Dresden Files Reread - Grave Peril Chapter 19

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As Harry scrambles up the ladder, he reflects on the difficult decisions involved in saving people. The plausible targets for the Nightmare are Michael and Murphy. Michael's trained in dealing with supernatural threats, and has a magic sword. Murphy has less experience, and no magic weapons, and also lacks the direct and active protection by literal, capital G God. So Murphy is who we prioritize. 

He calls her, and tells er that he'll be at her office in 20 minutes, and to stay there and stay awake until then. Murphy seems to think Harry called her five minutes ago and said he'd be there in 10 minutes. She's a little annoyed at the apparent revision to the plan, when he's apparently been awake for two days and wants to go home and go to bed, and when Harry asks her to clarify what the hell is going on, she hangs up on him. 

The lost of things that can borrow your face is upsettingly long. I note with interest here that Harry does say "face", not voice. So either everything that can look like you can also sound like you, and vice versa, or he considers it wholly out of the question that someone would pretend to be him on the phone if it can't back it up by looking like him when it arrives at Murphy's office. In any  case, since the Nightmare just ate a big piece of Harry, it can definitely copy his face and voice, and there's no reason for either Harry or the reader to think anything else would go after Murphy right now. 

So now he's got five minutes to make a drive he just said would take 20. He races around, throwing together an extremely makeshift exorcism kit, and tries to call Michael, but gets a busy signal. The front desk guy is a little taken aback when Harry walks in and asks "Which way did I go?", but basically rolls with it, and tells him that he went up to see Murphy. Stallings and Rudolf, in turn, tell him that he's already in her office. 

Sure enough, there the Nightmare is, wearing an ectoplasmic body that looks exactly like Harry, and sticking his ectoplasmic fingers directly into Murphy's head. When Harry tells him to let her go, he responds with casual threats in pseudo-archaic language, with a lot of "thou" and "thee". I'm immensely curious whether this is how Kravos's pet demon actually spoke, or if Kravos is just Like That. Harry points his blasting rod at the Nightmare and tells it again to step away, and this time it hits Harry with his own ventas servitas wind spell, launching him through the door into a tangle with Rudolf and Stallings. He manages to hit is head on the wall, and feels dazed and wobbly after, so that's concussion number 2, for everyone keeping score. 

Harry gets himself disentangled and goes to check on Murphy. She's unresponsive, even when Harry uses her first name. Ooooh! I'd have to check, but I think this might be the first time he does that? Rudolf says he'll call downstairs and tell them not to let the Nightmare leave. That's not gonna help since, as Harry points out, it can walk through walls, but it's a remarkably constructive thought, considering it comes from, y'know, Rudolf. Murphy is staring straight ahead, breathing in a way that indicates she's trying to scream, and when Harry attempts to soulgaze her, it just...doesn't work. Whatever internal self the soulgaze looks upon, hers is not present. Harry gives Stallings a mundane-friendly explanation of Murphy's condition, and tells him that she'll need someone to watch her until sunrise, and then take her home or, better yet, to Malone's place. While he doesn't say it explicitly, it's pretty clear that the objective here is to get her behind a threshold, with the implication that Malone's is stronger than the one at her house. We know from later books that Murphy's threshold is very strong, but I'm curious, if Malone's is better, why they never use his place as a base of operations or a place to stash vulnerable people. Mickey is adequately clued in, and Sonia can cook. He also asks Stallings to get Kravo's journal for him. He calls Stallings "John" here, which is causing me to wonder if Stallings was at some point meant to have a more substantial role in the series than he actually got. Stallings isn't sure he do it, citing some "stuff" that's come up and made it "complicated", but agrees after Harry confirms that he can use the book to help Murphy. 

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Harry puts up a circle, which is hard since a big chunk of his power is still missing, and puts Murphy into an enchanted, dreamless sleep to spare her whatever torments the Nightmare is subjecting her. He draws on his rage, at what it did to Murphy, and to him, to fuel the spell, which is new information, I think. We already knew that emotion can power magic, but I don't think we've previously seen an emotion that's typically viewed as harsh and destructive used as an energy source for a gentle, merciful spell. He laves her in the circle, to protect her from further influence, and tries to call Michael again, but it's still busy. Troubling. Stallings is "nowhere in evidence", which I find mildly amusing since Evidence is exactly where he ought to be going. Rudolf takes the opportunity to sneak up behind Harry and tell him that, if he gets Murphy hurt, he'll kill him. Harry, who's exhausted and thoroughly demoralized, says that if anything happens Murphy because of him, he'll let Rudolf do it. 

Man, Harry cannot catch a break this book. I'd forgotten that he got a second concussion here. Wizards heal faster and more thoroughly than other people, but concussions take time, and linger effects become more severe and longer lasting if you get a new one before previous ones have fully healed. Harry's gonna be compromised at least through the end of the next book. This is one of those things you can't unsee. People talk about harmless head injuries in fiction, but like, look at the actions of the characters who get hit on the head a lot, and really ask yourself if their cognition is unimpaired. 

I'll try to get you at least one more post before the end of September, yeah? Until then, be gay, do crimes, and read all the things!