Rivkah’s Reviews > The Exorcism of Faeries > Status Update

Went back and read the parts about the plague and safety measures, but baffling that they treat this more like a flu rather than a deadly PLAGUE

“When Atta attended Trinity for undergrad, the Plague was but a distant scare. A sickness violently befalling a few select individuals here and there. Partway through the summer after her graduation, so many cases had popped up that the powers that be erected HPSC’s secret places of science, medicine, immunology, and research. Very little was known about this organisation and its advancements in dispelling the Plague had been minimal.”

If they’re shadowy and this is deadly and there aren’t concrete measures being taken to rigorously monitor people, or have the appearance that there are measures to protect people, wouldn’t there be a hint of mass hysteria?

“Be Vigilant. Inform HPSC of any Plague symptoms immediately, by phoning the hotline.
Atta shook her head. It would help if they knew what those symptoms were before it was too late”
What the fuck

“It was an enigma. A curious, confounding disease that began with an unidentified spore in Patient Zero and spread how it saw fit, making the Infected first mildly ill, then quickly fading into organ failure and eventually death, their teeth coated in the black blood and bile they coughed up.
The spore.
The black blood.
Those were the things Atta zeroed in on”
Wait… so there are symptoms?

“She ran to catch up, ripping off her mask as soon as she made it inside the clinical space. She expected Gold Stitch to reprimand her, but he didn’t. He, too, was taken aback, standing stock-still in front of a body on a metal autopsy table. The body of Lauren Kennedy. Wrapped in crawling ivy.
Atta dropped her mask to the cold floor and walked forward, her mouth agape and breath fogging in front of her, ever so slightly. Lauren’s head was too far up. Unattached from her spine.
Atta bent to look closer, marvelling at the stems growing within the flesh like veins, the petiole and buds protruding from her skin. “They’re completely embedded,” she said as Gold Stitch came to stand next to her.
“They look like they originated from inside her body,” he mused.
He was right. Atta rushed to a wall of small drawers, opening and closing them quickly looking for⁠—
“Here.” He handed her a pair of surgical gloves and slipped a pair on himself.
Together, they peeled back the flesh at the incision site with forceps, immensely grateful Lauren hadn’t yet been sewn back up.”

Idc if they’ve concluded it can’t spread like a virus, you still don’t fucking know what’s going on and this is still classified as a fucking plague?? PUT YOUR DAMN MASK BACK ON. COVER TF UP

“It moved Atta to tears. “What is this?” she breathed.
“Ruperto Banterle’s Fleeing Soul. A replica.” Sonder came up next to her. “The true piece stands sentry over the Monumental Cemetery in Verona.” They stood in silence for a few moments, looking at the sculpture that felt as if it were alive.
After several moments, Sonder finally said quietly, “I like to think her soul was ascending, and he couldn’t bear the loss of her,”
“So he attempted to hold her here with him,” Atta finished, feeling the same sentiment when she looked at it.”

This is so corny I want to die

“Her heart broke for him. For his parents. For all the beauty their deaths caused. Because it was nothing but Juliet’s kiss, Macbeth’s decapitation, the murder of Desdemona. Achilles mourning Patroclus. “Sonder, I’m so sorry.”

Stoppppp. This is so extra