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inverarityChapter 7 — Threats
I know, I know, I keep saying I will keep up with this (and reread all my own damn books) but frankly, I'd rather read other people's books, or else write my next one. But I do need to refresh my memory about certain details, so let's just try to pretend it hasn't been nearly two months since my last AQ reread post, 'kay?
So, last chapter ended with Alexandra arriving at her first Mors Mortis Society meeting, and discovering Darla, Angelique, Tomo, Maximilian, and Torvald and Stuart there, among others.
And of course, John Manuelito makes his introduction.
“You may have seen us around school,” the older boy continued. “Some of you probably know each other as well.” He nodded at all the prospective new members. “Remember that outside of these meetings, we don't talk about the Mors Mortis Society. We learn magic that's forbidden at Charmbridge, because the Confederation is governed by outdated, puritanical laws. Your teachers will tell you that certain magic is 'Dark' or 'evil,' but they'll never tell you why some curses are forbidden, and others aren't. The truth is, most so-called 'Dark magic' just has a stigma on it, either because it's non-traditional, or because somewhere in history, some wizard used that magic to do bad things.”
Well, that actually sounds pretty plausible, doesn't it?
John quickly demonstrates that they really are messing with Dark forces by summoning a jibay, or chindi. (By the way, I've seen some people, on TVTropes and the Quickipedia, referring to them as Dementors. They're similar — I made them serve a similar purpose deliberately — but they are not actually the same thing.)
Alexandra got the impression of a face and form that was human, though she couldn't precisely see it. It was like looking at black smoke in the darkness. More than the human-like figure, though, she sensed something else, as its eyes – what she supposed must be eyes, in what she supposed must be a face – scanned the room.
Ill will. That was the feeling Alexandra got, like a cold breeze blowing across all of them. She saw others shuddering as well and averting their gazes. Whatever entity the Mors Mortis Society had summoned, it was not friendly.
It drifted to and fro, while the students muttered and shivered, but it seemed bounded by the line of black sand. Then the blonde girl pointed her wand.
“Anathema jibay!” she declaimed, and the smoky black figure was sucked back into the void. She waved her wand again, and the blackness faded to stone gray, the wall became solid again, and the painted figures returned to their previous places.
After the meeting, Max tries to bully Alexandra into quitting, which works exactly as well as anyone who knows Alexandra even a little bit knows it will. Then the next morning, he harasses Alexandra and Anna even more, and that, combined with Alexandra's keeping her MMS activities secret from Anna, is beginning to drive a wedge between them.
Then Max makes his first dumb move. Well, his second — his first was thinking he could browbeat or bully Alexandra out of doing something in the first place. Actually, his first was arguably keeping his relationship with her secret instead of telling her everything right from the start, but then, everyone in Alexandra's life does that. And people wonder why the girl is mistrustful and prone to going off on a wild hair.
She could see light through the trees, where the edge of the forest met Charmbridge's fields, and Anna was waiting, when her broom suddenly veered to the right. She pulled up and leaned over, trying to steer back on course, and for one instant thought she saw Maximilian holding his wand, before the trunk of a tree rushed at her and knocked her out of the air.
Max's brilliant plan was to put her in the infirmary and make her miss the next MMS meeting, and maybe scare her into quitting entirely. You know, if you beat a twelve-year-old girl up enough, maybe she'll be cowed and stop being so uppity. Yes, Max is a big fat jerk. He is acting with fundamentally noble intent, but he's an arrogant prick. Just like Daddy. However, in the kid's defense, he's sixteen. And already a pawn in a game that's way over his head. By Daddy.
Alexandra thought that if you liquefied earwax, laundry detergent, and a pound of beetles, it would taste something like this. She decided not to ask what was really in it – she was afraid the actual ingredients might be even worse. She couldn't help but make a horrible face as she brought the mug back to her lips and swallowed as much as she could between large, shuddering gasps of breath. Mrs. Murphy nodded with approval and took the mug from her after she drained the last of it.
I do like that description of Fudd's Grow-All.
After this, Bran and Poe show up, and Alexandra is very happy to see them, and as usual cons them into bringing her books for nefarious purposes.
The chapter ends with Alexandra demonstrating that she can also be a big fat jerk while acting with fundamentally noble intentions.
“Just so you know,” she said, in a low voice, “Anna has friends. Lots of friends. And if you do anything else to her – if you cast one hex at her – you're going to be hurt a lot worse than this.” She held up her other arm, in its sling.
Tomo stared up at her, her dark eyes angry and indignant.
“Don't you dare use any curses we learn from the Mors Mortis Society on Anna,” Alexandra whispered. “If anything happens to her – anything –” She shook Tomo, making the other girl squeal a little – “I'll assume you did it, and I'll turn you inside out! Understand?”
Tomo swallowed, but didn't answer. Her face was expressionless now, but it had gone white.
Alexandra suddenly felt uncomfortable, looming over a girl so much smaller than her. But Tomo had started the feud with Anna, she told herself, and she suspected the sixth grader might have joined the Mors Mortis Society for exactly that reason. Nobody was going to use any Dark magic on Alexandra's friends.
One of Alexandra's least attractive qualities is her willingness to bully people herself. She doesn't do it often, and she always does it for reasons she thinks are justified, and she's not as bad as Max, but she definitely has bullying tendencies. Mostly she outgrows this as she gets older. Mostly.
This was an important chapter in laying groundwork for future events (not just in this book). But boy were there a lot of saidisms. It reminded me that in book two, I was still using words like "declaimed" and "objected" and "laughed" a lot for dialog tags. I don't think it was until book three that I broke that habit.
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no subject
Date: 2013-09-01 02:49 am (UTC)Alex, Max, and Abraham are all quite similar in a lot of ways, but the major difference between them (or at least one major difference) is in how much they care about those who aren't friends or family. Alex consistently shows that, despite her bluster, she doesn't like hurting people and will risk her life to save strangers or even people she doesn't like. Abraham, of course, cares about his Cause first, his family second, his followers third, and everyone else not at all. Max isn't as bad as Abraham, of course...but I do think he's closer to his father in this regard than he is to Alex.
The Alex/Tomo "bullying" scene here is actually a case in point. Yes, it isn't one of Alex's proudest moments. But her behavior is partly based on incorrect information (that the feud with Anna was entirely Tomo's fault); once she gets accurate information, she realizes her actions were wrong and makes up for them. Abraham wouldn't have given a shit, and honestly, I don't know if Max would've either.
Does this make Max a bad person? No; he is, after all, only 16 years old, and everyone, including myself, has a certain amount of moral myopia. And as you point out, his motivations are fundamentally good. But Max is smart enough, powerful enough, and reckless enough that his moral myopia ends up causing more damage than most peoples'. (Most people don't end up torturing 14-year-olds [Larry Albo], after all.)
One of the things I like the most about Max as a character, though, is that despite (and in some ways because of) his personal deficiencies, he probably helps out Alex more than anyone else in the series. The good that Alex does because of her dueling skills can be directly traced to Max's tutelage. He's a complex character, and I find that really interesting, even though I don't find it very likeable.
Maximilian
Date: 2013-09-01 03:21 am (UTC)I didn't actually intend Max to be particularly likable. He was bigoted, chauvinistic, and had a lot of his father's worst traits. I deliberately made him a swaggering bully before the Big Reveal; after it, I needed to make him sympathetic enough that readers would care about his fate, but he would probably not have had the moral objections Alexandra has had to some of their father's actions.
Re: Maximilian
Date: 2013-09-01 03:34 am (UTC)Despite your intentions, though, it seems that most people did like Max. Hence why I said I was unusual; miles2go would be another exception.
Re: Maximilian
Date: 2013-09-01 03:41 am (UTC)Re: Maximilian
Date: 2013-09-01 04:50 am (UTC)Yeah, I don't consider that chauvinism as much as overprotective big brother-ism. I don't know if he'd have treated Alex any differently if she had been male. (Julia maybe would have received slightly different treatment.)
Max- Good Intentions
Date: 2013-10-03 12:48 am (UTC)Tomo
Date: 2013-10-03 12:40 am (UTC)Re: Tomo
Date: 2013-10-03 02:41 am (UTC)