Contents
Book Five: Save Yourself — 12.
Overview
On a late-night porch, Gwen and Robin finalize a disinformation plan: stage a public rift so Allie can obtain Donna’s key to Colin’s Cabinet and steal the martyr’s robe and a cracked mirror. They weigh Colin’s surveillance and Allie’s grief-weakened state. Gwen accepts she may have to face King Sorrow alone.
Summary
At 2 a.m., Gwen steps onto Tana’s back stoop to clear her head as planes lift from Portland. Robin joins her, and they reflect on the plan set in motion minutes earlier when Allie and Tana left: Allie will spend the night at Tana’s, then approach Donna contrite, claiming Gwen is furious and their friendship is ruptured.
The cover story is designed to avoid alerting Colin, who has accessed Gwen’s phone and knows Allie called and Tana was contacted next. To reinforce the ruse, they agree to stop texting about sensitive matters, while Gwen will send Allie an angry message to sell the falling-out and help Allie get Donna’s key to Colin’s Cabinet.
They outline the target items: the fireproof martyr’s robe and “something else”—a cracked mirror—whose utility Gwen hints at but declines to explain tonight. Robin probes, but Gwen, exhausted, postpones details. They joke darkly about needing armor with no knights to save them.
Gwen insists Robin and Tana should protect themselves since King Sorrow is hunting Gwen, but Robin notes Colin will likely discover her trip and any theft from the Cabinet. Robin worries Allie, diminished by grief for Van and entangled with Donna, may falter despite her courage.
Robin candidly connects Allie’s attachment to Donna with self-punishing patterns she once lived through, recalling her own abuse as a trans woman. Turning the talk back to stakes, she asks Gwen about funeral preferences. Gwen grimly replies that if things go wrong, King Sorrow will cremate her for them.
Who Appears
- GwenLeads a disinformation plan, resolves to face King Sorrow, targets the martyr’s robe and a cracked mirror.
- RobinCollaborates on the ruse, worries about Colin’s surveillance and Allie’s fragility; shares past abuse and hard-won insight.
- AllieLeaves with Tana to enact contrition, aims to get Donna’s key and steal items from Colin’s Cabinet.
- TanaShelters Allie and helps sell the cover story to reach Donna and the key.
- Colin WrenSuspected of monitoring Gwen’s phone; his Cabinet holds the martyr’s robe and other artifacts.
- DonnaHolds the Cabinet key; target of Allie’s planned apology to gain access.
- King SorrowImminent threat; Gwen believes she is his target and may die confronting him.