Character · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Shi Maria

The Screamer, the Widow Endless, the Bedlam Bride, MaeMae to Samantha: a level-140 Reaper Spider Minion and demigod banished from the celestial realm to a Cuban swamp because, legend has it, she killed and ate her husband, a killing she does not remember, with a fifth eye that blinds and maddens and a human head on a putty neck. She swallows Samantha, weeps on cue, bargains her way into Donut's deck for a ride to Larracos, eats six heads off a hydra, and, combined with Carl by a misfired card, tattoos herself above his sternum with ink made from a root and a friend's blood. 'Either way, I win.'

Segment appearances

• Chapter 1 — Porthus; Welcome to Faction Wars
• Chapter 2 — Hosers and achievements
• Chapter 4 — Gloom Wraith Phase
• Chapter 11 — Tipid; fifty thousand
• Chapter 14 — The flag room and the Ramp-Up
• Chapter 16 — Everly; Glory Bound
• Chapter 17 — Eleven hours
• Chapter 18 — The minor quorum; code red
• Chapter 19 — The ruling; the ceasefire ends
• Chapter 36 — Orren's zero zone
• Chapter 47 — Tattoos, and a flower offered
• Chapter 54 — The Waffle Maker; Hellik's message
• Chapter 58 — Sultan Rishi the Usurper
• Chapter 62 — A non-team entity
• Chapter 65 — Bear Witness
• Chapter 69 — Interlude — Several days earlier; Interlude — Rosetta; Zarogoths
• Chapter 81 — Executive Order 11905

Arc

She tries to cast through Carl and fails against Mind Balance, rising a level each attempt, and gets 'Watch out, Carl' through anyway (ch. 14). In Katia's dream she kills and devours her husband sobbing, then he returns as a god and traps her (ch. 17); in the replay she stands in the ballroom unhinged — 'I have always loved you' — possessing every goblin (ch. 19). 'Use me while you still can. I can save you' (ch. 54); 'You're always on rails […] You're a puppet' (ch. 62). She bursts into Katia's dream a second time: 'I didn't kill him!' — and a new, unnamed voice: 'Bitch, you swallowed me whole' (ch. 69).