Place · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

The Nothing

A double spot on the Desperado Club's wheel of fortune — 'the Nothing sure is something' — and a trapdoor under the roulette table that drops a losing player into a hole full of screams. Carl's spin stops just short of it.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 1 — Chandra; the garage
• Chapter 28 — The interlocution; the question Orren wanted asked
• Chapter 32 — The skull of Tem; three vehicles over the line
• Chapter 38 — Akuma's account: Herot, Menerva and the Pineapple Cabaret
• Chapter 55 — The cleaner bot plan
• Chapter 69 — The stables: who may leave; the Scavenger myth
• Chapter 70 — The memorial crystal; the Midnight Epicure
• Chapter 79 — 715 deals; Britney in Carl's mind; the Nothing in quotes
• Chapter 83 — The poleaxes; Britney kills Osvaldo; the Cadillac
• Chapter 85 — The Wheel of Fortune; 'Nothing' in quotes
• Chapter 86 — Mimics; the Big Six
• Chapter 92 — Chaco on Lamashtu; the AI's history in four parts; Vengeance
• Chapter 93 — The arena: 'I choose Scolopendra'
• Chapter 94 — Dungeon Boss; the pig in the harness
• Chapter 97 — Eris; the wrong biscuit; the gods leave

Progression

Quasar tells Carl it is 'Broken' (ch. 1), and a Plenty goat explains how: Justice Light's trap loosed its inhabitants onto three floors (ch. 28). Tem, whose skull blocks the third heat's finish, resided there until Odette killed him (ch. 32); Akuma says the Cabaret's pocket dimension is the same sort of thing (ch. 38). The Desperado Club's Nothing spots are gone from the casino, then back, in quotes (ch. 55, ch. 79) — the one under the Wheel of Fortune is a one-way portal to a stasis chamber (ch. 85).