Gideon the Ninth

Abigail and Magnus’s bodies are placed in the freezer room attached to the kitchen. Then, the Houses gather in the dining room. The Second House necromancer, Judith Deuteros, insists on calling in the military and suspects murder. Teacher reminds them of the “sacred rule” of the First House: Nobody can visit Canaan House if the Emperor did not invite them (184). Tension builds as Houses argue over contacting the military. Harrow swears she and Gideon locked the hatch before continuing down; Magnus and Abigail couldn’t have fallen by accident. The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth had access to the facility. Abigail and Magnus had Teacher hold onto the key for the Fourth House because they didn’t want the teens exposed to danger. Ianthe also has a key, which she kept hidden from Naberius and Corona. The Houses suspect that if there is a murderer, it was somebody with access to the facility.

Teacher suspects that monsters—souls of the damned that lurk in the facility—killed the Fifth. Gideon breaks her vow of silence to assure Jeannemary she doesn’t know what happened, and Jeannemary believes her. Before Jeannemary can share her suspicions with Gideon, however, Harrow drags Gideon off to open the Lyctor door.

Gideon and Harrow unlock their first Lyctor door. They discover the room behind it is a combined library, laboratory, and sleeping quarters for a necromancer and cavalier. They find ancient photos with faces blacked out and guns that are relics of a past before necromancers existed. Harrow finds an engraving of the diagrams and science behind the theorem she used to see through Gideon’s eyes: The reward for completing the theorem chamber is the formal theorem itself. When Harrow copies it down, she can replicate the magic whenever she needs it without the help of the glass device.

Harrow realizes she needs Gideon to complete the other theorem chambers, and she promises to “no longer […] be a stranger” to Gideon (197). Meanwhile, Gideon finds a torn piece of a note that has her name on it in the 10,000-year-old room. She also finds the phrase “one flesh, one end,” which she doesn’t recognize. It is the vow spoken formally between a necromancer and their cavalier.

The Ninth looks for more theorem chambers in the facility. They encounter Dulcinea, who has found a theorem chamber she cannot complete due to her illness. Dulcinea offers her assistance in exchange for the key once the Ninth is finished with it and leads them to the “diversion/avulsion” theorem chamber (205), which is a long tunnel with a pedestal at the far end. The pedestal has a box on it, and a key is in the box. An invisible field of magic runs the length of the room and instantly destroys anything that enters. In order to get through the room, Harrow has to siphon Gideon’s thalergy, or life energy, to traverse the magical field. Gideon could easily die from the amount of energy Harrow will need to traverse the room, but Harrow asks Gideon to trust her, and Gideon agrees. Gideon explains that all she ever wanted was for Harrow to ask before doing things that affect her life.

Harrow siphons Gideon’s energy to pass through the barrier, and Gideon suffers immense pain. Dulcinea comforts Gideon and holds her, talking so the cavalier does not close her eyes and die. When Harrow returns with the key, she finds Gideon dying in Dulcinea’s lap. Harrow calls Gideon by her actual name for the first time before Gideon passes out. Gideon comes back around, and Harrow takes her back to their rooms. Harrow berates herself for almost losing Gideon, and then leaves her to recover safely in her room.

Harrow leaves to check the Lyctor door while Gideon rests. Camilla, the Sixth cavalier, checks in on Gideon to make sure she didn’t suffer permanent injury. Gideon is feeling better, and the two go to the dining hall and find Teacher, Corona, and Palamedes. Corona begs Palamedes for the use of his keys since Teacher will not give out duplicates to access the facility hatch, but Palamedes will not share his keys since, as Teacher stresses, there are no rules regarding their Lyctor trials. Palamedes does not trust the Third. Gideon, along with Camilla and Palamedes, examines the bodies of the Fifth, and Palamedes explains that the presence of bone shards in the bodies and signs of blunt force trauma indicate that they were murdered with necromantic bone magic. The Fourth eavesdrops on them, desperate to learn what happened to the Fifth.

Gideon passes out after a bath, still recovering from her ordeal. When she wakes up, Harrow has returned. She wants to yell at Harrow about sneaking off with the key without her, but Harrow is too exhausted. Gideon leaves their rooms and runs into Isaac, who tells her that Jeannemary wants to see Gideon. Isaac also gets Corona, Naberius, Dyas, and Colum to follow him. The Fourth necromancer leads them to Jeannemary, who has found a furnace that contains the cremated remains of somebody who died before the Lyctor trials began. Though they do not know it, these are the bodies of the real Dulcinea and Protesilaus. Protesilaus’s head is currently in Harrow’s closet, where she stowed it after finding his body. Cytherea burnt both bodies to cover her trail.

Later that evening, Camilla realizes Protesilaus and Dulcinea are missing. Camilla and Gideon find Dulcinea sprawled out in the rain, unable to pick herself up. She tells them Protesilaus is missing and faints.

Dulcinea is moved into the priests’ wing of Canaan House. Meanwhile, all of the Houses are present in the dining hall to discuss the ashes found in the furnace. Ianthe discovers that it was two bodies instead of one, and Harrow is frightened by the sudden realization that Ianthe is a formidable necromancer. Dulcinea has given the Eighth her keys for safekeeping; without a cavalier, she has given up on the trials.

Deuteros, the Second necromancer, demands they all give her their keys for safekeeping. Everybody refuses, and she challenges the Sixth to a duel of cavaliers. Deuteros chooses Palamedes first because Camilla appears to be a poor cavalier, but Camilla wins her fight against Dyas. Reluctantly, Deuteros hands her keys over to Palamedes. Ianthe immediately challenges Palamedes upon Camilla’s victory, thinking that the injured Camilla will be easy pickings for Naberius.

Corona opposes the duel, but Ianthe convinces her to do it. Gideon, watching the scene, feels like Corona has been “lost” to her twin (250). Gideon stands in for the injured Camilla, forcing Naberius to fight Gideon instead, and the Third House backs down from their challenge. The Eighth House leaves, not wanting to stoop to dueling. The Third leaves as well, leaving the Fourth, Sixth, and Ninth alone.

Palamedes and Harrow discuss the nature of the Lyctor trials. Harrow believes there is an ultimate, hidden Lyctor door somewhere while Palamedes believes each theorem behind a Lyctor door is part of a “megatheorem” that gives instructions on becoming a Lyctor (254). Though they don’t know it, Palamedes’s theory is correct. Next, the group decides to look for Protesilaus. The Sixth and Harrow decide to stay with Dulcinea to protect her from the potential murderer, not knowing that Cytherea is the murderer; Gideon goes into the lab facility with the Fourth to find Protesilaus.

The trio descends into the lab. The teenagers are terrified, but they find nothing. Then, the group is ambushed by an impossibly large bone construct. Isaac fights the construct, and it kills him. Luckily, Gideon picks up Jeannemary and manages to escape, locking them in the first Lyctor room she opened with Harrow. The door is several inches of steel, which Gideon hopes will keep them safe. Gideon learns that Jeannemary’s mother died in the “Pioneer expedition” and that her father was killed by insurrectionists on a far-off planet (268). Gideon dozes off from adrenaline and fright. When she wakes up, she finds that Jeannemary has been murdered right under her nose.