The Locked Tomb, #3
Nona the Ninth
by Tamsyn Muir
Contents
24
Overview
Palamedes seizes control of Ianthe’s body, saves Camilla from immediate death, and reveals he has trapped Ianthe in a mental struggle for only a short time. Pyrrha and Nona retrieve Gideon Nav’s preserved corpse, but doing so forces Nona to use her unnatural regeneration against a lethal ward and confront the possibility that Gideon’s body is connected to her own failing soul.
Gideon’s body proves central to everyone’s plans but is shielded by God’s power, complicating attempts to understand or use it. The chapter ends with a major reversal: Gideon wakes and speaks, changing the stakes around Nona, the Ninth House, and the fight ahead.
Summary
After Nona’s scream, every zombie soldier collapses. Camilla remains impaled by the sword, while Crown tries to steady her. The body Ianthe had been using suddenly sits up, but Pyrrha realizes Palamedes Sextus has taken control of it. Palamedes removes the blade from Camilla, reunites emotionally with her, and explains that he fought Ianthe inside her own mind and can only hold her there for a limited time.
Palamedes uses the body’s necromantic traces to locate Gideon’s corpse in a downstairs annex and sends Pyrrha and Nona to retrieve it, while Crown is sent to bring Judith Deuteros. As Pyrrha leads Nona through the barracks, Nona admits she is dying. Pyrrha says she suspected as much and explains that Nona’s soul may be longing for its original body, which might be the corpse they are seeking.
Pyrrha and Nona find Ianthe’s blood wards guarding the hidden room. Because the ward disintegrates anything that passes through it, Pyrrha reluctantly uses Nona’s extraordinary regeneration to exhaust the trap. Nona’s hand is painfully destroyed and regrows in a grotesque way before the ward burns out, leaving Nona shaken but intact.
Nona enters the hidden room and finds the red-haired corpse from her dream: Gideon Nav, dressed in white and preserved as if only recently dead. When Nona touches and kisses Gideon, the corpse briefly opens gold eyes and seems to respond, then falls still again. Pyrrha identifies Gideon and recognizes her resemblance to Gideon’s mother, a woman Pyrrha once loved and betrayed.
Pyrrha carries Gideon back upstairs, where Crown confirms the body seems genuine and reports that the shuttle is unusable for now because its fuel is warded and dangerously volatile. In the main room, Camilla is bandaged and standing, Judith is restless and unwell, and Palamedes examines Gideon. God’s preservation prevents Palamedes from reading the body clearly, so he places a ward on Gideon’s neck to block Ianthe from transferring into her again.
Palamedes outlines a desperate plan: recover the Oversight Body, fix the shuttle, reunite with the Sixth House, protect the planet, fix Nona, and eventually go to the Ninth House. He then tries to take a blood sample from Gideon, but the corpse suddenly grabs his wrist and speaks. Gideon wakes, complains about needles, jokes at Palamedes, and is greeted by him.
Who Appears
- NonaHelps retrieve Gideon’s body, breaks a lethal ward, and fears losing herself.
- Pyrrha DveGuides Nona, identifies Gideon, and carries the preserved corpse back upstairs.
- Palamedes SextusControls Ianthe’s body, tends Camilla, holds Ianthe trapped, and examines Gideon.
- Camilla HectSurvives being impaled, reunites with Palamedes, and keeps working despite the wound.
- Gideon NavPreserved red-haired corpse recovered from hiding; wakes when Palamedes tries taking blood.
- CrownHelps Camilla, retrieves Judith, reports shuttle trouble, and recognizes Gideon’s significance.
- Ianthe TridentariusAlive inside the body Palamedes controls, trapped after their mental battle.
- Judith DeuterosBrought into the main room, restless and suffering while others plan escape.