Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles, #3)

by Kami Garcia

Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light— Were all like workings of one mind, the features Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree; Characters of the great Apocalypse, The types and symbols of Eternity, Of first, and last, and midst, and without end. —WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, The Prelude: Book Sixth

you end up taking your sugar with your salt and your kicks with your kisses,

nothing short of the apocalypse could keep folks in Gatlin out of church or each other’s business.

The beginning of the End of Days.

Link stretched his arms behind his head, relaxed. The wooden chair creaked under his weight. “It’s been a long summer, Wate. I’m ready to get back in the game.”

Link sure seems relaxed after the revelation at the end of Dream Dark. In fact, Ethan joked about the apocalypse a bit, forshadowing the end of days soon after. Is no one worried the world might be ending?

“Don’t know what you boys are thinkin’, sitting here like today’s just another day. It’s not over—not the moon or this heat or that business with Abraham Ravenwood. You two are actin’ like done is done, the lights are on and it’s time to leave the picture show.” She lowered her voice. “Well, you’re as wrong as walkin’ barefoot in church. Things have consequences, and we haven’t seen the half a them.”

At least Amma is worried. Most likely Macon as well.

She clenched Link’s shirt tighter,

When did Amma touch Link? She touched Ethan, but not Link.

I looked up at Amma from my side of the table. She hadn’t relaxed her grip on Link, and she wasn’t about to let go of me anytime soon.

So Amma is touching both Ethan and Link even though they are on opposite sides of the table?

Incubuses

Incubus Incubi Succubus Succubi

Link sped up a little. “That’s nasty. My mom thinks they’re one a the plagues a the apocalypse. She’s waitin’ for the frogs to show up and the water to run red.”

Link should know this is the apocalypse, and as a result so should Ethan, Lena, Ridley, Amma, Macon, and everyone else involved. Unless Link didn't take the warning seriously. Excerpt from Dream Dark: “The apocalypse. The end of the Mortal world as we know it—” Obidias was fading. “What do you mean by apocalypse? Like in the Bible?” Was there another kind? Link didn’t even know. Obidias’ eyes were glassy. “Unimaginable plagues will rain down on the Mortal world until there is nothing left, and the Casters will be powerless to stop the destruction.”

I slipped into Lena’s arms and breathed her in.

I leaned down carefully to kiss her without brushing against any other part of her body.

Too late. Ethan already embraced Lena. They are touching and haven't pulled apart yet.

“Good idea.” Link slid on his scratched black wraparound shades, which had been cool for about ten minutes when we were in sixth grade. “Let’s groove, Sugar Cube.” They turned toward the steps, and I saw my chance.

Link grinned and put me down.

Link and Ridley walked toward the steps to the school building already. They should be halfway to those steps or in the grass before them by now. Possibly already on the steps depending on how far away they parked.

“Ridley, let’s go.” Lena walked over and stood next to her cousin. “She’s not worth it. Trust me.” Savannah was about to fire back, when something distracted her. She crinkled her nose. “Your eyes—they’re two different colors. What’s wrong with you?” Emily wandered over to get a better look. It was only a matter of time before someone noticed Lena’s eyes. They were impossible to miss. But I had hoped we would make it past the parking lot before the first wave of gossip hit. “Savannah, why don’t you—” Lena interrupted before I could finish. “I would ask you the same question, but we all know the answer.”

I wonder what Emily was going to say. It feels rather random to have her speak words that don't add up to a proper reaction.

“Who’s your friend?” Emory was talking to Link, but he didn’t take his eyes off Ridley. He’d seen her before—at the Stop & Steal when I first met her, and at the winter formal, when she trashed the gym—but he was looking for an introduction, up close and personal.

The town knows Link's on-again, off-again girlfriend. Savannah pointed this out quite clearly when she flirted in the parking lot.

“Books?” Ridley looked disgusted. “Carry?” Lena sighed. “You’ll get them today, in your classes. And, yes, you have to carry them. You should know how this works.”

You know, thinking about it, how does Jackson High have enough money to buy books for every student but not enough to buy Gs for the sign outside? I went to a high school (only high school at that time) in a large city that couldn't afford books for everyone. We weren't allowed to take them home or even remove them from the classrooms without permission. I have also substituted in several large city schools and none of them had enough books, either.

I nodded, opening my binder. I heard the voice again. This time I recognized the words. The letters appeared on the page, in my handwriting. I’M WAITING.

Spooky

Lena pushed her hair up off her shoulders, twisting it into a messy knot.

The breeze from the open window blew through Lena’s dark curls.

Lena pulled her hair into a messy knot. I guessed a bun.

I swallowed. “How about you, Amma?” She was standing at the kitchen counter tossing a salad so hard I thought she was going to shatter our cracked glass bowl. “Good enough.”

“Yeah? That’s great.” I picked up the salad bowl, concentrating on an oily-looking wedge of tomato.

When did Amma set the salad on the table?

“We make ourselves a place apart / Behind light words that tease and flout, / But oh, the agitated heart / Till someone really find us out…”

Eighteen Moons, eighteen spheres, From the world beyond the years, One Unchosen, death or birth, A Broken Day awaits the Earth…

Why write the moon songs in stanzas but break poems up with slashes? It is rare to see a poem written without slashes. I noticed this in all the books so far and think it very unusual.

“Seven.” A girl’s voice.

“There are only five instances of mixed Caster bloodlines

Five? What happened to seven?

Lena dropped my hand and walked toward the rubble.

And suddenly, they aren't in the car.

“What are you doing?” I jogged to catch up with her.

And now Lena is on the move.

all.

at all.

“Emily Dickinson.”

‘Much Madness is divinest Sense…’

Leonardo da Vinci.”

‘While I thought that I was learning how to live, I’ve been learning how to die.’

‘Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing / Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before…’

Leonard Cohen

‘There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.’

I scrambled backward, slamming into the wooden headboard behind me.

I dropped to the floor in front of him, gasping.

I staggered to my feet slowly, but I could barely carry my own weight.

Something heavy fell on top of me, slamming down onto the bed like a bag of bricks dropped from the ceiling. My head hit the wooden frame behind me, and I bit through my bottom lip. The sickening metallic taste of blood from the dream filled my mouth. Over Lucille’s gnarled cries, I heard the sound of the hundred-year-old mahogany splintering beneath me. I felt an elbow jab me in the ribs, and I knew. A bag of bricks hadn’t dropped on me.

He went from the bed to the floor to standing to the bed.

Amma was standing in the doorway, wearing the rose-patterned bathrobe I bought her for Mother’s Day,

She turned around, her eyes watering. “Wesley Lincoln, do you have that car a yours?” My dad had taken the Volvo to the university. Link nodded. “Yes, ma’am. It’s a little dirty, but—” Amma was already halfway to the front door. “Hurry up. We’ve got to go.”

I am pretty sure Link's car is at home. He magically traveled into the house. Not sure from where. I am guessing the Caster Tunnels if he knew Ethan was in trouble... unless he heard the danger from home. Still, the car is at Link's home.

ma’ am.

ma'am

Would a Light Caster still love her now that she was… this? “Izabel?” John was half asleep, his dark eyes staring back at her.

A Light Caster with dark eyes? Not green? Incubi have dark eyes (black). Or did you mean dark green?

“John Eades

John Eades. Like John Breed?

I was forgetting things all the time now.

He forgot Dee Dee and now visiting Aunt Prue. What else did he forget?

“Thanks, John.”

John? Lena asked if maybe the guy had been in a motorcycle accident. John Breed had a motorcycle. But Lena and Ethan should recognize him... or at least Lena if Ethan forgot. Or maybe it is an illusion spell. Macon put John Breed in there. Or it is a coincidence. A sign. A clue.

9.28

This is still 9.26. Visting Hours and End of Days is the same day. Unless the first paragraph of Visiting Hours covers days 26 and 27 and the chapter itself is mostly 28. In that case, Visiting Hours has the wrong date.

I stormed down the hall and out the front door. I leaned against one of the porch beams,

which made me pace faster,

He wasn't pacing. He was leaning.