The Mime Order (The Bone Season Book 2)

by Samantha Shannon

Some revolutions change the world in a day. Others take decades or centuries or more, and others still never come to fruition. Mine began with a moment and a choice. Mine began with the blooming of a flower in a secret city on the border between worlds. You’ll have to wait and see how it ends. Welcome back to Scion.

SS steady going hard in the paint

In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have told him to get fucked.

Nah. Was 100% necessary.

A map showed the five secret stations: Oxford, Winterbrook, Whitehall, Lambeth East, Tower of London.

sylphlike

Spring-heel’d Jack was the mime-lord of the next section. He was also completely unhinged, which might be working in our favour.

Jaxon swept him aside and tossed his cane over the wall. Before he climbed, he leaned down to whisper in my ear. ‘You have one more chance, Paige. Come back to Seven Dials,’ he said, ‘and I will forget your insolence. We can put this night behind us.’ He sounded just like a Reph.

Ya. Cause he has the same mentality.

Michael vaulted over the wall to the Thames.

MICHAEL.

His curiosity must be driving him spare.

‘As soon as Jaxon knew you were alive, you were his only focus,’ Eliza said, with a pointed look. ‘He was obsessed with getting you back.’ I believed it. Losing his prized dreamwalker would have been infuriating, even humiliating – but I still wouldn’t have expected him to risk everything to save me. That was the kind of sacrifice you made for people, not property.

Yeah. Eliza is being exasperating right now.

Jaxon was capable of kindness, but he wasn’t kind. He could act like he cared, but it would always be an act.

‘Paige is safe now. It’s over,’ Eliza said. ‘Can’t we just get back to work?’

Eliza…ingest a satchel of richards and kindly choke

Lem shook his head. ‘Be careful, won’t you?’

Don't care if he's being paid to care. Someone needs to look out for Paige.

KillKlock, which notified the user of upcoming executions.

Absolutely wild

an underground cinema, the Fleapit.

Sounds great

costermonger.

Some speaking mediums cut out their tongues to keep spirits from using them.

Coldbath Fields – otherwise known as the Steel – was an amaurotic prison, used in the rare event that Scion couldn’t pin a crime on unnaturals.

‘Oh, yes, the constant executions and propaganda make me really optimistic.

Bahahaha

‘Yes. We stay and change the world.’

So simple. We Girlboss our way through it.

Glances came in my direction – sighted glances, assessing my red aura

Hmmm...this would be during the day...

Didion

In honor of Joan?

you haven’t had quite enough coffee.’ ‘I haven’t even had one.’ ‘You are clearly not a member of the literati.’

Guess I'll never get into that club

the beans of enlightenment!’

Literature is our most powerful tool, one Scion has never mastered.’ He nodded to a bibliomancer at a nearby table. ‘Behold, its living power in our midst. Isn’t it wonderful, how words and paper can enthral us so? We are witnessing a miracle, dear heart.’

A single word or sentence can set a fire that roars out of control.’

Will Paige pick up what he's putting down within the chapter or will she take her sweet time?

And the fifth – the most wanted – was mine.

Let's Goooo

We strode away from the Barbican. I couldn’t have been caught in a worse area. This section housed the Guild of Vigilance, the Bank of Scion England, and the Tower. It was lousy with cameras and Vigiles.

Ma'am.

John Dee

And words, my walker – well, words are everything. Words give wings even to those who have been stamped upon, broken beyond all hope of repair.’

C'mon Paige…figure it out. You gotta write

Screaming Queen and the Crushing Force,

‘They’re never going to want it if you call it table junk.’ I picked up one of the skulls, checking it for breaks. ‘You have to make them tempting.’ ‘Tempting? Oh, good afternoon, madam – would you like to buy the skull of some plague-addled churl for the price of a month’s rent? Make it tempting, Paige.’

‘You trying to spy on me?’ I hissed into her ear. ‘Tell Hector to keep his nose out of my business. Next time I’ll send you back as a shell.’

Damn. Now that's a threat.

Hector and his gang were here, all right. They were all over the floor.

Excellent.

And somewhere, a god was in chains again, waiting for a golden thread to lead the dreamwalker to him.

Oh boy. Gonna have a jailbreak

To control a spirit, I require its quick name – one it chose or accepted, and still heeded when it died.’

‘Every revolution begins with breakfast, darling.’

Would you follow a backstabber?’ ‘I’d rather follow one than walk in front of one.’

a third edition of On the Merits of Unnaturalness, confiscated from a busker who had been mocking it in Soho. I traced its title, an idea forming. Words give wings even to those who have been stamped upon, broken beyond all hope of repair.

She finally solved it.

the ceremonial Rose Crown, so named because the Underlord or Underqueen rules ‘beneath the Rose’ – Roses being a Symbol not just of the Plague, but of Secrecy. It signifies Authority over both the Living and the Dead of London.

Now I knew how to apply for the scrimmage.

I'm pretty stoked

Inquisitor Mayfield had shut down many such establishments, believing that art propagated dissent. Give them paint, and they will paint over the anchor. Give them a stage, and they will shout out treason. Give them a pen, and they will rewrite the natural order.

How very Facist of him.

‘Gail Fisher is dead. The Overseer shot her before Arcturus could reach Magdalen,’

Noooooooo

She reached into her coat and handed me two large silk pouches. ‘To protect yourself,’ she said. ‘The white contains salt of the mountains; the red, pollen of the poppy anemone. Use the red pouch frugally.’

Convenient af

‘He said he felt the same.’

BE GAY DO CRIME

soon found two vials, wrapped in thick cloth. One of them was full of molten light, though its glow was fading. When I gave it a shake, it brightened again, just for a moment. This was ectoplasm. Reph blood. When I held the other vial up, I knew exactly what it was. My breath caught in my throat. Hardly daring to hope, I pushed up my right sleeve and tipped a few precious drops of amaranth on to the scar. The wound cracked open like old paint. As I circled my finger over it, it washed away, leaving my inner arm as smooth as buttermilk. And just like that, Jaxon could no longer tarnish my name before the Unnatural Assembly. He had no power over me.

We love it when things come together

Warden was in Camden. If that was a coincidence, then I was Queen Victoria.

Hmmm.

The only thing I hadn’t mentioned was the golden cord. Until I understood why it existed, I wanted to continue keeping that to myself.

SOULMATES

Twenty years ago, a human had betrayed him. Now I was wondering if Nick was on to something – if that human could have returned to London and concealed himself deep in the tunnels of Camden, where Scion could never catch him again, and named himself the Rag and Bone Man. I had the sense that I was only scratching the surface of these machinations.

I do love how deep this is.

‘All ethics come in grey,

sick to the back teeth of it.