Crescendo: Chapter 14 (Part 2)
ZeldaQueen: And now, it's time to end this horrible chapter!
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Chapter 14 (Part 2)
ZeldaQueen: Settle in now, folks. The rest of this chapter is exposition, exposition, get it out ASAP.
It starts out reasonably enough. Nora freaks out and asks where he got the mark. This is about as far as we go before it comes to Conclusion Hopping: Insane Edition. Scott, clearly not happy about being asked, insists that the mark was just a scar from when he and some friends were fooling around. Nora acts like it's a personal insult that he gives that as an explanation and proceeds to accuse Miss Scarlet in the Library with the Wrench him of sending her the letter and the ring.
Uh, that's a pretty weak link there, Nora. Yes, he has the same mark as the ring. I can understand seeing the two details as being related. But to go from that to “You must have been the one who sent me that ring” is pretty silly. There are plenty of other explanations, including that the person who owned the ring used it to brand Scott. (Spoilers - that really is what happened) or even the faint possibility that the two marks aren't actually related (the symbols in both cases are just a clenched fist, which is hardly that distinctive of a mark). To give an idea of how ridiculous this is, if we were playing Ace Attorney, this would be enough to get Nora another round of testimony, and that's only by begging the Judge. She's acting like it's enough to drive for the ending of the trial.
For some reason, the idea that Scott sent the ring is enough to make her feel unsafe around him. Uh, why? If you think he did that, it means he was trying to tip you off about the truth of your father's death. Yes it upset you, but there was nothing to indicate that that was the intention of the letter. If he, I don't know, mailed you the ring with a severed finger still in it, then yes, I'd say be very afraid. But dude, Nora, you took all of five seconds to get over your fears of Patch going into your house and making food with a huge-ass knife, and this gets you terrified of Scott?
ZeldaQueen: Scott is still so drunk that he can't see properly with the lights on. He asks Nora what she's talking about, and Nora continues to insist that he's feigning ignorance. Or maybe he doesn't know or can't remember, genius! He's drunk, remember? Yes it's inconsistent, but you yourself thought he'd have forgotten the events of tonight by next morning! Add in that he'd been punched in the face, and why's it so shocking that he may not remember something? You can't remember things that just happened, and you don't even have those excuses!
Nora specifically tells Scott that she has the ring to rule them all that marked Scott's chest, which prompts Scott to freak out, grab Nora, and shove her against the wall.
ZeldaQueen: WHAT THE FUCK?!? Why, why do people keep doing this like this to Nora?! And if anyone even tries to tell me that Patch would never do something like this to her, I'll direct them to the motel room scene of the last book.
On the other hand, it's really hard to rage about this because it's described in possibly the most tepid prose ever.
“He shook his head once, hard, as if to shake off his stupor. Then his arm lashed out, shoving me up against the wall. 'How do you know about the ring?'
'You’re hurting me,' I said with venom, but I was shivering with fear. I realized that Scott wasn’t pretending. Unless he was a much better actor than I imagined, he genuinely didn’t know about the envelope.”
ZeldaQueen: That doesn't sound like she's quietly afraid but trying to hide it. That doesn't sound like anything! Fitzpatrick, if you want us to believe that she's afraid, describe it! Tell us how her pulse is pounding! Tell us how she feels the wall behind her! Tell us how she has to fight to keep her voice from shaking! Have her think in fragments, so we see how frantic her thoughts are! Lord, use exclamation marks!
*sighs* Right. The possibility that Scott forgot about the letter while drunk never occurs to Nora, but she see that Scott obviously knows about the ring. Scott demands to know what the person who gave her the ring looked like, and Nora continues to sound bland as she describes how he “fisted” (...) and shook her by the camisole. She orders him to let her go, which I guess is her trying for bravado but just comes across as stupidity. Why the fuck would she say that to an angry drunk guy, instead of just telling him what he asks, hoping that he'll let go if she does so? Scott's pretty obviously acting on impulse here. There's no reason to think he wouldn't back down once he calmed himself.
And again, Nora sounds incredibly unconcerned here. She has a muscular guy who she can't even budge actually shaking her, and she's just...narrating. No sense of fear, no sense of concern, nothing. She doesn't try screaming or trying to get out of there or anything to indicate a sense of self-preservation! I could understand if Nora was previously established as handling herself well in stressful situations, but she doesn't! Just a few chapters ago, her trying to steal a diary is portrayed almost entirely as komedy. Her arguing with Patch is filled with her wibbling and trying to hide her quivering lip. Her breakup with Patch results in her hiding in bed and contemplating suicide>. Her attempts to hide her Goddamned Hole are described as wooden and artificial. And those examples are just from this book! I mentioned how this is like a watered-down version of the motel room scene from the first book. Look at how she reacted there! She screamed, she tried to shove Patch away, she kicked, and she tried to run for it!
Now, I could buy the argument that Nora grew stronger and more experienced with being threatened and thus handling herself better...except think about how much she's actually been put in these sorts of situations. It's been two months since the events of the last book, and she's all but forgotten what happened in Hush, Hush. If Patch was involved, she's interpreted it as Sexy Fun. With Jules trying to kill her, she's pretty much completely put it out of her mind. So no, I refuse to believe that this is character development. There's no sign that she actually learned anything from what's happened to her.
Back to the story, or what's passing as one. Scott makes it clear that he's terrified of whoever he thinks gave her the ring and demands to know if the sender knows where Scott lives. Nora yet again demonstrates that she's too dumb to live by responding to the desperate, drunk guy in a rage by pissily demanding that he tell her what he knows.
Okay, look, I could understand her acting like this if she herself was desperate and felt that either there was nothing to lose or that the information to be gained was worth potentially getting her ass kicked, but she's never before now given the impression that finding out who sent the ring was vital for her. She did one online search to convince herself that it was pointless, then she completely forgot about it! Hell, just look at the last chapter! She was whining about how meaningless life without Patch is, and how all she has to fill her days is her job and school. If this search for the owner of the ring was so important to her, why didn't she fall back on that? It would have been a perfect way to re-introduce it to the plot and show Nora channeling her angst into something productive!
*shakes head* This book sucks.
Nora asks if Scott is the Black Hand, telling him that the note she got said that was who killed her dad. Dear tapdancing Christ, please tell me she doesn't think the drunk teenager who all but dropped out of high school secretly has a codename and killed her dad for no reason!
Scott doesn't answer this, but just tells her to forget the conversation and go home. Yeah, like she's going to do that. Nora apparently wasn't fazed by what happened, because she just stands there like a dumbass, completely defenseless, and demands that he tell her about the Black Hand. And to prove how stupid she is, she even tells us that she expected Scott to get violent again at that. She thought that and didn't think to grab a weapon or someone to make sure he didn't beat her senseless. I can certainly see how this girl's the top of her class!
We then continue the squick as Scott tries to get Nora to leave by giving her a “threatening smile” and stripping down to his boxers.
ZeldaQueen: I... uh, know what Fitzpatrick was going for here. Scott was trying to scare Nora away by figuring she'd be embarrassed to be seeing him in his underpants.
Given that he just attacked her and gave her that “threatening smile”? It...came across as something very different.
Moving on.
Nora has the audacity to threaten to call the police on Scott, because obviously having a brand on your skin automatically means that you're up to no good.
“The minute I walk out of here, I’m calling the police. If you won’t talk to me, maybe you’d like to talk to them. Maybe they’ve seen the branding before. I can tell just by looking at it that it isn’t good.”
ZeldaQueen: Let's take this slow and easy, shall we?
Nora? That sign is of a clenched fist. It's not anything particularly violent or threatening, nor does it resemble any well-known symbols for dangerous gangs or organizations. The only reason you think it “isn't good” is because your creator seems to find that sort of thing Horrible and Terrifying, much like how she thinks baseball caps and playing pool scream Bad Boy.
This leads us to our second point. No, Nora, the police would not be talking to Scott. Freedom of expression means that Scott can have any symbols he wants on his body. If he wanted to had a swastika burned there, it's within his rights. The symbol is small and easily hidden under his clothes, and he's not going around shoving it in people's faces. Even if it was a symbol for some Ultra Evil Dangerous Group, it doesn't matter. So long as he doesn't use it to harass people, the police aren't going to give a fuck about it.
But wait, I'm sure the fans will argue, the police would step in if they were looking for that symbol, right? If it was a symbol for a group of people the police were after, they'd be interested in that, right?
Well...yes, that's true. If the mark was some indicator that Scott was a person of interest to them, the police would interrogate him. Which nicely goes to our third point. That's a very generic symbol there. It's just a clenched fist. There's no indication that there are any details to make it stand out. I'm sure that there are any number of people with clenched fists tattooed on their body or decorating their jewelry or accessories, just because it looks badass.
How the flip would the police know that Scott was actually involved in this hypothetical criminal gang? All he has to do is say that he thought the design looked cool. There's nothing distinguishing about that mark, so there's no way for the police to pin it down. It would be like if Nora found an ordinary cross burned on his chest and called the police over it. Yes, there are gangs and groups that use crosses in their symbols, but there are also plenty of regular people who are religious or find personal meaning to crosses or just like the way they look. There's no way to say that it's proof of anything, so why would the cops even bother?
Now, I could buy this if we were told that Nora was bluffing. After all, Scott's judgment is clearly impaired, and it would hardly be the first time in the history of the world that someone lied about legal rights to trick someone into doing something. Except, I don't get the feeling that that's the case. Instead of worrying that Scott will see through that bullshit (as anyone with an IQ higher than cauliflower would), she's afraid he's going to kill her over all of this. I mean, clearly she knows too much about the Black Hand (because a generic name, a ring with a generic symbol on it, and an anonymous letter with no factual basis are such smoking guns!) and this means it's best to do her in! And surely a guy who's so drunk he couldn't get upstairs on his own could murder someone and throw her in a dumpster without an entire apartment full of party-goers noticing (because they're all drunk, and being drunk automatically means being so mind-bogglingly smashed that you don't noticed someone screaming) and pull this all off without leaving any physical evidence.
She also never gives a thought to Patch at this time, who she knows is aware of where she went. So I guess it never occurred to her that her Truest of Loves wouldn't try to avenge her and bring her killer to justice, should she be murdered.
It's times like these that I'd dearly love to get Fitzpatrick to play the Ace Attorney series, in the hope she'd learn something from it about backing up things with actual evidence and logic.
Anyway, while Nora's busy being an idiot, Scott sits down on the bed and starts to cry. She initially worries that this is a trap (again, how drunk is this guy supposed to be?! Has he in any way indicated himself capable of manipulation, in this state?), but then decides that he's just all drunk and emotional. Which makes it likely for him to snap and attack her at any minute.
If that's the case, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, YOU IDIOT?!? DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS LITTLE Q&A SESSION IS WORTH GETTING KILLED OVER?
Also, why is it that you think Scott's going to kill you when you're alone together, but back in Hush, Hush you were confident about being alone in the motel room with Patch, even after you already thought he was going to rape and/or murder you?
Anyway, Scott basically gives up at this point and tells Nora what happened to him. Apparently when he lived in Portland, he fell into deep gambling debt at a pool hall. Apparently yes, Fitzpatrick did take The Music Man to heart. Good to know. She also apparently decided that she was writing an old timey gangster story, because apparently so great was his debt that Scott seriously thought the manager of the place was going to break his kneecaps.
Okay, I must ask at this point, is Fitzpatrick aware that there are many, many places were one can play pool for free? Legitimate places that are safe and not run by the fucking mafia? If Scott wanted to play pool so badly, why didn't he just scope out one of those places. Hell, why didn't he buy a pool table?! One of the most coveted gifts at my workplace's White Elephant exchange, last Christmas, was a mini-pool table that could be fitted on a desk! There's really no reason for him to fall into debt over pool.
But okay, maybe he has a compulsive gambling habit. Fine. If that were the case, why would he think the manager of the establishment would bother roughing him up over debts? I've not been to gambling establishments, folks, but I was under the impression that most demand money upfront. If Scott was broke, wouldn't it be more likely that he just wouldn't be allowed to play until his financial issues were resolved? And considering that he's a minor, if he has such horrible gambling debts, why wouldn't his mother be contacted at some point? Breaking his knees wouldn't get them their money back. Calling in his debts and getting someone to pay them off for him would.
Now, this all would have been easier to buy if we weren't told it was the owner of the pool hall coming after Scott. Fitzpatrick could have written it that he partook in private gambling with other guys, and there was the possibility that one of them would attack him over the debts. On the other hand, there's an issue that everyone seems to have forgotten - Scott is a teenager. Perhaps he plays against other teenagers, but given what we saw about the last pool hall he went to, I don't get that impression. I really don't get that impression since we're to buy that the manager of the hall engages in organized crime when a teenager can't repay his debts. So yeah, that leaves the question of why a group of adults would want to do high-stakes gambling with a high school student. High schoolers aren't well-known for having good judgment, and unless Scott was pegged as a kid with a lot of money, that probably means it'd be more likely he'd get in over his head and not be able to pay what he bet. And yeah, that's kind of the point of betting. The people want the money. If you're gambling specifically for the gains, why would you play against someone who you thought wouldn't pay up?
And the dumbest part of all is that the whole gambling backstory is pretty much all unnecessary. It just leads into Scott telling how he was abducted on his way home from school and tied to a table in a warehouse. He thinks that the manager sent a goon to rough him up because again, Fitzpatrick doesn't seem to realize that gambling debts tend to be settled differently outside of old movies. In a few paragraphs, we're also going to get a very short attempt at a red herring, via the reason Scott got the branding (and by short, I mean it'll be resolved a few paragraphs later). And that's it. Those are the entire reason for Scott's gambling backstory. A handwave as to what he thought the kidnapping was about, and a very lame attempt to fool the reader. We could have just as easily had it that he was grabbed on his way home from school and had no clue at all what happened. It wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference.
We get Scott's description of being tied down and pleading with his captor, which is actually quite well-written. The prose actually gives a very good sense of how terrified Scott was, while how drained he currently is as he relates it. He tells how the person who kidnapped him apparently paid off all his debts and was filthy rich and thus had no interest in more money. The kidnapper then heating up his ring, rips Scott's shirt open, and gives him the burn mark. Scott rather understandably screams at this, and the kidnapper responds by breaking one of Scott's fingers and threatening to do the same to the rest if he doesn't shut up.
And I must pause now to point out what a massive dumbass this guy is.
Folks, Fitzpatrick's going to try to milk this for drama a bit more, but let us not beat around the bush - Scott's kidnapper is the Black Hand. And we're seeing that this is his way of getting new members for his organization.
Yeah, how well does anyone think this would work, if reality ensued?
Pretty much the only thing we know thus far about this guy is that he somehow keeps his soldiers from knowing each other, which I already ranted about as being an incredibly stupid move. But okay, I could see it being handwaved. They're fighting fallen angels, who can possess and mindrape them, so the more broken-up their information is, the more difficult it would be for the fallen angels to find it out.
But this? No, this is pure idiocy, plain and simple.
Like so many other characters in this series, the Black Hand is going to be suffering from character derailment. All we hear of him in this book is that he's leading the Nephilim to rise up against the fallen angels. In later books though, he's flanderized into being an outright dictator who treats his men terribly and apparently is in it for personal gain, and not his actual cause. Either way though, his work hinges on the fact that he has a large army of very powerful people behind him. And guess what? Recruiting them like this would not work.
In trying to make the leader Obviously Evil, Fitzpatrick forgot to indicate why any of his followers would willingly join him, if this is how it goes. I mean, is this how he recruits everyone? He kidnaps them and forces them to join? If that's the case, why would everyone be obedient to him??? In later books, we see that his followers are very loyal to him and his cause. And yeah, that makes sense. Enslaved Nephilim are in a truly nightmarish situation, so a charismatic guy coming along and uniting them and saying, “Don't worry, I'll stop all of this” would be incredibly inspiring. Whether or not the leader is meant to be a straight-up villain, I could buy him getting support using those motives.
Except that here, we see he doesn't appeal to any of that. He just grabs a teenage boy off of the street, ties him up in a dark place, explains fuck-all nothing about what's going on, burns him without warning, breaks his finger when he screams in pain, and apparently then just throws him back on the street. He doesn't tell Scott what's going on. He doesn't tell Scott why it's vital for his own well-being that he join the cause. He doesn't act in any way that would inspire loyalty. Even if it was all an act, the leader ought to understand that winning the trust of his supporters is key to keeping them around! Hell, even Voldemort knew that!
One could argue that there's another method at work. In a later book, Nora accuses the Black Hand of brainwashing his soldiers into following him. Alright, that's a viable explanation...except when is that happening? Scott doesn't indicate that anything remotely like brainwashing was attempted. If it was realistic brainwashing, there's no way it could have worked to just send him on his way. Brainwashing in real life requires keeping a person in captivity and seriously fucking with their minds, more often than not simply resulting in that person being a gibbering mess. It could be a magical form of brainwashing, true, but again, there's no evidence of it being tried.
There are many explanations that could have been given for this scene. The leader could have developed the brand as a way to protect young Nephilim against fallen angels, to ensure that Scott wasn't enslaved even if no one was around to protect him. That would explain why the whole thing was forced - it was vital that this be done, as a sort of lesser of two evils scenario. Fitzpatrick could have made it explicit that brainwashing was going on, and had that Scott escaped before it was done to him. That would explain why he's pretty much the only Nephilim technically involved with the Black Hand who considers him frightening and sees them for what they really are. Or, if the scenario was mixed up, the leader could have abducted Scott but treated him nicely, sitting him down and explaining what was going on. It could easily have kept Scott being terrified and suspicious of the guy. If the leader went on a very serious talk about fallen angels and how Scott wasn't human, it would be easy to buy that Scott's thought process was “I've been kidnapped by an insane person, I need to get out of here.”
None of those things happen, though. As usual, in her effort to make a scene edgy and cool, Fitzpatrick forgoes all logic.
Anywho, moving along, Scott wraps things up by explaining that his mom and he moved back to Coldwater to escape from this guy. That's smart. I'm sure that a stalker sufficiently determined to track down his victim wouldn't think to find out where said victim used to live. Oh, and the reason Scott cuts school and works out so much is because he's still terrified that this guy will come after him, so he wants to be in prime shape to defend himself.
Now see what I mean, when I say Scott's reasons for the “bad boy” things he does make him far more sympathetic than Patch? I don't give a fuck that Patch can't feel his girlfriend. I feel sorry for Scott, whose life is such a mess. Patch ended up where he was because he was a reckless idiot who threw himself into situations and then hurt people when he tried to overcome the few downsides that came with falling. Scott got dragged into a horrible situation purely because a fallen angel decided to bone his mother and knock her up. He has had no choice in the matter and ended up there through no fault of his own.
And now, folks, Nora finally reacts. If you think she's going to be sympathetic to this...well, which who have you been reading about for the past thirteen chapters.
“I didn’t know if I could trust him. Patch had made it clear he didn’t, but Scott was shaking. His complexion was pasty, misted with sweat, and he plowed his hands through his hair, letting go of a long, wavering breath. Could he make up a story like that? All the details meshed with everything I already knew about Scott. He had a gambling addiction. He’d worked nights in Portland at a convenience store. He’d moved back to Coldwater to escape his past. He had the branding mark on his chest, proof someone had put it there. Could he sit two feet away and lie to me about what he’d gone through?”
ZeldaQueen: Yeah. Nothing but creepy clinical analysis of what he just said. This is frightening, guys. Someone just had an emotional breakdown in front of her. He's now sitting on the bed, sobbing, and she's not reacting to this at all. She's acting like she just got a clue in a video game she's playing, and now she has to figure out all the hints that can be milked from it.
Now were Nora capable of showing more human emotions, I could understand her not being all cuddly and sorry towards Scott. He did attack her in a drunk rage, after all. However, I'm not inclined to take that as an excuse, for three reasons.
First of all, Nora has all but forgotten by now that he attacked her. You know, like she always does. She really has the Bella and Ariana-esque ability to forget about Bad Things after they happen, doesn't she?
Second of all, Nora has already proven herself capable of feeling sorry for someone, even if she still is angry or upset with them. Even if she still hated Marcie, she felt bad about taking her diary. So even if she's supposed to be so focused on solving this little mystery, there's no reason why she couldn't feel sympathy for Scott but put most of her attention towards figuring things out.
Third of all, Patch attacked her in the motel room and Nora ended up feeling bad for his situation and made out with him.
But honestly, I get the impression that Nora doesn't feel anything about Scott because Fitzpatrick didn't think to write it in. Like I said, we're in Exposition Time now, so by God, Nora will be connecting those dots to move the plot forward! And unfortunately, Fitzpatrick seems to have trouble remembering to write her point of view character reacting or feeling things when the exposition occurs.
Speaking of exposition, Nora's still going strong! All Scott can tell her is that the Black Hand was tall and it was too dark in the warehouse to see him. If it was that dark, how did the leader see Scott well enough to cleanly brand him? In any case, Nora starts trying to figure out what common factors link her dad and Scott to the Black Hand and, of all things, latches on to the throwaway detail that the Black Hand paid off Scott's gambling debts and branded him. She seriously wonders if the same thing happened to her dad. Like, exactly the same thing.
“Had my dad gone through the same thing? Had his murder not been as random as the police originally guessed? Had the Black Hand paid off a debt my dad owed, then killed him when my dad refused to be branded? No. I wasn’t buying it. My dad didn’t gamble, and he didn’t rack up debt. He was an accountant. He knew the value of money. Nothing about his situation tied him to Scott.”
ZeldaQueen: Oh Jesus.
First of all, you found out that someone named “the Black Hand”, who deals in very shady business and apparently stalks his victims for seemingly no reason, apparently killed your father and just now it occurs to you that there might have been more purpose to it than “It was a random murder”?
Second of all, if the Black Hand is involved in the sort of shady dealings that you're implying he is, why do you think that all he does is pay off debts? I get the implication here that we're to think he's some mafia-esque man who pays off debts in exchange for favors or the like. If that's the case, why are you limiting him to only one thing? I somehow doubt he'd get far with a routine “Pay 'em off and brand 'em” scheme.
Which brings me to my third point, why is Nora not wondering what the point of the branding is? She keeps focusing on that, but she never speculates as to why the Black Hand would do that. Does she think it's some way to find his previous marks again? Some bizarre sort of receipt? And honestly, that's something that I think would be worth figuring out! If this guy's modus operandus is to pay off someone's debt and then just brand them, he's going to be in debt himself, pretty soon. There'd be no payback or returns for what he's doing. And if, somehow, Nora doesn't realize that there ought to be more to the branding than that, it doesn't reflect very well on her father's intelligence, in that scenario. Apparently she thinks he'd rather be shot and killed rather than get a small burn and be free of debt.
(Which ties back in to what I was saying earlier, about how branding is treated as a Most Horrible Fate here. Seriously, are we supposed to think that it's not being too dumb to live to put one's life in jeopardy over that, especially when one has a wife and daughter to take care of?)
Not to mention, if Nora gives no thought of pay-off for the branding, the Black Hand comes across as an even stupider villain than they actually are. Apparently it's so vital that a tiny symbol be burned on everyone that he's willing to shoot some schmuck for refusing it. Seriously, talk about disproportionate retribution!
Fourth of all, hey guys, did you know that accountants never fall into debt? Or get addicted to gambling? White-collar crime? What's that? (And while yes, I could buy someone not wanting to believe that their murdered father was in debt or involved with shady things, Nora's already made so many stupid conclusions that I don't feel generous.)
Nora continues to badger Scott for details, and he says that he has tried to forget everything about that time. He decides to have a smoke, so he pulls some cigarettes and an ashtray out from under his mattress. Uh... do many people stow ash trays under their mattress? Do many teenagers even bother with ash trays? Most of the ones I saw who smoked just sort of knocked the ashes into whatever was available and not flammable.
Anywho, Nora continues wondering questions which of course aren't going to get answered until it's time for the book to end, so there's no point in expecting answers. And no, Fitzpatrick, having Nora yammer questions in her head doesn't make her look intelligent or diligent.
Then, out of fucking nowhere, Nora wonders if the Black Hand was the leader of the Nephilim group she heard about.
ZeldaQueen: No, really. She just jumps to that conclusion, after forgetting about the society for most of the book! But no, it's fine! She has evidence! She's seen two Nephilim with clenched fist burn marks, so clearly that means that only Nephilim are being branded by this guy, and only the leader of the organization would recruit new members like that!
ZeldaQueen: Oh, and Nora finally figures out that the marks are meant to help the organization's members recognize each other. If they have them there for that, why the fuck can't they just be told who they are?
Nora starts asking Scott more questions, and he finally snaps at her. I say good on him. Nora asks if he's seen the Black hand since then, and Scott about has a panic attack at the thought of them meeting again. Dude, Nora, back off.
Well, she does. At least, she does so she can go back to more of her logicking, which is only slightly less stupid than Bree Tanner's. She thinks about how more Nephilim were probably “recruited by force, but disjointed from any real strength or purpose because they were kept in the dark”. Again I ask, is the Black Hand trying to lose?!? He gang-presses his members into service instead of finding people to fight willingly, works against fostering any sense of companionship or comraderie amongst them, gives them no purpose to fight for, and withholds all information. There's no reason for them to stick around! Why hasn't his big, important army scattered into many different directions?!?
The issue is so honking obvious that even Nora the Witless Wonder is curious as to why the Black hand is working this way. “What was the Black Hand waiting for? Why was he holding off uniting his members? To keep fallen angels from finding out what he was up to?” It's a failed attempt to make this guy mysterious, that's what it is. As far as I'm aware, we don't find out why the Black Hand is operating the way he is. In fact, spoilers - we're going to see that he does have soldiers who fight together and know their goals and are united. So I don't even know what this is all supposed to be about! This makes no sense! Why does NOTHING make no sense?! Why has it taken so long to spork a single chapter???!?!
Fortunately, things are pretty much over. Nora tries to get more answers out of Scott (because he's clearly in possession of a wealth of knowledge here), but Scott just conveniently passes out. Nora tries to wake him up to ask him more about that incredibly traumatizing day, but thankfully the kid stays asleep. Amazingly, Nora has the presence of mind to put out his cigarette and pull some covers over him before leaving.
And with that, gentle Viewers, we end this chapter. Dear fucking lord, but this was terrible! Tune in for more pointlessness, as we drift aimlessly towards his thing's conclusion.
Bring all the chocolate.
YOU FUCKING WHORE: 82
Onward to: Chapter 15 (Part 1)
Return to: Chapter 14 (Part 1)
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Chapter 14 (Part 2)
ZeldaQueen: Settle in now, folks. The rest of this chapter is exposition, exposition, get it out ASAP.
It starts out reasonably enough. Nora freaks out and asks where he got the mark. This is about as far as we go before it comes to Conclusion Hopping: Insane Edition. Scott, clearly not happy about being asked, insists that the mark was just a scar from when he and some friends were fooling around. Nora acts like it's a personal insult that he gives that as an explanation and proceeds to accuse Miss Scarlet in the Library with the Wrench him of sending her the letter and the ring.
Uh, that's a pretty weak link there, Nora. Yes, he has the same mark as the ring. I can understand seeing the two details as being related. But to go from that to “You must have been the one who sent me that ring” is pretty silly. There are plenty of other explanations, including that the person who owned the ring used it to brand Scott. (Spoilers - that really is what happened) or even the faint possibility that the two marks aren't actually related (the symbols in both cases are just a clenched fist, which is hardly that distinctive of a mark). To give an idea of how ridiculous this is, if we were playing Ace Attorney, this would be enough to get Nora another round of testimony, and that's only by begging the Judge. She's acting like it's enough to drive for the ending of the trial.
For some reason, the idea that Scott sent the ring is enough to make her feel unsafe around him. Uh, why? If you think he did that, it means he was trying to tip you off about the truth of your father's death. Yes it upset you, but there was nothing to indicate that that was the intention of the letter. If he, I don't know, mailed you the ring with a severed finger still in it, then yes, I'd say be very afraid. But dude, Nora, you took all of five seconds to get over your fears of Patch going into your house and making food with a huge-ass knife, and this gets you terrified of Scott?
ZeldaQueen: Scott is still so drunk that he can't see properly with the lights on. He asks Nora what she's talking about, and Nora continues to insist that he's feigning ignorance. Or maybe he doesn't know or can't remember, genius! He's drunk, remember? Yes it's inconsistent, but you yourself thought he'd have forgotten the events of tonight by next morning! Add in that he'd been punched in the face, and why's it so shocking that he may not remember something? You can't remember things that just happened, and you don't even have those excuses!
Nora specifically tells Scott that she has the ring to rule them all that marked Scott's chest, which prompts Scott to freak out, grab Nora, and shove her against the wall.
ZeldaQueen: WHAT THE FUCK?!? Why, why do people keep doing this like this to Nora?! And if anyone even tries to tell me that Patch would never do something like this to her, I'll direct them to the motel room scene of the last book.
On the other hand, it's really hard to rage about this because it's described in possibly the most tepid prose ever.
“He shook his head once, hard, as if to shake off his stupor. Then his arm lashed out, shoving me up against the wall. 'How do you know about the ring?'
'You’re hurting me,' I said with venom, but I was shivering with fear. I realized that Scott wasn’t pretending. Unless he was a much better actor than I imagined, he genuinely didn’t know about the envelope.”
ZeldaQueen: That doesn't sound like she's quietly afraid but trying to hide it. That doesn't sound like anything! Fitzpatrick, if you want us to believe that she's afraid, describe it! Tell us how her pulse is pounding! Tell us how she feels the wall behind her! Tell us how she has to fight to keep her voice from shaking! Have her think in fragments, so we see how frantic her thoughts are! Lord, use exclamation marks!
*sighs* Right. The possibility that Scott forgot about the letter while drunk never occurs to Nora, but she see that Scott obviously knows about the ring. Scott demands to know what the person who gave her the ring looked like, and Nora continues to sound bland as she describes how he “fisted” (...) and shook her by the camisole. She orders him to let her go, which I guess is her trying for bravado but just comes across as stupidity. Why the fuck would she say that to an angry drunk guy, instead of just telling him what he asks, hoping that he'll let go if she does so? Scott's pretty obviously acting on impulse here. There's no reason to think he wouldn't back down once he calmed himself.
And again, Nora sounds incredibly unconcerned here. She has a muscular guy who she can't even budge actually shaking her, and she's just...narrating. No sense of fear, no sense of concern, nothing. She doesn't try screaming or trying to get out of there or anything to indicate a sense of self-preservation! I could understand if Nora was previously established as handling herself well in stressful situations, but she doesn't! Just a few chapters ago, her trying to steal a diary is portrayed almost entirely as komedy. Her arguing with Patch is filled with her wibbling and trying to hide her quivering lip. Her breakup with Patch results in her hiding in bed and contemplating suicide>. Her attempts to hide her Goddamned Hole are described as wooden and artificial. And those examples are just from this book! I mentioned how this is like a watered-down version of the motel room scene from the first book. Look at how she reacted there! She screamed, she tried to shove Patch away, she kicked, and she tried to run for it!
Now, I could buy the argument that Nora grew stronger and more experienced with being threatened and thus handling herself better...except think about how much she's actually been put in these sorts of situations. It's been two months since the events of the last book, and she's all but forgotten what happened in Hush, Hush. If Patch was involved, she's interpreted it as Sexy Fun. With Jules trying to kill her, she's pretty much completely put it out of her mind. So no, I refuse to believe that this is character development. There's no sign that she actually learned anything from what's happened to her.
Back to the story, or what's passing as one. Scott makes it clear that he's terrified of whoever he thinks gave her the ring and demands to know if the sender knows where Scott lives. Nora yet again demonstrates that she's too dumb to live by responding to the desperate, drunk guy in a rage by pissily demanding that he tell her what he knows.
Okay, look, I could understand her acting like this if she herself was desperate and felt that either there was nothing to lose or that the information to be gained was worth potentially getting her ass kicked, but she's never before now given the impression that finding out who sent the ring was vital for her. She did one online search to convince herself that it was pointless, then she completely forgot about it! Hell, just look at the last chapter! She was whining about how meaningless life without Patch is, and how all she has to fill her days is her job and school. If this search for the owner of the ring was so important to her, why didn't she fall back on that? It would have been a perfect way to re-introduce it to the plot and show Nora channeling her angst into something productive!
*shakes head* This book sucks.
Nora asks if Scott is the Black Hand, telling him that the note she got said that was who killed her dad. Dear tapdancing Christ, please tell me she doesn't think the drunk teenager who all but dropped out of high school secretly has a codename and killed her dad for no reason!
Scott doesn't answer this, but just tells her to forget the conversation and go home. Yeah, like she's going to do that. Nora apparently wasn't fazed by what happened, because she just stands there like a dumbass, completely defenseless, and demands that he tell her about the Black Hand. And to prove how stupid she is, she even tells us that she expected Scott to get violent again at that. She thought that and didn't think to grab a weapon or someone to make sure he didn't beat her senseless. I can certainly see how this girl's the top of her class!
We then continue the squick as Scott tries to get Nora to leave by giving her a “threatening smile” and stripping down to his boxers.
ZeldaQueen: I... uh, know what Fitzpatrick was going for here. Scott was trying to scare Nora away by figuring she'd be embarrassed to be seeing him in his underpants.
Given that he just attacked her and gave her that “threatening smile”? It...came across as something very different.
Moving on.
Nora has the audacity to threaten to call the police on Scott, because obviously having a brand on your skin automatically means that you're up to no good.
“The minute I walk out of here, I’m calling the police. If you won’t talk to me, maybe you’d like to talk to them. Maybe they’ve seen the branding before. I can tell just by looking at it that it isn’t good.”
ZeldaQueen: Let's take this slow and easy, shall we?
Nora? That sign is of a clenched fist. It's not anything particularly violent or threatening, nor does it resemble any well-known symbols for dangerous gangs or organizations. The only reason you think it “isn't good” is because your creator seems to find that sort of thing Horrible and Terrifying, much like how she thinks baseball caps and playing pool scream Bad Boy.
This leads us to our second point. No, Nora, the police would not be talking to Scott. Freedom of expression means that Scott can have any symbols he wants on his body. If he wanted to had a swastika burned there, it's within his rights. The symbol is small and easily hidden under his clothes, and he's not going around shoving it in people's faces. Even if it was a symbol for some Ultra Evil Dangerous Group, it doesn't matter. So long as he doesn't use it to harass people, the police aren't going to give a fuck about it.
But wait, I'm sure the fans will argue, the police would step in if they were looking for that symbol, right? If it was a symbol for a group of people the police were after, they'd be interested in that, right?
Well...yes, that's true. If the mark was some indicator that Scott was a person of interest to them, the police would interrogate him. Which nicely goes to our third point. That's a very generic symbol there. It's just a clenched fist. There's no indication that there are any details to make it stand out. I'm sure that there are any number of people with clenched fists tattooed on their body or decorating their jewelry or accessories, just because it looks badass.
How the flip would the police know that Scott was actually involved in this hypothetical criminal gang? All he has to do is say that he thought the design looked cool. There's nothing distinguishing about that mark, so there's no way for the police to pin it down. It would be like if Nora found an ordinary cross burned on his chest and called the police over it. Yes, there are gangs and groups that use crosses in their symbols, but there are also plenty of regular people who are religious or find personal meaning to crosses or just like the way they look. There's no way to say that it's proof of anything, so why would the cops even bother?
Now, I could buy this if we were told that Nora was bluffing. After all, Scott's judgment is clearly impaired, and it would hardly be the first time in the history of the world that someone lied about legal rights to trick someone into doing something. Except, I don't get the feeling that that's the case. Instead of worrying that Scott will see through that bullshit (as anyone with an IQ higher than cauliflower would), she's afraid he's going to kill her over all of this. I mean, clearly she knows too much about the Black Hand (because a generic name, a ring with a generic symbol on it, and an anonymous letter with no factual basis are such smoking guns!) and this means it's best to do her in! And surely a guy who's so drunk he couldn't get upstairs on his own could murder someone and throw her in a dumpster without an entire apartment full of party-goers noticing (because they're all drunk, and being drunk automatically means being so mind-bogglingly smashed that you don't noticed someone screaming) and pull this all off without leaving any physical evidence.
She also never gives a thought to Patch at this time, who she knows is aware of where she went. So I guess it never occurred to her that her Truest of Loves wouldn't try to avenge her and bring her killer to justice, should she be murdered.
It's times like these that I'd dearly love to get Fitzpatrick to play the Ace Attorney series, in the hope she'd learn something from it about backing up things with actual evidence and logic.
Anyway, while Nora's busy being an idiot, Scott sits down on the bed and starts to cry. She initially worries that this is a trap (again, how drunk is this guy supposed to be?! Has he in any way indicated himself capable of manipulation, in this state?), but then decides that he's just all drunk and emotional. Which makes it likely for him to snap and attack her at any minute.
If that's the case, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, YOU IDIOT?!? DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS LITTLE Q&A SESSION IS WORTH GETTING KILLED OVER?
Also, why is it that you think Scott's going to kill you when you're alone together, but back in Hush, Hush you were confident about being alone in the motel room with Patch, even after you already thought he was going to rape and/or murder you?
Anyway, Scott basically gives up at this point and tells Nora what happened to him. Apparently when he lived in Portland, he fell into deep gambling debt at a pool hall. Apparently yes, Fitzpatrick did take The Music Man to heart. Good to know. She also apparently decided that she was writing an old timey gangster story, because apparently so great was his debt that Scott seriously thought the manager of the place was going to break his kneecaps.
Okay, I must ask at this point, is Fitzpatrick aware that there are many, many places were one can play pool for free? Legitimate places that are safe and not run by the fucking mafia? If Scott wanted to play pool so badly, why didn't he just scope out one of those places. Hell, why didn't he buy a pool table?! One of the most coveted gifts at my workplace's White Elephant exchange, last Christmas, was a mini-pool table that could be fitted on a desk! There's really no reason for him to fall into debt over pool.
But okay, maybe he has a compulsive gambling habit. Fine. If that were the case, why would he think the manager of the establishment would bother roughing him up over debts? I've not been to gambling establishments, folks, but I was under the impression that most demand money upfront. If Scott was broke, wouldn't it be more likely that he just wouldn't be allowed to play until his financial issues were resolved? And considering that he's a minor, if he has such horrible gambling debts, why wouldn't his mother be contacted at some point? Breaking his knees wouldn't get them their money back. Calling in his debts and getting someone to pay them off for him would.
Now, this all would have been easier to buy if we weren't told it was the owner of the pool hall coming after Scott. Fitzpatrick could have written it that he partook in private gambling with other guys, and there was the possibility that one of them would attack him over the debts. On the other hand, there's an issue that everyone seems to have forgotten - Scott is a teenager. Perhaps he plays against other teenagers, but given what we saw about the last pool hall he went to, I don't get that impression. I really don't get that impression since we're to buy that the manager of the hall engages in organized crime when a teenager can't repay his debts. So yeah, that leaves the question of why a group of adults would want to do high-stakes gambling with a high school student. High schoolers aren't well-known for having good judgment, and unless Scott was pegged as a kid with a lot of money, that probably means it'd be more likely he'd get in over his head and not be able to pay what he bet. And yeah, that's kind of the point of betting. The people want the money. If you're gambling specifically for the gains, why would you play against someone who you thought wouldn't pay up?
And the dumbest part of all is that the whole gambling backstory is pretty much all unnecessary. It just leads into Scott telling how he was abducted on his way home from school and tied to a table in a warehouse. He thinks that the manager sent a goon to rough him up because again, Fitzpatrick doesn't seem to realize that gambling debts tend to be settled differently outside of old movies. In a few paragraphs, we're also going to get a very short attempt at a red herring, via the reason Scott got the branding (and by short, I mean it'll be resolved a few paragraphs later). And that's it. Those are the entire reason for Scott's gambling backstory. A handwave as to what he thought the kidnapping was about, and a very lame attempt to fool the reader. We could have just as easily had it that he was grabbed on his way home from school and had no clue at all what happened. It wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference.
We get Scott's description of being tied down and pleading with his captor, which is actually quite well-written. The prose actually gives a very good sense of how terrified Scott was, while how drained he currently is as he relates it. He tells how the person who kidnapped him apparently paid off all his debts and was filthy rich and thus had no interest in more money. The kidnapper then heating up his ring, rips Scott's shirt open, and gives him the burn mark. Scott rather understandably screams at this, and the kidnapper responds by breaking one of Scott's fingers and threatening to do the same to the rest if he doesn't shut up.
And I must pause now to point out what a massive dumbass this guy is.
Folks, Fitzpatrick's going to try to milk this for drama a bit more, but let us not beat around the bush - Scott's kidnapper is the Black Hand. And we're seeing that this is his way of getting new members for his organization.
Yeah, how well does anyone think this would work, if reality ensued?
Pretty much the only thing we know thus far about this guy is that he somehow keeps his soldiers from knowing each other, which I already ranted about as being an incredibly stupid move. But okay, I could see it being handwaved. They're fighting fallen angels, who can possess and mindrape them, so the more broken-up their information is, the more difficult it would be for the fallen angels to find it out.
But this? No, this is pure idiocy, plain and simple.
Like so many other characters in this series, the Black Hand is going to be suffering from character derailment. All we hear of him in this book is that he's leading the Nephilim to rise up against the fallen angels. In later books though, he's flanderized into being an outright dictator who treats his men terribly and apparently is in it for personal gain, and not his actual cause. Either way though, his work hinges on the fact that he has a large army of very powerful people behind him. And guess what? Recruiting them like this would not work.
In trying to make the leader Obviously Evil, Fitzpatrick forgot to indicate why any of his followers would willingly join him, if this is how it goes. I mean, is this how he recruits everyone? He kidnaps them and forces them to join? If that's the case, why would everyone be obedient to him??? In later books, we see that his followers are very loyal to him and his cause. And yeah, that makes sense. Enslaved Nephilim are in a truly nightmarish situation, so a charismatic guy coming along and uniting them and saying, “Don't worry, I'll stop all of this” would be incredibly inspiring. Whether or not the leader is meant to be a straight-up villain, I could buy him getting support using those motives.
Except that here, we see he doesn't appeal to any of that. He just grabs a teenage boy off of the street, ties him up in a dark place, explains fuck-all nothing about what's going on, burns him without warning, breaks his finger when he screams in pain, and apparently then just throws him back on the street. He doesn't tell Scott what's going on. He doesn't tell Scott why it's vital for his own well-being that he join the cause. He doesn't act in any way that would inspire loyalty. Even if it was all an act, the leader ought to understand that winning the trust of his supporters is key to keeping them around! Hell, even Voldemort knew that!
One could argue that there's another method at work. In a later book, Nora accuses the Black Hand of brainwashing his soldiers into following him. Alright, that's a viable explanation...except when is that happening? Scott doesn't indicate that anything remotely like brainwashing was attempted. If it was realistic brainwashing, there's no way it could have worked to just send him on his way. Brainwashing in real life requires keeping a person in captivity and seriously fucking with their minds, more often than not simply resulting in that person being a gibbering mess. It could be a magical form of brainwashing, true, but again, there's no evidence of it being tried.
There are many explanations that could have been given for this scene. The leader could have developed the brand as a way to protect young Nephilim against fallen angels, to ensure that Scott wasn't enslaved even if no one was around to protect him. That would explain why the whole thing was forced - it was vital that this be done, as a sort of lesser of two evils scenario. Fitzpatrick could have made it explicit that brainwashing was going on, and had that Scott escaped before it was done to him. That would explain why he's pretty much the only Nephilim technically involved with the Black Hand who considers him frightening and sees them for what they really are. Or, if the scenario was mixed up, the leader could have abducted Scott but treated him nicely, sitting him down and explaining what was going on. It could easily have kept Scott being terrified and suspicious of the guy. If the leader went on a very serious talk about fallen angels and how Scott wasn't human, it would be easy to buy that Scott's thought process was “I've been kidnapped by an insane person, I need to get out of here.”
None of those things happen, though. As usual, in her effort to make a scene edgy and cool, Fitzpatrick forgoes all logic.
Anywho, moving along, Scott wraps things up by explaining that his mom and he moved back to Coldwater to escape from this guy. That's smart. I'm sure that a stalker sufficiently determined to track down his victim wouldn't think to find out where said victim used to live. Oh, and the reason Scott cuts school and works out so much is because he's still terrified that this guy will come after him, so he wants to be in prime shape to defend himself.
Now see what I mean, when I say Scott's reasons for the “bad boy” things he does make him far more sympathetic than Patch? I don't give a fuck that Patch can't feel his girlfriend. I feel sorry for Scott, whose life is such a mess. Patch ended up where he was because he was a reckless idiot who threw himself into situations and then hurt people when he tried to overcome the few downsides that came with falling. Scott got dragged into a horrible situation purely because a fallen angel decided to bone his mother and knock her up. He has had no choice in the matter and ended up there through no fault of his own.
And now, folks, Nora finally reacts. If you think she's going to be sympathetic to this...well, which who have you been reading about for the past thirteen chapters.
“I didn’t know if I could trust him. Patch had made it clear he didn’t, but Scott was shaking. His complexion was pasty, misted with sweat, and he plowed his hands through his hair, letting go of a long, wavering breath. Could he make up a story like that? All the details meshed with everything I already knew about Scott. He had a gambling addiction. He’d worked nights in Portland at a convenience store. He’d moved back to Coldwater to escape his past. He had the branding mark on his chest, proof someone had put it there. Could he sit two feet away and lie to me about what he’d gone through?”
ZeldaQueen: Yeah. Nothing but creepy clinical analysis of what he just said. This is frightening, guys. Someone just had an emotional breakdown in front of her. He's now sitting on the bed, sobbing, and she's not reacting to this at all. She's acting like she just got a clue in a video game she's playing, and now she has to figure out all the hints that can be milked from it.
Now were Nora capable of showing more human emotions, I could understand her not being all cuddly and sorry towards Scott. He did attack her in a drunk rage, after all. However, I'm not inclined to take that as an excuse, for three reasons.
First of all, Nora has all but forgotten by now that he attacked her. You know, like she always does. She really has the Bella and Ariana-esque ability to forget about Bad Things after they happen, doesn't she?
Second of all, Nora has already proven herself capable of feeling sorry for someone, even if she still is angry or upset with them. Even if she still hated Marcie, she felt bad about taking her diary. So even if she's supposed to be so focused on solving this little mystery, there's no reason why she couldn't feel sympathy for Scott but put most of her attention towards figuring things out.
Third of all, Patch attacked her in the motel room and Nora ended up feeling bad for his situation and made out with him.
But honestly, I get the impression that Nora doesn't feel anything about Scott because Fitzpatrick didn't think to write it in. Like I said, we're in Exposition Time now, so by God, Nora will be connecting those dots to move the plot forward! And unfortunately, Fitzpatrick seems to have trouble remembering to write her point of view character reacting or feeling things when the exposition occurs.
Speaking of exposition, Nora's still going strong! All Scott can tell her is that the Black Hand was tall and it was too dark in the warehouse to see him. If it was that dark, how did the leader see Scott well enough to cleanly brand him? In any case, Nora starts trying to figure out what common factors link her dad and Scott to the Black Hand and, of all things, latches on to the throwaway detail that the Black Hand paid off Scott's gambling debts and branded him. She seriously wonders if the same thing happened to her dad. Like, exactly the same thing.
“Had my dad gone through the same thing? Had his murder not been as random as the police originally guessed? Had the Black Hand paid off a debt my dad owed, then killed him when my dad refused to be branded? No. I wasn’t buying it. My dad didn’t gamble, and he didn’t rack up debt. He was an accountant. He knew the value of money. Nothing about his situation tied him to Scott.”
ZeldaQueen: Oh Jesus.
First of all, you found out that someone named “the Black Hand”, who deals in very shady business and apparently stalks his victims for seemingly no reason, apparently killed your father and just now it occurs to you that there might have been more purpose to it than “It was a random murder”?
Second of all, if the Black Hand is involved in the sort of shady dealings that you're implying he is, why do you think that all he does is pay off debts? I get the implication here that we're to think he's some mafia-esque man who pays off debts in exchange for favors or the like. If that's the case, why are you limiting him to only one thing? I somehow doubt he'd get far with a routine “Pay 'em off and brand 'em” scheme.
Which brings me to my third point, why is Nora not wondering what the point of the branding is? She keeps focusing on that, but she never speculates as to why the Black Hand would do that. Does she think it's some way to find his previous marks again? Some bizarre sort of receipt? And honestly, that's something that I think would be worth figuring out! If this guy's modus operandus is to pay off someone's debt and then just brand them, he's going to be in debt himself, pretty soon. There'd be no payback or returns for what he's doing. And if, somehow, Nora doesn't realize that there ought to be more to the branding than that, it doesn't reflect very well on her father's intelligence, in that scenario. Apparently she thinks he'd rather be shot and killed rather than get a small burn and be free of debt.
(Which ties back in to what I was saying earlier, about how branding is treated as a Most Horrible Fate here. Seriously, are we supposed to think that it's not being too dumb to live to put one's life in jeopardy over that, especially when one has a wife and daughter to take care of?)
Not to mention, if Nora gives no thought of pay-off for the branding, the Black Hand comes across as an even stupider villain than they actually are. Apparently it's so vital that a tiny symbol be burned on everyone that he's willing to shoot some schmuck for refusing it. Seriously, talk about disproportionate retribution!
Fourth of all, hey guys, did you know that accountants never fall into debt? Or get addicted to gambling? White-collar crime? What's that? (And while yes, I could buy someone not wanting to believe that their murdered father was in debt or involved with shady things, Nora's already made so many stupid conclusions that I don't feel generous.)
Nora continues to badger Scott for details, and he says that he has tried to forget everything about that time. He decides to have a smoke, so he pulls some cigarettes and an ashtray out from under his mattress. Uh... do many people stow ash trays under their mattress? Do many teenagers even bother with ash trays? Most of the ones I saw who smoked just sort of knocked the ashes into whatever was available and not flammable.
Anywho, Nora continues wondering questions which of course aren't going to get answered until it's time for the book to end, so there's no point in expecting answers. And no, Fitzpatrick, having Nora yammer questions in her head doesn't make her look intelligent or diligent.
Then, out of fucking nowhere, Nora wonders if the Black Hand was the leader of the Nephilim group she heard about.
ZeldaQueen: No, really. She just jumps to that conclusion, after forgetting about the society for most of the book! But no, it's fine! She has evidence! She's seen two Nephilim with clenched fist burn marks, so clearly that means that only Nephilim are being branded by this guy, and only the leader of the organization would recruit new members like that!
ZeldaQueen: Oh, and Nora finally figures out that the marks are meant to help the organization's members recognize each other. If they have them there for that, why the fuck can't they just be told who they are?
Nora starts asking Scott more questions, and he finally snaps at her. I say good on him. Nora asks if he's seen the Black hand since then, and Scott about has a panic attack at the thought of them meeting again. Dude, Nora, back off.
Well, she does. At least, she does so she can go back to more of her logicking, which is only slightly less stupid than Bree Tanner's. She thinks about how more Nephilim were probably “recruited by force, but disjointed from any real strength or purpose because they were kept in the dark”. Again I ask, is the Black Hand trying to lose?!? He gang-presses his members into service instead of finding people to fight willingly, works against fostering any sense of companionship or comraderie amongst them, gives them no purpose to fight for, and withholds all information. There's no reason for them to stick around! Why hasn't his big, important army scattered into many different directions?!?
The issue is so honking obvious that even Nora the Witless Wonder is curious as to why the Black hand is working this way. “What was the Black Hand waiting for? Why was he holding off uniting his members? To keep fallen angels from finding out what he was up to?” It's a failed attempt to make this guy mysterious, that's what it is. As far as I'm aware, we don't find out why the Black Hand is operating the way he is. In fact, spoilers - we're going to see that he does have soldiers who fight together and know their goals and are united. So I don't even know what this is all supposed to be about! This makes no sense! Why does NOTHING make no sense?! Why has it taken so long to spork a single chapter???!?!
Fortunately, things are pretty much over. Nora tries to get more answers out of Scott (because he's clearly in possession of a wealth of knowledge here), but Scott just conveniently passes out. Nora tries to wake him up to ask him more about that incredibly traumatizing day, but thankfully the kid stays asleep. Amazingly, Nora has the presence of mind to put out his cigarette and pull some covers over him before leaving.
And with that, gentle Viewers, we end this chapter. Dear fucking lord, but this was terrible! Tune in for more pointlessness, as we drift aimlessly towards his thing's conclusion.
Bring all the chocolate.
YOU FUCKING WHORE: 82
Onward to: Chapter 15 (Part 1)
Return to: Chapter 14 (Part 1)
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