Dresden Files Reread- Grave Peril Chapter 4

Photo by Danny Feng on Unsplash

Flashback part 2! Harry takes the girl back into his office, where the lightbulb immediately burns out, and pulls out a chair for her. It actually takes Lydia a few seconds to realize what she's meant to do with it, which I think is meant to be an initial sign of how rough Lydia's life has been, how badly she's been treated, that no one has ever pulled out a chair for her. It's a creditable attempt at subtle characterization, but it doesn't land quite how it's meant - lots of non-shitty guys don't pull chairs out, and even people who've never had it done for them are familiar with the concept, so the effect mostly is to make it look Lydia isn't great at picking up social cues. And impression only reinforced a moment later when Harry says that if she wants his help, he's gonna need a few things from her, and she immediately switches to seduction mode, despite having no real indication that that's what's called for here. Guys? I think Lydia is neurodivergent. I mean, she has a seizure disorder, of course she's neurodivergent, but I think she might be on the autism spectrum or something. That would potentially account for why her emotions often come across a skosh performative, even when she's being sincere. 

Harry's turning down teenage girls game is on point. He rolls his eyes and lectures her about STIs. Considering that teaching baby practitioners is part of his job, he's probably had to do this a lot. He clarifies that he wants information, starting with he name. She very sensibly refuses to give it, but eventually agrees that he can call her Lydia. I mark this part of the interaction only because I have this vague recollection that at the end of this book, he acts like it's news that "Lydia" was never her real name. 

She says she needs a talisman to protect her from a hostile spirit, but still doesn't want to provide details, saying she can't tell Harry what kind of spirit, why it's after her, or even how she knows. That first thing seems kind of important. I don't think Harry's anti-ghost talisman would even work if she had, as Harry idly considers, attracted the wrath of an avenging angel. When Harry presses her, she asks if he knows what Cassandra's Tears is. For the reader's benefit, since Lydia clearly already knows, he explains aloud that it's a prophetic ability, characterized by seizures and visions of the future, accurate ones, but presented in terms that make them sound implausible, frequently misdiagnosed as epilepsy. 

Harry asks if she had a vision warning that there's a spirit after her, and she says no - she had three, which is unprecedented. Even major natural disasters have only gotten two, or at least...look, the only noteworth earthquake on record for Laos prior to like, years after this book was published, was a 4.9 in which "several people" were injured. It wasn't the deadliest or most intense earthquake that week. (2001 was a damn event, seismically speaking). I think it's possible she's referring to the 1988 Lancang-Gengma earthquakes, which were certainly felt in Laos (also Thailand, Vietnam...), I wouldn't really refer to them as "that earthquake in Laos", since that's not where most of the (respectable) number of casualties or (devastating) structural damage occurred - that was mostly in Yunnan Province, China, near the epicenters of the dual quake. Of course, it's also possible that Jim Butcher just made something up, although if so, Laos is...an odd choice. In any case, she has cause to take this very, very seriously. 

Harry is...acutely cognizant that Cassandra's Tears is virtually impossible to verify, and that it's been used to scam people before. And that he knows she can act, because of how quickly she transitioned in and out of sex mode when she thought that was what he wanted. He also, unfortunately, thinks that her willingness to pay in sex, and the fact that she's clearly done so before, further calls her honesty into question. So, y'know, that's gross and misogynistic. 

Photo by Elti Meshau on Unsplash

The details of the vision are pretty vague. Fire, wind, dark things, her own impending death, and Harry  somehow at the center of it, uniquely situated to change the course of events. 

Harry dismisses her vision as "corny", privately decides that her emphasis on his importance to whatever's going on is evidence that she's trying to con him, and tells her she's overreacting. Lydia just...deflates, apologizes for wasting his time, and gets up to leave. This prompts Harry to realize that he's being an asshole, and give her the anti-ghost bracelet he's been using in his own recent adventures. He also gives her the rundown on when ghosts are most dangerous (sunset, midnight, just before dawn), and tells her that faith magic is the best defense, instructing her, if she's scared or in trouble, to go to St. Mary of the Angels and ask for Father Forthill, the first time either has been mentioned. 

As an aside, Lydia makes multiple references throughout this conversation to how "they" said Harry could help her, and I find it extremely strange that Harry doesn't make even a cursory effort to find out who "they" is, or even wonder about it internally. If he took her at face value, that would be understandable, but he suspects, especially after she leaves with the bracelet, that she might have been sent - specifically to get it away from him, and yet he never asks by whom. 

No sooner has Lydia left, than the antique radio (not previously established) turns on - Harry modified it so Bob can use it to reach him, and the spirit is calling in to report that someone stirred up Agatha Hagglethorn, and fill Harry in on the details. Harry almost physically runs into Michael outside his office. Harry is understandably surprised, and Michael says something about God arranging for him to be where he's needed, introducing the whole Divine Coincidence thing, but also that Harry's called him every night for a week, so he figured he's just show up and save Providence that trouble. 

And that brings us all the way back around, so we should be coming out of the flashback and picking up in the Nevernever in the next chapter, which I will be writing about in just a few days. Until then, be gay, do crimes, and read All The Things!