Chapter 11
After that shocking revelation last chapter where Zoey revealed that she saw something when she looked at Stark through the seer stone, we’re still with Zoey and Stark. Stark says that she’s nor making any sense. As though she could ever begin to make sense. Zoey says she knows and it felt like she was creeping on him. She quickly adds the it was mostly by accident. I know I too accidentally look at people through all sorts of things on a regular basis. Just yesterday I saw the mayor through a squid I accidentally held efore my face.
Zoey tells him that she saw a shadow over him but then the boned and she basically ignored it. Stark asks how she could have forgotten that as he doesn’t figure he’s that good in bed. She says she was busy with stuff that warrants a near curse word but she told Lenobia about it. This does little to reassure Stark.
And really, PCK, we know, we’ve been there. We haven’t spent a moment away from Zoey and her moronic friends. Stark asks her to look at him again. Surprise, surprise she sees nothing this time. She says it only seems to work when the stone gets hot. She wishes that there was a manual for it and thinks about calling Sgiach. Stark says he remembers Sgiach giving her cryptic answers which meant nothing. I don’t see why there’s not a manual for it in the library. There is for everything else in spite of how rare all these storied abilities are.
Stark asks Zoey if she know what he thinks. She says that she’s “crazy town” and he says she’s more than that but he likes to dip his wick in the insanity wax now and again. Then he starts listing all the powers she has and how awesome she is and that they’ll figure this thing out together. With this feeding of the Unicus out of the way they decide to go over to the stables.
Stark says they don’t look to bad and all that happened really was a lot of smoke and some hay burned. Which I call bullshit on. For one, Lenobia was struggling through a raging fire to rescue Cowboy. For two, fire moves fast. And unless there was a hidden suppression system in place or the Tulse Fire Department has access to teleporters, they didn’t get there that fast.
And yes, for those of you that ask, I did do a touch of research on the dangers of fires and the response time of Tulsa FD. Tulsa’s page on statistics states they have a “less than six minutes” response time. Sounds pretty good right? Keep in mind, that starts from the time EMS gets the call to the time the first responder arrives. That doesn’t account for the time it takes to setup and combat a blaze.
Considering PCK was describing a fire which Cowboy couldn’t get through and Lenobia, much more resilient creature, had to dash through to rescue him, this wasn’t a tiny hay fire that sprung up. At the very least, the end where the fire started is structurally unsound and need to be rebuilt.
They then talk about what time it is and that it’s thirty minutes until midnight. Stark says they don’t have long before they have to be at Dragon’s funeral. Zoey is confused, thinking it’s seven at night and says she must have lost three hours. So, looking through the stone now warps your perception of time. At least until it won’t. Then Zoey says that the stone is starting to get hot.
They hear a car coming and see it’s a beaten taxi. Zoey and Stark see Cowboy get out of the car and wearing bandages while Lenobia runs over to him. Though he doesn’t appear to being pain as “He was smiling. A lot. At Lenobia.” Thank you for clearing that up, PCK. I was about to assume he was smiling at the dead tree over by the wall.
Zoey then looks at Cowboy and sees a “really hot, young, black guy” in his place. Which is supposed to be proof that he’s Lenobia’s old boyfriend reincarnated. It just raises more questions like why does Zoey see Lenobia’s lost love? I mean, sure he might be the same person reincarnated but if souls get reincarnated then shouldn’t he look like the first person his soul was in? Or does the seer stone only show you the last person who used that soul when you look at it? Or maybe it just shows you what you need based on the plot.
Zoey then feels sick and Stark tells her to stop. Lenobia and Cowboy then come over and ask if Zoey’s okay. That leads her to telling them about what she saw. Lenobia is thrilled as that means she hasn’t betray her old boytoy and she just had to wait until he came back.
Stevie then wanders over and they update her as to what’s going on as well. Zoey asks Lenobia if that means the stone showed her the truth. Lenobia, having no way of knowing but definitely wanting to believe, says yes. Then they go off to the funeral.
Chapter 12
Over to Kalona who says being on the side of good is boring. Thanatos told him to just hang out in the background and wait until she announced he was the new swordmaster. He says he was never bothered by the “inconsequential feelings of other”. Something about him being an immortal which is a source of hubris in this series.
Kalona thinks that he discovered he was wrong though when he found he cared about Rephy. He wonders what else he’s been wrong about, decides it’s probably a lot and feels depressed about it. He thinks about Butthead helping him save Rephy’s life when he meant to manipulate her for…some reasons. This makes him think about Nyx and he says, out loud, that he won’t think about his time spent away from her.
Kalona then looks up and sees Erebus has materialized. PCK decides to reveal to us that Erebus is Kalona’s brother and Kalona is still mad at him for getting to screw the source of all crazy bitches in the world.
Erebus starts yelling at Kalona for the “rape of the last of Neferet’s goodness”. Kalona says he didn’t do anything like that to Neferet as she was more than willing. Erebus says that it’s not her body he’s talking about. So, is PCK trying to say that Neferet is only evil because a man made her do it? If they were better skilled, I would almost think PCK was doing a gender swapped inversion on the fall of man from Eden.
Erebus then summons a bit of the “otherworld” to hide them so mortals don’t run into a god. Kalona then thinks about how Erebus was “fashioned when the sky kissed the sun” and Kalona’s of the moon. Being as these are two males in the same room and written by PCK, they immediately start dick measuring. Kalona reminds Erebus that he fucked Nyx and he couldn’t have done it without consent which pisses Erebus off.
Finally, Kalona tells him to say what he came for. Erebus says he came to tell Kalona to leave the vampires alone. Kalona says no, he swore an oath to Thanatos. Erebus then asks him to at least leave this school and Kalona again refuses. Then Erebus disappears when Krammy shows up to get another candle from within the temple. Kalona is then surprised to find he can’t open the door and follow her inside. He’s still very sad that Nyx is denying him.
Over to Aurox who’s still hanging out in the pit and praying for help from Nyx. Couldn’t he just use his strength to climb out of it rather than just sit there? At the very least he could try calling out to the idiots who are probably hanging out by the near dead make out tree.
We’ve apparently gone back in time because Aurox sees the evil spirits rising from the ground and going upwards. Aurox is absorbed by them somehow and sees Zoey. He tries to fight the spirits but it doesn’t work then there’s the part when Zoey sends them away and Aurox ends up back in his body at the bottom of the pit.
Deciding that he’s spent enough time hanging out in what passes for a basement, Aurox climbs out. He wanders over towards the funeral and watches if from the shadows. Let’s see, it’s very boring and they repeat things we already know. Like Kalona showing up saying he’s sworn himself to Thanatos. Also, he refutes the part where someone claimed he was Erebus, saying that wasn’t him.
Then Thanatos talks about the dead cats Neferet used on Aurox. She says Aurox is a vessel of evil under control of darkness. Aurox wants to say otherwise but can’t because he’s hiding in the shadows. Thanatos then says she accepts Kalona as her “warrior” but says he doesn’t get to lead the “sons of Erebus” because that would be disrespectful to Nyx and her consort. Aurox then runs, jumps back in the pit and cries for awhile.
Vivisector's Writ 