In the twenty-fifth chapter of Untold, THIS IS NOT OKAY. MAKE IT STOP. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Untold.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Kami’s Sacrifice
I DON’T LIKE THE TITLE OF THIS CHAPTER. I DON’T LIKE IT, AND IT NEEDS TO STOP.
“Did Holly stay with you last night?” Kami asked in a low voice.
“Yes.”
AWESOME, MORE HOLLY/ANGELA
“No,” she added very firmly, “it’s nothing like that. Things are so bad with her family, and there’s other stuff too. I’m just being a friend.”
I LOVE FRIENDS, FRIENDS ARE GREAT.
Angela’s lip curled. “I don’t want to be anything besides friends,” she stated. “Not anymore.”
When annoyed, Angela was not a mistress of stealth. She spoke a little too loudly. Over Angela’s shoulder, Kami saw Holly register the words.
NO, PLEASE, CAN THIS NOT HAPPEN, ESPECIALLY NOT RIGHT NOW. NO.
“Holly’s lucky to have you,” Kami said. “So am I.”
OKAY, THIS IS ALLOWED TO HAPPEN. MORE CUTENESS IS TOTALLY FINE.
Y’all, let me take this brief respite from my deluge of all-caps to just talk about how quickly this turned into a nightmare. I figured that I’d have at least another chapter or two before Rob and his sorcerers appeared in the town square, but instead, Brennan reveals that the battle is finally here. NOW. RIGHT NOW. THERE ARE STILL LIKE SIXTY PAGES LEFT. THAT WORRIES ME. Well, what happens in the rest of this chapter worries me more, but we’ll get to that. I think that this is all a demonstration of how these people couldn’t have ever been prepared for this battle. Truthfully, Brennan has shown us that the odds were always stacked against Lillian and Kami, in part because they were outnumbered. But as the two sides converged in the town square, it became terrifying clear what a fucking disaster this was going to be. The sheer number of sorcerers made me nervous; Rob’s first declaration of power made me nervous; Lillian’s refusal to give Rob a sacrifice made me nervous.
And it all didn’t matter. Oh god.
[Ruth] was almost close enough to touch Ms. Dollard, but not quite, when she passed a hand through the air, pale in the fire-tinted darkness. Somehow that gesture turned the air twisted and sharp, made a slice of night into a knife.
It cut Ms. Dollard’s throat.
I hope that the video commission provides the obligatory all-caps freakout because I’d rather talk about how furious and disgusted this single act makes me. I don’t know, y’all, I guess Rob’s threat never truly seemed real until this very moment when a human life is taken so that Rob and his sorcerers can make Sorry-in-the-Vale theirs. Ruth didn’t even hesitate to kill Ms. Dollard. A human life is now gone, just so that these awful people can take more. Because Ms. Dollard isn’t even the sacrifice they want. SHE WAS JUST IN THE WAY, and the sorcerers can feed off the power of her blood. And I hate each and every single one of them. I can’t sympathize with them at all. I can’t understand what would drive anyone to do something this heinous and brutal.
The thing is, it never gets better. Momentarily, we’re led to believe that the bags that Kami made have given Lillian and her other sorcerers an advantage, but Rob burns them away after he realizes what’s happened. It’s… god, chaos doesn’t even sound like it’s a strong enough word. I don’t know what to call this anymore, and reading it was so upsetting. It was made so much worse when Kami realized that maybe she and her friends would have to run away. How could they not? How the hell were they supposed to fight people who could turn the air into knives? So I love Kami and respect her so much for offering her friends a choice, for not framing this as if it would be shameful for them to just run away. Indeed, it’s painted as a rather logical option.
Except that they can’t just let their town be taken. Jared is the first to go, though he offers both Ash and Kami this really heartbreaking bit of affection before he joins the fray. Then Angela is gone, then Rusty, and then Holly is fighting once Angela is threatened. MY HEART CAN’T DEAL WITH THE FACT THAT HOLLY PUT HERSELF BETWEEN ANGELA AND HER OWN FATHER. SHE CHOSE ANGELA OVER HER FAMILY. OH MY GOD, AND THEN JARED GOES AFTER ROB LYNBURN AND ABSOLUTELY 0% OF THIS IS OKAY.
OR AT LEAST THAT IS WHAT I THOUGHT UNTIL I READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH:
Kami met his gaze and swallowed down her fear, determinedly fought back her furious, terrified instinct to recoil. “I’ll be your source,” she told him. “Do the spell now.”
ARE YOU SERIOUS.
IS THIS A THING THAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN
WHY DO THIS WEEK’S REVIEWS HAVE TO END RIGHT HERE. Oh my god, I just realized that I said at the end of the video that it would be a week before I’d get to read more, BUT I WAS WRONG. I’m traveling for Thanksgiving, so there’s no Double Features next week, SO I HAVE TO WAIT TWO FUCKING WEEKS FOR MORE?
WHAT HAVE I DONE.
Please note that the original text and the video below contain the word “crazy.”
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