Oh, fun. It’s a longer way down the Keep because it keeps growing into the future, but it still felt faster than going up.
And now everyone’s like “well, that was a wasted trip…” Was it, though?
“The Winter King probably woulda been too lazy to come up here…” “He probably wouldn’t have gotten in anyway without royal blood.” Oh, Charles, if you only knew…
“He does have the Geographica though…”
“Yeah, even with the book and the Ring of Power, he couldn’t get the summoning to work because he’s not the real heir to the throne.”
And of course they get down to the bottom of the Keep and find the Black Dragon pulled up.
So now they’re trying to escape up the tower. And the Winter King’s just chilling at the bottom, basically taunting them.
And now it’s on fire. Lovely.
“Why are we going back up? That doesn’t make sense!” “Because it doesn’t make sense! Duh!”
Of course the Shadow-Born are following them.
“Let’s try a door!” “How do you know it’s a good door?” “We just gotta believe it is.”
So… the las door before the Cartographer’s door now opens to right when they first showed up at the Keep. Because that’s apparently the closest Big Event the doors could pick to “the most recent past.” Well, that’s lucky, even with the possibility of weird time loops and paradoxes and stuff…
And now they’re going to the end of the world.
“Let’s try not to fall off!” “Good plan.” “Wait, hold up, I was kidding…”
Oh, fun. Apparently if you fall over the end of the world, you’ll be falling forever… which reminds me of the bit in Spy Kids 2 when Carmen and Juni fell into the volcano and thought they were falling for hours… (I couldn’t find any memes for it with good captions, and trying it myself was a bit tricky to get the timing right…)
But anyway, with the whole time loop thing, now they’ve got a few advantages over the Winter King. Like the Cartographer’s advice. And a head start, time wise.
So, apparently one of Ordo Maas’ bird kids followed them to keep an eye on when Big Things would happen.
So, the Cartographer’s room has maps and books everywhere. Sounds like my bedroom but just with the books…
And… apparently he’s been shut up for so long he forgot what year it is. And what day. I’ve been trying to finish reading this book for for this blog so long that this is more unintentionally relatable than ever.
“A Caretaker? Hmm… OK, cool.”
“How are the colonies doing?” “Uh, America’s been its own country for a few hundred years…”
OK, how did I miss the Cartographer’s “memory from the future” line about “How is that dear girl Rose anyway?” during my previous rereads?
“Hitler? Who’s that?” “Uh… never mind about that…”
“OK, y’all are Caretakers. Which is it? Geographica additions or Geographica destruction? That’s all I ever get from you guys.” “Uh… we kinda don’t have it.” *facepalm from the Cartographer* “So what do we do now?” “IDK, y’all, your families, your friends, and the whole world are all fucked.”
“Wait, how did y’all get in?” “Uh, the door?” “No, but seriously. The door’s supposed to be next to impossible to open for Caretakers without the instructions in the Geographica.” “Uh, well, Artus did it…” “Oh, shit, that makes sense…”
Ah, yes, Umbugartis, distant cousin of Dentarthurdent and Richardrichardmayhewdick.
“OK, sure, I might not have the Geographica with me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do my job… taking care or whatever.” “Yep. That’s good, exactly what a Caretaker should say.”
“So yeah, that’s what’s going on. Also, Magwich stole everything from us, and now the Winter King has the Ring of Power.” “Oh, he does, does he? Just wait until he reads the rest of the Summoning instructions.”
“One last thing. Choices are Super Important. I royally fucked up some of my choices, and then I ended up here.”
So, they gotta track the Winter King to the Island at the End of the World. That’s a mouthful.
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