What We Wrote
24. The Illusion Master
Wait a second, is that an actual plot twist?! Join us this week as our four unlikely (or unlikeable) heroes discover something that shatters their world and has them questioning everything they thought they knew.
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- Broadcast on:
- 12 Oct 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to What We Root. I am Esmee. - And I am Emma. - And we are two friends who have been riding together for decades. In this podcast, we go back and read some of our terrible teen riding in all of its angsty and melodramatic glory. - Yeah, and we're getting to the real pointy end of it. - Yeah. - And this is it. It's happening. - This is it. - They're, I don't know where they are, but. - We don't know where they are. The massive thing in the last chapter is we don't know where the fuck they are. They're in underground somewhere. - Underground. - Maybe we don't know if they've come out from underground. - Getting closer to Pasek, I assume, is what they're trying to do. - I guess so. - They seem to like have split with like a purpose and a plan, but we don't know what it is. - We don't know what it is. 'Cause the girls haven't asked. - No. - And since he hasn't told. - No. - No. - So we've got nothing. - We've got nothing. - Now we ended. - Mid chapter. - Mid chapter 'cause it was another long one. - Yes. - Of James and we flicked ahead and L is one. - He's quite sure. - He's quite sure again. Yeah. - Do we feel like maybe I've checked out this book? - I feel like you get, yeah, pretty much. - 'Cause it ends quite abruptly in the middle of. - In the middle of what I want to tell us. - Yeah. - And James are getting longer and longer. - Yeah, getting shorter and shorter. - Well, I mean, it's three pages. That's actually longer than they were when they started, but it definitely feels like perhaps. - Yeah, maybe you just weren't into it anymore. - I was like starting to realize. - How terrible it was. - Yeah. - It's probably like. - There's no fixing this. - This is broken, it sucks. - Yeah. - Yeah, pretty much. - Yeah, well, so yeah, they fell on a hole. - They fought some elves. - They fought some elves and they were exploding arrows because James prayed to Major. (laughing) - James got shot again. - Again, but not with a silver arrow this time. - With a normal arrow. - With a normal arrow. - That seems to be important. - Yeah. - Sensy doesn't know anything. - As usual. - As usual. - Yeah, that's kind of it, really. - Yeah. - That's about it. - It was like action packed, I guess. - Yeah. - It's probably one of the better action scenes we've had. I'm not saying it's good, don't worry. - Yeah, I guess. - But like, 'cause we had the whole Jane coming through and then Elle and Sensy jumping out. Like, that's a little bit of a thing. - It's better than just, oh, I hit him and he went down and then I hit that one and he went down. - Yeah, I mean, the elves did still get killed off scene. - Yes. - Offscreened by Sensy. - Yeah. - Well, Jane was busy bleeding out on the floor like usual. - Yeah, but yeah, I guess we'll carry on and see where we did. - See where we ended up. All right, shall we do this? - Yep. (upbeat music) - Chapter 33, part two, Jane. We've had Rodon for a long time. - Okay. - And then there's a scribble. - And you've got an asterisk that says, is that an and or a question mark? - Oh, I mean, I feel like it's quite obviously an and judging by the sentence, but you do you. We had Rodon for a long time and we had no way to tell what time it was. - Well, maybe I was-- - So maybe it was a long time. - Well, maybe I'm like, are you putting the question mark there to indicate you don't know how long it's been or how long it should have been? - Maybe. - Would be my assumption. - Sure. - The tunnel turned abruptly. - Oh, so we're still in the tunnel? - Yes, good to know. - I don't know what we entranced. - The entrance to the tunnel? As opposed to the cave? (laughing) - I was a tunnel before too though. - Well, we were in a tunnel, but there was a cavern where we first fell in. - I don't know. (laughing) - Maybe we've gone back into the tunnel. - Maybe. - Because we were heading in a certain direction and then we ran into the monster and turned around and ran back the other way. - Oh. - Continuing the way that we were going to start with? - Maybe. - Maybe. - The tunnel turned abruptly, spanned out into a, that's a new sentence, so. (laughing) - So, the tunnel, the tunnel abruptly, the tunnel abruptly spanned out into a wide, wide, into a wide, nothing. - Oh, I think you just forgot to finish that. - Yeah, well look, I had to turn a page. - Between it. So. - Memory wide. (laughing) - Yeah. - So, the tunnels abruptly spanned into a wide, we all stopped and aligned instead. (laughing) A great door stored in our way. Bolt looked to be more made. (laughing) Bolt. Look, it's not just me and my inability to read. It's also my terrible inability to write. (laughing) A great door stored in our way. Bolt looked to be made of marble and it had strange markings all over it. - Oh, okay. So, also. - Is the door made of marble? - The why in way also forms the B and bolt. (laughing) Just to give you an idea of my handwriting. Two separate words, two separate letters. I've somehow managed to use the same symbol for both of them. Way, bolt. - It. - Way full stop, it. - Oh, that's a full stop. - Yeah. - Way full stop, it. It looked to be made of marble. - Sure. - That makes a lot more sense. - That does make more sense. (laughing) Oh, funny. - Okay. (laughing) A great door stored in our way. It looked to be made of marble as it had strange markings all over it. - Okay. - I still don't, but it makes more sense. - Yeah. (laughing) - I founded it in confusion. We all walked our horses over to it in unison. (laughing) - True blind. - True blind. (laughing) There was a loud rumbling noise and stones toppled from the roof of what? The roof of the tunnel? - Tunnel? - Yeah. - Okay. There was a loud rumbling noise and stones toppled from the roof. For a moment, I thought it was going to cave in. I looked back to the doors and to my surprise, there was a split in them. - Wait, are you facing the doors? - I am now 'cause I've just looked back at them. So I think I was looking at the doors and then the rocks out of the top were so I looked up and now I'm looking back at the door. - Okay. (laughing) - Sure. - Yeah. - Confusing way to write that? - Yeah. - Sure. Okay, so the doors are opening. - Yes. - That's obviously why the rumbling is happening. - I would assume so. - Yeah, okay. - Great. - That's what a long fucking winded way to get to. - I don't know why the doors are opening, but sure. - Maybe there's like a pressure plate. (laughing) A sensor. You walk up to this one of the medics, like a door. - So one of those ring doorbells and it seems to have like, oh yeah, come on in, it's like a medic. (laughing) - The one. - The one. - Seriously, we're going to get you. Before we knew it, the doors were open and we were walking towards them. - Hang on. - We're not questioning it at all. - No. - No, we're just like, great. - Seems legit. - Yeah. - That actually made me think of something though, because the prophecy makes it sound like Ella is gonna be punished by Pasek for her father murdering Pasek's father. Despite the fact that he murdered his father. - Right. So he actually murdered his father. - Yeah. - So why is Ella gonna die? - Maybe he wants Ella, like, maybe he doesn't, like, 'cause at the moment, I think the only people who know that it was Pasek, who killed his dad, is Pasek and Sensi, and now extension. - The children. - The children. So maybe he wants to, like, silence Ella so that it doesn't get out, but he killed his dad. - Right, but if none of this had ever happened, Ella didn't know that Pasek killed his dad. She thought that her dad had killed Pasek's dad. - Yeah. - So if none of this had ever happened, and they'd never left, and then never come on this journey, nobody would have known. - Yeah. - Circular prophecy logic. - Yeah. - I hate it. - Self-fulfilling? - Yeah. (laughing) - But I don't feel like Pasek has done anything to cause this to happen. - You wanna be, they just natively left their homes. Like, it wasn't like the rules were attacked, and so they left their homes and came on this adventure or anything like that. - Well, no, because that was the driving force of the whole elf slave industry. Like, that's why he started it. - What was? - The fact that the father killed his dad, so then he ran raging against the elves, and was like, "Ah, you elves, you killed my dad." But if it gets out, that isn't actually what happened, and he just slaughtered the elves for no reason. And, like, I'm not saying just because one person killed your dad, you should kill a whole race. (laughing) There's a whole lot of problems with that. But, like, maybe he just doesn't want it to get out. - Right, but what I'm saying is, Jane and Ella, and presumably also Luke and Alan. - Yeah. - Didn't leave their homes because of anything Pasek did. - Well, they did, technically. - They didn't leave Randy's home for it, but they were chased out of their home homes. - Sure, yeah. But, like, this adventure that we're on right now didn't start because of Pasek. So, these guys are just, like, showing up to Pasek's place, being like, "We're here to kill you." And Pasek's probably like, "What the fuck are you?" (laughing) "What the fuck are you?" "Why are you here?" Like, it just all sounds, I don't know. It just doesn't make any sense. - Yeah. - Yeah. - No. - It's not making any more sense the more we read. - No, it's not. It's getting anything more confusing than it is. - Yeah, it is. - Before we knew it, the doors were open and we were walking towards them. We walked into a great chamber, made completely out of marble. Directly-- - It's offensive. - Yeah. (laughing) Directly across from the door, a case of stairs. A case of stairs. - A case of stairs. (laughing) - A staircase. - A staircase. (laughing) - Jane, it's a staircase. - It's a staircase of stairs. (laughing) Oh, God. - Directly across from the door, a case of stairs led up to a throne. - A throne? - A throne. - Okay. - So they're in a throne room. - Okay. - Underground. - Underground. - Well, you know, dark, doomy. - But, okay, if you go for like a dark doomy vibe, do you use marble? - Maybe it's black marble. - I feel like we probably wouldn't bend it. (laughing) - Well, it could have been a city in a wide bubble. - Let's see if I knew what the word obsidian was back then. - I don't know. I mean, it's a pretty like, word of the day. (laughing) - It's true. (laughing) - All right. Yeah, case of stairs. Case of stairs led up to a throne. Jane, someone shouted. My heart leaped as I spun around and saw Luke running towards me. - Okay. - So they've all ended up at the same place. - So why are they led up? - That's so, I'm so mad. (laughing) - Why? - Why? Why did this happen? - They're all going to the same place. Why did it matter if they split up? - Yeah. Why would you do that? - Unless Jane and Ella aren't supposed to go to the throne room. - But does she know where we were going? - Well, that's what I mean though. She was leading them somewhere and then they fell into the hole, right? - Right. - And then she was like, I don't know. - So maybe Luke and down also fell into a hole. - Maybe. - On the other side of it. - Yeah, it all roads lead to the throne room. - Sure, okay. - Oh dear. My heart leaped as I spun around and saw Luke running towards me. I laughed as he lifted me off my horse. - Nope. (laughing) - Okay. - I threw my arms around him, crying out in joy and pain, 'cause of the shoulders. - Unless you remember. - Yep. - Finally I drew back, clutching my shoulder. - What's wrong? - He asked, brushing my arm. I smiled and shook my head. Nothing, I just fell off Ella and Terry. I said, deciding not to tell him about our encounter with the, with the, with the hymn. (laughing) - The what? - hymn. - Huge able minions. - Oh. (laughing) - Oh God. (laughing) - No, I hope that's not what that is. Oh no it is, isn't it? - So yes. So I've got, decided not to tell him about our encounter with the hymn and then in brackets, I've got them. We called them hymn when we were walking down the path. We always thought that Ella stood for evil little minions. So we made up them. We made up hymn, which stood for huge evil monsters. And also I never closed that parentheses. So the rest of the book is now in these brackets, yeah. - Okay. - We always thought elm stood for evil little minions. Did we, Jane? Did we always think that? - Apparently. - Because I don't think that you did. - No. - Because you've been calling them little creatures or little stick creatures or. - Or elms, just elms. - Or just elms. - Yeah. - Like fucking full of shit. (laughing) Huge evil monsters. (laughing) Oh dear. I looked over to Ella. Where she and Dallin were still locked in a fierce hug. I smiled and looked around. I saw Sanzi and Keynesley talking quietly. Sanzi shook her head and covered her face with her hands. Keynesley reached out and pulled her into him, hugging her. I frowned in confusion. - Awkward hug. - Yeah. Well, she's very little, isn't she? That's right. She's small as in Jane. - Yeah. - So her face is like in between his horse boobers. (laughing) - His horse pracked. (laughing) - Maybe he's hugging you with a leg. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Maybe she's like climbed up. (laughing) - Oh, he's doing a good job. - Climb like a letter. (laughing) Keynesley reached out and pulled her into him, hugging her. I frowned in confusion. Why was Sanzi upset? I don't know 'cause they're in a big black pit. (laughing) - Because you fell into a hole and then got attacked in a cabin and, you know, there's lots of reasons. - Presumably you're not what you're supposed to be. - Which to be, yeah. Not going to plan. Not that we knew the plan. - Not that we knew the plan. We shouldn't, there was a plan. - Yeah. - Yeah. Why was Sanzi upset? I thought puzzled. Keynesley looked up and directly to me. I hastily turned away and walked over to Dalen, Luke and Ella. I hugged Dalen, glad to be all back together again. Because we, you know, separated for no apparent reason. - Three hours. - Yeah. (laughing) "Where to now?" asked Dalen. Luke shrugged. "No idea," said Ella slowly. She too had noticed Sanzi and Keynesley. - Wait. - So, again, we're like asking each other, "Where to now?" as if we ever knew where we were going. - Yeah. - Like we don't-- - We don't know where we're here. - We don't know where we're here. - We have zero agency. - Zero. - We're just going. Like, Keynesian seemsly. - Keynesian seemsly. (laughing) - Keynesley and Sanzi. - Yep. - I forgot what I was saying now. - Oh, yeah, they could be like the bad guys. - Yeah, yeah, they could be leading us into a trap. - Yeah, literally. - We're just blindly following these people. - Yeah. - We've been doing it from start. - Yep. - Just blindly. - Anyone. - Like Pete was like-- - Little more stucklings imprinting on whoever we see first. - Yeah, he literally peeps, like, "Go here." And we're like, "We're there." And then Sanzi's like, "Let's go here." And then we picked up Keynesley. And it was like, "Let's go here." It was like, "Oh, okay, sure." (laughing) "No idea," said Ella slowly. She too had noticed Sanzi and Keynesley. I sighed. I think we should ask if they know anything. I said, stepping towards them. - Great idea. - Yeah, I just, you should have done that a while ago. - Yeah. - The others nodded and followed. "Sanzi turned around as we came up. "There were no tears on her face, which intrigued me." - She's... What? (laughing) Why would they be? - Because she was upset, I suppose. - Not everyone just bursts into the tears of the minute that they're upset, Jane. - Oh God, some people here are adults. Are they there? (laughing) - It seems to be about 20. - It's more of an adult than 16. - True. - I mean, she could be about 16 by now. It's been a few hours. - Yeah, that's true. - "There were no tears on her face, which intrigued me. "She smiled at the boys and gave them both a short hug. "What now?" asked Luke. I looked to him briefly before turning back to Sanzi and Keynesley. I loved the whole useless, like, I looked at him. - I looked at him. - And then I looked back. We didn't need to know that you looked at him. And we can assume that if he's talking, you're probably looking in his direction. - Yeah, and like, okay, if you looked at him, tell us something about him. - Yeah, yeah. - What would you see? - Yeah. - What's his face doing? - Where is he? - Yes. - What is he doing? - Yeah. - Either do it, properly, or don't. - Or don't. (laughing) - Either don't look at him. - Yeah. - Or don't tell us that you looked at him. - Yeah. - Or tell us the information that you gleaned by the thinking about him. - Well, look at him. - Yeah. - Oh, turning back to scenes, he seems like. You are to go on alone now, said Kingsley. - Why? - His voice more deep than usual. He's being possessed. - He's being possessed. (laughing) Maybe it's the Prophet. (laughing) - Maybe it's Pasik. - Maybe. - I lowered my head. I knew now the end was near. I felt Ella shake beside me. I reached over and took her hand. She looked at me, and I gave her a comforting spa, which she returned. I let go of her hand and straightened a little. Without another word. Kingsley lifted Sensie onto his back. - Oh no. (laughing) - None of us spoke as Kingsley and Sensie walked out from a wooden door. - What? - I sighed as I heard it clink shut. Oh, I looked down to the staff in my hands. - What? - Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I forgot there's an asterisk. - Oh, okay. - An asterisk? - Is that intense? - Telling important information. - It does, but then it does also. So there's two marginal Elia's that both have asterisks, but I can't see a second asterisk. So, all right. So after Kingsley lifted Sensie onto his back, there is an asterisk there. Sensie let down and hands me the staff. - Okay, filled that plot hole. - Yeah, and then there's another asterisk that says go to back page. It's a new back page. - I think it must be this. - Okay. - Which I don't think we should read out. Is it spoilers? - It is. - It's spoilers. - So we're gonna elect not to read this and it will become apparent. - Damn. - Or it may not. - Or it may not. - Maybe we didn't write it. - Maybe, yeah. - Well, we'll see. - I guess we'll see. - If we don't speak about it, we'll fill you in on the line. - Yeah. - Anyway, yeah. So, yeah. Sensie let down and handed me the staff. None of us spoke as Kingsley and Sensie walked out from a wooden door. I sighed as I heard it clink shut. I looked down to the staff in my hands. - I have been waiting, boomed a voice, slowly. We all jumped and spun around. - It's past the gear? - Apparently. - So they literally just like lambs to the slaughter. - Literally. - Just brought her into the throat and just said, here's your stick. - You're like, we're not gonna tell you how to use it though. We're not gonna tell you what you need to do. - We're gonna need to do. - Nothing. - This is such a little shit. Like, these two- - We're just trying to wrap it up real quick. - Yeah. - Like, I think I probably also quite sick of it. - Yeah. - And so, I'm just like, let's just get it done. - Let's get it done. - I don't know, 'cause it's like, Sensie and Kingsley have been on this whole journey with us. - Yeah. - Have come right to the very end. - Yeah. - And then, without telling us what we're supposed to do, why you must go on, why? Why do we have to go on? - I clearly don't need to go on anywhere because he's come to meet us. - Yeah, he's there. I mean, we assume that's passive. I mean, fucking, who knows? It could be anyone. - It could be a profit. - It could be a profit. - Do you have booming voice? - I don't remember. - Yeah. - I mean, he could definitely teleport. - Yeah. - And he was gonna talk to us that he never came back. - And never do it. Yeah. So maybe it's the profit. He's gonna like, bitch, I've been trying to tell you this for ages. You're not supposed to come down here. (laughing) - Oh, this is all so stupid. - I'm like, okay, if the throne room was where we were trying to get to, we accidentally fell through a hole into a tunnel. - Which led straight to it. - Which led straight to it. - Yeah. - Well, how the fuck were we supposed to get to otherwise? - Well, there was a wooden door. So we don't know how Luke-- - And Dalind won it because we haven't spoken to him at all. - Yeah, I assume they came in through that, wouldn't they? They didn't come in through our marble door. - Well, we don't know. They could have come through our marble door and already been in there. - Yeah. - We just walked through the door and it was like, "Jane!" And Luke came running. Like they could have just got there before us. - So it would have come through the marble door. - We don't know. - Once again, it would have been great if we hadn't entered this. - Yeah. (laughing) - Yep. - All right. - Well, shall we move on? - Yeah, let's do it. - Like, yeah, seeing if we have to find out who the deep booming voice is. - Yeah. - What? - Okay. (upbeat music) - Chapter 34, Ella. - The hair stood up all down the back of my neck. The voice was so cold. So, so dead. - Oh, oh. Dead underlined. - So dead. - Is Pasek dead already? We're gonna have a hard time killing him if he's already dead. - I'm dead. - He's a zombie. - Yeah. - Weird. - That would be a plot twist. - Okay. - I don't know what to make fun. - No. - That's not what I was expecting. - No, vanilla. - My joy at seeing Darwin again evaporated in a wave of fear. This was it. Finally, we were coming to the end. - Oh, sorry. I think I'm allergic to bullshit. (all laughing) - Thanks, Darwin. - I can't edit that out. (all laughing) - Finally, we were coming to the end, the final climax of our journey. - We already said that. - A little bit on the nose. Yes, we know we're at the end of the book. And also like, this was it. Finally, we're coming to the end. The final climax. - Yes, how many times? - How many times can we say this is the end? - Well, that's like five times between the two of us. - Yeah. - Straining in the dim light, my eyes could just pick out the hazy shape of a man. Suddenly, I wish Sensie and Kinsley were still there. - Yeah. - Two or seven, the other one said actually new or did anything. - Yeah, exactly. - Yeah. - I'm like, suddenly I would have been thinking that the whole time. - Yeah, I would have been thinking, why are you leaving? - Why are you leaving? - You have told us nothing. - Yeah, we don't know anything. - And us, like for this at all. - Yeah, and like, no preparation. - The staff is Sensie's staff. - Yeah. - Well, I love a bitch not here to use it. - Yeah. - We don't know how to use it. - We don't know how to do is like, kill bears and lie things on fire. - Yeah. Maybe we could just point it past the good child death 'cause he'll just die. - I mean, that would seem like the easiest way to do it. - 'Cause that's a thing that works. - Yeah. - That we have established. - We have established, yeah. - Or we could just shout fire. - Light him on fire. - Yeah. - Okay, I suddenly wished Sensie and Kingsley were still there. Suddenly, the light came on. - What light? - I don't know. - The light. - Someone flipped us on the light. - The fluorescent lights. - It was a lot of suddenly going on. - Yes, everything's sudden. 'Cause it's happening suddenly. - Suddenly. - Standing before us was a man, cloaked all in black. I couldn't see his face. - Okay. - I was hit by another, almost tangible wave of fear. Either me or Jane was going to die. - Yeah. - Were going to die? - Was going to die. - There's a lot of problems with that. - Yeah, but is it where it was? - What was the question? - Either me or Jane was going to die. Either Jane or I were going to die. - I think it's all right. - Yeah, I think there's two problems. It should be Jane or I and were not going to die. - Yeah, yeah. I was like, this sounds right. - I think, yeah. - One of us would lose our life because of this man. - It's usually what dying means. - Yep. - Yeah, well done. - So I guess this is basic? - Yeah. - Why have you done this? How could you have killed so many people I whispered? He laughed. (laughing) - Because I didn't kill them. - Guess you did, cried Jane. I barely glanced at her, but I could see tears standing in her huge eyes. - So Jane's got full anime girl. - Yeah, good eyes. - I like how it's the end of the book and now we're starting to get descriptions of them. - Yeah, no, I didn't. You judge me without really knowing me. - Oh, okay, we've got some sort of plot list. All right. - Do you truly know what happened that night? Were you there? - No, they weren't, but I was said a familiar and yet somehow not familiar voice. And you've underlined somehow and not and written repeat? So I don't know what that means. - No, I didn't see how that's repetitive at all. - Yeah, I mean, I've said familiar twice, but I said a familiar and yet somehow not familiar voice. So like, it's a bad sentence, but it makes sense. - Yeah. - Okay, I don't know. - Oh, okay, here we go, here we go, here it is, here it is, here it is. We all turned and there in a faint and faintly flickering form was Pete. (laughing) - Pete, Pete, oh, Pete, why is it worse? - I don't even know, I'll just say it's so dumb. - So Pete, all right. - So the go to back page note, we read at the end of James' last chapter, is okay. I think when you're ready, when you want Pete to pop up, make him ghostly. So it's like he's an illusion as well. - Hey, yay, we're almost done. And I've written right here, okay. - He must be the illusion master. - Is that he's the illusion master, right, Pete? Is for the illusion master. - Is for the illusion master. - Which? (laughing) - Stunned silence. - I mean, I'm like, my brain says, well, that makes sense. That makes, you know, what a lot of, he's done, what he's done does make sense, but it doesn't really. - No. - But it kind of does. - I mean, okay. - It explains why he's there and why he's involved with Sensi. - It explains how he knew where Sensi was. - Yes. - It explains how, like, why he's involved at all. - Yes. - Because, like, as far as we knew. - He was just some random fellow. - He was just a random guy who just appeared in the middle of a plane or something. - Yeah. - We don't know what the landscape was like as we have described it. - Yeah. - He just appeared. - Yeah, I thought it was a forest, but I thought it was a plane, but. (laughing) - Like, to prove it. - Like, he just, he just appeared out of nowhere. - Yeah. - And then took us on this grand adventure. So it does make sense that Pete is someone important. - Yeah. - And we never bothered to question why Pete was there at all, or, like, anything around Pete. So it would kind of make sense for him to be the illusion master. - Yeah. - It doesn't make sense for him to be the illusion master because, like, what? (laughing) - Yeah, how could it make so much sense and it makes so little? - No sense at all. But, like, phew, plot twist. - Yeah. Damn. - Of course. - I mean, it's not, I feel like I wonder, like, I don't think we stated that through at all. - Not at all. - Like, this was definitely just, oh shit. We've got about the illusion master. Who should we make the illusion master? - Yeah. - Well, the only other character in his book is Pete. - Is Pete. - Yeah. - Sorry, it has to be Pete. - Is that the Peter Athro? - Yeah. - Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It almost sort of made more sense. - Was it? - 'Cause then it was like, oh, talking lions, like, of course. - It's an illusion. - It's an illusion. - Yeah. - No. (laughing) - Okay, damn. - Damn. - Damn. - All right. - We all turned and there, in a faint and faintly flickering form, was Pete. He seemed to have lost his usual stumbling stuttering mode of speech, and his voice was now clear and sure. Pastic whirled around as a hiss escaping his lips. - You. - You can't kiss you. - You. - You. - You. (laughing) - Or maybe it was like, (slurping) you must know the true story before you can complete your task. Pete continued as if Pastic had not spoken. - Sure would've been good to have this before when we spent like, several days on your boat. (laughing) - We've done that whole time, mate. Why didn't you tell us this? - Oh my God. - You've had so many opportunities to tell us the whole story. So you didn't have to do it right in front of Pastic. I mean, why would Pastic stand there and let us happen? - Oh yes, yeah, you filled him in. - Yeah, yeah. - I'll come back in five. - Yeah, yeah. He's just gonna shoot us. (laughing) I mean, he's probably not, but like, he sure should do. - Yeah. - Pete continued as if Pastic had not spoken. I felt a rush of emotion as my eyes were filled with an image. Oh, he's showing us. - Oh, 'cause he was a monster. - Deal! (laughing) - I suppose I was seeing through Pete's eyes on the fateful night of that dreadful happening. Was Pete there? - Oh, apparently. - This wasn't, wasn't it just Sensie and her mother who came in and saw Pastic shoot him? Stab him, whatever. - No, no, maybe he was like, a bat in the corner or something. (laughing) Invisible? - Yeah. - I noticed a black cloaked figure slip through the shadow of the night, but I paid them little heed. I feel like maybe you should be paying heed. - Yeah, that's why you're watching this. - Yeah, 'cause that's shifty as shit. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - That's probably Pastic. - Yeah. - Or your dad, one of the two. - Yeah. - Probably both important. I was standing in a shadowy alley, watching the door of a house. Because it was dark, I could see little of the house. But enough of my surroundings to tell it was the elven city. And it was a fairly small house. The windows tightly shuttered. I could see intricate patterns surrounding the window and doors. Suddenly, I became aware of another shadowy form, slipping into the house. - Some shadows. - Some shadows. Everyone's like. - Well, I think it was dark. (laughing) I love how she's like, I can't see much, but I can see. - I can see all the pictures I can see. - I can see the shadows. - I can see the shadows. - I can see the shadow we feel. - Yes. (laughing) - Suddenly, I became aware of another shadowy form, slipping into the house, leaving the wooden door slightly ajar. The footsteps were light and soft. And as they moved further into the house, I lost track of them. Suddenly, there was a muffled thud and a soft cry. Pete began to run, burst into the house. Distantly, I noticed most of the furniture was wood. Although the house was small, and although the house was small, it was cozy and comfortable. Why would you notice that? Why are you hearing this? - Why is this furniture being made of wood weird? - Yeah. - Isn't that what-- - Furniture is used to be made out of? - Yeah. That's not even like a, like, oh, it's like, you know, we're elves, so we make everything. Everybody makes everything out of wood. What else would you make it out of? - A stone plastic? - Yeah, that's the only real alternative. And it's fantasy world, we don't have plastic. So, of course, all the furniture is made out of wood. What do you want about? I'm like, why are you noticing that at this point? Why is that in the story? - She doesn't even see it distantly. - It doesn't matter. Don't mention it. It was cozy and comfortable. There was a short haul with a door on either side and one at the end. This too was ajar. Pete crashed into the room and froze. My heart was thudding violently against my ribs. This was it. This was that moment of cold blooded murder that had killed my parents, my people, and yet might kill my friends. - What? (laughs) - What? - Okay, so this was it. This was that moment of cold blooded murder that had killed my parents, my people, and yet might kill my friends. I think I mean might yet kill my friends. - Yeah, but like, didn't it start when her father murdered Pasek? - I think that's what's happening. - Oh, okay. - I think Pete, this was that moment of cold blooded murder that had killed my parents, though. - Yeah, yeah, because the flow of the questions. - The repercussions. - Right. - It killed her parents, the people. - Okay. - And might end up killing her friends. - Okay, okay, okay. - So this was the moment that started at all. - Yeah, yeah. - I think it's what she's trying to get at. - Yeah, I get it, I get it. - I think. - A man stood over the bed, looked up sharply as Pete crashed in. He held a bloody knife in his hand. He was young, handsome, with huge blue eyes and an untidy mop of black hair. His face was horrified. - Great, blue eyes. Doesn't Ella's dad have purple eyes? - Yes, he does. And so, either. - Either you've forgotten that. - I've forgotten that. - Or this isn't her dad. - Yes. - So this might be after her dad stabbed him, but before Pasek has killed his dad. - Well, he's got a bloody knife in his hand. - Yes. - Well, okay, so maybe he's just stabbed him then. - Yes. - So we're gonna have to deal with that. - Andrew, as-- - Andrew. - No, Andrew's been and gone. So in the story-- - Yeah, so what the prophet told us was, Ella's dad stabbed him in the stomach. - Yeah. - And then like-- - Yeah. - Then Pasek ran in, pulled the blade out of his stomach and stabbed him in the heart. - Yeah, so that's what I think we're walking in on. That bit, that bit. - You reckon? - Yeah. (laughing) - He was young. Hence, actually, I've written hand-dome. - Hand-dome, yeah. With huge blue eyes and an untidy mop of black hair. His face was horrified. He looked down at the bleeding corpse on the bed, then at the bloody knife he held in his hand. - Pasek. - Pete whispered. - Pete, Frisier, Pete. It's not like Pasek, you killed him. The knife dropped from Pasek's nervous fingers. No, Pete, you don't understand. He, I know you had problems, but Pasek. - What? - So-- - So I think I'm right. - I think he's trying to deny it, but I think that's the point. - Okay, so that's Pasek. - Yeah. - It's just, okay. - So Pasek's being like, it's not what you think, which maybe it's not, but we have walked in on the part where, as far as-- - Where Cenzi is aware. - Pasek is killing-- - Killing the father after Ella has stabbed him and then run away. - So maybe Pasek's not the bad guy? - Maybe. - Yeah, like-- - That's the implication-- - That's why I feel like that is-- - Yeah. - I'm playing. - 'Cause he seemed genuinely horrified. - Yeah. - Like, so he's either a really good actor-- - Yeah. - Or he's actually shocked and horrified. - Yeah. - His face was horrified. - Yeah. - Okay. - Mm. - No, Pete, you don't understand. He, I know you had problems, but Pasek, and it breaks off with a line break. - Oh, okay. - The vision dissolved and I was once more standing down at my shoulder, Jane and Luke beside me. - Why were you at his house, Pete? Jane whispered. - It's Pete the bad guy. - It's Pete the bad guy, isn't he bad? - It's Pete the driver? (laughing) - Oh, I'm excited. - What? - So, I wish we'd finished this. (laughing) - The vision dissolved and I was once more standing with Dallin at my shoulder, Jane and Luke beside me. Why were you at his house, Pete? Jane whispered. I was staying there, Pete replied. Pasek stepped forward and we all instinctively flinched back. You're wrong, he whispered. I saw his face. It was pale and drawn. His eyes deeply sunken into his skull. You're wrong. It wasn't like that. You don't know the whole story. Dot, dot, dot. End chapter. - I'm so confused. - Me too. Okay, all right. Okay. So, (laughing) Sir, there was, I don't trust Pete now. - No, me neither. I'm like, is Pete bad? Is Pete really the bad guy? - Okay, but we followed Pete into the room. So it's not like Pete-- - And Pasek was already there holding the bloody knife. - Yeah, so unless Pete stabbed him left and then went back in when Pasek was there. - But Pete is the illusion master. - Yeah. - So, can we believe what we've seen? - No. - Or like, what if it's not really his dad even? Like maybe Pete's made the illusion. - Well, maybe he just stabbed a pillow or something. - Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Like maybe it isn't like it was some sort of test maybe. - Yeah, or I don't know. I'm so, I'm so confused. So, so the prophet, so did the prophet lie to us? - Well, I can't remember what the prophet said. - So the prophet said, because of the taxes that were leveled again. So Pasek's dad who was bad. - Yeah. - Mr. - Yeah. (laughing) - Mr. - Mr. - Mr. - Mr. - Mr. - Mr. Mysterio. - Yeah, yeah. - He raised the taxes on the elves. - Yeah. - He paid off his own debts or whatever. - That's right. - And then eventually Ella's dad cracked and decided he had to do something. - Yeah. - So he went to kill Pasek's dad. - Yeah. - Mr. - Yeah. - He stabbed him in the stomach. - Yeah. - Then he left. - Yeah. - Then Pasek came. He was the first one there. He pulled the blade out and stabbed him in the heart and killed him. - Yeah. - And that's when Senzi and Pasek's mother arrived. - Yes. - So that's what the prophet told us happened. - No. - Wasn't that Senzi that told us that? - No, it was the prophet. 'Cause Senzi was there. But she was catatonic that whole time. - The prophet told us, I think, about why that Ella's dad killed him. But I think the other part was Senzi. - I don't think so. 'Cause I think Senzi was sitting there in the corner rocking the whole time. - You know, this was before they met the prophet. This was on the boat. When they found out that Senzi was his sister, I thought. - No, they found that out at the prophets, I think. I don't think they had any conversations on the boat. - Okay. - I don't remember. So either the prophet lied, or Pete's lying, or this is actually, 'cause the prophet is saying, I think about Pete being there. - Maybe the prophet is Pete. - The illusion. - The illusion master. - We've never seen them in the same room together. - No, we haven't. Okay, so I'm just going back to the vision here. I feel like I'm standing with a board. - Yeah, and I'm just screaming. (laughing) - Okay, so I noticed a black cloak figure slips through the shadow of the night, but I paid the little heed. So we've seen a cloaked figure. - So do you think that was-- - I think they're leaving. - I think that was Ella's dad. - Oh, okay, sure, sure, sure. - So the first cloak figure slipping out. - Yeah. - And then I became aware of another shadowy form slipping into the house. So that's gonna be passive. - Yeah. - And then Pete comes in. - Yeah. - So Pete got there before Senzi. - Yeah. - Apparently. - Yeah. - But we don't know what happened then because the vision ended with Pete being like, what have you done? And passive being like, no, no, you don't understand. - Boy, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy. - All right, well-- - I mean, look where it goes to the end. - Maybe we did like that. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I don't know, Dan, I don't know. - I'm like, I really wanna-- - I wanna find out what's next. - I wanna find out what's next. - All right, well, let's dress. - Yeah. - Senzi's your theories. - Yeah. - What do you think is happening? - What do you think is happening? - Because, do you understand? - Yeah, we miss it something. Like, I feel like that's almost a good twist like for, you know, for the standard we've set. - I mean, honestly, Pete being the illusion master of the pretty massive twist that I was not expecting. - No, I didn't see that. - Didn't say that kind of, which means it was probably badly foreshadowed. - Yes. - But-- - Probably means we literally thought of it just then. - Just then. - Yeah. - So there's evidence now that we had discussed this because of the back page note. - Yes, yes. - So obviously I knew we'd talked about it because you were like, you know, when Pete appears, making the illusion, illusory. - Which, did you? - Yeah, I said he was a faint flicker and that's right. - That's right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - So we clearly discussed that outside of notes written in the back of the book. - Yeah. Cool. - Yeah, interesting. - Interesting. - Yeah. - Interesting. - No. - We'll link that there. - Yeah, I guess we'll find out next week. - Yeah, maybe. - I think we have like a legit sort of slipping of that. - Legit, clever. - Yeah, so tell us what you think is happening. - Yeah. - Do you understand? 'Cause we don't. - Yeah. (upbeat music) - Okay, well, on that dramatic note, it is time for what we read where we talk about things that we've read. - Yeah. - What have you been reading that? - So we've talked about Patrick Ness. - A lot. - Yeah. We've gushed over Patrick Ness a lot already. Yep, I will try and keep the gushing low, but I am talking about another one of his books today. So it is called The Rest of Us Just Live Here. - Yeah. - Yeah, by Patrick Ness. And the thing I love about Patrick Ness is his ability to take like an idea and just completely flip it. So this is basically the story of a town where like apocalypse sort of things are happening and there's like superheroes and stuff there. - It's basically Sunnydale. - It's basically Sunnydale. Yeah, like Buffy Summers and Sunnydale. Except it's basically told from the perspective of just like the other high school students. So not the... - Not the scooby gang. - No. - Not Buffy. - No. - It's like everybody else. - Not the bad guys. - They just happen to be there and they're just basically trying to get through life and graduate high school and like all these like apocalyptic things keep happening and people keep dying and they're like, "Frick." And like, I love it. I love it so much. It's so well written. The energy of just like, "Oh." - Yeah. - You gotta go again. Like, "Oh, is it vampires this time?" Okay, sure. - Yeah. - And the lights looked out and like, "Oh, probably another apocalypse." Like, it's just like, what happens if you live in a town like Sunnydale? - Yeah. - Where this weird shit is happening all the time and you are just trying to figure out how to school. - It doesn't really happen to you. You just happen to be there. - You're just there. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. So I just, it's funny. It's hilarious. It's a very funny idea. - Yeah, it's great. - Very original creative idea. Love it. I highly recommend it. - Yeah. - Yeah, no. It's a great one. - Yeah. - Is there a quick little rate too? - It is, yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. What about you? What have you been reading, friend? - So I am reviewing this week the Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jefferson. So I understand that N.K. Jefferson is actually a writer of color, which I didn't realize when I started reading the books, but now that I know that, I'm like, oh, okay, I said, yeah. (laughing) Makes sense? Makes sense. So this is a series that starts out as fantasy and then ends up being a little bit more sci-fi. - Oh, cool. - Yeah. So essentially it kind of starts off in this fantasy world where you're basically living in an extremely highly volatile tectonic place. Like the actual continents are extremely volatile and there are severe earthquakes and volcanoes and things like that all the time. And it's kind of implied that like something happened to kind of cause this instability. And so most of the first, I would say like the first book and like the first half of the second book, even maybe like the first two thirds of the second book, like a lot of it is pretty fancy. This is like a fantasy book. There's kind of creatures and there's people and it's kind of like a bit of an apocalyptic vibe and you're kind of following this character where she kind of moves around this world. But towards the end of the series, you start to find out that actually there was like this super like high tech society previously and that gets all this kind of sci-fi stuff happens and it kind of ends up being like, I don't know. Yeah, I guess I can't really say anything else without spoiling it, but it's just like this weird shift and it kind of happens quite slowly and you're starting to be like, oh wait a minute. (laughing) It sounds like it's an energy here. Yeah, so yeah, it's a really, really good book series. I really enjoyed it. I think I probably enjoyed the fantasy half of it a bit more than the sci-fi bit. I found towards the end, I started to like lose track of it a little bit. Like I was a bit like, what's happening. Yeah, yeah, it was maybe like a bit much. But I don't know maybe it's just cause I don't like change and I'm like, I thought I was reading fantasy book and now I'm just sci-fi book and I don't understand. But no, I really, really enjoyed it. It's excellently well written. Excellently well written. So that wasn't excellently well said. (laughing) It wasn't. (laughing) Reading this book made me stupid. (laughing) That's very living to Dyson. Yeah. (laughing) It is very well written. Excellently written, one might even say. No, it's really good. It's really good. And, you know, awesome to support, you know, writers of color, writing fantasy that is very a bit less sort of like European high fantasy vibes than, you know, the standard fare, I guess. So, yeah, that's The Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin. Cool. Awesome stuff. That sounds really good. I'll add that to the list. Yeah, I have it. Yeah. (laughing) (mumbles) So, yeah, that's us for this week. So get in touch. As I said, we'd love to hear your thoughts as to what the hell is happening. Yeah. Give us a hand. Yeah. Try to sort this out. We're confused. And email us at whatwewrotepod@gmail.com. Or you can reach out to us on Facebook or Instagram at whatwewrotepodcast. And we have Tumblr at what we wrote podcast. (laughing) One day I'll get this right. Yeah. (laughing) And obviously you can message us there or the tag us or whatever, but you can find some of our writing and things like that on our Tumblr there. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, we'll see you next time and find out what the hell is going on. Maybe. (laughing) Everything's a, maybe, I think, yeah. Yeah, yeah. All right, we'll see you next time. Bye. Bye. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (swooshing) You