Chapter 30 of 74 · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Chapter 30 — Four drugs

Book: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride · Part: Havana · Previous: Chapter 29 — Der Schachmeister · Next: Chapter 31 — The corridor behind the shops · Floor: Floor 8 — The Ghosts of Earth · Series: the series

Opening

» Zev: You two need to be back in four and a half hours.

Summary

Six hours to phase two; Zev wants them in four and a half for Odette's show, straight to the onboarding chamber after, Harbinger observing virtually again with the attorney present. Deck talk on the way in: enemy decks are themed and burn consumables they only need once; 'It's not fair!' The second secret fight lost to a mud-blob deckmaster of tanks and snares (Damnation on Shi Maria, Raul and Asojano frozen, an exploding mud ball); the third won in five seconds with a hob-lobber through The Luau, a pink orc in a coconut bra with a conga-playing piglet, and her fire-breathing Mo'o — the doctrine now: kill the deckmaster before the consumables. 'You're spending money like Miss Beatrice in a shoe shop.' At the table Katia, human-form, sobbing, vomiting a rainbow into Louis's bucket: 'It was so real, Carl […] It's so much better than the blitz sticks.' 'You don't have to explain' — colder than meant. Mordecai by chat: four addictions, all curable as addictions, but her stats are scrambled — constitution hit hard, intelligence down though still above where it was before the blitz began ('which seems to have been going on for a while'), strength up, charisma down, spells and skill points lost, permanently susceptible to addictive spells. Travis Priest (a painkiller — cured first, hence the vomiting), Creamsicle Charm (ground fairy wings, forgets worries), the blitz (weed plus a hallucinogen of non-existent memories; a skin patch), and Glory Bound, once — a coma that relives a memory; without more she goes slowly insane, and the cure is a poisoned dose that makes her relive one of her worst. Carl thinks of his father unbidden and is angry at himself for the comparison; then at Katia's missing fingers, kept missing — 'I'm losing myself' — and knows who he is angry with: 'I do understand […] I don’t want to. That’s the problem.' The view counter spiked; the rushing feeling; 'I will burn this whole thing to the ground. Goddamn you all.' Mordecai says what Carl makes him say: helping Katia is right, but the smart and safe thing is to step back and let her self-destruct — 'I know you love Katia […] But I also know you love Donut more […] It's either her or Donut […] Some breaks aren't clean.' 'We're not giving up on her, and I don't want you to bring it up again.' 'It's going to get worse before it gets better.' Carl to Katia: Samantha is in the guild, you have the drawing skills, Imani gives you the patch, three hours, now. It cannot wait: finishing the Astrid quest opens the box with Katia's orchid, and Huanxin's help holds only if Carl secures Odette as their adjutant. Bautista pushes her down — 'Don't ever touch me like that' — argues for later, and storms out: 'Fine. Kill yourself. But I won't stand by and watch.' Imani, wings angry: a dozen debuffs; the patch 'on your ass' and buffs against passing out, in the bathroom. Louis gets an achievement for storing a bucket of vomit. Elle: 'If anything happens to her, we’re gonna have a problem with Tony the Tiger'; she and Imani will pick different phase-two destinations; Imani traded her alien for a unique mothman and a reverse tooth fairy; 'I thought for sure Louis would be the first of us to crack.' 'I have a terrible feeling about phase two.' 'It’s dangerous, though. And a little crazy.' 'What else is new?'

Characters

• Katia Grim — Detoxing at the table, stats scrambled; 'I'll be okay.'
• Carl — Angry at the wrong person, then the right one; refuses the arithmetic.
• Mordecai — Names the drugs and the choice: her or Donut.
• Daniel Bautista — 'Fine. Kill yourself.'
• Imani — Cures and buffs, coldly.
• Elle McGibbons — 'I hope you know what you're doing, cowboy.'
• Louis and Firas — A bucket, an achievement.
• Princess Donut — 'DON'T BE MEAN TO KATIA.'
• Zev — Odette's show in four and a half hours; Harbinger insists on watching.
• The Luau — A coconut bra and a conga piglet, dead in five seconds.

Locations

• The Desperado Club — The dining room, a full bucket, tuxedoed crocodilians watching.

Motifs

• Addiction — Travis Priest, Creamsicle Charm, blitz, Glory Bound; a cure that is a bad trip.
• Carl's family — His father's face, unbidden; 'I do understand.'
• The Crown of the Sepsis Whore — 'It's either her or Donut'; 'Some breaks aren't clean.'
• The river in Carl's head — The rushing feeling; knowing the conversation before it comes.
• T'Ghee totems — Themed enemy decks; kill the master first.
• The Guild of Suffering — The job must be now; drawing skills required.
• The show — The view counter spiked on a friend's collapse.
• Found family — 'When someone falls, you hold out your wing.'