Betrayed: Chapter 17
ZeldaQueen: In which nothing happens!
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1..
Chapter 17
ZeldaQueen: Right. So when we last left off, Zoey had just seen a dead student who was clearly crazed and animal-like drinking blood from and basically groveling to Neferet.
Now, one would imagine that there is no way at all that the Cast ladies can have that be ignored. That it was such a huge scene, which so clearly and obviously showed us that Something Is Not Right that Zoey has to sit down and admit that there's something going on and figure out how to deal with it. Yeah.
That doesn't happen.
I'm dead serious. Zoey goes staggering into the dorm, where her friends are gathered around, watching TV. They apparently don't notice that she's all freaked out and instead keep talking to her about the snowball fight they had while she was away. They also take a lot of time to hammer in that Damien and Jack are practically married by this point. After less than one day. Really.
Zoey finally gets herself together long enough to ask if fledglings have ever come back from the dead. For some reason, everyone's mouths hang open, like Zoey just asked if there was the serious possibility that the Earth's core was actually a giant jawbreaker. You'd think they'd chalk it up to her just being curious or whatever. Anyway, Damien says no, when a fledgling dies, that's it for them. Stevie Rae freaks out because she thinks that Zoey's getting sick and rejecting the change, and Zoey says she's fine. She then proceeds to spill the beans thusly -
Zoey: Hey guys, this might sound a tad odd, but I think I saw the ghost of that Elliot kid, over by the wall
Everyone else: Huh, how about that?
I'm serious. I mean, they do say things like "I'd be scared if it were me", but it's all done so blandly that it sounds like Zoey nearly ran over a deer and not, I don't know, THAT SHE SAW THE GHOST OF A DEAD STUDENT!!! And no, don't tell me that it's because they're vampires and thus are used to weird stuff, because they acted like it was out-of-this-world for Zoey to even consider fledglings coming back once they died. Damien actually suggests that Zoey has the affinity to see dead people, and I'm so glad it's not the case, because the last thing Zoey-Sue needs is another power. Anyway, Stevie Rae spills the beans about Zoey also seeing Elizabeth's ghost. Zoey is just about tell everyone about Neferet hanging around with Elliot, but decides not to. Why?
"I should have realized before I'd said one word to any of them that I absolutely could not tell them about Neferet. Vampyres were all intuitive to some degree. High Priestess Neferet was amazingly intuitive. So much so that she often seemed to be able to read actual thoughts. No way could my four friends walk around school knowing that I'd seen her letting some kind of disgusting undead Elliott creature suck her blood without Neferet knowing everything in their freaked-out minds"
ZeldaQueen: Okay, let's play that game. So Zoey's reasoning for hiding everything is that Neferet will instantly cotton on that they know about it. Alrighty then. How many important things has Zoey let them in on, which clearly have something to do with this?
She told Stevie Rae (who just told everyone else) about the existence of the red-eyed ghosts at all. Clearly Neferet is trying to hide Elliot, so them knowing about the ghosts period ought to raise warning bells for her.
She told them about Aphrodite's vision and how Aphrodite doesn't want Neferet to know it.
They all know for certain that Aphrodite's visions are still true and that Neferet won't believe it.
Apparently Zoey is just fine with them knowing those things. But this tidbit, which might actually advance the plot? Oh no, too dangerous! Seriously, it just comes across like when Holly Potter and her friends gave half-assed reasons to keep from doing something, just because her Suethor didn't want to write anything new. Oh, and the fact that Zoey isn't concerned about Neferet figuring out that they have the above information kind of implies that she still doesn't see how it's all connected. IDIOT!
*sigh* So her friends treat her discovery of the red-eyed ghosts like a mildly frightening novelty and then Nala proves to be more intelligent than her owner and brings back the plot by jumping on the remote control and changing the TV station to Fox News. As luck would have it, they're in the middle of reporting how the latest kidapped student has been found in a stream by the local museum, having also been killed from blood loss via multiple lacerations. Zoey's friends comment on how that stream is right on the way the Dark Daughters used to go for that stupid Samhain ritual, and then Damien announces that "Someone is trying to make it look like vampyres are killing human kids".
*pauses and steeples fingers* Okay, that really pissed me off. And I know that a lot of people would say that I'm overreacting, but let me tell you all that this is the first of many times in this chapter alone that we're constantly told how humans are evil bigots who just pick on the poor, harmless vampires. There is no reason for Damien to immediately jump to the conclusion that a human is making it look like it was a vampire any more than he could immediately jump to the conclusion that there's a vampire who really is murdering people. After all, the vampires in this world are regular people with various powers, right? Zoey keeps bitching because humans just don't understaaaaand how they're not dead things or whatnot, right? So that means that there is just as likely a chance that a vampire could be an insane killer as a human.
Oh yeah, and Zoey does bring up the idea that it's possible that a vampire really is doing the killing. Everyone stares at her like she grew a third head and she says to the readers that she has no idea why that thought entered her head. MAYBE BECAUSE IT'S A LEGITIMATE POINT, YOU IDIOT! No, everyone just chalks it up to Zoey being stressed and overly involved in this thing. Blah.
Damien next asks about Zoey having her Deus Ex Machina feelings about all of this. She goes in a flap because OH NOES, SHE CANNOT TELL HIM ABOUT THIS and in the back of her mind gets the vaguest of feelings that Neferet's Cryptic Conversation with Elliot might actually be important. Of course, she promptly forgets about it. *head desk*
Zoey fakes being tired to go up to bed. Stevie Rae follows, complaining about a cold she appears to have picked up. Ruh oh! Of course, Zoey handwaves it by insisting that it's just because Stevie Rae is a frail little sensitive kid. Normally I'd be less annoyed because most people don't see someone getting a cold and think "Oh noes, potential bloody death!" but the whole point in this series was that the kids were always on pins and needles about dropping dead at any second. Anyway, Stevie Rae drops off to sleep pretty quickly. Zoey's pleased about this, because apparently there's something Very Important she wants to look up in private. And on that note, we end this chapter
Onward to: Chapter 18
Back to: Chapter 16
Back to: Table of Contents
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1..
Chapter 17
ZeldaQueen: Right. So when we last left off, Zoey had just seen a dead student who was clearly crazed and animal-like drinking blood from and basically groveling to Neferet.
Now, one would imagine that there is no way at all that the Cast ladies can have that be ignored. That it was such a huge scene, which so clearly and obviously showed us that Something Is Not Right that Zoey has to sit down and admit that there's something going on and figure out how to deal with it. Yeah.
That doesn't happen.
I'm dead serious. Zoey goes staggering into the dorm, where her friends are gathered around, watching TV. They apparently don't notice that she's all freaked out and instead keep talking to her about the snowball fight they had while she was away. They also take a lot of time to hammer in that Damien and Jack are practically married by this point. After less than one day. Really.
Zoey finally gets herself together long enough to ask if fledglings have ever come back from the dead. For some reason, everyone's mouths hang open, like Zoey just asked if there was the serious possibility that the Earth's core was actually a giant jawbreaker. You'd think they'd chalk it up to her just being curious or whatever. Anyway, Damien says no, when a fledgling dies, that's it for them. Stevie Rae freaks out because she thinks that Zoey's getting sick and rejecting the change, and Zoey says she's fine. She then proceeds to spill the beans thusly -
Zoey: Hey guys, this might sound a tad odd, but I think I saw the ghost of that Elliot kid, over by the wall
Everyone else: Huh, how about that?
I'm serious. I mean, they do say things like "I'd be scared if it were me", but it's all done so blandly that it sounds like Zoey nearly ran over a deer and not, I don't know, THAT SHE SAW THE GHOST OF A DEAD STUDENT!!! And no, don't tell me that it's because they're vampires and thus are used to weird stuff, because they acted like it was out-of-this-world for Zoey to even consider fledglings coming back once they died. Damien actually suggests that Zoey has the affinity to see dead people, and I'm so glad it's not the case, because the last thing Zoey-Sue needs is another power. Anyway, Stevie Rae spills the beans about Zoey also seeing Elizabeth's ghost. Zoey is just about tell everyone about Neferet hanging around with Elliot, but decides not to. Why?
"I should have realized before I'd said one word to any of them that I absolutely could not tell them about Neferet. Vampyres were all intuitive to some degree. High Priestess Neferet was amazingly intuitive. So much so that she often seemed to be able to read actual thoughts. No way could my four friends walk around school knowing that I'd seen her letting some kind of disgusting undead Elliott creature suck her blood without Neferet knowing everything in their freaked-out minds"
ZeldaQueen: Okay, let's play that game. So Zoey's reasoning for hiding everything is that Neferet will instantly cotton on that they know about it. Alrighty then. How many important things has Zoey let them in on, which clearly have something to do with this?
She told Stevie Rae (who just told everyone else) about the existence of the red-eyed ghosts at all. Clearly Neferet is trying to hide Elliot, so them knowing about the ghosts period ought to raise warning bells for her.
She told them about Aphrodite's vision and how Aphrodite doesn't want Neferet to know it.
They all know for certain that Aphrodite's visions are still true and that Neferet won't believe it.
Apparently Zoey is just fine with them knowing those things. But this tidbit, which might actually advance the plot? Oh no, too dangerous! Seriously, it just comes across like when Holly Potter and her friends gave half-assed reasons to keep from doing something, just because her Suethor didn't want to write anything new. Oh, and the fact that Zoey isn't concerned about Neferet figuring out that they have the above information kind of implies that she still doesn't see how it's all connected. IDIOT!
*sigh* So her friends treat her discovery of the red-eyed ghosts like a mildly frightening novelty and then Nala proves to be more intelligent than her owner and brings back the plot by jumping on the remote control and changing the TV station to Fox News. As luck would have it, they're in the middle of reporting how the latest kidapped student has been found in a stream by the local museum, having also been killed from blood loss via multiple lacerations. Zoey's friends comment on how that stream is right on the way the Dark Daughters used to go for that stupid Samhain ritual, and then Damien announces that "Someone is trying to make it look like vampyres are killing human kids".
*pauses and steeples fingers* Okay, that really pissed me off. And I know that a lot of people would say that I'm overreacting, but let me tell you all that this is the first of many times in this chapter alone that we're constantly told how humans are evil bigots who just pick on the poor, harmless vampires. There is no reason for Damien to immediately jump to the conclusion that a human is making it look like it was a vampire any more than he could immediately jump to the conclusion that there's a vampire who really is murdering people. After all, the vampires in this world are regular people with various powers, right? Zoey keeps bitching because humans just don't understaaaaand how they're not dead things or whatnot, right? So that means that there is just as likely a chance that a vampire could be an insane killer as a human.
Oh yeah, and Zoey does bring up the idea that it's possible that a vampire really is doing the killing. Everyone stares at her like she grew a third head and she says to the readers that she has no idea why that thought entered her head. MAYBE BECAUSE IT'S A LEGITIMATE POINT, YOU IDIOT! No, everyone just chalks it up to Zoey being stressed and overly involved in this thing. Blah.
Damien next asks about Zoey having her Deus Ex Machina feelings about all of this. She goes in a flap because OH NOES, SHE CANNOT TELL HIM ABOUT THIS and in the back of her mind gets the vaguest of feelings that Neferet's Cryptic Conversation with Elliot might actually be important. Of course, she promptly forgets about it. *head desk*
Zoey fakes being tired to go up to bed. Stevie Rae follows, complaining about a cold she appears to have picked up. Ruh oh! Of course, Zoey handwaves it by insisting that it's just because Stevie Rae is a frail little sensitive kid. Normally I'd be less annoyed because most people don't see someone getting a cold and think "Oh noes, potential bloody death!" but the whole point in this series was that the kids were always on pins and needles about dropping dead at any second. Anyway, Stevie Rae drops off to sleep pretty quickly. Zoey's pleased about this, because apparently there's something Very Important she wants to look up in private. And on that note, we end this chapter
Onward to: Chapter 18
Back to: Chapter 16
Back to: Table of Contents