LPN Deep Dives: HOFAS / Episode 3: Silva Sobek Sisters

Summary

LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City
Episode 3: Silva Sobek Sisters
Release Date: June 9, 2026
Hosts: Natalie Jean & Jackie Zebrowski

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Episode Overview

This episode of LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City brings Natalie and Jackie together for a humor-filled yet genuine exploration of Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series, specifically covering “House of Flame and Shadow” (HOFAS) chapters 4–7. Their signature mix of costume hilarity (this time as perm-wearing Sobek lizard creatures), gut-punching book analysis, and tangential pop culture digressions creates a uniquely engaging recap. The main focus is on the tortured captive POVs, the mystical underworld, and the evolving ensemble of secondary characters—all with a solid dose of comedic relief.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Sobek Sisters Skit & Costume Chaos (01:25–10:00)

• Both hosts unexpectedly show up as Sobeks, complete with bizarro “short curly bob” wigs.
  • “Did we both show up as Sobeks with the worst wigs that we have?” – Jackie [02:52]
• Exploration of costume logistics: gloves, balaclavas, and bear paw slippers, affirming the need to commit to the bit (without showing feet for free).
• Debate: would you kiss a lizard creature, especially one with a snout?
  • “Phalanges or no, get over here and give me a kiss.” – Natalie [04:52]
• A lighthearted riff on forced perms in childhood segues into comparisons with the reality TV Silva sisters (Darcey & Stacey), setting up the running “Silva Sobek Sisters” theme.
  • “We are problems because we were given perms and we did not consent to them.” – Natalie [09:14]

Torture, Trauma, and Coping (11:16–30:49)

• Dramatic turn as discussion shifts to the tortures faced by Hunt, Baxian, and Rune.
  • “Hunt is chained, beaten, brutalized, re-slaved, and longing for his mate.” – Jackie [11:16]
  • “That’s a lot for a Monday.” – Natalie [11:34]
• The mental endurance and camaraderie among prisoners:
  • They laugh at Pollux, asserting power by showing they haven’t been broken.
  • “If you can still find it in yourself to make a joke or something, it's the antithesis of what they want.” – Jackie [22:10]
• Reflection on the decision to keep characters in a shared torture chamber and its dual-edged psychological effect.
• Rune’s POV shifts into trauma-dissociation and the complicated return of Lydia (the Hind) as a possible source of comfort or torment.

Book Adaptation: Animation vs. Live Action (15:02–15:41)

• A recurring production fantasy: animated adaptation vs. impossible live-action (“hostel level” violence, complex visuals).
  • “I think it all should be animated.” – Natalie [15:08]
  • “Somebody needs to animate this. It would make so much money.” – Jackie [15:10]

The Expanding Ensemble: Sabine’s Pack, Viper Queen, and New Allies (31:17–54:06)

• Sabine reveals her ruthless completionist streak in hunting down her brother’s pups, traumatizing Sigrid and launching a bloody confrontation.
  • “She knows about Sigrid—that they allowed her to find them all too easily.” – Jackie [31:28]
• A violent fight interrupted by the arrival of the Viper Queen, who’s as stylish (all-white jumpsuit) as she is terrifying and pragmatic.
  • “Her white jumpsuit glowing like the moon in the flickering firstlight...” – Natalie [42:32]
• Philosophical asides: is cloning pets (like Streisand’s dogs) actually comforting? Do werewolf shifters have ‘red rockets’? (Yes, the conversation gets very LPN.)
• Sigrid’s Alpha rage and grief rocket her into action.
• Observations on how trauma shapes loyalties and alliances—Tharion’s alienation, Ariadne and Sigrid’s confused introductions, and Ethan’s found-family dynamics.
  • “Well, it is your group of friends, Therian.” – Natalie [78:10]

Mystics' Hall, Sprite Queen, and Power Games (44:34–55:04)

• The Hind (Lydia) and Rigelus descend into the mythic Mystics' Hall, a haunting underworld where a thousand captive mystics are forced to scry for the Asteri.
  • “A thousand of these people are being held captive in this room.” – Jackie [52:29]
• Introduction of Queen Erythus, the fire sprite queen, imprisoned in a cantaloupe-sized crystal and stripped of her power—foreshadowing a potential alliance or dangerous weaponization.
• The true stakes are laid bare: even the Asteri are playing at the edge of their power, risking hellish incursion to extract information from Hunt.
  • “He needs to get info from Hunt so badly that he’s willing to risk the hell people coming through the mystics down here.” – Jackie [55:04]

Bryce’s Windowless Panic and the “Leap of Faith” (58:24–71:32)

• Bryce’s point of view: stuck on another planet, alone in a cell, she debates whether to jump into a mysterious pit crawling with “slimy scaries”—a literal leap of faith over endless days.
  • “The intrusive thoughts that must come from being in a torture cell somewhere have got to be crazy.” – Natalie [60:02]
• The pit is home to the perm-wearing Sobecks (and the hosts’ performative alter egos); their presence is both threat and comic relief.
• The “star on Bryce’s chest”—her Thea-derived power—reacts as a compass, pointing her toward the right path.
  • “She imagines a crown on her head, steadying her strides as she enters the unknown.” – Jackie [85:50]
• Philosopher’s conclusion: “It’s important to take calculated risks in life. You need to do that, otherwise you stay stagnant.” – Jackie [70:49]

Feminist Sidebars & Pop Culture Tangents (Throughout)

• Riffs on forced femininity, patriarchal double standards (body count discussions), and the “manosphere.”
• Rejection of toxic masculinity, riffs on reality TV’s moral bottom (Silva sisters, TLC’s exploitative programming).
• “Body counts are stupid.” – Natalie [65:52]
• Side jokes to maintain a balance between the brutality of the material and audience comfort—accompanied by hearty asides about sleeping in white jumpsuits, silk phobias, and “transformative showers.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We were given perms and we did not consent to them.” – Natalie [09:14]
• “Hunt is chained, beaten, brutalized, re-slaved, and longing for his mate. That’s a lot for a Monday.” – Jackie & Natalie [11:16]
• “If you can still find it in yourself to make a joke or something, it’s the antithesis of what they want.” – Jackie [22:10]
• “Wasn’t that just such a fun threat that we used to get: ‘I’ll get rid of you and make another one that looks just like you’?” – Natalie [32:35]
• “Do you think werewolves have red rockets or more traditional man wieners? So, listen, we’re not the only people wondering.” – Jackie [41:00]
• “Why is that body count?” / “Yeah. Because I feel like that’s what they were thinking when they gave us the perms—that we were sluts, that we were gonna like it, but… Yes, we are in fact sluts. But we didn’t want the perm.” – Natalie & Jackie [65:33]
• “Through love, all is possible.” – Repeated mantra as Bryce faces her fear [84:14]

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Timeline of Important Segments

• [01:25] – Sobek sisters costumes/coincidences, character preambles
• [11:16] – Recap and analysis of Hunt/Baxian/Rune’s shared torture
• [20:41] – The psychological impact of shared captivity
• [31:17] – Sabine’s ambush, Sigrid’s origin
• [42:32] – Viper Queen’s entrance and the aftermath
• [44:34] – Hind/Lydia and Rigelus in the Mystics’ Hall, Queen Erythus revealed
• [58:24] – Bryce’s escape plot and leap of faith into the Sobek pit
• [71:45] – Tharion’s reunion, Ariadne/Sigrid confusion, found family themes
• [84:14] – Bryce calming the Sobeks, mantra: “through love, all is possible.”
• [87:00] – Tharion’s shame, Ethan’s leadership, uneasy hope among the found family
• [88:40] – Hosts’ closing, tease for more POVs and next chapters

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Final Thoughts

This episode demonstrates why LPN Deep Dives stands out among book podcasts: a willingness to go weird, real, or dark as needed, always filtered through friendship and irreverence. The hosts make a genuinely supportive space for both Crescent City superfans and casual listeners—offering just enough plot walkthrough to follow, with humor as armor against the relentless trauma of HOFAS’s early chapters.

Up Next

Read up to Chapter 8 for the following episode.

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Summary prepared by LPN Deep Dives AI
For Crescent City readers & non-readers alike who need laughs, clarity, and camaraderie on the long road to the Asteri’s downfall.

Transcript

[Natalie]

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[Jackie]

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[Natalie]

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[Natalie]

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[Jackie]

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[Natalie]

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[Jackie]

You're the only one that's going to

[Natalie]

see this part of it, James. So, you know, you never know. I hope you're listening to all of it. Jeans.

[Jackie]

This might make it into the show. Is it jeans?

[Natalie]

Would you do that to us?

[Jackie]

What do you want done? You want to be tinted blue?

[Natalie]

Yeah, I need. I need my face to be tinted blue because I wasn't thinking about the umbra of the Sobec skin that I had on and now the umbra is not represented upon my face.

[Jackie]

I forgot I have gloves. Should I put them on? Should I?

[Natalie]

No, cuz you're just going to have to take them off.

[Jackie]

But it ruins the effect.

[Natalie]

Yeah, I. I mean, we. They. I think everyone. Ah. Get your screams out now.

[Jackie]

Ah.

[Natalie]

They have human hands. Ah.

[Jackie]

Breaks.

[Natalie]

But this Sobeck is married and it's married to God.

[Jackie]

Oh, yeah, I guess I'm also married.

[Natalie]

So sorry, sorry, other Sobecks out there, sorry

[Jackie]

if your thing is a lizard creature with human hands. Not happening. Okay.

[Natalie]

All right. We're not here for you, okay? Because, yeah, it was just, I believe last week when I was talking about there's so many characters in every. In every episode, it's going to be crazy. There's no way we're ever going to show up as the same stupid character. And did we both show up as Sobecks with the worst wigs that we have in.

[Jackie]

Yes, Jackie. Not only that, they're both short curly bobs. And I swear to God, I almost took the blonde one that I have at the house.

[Natalie]

Whoa.

[Jackie]

And I don't know what that Means if we had both shown up as Sobex with blonde curly bob wigs on, I think that means we spend too much time together.

[Natalie]

I think that's what it means. And it's just so funny because what do you put on the head of a lizard? Crocodile. Like, fake. I'm gonna say it. Fake creature. What do you put on its head? And I was trying to find some sort of, I don't know, balaclava. Like something to put on. Like I needed something. I wanted my head to be smaller and more scaled. Yeah.

[Jackie]

It should be like a scaled bald cap, probably.

[Natalie]

Yes. And I actually genuinely looked for a scaled ball. And then I was like, do I just draw on the scales onto the bald cap? But then I was just gonna look really stupid because I think you guys remember what I look like with the bald cap on. Because I reviewed your ha long. You drew hair on top of it, and I drew. No, I would have drawn scales on top of it, and that would have looked really good. But unfortunately, no, we're just both here. We've cobbled together. So costumes for every. Because there are so many. So many characters. These chapters we both chose so big. I think it's funny, with a perm.

[Jackie]

I went with the bear paw slippers that I have for my feet. They have fur, so it doesn't really. It's not really canon, but I think it was claws.

[Natalie]

Yes. I think that you look great. And I just put on black socks so I don't give the feet away for free.

[Jackie]

Oh, yeah, you don't.

[Natalie]

Forget it.

[Jackie]

You could paint your feet green.

[Natalie]

Oh, my God. And then I'll. I'll just always be buying a green screen and go win my feet.

[Jackie]

Oh.

[Natalie]

Oh. How do I walk over to you? With me? Yes. I've just got nubs.

[Jackie]

And isn't that beautiful?

[Natalie]

Honestly, Sobeck would be beautiful no matter what kind of digits they have. I say phalanges are. No. Get over here and give me a kiss.

[Jackie]

All right.

[Natalie]

Would you be kissing Sobex? No.

[Jackie]

Should I be?

[Natalie]

I just feel like. With a snout.

[Jackie]

Mm.

[Natalie]

Does that immediately put you off?

[Jackie]

I just worry what they will do to me because generally they. If you have a snout, you typically are an attacker.

[Natalie]

You attack you. Wow. Snoutest much?

[Jackie]

I mean.

[Natalie]

Okay.

[Jackie]

I'm just keeping it real.

[Natalie]

You're saying all snouts attack?

[Jackie]

Not all snouts, but.

[Natalie]

Thank you.

[Jackie]

Many snouts.

[Natalie]

Thank you. You're going to look at Carme's little snout. She does it. She tags you with little kisses, and then she puts her little head into your belly and then she just wants

[Jackie]

to give you little kisses, so. That's true. I do kiss her. Not on the mouth, though. But she tries to get into mine all the time.

[Natalie]

Well, she just wants to make sure you're clean and right.

[Jackie]

Yeah, and apparently cleaning right is licking your butthole and then trying to put it in other people's mouths.

[Natalie]

Hey, don't knock it till you tried it. I do also like that. Apparently to us, Sobecks fold up. We fold up and we're all. We're ready to strike.

[Jackie]

Yeah, it's a. It's a preparing to strike mode, so you better watch out.

[Natalie]

I Wish I eat 3D glasses first. Yeah, we do. We should start. Ah.

[Jackie]

Whoa, whoa.

[Natalie]

Oh, you don't want this straw. This straw. Uh oh. It's coming right at you. Holy shit. Some got what?

[Jackie]

Oh, you're baby burning them coffee.

[Natalie]

Yeah, you know that I always have coffee somewhere close to me. If not, I'm not alive.

[Jackie]

It's scary.

[Natalie]

Yeah. I only get scared for caffeine. That's the Sobeck way.

[Jackie]

Oh, boy, that's nice of them to. To pour coffee down that great. In the middle of the interrogation room for them.

[Natalie]

Yeah, to make sure that everybody's taken care of. That's. That is the sobek way.

[Jackie]

It's not the sobec way. It's the feiway in this world, allegedly.

[Natalie]

Whoa. My way or the fey way?

[Jackie]

Fey bay fei way. Hey, hey. Hunt is having a bit.

[Natalie]

Wait, you're gonna go transition right from that into the torture room? Yes.

[Jackie]

Hey, bae.

[Natalie]

Hey. Hey.

[Jackie]

What? I woo.

[Natalie]

Okay. And now on. Oh, no. It's no good for our boy.

[Jackie]

No, I mean, what is the right way to transition into this? Like, we gotta segue and just let it happen.

[Natalie]

You're right.

[Jackie]

Because, baby, this is still torture time.

[Natalie]

Oh, God, there's so much torture.

[Jackie]

I really did skip over most of the more gruesome parts of this.

[Natalie]

I appreciate that. We all appreciate that because a lot of us have read it. And hopefully. Or if you're reading along, you're reading it and you're getting it in real time.

[Jackie]

But if you don't want to read about torture, if you're not a fan of the macabre, maybe skip some of these chapters.

[Natalie]

You know, these masks made for children really don't give. They're really tight on the. And like I do. I have a small head. I have a child sized head. Everybody's always saying it and they go, that needs a smaller hat.

[Jackie]

I don't think anyone's Ever said that. But your brother. But it's never left your mind.

[Natalie]

No, I think about it, actually.

[Jackie]

Technically, that looks more accurate. Technically.

[Natalie]

Does it? Because then I was like, all right. At first I was gonna leave this, and I was like, oh, great. I'll just put makeup all over again. This is where I think. Jackie, what are you talking about? Don't put makeup all over the, like, wig cap you just purchased just because you don't want to put the Michael Myers mom wig on.

[Jackie]

You know, it's gonna. It's gonna be this. It's gonna work the same, but it's got green makeup on it. Hi. Hey.

[Natalie]

God, it's stuck in my head now.

[Jackie]

All right, I guess she's going for wig, everyone.

[Natalie]

Yeah, I. Well, I want to make sure. I feel like now, Natalie, our SO backs were sisters. And I feel like we're, like, out there and everybody. Nobody with the Sobeck sisters.

[Jackie]

Oh, yeah.

[Natalie]

We are problems because we were given perms and we did not consent to them.

[Jackie]

We're like, o. We were forcibly perm.

[Natalie]

We were forcibly permed.

[Jackie]

I was. As a child, actually.

[Natalie]

Oh, no. You were. Oh, yeah. Repeatedly. Is this why you love that your hair is so straight now? Although I guess you don't you really struggle?

[Jackie]

No. I wish I had bodied in my hair, but my grandmother just wanted me to be Shirley Temple so badly, and I was not. But she tried and she tried, and so I got a lot of perms as a little girl.

[Natalie]

Did you give her the up? Did you give you the uppers and the downers, too?

[Jackie]

Unfortunately, no. But she did give me home manicures, which was really. My grandma was awesome, but she was obsessed with dolls, and she wanted me to be a little doll, which was fine for me at the time. She was. Listen, now I'm. I sound like I'm my grandma. Mary Jean was wonderful. She was wonderful to me. But she also made me get burps.

[Natalie]

And sometimes I would dress like a doll. Sometimes I would twirl for her. I still do the lollipop licking the lollipop. Grandpa. Grandma. I don't know. I've never really had a grandma, so I don't know what you do, what you do with them.

[Jackie]

That's about it.

[Natalie]

Yeah, right. And you just sit. And you sit in your frilly dresses, I imagine. Go. My ankles are itchy. Grandmama for you see, you have a

[Jackie]

ruffles upon them, and there's always a scary music box blank.

[Natalie]

But I will say, if you think that your grandmother has, like, an evil dead kind of curse within her. Cut off her head.

[Jackie]

Okay, well, really, you know, make sure, though. Like, really check to make sure.

[Natalie]

Yeah, make. Yeah, definitely get a second opinion before you do it, please. But I do not take. Somebody. Somebody's got to look into it.

[Jackie]

Somebody should look into it, I guess. Now that we've gotten. Okay, so now that's. That's a good transition into chapter four.

[Natalie]

We're talking about cutting off Grandmama's head. Now we can jump into a torture room.

[Jackie]

Hunt is having a bit of a Monday at the start of chapter four, so it's real bad right now. As we already observed from Lydia's pov, Hunt is chained, beaten, brutalized, re slaved, and longing for his mate.

[Natalie]

That's a lot for a Monday.

[Jackie]

It really is. But the thought of Bryce does. Does give him some reprieve from his suffering. It's like the only thing kind of keeping him going, though he agonizes over where she is right now, he can at least hold on to the hope of her to keep him going.

[Natalie]

His mate, his wife, his princess. Prince Hunt Athelar Dannon. He would have hated the last name were it not for the fact that it was the marker of her ownership over his soul, his heart. Ooh. Oh, he like, like, likes her now. They married, but I guess it's like, wow, if you're really struggling with, like, oh, do I don't I want to spend the rest of my life with someone. I guess you should be separated from them and tortured. And then you should think about how much you love them for you to remember what you have.

[Jackie]

Oh, wow, you're having. You have a lot of hot takes this morning.

[Natalie]

Thank you.

[Jackie]

You're welcome. You really are.

[Natalie]

It's the.

[Jackie]

So back. We. We're like this. What are those two sisters that the reality show? I think they were twins or something.

[Natalie]

The ones that were kissing. Twins.

[Jackie]

No, you loved them for a while.

[Natalie]

Oh, the Silva sisters. Darcy. Yes.

[Jackie]

I feel as though we are the so bad Silva sister.

[Natalie]

Oh, my God. We're the Silver.

[Jackie]

So going around causing a lot of problems.

[Natalie]

I think that we need a lot more work done, honey, if I want to be the Silver sisters. Okay.

[Jackie]

Oh, you know, I have an appointment.

[Natalie]

Have you seen them recently? Wow. I know. It's like, Jackie, you don't Shame. You don't. But it really is. It looked like someone put in a bicycle pump into their faces and cartoonish like. And they're like, they. It is so. And they know it's extreme, and they like that it's extreme.

[Jackie]

I, you know, I'm always on the side and it's an unpopular opinion with some people, but I think you should be allowed to do whatever you want with your face and body. And if that's what you want to do, go.

[Natalie]

Bliss. It does make me think of. We do still say yes, my angel, because one of them was dating some young European guy and she just led him around by the nose and everything. She said, you go, yes, my angel. Yes, my angel.

[Jackie]

He likes it.

[Natalie]

And so now Jeff and I whatever to go, yes, my angel. Yes, my angel. Yes, my age. Because, you know, he cries.

[Jackie]

Okay, it's not page seven. We have to move on.

[Natalie]

Cries, cries, cries with his lonely heart. The in.

[Jackie]

Nope.

[Natalie]

She just got a little bit more self surgery.

[Jackie]

Now that he knows that they cannot force information out of him so he will die before he reveals any information that might lead them to Bryce. He also acknowledges that Baxian, who is chained nearby him, has also refused to reveal any pertinent info, despite the amount of torture Pollux has dished out already. So vaccine is keeping mums as well as roon.

[Natalie]

Multiple mums.

[Jackie]

The word mums.

[Natalie]

The word mumsy is the word.

[Jackie]

I guess this only reaffirms his faith that vaccine really was Danica's mate. This scene gets really gnarly and it would be a hell of an effort to put this on film. That was what I was thinking the whole time, because it is like hostile level.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Jackie]

So I'm just, you know, I think that's why it should be animated. Like Acotar.

[Natalie]

Yeah, I think it all should be animated.

[Jackie]

Yeah. I hope it's. I genuinely hope that that will happen. Somebody needs to animate this. It would make so much money. I mean, I'm just throwing free ideas out here.

[Natalie]

Cartoonists hit us up.

[Jackie]

I'm sure it's easy to animate an entire feature film. Probably more like seven feature films.

[Natalie]

Get really epic feature films. I'm sure that's just fine.

[Jackie]

Easy to do.

[Natalie]

No, we know it's very hard and very. That would be very, very daunting. I can't imagine trying to undertake something like that.

[Jackie]

But I. Please, James, could you do it, James?

[Natalie]

Ah, you know, it is nice because, you know, James is one of the good ones, so, like, you know that he watches this and goes, ah, ladies. Look at those ladies being sobex.

[Jackie]

You think that's what he's doing?

[Natalie]

Yeah, I can hear him with his cigars. This is not James at all. James at all.

[Jackie]

Yes.

[Natalie]

Yeah. They want. They want me to color Correct the face. Yeah, yeah. Wd Woody. Wd. And I'm like, don't sing the song, James, please.

[Jackie]

That is just. It's like James was in the room.

[Natalie]

Wow. Just like it. I love them. All right. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Whether you're just starting out or scaling your business, Squarespace is the all in one website platform designed to help your business stand out and succeed online. Squarespace gives you everything you need to offer services and get paid all in one place, from consultations to events and experiences. Showcase your offerings with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. The best part about it is it can help you design a funnel in which you can very quickly record commercials so that you can get it done while you were desperately trying to get on break. That's the best part about Squarespace. It can really shorten up the time you spend doing things. You got to get in there. You got to get in there. Use Squarespace. Man, is it fast. It is absolutely incredible. You're going to love your experience at Squarespace. Head to squarespace.com henry for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, use offer code HENRY to save 10 off your first purchase of a website or domain. Okay, I have to tell you, I was just looking on ebay, where I

[Jackie]

go for all kinds of things I love.

[Natalie]

And there it was, that hologram trading card. One of the rarest. The last one I needed for my set. Shiny like the designer handbag of my dreams. One of a kind. Ebay had it. And now everyone's asking, ooh, where'd you get your windshield wipers? Ebay has all the parts that fit my car. No more annoying, just beautiful.

[Jackie]

Millions of finds, each with a story. EBay, things people love. So a bunch of details of this room and torture are laid out, which we probably don't need to go too deep into. I know not all of you whore people, but Pollux is really methodically attempting to draw information out of them. He notes the hind, I.e. hunt notes the hind is always watching from behind Pollux, eyes deadened. None of them have revealed who or what she truly is either. So they hold this huge secret information about the Hind, because if you'll call at the end of the last book, she helped them fake that Bryce killed the harpy and then released them. But none of them have given this information away.

[Natalie]

I do like that we both did the dark lips for our sobex.

[Jackie]

Well, I mean, what do you. I can't do paint. Oh, you do red.

[Natalie]

I know you can't do red, but I also was like, do you leave it bare? And just put, like. So I. I put. Obviously, I think that everyone can see the craftsmanship that went into my makeup

[Jackie]

work today, but beautiful.

[Natalie]

Thank you. Really. I was diligent with it and get the points.

[Jackie]

The points across.

[Natalie]

I just feel like as. Like being your Silva Sobeck sister. I feel like you're sexier than I am.

[Jackie]

That's interesting.

[Natalie]

And I'm worried about this. I'm worried about our future as Silva Sobeck sisters. And if we're going to survive this, like, mom talk,

[Jackie]

I don't think. I don't know how you're perceiving me as sexier.

[Natalie]

Fight to the death.

[Jackie]

Okay.

[Natalie]

Is what I'm proposing.

[Jackie]

That's fine. Let's go.

[Natalie]

All right. Let's go. I don't even know how. It's so. Back talk. Whoa. You. Oh, oh. Am I an SOB now? Is that what you're calling me?

[Jackie]

Talk. Yeah.

[Natalie]

Interesting. Natalie.

[Jackie]

Okay, I see.

[Natalie]

So she's a. It's a war with words.

[Jackie]

It is. I'm a bit of a wordsmith. If you haven't caught upon that. If I haven't sliced upon your intellect,

[Natalie]

you better not dab.

[Jackie]

Jab with words.

[Natalie]

Now I'm scared of her, right? She was scared of me before. Now I'm scared of her.

[Jackie]

There, you can see that's. That's balance. So they have not revealed Lydia's secret. It's hardly because they care about Lydia per se, but, you know, they could technically throw her under the bus. Hunt wants to die in some ways, but he holds on to the thought that if he can stay, you know, and exist and survive through this, he may have a chance to see Bryce again, even if he doesn't really think he's going to live much longer. Maybe he'll be able to even see her reappearing with an army behind her. But he doesn't think he'll be there for the battle.

[Natalie]

Oh, God.

[Jackie]

He feels guilt and shame for not pushing harder against her mad desire to infiltrate the palace. But he couldn't have stopped her. He feels foolish for believing Celestine would be better than the other archangels. So he. He's still, like, you know, lamenting. Like he would have never been able to stop Brace from doing this, but he still.

[Natalie]

Because she would have just gone behind his back and done it anyway.

[Jackie]

Yeah. And also he feels played by Celestina, and that's. You know, they all kind of went, oh, we should have never Trust an archangel. That was stupid. And Celestina has kind of betrayed all of them. So he kind of feels the. The contempt over him, her weaponizing her, quote, friendship with Shahar to what he perceives as being just a trap for them. He hears back scene groan and the three of them are in unimaginable pain. But they try to keep their wits about them. Vaccine telling Hunt he's doing great. When Hunt inquires, a sound that was something like a laugh comes from Rune. So he then starts to crack a joke, which sends all three of them into sort of hysterical, like, maniacal laughter, despite the immense pain it causes Hun, which is the worst thing you could do for somebody who's trying to torment you. It makes them afraid, right, because they're trying to break you so hard. So if you can still find it in yourself to like, make a joke or something, it's like the, you know, the. The antithesis of what they want.

[Natalie]

Now, I do feel like part of the world of torture, or at least what I've read about is that they like to separate them. But I like that SJM keeps the three of them in the same room. Because I do feel that while you think, oh, I feel like it would be simultaneously easier, like if I were getting tortured in front of you, knowing that you were there and even just being there, I feel like having any kind of connection. Connection or human, or maybe not human, but presence with, like, in the room, that it would be easier. But then also it is the unending torture for the other people to watch each other be tortured over and over again. I like this because at first I was like, they'd never leave them in the same room. Then if you think about it, it's actually really up. Oh, yeah.

[Jackie]

It's another form of trauma, in a way. Yes. And they're so. I mean, they. They can't really conspire the way that they're like, in there.

[Natalie]

Right.

[Jackie]

So the laughter, however, is something that does give them a little bit of power. And Pollux does come running, furious at their camaraderie. Following him is the member of Sandriel's triary that we haven't met yet, the hawk. He's another archangel. Of course. Hun thinks about how I'm not archangel. He's another angel, I should say. Excuse me, he's an angel. Hun thinks about how, like Baxian, he's a rare combination actually of angel and shifter. So he actually turns into a hawk. Be funny if he turned into like a bunny or something.

[Natalie]

They call him, they call him Hawk just to just keep his street cred up.

[Jackie]

Yeah, just keep his like self esteem. The two angels are annoyed that the three captives aren't more submissive to their ministrations and begin taunting, suggesting that the torture is going to commence that day with their tongues, which doesn't sound good. This only results in Baxian, then Rune, then Hunt sticking their tongues out at them.

[Natalie]

Hunt opened his mouth, his last bit of bravado before the show began. But in the shadows behind Pollux, beyond the fireplace, something dark moved, something darker than shadow.

[Jackie]

Oh, is he going a little local?

[Natalie]

I imagine, you know, but here's the thing. Hunt has endured hundred, right. It was like it was a century of, of torture. So I don't think he'd be losing his that fast.

[Jackie]

They're. I didn't go to detail. I don't know if you remember. It's pretty, pretty bad what they're doing.

[Natalie]

I know, I remember. No, I remember.

[Jackie]

So.

[Natalie]

No, I didn't read it. I did quickly flip past it though as it was like, yeah, yeah, I remember.

[Jackie]

Yeah, I remember. Yeah. So he's unsure at the moment whether he's hallucinating or this is something tangible in the dark beyond the shadows. Because I mean, it could be in this world. Who knows what that could be?

[Natalie]

You never know.

[Jackie]

He half hopes that this is the sign that he is edging towards death. The other half is longing to see Bryce one more time. However, back and forth his mind teeters as he watches the shadows shift. He decides he doesn't really care that much. We move over to Rune's pov. In these same moments, Lydia, AKA the Hind, who is in, you know, nearby, is calling out to him once again trying, despite Rune's refusal to engage since they were quote, caught by her in the dungeons. And so as soon as he put together who the Hind and Lydia are and daylight, like they're all one in the same, he has felt mortified, humiliated and just disgusted by her. So she just tries again and again to say night, night. Ruhn has dissociated from his body as the day's torment is carried out. So this is where he is out in the mind space. He's kind of seeing it as this dark, pitch black sea that he's floating on. And this is where she's calling to him. I won't go into detail, but he left during what would have killed a human. Not a fun thing. So his. But his mind has left his body essentially. Now he's floating in brain space. He muses in his mind, not to her, but to himself. How his father's tortures had seemed untouchable in their cruelty. But that has become not correct anymore. He has been reinforced. At least they gave him ample practice, the administrations his father gave him, to push away from the pain, get it as far away from him. So he kind of had a rehearsal for these days by his father's torment.

[Natalie]

Natalie, you're hurting us.

[Jackie]

Sad. I know.

[Natalie]

Hurting us by saying this. And you know that you're putting little knives into all of our ears right now.

[Jackie]

It's probably what's happening to them.

[Natalie]

Don't.

[Jackie]

I didn't even say the things that's happening.

[Natalie]

I know, and I'm happy that you didn't. But we all remember the things that were going on in the scene, okay?

[Jackie]

She calls him through the dark sea here.

[Natalie]

There was no escape from her voice. If he roused himself, the pain would wash over the raft and he'd drown in it. So he had no choice but to listen to drift toward that beacon.

[Jackie]

So he seems to be so broken down in this state because she looks in horror, asking what they've done to him. So his body is shredded, and he's so weakened at this point, he can't fight off her. Basically entering his mind, and he's sort of like, shouldn't you know, this is what you do? I. They're doing what you want them to do. At his voice responding, because this is the first time that he's responded to her since that day when they killed the harpy. So he's like, what do you think they've been doing? At. When he responds to her, she appears to him now, still trailing fire behind her, but now with her face revealed, he can't help but admit to himself she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. Or female, I should say, even if she is a devil.

[Natalie]

But she's not a she devil like Roseanne. No, his enemy. His lover. The soul he thought was.

[Jackie]

He stops the thought from entering his mind. Oh, what did he think she was? She reaches for him, but he shifts out of her grasp. Pain screams so deeply that he wonders if he's close to death, that he can feel it even through all of these barriers and how she's walked through them. Maybe he's already dead. The thought leads him to wonder what they did to Cormac to kill him and whether he exists somewhere, because if you recall, he doesn't remember. He doesn't know exactly what happened to Cormac, and they have convinced him that they caught Cormac and tortured him. So he doesn't know that, you know, he self emulated in that room yet.

[Natalie]

Splosy splogies.

[Jackie]

He feels sad about their last encounter and saw a future where he and Cormac could have been friends, you know, the last. They had that last little meeting at the bar and they sort of came to an understanding of one another and he thought maybe that he could like befriend his cousin.

[Natalie]

I also feel like Cormac could have like moved into the frat house. I feel like this. He could have been a good addition.

[Jackie]

He could have been a good male. And he was sort of on the road to that. In his mind he's thinking all of these things. He's created this raft in the middle of the ocean that he's laying on. He can't even sit up. And when Lydia tries to apologize again and explain, he turns away from her, tells her to save her. He hates her. He can't stand the thought of her coming closer and touching him. Even in this liminal space, he hears her trying to approach him again.

[Natalie]

So Rune said your excuses and rolled off that mental raft to let the sea of pain drown him.

[Jackie]

So he literally left Lydia's voice to return to his tortured body, which is not good.

[Natalie]

That's when you know you really want to break up with someone. I guess if you're like, I don't even want to talk to you, even though I'm in the middle of getting tortured. And even though it's the only replacement reprieve I can have, I still don't even want to look at you. And that's gotta hurt.

[Jackie]

It probably does, but probably not as much as the torture.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Jackie]

So then we move over to chapter five where we're with Ethan and the gang. Talk about torture.

[Natalie]

Oh my God. That's the thing when you go for the tour. And then you're like, put me back.

[Jackie]

And the gang, just as they've been ambushed by Sabine and her pack. Where we last left them, they were at the meat market. Sigrid was there trying to understand the world. And then, you know, they're trying to find information about their boys. Everyone's upset. And then suddenly the wolves show up and they try to escape. But no, last we left, Sabine was right on their buns. So Ethan feels sick as Sabine laughs in their faces and muses that she'd always suspected that her brother had more than two pups. So she knows about Sigrid, that they allowed her to find them all Too easily. She's saying. Sabine is saying, I went out and I found my brother after he was exiled and I killed all of them. So she tracks them down. Yep.

[Natalie]

It is kind of cool, you know, to get rid of all of the competition, but.

[Jackie]

But puppies.

[Natalie]

No, you can always have more.

[Jackie]

No, no.

[Natalie]

Because, I mean, those parents. Well, yeah. Yeah. If you kill the parrots and you can't. Yeah. You can't make another one that looks just like them. But, man, wasn't that just such a fun threat that we used to get. Did you ever genuinely get one of those? I'll get rid of you and I'll make another one that looks just like you.

[Jackie]

No.

[Natalie]

Okay, that's good. Nope, I got those in jest. We used to have those of like, yeah, I'll do something and then I'll make another one looks just like you. And I'd be like, I. I bet you could.

[Jackie]

It'd never be another Jackie. It'd be another some other person.

[Natalie]

Yeah, think about that Barbara Streisand every time you clone the dogs. Okay. Think about it. The dogs aren't the same.

[Jackie]

They're not.

[Natalie]

Every spirit is different.

[Jackie]

I can't. I don't actually find that. But the idea of if I love my dogs so much, the idea of cloning them does not bring comfort to me in any way. It's. It just feels like it'd be. You don't want to take every single sci fi movie that talks about this. It always turns out poorly.

[Natalie]

Yeah, but if you watch the thing, I feel like just think of what a dog can become and, like, think of what the. Like, the possibilities could be for a dog. Oh, good.

[Jackie]

That's what I'm hoping for. Yeah. Yeah, that's the ideal.

[Natalie]

I just think about that puppy. Just like,

[Jackie]

it is cute.

[Natalie]

I mean, he. The puppy is cute, but what it turns into. Only a mother could love.

[Jackie]

I could love it.

[Natalie]

You could. With all the tentacles and all the things coming out of it. You're like, oh, look. Oh, it's shifting.

[Jackie]

It's cute. Come on. Wasn't that delicious?

[Natalie]

So good. Your bill, ladies.

[Jackie]

I got it.

[Natalie]

No, I got it.

[Jackie]

Seriously.

[Natalie]

I said I assisted first. Oh, don't be silly. You don't be silly. People with the Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.

[Jackie]

Okay.

[Natalie]

Rock, paper, scissors for it.

[Jackie]

Rock, paper, scissors.

[Natalie]

Shoot. No. The Wells Fargo ActiveCash credit card. Visit Wells Fargo.comActiveCash terms apply.

[Jackie]

Okay, I have to tell you, I

[Natalie]

was just Looking on ebay, where I

[Jackie]

go for all kinds of things I love. And there it was.

[Natalie]

That hologram trading card.

[Jackie]

One of the rarest.

[Natalie]

The last one I needed for my set. Shiny, like the designer handbag of my dreams. One of a kind. Ebay had it. And now everyone's asking, ooh, where'd you get your windshield wipers? Ebay has all the parts that fit my car. No more annoying, just beautiful.

[Jackie]

Millions of finds, each with a story. EBay. Things people love. So Sabine is mocking them because she has killed her brother. His. Her brother's family. But she was like, I always felt like there was one of you that I didn't get because she knows a lot about how it feels to kill things. And she could. She knows it's different. She's like, I didn't get them all, but.

[Natalie]

And I know that's, like, a really scary, like, sensor to have, but kind of fun, you know, to be able to be like, I feel the presence, and the presence is still alive. And I think it just sucks again, being human, because we're never gonna have that. We're never gonna, like. I'm never gonna be able to, like, tether my brain to your brain, and we're never gonna meet on a mental bridge, and I'm never gonna be like, natalie, save me from this torture. You know, Like, I can't. I hate that we can't do that.

[Jackie]

It's really rough. Yeah.

[Natalie]

And sad about that. It's just humans aren't built for torture, you know?

[Jackie]

Yeah. I mean, because we don't grow stuff back.

[Natalie]

It's the problem. But I guess. But does that make them the worst at torture? Like, the ones that can heal? Not to bring up throwing a glass again, but, you know, to anybody that can heal themselves, you know, I guess that is the worst.

[Jackie]

I guess. But then you can live.

[Natalie]

But then you can just. We won't. We don't need to talk about the pros and cons of healing yourself as you get tortured over.

[Jackie]

Are you sure? We just turn this into that.

[Natalie]

This whole episode, all of it makes my belly hurt. This whole book makes my belly.

[Jackie]

So she's mocking them. She's obviously aware of Sigrid, and in that moment, Ethan eyes her carefully. Her recklessness at confronting them at this meat market worries him. So he thinks that maybe Sabine is so paranoid and so intent on, you know, having this leadership role that she's kind of losing her marbles. Not that we know anything about that in America, but. So he's like, oh, I think she Might be losing it. The fact that she wouldn't confront them in the meat market on somebody else, somebody's turf. Turf is like, not a good sign. She mocks Ithan and tells him that nobody would care if he was killed. So maybe back off of her.

[Natalie]

Ouch.

[Jackie]

He's surprised to hear an Alpha growl come from Sigrid behind him. He looks at her and sees a face full of rage and sorrow as she processes that her siblings have been killed. So Sigrid didn't know all of this had happened. She went. She basically spits out at Sabine that she went into the tank to protect her sister and to give them comforts. So I guess Sabine found them all after she'd already gone in the tank. She was holding out hope that her family was somewhere. News that Sabine has killed all of them seems to enrage and, like, engage that primal part of her.

[Natalie]

Yeah, the Alpha part. Yeah.

[Jackie]

She tells Sabine she's going to piss on her rotting car. Whoa. And then Sabine strikes.

[Natalie]

Because Sabine doesn't like to be wet, she likes to be dry.

[Jackie]

Yeah, she don't want to pee on her, but. So she goes, gah. Go off with 3D. That's where you'd be like, whoa. Midair, however,

[Natalie]

Jackie's coming.

[Jackie]

She's coming alive, but midair, her face gets blown off. Her whole face. She's been shot by one of the Fae boys. So.

[Natalie]

And that would have been like, James. James.

[Jackie]

So she's shot in the face. So she's jumping out, out. She gets shot. Then another shot goes to the knee as well, just in case she wanted to give them chase without a face.

[Natalie]

Oh, man. Nothing scarier than a chase without a face.

[Jackie]

Without a face. Oh, chase without a face. So though this won't be a fatal wound, it gives them time to skedaddle out of there. Flynn grabs Sigrid and begins to flee. But Ethan's body is betraying him in this moment. Half of him wanting to stay and tend to the Alpha. So even through all of this, the wolfy part of him is like, you need to tend to Sabine. You need to fix her. You need to help her. You need to save her. The other half is like, I'm gonna chew off her outer throat.

[Natalie]

I'm glad because usually when you say your body is betraying you, I thought you meant he just had a big old hard off. He might just like, oh, God, my red rocket. Oh, God, Sabine's gonna see it.

[Jackie]

Do you think that even when they're in human foreign, they have red rocks?

[Natalie]

I think they all have red rockets. And I think I just decided that for all of us. It's very difficult, you know, if you think about just. I. I don't know if wolves get red rockets and please chime in and let us know if they do, but think of how big and throbbing it would be.

[Jackie]

I kind of want to check, but I kind of don't.

[Natalie]

I kind of also don't want to know because that. I feel like if it popped out, it would be like. Like, it would have, like, a little, like, tongue on the end of it if it were. If you're gonna be, like, a shifter, you are looking it up, aren't you? You need to know if they have a red rocket. You need to know if it unfurls from inside of them like a Therian. But how are we banging these wolves, Natalie, if the red rocket doesn't come out when you do the hump. The hump.

[Jackie]

I'm scared.

[Natalie]

Then the rock and come hump the. Hump it out. Gonna touch your leg. Don't like it. Gonna touch your thigh. I don't like it.

[Jackie]

Well, I found the first thing that comes up when I asked if wolves have red rockets was a Reddit that says, do you think werewolves have red rockets? Or more traditional man wieners? So, listen, we're not the only people wondering.

[Natalie]

Somebody's got to be asking the questions.

[Jackie]

I didn't even ask about werewolves, but it's the only thing that's coming up.

[Natalie]

Up. I mean, because these are the people like us, the monster out there. We're the ones asking these questions. Because if we're going to be talking about the nodding situation, I feel like would. It wouldn't not make sense that the protruding knob would come from, like, a red rocket.

[Jackie]

I'm mad, and I actually didn't learn whether or not. And I'm afraid to look further. So it was only talking about werewolves. And I feel like that's my sign to not pursue it any further, and

[Natalie]

that's my sign to pursue it.

[Jackie]

Okay, well, you go. Flynn grabs cigarette. So they're. They're trying to get out of there. They're trying to run. Ethan's frozen. He doesn't know what to do. Then as they're, you know, he's standing there, the p. Everyone else trying, starting to flee, doesn't know what to do. And everyone's like, go, go. Then something stops him and Mark as well. Mark feels something, and he says, stop. He tells you to stop moving. All of the wolves that had accompanied Sabine to the meat market earlier in that previous chapter had been howling, howling, howling. And then suddenly they all stopped.

[Natalie]

Glad someone finally noticed, drawled a female voice from the end of the alley. The Viper Queen lounged against a filthy wall, cigarettes smoldering between her fingers, her white jumpsuit glowing like the moon in the flickering first light from the lampposts. Her eyes dropped to Sabine's body. Her purple painted lips curved upward as her gaze lifted to Ethan's. So Viper Queen, so smoking. And I know that she's smoking cigarettes and that's not an attractive look to some people, but to me, in this situation, cinematically, it's always, I mean, her leaning up. Except I would say, what puts me off the white jumpsuit.

[Jackie]

I mean, how are you not getting your lipstick all over it?

[Natalie]

How you not get your lipstick all over it? How you not leaning up against a filthy wall, immediately coming away just covered

[Jackie]

in probably another thing that they have there where you can put wards on your clothes so don't get dirty.

[Natalie]

But maybe they put the wards on the white jumpsuit to also be like it makes anyone look good. Even if it's an all white jumpsuit. Because I'm going to say outside of like the ladies at the end of the First Wives club, I feel it's really diffic to pull off a full white jumpsuit.

[Jackie]

Oh yeah. And I feel as though hers is probably like silky.

[Natalie]

Yeah. Which is hot, but also hot. And so she's also sweating in it too. Does it?

[Jackie]

Yeah, I'm.

[Natalie]

I guess I'm saying this is. I guess I'm a cotton girl through and through. I. I'm scared of a silk.

[Jackie]

Oh no.

[Natalie]

If it doesn't give, it doesn't go on this body.

[Jackie]

It's cooling.

[Natalie]

Oh, okay. That's nice. I guess I have to think about my silk pillowcase.

[Jackie]

Yeah. Just like your pillowcase games. So, as probably expected, all of this is going on. The Viper coin's gonna find out.

[Natalie]

And I mean, you're in the meat market.

[Jackie]

Yeah. So it's not like she's gonna be pleased with Sabine. But also now that she's caught them having, you know, shot in the face.

[Natalie]

Definitely. Yeah.

[Jackie]

Took a big old, big old bullet to the head. But we have to table that because we're cut over to the hind who has once again put on her mask of hatred. As she walks through the halls of the palace with Rigelus, she has made a request to him that he is considering.

[Natalie]

Maybe you start dressing like an old guy. How about you don't be a teenager? Maybe is that what they're giving.

[Jackie]

Yeah.

[Natalie]

Just giving him, like, advice of, like, you know, it is creepy to do the whole teenager thing, but, you know, it's also creepy to be a full grown adult man.

[Jackie]

Yeah. I mean, there's not really a way that it's going to be not creepy because they are more parasitic.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Jackie]

Creatures.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Jackie]

So I say be a little cunty teen boy.

[Natalie]

Yes. I guess you're. It is the scariest choice. Yeah. I am scared of all teenagers. Honestly, a teenage girl probably would have upped it for me. I. That then I'm further. Much more scared.

[Jackie]

But, like, the gay kid in the popular group is very mean. Yes. Scary.

[Natalie]

Yes.

[Jackie]

So that's not what she's doing. She's actually asking for something else. He doesn't seem convinced that she needs this request fulfilled that she's asking of him. She tells him that she needs to utilize someone named Queen Irithis.

[Natalie]

I believe it's Arethus, but I can't remember from the audiobook. But it might be Erathis or Arethus.

[Jackie]

We're gonna guess Erethus is how you say this name. And so she's bringing up this queen that we haven't met yet, and she's saying that this queen will help persuade Hunt, which doesn't sound good. They reach a doorway as they talk and begin to descend a spiral staircase. Rigela suggests that this queen might be defiant and not do what Lydia or the hind needs, I should say. Lydia fantasizes about snapping his. His neck, but keeps a calm exterior. They reach the bottom of the stairway and she notes that this place is lower even than the dungeons. And it's considered a myth to many people. This place in the palace. She's only ever been here once when she was a very young lady with her father and never again. So we're starting daddy problems. Obviously, it's more that daddy has daughter problems and we need to change that narrative.

[Natalie]

Okay. Wow. I love. Yes. Take the daughter back.

[Jackie]

I.

[Natalie]

It is.

[Jackie]

The dad is the one that has the issue, not the daughter, so. Oh, God.

[Natalie]

Sorry. I'm just thinking of the new Invincible that just dropped. Which Invincible is a really good show. It's a very, very upsetting, like, superhero show, but it's a really, really good one. And part of it was like, Omni man coming back and being like, I'm not going to be in my other kid's life because I want to save him from me. But then the other siblings, like, like, so you're just gonna pretend like he doesn't exist? But the whole thing was that he's like, I want to save him from me. But it's like. But all that looks like from a kid is that you don't want them and that you don't love them, but it is that.

[Jackie]

I think it's better off if you don't.

[Natalie]

If you don't. I think. Because it was funny, because we did get into, like, a genuine. I know we're just watching, like, a cartoon, but we got into a genuine conversation about that, because I find that fascinating because it is more of a sign from someone that is a bad person to take that recognition and be like, no, I'm keeping me from you, and it is for the best.

[Jackie]

I actually think it's a much better just. It's a more mature decision to make, that if you feel like you're gonna ruin your kid's life, that you should just not go be there. You'd be better off.

[Natalie]

He did kill, like, millions of people, but you know it. But at least he's trying to do good for his kid.

[Jackie]

I don't. I genuinely think that's a better choice.

[Natalie]

Yes.

[Jackie]

So, yes, we're getting these little drips and drabs of Lydia's backstory, her origin story throughout this book, and we're learning that she came here with her father, which means, you know, this seems to allude to her father being in good graces with the Asteri to get such an exclusive tour, because some people don't even know that this room exists. And her father got to see it alongside her.

[Natalie]

Oh, my God. She's like the Elizabeth Moss of Crescent City.

[Jackie]

Are we talking about Scientology?

[Natalie]

Yes. And because, you know, her daddy and then that daddy, and then, like, bringing. Then the daddies bring you into it, then you're like, well, I was. I wasn't. I was. You know, you weren't born this way, but you were born that way.

[Jackie]

Well, according to them, they were born

[Natalie]

by a spaghetti monster.

[Jackie]

No, Zenu is actually not like their. There's a whole.

[Natalie]

Whatever.

[Jackie]

It doesn't matter. It's all nonsense.

[Natalie]

It's garbage.

[Jackie]

It's all stupid, all of it. But they're supposed to be like Satans. There's.

[Natalie]

They.

[Jackie]

All the things exist, and they. They embody different people, but they. Their souls have existed for, like, a millennium.

[Natalie]

MJ and I were making a bunch of jokes because Kathy Lee Gifford is writing multiple books within the world of biblical non fiction. And I keep making a joke about the phrase biblical non fiction that I think is. Think it's so that. That is so fun that I'm like. Because it's like that Kathy Lee Gifford.

[Jackie]

Okay.

[Natalie]

Is currently writing these books. And I just think that the idea of biblical non fiction is very.

[Jackie]

But what she's doing. Adventure side quest stories. Yeah. It's like.

[Natalie]

But what if. Like, what were they doing outside of that burning bus? But like, let's get into like their other fun stories.

[Jackie]

I mean, listen, I love the Red Tent. That's a great book.

[Natalie]

I know. And I know, I know. But there are. It is I just referring to it as biblical non fiction. That I do find kind of funny. Wow.

[Jackie]

People are not doing well.

[Natalie]

So.

[Jackie]

So yes, she has been in this room only once in her. Her experience with the Asteri. As Rigelus opens the door to this secret chamber, she smells the strong scent of mildew. They have in fact arrived at the Mystics Hall.

[Natalie]

They shouldn't keep them in there. Mildew's not good for mystics either. I don't think.

[Jackie]

I don't think they care. Oh, but it's. It feels like what it must smell like in an aquarium, you know?

[Natalie]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jackie]

1, 000 tanks stretch out before her. But even closer to them as they enter the room at the entrance is the only apparently mobile person in the room. A creepy old witch at a large entrance desk, cloaked and known only as the Mistress of the Mystics.

[Natalie]

Cool.

[Jackie]

I guess that sounds like a sucky job. Yeah, but it is basement all day.

[Natalie]

At least you get a cool name for it though, you know? Like, I feel like you hear about the Mistrix of the Mistress of the Mystics, like just the secretary. Yeah, but literally it's like caught to the reality and she's just like plugging numbers into keep them in their tubes.

[Jackie]

In the center of this massive space is a hologram, much like the one we saw in the Dusk Room in House of sky and Breath and also the one we've seen in the Autumn King study. So those. Those big hologram solar systems are flying around. So they're looking at this one that apparently all thousand all these mystics are seeking through. And so all these planets are flying by in the air. Apparently this Queen Erythus is somewhere around here too. Is she a mystic? Rigelus tells the mistress to go retrieve her for them. This seems to concern the old woman, but Rigelus brushes off her concerns and commands her to lead them to her.

[Natalie]

Her.

[Jackie]

So this Mistress of the Mystics is like. What do you mean you want the queen? This apparently is not. This is an Unprecedented decision.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Jackie]

So we follow them it through the room. They're walking past this massive room filled with these mystic tanks, with each one holding one person. A thousand of these people are being held captive in this room. Finally they hit the center of this darkened, you know, room lit only by the lights around the mystics tanks and they end up in this. By this like stand that has a glowing ball in the center.

[Natalie]

Rigelus neared the dimly glowing center of the hall. There in a crystal bubble the size of a cantaloupe, a female made of pure flame slumber. Her long hair lay draped around her in golden waves and curls of fire. Her lean, graceful limbs nude. The Sprite queen was perhaps no bigger than Lydia's hand. Yet even in repose she had a presence like she was the small sun around which this place orbited.

[Jackie]

Not another fire sprite trap.

[Natalie]

And it's not Lamba. But maybe it's her queen. And it's the sprite queen. And I miss her. I miss Lele. I miss her. She's still here with us up on her shelves.

[Jackie]

She should probably come down with us whenever we're recording.

[Natalie]

Yeah, she should. She does want to. I should be bringing her home to watch reality television. Thank you. Bring her closer. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[Jackie]

There we go. She's here with us. And spirit. So it is the queen of the fire sprites who have been reduced, if you'll recall, to as lessers and slaves, despite their intelligence because of their allyship with the rebel angels. Angels in the Great War. So even though they are these magical intelligent beings, they've been reduced to like animals essentially as punishment. The mistress swipes her hand at the globe, removing some ward, and demands the queen arise for her quote, master. Now we. We don't know exactly what the scheme the hind slash Lydia has cooked up, but. But we hear her thoughts as Rigelus addresses the queen for the first time. And it sends like rage through her body when he refers to her as, quote, my hind. That sounds like his butt.

[Natalie]

Yeah, you talk about your ass, you stupid little boy Ass. Rigelous.

[Jackie]

But he says he wants. He says my hind would like to, you know, utilize.

[Natalie]

You have. Well, maybe your hind should remove the stick.

[Jackie]

That's up. It's.

[Natalie]

Whoa.

[Jackie]

Okay, that's how he gets the. That's with the straw. It's the straw for the light.

[Natalie]

Oh. Oh, that's right. They have to keep that in there. Yeah.

[Jackie]

This is clearly not something that happens ever. We learned through their argument here that the queen is kept down in the Mystics room to ward off threats from Hell. I guess her royal flame serves as some kind of magic that does not allow the princes of Hell to enter infiltrate the palace via the mystics. Like what happened at the Astronomers. So Rigela seems unconcerned with the mistress's fear that Hel will show up. And he tells her if they'd show up in the short span of time that she's with the Hind, which is apparently to use her powers on the prisoner, that he'll deal with the Princes riot. Julissa's lack of concern with the threat of Hell has given away his fear. According to Lydia's thoughts, he needs to get info info from Hunt so badly that he's willing to risk the hell people coming through the mystics down here.

[Natalie]

Think about that Hind. Think about your seat. At least that is the one thing we always know about the Hind is she's always calculating, she's always paying attention. But I feel like in a way, I mean, obviously she has to be even more surreptitious than Bright ever had to be. So she's just so good at seeing like the. Has to be at like navigating a situation and how. God, the 3D chest. She must sleep really well at night, though.

[Jackie]

You know, she's tired.

[Natalie]

She's got to be tired. All the thinking, it's so hard to think. I know. I don't do it very often. I only do it for a couple hours a day and I'm.

[Jackie]

It's like, oh, God, like, gotta lay down, let me sleep. So, yeah, I mean, she has to be doing this all the time, manipulating and. And even like, you know, as, like I think we talked about last episode, she has to control her body.

[Natalie]

Yes.

[Jackie]

Temperature and stuff like that. So.

[Natalie]

And like smell and like smelling her fear and smell. It's like being able to smell her emotions too.

[Jackie]

Oh my God.

[Natalie]

Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to drop.

[Jackie]

But she is noting this, that like Rigelus and all of the Asteria, of course, are acting like doesn't matter, no big deal, that. That Bryce went somewhere and worked fine. But they actually are more concerned than they're trying to portray.

[Natalie]

Yeah. Me thinks that you're crying too much to be seeing that. It don't matter what I. You know, it's just. I feel like they're crying too much to protect. Like, I feel like Rigelus is just out there being like, I'm not upset, I'm not upset. But I know I'm saying, like, you know, obviously, like she said shows his fear. Oh sure. That you're skittering around trying to figure this out.

[Jackie]

And also he's. He keeps saying, I'm not upset. I'm not upset. Which is kind of a big giveaway.

[Natalie]

I'm not. Okay.

[Jackie]

He might listen to MC this is.

[Natalie]

But then I'd be like, you don't deserve.

[Jackie]

No, absolutely not. So the Queen watches all of this go down. So the Mistress and Rigel are sort of arguing back and forth.

[Natalie]

Earth.

[Jackie]

And the Queen is. She's got. Obviously got contempt in her eyes. She is in this. She's been trapped in this basement for a millennia. Lydia wonders if she has actually gone insane over this time, because the Queen is definitely observing all of this, but she's just remaining silent, like, kind of just looking with hatred. Though she has a slave band around her neck that is like the halo that the angels get to dull her powers. Rigelus gives her leave to be with the Hind for a week, suggesting that her power is plenty still even with this band on. So she does not get that removed. Then we're back with Bryce. So whatever the Hind is cooking up with this Queen, we're gonna have to learn later. Bryce. Now we're on another planet in this cell. It's kind of her home planet, actually. More hours and days have passed and she really hasn't come up with any good ideas of how to get out of this room. She's been left in this cell. She slides her Arkesian amulet back and forth across her neck as she contemplates what to do. Little hint that she still has it. I don't know if that's going to come up or not. She just can't stay here. There. She. Even though she. She knows that there's really nothing at her fingertips, she has to come up with a plan. Thoughts of Hunt and Rune wash over her and she can barely hold off her panic when she considers that maybe time moves differently here and they have been in danger for far longer than she thinks. Like, what if in this world one day is a week there?

[Natalie]

The intrusive thoughts that must come from being in a torture cell somewhere have got to be crazy.

[Jackie]

At least she's not getting tortured here.

[Natalie]

Yes, yes. But it's like she's still in a place being kept somewhere that I feel like, oh God, the brain.

[Jackie]

Nothing to distract you.

[Natalie]

And then you're just thinking about. It's like then you're just coming up with things to be upset about.

[Jackie]

You can't scroll. You can't do anything. Oh, you can't play Tetris on your phone.

[Natalie]

Or Snake. Not even Snake.

[Jackie]

Just to play snake with the snakes that are in the snake cage.

[Natalie]

And they don't want to gobble up all the pellets that she keeps putting on the floor.

[Jackie]

So they, so yeah, she's starting to have these like panic thoughts. She can't stand it any longer. Decides to do the only thing that she can come up with in this room. Pull the grate off the large hole in the center of the floor and go down, you know, where all the hissing is coming from.

[Natalie]

Come on down here. Oh, don't worry. We're just a silver sister. Don't worry about us. You could be Stacy. I'll be Darcy.

[Jackie]

Is that okay? I don't know if that is better or worse.

[Natalie]

It doesn't really matter. They're, they're identical twins. Not. But. And that's all that matters is what we look like. Obviously, it has nothing to do with our. But they're, they're very. Oh, hey. It's very Greta Gremlin.

[Jackie]

Oh, yeah.

[Natalie]

They're very Greta Gremlins.

[Jackie]

Yeah, they are. Yeah.

[Natalie]

And I remember that they have a. I think it's called House of Silva. They had a whole line of fashion and I got one of their sunglasses. I really, I really fell into the Silva sisters for a minute.

[Jackie]

Oh, hey, Bryce, do you want to

[Natalie]

try on our sobic skin? Yes, that's right. I killed the other ones. Yeah. Come on down here. Right. Don't. Sobic skin jacket. Yeah, we're not gonna play a brace.

[Jackie]

Was that good?

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Jackie]

Okay, great.

[Natalie]

TLC hire us. You don't even have to do a background check.

[Jackie]

TLC are literally the most evil company on earth. They, they currently have a show on where there is a 12 year old father on their show. I wanted to throw up and die.

[Natalie]

I, I, I've been saying this recently even I have really tried to step away from deal because it's just like they are. They don't do any background evil at all.

[Jackie]

They actually actively avoid them.

[Natalie]

It's truly evil.

[Jackie]

Don't forget that they are the ones who brought us the Dugger.

[Natalie]

The Duggers. Yeah. It's really, it's, there's a lot of. I'm laughing just because it got so cartoonishly evil.

[Jackie]

It is diabolo.

[Natalie]

They're like. But it makes great tv. It's James Cigar.

[Jackie]

Oh, James did it.

[Natalie]

James did it. Wow. Thank you, James.

[Jackie]

They also don't have to pay anybody. So they make a lot of money.

[Natalie]

Yeah. Especially when they're criminals. Yeah. They can't even come after us. Right, James?

[Jackie]

Oh, boy. He loves it. So she sticks her head in this. She's opened this grate. She's pulled the grate off of the center, which was like an open air grade, like she was tossing like peas in it earlier. And all she can see is. Is complete darkness when she peers down into this opening that she's made. So she creates. She pulls some of her. Her light from her and makes a little ball and gets like. Lets it drop down, which is like. That's a cool thing to be able to do.

[Natalie]

So Beck's probably like that. But they were like, oh, wow. Oh, wow. It's a light display, I guess.

[Jackie]

But I don't know if they like the light.

[Natalie]

Oh, it hurts my eyes. Okay, so we're like, no, don't, please. Oh, don't.

[Jackie]

I have sensitive eyes.

[Natalie]

Oh, God, I'm trying to sleep.

[Jackie]

Yes. So, yeah, she drops it down and as the light goes down, she goes. Yeah, that's a bunch of slimy scaries down there.

[Natalie]

Us.

[Jackie]

Hi. Oh, hello. You're the one throwing light into us.

[Natalie]

We've just been down here.

[Jackie]

So she weighs her options, but she loves our wigs.

[Natalie]

I feel like she immediately sees. Oh, my God. Okay. Silva Sobeck sisters down there. Even with the slime. Yes. The slime adds to the curl.

[Jackie]

Thank you.

[Natalie]

Thank you.

[Jackie]

But I'm still gonna probably bite you. Yeah. So they. She sees these things, this really scary creature that reminds her of her planet, Sobex. And they're just hissing around down there. We don't even know what they are exactly because they're not Sobex. They're some other, like, related creature. But it's something like that. They have curly hair.

[Natalie]

Apparently they were permed against their will and they are a upset about it.

[Jackie]

You know how we clip Doberman's ears here, which we shouldn't be doing.

[Natalie]

Shouldn't be doing.

[Jackie]

That's what they. They perm.

[Natalie]

All of.

[Jackie]

They have them grow hair and perm their hair.

[Natalie]

They're trying to keep us down. So we've got high body count. Hair is what we've got. Whoa.

[Jackie]

Is that what this is?

[Natalie]

Yeah, that's what this is. Bigger the hair, closer to God, closer to confess all your sins.

[Jackie]

Why is that body count?

[Natalie]

Yeah. Because I feel like this is. I feel like that's what they were thinking when they gave us the perms. That they were thinking that we were sluts, that we were gonna like it, but they didn't even take the time. To get to know us before they found out. Yes, we are in fact sluts. But we didn't want the perm.

[Jackie]

Body counts are stupid.

[Natalie]

Yes, but Natalie, how else are you supposed to know how good you are at it?

[Jackie]

I just. I hate.

[Natalie]

I watched into the what's in in the manosphere. How are you supposed to know if you're good at it, Natalie? Well, they don't rack those numbers up.

[Jackie]

But they want the women's to be low because they have no way to control women and so they have to make them feel as small as possible because they're losers. There's the secret. So that's the secret.

[Natalie]

Is that what you find out when you read the book? The Secret? Yes.

[Jackie]

I wish. I wish that was the end of the secret.

[Natalie]

It we're all losers is the only thing written in the book.

[Jackie]

Know that toxic patriarchal masculinity. It destroys everyone's lives, including men's.

[Natalie]

Throw it down. So sister, so no one listens to me.

[Jackie]

I'm down in a pit.

[Natalie]

Nope. You know what they do? They put us all down in a pit, don't they, Natalie?

[Jackie]

Y so yes, she sees all of these feminist sobecks who are sluts but proud of it. Proud of it. And she's like, oh, hi, that's cool. You seem like you'd be like, you know, we should go to the White Raven together. She weighs her options one last time. Stay here and work with the fae beings or see what was down in this pit. If there's any way to escape this room through that. That. This way. Basically walking. Go into the fire. So she remembers how powerful Resond was in those moments and how she might be at risk of. What if she does ally with these people and brings them back to her planet and all they do is destroy the Esteri and take their place. She doesn't trust the fae. She pulls. A real

[Natalie]

would be a true leap of faith.

[Jackie]

That's another way to put it. She had realized she gained a surge of power from that light explosion and ingesting their magic to get the little bean inside of her, which seems to be their magic is so much more powerful and potent on this planet that it seems to have just given her this like power up inside of her body. She thinks she has enough left over to teleport, or winnow as they call it here to the narrow rock she sees jutting out just above the slimy stinky. So bad.

[Natalie]

Ouch.

[Jackie]

I'm sorry, but we don't get to go to the showers very often. From there, maybe she can see somewhere to go. Is there, like, a tunnel? Is there, like a sewer or something that she can go to from this pit? So she's like, okay, I can sit here for another many. How many days? Or I can just. Just take a leap, go for it. So if she gets down there, you know, she doesn't know if she can teleport back out so she can get to this rock. It might just be a dead end down there. She may have to stand on that rock until the Fey return or the Sobacks just eat her. This is a serious decision moment. It was a moment she was taking that could end all hope for Midgard. It scares her, and she hesitates.

[Natalie]

Hunt would tell her she was out of her mind. Ruhn would tell her to try to spin some more bullshit, try to win her captors over. But Danica. Danica would have jumped. Danica had jumped down into the depths of the drop with Bryce, knowing there'd be no return for her. Danica, whose death Rigelus had engineered, manipulating Micah into killing her.

[Jackie]

The thought of Danica and everything that she had done was enough for her to say, screw it.

[Natalie]

I just feel like this is another one of those things where she's like, I learned it from you, but she's learning the wrong things.

[Jackie]

Or is she?

[Natalie]

At some points. Because I feel like also all this shrouded in secrecy, all this, you know, having your own prerogative and not telling anyone. I feel like a lot of that comes from Danika's encouragement from beyond the grave. And so, at least in this instance, I'm glad that it is a positive thing to follow. But sometimes I feel like Danika wasn't given the. I mean, great, like, in the world of being a spy. But Bryce, you're not. Not a spy. Like, at times, you have to, you know, dawn the. The character of a spy.

[Jackie]

But Danica knew what was at stake, and she. Even though she did hide so much from Bryce, it might have been because it was at the expense of the entire planet. So maybe she was doing it because she knew that that was the only way. Well, but, no, I think you're also right.

[Natalie]

And then she got a splody, and

[Jackie]

then she got split. But I will say it's important to take calculated risks in life. You need to do that, otherwise you stay stagnant.

[Natalie]

You're right, Natalie. All right. How else are you supposed to become a butterfly if you don't wind up in a sticky papoose somewhere?

[Jackie]

Yeah, just get yourself all sticky. And wrapped up. Yeah.

[Natalie]

Just cover yourself in a bunch of jello, get inside of your dirt duvet, and then, bam. Life is anew.

[Jackie]

You will. It will give you some new perspectives. I will say, why did I do

[Natalie]

this to my jello and my duvet?

[Jackie]

And you'll be sticky, and it will be upsetting, but you don't know what ideas might come out of that.

[Natalie]

Transformative shower.

[Jackie]

Transformative shower. So she says, screw it, I'm doing it. And she blips out, out and into the unknown. We cut back over to Tharion. However, we don't know what's gonna happen.

[Natalie]

All these chapters, man. Sjm, really? And you're like, oh, okay, this chapter is thick.

[Jackie]

So we cut back over to Tharion, who is faded almost to oblivion, but still manages to feel a little bit of surprise when Flynn, Declan, Ethan, Mark, and some wolf chick he's never met walk into the suite he's laid up in under the meat market. So we're returning to Therian after. It seems like maybe he and Viper Queen did it. I'm not sure. Hopefully it was consensual.

[Natalie]

I hope it's consensual, but also, if it was, I'd watch that date.

[Jackie]

Well, yeah, as long as it was consensual, I'd absolutely watch it. Can you kidding?

[Natalie]

So I imagine it's a lot of. It's like in that world of like. I think it is not consensual, but I imagine at the point it's like. Like with the addiction and the sucking and the like. I imagine you get wrapped up in the power and the needing of, like, the venom. Not that that. I think that that doesn't mean it's consensual especially. It's certainly a power dynamic that we don't necessarily love. No.

[Jackie]

But it is a form of kink,

[Natalie]

I'm sure somewhere sucking venom, man.

[Jackie]

Non consensual consent, which is not a thing I'm gonna. Well, I'm not gonna trump on any of that, because I don't want to get as a landmine. Anyway, we're with Darien, who is. You know, he's filled with venom. He is literally like in an opium den essentially underneath the meat market, just kind of chilling, waiting for the fights the next day. And as he's laying out there, he's like,

[Natalie]

hey, friends, what's going on?

[Jackie]

He gets a tad self conscious. He's like. Even though he's in this haze, Declan looks at him with horror. He realizes he must look pretty messed up, both being battered, but Also heavily chopped in the brain.

[Natalie]

And it's like, I know that Therian is very smart, but I also feel like there is that. Like, whoa, I shouldn't have the River Queen's daughter. Like, I do feel like there is that. So I do kind of, you know, maybe it's a little bit more of where he'd like to live in his brain.

[Jackie]

Right. I mean, you know, yeah, he could. You could see how he could just go down this pathway. So in this moment, they're all witnessing for him for the first time after they saw that he became a fighter from a flyer. And then immediately after, Ariadne seems to be drawn to the commotion of the room and enters. And she gets into this brief bicker with the Fae boys because this is the first time they're seeing her since she fled hypaxia when she was supposed to be on guard. And so there's like a little confrontation, but she's also just like, shut up.

[Natalie]

I feel like this was around the point in the book where I started to. And I know that eventually this changes, but I kept getting Ariadne and Siegfried confused in my Sigurd. Siegfried. Well, my mama has got. Got something to say with Sigrid. I. Sigrid? Is it Sigrid?

[Jackie]

Oh, I call her Sigrid Secret.

[Natalie]

So I. But I feel like the characters of Ariadne and Sigrid are very, like, they start getting a little like, oh, there's

[Jackie]

a lot of new characters.

[Natalie]

There's a lot of new characters coming in. And I feel like they both kind of give that whole, like, I don't need your help, but I also do kind of need your help. But also I'm in charge. But also I do need your help. And I feel like they are. And I. And I did start to get a little confused by that.

[Jackie]

Very understandable. The only reason I don't get those two confused is because visually, in my head, they're so different looking.

[Natalie]

Yes. Oh, for sure, yes.

[Jackie]

But I get confused with other characters all the time. For example, I forget which one is Flynn and which one's Declan every time.

[Natalie]

Yeah, I have to look it up every time of which one's more of

[Jackie]

the prep and the one that has a boyfriend.

[Natalie]

Moving.

[Jackie]

So they get into this little tiff with Ariadne, but they kind of just get over it quickly. Feeling floaty and far away. Variants. They've unfortunately brought bad news, though. They don't think the fellas are dead. Vaccine Hunt and Rune are captive and Bryce has disappeared. Darian stares at them. As he tries to process this information through his hate days, Flynn takes this time to tell him how bad he looks. Huge.

[Natalie]

Yeah.

[Jackie]

Body wrecked. What happened? Oh, it's Gord. Oh, yeah.

[Natalie]

Therian.

[Jackie]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. He notices that through his altered state that Ariadne and Cigarette are eyeing one another. Though he doesn't know who Sigrid is yet, they realize. The two of them realize they know one another. Because, remember, Sigrid was in the tank. Ariadne was in the ring. The astronomer's ring. So they were with each other for many, many years. He gets even more confused when Ethan introduces this new chick he has never met before as Sigrid Fendir. Did Anaka have a baby? Grew up with this. Whoa.

[Natalie]

Yeah, it's like a Bella situation. Ethan. I know. Ethan. You want to be the Jacob, but you can't be Hun.

[Jackie]

It's the Renesmee. Declan tells him they don't. This is a lot. There's a lot. Don't worry. We'll talk about this later on. Right now they have to deal with the immediate fallout of Sabine having to grow her face back. While it won't kill her, it seems like a pretty egregious move. Like maybe a sort of like a social force football. Like you're not supposed to show someone's face up, all right? And it's just going to add another layer of problem to their already messed up day. Tharion watches as they all discuss their options and throw out ideas of where to go from here. The Viper Queen has told them that they can stay at her spot for the night. So they all kind of collect in this. This commons room where they found Tharien and kind of try to find space where they can. Tharian feels shame watching them talk to one another, realizing this was almost his group of friends.

[Natalie]

Well, it is your group of friends, Therian.

[Jackie]

Well, he doesn't see a way out of his position. No, he's kind of eliminated that option. He just decides to close his eyes back. Surprise. And she is in fact, standing on this little scrap of rock dock right above the Sobeck thing.

[Natalie]

Hey. Oh, do you want to buy some sunglasses? From my house? From my house of silver. Don't worry. Florian. Florian, come in.

[Jackie]

You would think we wouldn't have sunglasses because we live in the dark. A dollar's a dollar capitalism. It's alive and well in here. So they're. They're actually either really unhappy or very happy to see her because they're all gathering around the little island, going

[Natalie]

with their perms. Everywhere. And they.

[Jackie]

What she can't tell is they're all trying to picture a different mlm and they're. It's glad she doesn't speak their language. So she has teleported to this space and she tests out. Now that she's here, she's like made it. She's teetering on this rock, but she's safe from them for the moment. And she tries to pull into her magic again, to feel if she can potentially teleport out again. But she has depleted whatever she had in there. It's quote sputtered out. Thankfully her starlight just comes naturally, so at least she can have a little flash lay on her chest. She realizes the sobec seemed to be pulling back from her a little. She wonders if it has something to do with the starlight or how she was apparently quote made, as they called her earlier.

[Natalie]

Or maybe they just didn't have their sunglasses on.

[Jackie]

Yeah, maybe they're just like, like. Can you give me a second, please?

[Natalie]

And cuz you, you know, it. It borderline hurts when you have to go up, get up in the middle of the night and use the bathroom. Right.

[Jackie]

And her level of starlight even hurts people's eyes who are already in danger

[Natalie]

not doing that, so. But also though, new life hack. Keep the sleeping mask on when you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Wait, that's been my new thing. I feel around and I don't turn the light on. Yeah, because I want to keep my eyes. I don't want it. So I've been keeping my sleeping mask on.

[Jackie]

Well, you must have a clear path to your bathroom.

[Natalie]

I do. I mean, at least like when I'm in the dark room, I take it off so that I can get to the bathroom. But before I turn on the light, I put the eye mask back on. And like when I get my situation so that I know and then I don't have to turn on the light.

[Jackie]

I mean, I keep mine above. I put them above my eyes.

[Natalie]

Yes.

[Jackie]

But I usually can at night because it's an obstacle course to get out of my bed with the dogs and the husband. So I. I've tried to train myself to not have to pee in the night, which is hard.

[Natalie]

Whoa. I hear it only gets more difficult as time goes on.

[Jackie]

Why are you looking at me?

[Natalie]

I'm only five years older than you. Natalie. I'm looking at you. How's that piss going, Natalie? Wow. Okay.

[Jackie]

Okay. Well, I guess I have my wisdom to bring about the urine.

[Natalie]

Tell me about your piss Natalie, what's piss like in the future?

[Jackie]

Listen, get. If you put a bunch of dogs around you, who will wake be shot wide awake if you move, better help. Okay.

[Natalie]

All right. Good to know. Y. Oh, yeah. So I think it keeps you having piss coming out of your eyeballs, but,

[Jackie]

yeah, I. I. Fortunately, of them, I have many problems. One of them was never I had to. I don't have a wetting the bed

[Natalie]

issue or crying urine.

[Jackie]

I didn't say that.

[Natalie]

Okay, well, at least we find out more and more from every episode.

[Jackie]

When I hold it in at night, it goes up.

[Natalie]

Goes up. Yeah, it's anti gravity matter is what happens to this.

[Jackie]

So she's like, I don't know why this is happening, but they seem to be, like, backing away from me. So she pulls her shirt down to reveal the skin where her scar is.

[Natalie]

Look at my titties. Look at my titty. So backs.

[Jackie]

I'd be like, thank you. Wow, that's nice. I mean, if you want to show them, I'm gonna stop to look at him. It's where. And she's. It's where the scar is, of course. And the Sobecs seem to react in fear. Oh, my God. Oh, tits are so nice.

[Natalie]

They look mine, especially in comparison to our perms. Natalie. Oh, God.

[Jackie]

Well, well, that's a start. At least she has the Sobex kind of pulling away from her. She's assured enough to get her bearings. And look at the space around her. Well, well, well. The pit seems to be a part of a long tunnel and not a hospital show in Pittsburgh. There are caverns on either side of her, as though this is just a chamber in a long hallway of sorts.

[Natalie]

Bryce turned toward one of the tunnels, trying to better see what lay beyond. The star in her chest dimmed, like her magic was rapidly fading. She whirled toward the other tunnel, trying to see what she could before the magic vanished. The star flared brightly again.

[Jackie]

Okay, okay, she tries it again. Same thing. She's still learning about this scar or this power, but remembers that Rigel has told her that it calls to her most loyal and significant. It reacts to them. So maybe it's also leading her towards a way out. This is Thea's power on Thea's planet, after all.

[Natalie]

I mean, that's badass. That is cool. To be, like, from where her power is from. From. And to feel that within you. It's cool.

[Jackie]

Yeah, obviously it's cool, but what about these slimy snake gators? Come on. As her stress ramps up, the Sobec seem to React. She concentrates on her breathing. And the beasts also settle with her. She begins to repeat to herself. Through love, all is possible. Steadying her nerves.

[Natalie]

I imagine she's also handing out white wine glasses to us as the sobe, like Silva sisters. And we're going, oh, thank you. No, now we're more better now. Thank you, thank you.

[Jackie]

That's all it took. She had to bring the white, she had to bring the soft blanc out.

[Natalie]

And it could be a five buck chuck. It doesn't matter. You know, the Silva sisters do not judge their wine.

[Jackie]

Is it, is it alcohol?

[Natalie]

All right, so through all. Through love, all is possible. Through love, all is. Is possible.

[Jackie]

Yes. So she gives them whatever, whatever she's doing is working on them. They are calming down, they're relaxing. Something is like happening that is reacting from her. They remain placid beneath her. Using her willpower, she takes the first step off her stone oasis.

[Natalie]

They lay before her like obedient dogs. She didn't question it. It didn't think of anything but the star on her chest and the tunnel it pointed toward and the desire to see the faces of those she loved once more.

[Jackie]

I want to see this animated so bad.

[Natalie]

I know, dude, because you are so right. I know that we'll forever say it. It can't. I don't think it can properly be done live action. I really don't think.

[Jackie]

Not unless they had like a Lord of the Rings budget, which they're not gonna get.

[Natalie]

They're not going to get it. Or who knows, let's see. As the. The world of romantic to see continues to bloom and blossom and you know, it's like it was given SJM at first and then Hulu, you know, it's like then it all fell apart. But who knows what could happen in the future.

[Jackie]

But she got the rights back, which I think is great, because what lord knows what they would have turned it into. So she recalls, Run had called her a queen before she came to this place. She didn't feel that way then. But as these beings lay before her, she imagines a crown on her head, steadying her strides as she enters the unknown. Back to Viper Queen's Lane. It's all the same chapter. Finally, after all the boys get settled, Therian rouses himself from the couch in the common room where they had all gathered. So where they had found him is where he had been laying that entire evening. And finally, as everybody's kind of like laying, go going to bed, he. He gets himself off the couch to head back to his bedroom, which is nearby. Ethan, however, is on him immediately. Wanting to know what has happened. He explained his bargain, his story with the River Queen. Ethan then fills him in on Cigarette and everything that they've done in the last three days. Tharion feels affection for the wolf when Ithan tells him he can't stay here and that they're going to find a way to release him from the Viper Queen.

[Natalie]

Oh, maybe they are still his friends,

[Jackie]

but ultimately Tharion just tells him it's too late and drags his drugged ass to his mattress to fall into a stupor. Cut to Ethan in the same moment he goes back to the Commons room to see Sigrid awake. It's late and the fighting ring has closed for the night, yet she's pacing in front of that observation window, clearly uneasy about being trapped once again. Now underground, he offers her the couch as all of the others have taken spots on the floor, pretending to be asleep. Sigrid confirms that she doesn't believe they'll be let out and she can't breathe, what we might call a bit of panic attack. He promises her that they will leave here. He feels guilt at her fear, but she also is acting kind of like

[Natalie]

a I'd be pretty bitchy if I had been kept in a ring for like a long time for sure.

[Jackie]

And she's also an Alpha. She begins insulting the Fae boys and demanding to know why he didn't take her out of the city as soon as he freed her. And while she's got every right to be angry, she isn't doing anything to help either. She snorts in disgust when he tells her that Tharion is the mer who he told her was going to help them. Ethan, you know, he's just like, you know what, you got to work through some stuff. I'm just going to go. I'm gonna take a little nap. I'll see you later. He just takes himself in a Therian's room out of the space where Cigarette is resigned to the fact that no one is going to be happy that evening, and lays on the floor at the foot of his bed. And that's where we're going to end this episode.

[Natalie]

Oh my gosh.

[Jackie]

Wowie. Zowie.

[Natalie]

That was a one chapter. One and it was two chapters. But a lot is just one and it is so crazy. And this is just the beginning y'. All. So just strap in because we got a lot of book to go and it is going to continue to juke from POV to POV. I do like getting more POVs in this book though. Yeah, I will throw it out there. I do like getting more perspectives for I like being in like the Heinz brain.

[Jackie]

Oh yeah, we need to be in the Heinz brain.

[Natalie]

I feel like we need to know more. We need to be able to know if we can trust her or not. And I think at this point we can. Even though we know she's got to do what A has got to do. But thank you guys for joining us for while we we get through. It's not all a torture book. It's just some of a torture book with us.

[Jackie]

It's all a torture book.

[Natalie]

Oh. Please read up until chapter eight for next week. Small business owners, listen up. Payroll, benefits and global hiring can get complicated fast. But with justworks you don't have to figure it all out on your own. Justworks helps simplify the behind the scenes stuff that keeps your business running with 24. 7 support from real people whenever you need it. So you can spend less time worrying about admin and more time focusing on the parts of running your business that actually excite you. You don't have to worry when it just works. It's the Smuckers Uncrustables podcast with your host Uncrustables. Okay, today's guest is rough around the edges. Please welcome crust. Thanks for having me.

[Jackie]

Today's topic.

[Natalie]

He's round with soft pillowy bread. Hey. Filled with delicious PB and J.

[Jackie]

Are you talking about yourself?

[Natalie]

And you can take them anywhere. Why'd you invite and we are out of time. Are you really cutting me off? Uncrustables are the best part of the sandwich. Sorry, crust.