HEART OF OBSIDIAN: Psy-Changeling #12 - June 4, 2013!

so, it's either Kaleb and his mystery woman or Vasic and Alice

I'm still hoping it's Sahara, and really hoping it's not Alice. I don't think Alice is ready at all. She needs lots and lots of time to heal, physically and emotionally.

Volatile rebel with blood on his hands? Sure sounds like Vasic though.

I think it is Kaleb and Sahara. "A woman whose very existence has been erased." Sahara, as far as her family and everyone knows, is dead therefore her existence has been erased.
GRRR... I want this book so bad!

But Kaleb has had his rebellious moments too

Jane wrote:I think it is Kaleb and Sahara. "A woman whose very existence has been erased." Sahara, as far as her family and everyone knows, is dead therefore her existence has been erased.
GRRR... I want this book so bad!

Hope you are right!

I don't think it's Alice... she awoke just now and I don't know, she needs time to recover and not a romance, at least not right now. But I do think she is going to end up with an arrow.

The Ghost talks about blood on his hands and is a rebel.
But
Vasic is also a known rebel - fact. & says similar several times. Kaleb also talks about having blood on his hands though.

A women whose existance has been erased both Sahara NightStar and Alice fit this profile, so does whoever Kaleb is looking for if not's not either of the above.

But the Ghost knows Alice is alive and we know that she is not Kaleb's missing person, so I don't think it will be Alice.

A deadly price - well we know Vasic wants to die and Judd talks about having to kill the Ghost at the end of chapter 70 of ToN. So more evidence for Vasic.

The cover points to the book being about an arrow (the black dress) and someone with longish black hair and we know Vasics hair is black and longer than regulation length.

& the burning buildings point to it being a Tk so could be either Vasic or Kaleb.

In conclusion I'm going with Vasic being the Ghost and the person both he and Kaleb are both looking for being Sahara NightStar.

However the Kaleb tells us the Blackedge wolf pack will fight for him in this war which kind of points to it being a changeling who Enrique managed to do what he tried to do to Brenna with....

So confusing

Sounds like Kaleb and his mystery lady to me.

BTw, you all realise, that this might very well be the last book in the overarching story Arc, right?

yup

UNless of course, it´s Kaleb´s book, and he isn´t the Ghost, but....

*sigh*

A dangerous volatile rebel...

That sounds so f*§$%& much like the ghost and less like Kaleb.

Alright, let´s take a look at all the storylines that are still open and their respective mystery factor, that would warant such secrecy.

Kaleb and his mystery woman -
Mystery factor - HIGH!
Who is she? And how does she tie into Kalebs dark past?
What did he do?
And what has been done to him?

With him finding her being the last chapter of ToN this absolutely is the strongest guess.
Kaleb has his own agenda, but he hasn´t really been introduced as a rebel.
But yes, Kaleb might be doing some really really drastic things to get her.
And alot of people WILL die.
And from all the glimpses we got from Kaleb´s past, and how passionate he was about the woman murdered by the serial killer in BoJ... retaliation fits very well.
Only, Enrique is dead.
But if Enrique is dead, who is hiding his mystery woman?

Vasic and his Deathwish - and Aden and trying to keep Vasic alive.
Mystery factor - the obvious: not very hight
The not so obvious - HIGH!

Vasic has been built up since Dorians book as a recurring character, that is always a bit aloof, self depricating and a silent presence in the background.
(Unless, you are me and fell in love with him at his first words! Which I can, dammit, quote by heart. All of the things, he says in the books btw. and I´m not ashamed to admit it!)

We came to care for him and his silent desperation and hopelessness and his connection to Aden, for whom he would die. Very, very literally.
But outwardly, there is not much mystery around him, aside from the possibility, he might be the Ghost, BUT...

We still don´t know his last name, or anything about his background, family or anything. Not to talk about his close connection to Aden.
When I interviewed Nalini last year, she treated it as a big secret and that makes me highly suspicious. SO, I bugged her on Twitter last night and got the same secretive answer to the question: "Will we ever learn Vasics last name?" "One day... "

Is it only me, who smells a bombshell there?

The Ghost and... yeah, who is the Ghost. The rebellion. The council. Silence.

It´s the Ghost.
THE one and only mystery in these books. Who has been around as long as Kaleb and Vasic have.
WHose identity we all want to know....
Mystery factor - HUGE

So, unless, she clears all of those in one book... this can´t be the last one.
IT CAN`T!

And she always said, and did say so last year in June, after ToN was released, that there would be 2-3 more books in this story ARC....
And the Ghosts book would be the last one....

TheFLuff wrote:BTw, you all realise, that this might very well be the last book in the overarching story Arc, right?

I thought that Nalini said after Tangle came out that there were 2 or 3 more books in this story arc. I guess if she said it before Tangle came out, then this could be the last in this arc.

There just seems more for her to do in this arc. There is Kaleb, Aden, Vasic to deal with along with lieutenants like Alexei and Mathias and bad guys like Ming and Shoshanna and Tatiana.

it's not the last one! She confirmed on Twitter!

Yay!

But then, does this mean it's not the Ghost's story yet? Or...maybe the G's story won't be the last in the arch, after all?

Can´t be the Ghosts story... but I´m pretty sure, we will find out, who the Ghost is.

After all, if this is Kaleb´s book, he can´t be the Ghost, so it has to be Vasic.
And vice versa.

SO, one mystery cleared.

If it´s Kaleb´s book, we will find out, who his woman is: Mystery number one
And we will find out, what happened in his past. If he was the one, who rescued Annie and what Enrique did to him.

We will totally find out, who the Ghost is... or at least who he NOT is.

If it´s Vasic, we will learn more about his connection to Aden and how that permanent telepathic connection came to be... and what his damn last name is.
I´ll still go with Adelaja
Which would make him a great candidate for the Ghost, but then... if its Vasic, he can´t be the Ghost. So no *g*

If the woman is Sahara.... we might see Shoshana die (Pet F-Psy and everything) and Kaleb on a murder spree to free his woman, I´m sorry, would be sexy as hell

If the woman is Alice, we might finally find out, what tied her to Zaid. And I´m pretty sure, there is tons of heart break there.
And we might find out, what happened to Zaid. We haven´t hear much about the founder of the Arrows... and Judd had to dig deep to find out, when he died. Which which the Psy´s compulsion toward data struck me as very odd.


I know, I was miffed, when I found out, the blurb didn´t give away anything.. but then...

If we KNEW it was Vasics book in advance, we knew, he couldn´t be the Ghost... and so on.

At least, we know, the Heroine is either Alice or Kalebs mystery woman, that might, or might not be Sahara

Though I don't want either Alice or Sahara as heroine, I'd say Alice has more character build up than Sahara, so I'm more inclined to accept Alice than Sahara who was just mentioned once or twice.

At this point, I don't even care if we'll have the Ghost as H or not as long as book 12 is either Vasic or Kaleb's. I'd love Aden's too, so I'd be happy with any of those 3.

it would be very, very interesting if Vasic is indeed an Adelaja, we'd get more glimpses of how the Arrows came to be, their history, how they formulated their training ....and what other dangerous abilities they possess aside from what is already known.

I just don't see Alice being the heroine of this book. I'm strongly leaning towards this being about Kaleb and his mystery lady (who may be Sahara or not)
As for this mystery lady, I have been thinking about this. I think that Kaleb and she met as children, likely they trained together or endured something together. Kaleb says in TON that he had spent years learning to know and understand her. As for what happened to her... I suppose she was kidnapped for some reason. Perhaps Enrique gave her to Shoshanna (who is suspected of having a pet F psy)
I can also support the theory that this woman is an F psy. She is psy, for a fact. She is hooked up to the Net, though extensively hidden. She must be quite powerful and/or useful in some way. Someone went through a lot of trouble to take and keep her. You don't expend time and resources like that needlessly. Now, we know that for the psy their abilities are linked to their sanity. If they go crazy, then they cant really use their abilities. The notable acception (that we know of) is the F psy. We know from VOH that an F psy who is broken and insane can still forecast.

And! This house, he´s living in, is not his, he´s only guarding it for her.


Damn, we should collect all those bits and pieces about her.

Good to know that this isn't the last book in this arc!

However, is it Shoshanna that is suspected of having the pet F-Psy, or was it Tatiana? (I would have thought that it would have come up during all those Henry scenes in some way in the last book or two and I don't recall any mention of Shoshanna's pet F-Psy.)

Also, kind of wondering if Nalini won't have some trick up her sleeve regarding the Ghost (?) Maybe we'll find out that Vasic and Kaleb are twins and have been working together, or one of the Arrows has the ability to shift his image. As in, one minute he's Kaleb and the next he's Vasic. Crazy I know, they were in a scene together in Tangle? But I'm wondering if Nalini isn't going to get creative over this in some way.

From ToN:
"The wolves would serve their purpose after he’d located his target—because that target was highly likely to refuse his hospitality. And in this case, a psychic leash was not a viable option."

Looks like the BlackEdge wolves would have a role in Kaleb's book. And why would she refuse his hospitality unless they have an unpleasant past together maybe? >:3

The psychic leash isn't very romantic. lol. unless she's the kinky type.

yeah... oh God, lol.

And no, they were, in ToN, when the colapse happened.

One way, to get more clues, would be to make a list of who has been where.
She said, she made sure the Ghost was never in two places at once, with his real life persona.

With Kaleb that would have been easy, since he has no direct point of contact with Judd, for example, who is the only person we actually ever saw interact with the ghost.

Vasic on the other hand DOES have this contact with Judd, though usually in the background with Aden doing the talking.

And yes, the ghost still might be someone else altogether.

Oh, yes, it was Tatiana, my bad.

Gosh, now I´m in full specualtion mode *ggg*


@ Yurice: Hot damn! I had absolutely forgotten about this one

I have recently discovered this forum and have enjoyed very much reading the speculation. I wanted to add a thought that I was sure would be mentioned but has not appeared. So either it flew below the radar or I have misinterpreted it. I am still uncertain on my guess on the Ghost (leaning towards Kaleb), but I am almost certain that it is not Vasic.

Here's why. During ToN, the Ghost observes Hawke's and Sienna's mating ceremony and he thinks that her hair is darker now than when he last saw her at 15. Somewhere else, (I believe it is when he goes to kill Henry, also in ToN) Vasic thinks about being a young Arrow and meeting Sienna once when she was a small child first under Ming's control. If he only meet Sienna once as a young child and the Ghost saw Sienna at 15, Vasic cannot be the Ghost.

There was some speculation that Anthony was the Ghost, but I am almost sure that in one of the books, Anthony gets an email and/or a surprise visit from the Ghost. If he is being contacted by the Ghost, then Anthony can't be the Ghost.

One of the reasons, I do think Kaleb is the Ghost is because he is one of the few main characters in the running in which I have not come across logical speedbumps in the series which seems to put him out of the running. Also, in the earlier books, it seemed like you either had Kaleb or the Ghost appear heavily. While both might have been mentioned, my memory wants to tell me that one featured much one heavily than the other. (Almost like they were one character )

I really don't think it could be Nikita, unless she is hiding some serious TK skills, and she doesn't fit to me. Also, Vasquez is a fanatic sociopath, I don't think he fits.

Very exciting to speculate with hard-die fans

Hi CassB, welcome!

Yes, the clue about Sienna's age is a good one and I think there is a thread somewhere that discusses that in length. (Can you define a 15 year old as a child or not was part of the discussion.)

I kind of hope Nalini pulls a fast one, and it's not Kaleb or Vasic but someone else. Anthony maybe, though I think he's been eliminated as a candidate by some of that same evidence you mentioned. Kaleb seems almost too obvious a choice so I'm hoping for something creative and that it's Kaleb's identical twin brother, or that Vasic and Kaleb are really the same person lol, or Tatiana is really a man, I don't know, something really off the wall that will have readers genuinely surprised.

Wouldn't a twin be too much of a soap opera cop out? Introducing a completely new key character this late in the series would not be wise, anyway. After we got used to all the ones we already know and love.

Jelena wrote:Wouldn't a twin be too much of a soap opera cop out? Introducing a completely new key character this late in the series would not be wise, anyway. After we got used to all the ones we already know and love.

Yes, it sure would be. I'm just wildly speculating, kind of hoping Nalini does something different or throws in a twist. I know she's said the Ghost is a character we've met before so it won't be anyone new.