Read Along: Resurrection

'Everythin I thought I knew, pretty much all of it turns out to be wrong.'

It's the final stop in the route for Saba and the gang, but what will happen at the Tonton HQ?

'We drive into a big open courtyard.'

On display are some hanged Tonton - a shocking sight. Saba takes time to note that Jack isn't among them. However, before she can dwell on this any longer, the plan goes 'bust' as Saba is separated from the others by a commander who insists on taking her to the Pathfinder himself. Nero tries to protect his friend by attacking the Tonton who are taking her away, and Tommo is brought along as well in order to keep the crow under control. 

'My skin shivers. It's my dream.'

Once again, just like her visions of the fire at Hopetown, Saba recognises the inside of Resurrection as the place she dreamed of searching for Jack. As the commander dismisses the other Tonton so that he can take the glory for himself, he leaves himself vulnerable to Tommo and Saba's guerilla ways. They jump the commander and leave him unconscious. 

'The heartstone's warm against my skin.'

As Tommo and Saba start to leave the fourth floor to get to where they need to be to set upthe escape route, Saba feels a familiar warmth on her chest. The closer she moves to Tommo, the colder it gets - a sign that they will never happen. But, this isn't made clear to Tommo. Inf act, Saba gives him completely the opposite message as she kisses him in order to get rid of him so that she can search for Jack, who she assumes must be nearby. Saba knows it's cruel but also knows that 'needs must'. 

'The red hot crackles an hisses.'

Saba follows where the heartstone leads her, all the time, a fiery anger building in her for the man who betrayed her and her family. The first room she enters is empty of people, but another room is to the side of it, where she can hear someone. 

'DeMalo's voice.'

But it's not quite who she was expecting. Instead DeMalo greets her. Other people - Tonton and maids - enter, but none of them is Jack. DeMalo clarifies for Saba that they are indeed alone once everyone has left but Saba remains troubled by the fact that the heartstone remains burning hot. He gives Saba another dress to change into - this time a red one - and waits for her in order to eat dinner together. 

'I gotta be outta here in five minutes. Time starts now.'

Saba knows she can't waste any time. She plans to poison his wine when he's not looking. She tells him what he wants to hear - her deep feelings, her agreements with his opinions, how she wants to be with him. And all the time the heartstone burns and the reader is left wondering if she is genuinely telling some variant of the truth. He complains of a headache which he says he often suffers from, and this gives Saba the chance to doctor his wine. She hesitates over how many to put in, eventually deciding on two, which Slim told her would knock him out for at least a day. 

'He pulls me down beside him an holds me in his arms.'

They cosy up in the bedroom, DeMalo eager to relive the last night, but Saba is wary of him finding the bottle of eccinol on him. He begins to tell her about something that he think 'will change everythin'g', but the poison is beginning to work. He understands immediately what she's done and asks if she's killing him. She waits for him to pass out completely before bidding goodbye and running as fast as she can from the room. 

'It happens fast. In a flash.'

Saba enters a room where she finds Jack. He's hanging out a window and doesn't seem too pleased to see her there. Saba takes in the scene; Jack is at the ropes that her and Tommo were meant to have tied for the escape - she thinks Jack is sabotaging their plan. She jumps on him with the knife. But, all is not as it seems, because Jack is working with Maev to send Emmi down the rope to waiting oats below. Saba's attack on Jack has caused Creed to fall off the rope and land straight in the water rather than the preferred boat. 

'We bin havin the best of fun, me an Jack!'

Emmi reveals that her and Jack were 'play-actin' in Sector Nine. He clocked on when he saw Emmi that Saba would be near by. Emmi's excitement would give him away and so he told her to act as if he'd hit her. Maev leaves the two of them to argue. 

'I'm jest gonna cover the main points real quick an then I'm gonna kiss you.'

Jack tells his story. After events at the Lost Cause from the beginning of the book, and Molly's rape, Jack wanted vengeance. He ended up with Tonton through opportunity and worked up an act of loyalty. He gave an encoded message to Maev at Darktrees so that he could work with Saba from the inside. It wasn't part of his plan for Saba to arrive with such a 'huge crowd'. When he saw them all, he led them to Emmi and helped them get her out. 

'I ain't comin with you, Saba.'

One musn't jump to conclusions here though that everything is sorted. Jack says he's in too deep with the Tonton to just leave. He encourages Saba to go to the Big Water and 'have a good life'. He wnats to stay in order to keep the Tonton from getting that far; to protect Saba and her family. After telling her this, he does, of course, kiss her  - true to his word as ever. 

'Time to go.'

Maev returns and Jack leaves because he's 'got somethin' he has to do.  Saba's heart break as she climbs down the rope.And it is not a smooth descent, because on the way down Saba bashes into the window of one of the sleeping rooms. She has no option but to take out the man who's seen her. And with that, she's back inside Resurrection and reunited with Jack and Maev. They make it outside, but too late - Maev has already been shot. 

'Maev, the warrior queen.'

Maev pushes Saba to meet the others and insists that she stays. Armed but injured, she stands her ground as a Free Hawk once again. As Saba leaps off yet another tall structure into a pool of deep water, Maev takes aim against the Tonton. When Saba finally make sit to the boats, she hears and sees Maev's final move - the use of one of Slim's pinballs. The impact is almighty. Saba, having put her dress on Maev before she left, is sure in the belief that DeMalo will think it is her body that will be found. A second, but larger explosion follows, taking out a large chunk of Resurrection.

'Take me away from here.'

Saba believes the last explosion was Jack's 'somethin' he had to do. She believes him dead. But Lugh is crystal clear on his love's death; he blames Saba for everything. Saba feels that they're 'at some kind of end'; their once perfect relationship is now in tatters. Emmi comforts her sister with the idea that Maev wanted to, and did, die in 'a blaze of magnificent splendour'. Saba leaves the miserable camp for time alone.

'Footsteps behind me.'

She's followed by Tommo. He declares his feelings again, determined to have the conversation finally. He tries to kiss her again but when she rejects him he realises that she had previously 'deceived' him. As she walks away once again, she comes across a Wrecker residence, where she finds records and a record player. She plays the music. Saba reflects on everything that's happened; she blames herself and claims she has'no peace' in herself.

'A boat glides into view.'

Saba's second visitor is Jack, returned. The heartstone burns for him once again.He's come to talk. He apologises to her for all he's put her through, and assures her that he's feelings still 'run deep'. He also assures her that he had no involvement in leading the Tonton to Darktrees.He also reveals that he got his Tonton blood tattoo by killing the men who'd raped Molly under DeMalo's instruction. And his biggest revelation of all - Jack tells Saba about his past with Molly. Saba implicitly suggests that she too may have been with someone else; Jack doesn't judge her. And then in a perfect image, they dance under the stars to old music.

'Hurt. Betrayed. Decieved.'

Alas, this is not the scene the book ends on. A mysterious voice alerts the reader to the fact that Saba and Jack are being watched.The voice is resentful, bitter and vengeful. The only question is - who is it? The two main suspects are Tommo and Lugh. Personally, I'd argue Tommo just because he had quite recently used the word 'deceived' to describe what Saba had done to him, and also he was nearby. Who do you think it was?

Let the mystery continue...