Hunted (House of Night) Chapter 12: Zoey is Badly Injured, so Heath Misquotes Titanic

No no, it’s not Monday, I just accidentally published this while trying to schedule it for tomorrow. HAPPY HOLIDAYS, I GUESS!

Hunted (House of Night) Chapter 12: Zoey is Badly Injured, so Heath Misquotes Titanic:

I had neglected to mention this back in chapter 10, but Heath brought a gun with him for protection, and now he’s aiming it at the Raven Mocker. This is surely going to be an effective way to protect oneself against an ancient evil!

I saw Heath squeeze the trigger and heard the deafening blast of the gun, but the Raven Mocker was moving with inhuman speed. It dodged, and the place Heath had been aiming at was empty the instant before the bullet sliced through the air, embedding itself in the ice-coated tree. As the thing flew toward Heath, I saw its jagged talons curling into claws and I remembered how, even in spirit form, a creature like this had almost sliced through my neck. Now the Raven Mockers had their bodies returned to them and I knew unless I did something fast, this one was going to kill Heath.

So Zoey and I are actually completely wrong, and it turns out the Raven Mocker’s secret weakness is a device crafted by mere mortals that can be purchased at your local Walmart.

Actually, Zoey jumps in front of Heath to protect him. The creature freaks out after it accidentally harms Zoey because Kalona wantssssss her alive! Man, those Raven Mockers ssssssure like to add S’s to their words. They’re so fun and quirky!

Zoey sees blood around her and feels dizzy, but she’s able to call wind and fire to help her defeat the Raven Mocker. She continuously tells us how confused she is that Heath is crying or that her voice is only coming out as a whisper. GIRL YOU ARE INJURED! Erik shows up and also freaks out.

The guys rush Zoey down the tunnels. I guess Heath is sticking around for awhile, which means in addition to the twins and Aphrodite and the red fledglings and the regular fledglings, we’ll have a new bickering duo in the mix, which is what this book was so sorely lacking. I was struggling to put my finger on it, but now that future chapters hold the promise of more vibrant arguments between Heath and Erik, I know that’s what I craved all along.

While Erik rushes off to find Darius, Heath tries to keep Zoey awake by discussing Titanic and making fun of Leonardo DiCaprio using the powerful comedic tool that is homophobia to elicit laughs galore:

‘Whatever,’ he said. ‘Remember how you said if you’d been Rose you would really never have let him go? Okay, well, let’s do a little reenactment. I’m the gay-looking DiCaprio and you’re Rose. You have to keep your eyes open and on my face, or you’ll have let me go and I’ll turn into a huge gay Popsicle.’

When he said ‘gay Popsicle’ it really kicked my imagination into high gear. It almost distracted me from the fact that it makes no sense that Heath is Leo in this scene if Zoey’s the one who’s slipping away. Clearly she is Leo and he is Rose NOT LETTING HER GO. Heath, you bumbling idiot, you’ve basically sentenced Zoey to death with this nonsense.

Darius shows up and takes Zoey to Stevie Rae’s room. I know he moves very quickly, but I’m not sure why Erik didn’t just carry Zoey there in the first place given he’s a strong/fast adult vampyre now?

Stevie Rae talks to Zoey to keep her awake and seizes this moment to foreshadow dark truths to come:

‘You can’t die ’cause you’ve always believed the best of me, so I’ve tried to be what you believe I am. Without you, well, I’m afraid the good in me will die, too, and I’ll give in to the darkness. Plus, there are so many things I still need to tell you. Important things.’

Evil, red fledgling related things, hmmmm?

More of Zoey’s pals and red fledglings show up and freak out/cry when they see her. I know that at some point in the series we get other characters’ POV, but Zoey’s not going to die, right? She keeps telling us something feels really wrong and that she feels like she’s dying, but I don’t buy it for a second.

The Twins were holding hands and bawling so hard snot was running from their noses. Darius was still digging through the first aid kit. Stevie Rae was patting my hand and trying (unsuccessfully) not to cry. Heath was whispering silly butchered lines from Titanic to me.

Hahaha everyone else is sobbing uncontrollably while Heath is running lines from Titanic that are not even correct. Love this guy.

Zoey notices Krashmina is staring very hungrily at Heath and gets Darius to take notice too. He promptly kicks her out the room, which seems like a good call.

Aphrodite shows up and starts freaking out and babbling because her visions never showed Zoey dying this way:

Aphrodite shook her head again. ‘No. You aren’t supposed to be here. This isn’t right.’ She paused and her eyes narrowed at Heath. ‘You caused this, didn’t you?’

I watched Heath’s eyes fill with tears. ‘Yeah, I think I did,’ he said.

I’m confused. I thought they had thwarted one or both of the death visions when Zoey’s friends forgave her…so obviously things were altered because Aphrodite has previously said the future is fluid. So how is it specifically Heath’s fault this happened? We need to dig into the science of these visions a bit more.

By the way, do you guys remember ages ago when Zoey talked about that same scene? I had the Leo gif at the ready thanks to the amazing continuity in these stories. Thanks, Casts!