Betrayed: Chapter 27
ZeldaQueen: I apologize for my freak-out in the last chapter. Thankfully Zyn did a fine job finishing up and my brain has been repaired, so let's continue on! Five chapters after this, folks! We can do it!
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Chapter 27
ZeldaQueen: Okay folks, I'm very sorry but this is yet another incredibly boring chapter. While stuff does happen, the Cast ladies just put everything on hold for the characters to do nothing but talk. I guess they figure that if they cut out the inane chatter, they'd run the risk of putting in actual action and plot and that might be interesting and we cant have that.
*sighs*
Zoey exits the library everyone immediately crowds around her and starts asking what happened. Heaven forbid these people go for two minutes without holding her hand and kissing her ass. Zoey tells them that no new information regarding Heath has come up. They ask what their next course of action is, and Zoey decides that they'll...watch the ten o'clock news to see if anything new comes up.
*head desk*
She saw Heath be dragged away at the east wall. She knows Suspicious Things are happening in that vicinity. She knows he's probably going to show up dead if she tarries too long. She got a very strong implication from Neferet that if she had been imprinted with Heath, that dream was some sort of vision of his whereabouts. She's not going to, you know, search around that area? See if she can use the cutting-edge technology around the school to hook up a video feed on the wall to see if the ghosts come back? Set a trap? Anything remotely useful? There's no reason for her to just sit there and watch the news, given that SHE KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM!!! GOD!
So the news comes on, and of course there's no leads. In fact, the search is going badly because of a blizzard kicking up. Zoey randomly announces that she has to go, specifically to the stables to brush Persephone. Oh yeah, remember Lenobia and Persephone? They showed up in that one chapter at the beginning of the book and haven't appeared since!
Anyway, Erik offers to walk her there and they set off together. This is all very quiet and Zoey comments "Usually, our silences weren't awkward, but this one felt weird".
Okay, I know that there are a lot of people who can be comfortably silent together. I know that there are different kinds of silences. And in other circumstances, I would totally get what Zoey is saying. Except, here's the thing. We have been shown none of these non-awkward silences. In fact, we've hardly seen Zoey and Erik together as a couple at all, because the Cast ladies seem to be allergic to showing anyone in a steady relationship for more than two pages! Heck, we don't even get examples of said silences while they are hooking up, because we never see them hang out or go on dates or do anything beyond having Erik give Zoey The Vampire Talk and kiss her!
Finally, Erik does what we've all been waiting for and guesses that Zoey still is in love with Heath. Zoey decides to confess to everything, because "Erik deserved the truth, and I was totally sick of lies". *rolls eyes* Is it just me, or does Zoey seem to only remember to be all contrite when Erik's actually around? She tells him that she still does love Heath but when Erik asks how she feels about him, she insists that she loves him too. Well that's just fan-fucking-tastic. Shame Erik's a party-pooper who's obsessed with monogamy, or they could all have a threesome after Heath was rescued.
Zoey also confesses that she imprinted on Heath, which leads to her also telling Erik about how she drank from Heath again. She keeps going on about how "I tried not to, but he cut himself. On purpose. And I couldn't stop myself". You know, considering that blood drinking is pretty much sex and considering that Zoey's all panicked and keeps saying "I didn't want to, but he made me!" that is rather squicky...
Erik is not very happy to hear this, and Zoey freaks out
"Now that I was actually confronted with the very likely possibility that Erik and I were going to break up, I realized how much I didn't want that to happen, which definitely didn't help my confusion or my stress level because I did still care about Heath"
ZeldaQueen: I repeat, she's only thinking about this now, when Erik's actually around. She doesn't go on about how much she wants him around when she's taking her shirt off for Blake or arranging for dates with Heath. No, she doesn't start going on about how much she wants Erik until he's right in front of her. You know, when she might actually get called out on her bullshit.
Erik tells Zoey that he hopes that they can be together if and when they both survive into adult vampire-hood, and the Cast ladies must be trying to get me to hate the character, because he cites how he won't get old and wrinkled, ew, and instead stay all young and hot with Zoey. He also mentions this
"Being with me won't be something other vampyres will whisper about, and humans will hate you for. It'll be normal. It'll be right"
ZeldaQueen: *rubs head* Okay, given how ham-fisted this all is and how Neferet used a similar analogy before, I'm guessing that the Cast ladies are going for some thing where vampires are just a persecuted minority and that a vampire dating a human will cause people to gossip and cluck and generally be scornful. Thing is, it doesn't quite work. Let's see why.
First of all, I fail to see why this is an issue at all. This is not like Being Human, where we see that a vampire will eventually just snap and go back to blood drinking, so a human dating a vampire simply isn't safe. All we're ever told is that vampires are perfectly safe, vampires are insanely successful and rich, vampires are People Too. I'm sure people could argue that it doesn't matter, because African Americans persecuted during the times of segregation were also regular people who were not threatening and had talented people in their midst, but it still doesn't make sense. If we're to believe that humans are so horrible and persecute vampires, why are all of these vampire actors and singers hired? Why do people buy their books and albums and movies? Is it safe to assume that folks like Faith Hill and Jake Gyllenhall still have their fanclubs in this universe, even though they're vampires? And what about the fact that a lot of those name-dropped vampire celebrities are married in real life. Are we to assume that their spouses are all conveniently vampires as well? Because if not, that's one hella lotta inter-species marriage, considering that it's apparently frowned upon.
Second of all, I'd like to point out something from the vampire side of things - why do they care? I'm serious, why? Again, it's been hammered all over the place that vampires have their need for blood under control, so it can't be that they are worried about slipping up and killing humans. So why? The only reason I can see is that the vampires think that they're better than the humans. That humans are lowly and stupid and ugly and worthless and what sort of a vampire would want to marry a human? After all, they get old and wrinkly and flabby by next week after enough time goes by. Is that it, Cast ladies? Are you making it canon that your vampires are a bunch of self-centered, pretentious twats?
I would also like to point out that I've read the Fledgling 101 Handbook. There are several famous and prominent "vampire figures" in there (namely Circe and Cleopatra" who have had human "consorts". I honestly have never gotten the impression that a vampire hooking up with (or "imprinting", as the case always is) was considered particularly scandalous or taboo.
*shakes head* Right. I have no idea why I bother so much with logic stuff like that. The Cast ladies clearly didn't.
Back to the story, Zoey and Erik make out and Zoey goes on about how happy and warm Erik makes her feel, and yet again I bang my head on the wall because the Cast ladies refuse to SHOW us them as a couple, damn it all!!! She also agrees with him about Heath, which basically means that she just admitted that she wants a guy who will stay hot for her. And yes, I realize that there are many other ways to read that, particularly that Zoey doesn't want to go through the heartbreak of outliving the guy she's with, given how she has no concern for people beyond how they look and given how she voices the matter like she's matching her purse and shoes, I find it hard to buy that.
Erik leaves her at the stables, saying that he's sure they'll work things out. *glares* Oh Erik, just wait until the next book. He then pauses, before telling Zoey that if she has imprinted on Heath, it's possible to telepathically call him to her, or at least figure out where he is. Of course. Because granting Zoey new powers is just what this book needs. So much better than good old-fashioned character development and having her, I don't know, actually look.
But no. Erik leaves and Zoey starts brushing Persephone and Zoey...starts wangsting about relationships. Because that's exactly the thing to do when someone you care about has been kidnapped and it's within your power to save them! *rubs head* She specifically wangsts about how she's glad Erik didn't dump her, but she probably will get dumped if Heath is saved, and comments "How did those ho-ish girls go out with a dozen or so guys at the same time? Two was exhausting".
*stares* *blinks* Um...sorry guys. Did she just trash unspecified girls like Aphrodite while admitting in a way that somehow ignores the issue that she is doing the same thing she's scolding unnamed girls for?
Oh and speaking of having multiple boyfriends, she finally remembers her flirting with Blake. She goes on about how guilty she feels for that, and insists that she'll avoid Blake and, if she can't, she won't flirt with him anymore. And folks, given Zoey's track record for actually remembering and following through on her resolutions, how long do you think this is going to last?
Zoey decides that there's little point in worrying about what to do about Heath until Heath is saved. She yammers about how she's so broken from Stevie Rae's death, woe is her, and I might buy that she can't do anything out of fear and grief if there was ever any signs that she could do stuff when she's not afraid and grief-stricken. Anyway, she starts trying to strike up a telepathic link to Heath. She first thinks about all the good times they had together as kids (good times which, of course, are only brought up now and will never be mentioned again). This doesn't do anything, though. She then starts thinking about how tasty his blood is and having what is more or less a vampiric erotic daydream about him and that gets through to him. That's...interesting, especially when you consider that Heath only let her drink his blood because he was clearly nutty from the first time around.
So yeah, Zoey now is mentally linked to Heath, and can see that he's in some sort of underground room. She mentally calls to him and explains what's going on, and we are told how he's all scared and bleeding from the arms and neck and tied up and left on a mattress. Heath explains that he's in one of the old tunnels left over from the Prohibition era. Zoey is all confuzzled at this because Heath is a stupid jock and how astonishing it is that he can know things like that. Huh! Oh, and Heath adds that he only knows about it because it had to do with alcohol and dur hur, Heath used to be a hilarious drunkard.
Zoey asks him where the entrance to the tunnels are and Heath refuses to tell her because he doesn't want her to go down and get attacked by the red-eyed ghosts. Instead, he urges her to send the police or possibly a SWAT team. Zoey admits that she wants to do that, but refuses for some unspecified reason. You know, I know that there are feral monsters down there, but Zoey has seen them in action. She knows what they do. Couldn't she call up Detective Marx and tell him "Hey, I know where the things kidnapping the kids are, but you have to bring in the big guns because these things are extremely dangerous". And if she's worried that innocent kids (you know, the ones she actually cares about) might be killed, she could add for them to bring sedatives or something. The point is, just because humans can't summon the fucking elements doesn't mean we're useless.
But no, Zoey continues on this oh-so-selfless act about how she must be the one to do it. She asks Heath to tell her about his captors, and he says that they drink blood but aren't like regular vampires, with the implication that Something Is Not Right in regards to them. I think the red eyes and claws and general undead-ness are a tip-off on that, yes. Anyway, this leads to Zoey asking if they've drank Heath's blood, the thought of which turns her into a clingy, jealous bitch. Yes, I know she's supposed to be protective (and given the sex/blood metaphor, she would be dealing with the knowledge that her boyfriend was kidnapped and symbolically raped), but she really doesn't come across as too righteous when her thought is "He belongs to me!". Anywho, Heath says that yes they have drunk his blood and apparently complain that something about it tastes wrong. I'm...sincerely hoping that the Cast ladies intended to suggest that the red-eyed ghosts could sense this fantastic, mystic imprint via the taste of his blood. Otherwise, I'm picking up some extremely squicky and bizarre fantasy version of "Aw man, it's no fun molesting him! He's already done it with someone else!" And speaking of vampiric molestation, that is precisely what they've been doing to poor Heath. No, really
"It's not like when you drink my blood, Zo. That feels good. What they do is-is disgusting. They're disgusting"
ZeldaQueen: That guy's going to need a whole lot of therapy by the time this is over.
We find out that there are only three red-eyed ghosts who don't visit Heath in a group, and their names are Elliot, Venus, and Stevie Rae. No, Zoey never seems to put together that this is the same Venus who Aphrodite told her about, at least not in this book. Anyway, Zoey freaks out at the mention of Stevie Rae being there, because I...can only assume she forgot that dream of hers. She also mentions "Heath had just substantiated my fears. I couldn't call in the police". She doesn't tell us why this is, though. What, is she worried that Stevie Rae will use her power of Earth to kill the officers? Is she afraid they'll kill Stevie Rae? GIVE US A REASON!
Zoey tries once more to get Heath to tell her where the entrance is and he continues to refuse. Zoey hears a scurrying sound which "reminded me of the sound the science experiment rats made as they scurried through the mazes we made in AP Bio". I know this is a small thing to get hung up on, but do the Cast ladies really expect me to buy that Zoey, who has shown to have very little drive and hasn't come across as particularly intelligent or interested in biology enough to take an optional, high-level course for it, took AP Bio? If that's the case, I'll salt my hat and eat it.
Anyway, Zoey makes one last appeal, telling Heath that she's a Sue she can control the elements and saved him in the last book, and finally convinces Heath to tell her where the entrance is. He tells her (there's an awful lot of telling in this sporking, isn't there?) that it's under the old depot downtown. He also warns her to hang right to find him. Zoey thanks him and hangs up the line and sets off and...I guess we're setting up for a climax? I don't know. I guess having the climax five chapters from the end of the book is a slight improvement from one chapter from the end
Onward to: Chapter 28
Back to: Chapter 26
Back to: Table of Contents
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Chapter 27
ZeldaQueen: Okay folks, I'm very sorry but this is yet another incredibly boring chapter. While stuff does happen, the Cast ladies just put everything on hold for the characters to do nothing but talk. I guess they figure that if they cut out the inane chatter, they'd run the risk of putting in actual action and plot and that might be interesting and we cant have that.
*sighs*
Zoey exits the library everyone immediately crowds around her and starts asking what happened. Heaven forbid these people go for two minutes without holding her hand and kissing her ass. Zoey tells them that no new information regarding Heath has come up. They ask what their next course of action is, and Zoey decides that they'll...watch the ten o'clock news to see if anything new comes up.
*head desk*
She saw Heath be dragged away at the east wall. She knows Suspicious Things are happening in that vicinity. She knows he's probably going to show up dead if she tarries too long. She got a very strong implication from Neferet that if she had been imprinted with Heath, that dream was some sort of vision of his whereabouts. She's not going to, you know, search around that area? See if she can use the cutting-edge technology around the school to hook up a video feed on the wall to see if the ghosts come back? Set a trap? Anything remotely useful? There's no reason for her to just sit there and watch the news, given that SHE KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM!!! GOD!
So the news comes on, and of course there's no leads. In fact, the search is going badly because of a blizzard kicking up. Zoey randomly announces that she has to go, specifically to the stables to brush Persephone. Oh yeah, remember Lenobia and Persephone? They showed up in that one chapter at the beginning of the book and haven't appeared since!
Anyway, Erik offers to walk her there and they set off together. This is all very quiet and Zoey comments "Usually, our silences weren't awkward, but this one felt weird".
Okay, I know that there are a lot of people who can be comfortably silent together. I know that there are different kinds of silences. And in other circumstances, I would totally get what Zoey is saying. Except, here's the thing. We have been shown none of these non-awkward silences. In fact, we've hardly seen Zoey and Erik together as a couple at all, because the Cast ladies seem to be allergic to showing anyone in a steady relationship for more than two pages! Heck, we don't even get examples of said silences while they are hooking up, because we never see them hang out or go on dates or do anything beyond having Erik give Zoey The Vampire Talk and kiss her!
Finally, Erik does what we've all been waiting for and guesses that Zoey still is in love with Heath. Zoey decides to confess to everything, because "Erik deserved the truth, and I was totally sick of lies". *rolls eyes* Is it just me, or does Zoey seem to only remember to be all contrite when Erik's actually around? She tells him that she still does love Heath but when Erik asks how she feels about him, she insists that she loves him too. Well that's just fan-fucking-tastic. Shame Erik's a party-pooper who's obsessed with monogamy, or they could all have a threesome after Heath was rescued.
Zoey also confesses that she imprinted on Heath, which leads to her also telling Erik about how she drank from Heath again. She keeps going on about how "I tried not to, but he cut himself. On purpose. And I couldn't stop myself". You know, considering that blood drinking is pretty much sex and considering that Zoey's all panicked and keeps saying "I didn't want to, but he made me!" that is rather squicky...
Erik is not very happy to hear this, and Zoey freaks out
"Now that I was actually confronted with the very likely possibility that Erik and I were going to break up, I realized how much I didn't want that to happen, which definitely didn't help my confusion or my stress level because I did still care about Heath"
ZeldaQueen: I repeat, she's only thinking about this now, when Erik's actually around. She doesn't go on about how much she wants him around when she's taking her shirt off for Blake or arranging for dates with Heath. No, she doesn't start going on about how much she wants Erik until he's right in front of her. You know, when she might actually get called out on her bullshit.
Erik tells Zoey that he hopes that they can be together if and when they both survive into adult vampire-hood, and the Cast ladies must be trying to get me to hate the character, because he cites how he won't get old and wrinkled, ew, and instead stay all young and hot with Zoey. He also mentions this
"Being with me won't be something other vampyres will whisper about, and humans will hate you for. It'll be normal. It'll be right"
ZeldaQueen: *rubs head* Okay, given how ham-fisted this all is and how Neferet used a similar analogy before, I'm guessing that the Cast ladies are going for some thing where vampires are just a persecuted minority and that a vampire dating a human will cause people to gossip and cluck and generally be scornful. Thing is, it doesn't quite work. Let's see why.
First of all, I fail to see why this is an issue at all. This is not like Being Human, where we see that a vampire will eventually just snap and go back to blood drinking, so a human dating a vampire simply isn't safe. All we're ever told is that vampires are perfectly safe, vampires are insanely successful and rich, vampires are People Too. I'm sure people could argue that it doesn't matter, because African Americans persecuted during the times of segregation were also regular people who were not threatening and had talented people in their midst, but it still doesn't make sense. If we're to believe that humans are so horrible and persecute vampires, why are all of these vampire actors and singers hired? Why do people buy their books and albums and movies? Is it safe to assume that folks like Faith Hill and Jake Gyllenhall still have their fanclubs in this universe, even though they're vampires? And what about the fact that a lot of those name-dropped vampire celebrities are married in real life. Are we to assume that their spouses are all conveniently vampires as well? Because if not, that's one hella lotta inter-species marriage, considering that it's apparently frowned upon.
Second of all, I'd like to point out something from the vampire side of things - why do they care? I'm serious, why? Again, it's been hammered all over the place that vampires have their need for blood under control, so it can't be that they are worried about slipping up and killing humans. So why? The only reason I can see is that the vampires think that they're better than the humans. That humans are lowly and stupid and ugly and worthless and what sort of a vampire would want to marry a human? After all, they get old and wrinkly and flabby by next week after enough time goes by. Is that it, Cast ladies? Are you making it canon that your vampires are a bunch of self-centered, pretentious twats?
I would also like to point out that I've read the Fledgling 101 Handbook. There are several famous and prominent "vampire figures" in there (namely Circe and Cleopatra" who have had human "consorts". I honestly have never gotten the impression that a vampire hooking up with (or "imprinting", as the case always is) was considered particularly scandalous or taboo.
*shakes head* Right. I have no idea why I bother so much with logic stuff like that. The Cast ladies clearly didn't.
Back to the story, Zoey and Erik make out and Zoey goes on about how happy and warm Erik makes her feel, and yet again I bang my head on the wall because the Cast ladies refuse to SHOW us them as a couple, damn it all!!! She also agrees with him about Heath, which basically means that she just admitted that she wants a guy who will stay hot for her. And yes, I realize that there are many other ways to read that, particularly that Zoey doesn't want to go through the heartbreak of outliving the guy she's with, given how she has no concern for people beyond how they look and given how she voices the matter like she's matching her purse and shoes, I find it hard to buy that.
Erik leaves her at the stables, saying that he's sure they'll work things out. *glares* Oh Erik, just wait until the next book. He then pauses, before telling Zoey that if she has imprinted on Heath, it's possible to telepathically call him to her, or at least figure out where he is. Of course. Because granting Zoey new powers is just what this book needs. So much better than good old-fashioned character development and having her, I don't know, actually look.
But no. Erik leaves and Zoey starts brushing Persephone and Zoey...starts wangsting about relationships. Because that's exactly the thing to do when someone you care about has been kidnapped and it's within your power to save them! *rubs head* She specifically wangsts about how she's glad Erik didn't dump her, but she probably will get dumped if Heath is saved, and comments "How did those ho-ish girls go out with a dozen or so guys at the same time? Two was exhausting".
*stares* *blinks* Um...sorry guys. Did she just trash unspecified girls like Aphrodite while admitting in a way that somehow ignores the issue that she is doing the same thing she's scolding unnamed girls for?
Oh and speaking of having multiple boyfriends, she finally remembers her flirting with Blake. She goes on about how guilty she feels for that, and insists that she'll avoid Blake and, if she can't, she won't flirt with him anymore. And folks, given Zoey's track record for actually remembering and following through on her resolutions, how long do you think this is going to last?
Zoey decides that there's little point in worrying about what to do about Heath until Heath is saved. She yammers about how she's so broken from Stevie Rae's death, woe is her, and I might buy that she can't do anything out of fear and grief if there was ever any signs that she could do stuff when she's not afraid and grief-stricken. Anyway, she starts trying to strike up a telepathic link to Heath. She first thinks about all the good times they had together as kids (good times which, of course, are only brought up now and will never be mentioned again). This doesn't do anything, though. She then starts thinking about how tasty his blood is and having what is more or less a vampiric erotic daydream about him and that gets through to him. That's...interesting, especially when you consider that Heath only let her drink his blood because he was clearly nutty from the first time around.
So yeah, Zoey now is mentally linked to Heath, and can see that he's in some sort of underground room. She mentally calls to him and explains what's going on, and we are told how he's all scared and bleeding from the arms and neck and tied up and left on a mattress. Heath explains that he's in one of the old tunnels left over from the Prohibition era. Zoey is all confuzzled at this because Heath is a stupid jock and how astonishing it is that he can know things like that. Huh! Oh, and Heath adds that he only knows about it because it had to do with alcohol and dur hur, Heath used to be a hilarious drunkard.
Zoey asks him where the entrance to the tunnels are and Heath refuses to tell her because he doesn't want her to go down and get attacked by the red-eyed ghosts. Instead, he urges her to send the police or possibly a SWAT team. Zoey admits that she wants to do that, but refuses for some unspecified reason. You know, I know that there are feral monsters down there, but Zoey has seen them in action. She knows what they do. Couldn't she call up Detective Marx and tell him "Hey, I know where the things kidnapping the kids are, but you have to bring in the big guns because these things are extremely dangerous". And if she's worried that innocent kids (you know, the ones she actually cares about) might be killed, she could add for them to bring sedatives or something. The point is, just because humans can't summon the fucking elements doesn't mean we're useless.
But no, Zoey continues on this oh-so-selfless act about how she must be the one to do it. She asks Heath to tell her about his captors, and he says that they drink blood but aren't like regular vampires, with the implication that Something Is Not Right in regards to them. I think the red eyes and claws and general undead-ness are a tip-off on that, yes. Anyway, this leads to Zoey asking if they've drank Heath's blood, the thought of which turns her into a clingy, jealous bitch. Yes, I know she's supposed to be protective (and given the sex/blood metaphor, she would be dealing with the knowledge that her boyfriend was kidnapped and symbolically raped), but she really doesn't come across as too righteous when her thought is "He belongs to me!". Anywho, Heath says that yes they have drunk his blood and apparently complain that something about it tastes wrong. I'm...sincerely hoping that the Cast ladies intended to suggest that the red-eyed ghosts could sense this fantastic, mystic imprint via the taste of his blood. Otherwise, I'm picking up some extremely squicky and bizarre fantasy version of "Aw man, it's no fun molesting him! He's already done it with someone else!" And speaking of vampiric molestation, that is precisely what they've been doing to poor Heath. No, really
"It's not like when you drink my blood, Zo. That feels good. What they do is-is disgusting. They're disgusting"
ZeldaQueen: That guy's going to need a whole lot of therapy by the time this is over.
We find out that there are only three red-eyed ghosts who don't visit Heath in a group, and their names are Elliot, Venus, and Stevie Rae. No, Zoey never seems to put together that this is the same Venus who Aphrodite told her about, at least not in this book. Anyway, Zoey freaks out at the mention of Stevie Rae being there, because I...can only assume she forgot that dream of hers. She also mentions "Heath had just substantiated my fears. I couldn't call in the police". She doesn't tell us why this is, though. What, is she worried that Stevie Rae will use her power of Earth to kill the officers? Is she afraid they'll kill Stevie Rae? GIVE US A REASON!
Zoey tries once more to get Heath to tell her where the entrance is and he continues to refuse. Zoey hears a scurrying sound which "reminded me of the sound the science experiment rats made as they scurried through the mazes we made in AP Bio". I know this is a small thing to get hung up on, but do the Cast ladies really expect me to buy that Zoey, who has shown to have very little drive and hasn't come across as particularly intelligent or interested in biology enough to take an optional, high-level course for it, took AP Bio? If that's the case, I'll salt my hat and eat it.
Anyway, Zoey makes one last appeal, telling Heath that she's a Sue she can control the elements and saved him in the last book, and finally convinces Heath to tell her where the entrance is. He tells her (there's an awful lot of telling in this sporking, isn't there?) that it's under the old depot downtown. He also warns her to hang right to find him. Zoey thanks him and hangs up the line and sets off and...I guess we're setting up for a climax? I don't know. I guess having the climax five chapters from the end of the book is a slight improvement from one chapter from the end
Onward to: Chapter 28
Back to: Chapter 26
Back to: Table of Contents