Chapter 74 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 74 — All Eyes on Me

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Butchering · Previous: Chapter 73 — Wonderwall, again · Next: Chapter 75 — Sic 'em · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

Up on stage, the curtains pulled, and Donut stood there alone.

Summary

Donut alone under the spotlight, charm potion taken: 'Sir Ferdinand, minion of Princess Donut, has joined the party.' 'That's my bird up there.' 'My mother used to sing this to me. It’s called ‘All Eyes on Me.’' Britney, a virtuoso on the Popovs' five-stringed guitar; the drunk Bea song — 'I’d take it all back and never let you win. I wouldn’t do it all over again' — sung with such longing it wrenches the heart; a minor charm on the whole room, hunters and queen included, fixing every eye where the caster chooses. Britney shifts to baroque and the spotlight, blue as moonlight, finds Big Tina in her pink boa with the wand Donut has just recharged: sparkles, a hop that shakes the stage, a twirl, and the wand's own charm, The Recital, which makes everyone glad to be there. Carl weeps. Signet, unaffected, glows brighter by the second. Clay-ton and Very Sullen raise Elle's painted mainsail as a backdrop for the Water Ballad Prudence taught. 'You tell them I did this out of my own free will.' Vrah alone sees the naiad and shouts. 'Sledge. Do it': one minute to chant, five to cast; he and Ferdinand will transfer to the ninth floor with the castle, sick for a day, safe from faction-wars players; 'No let Bomo beat my Frogger score.' The sail drops on thirty raptors plus Mongo and Kiwi in hand-sewn sea costumes — a shrimp chewing its antennae, a blind clam, Mongo's fallen crab, Kiwi's paper bubbles, a seaweed cut in half — swaying to the guitar. Imani moves everyone onto solid tiles. Signet, neck locked as the tattoos spin: 'Do you happen to have a knife?' Carl gives her the one meant for Donut, handle first, and slips on his bracer. 'Protect your family, and watch over mine.' She sits rigid beside her sister — two regrets, no goodbye to Grimaldi and not being the one to kill Imogen; 'We were going to go to an island' — and tears the knife across her own throat. Every acorn falls at once; the floor rends; Signet is pulled into the Nothing out of Imogen's grasping hands, sulphur and shrieks: 'Psamathe, we are coming.' 'So much for season three.' Her tattoos remain as a spinning outline; her blood rises into a tornado. 'Apito has turned her back. The seal has been broken […] This party is over.' The judges and Chaco vanish. Carl puts on the ring, marks Vrah, throws two smoke curtains. 'Now!'

Characters

• Princess Donut — Sings her mother's song; charms Ferdinand for real.
• Tsarina Signet — Caster, sacrifice and killer; dies by her own hand into the Nothing.
• Big Tina — The Recital; a wand that makes everyone happy.
• Britney Proskurina — Guitar virtuoso.
• Ferdinand — Minion; 'That's my bird.'
• The Sledge — Casts the spell; a Frogger score to protect.
• Queen Imogen — Grabs at her sister too late.
• Carl — Hands over the assassin's knife; marks Vrah.
• Vrah — The only one who sees it coming; marked.
• Kiwi — Paper bubbles.
• Mongo — A fallen crab costume.
• Elle McGibbons — Mainsail backdrop; 'So much for season three.'
• The Desperado Club cretins — Hold the sail.
• Chaco — Gone at the break.
• Prudence — Her Water Ballad, posthumously.

Locations

• The high elf castle — The stage; the floor opens to the Nothing.

Motifs

• Donut's songs — The drunk lullaby becomes a spell.
• The Butcher's Masquerade — The seal broken by suicide; Apito turns her back.
• The Nothing — 'Psamathe, we are coming.'
• Signet's tattoos — Signet's family as living ink.
• The Ring of Divine Suffering — Vrah marked.