In the eleventh chapter of Untold<\/i>, Kami meets her friend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at Rusty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gym to go over their plan to take down Rob and his sorcerers. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Untold<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Chapter Eleven: A Drop of Blood, a Single Tear<\/b><\/p>\n
God, the first half of this chapter is absolutely heartbreaking, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m comforted by the fact that ultimately, this is about Kami realizing that she can<\/i> move on by herself. Still, this hurts<\/i>. It hurts so much, and I hate that Kami has to suffer like this because of things that ultimately other<\/i> people did. At the same time, as someone who has always had severe self-esteem issues, I recognize a familiar behavior here. In one sense, Kami is blaming herself for what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened between her and her family, for Jared\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decisions, for her own feelings towards him, and for her own loneliness. And her perception is<\/i> skewed here because she sees herself as the source of all these problems, even if that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the case. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s terrible to watch happen because good god, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all<\/i>, I have done this so many times. When you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in the thick of it, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to appreciate the scope of a situation. And in this case, Kami\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got numerous things going wrong in her life.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still struck by how true<\/i> Sarah Rees Brennan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s writing feels when it comes to dealing with the emotional baggage of an ex-partner or ex-friend. Even if Jared and Kami never dated, I think it would be foolish to ignore that they did<\/i> have a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153relationship\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of some sort. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gone now, but that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that Kami\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s feelings for him \u00e2\u20ac\u201c both emotional and physical \u00e2\u20ac\u201c still linger within her heart. So even touching<\/i> Jared, regardless of the context, is able to trigger these haunting thoughts and desires in her. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not fair! She wants<\/i> to move on:<\/p>\n She wanted to hold him, but he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a part of her anymore. She couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t keep pretending he was.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Granted, Brannan is speaking literally here, as Jared was once a real part<\/i> of Kami, but I think this is easy to extrapolate to refer to the experience of losing a relationship. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been the person to break things off with a guy; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always been dumped. So this experience, this lingering, this haunting, is something I know all too well. And I can tell Kami is trying to avoid projecting what she wants<\/i> from Jared onto him, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard when she misses him so much. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious to know how long Jared is going to keep up this\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what to call it. Tantrum is too dismissive of his genuine feelings, and charade isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t correct because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretending. Whatever this funk is, Jared\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hurting Kami, even if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d insist that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the case.<\/p>\n And then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Kami\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father. IT HURTS MORE THAN ANY SINGLE THING IN THIS WHOLE CHAPTER. Oh my god, I get that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s upset and confused, and I do<\/i> appreciate that he wants to make sure he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sorted his thoughts before he says anything to Kami. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your daughter<\/i>, dude, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not her fault that she had to keep this secret from him. Doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that ultimately go back to Claire? Gah, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all so complicated, though, and so I completely understand why Kami just breaks down and starts crying on the stairs outside of Rusty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gym. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all too much for her, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening all at once<\/i>.<\/p>\n THEN RUSTY HAPPENS. Okay, okay<\/i>, so obviously, he fucks up by assuming that Jared was the one who made Kami cry (WHICH ISN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EXACTLY AN UNFATHOMABLE IDEA), and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that Rusty and Kami at least agree that maybe this shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen again. But Rusty<\/i>. He initiates a fight with Jared to defend Kami<\/i>. Yeah, it does drip with a bit of chivalry, but I still kind of adore it? Rusty is often apathetic or he relies on his humor to get through difficult situations. However, in this instance, he stands up for someone he cares about, and IT IS NOT A JOKE. <\/i>Yes??? Great??? MUCH CUTE. Look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not a violent person at all, and I literally cringe up and want to hide if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m even in the same room<\/i> as a fight, so I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want this to come off as an endorsement of punching faces as conversation. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a cathartic aspect to what Rusty does, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore that!<\/p>\n Other than this, Kami and the group set up the machinations of their plan against Rob and his sorcerers, though it hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gone further than self defense lessons and stealing some of Rob and Rosalind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stuff in order to create spells against them. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested in seeing how that<\/i> works, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m mostly enamored with how differently I look upon Rusty. Oh god, character development is my favorite<\/i>.<\/p>\n Part 1<\/p>\n