Character · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

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 35 — Eris and the five-sided coin
• Chapter 86 — Mimics; the Big Six
• Chapter 87 — Louis goes; Safehome Yolanda; the giant Imani
• Chapter 88 — Interlude: Quasar; the eleventh floor — twenty-three crawlers; Chaco's parade

Arc

The AI says Reaper Spider Minions are all over the place and Carl keeps missing them — a way to send a message to Juice Box in Sheol (ch. 86).