Chapter 59 of 74 · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Chapter 59 — Velma

Book: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride · Part: The Bedlam · Previous: Chapter 58 — Amayon · Next: Chapter 60 — The last rampart · Floor: Floor 8 — The Ghosts of Earth · Series: the series

Opening

It took a second, but the horror flashed across Ren’s face as the implications of it all s

Summary

Both keys are in Donut's inventory, the door has four and a half minutes, and a Flee loses a random key. Carl runs every path: tossing Samantha is too slow; the Loop-De-Loop needs a crawler to swap, which means Khulan, draped over her husband, or swapping Ren away and killing Imani. An unattributed voice in his head warns that this decision is the end of everything.

Ren sits down and unsnaps her flamethrower. Her story is known to everyone: a Mongolian fashion model in France, stabbed with her dog by an ex, a year in hospital, home when the collapse came, a whole village of childhood friends brought down one by one; only her husband was keeping Khulan together. Carl offers a fair fight; Ren calls him an idiot, more than just a person: 'You're a symbol. You're the embodiment of our hope. You and that fucking, annoying cat'. Carl regrets not letting Ren finish Quan. As the fight fails to happen the view counter eases.

She kicks him the flamethrower, Velma, and empties her inventory: rings, clothing, potions, Eye in the Sky scrolls. Carl is reminded of Miriam Dom doing the same, and of his mother. Then the Knife of Frozen Tears, Sylvan crystal, one of Garret's four weaknesses. The door falls and all its keys are destroyed. Tummy achers are near-immortal tanks that regenerate tougher with a new weakness each death and reset to level one every fifth — like the rest of them, Ren says, stronger-looking with another crack. Her dog died protecting her; now Garret will go and live with Carl. She kills him with the knife, and he gains a new weakness, Reaper Gaze, and a level-one meatball with one tooth is slid across the floor to Carl.

Ren explains: as soon as Khulan is done crying she will kill herself — she lost her little girl, who was inside when it started — and Ren does not want that to be the last thing she sees; she wants to go out having done something good and deny them a fight. She asks Carl not to let Sister Ines get away with keeping Paz's card. Wearing only a Predator wrist bracer and a paw-print locket, she will blow herself up: 'This is me telling them to go fuck themselves.' To Donut she confesses the experience theft and the rigged pet show: Mongo is the rightful champion. Khulan wraps her arms round Ren's neck, eyes dry and unblinking.

Carl receives Garret's care instructions — never undead or hobgoblin-touched food, a new name — Khulan's gear, and Ren's whole non-totem deck. 'Carl. Make them suffer.' 'I will kill every last one of them. Every one.'

Characters

• Tserendolgor — Denies them a fight; gives Velma, Garret and her deck; a bracer for the end.
• Khulan — Loses a husband and a daughter; done.
• Carl — Runs out of clever; receives a pet and an oath.
• Garret — Killed by his mistress to be saved; level one with a new weakness.
• Princess Donut — Vindicated over the pet show.
• Chuluuna — A body on the tiles.
• Imani — The key Carl means to give away.

Locations

• El Capitolio — The door gone; the ceiling coming down.

Motifs

• This is what we lost — A village of friends; a little girl inside; a dog who died protecting her.
• 'You're not going to break me' — 'You're the embodiment of our hope […] If we lose you, we lose everything.'
• The river in Carl's head — 'It's the end of everything'; 'It's so loud.'
• The show — Views falling as the fight is refused; 'Fuck you all.'
• Loneliness — Miriam Dom's clearing remembered; his mother's birthday present.
• Crawler on crawler — Going out on her own terms.
• T'Ghee totems — The Midnight Express; a Glow-Up in a waistband.