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Summary: Chapter 5
Wylan and Jesper go to the university district to meet Jesper’s father, Colm Fahey, while Kaz and Matthias keep watch from the roof. Jesper amuses himself by saying salacious things to fluster Wylan and feels grateful for the company. He doesn’t think he could face his father alone, as he’s filled with guilt about lying to his father and endangering his livelihood.
When Jesper sees his father dressed in his best suit, he realizes how out of place he looks. Though Jesper is worried his father is angry with him, his father seems relieved to see his son, hugging him warmly. The three are about to go to lunch when someone starts shooting at them. Jesper and Wylan protect Colm by returning fire and tossing bombs. Together they head to the reading room, where Wylan knows a secret passage through which they can escape. In the passage, Jesper is relieved to be out of danger, but the heightened sense of being alive, which he experiences when people shoot at him, is dampened by the fact that his father could have been hurt.
Summary: Chapter 6
Nina is fascinated by Colm Fahey, whom Jesper and Wylan bring to the Black Veil. She realizes that she isn’t used to encountering people as wholesome as Colm. Her withdrawal from parem continues to be difficult, especially when she tries to use her powers, which no longer work normally. After the Smeet job, her cravings become so powerful that she attempts to seduce Matthias to get some more parem, but he tells her that Kaz has it.
The gang lie to Colm, telling him that Wylan and Kuwei, whom Colm believes is Wylan’s twin, were swindled out of money that Jesper is helping them recover. Kaz convinces Jesper’s father to give the gang three days to get the money back so that he can save his farm from being seized by the bank. He also gets Colm to agree to switch hotels and remain out of sight, convincing him that dangerous people are after Jesper. Kaz then returns Jesper’s beloved guns, which he stole from Smeet’s safe.
On the mission to rescue Inej, Nina and Jesper are tasked with disabling Van Eck’s guards. Nina can’t get her usual powers to work and accidentally weaponizes dust, killing a guard.
Summary: Chapter 7
Inej decides that she’s going to reveal hideouts to Van Eck that Kaz no longer uses. Van Eck sees through this ploy and accuses her of stalling. He brags that he’s lured Kaz to Inej, and she feels anxious that the gang is about to fall into a trap. But when a young messenger enters the theater and tells Van Eck that his pregnant wife Alys has been kidnapped, Inej knows that Kaz has not been tricked by the mercher. The messenger carries a note with instructions: Van Eck is to go to the Goedmedbridge at noon the next day, bringing Inej and her knives. There he will get his wife back. This reversal makes Inej laugh, causing an enraged Van Eck to snarl threats at her. Tired of feeling afraid, Inej headbutts him and breaks his nose. She promises him that if he touches her, Kaz will rip his unborn child out of his wife’s belly.
Analysis
Colm Fahey is a representative of life outside the city and the Barrel, where decency and kindness are prized values. He does not fit into the Dregs’ world, as his suggestion that they could go to the authorities makes clear. When Jesper sees his father, he says he looks like a farmer on his way to church, which emphasizes both that Colm looks like a citizen who lives outside of the bustling metropolis and that he radiates traditional values, like those associated with regularly attending a religious service. This throws into stark relief that Ketterdam exists in its own dark, immoral universe in which profit, violence, and avarice are the ruling forces. Colm struggles to understand not just the lies that the gang tell him about what happened to his son and his money, but also the rules of the world in which Jesper has ended up—why it is commonplace to be shot at and why the gang cannot go to the authorities. Colm’s kind, bewildered presence offers a counterpoint to the gang and to the dark underworld of Ketterdam.
This section emphasizes the power of family in multiple ways. When Colm meets the other Dregs, Nina is drawn to him because of his wholesome nature, a quality she very rarely encounters in anyone else. She is moved by how Colm cares for Jesper—simply and absolutely—desiring his son’s safety above other concerns. Seeing Jesper and Colm magnifies for her how each member of the gang is, though in different ways, orphaned. She craves a parent figure who might save them and make them feel less alone. While Nina longs for a family to generate feelings of security and belonging, Jesper feels constrained by his father and fears for his safety. He’s normally jubilant after a fight, but in the wake of the shootout in the University District, Jesper is gripped by the realization of all he stands to lose if anything should happen to his father. The normally jovial Jesper, who laughs in the face of danger, is terrified at the dangers that now menace his father. While Nina idealizes the safety that family can bring, Jesper feels more vulnerable now that his father is nearby.
Shame is a powerful force throughout the novel, one that can skew characters’ self-perceptions. In these chapters, Jesper’s shame intensifies as he imagines reuniting with his father. He delays their reunion, assuming that his father will be enraged because Jesper lost his money, but is proven wrong when Colm crushes his son in a hug, beaming with relief and love. This is not enough to make Jesper’s feelings of shame dissipate, however, and he lies to Colm, creating yet another situation about which he might feel ashamed. Similarly, Nina is ashamed of her behavior in the wake of her parem addiction, as she recalls how she debased herself to Matthais in order to get another dose of the drug. She struggles to see these actions, inspired by the powerfully addictive drug, as separate from herself and who she is. Inej, too, struggles with shame after Van Eck’s threats. She feels small and weak, and succumbs to her nagging doubts that she is just a tool in Kaz’s eyes. However, when she realizes that Kaz is coming for her, a healthier self-perception is restored. Her faith in herself returns with her faith in Kaz, allowing her to fight back against Van Eck even though she is still his captive.
