Reddit Post by u/TuEresMiOtroYo on June 20th 2022
This week in Hot Tomb Summer, Gideon recovers from last week's trauma by holding her crush’s hand, going to a tea party, and swimming in the pool. What a breath of fresh air after the child death, sword fights, and creepy skeleton monsters haunting the facility. Hopefully a fun time will be had by all!
:)
Chapter 26
The bodies of the Fourth House are recovered and taken to the morgue. After being harangued by Harrow, Gideon is left sitting alone with Dulcinea and crying. They have a conversation about how Gideon feels she should’ve done something; Dulcinea gives her some gentle sympathy and then shares her feelings about death and the way life works on the Seventh House when you’re a necromancer dying of blood cancer. “A walking thanergy generator. If they could figure out some way to stop you when you’re mostly cancer and just a little bit woman, they would!”
When Dulcinea wonders aloud what happened to “one flesh, one end,” Gideon remembers seeing that phrase in the Lyctoral rooms she and Harrow explored and asks what they mean. Dulcinea reveals that these are the words a cavalier and necromancer say to one another on the day that they’re pledged to each other, and Gideon is rumbled. Immediately after this revelation Palamedes walks in on them holding hands. His tactful reaction is the last straw for Gideon who books it down the hall and physically runs into the Eighth House. She and Silas trade insults briefly, but then Silas drops Gideon’s last name and the name of Ortus Nigenad (remember him?) into the conversation, revealing that he’s spoken to Glaurica (the mother of Ortus, Harrow’s old “official” cavalier, who stole Gideon’s escape shuttle to fly back to her home planet on the Eighth way back at the beginning of the book). Silas claims that because of her experiences growing up in the Ninth House, Gideon will want to hear what he has to say and unenthusiastically invites her to tea. Gideon is not into this and goes directly to bed. She has continuous gory nightmares about the Fourth and Fifth and her mother, and Harrow looking down at her telling her to go back to sleep. “All signs pointed toward hallucination.”
Chapter 27
The Sixth and the Ninth get together in the Sixth’s quarters for a negotiation. We get a peek into the way the Sixth lives with blackout curtains over the windows, Palamedes’ notes all over the walls and mirrors, books stacked all over the chairs, and Camilla’s cavalier cot loaded with a collection of weapons. Palamedes and Harrow talk about whether it makes more sense to trade keys or to go into the rooms together, and discuss Palamedes’ megatheorem idea. Basically, Palamedes believes that the secret to becoming a Lyctor is some kind of synthesis of the eight theorems learned through completing the trials and winning the keys; Harrow believes there’s a hidden, deeper understanding or power source within the facility itself, which the theorems are meant to lead toward. They agree that Palamedes will trade his notes on the theorems he has seen for Harrow picking the Sixth House Lyctoral lock, and also for Palamedes showing Harrow another Lyctoral door he had mentioned to her. They all head out to see the latter door first. Camilla and Gideon have a chat about how Camilla’s true weapon of choice is dual short blades, Gideon says she can introduce Palamedes to Dulcinea if that’s what he wants, and Camilla says that’s the last thing Palamedes needs. All four of them arrive at the door Harrow wanted to see (later revealed to be the Seventh door), and the lock turns out to be jammed with perpetually regenerating bone putty which Palamedes was unable to remove. After seeing Harrow struggle to unjam the door, Gideon offers herself up for Harrow to siphon and Harrow successfully clears the keyhole. Feeling like he owes them, Palamedes offers some more information: he knows where seven keys are (three with the Sixth, one with the Ninth, three with the Eighth) but there’s one still missing.
When the Sixth and the Ninth part ways, Palamedes tells Gideon to “Keep an eye on her.” Realizing he was referring to Dulcinea, Harrow bans Gideon from seeing Dulcinea and says that Dulcinea is dangerous. Gideon accuses her of being jealous and Harrow doubles down. As they’re arguing, Harrow says something about Gideon keeping her priorities straight that Gideon takes as a reference to Jeannemary’s death. She tells Harrow that she hates her and she always will; Harrow tells Gideon she still doesn’t remember about her half the time and she is still banned from seeing Dulcinea. They share some more awful remarks and Harrow walks away. Gideon makes an impulse decision.
Chapter 28
Gideon shows up at the Eighth House quarters, surprising Colum and Silas who appear to be in the middle of housekeeping and showering, respectively. Colum lets Gideon in after taking away her rapier and offhand, which she only gives up after he swears on his honor that she’ll be safe there. We get a look at what the Eighth has done with their room and it’s basically r/minimalism with a huge portrait of God hung right over the table. Cozy. After Gideon is ushered in, Silas shows up wet and tired-looking and gets right into it by letting Gideon know he only allowed her to come here because it seemed of great moral importance and making a comment about her mother. Gideon is about to walk out when Silas adds that he learned about Gideon’s mother from Glaurica’s ghost. Apparently, after Glaurica and Ortus hopped on Gideon’s pre-paid Cohort escape shuttle and headed for the Eighth, the shuttle exploded mid-route, and only Glaurica’s ghost made it to her home planet. With barely a moment to absorb the revelation of the exploding shuttle meant for Gideon, Silas starts asking about the deaths of the two hundred children in Gideon’s age group which Gideon deflects with confusion, thinking he’s trying to blame Harrow for a bunch of kids dying of the flu before Harrow was even born. Silas drops some interesting commentary on the religious origins of the Ninth House, claims they were a House that was never meant to exist, and says he still 100% believes the Ninth killed those two hundred kids. In conclusion he states he doesn’t believe anyone should become a Lyctor and he needs to take Gideon’s keys now. This does not go over well with Colum, who was not in on this scheme and is absolutely not down with going against his promise to Gideon when she handed over her weapons earlier. The Eighth proceed to have an intense and dramatic back-and-forth with each other that increasingly seems to be less about the specific situation with Gideon, and more about the unique and twisted circumstances the two of them have been living with since becoming necromancer and cavalier when Silas was very young (and less of a jerk). After Colum delivers a little impassioned speech about how his and his brothers’ lives were dedicated to training for cavalierhood a decade before Silas was even born, and how he’s been engineered (physically and psychologically) into someone whose honor is one of the few things of his own he has left, Silas is shocked into silence long enough for Colum to return Gideon’s weapons and for Gideon to skedaddle.
Chapter 29
Overwhelmed by the drama, Gideon wanders around Canaan House and has a chat with Teacher before heading to the cavalier training room. Here she discovers Princess Coronabeth… practicing with a rapier and knife. They chat briefly and Corona initiates a sparring session with Gideon, who’s surprised at Corona’s forcefulness and footwork. The sparring ends abruptly when Naberius, the Third cavalier, interrupts and tells Corona to drop it. The two of them have an intense and muffled conversation. Gideon, having had her fill of drama for the day, drifts away while Corona and Naberius hug and bite it out. She slowly heads back to the Ninth quarters. Harrow is absent so Gideon goes into Harrow’s room and starts rifling through her wardrobe, surprised and for some reason angry to discover there’s no bone ward on the wardrobe door. While digging around in the wardrobe, Gideon discovers a cheap dented box half-hidden under Harrow’s boots and pulls it out. When she opens it up she finds the head of Protesilaus, the Seventh cavalier.
Chapter 30
The Sixth House gives Gideon tea in their quarters after she tells them about her discovery and throws up in their toilet. She asks Palamedes what he’d do if he found out Camilla killed someone, and he says he’d help her bury the body, then asks Gideon if she thinks Harrow did it. Gideon is unsure because while Harrow almost killed her a ton of times growing up, Gideon at least knew why – because Gideon killed Harrow’s parents. She shares the story with Palamedes. Being the only two kids their age she and Harrow grew up in each other’s pockets on the Ninth House, even though Harrow’s parents (the Reverend Mother and Father) always looked on Gideon with disdain and disgust. From Gideon’s point of view Harrow was always a goody-good golden child growing up, until at age ten Harrow became obsessed with opening the Locked Door protecting the eponymous Locked Tomb which the Ninth House was created to keep locked. One day after Gideon and Harrow had a fight, Harrow finally managed to unlock the Locked Door and a delighted Gideon went and tattled on Harrow to Harrow’s parents. A while later after not hearing any thrilling sounds of punishment, Gideon walked into Harrow’s parents’ quarters to find that both of them and their cavalier had killed themselves, leaving Harrow behind. Gideon wraps up the story by telling Palamedes that Harrow would do anything to become a Lyctor and if she thought killing Dulcinea’s cavalier would help her, she absolutely would have. Palamedes gives her a reality check and says obviously an eleven-year-old isn’t responsible for the choices made by adults. Relieved and comforted, Gideon shows Palamedes the note she found in the red keyed Lyctoral lab that references her own name and he tells her it’s ten thousand years old which weirds her out, so she swears him to secrecy.
Camilla appears with Harrow in tow, handcuffed to her wrist. After a brief and confusing-to-Gideon exchange between Harrow and Palamedes regarding the Seventh cavalier’s head, the Sixth release Harrow and everyone in Canaan House goes to talk to Dulcinea. Dulcinea underreacts to being presented with her cavalier’s head and explains that after he befell a fatal accident right before the Lyctoral trials, a group of necromancers on the Seventh House working in concert re-animated him and sent him to Canaan House with Dulcinea anyway. Ianthe is fascinated and Silas finds this highly problematic. The Eighth take the head back to the morgue, the Third share some banter, and Judith (the Second necromancer) demands that Teacher contact the Seventh House and send Dulcinea home. He says that this is impossible. The Second leave immediately. Palamedes says Dulcinea has days to live and Teacher and the other priests offer to sit with her. As Harrow leaves and Gideon follows her out, Palamedes says to Gideon that if Harrow were capable of anything to become a Lyctor he thinks she would be one already.
Chapter 31
Harrow takes Gideon to the pool, surrounds the room with skeletons, and announces to Gideon that the time has come to tell her everything. Then she tells her to get in the pool. They both hop in and Harrow tells Gideon there is a secret about the Ninth House that only her family knows, which can only be discussed while immersed in salt water. Harrow admits that if she had told Gideon her suspicions about the Seventh cavalier on the first day, none of this would have happened. The reason she sent Gideon and the Fourth down to “look for” Protesilaus was because she believed the Sixth and Seventh were a greater threat, and she believed Gideon would trust Dulcinea over her. Gideon asks who’s been committing all the murders and Harrow doesn’t know; she believes it could be a revenant, the facility itself, or any one of the necromancers other than Dulcinea. Then Gideon asks about the two hundred kids that died of the flu when Gideon was little, before Harrow was born. Harrow says that her parents were growing older and were not only struggling to carry a child to term, but also to ensure the child would be a necromancer who could act as the heir of the Locked Tomb. To guarantee that their child would be a powerful necromancer, Harrow’s parents pumped a deadly neurotoxin into the room where all two hundred babies and children were sleeping, generating enough thanergy to create Harrowhark and ensure the Ninth House would have a future. Gideon asks why she herself was spared and Harrow says she wasn’t, she just didn’t die. This casts all Gideon’s memories of Harrow’s parents and the way they treated her in a new light, since she was a living reminder of the choice they made to sacrifice all the children of their House in order for Harrow to exist. Harrow tells Gideon that only a perfect necromancer can open the Locked Tomb. When Harrow was ten, having grown up hearing what she was and how she came to be over and over, she decided to open the tomb and see what was inside and if she didn’t think it was worth it, to walk out an airlock. Gideon tells Harrow how sorry she is. She and Harrow share an emotional moment and repeat the “one flesh, one end” cavalier/necromancer vow to one another.
After their moment, Harrow asks Gideon to promise that if anything happens to Harrow Gideon will return to the Ninth and protect the Locked Tomb. Harrow explains that inside the Locked Door is the rock and the tomb made of stone and ice, surrounded by salt water. Inside there’s a girl lying on the ice, wrapped in chains with a sword lying on her breast. After seeing the girl in the tomb, Harrow decided to live forever “just in case she ever woke up.”
That night Gideon goes to sleep in the cavalier bed at the foot of Harrow’s bed. She asks if Harrow tried to kill her by rigging the escape shuttle that killed Glaurica and Ortus. Harrow says no, it was Crux, unable to tolerate disloyalty. Gideon drifts into a dreamless sleep.
Thoughts/Takeaways/Discussion Starters
“Everyone wants to tell me about fleshes and ends today.” Beginning with Dulcinea’s speech about Protesilaus, all the way through to Gideon and Harrow’s pool scene, this section of the book is all about what it means to be a necromancer’s cavalier. After Dulcinea asks “Whatever happened to one flesh, one end?” in chapter 26, Gideon goes on to spend some dubious quality time with the cavaliers of the Sixth, the Eighth, and the Third and Coronabeth before vowing herself to Harrow in the pool. What are some of the parallels and differences between the necro/cav relationships we get to see here and Gideon/Harrow’s relationship? How does this all lead Gideon from her fraught interactions with Harrow in chapter 26 to their ability to mutually connect and be vulnerable in chapter 31?
Poor Gideon’s self-esteem and sense of self-worth are really in the dumps for most of this section after the deaths of Isaac and Jeannemary. She blames herself for their deaths which leads into her sharing with Palamedes about what happened to the Reverend Mother and Father of the Ninth, whose suicides she also blames herself for. While Gideon has a well deserved reputation as a funny, irreverent narrator, I think this part of the book brings the deeper parts of her character to the forefront in a way we haven’t seen yet in the story.
Wow, it's like the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth are in a competition to be the most fucked up space wizard society in the galaxy. (I say this with the utmost fondness.)
Here’s my most pressing discussion question for this section. We’ve now seen three Houses’ living quarters -- the Ninth, Sixth, and Eighth. Whose interior decor would you steal?
SPOILERS BELIOW
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Re-read Discussion Thoughts
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END OF SPOILERS
Link to full discussion on Reddit with Comments
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