Last time on the Summoning, Tori’s going to get the plot moving again!

They head straight for the crawlspace. Chloe remembers that they don’t have a flashlight, and Tori immediately belittles her for wanting such trivial things as “being able to fucking see”. She offers to go first if Chloe’s such a baaaaaaaaby, so Chloe naturally says that no nevermind she’ll do it. On the way she finds the book of matches Rae was using earlier. Where is Rae getting all these matches? I’d assume she’d be hoarding them since they can’t be easy to smuggle in.

“Head left,” Tori said as she crawled in behind me. “It’s about halfway to the wall.”
We’d gone around twenty feet

Wait, it’s that big? Last time it seemed pretty small.

Tori says it’s behind that pillar way over there.

Chloe crawls over, at which point Tori attacks her.

“Do you know how much trouble you got me in, Chloe? You come here, get Liz sent away, steal Simon, ruin my chance to get out. Well, you’re about to get out yourself. A one way ticket to the loony bin. Let’s see just how scared of the dark you really are.”
She lifted a ragged rectangle. A broken brick? She swung. Pain exploded in the back of my head and I pitched forward, tasting dirt before everything went black.

That’s…sort of a good plan? I guess Tori’s assuming Chloe will go completely nuts and won’t be able to blame her afterward. But honestly, Chloe’s already gone in here completely of her own free will and was also wandering around in the dark that night, and also it was dead easy to talk her into this place without even a flashlight, why is Tori so sure that the dark scares her that much?

It’s just such a huge risk to be taking.

Anyway, I guess this means Tori probably is legitimately ill, but I’m kind of leery of saying violence = mentally ill. It would help if we’d had better characterization of Tori really showing signs of being unhinged. So far she just attacked Rae after Simon insulted her while she was claiming Rae attacked her, which is very different than plotting like this.

Several times I woke, groggy, some deeper part of me screaming, “You have to get up!” before the sleepy, confused part muttered, “It’s just the pills again” and I drifted back into unconsciousness.
* * *
Finally I remembered I wasn’t taking the pills and I did wake.

This is so fucking stupid.

Then Chloe discovers that she’s tied up.

Well, at least half this failure has precedent. A lot of people don’t get that knocking someone out is actually really dangerous, and that it usually doesn’t keep someone unconscious for a long time.

On the other hand, there is no way Tori’s actions make any sense. No one will believe Chloe got there on her own. And if the point is to get her kicked out, she still has to be alive, which means someone’s going to have to find her. When she wasn’t tied up Tori could clue someone in by saying Chloe was messing around in the basement and only look a little suspicious, but saying that now might as well be a confession.

That crazy bitch!
I never thought I’d call someone that, but with Tori, no other word fit.
She hadn’t just lured me into the crawl space and knocked me out. She’d bound and gagged me.
She was nuts. Absolutely nuts.
Well, duh, that’s why she’s locked up in this place. Mentally disturbed. Read the label, Chloe.

I quote this mostly because of the fact that the author just seems so hypocritical with the way this whiplashes between Very Special Episode and mental illness = psycho.

Chloe starts worrying that maybe no one will find her at all. Given she’s told three people about the crawlspace, I think there’s a good chance that once someone realizes she’s gone they’ll think of this. She’ll probably be waiting a while, though, because there’s also a good chance they’ll assume she’s doing something and not want her to get caught, so it could take hours after that for anyone to mention it.

Also, you’re barely even gagged. Tape over your mouth muffles you, it doesn’t make you completely quiet. Just start howling whenever you hear someone in the basement, or try kicking the wall. Or start rubbing at it and try to get it off.

They’ll think someone broke in. Tied poor Chloe up and left her in the crawl space. That would make a good story. Chloe’s last story.
Ridiculous. They’d find me. Eventually.

Uh, no, ridiculous is the idea that someone would break in to drag you downstairs and tie you up in a hidden crawlspace. How fucking stupid can you be?

Chloe decides to do something. She starts crawling for the door, figuring she’ll bang on that.

Then someone starts talking. It’s the ghost again, who’s decided now is the perfect time to show up, and not, just for example, when she was looking the first time and needed a hint where she was supposed to go. Eh, if it means plot I won’t complain much.

She starts freaking out, which, okay, bound in the dark. The ghost tells her to calm down and then to summon “them”. Yes, whatever the fuck that is, do it!

“No, relax . . . come for you . . . use the time . . . make contact… I can’t. . . must get. . . their story . . . urgent. . .”

Okay, so she’s fine, they’re going to come get her shortly, there’s…damn, she’s just being told by ghost A to summon ghosts B, isn’t she? I was hoping for something interesting.

Chloe’s already smacked facefirst into a post, so I guess she figures this sounds better.

I squeezed my eyes shut and imagined myself making contact with him. Pictured him. Visualized pulling him through.

Her powers work like self-help books.

There’s a reason this pops up a lot, since it’s the easiest way to avoid the problem of a character needing to be taught. But it’s a very crude solution. I favor some sort of additional sense – if Chloe could feel something there, trying to yank on that seems less of an asspull than just picturing things.

The ghost promptly starts freaking out and saying she’s pulling too hard. Then it goes quiet and Chloe thinks she must have knocked it away instead of getting it closer.

The knot on her wrist starts getting loose.

Whatever knot Tori had tied was poorly done, and slipping.
Rich girls, I thought. That’s what Rae would say.

That’s because Rae has issues. Being poor doesn’t confer superior bondage skills.

Oh, also the ground is moving under her. Chloe is just like “eh, maybe it’s an earthquake?” even though she’s in a dirt crawlspace that probably has very little structural integrity, but Chloe’s idiocy has been rather consistent so I guess that’s just good characterization.

Then she hears something else moving. Okay this is a good time to panic.

The sound came from my left, too soft to be footsteps. Like someone’s hands hitting the dirt. Like someone crawling toward me.

That is a remarkably specific sound.

Anyway, she rightly freaks and tries to yell at it to stop, though it’s not like she can talk since she’s still gagged. The moving sound stops but then there’s a growl.

Just stay still. If you stay still, it can’t find you.
That’s sharks! You idiot

I

what the hell can you even say

Anyway some clacky sounds start up and Chloe decides that priority one should be getting untied. I’d have kept crawling for the door myself, but eh, either’s good.

Then a zombie touches her arm.

Okay, cool! So she summoned them to help her, but then she freaked out and told them to stop moving, and now they’re trying to help her get untied! That’s a great use for zombies.

…or, not. It just keeps touching her and then starts repeating the word “help”. Chloe decides to crawl for the door and bang it.

I backed up and slammed my fists against it, screaming, banging, calling for help.
Cold fingers wrapped around my bare ankle.

Given there were already cold fingers around her neck and she’s unharmed, this is a terribly unimpressive dramatic ending line. Maybe the zombies want to help but because she’s not giving any directions beyond OH FUCK WHY IS THIS HAPPENING they don’t know what to do? Zombies are not really known for their cognitive skill, after all.