Hunted Chapter 5

Has anyone else noticed how easily Zoey gets away with murder? I’ve gone over the two humans that Zoey murdered—I maintain that she murdered them until PCK provides evidence to the contrary—before and in length. I had forgotten that she killed Elizabeth a couple of books ago when rescuing Heath. At the time though, it seemed like the undeadlings were rendered nearly mindless monsters and acceptable targets. Then PCK had to bring them back and restore their “humanity”.

Which is fine, Zoey didn’t know either. So while Zoey could have used her powers in a non-lethal way, it probably didn’t cross her mind at the time. I’m fine with that too, characters can and should make mistakes. There’s nothing wrong with letting character kill what they think is a mindless creature only to learn that they were a victim of circumstance or a thinking being all along. That’s an opportunity to show us what a character is made of. But PCK is going to do like Paolini and never address the matter. Like Eragon with the Urgals, Zoey’s not going to be bothered she killed Elizabeth.

Let’s see, another chapter of the flashback and PCK is really ramping up the action as we speak. We start off the chapter with them deciding what to eat.

“So we have p.b. and j., bologna, and processed American cheese slices.” Jack said the “processed American cheese slices” part like he was reluctantly offering us worms and mud. “And my personal gourmet Top Chef concoction: mayonnaise, peanut butter, and lettuce on wheat bread.”

I have another nit to pick, PCK. Saying “processed American cheese slices” is like saying flammable gas or wooden trees. Also, to hell with your snotty characters. I’d kill for a grilled cheese made with American. In fact, that’s what I’m going to do after I finish this and have it set to post. I’m going to run and buy stuff for hot sandwiches. Anywho, everyone makes fun of Jack’s oddball sandwich and Kramisha has this to say.

“Gay white boy is weird,” Kramisha said, snagging one of the bologna and cheese sandwiches.

Just in case we forgot Jack’s orientation in the last five minutes. They sit down, Zoey’s happy that her bubbly crap juice is available and they pass out chips. Look, PCK, no one read your facebook posts about the field trip and you can’t force it on us. With everyone finally settled, Darius asks to know everything Zoey does about Kalona. This provides a convenient excuse to cover the ground of the last book.

They cover the short version of Kalona being evil and fathering unwanted bastards and how they’re called the “raven mockers”. Zoey says that is happened a thousand years ago. Wait, what? Back up just a moment here, PCK. A thousand years ago and Kalona was trapped in Oklahoma? Cherokee territory generally ranged to what we now call the south east US around Gerogia and the like. The relocation to what is now Oklahoma was mandated by the government back in the early eighteen hundreds. Unless Kalona could have just risen out of any patch of dirt as long as someone with an earth affinity bled on it, that doesn’t make sense.

Also, if Kalona ruled them a thousand years ago were they really Cherokee or even speak the language recognizable today? A thousand years is a long time and language is not inflexible. Whatever the native population spoke, I’d bet a solid dollar that it wasn’t Cherokee. So how does Kalona know Cherokee and why does he speak it to Zoey? If he’s learning new languages why not just speak the one the current populace knows best? That was probably too much for PCK to think about though.

Damien says he wishes they had that prophecy to look over as maybe it has a clue in it. Lucky for them, Aphro has it memorized. She recites it and then goes back to drinking and Zoey says she’ll have to watch that. If I were stuck with you, Zoey, I’d be drinking heavily too. Zoey also covers the golem love doll and that Neferet is Queen Evil. Zoey says that Neferet is the queen that the prophecy is talking about.

“But Neferet announced to the House of Night that Kalona is Erebus on earth, and her consort, as if she had become the literal incarnation of Nyx,” Darius said slowly, as if he was reasoning through it aloud.

Zoey says that Neferet was lying and she’s known Neferet has turned from Nyx for awhile. Damien says that’s why she had Stark transferred from Chicago, so he could shoot Stevie. Which still seems stupid, in retrospect. Would it really be that hard to give someone a sniper rifle and have them shoot her from afar? Perhaps one of the “warriors” that Neferet’s corrupted could have done the job? No, far easier to introduce a new character who may or may not be on your side to do the job. Stevie says she’s lucky, Zoey said he missed on purpose and Beavis and Butthead say he’s hot.

They start discussing how they resisted Kalona and the undeadlings weren’t bothered by him while regular vampires were less bothered than the fledglings. Everyone goes around sharing what they were thinking about at that moment and it turns out Kalona’s power can be broken by focusing on something else. So all the rest of the school has to do to break free is work on a Sudoku puzzle. And how did he manage to enslave a whole group of people again?

They wonder what’s going on and they don’t know. All Zoey knows is that very bad things were happening when he was last free. She says she doesn’t know about the weather either because Oklahoma’s weather can be so chaotic. Right, everyone says that about where they live. I’m pretty sure it’s the unofficial motto across the world. Then Zoey changes the subject and asks how they have stuff underground.

Stevie says that’s all thanks to Aphro. Zoey is, of course, taken aback. How can someone not be a total bitch when Zoey’s not around? It’s like she really only hates you, Zoey. She reminds Zoey that she has a credit card, no regard for her parents and access to the internet. Because of course she couldn’t spend two whole days living in dank, ugly tunnels without amenities. Of course this also means that Zoey and slaves won’t have to suffer at all after fleeing from the school. Hardship is for the poor and the boring. They talk about how they got them to deliver to the tunnels.

“That sounds a lot meaner than it is,” Stevie Rae assured Darius quickly. “I just tweaked the delivery guys’ memories. I didn’t mind-control them. We don’t go in for using our powers to be all hateful and stuff.” She gave the group of red fledglings a look. “Right?”

Hey, mind rape is only bad when it’s done “to be all hateful”. Stevie’s fellow undeadlings though look a bit guilty when Stevie says this. And while Zoey notices it, she doesn’t say anything or even privately condemn them. No doubt she wishes that she too could control humans. They then list the known attributes of the undeadlings; allergic to sunlight, they can control humans, fast healing and that they feel comfortable in the earth. Nice to see PCK adding extraneous details at the last minute there. They ask if there’s anyhting they’re forgetting and Aphro says they bite. Oh PCK, that’s your trademark humor, pathetic.