The Bone Season

She wakes up in Warden’s bed, her wrist held securely in a brace. Peering out from the drawn curtains, she sees Warden and another Reph studying her phone. She fears that they might find her contacts and discover Jax, but Warden assures her that they are keeping the phone safe from Nashira. He confesses that he led her into a trap to trigger intense fear and allow her to possess the deer, but he promises that she was never in real danger during her second test. She bathes, dons a clean tunic, and meets Warden for their usual hour of conversation. This time, he describes Nashira’s unique ability to bind to herself the spirits of voyants she has killed (her “angels”). Paige is incensed that Warden is the consort of a wanton killer, but he tells her stories of his efforts to help voyants who have been shunned by their own families. She asks him to help Liss, who languishes in “spirit shock” after the destruction of her tarot cards, but he has no replacement cards to give her. He pulls out a bottle of “blue aster,” an herb used by some voyants to speak the language of the aether. (Another herb—poppy anemone—is toxic to Rephs and must be kept out of human hands.)

Paige visits Liss, who lies in a semiconscious state. She and Julian try to feed Liss, but she refuses. Paige resolves to steal a new tarot deck to help Liss, plus anything she might need for another escape attempt. Julian has bigger ideas, however, and wants to initiate a “prison break” to free all the voyants. When another harlie named Cyril protests against Julian’s plan, Paige speculates that Warden may have rebelled once before, that he may be one of the “Scarred Ones” who helped the previous human uprising. Just then, the Overseer enters. He lays a hand on Liss, and Julian and Paige fight back, but Suhail is close behind. He drags Paige from the tent; Nashira has called for her.

Paige is dragged before Nashira, whose chamber is lined with death masks. She informs Paige that she has achieved red-jacket status. However, Nashira is unaware that Paige has successfully possessed another creature, for Warden has kept that information to himself. Nashira probes Paige about her interactions with Warden, but Paige discloses nothing. At this point, a group of red-jackets—including David—joins them for a feast. Nashira mentions that the Rephs are seeking a more diverse group of voyants, and they plan to “procure” them from the Syndicate (including Jax, known to her as the “White Binder,” and another dreamwalker). Nashira asks the group about the “Seven Seals” who are scheduled to meet Antoinette Carter, an Irish dissident. She tasks Paige and others with finding Carter and the Seven Seals, threatening Paige to exile on the streets if she fails.

Chapter 20 flashes back to several years before the narrative’s present day, when Paige first begins working for Jaxon. At this time, Jax also recruits two new voyants, a brother and a sister. Paige probes their auras and finds that the boy, Zeke, is unusual. She and Zeke discuss their respective upbringings, and Zeke asks Paige to sing a banned Irish folk song, which brings back memories of her cousin Finn. When the three arrive at Jaxon’s, Zeke’s sister, Nadine (whose specific type of clairvoyance is unclear) shows defiance that does not sit well with her new mime-lord.

Zeke and Jax retire to Jax’s office for a chat when Eliza—Jax’s “trance medium”—arrives. She asks Paige to draw her dreamscape, part of Jax’s ongoing research into clairvoyance. Later, Jax emerges from his office, describing Zeke as “unreadable.”

Back in the present day, Paige returns to her quarters and assures Warden that she has told Nashira nothing about his battles with the Emim, a favor for which he claims to owe her his life. He warns her to be wary of Situla Mesarthim, one of the Rephs who will accompany the red-jackets on their mission. She knows that this encounter may be her last chance to reconnect with Nick. At the designated time, Paige gathers with Situla and the other red-jackets, donning an armored suit for the occasion. The voyants are blindfolded, implanted with trackers, and loaded into a vehicle. When they reach London, the blindfolds are removed, and Paige yearns to escape back to the streets.

They arrive at their destination, and a “Vigile” (a voyant security officer) gives them terse instructions—any deviation from the plan and they will be shot—and glues their mouths shut. Warden fits them with masks to hide their identities. They wait in the shadows when Jax and an entourage of voyants and mime-lords approach. Carter is already at the designated meeting place. Jax’s trance-medium, Eliza, makes contact first, and immediately, the red-jackets attack. A spirit battle ensues with Paige trying desperately to stay neutral, but Jax spots her and engages with her, beating her viciously until she “thumps” his dreamscape and knocks him to the street. When she sees David about to kill Nadine, she possesses him for a moment and stops him (the first time she’s ever possessed a human). Carter flees as the battle rages, and Paige follows, hoping to disappear into the crowds. Carter and Situla clash, and Paige uses the distraction to break for the train station, but she is shot before she can reach it. She struggles to escape, but Nick catches up and grabs her. When he unmasks her, he promises to help, but just then, Warden approaches from behind, immobilizing Nick and reclaiming Paige just as she passes out.

Paige wakes in Warden’s bed. He tells her that Nick is still alive, but she has been demoted to yellow-jacket status for her escape attempt. Warden reports that Carter and the Seven Seals have all escaped. He also says that since they have each saved the other’s life several times, they are now bound by a “golden cord” that they can use to summon one another if they are ever in need. Hoping to gain her trust, he tells her that he has nothing but contempt for Nashira and had no choice in her selection of him as blood-consort. In response, Paige asks him to allow her into his dreamscape, and he consents. She enters his dreamscape only to find it empty, and he tells her that he “can weave [dreams] together [to] create a delusion” (325). She realizes that he has been watching her dream memories, and she feels violated.