaged teen who thinks that love is great but only “true love” matters. Not that his death matters anyway, Zoey. You know for a fact that it won’t be a week and he’ll be up and about just like Stevie. In fact, he probably won’t even have to regain his “humanity” like she did. Nope, the power of true love will be enough to bring him back and keep him sane.

Once Zoey’s done wasting enough water to fill a pool, she gets dressed and steps out of the bathroom. Aphro, being the good little slave she is, brings her a glass of red wine and blood. She also has a cheeseburger, fries and a glass of bubbly sewage. Zoey asks how Aphro knew she liked Goldie’s, that’s where the burger came from so I assume it’s local to Tulsa, and Aphro says everybody does.

Aphro then asks if Zoey kissed Stark before he died. She says yes and Aphro asks how Zoey feels. Zoey whines that he’s dead then says she told him about the coming ressurecrtion. Aphro says that means he’ll be thinking about it and Zoey and if Neferet reads his mind when he comes back she’ll be in trouble. Then Aphro says she knows Zoey cares for Stark. Zoey confirms this and says she doesn’t know why then she panicks about the vision Aphro had that featured Stark. Aphro can’t remember if he had a blue mark or a red mark then says it doesn’t matter because the future is always changing.

Then what good is clairvoyance? Or is that just your excuse to have scary visions that don’t come true, PCK? Zoey harangues Aphro about it some more and Aphro reminds her she’s just a psychic and not an expert on the undead. They decide that they only person who’s close to that is Stevie. Zoey calls Stevie once she’s back in her room and doesn’t reach her. Wow, the tension’s really mounting now. Will Stevie answer her phone next time?! Will Zoey leave her a voicemail?!

Zoney wonders if Stark’s death was payback for what she did to Erik and Heath then says the Nyux doesn’t work that way. How do you know. Zoey? How well do you really know this god of yours? Oh right, being as she is you, she wouldn’t do that to you. She says that Erik looked fine today and not like someone who was heartbroken. Then she complains about how no one told her heart she wasn’t ready for a new guy.

This leads her to think about Heath and how she imprinted on him which was broken when she imprinted on Loren. She decides she needs Heath because she has to know someone still loves her. That’s her reason, because she’s a selfish, needy bitch. Never mind that Heath just got out from under her mind control two days ago. Sure he’s probably emotionally unstable but Zoey just can’t let him go. She decides that she’ll call him tomorrow after she gets some sleep. So the longest, dullest day comes to a close in chapter thirteen.