Thunderhead

Rowan stands in front of a mirror in his small apartment and wonders about his identity and life. Since the events at the Scythe Winter Conclave last year, Rowan has been in hiding, using a fake name and hoping he isn’t discovered by the scythedom. He notes that the Thunderhead probably isn’t fooled by his charade, but it hasn’t turned him in yet, and the Thunderhead “ha[s] good reasons for everything it did, and did not do” (15). Rowan considers the two different scythes he apprenticed under: Scythe Faraday, who is good and noble and gleaned people with compassion, and Scythe Goddard, the power-hungry murderer who took great joy in killing people. Scythe Goddard was “a base and evil man,” who “received exactly what he had earned” (15), and Rowan killed him, stole his scythe ring, and burned his body to prevent him from being revived. Still, Rowan knows that he was changed during his time with Goddard, and with the scythedom now “infested” with “dozens of scythes just as cruel and corrupt as Goddard” (16), Rowan has decided to embrace his new title as Scythe Lucifer: bringer of light and death to the corrupt and evil. He dons his black robe and sets out to find his next victim.

In a mortal-age cathedral, High Blade Xenocrates meets with a Nimbus agent who works for the Thunderhead and an Interlocutor. Because of the strict separation of state and scythedom, Xenocrates is not allowed to speak to the Nimbus agent directly, so the Interlocutor serves as a proxy between the two. Xenocrates demands to know why the Thunderhead has allowed Rowan Damisch to kill “numerous scythes across multiple Merican regions” and has “done nothing to stop him” (21), but the Nimbus agent replies that the Thunderhead has no right to intervene in scythe matters. Xenocrates argues that Rowan Damisch might go by the name Scythe Lucifer, but he is not actually a scythe; Rowan is merely a jilted apprentice who was never ordained as a scythe. Still, the Nimbus agent says Rowan is in possession of a scythe ring, so in the eyes of the Thunderhead, he is a scythe. Xenocrates is furious and cries out that the scythedom has been unable to apprehend Rowan, and they need the Thunderhead’s help. However, the Interlocutor retorts that this is “not the Thunderhead’s problem” (23).

Citra Terranova, also known as Scythe Anastasia, approaches a woman on the street whom she has targeted for gleaning. Anastasia injects the woman with a tracking device, which contains “a grain of lethal poison” (27). She explains that although the woman has been selected for gleaning, she has one month to get affairs in order and say goodbye to her loved ones. Citra will allow the woman to choose how she would like to die, but if the woman doesn’t contact her within thirty days to arrange a method and time, or if she tries to leave MidMerica, the poison grain in her body will activate and kill her. Citra knows that her method of gleaning is unusual, and many of the older scythes accuse her of being “immoral” or “inhumane,” because “[t]o know that your days are numbered is a cruelty” (29). However, Citra points out that in the mortal age, people often knew they were going to die far in advance due to disease and incurable illness. Despite the backlash, Citra’s mentor Scythe Marie Curie supports her decision to glean in her own way. That night, Citra meets another gleaning subject in a casino, where he has chosen to die by drinking a poisoned martini. He thanks Citra for allowing him the time to get his life in order, and then he drinks the poisoned mixture and breathes his last. Citra leaves to grant the man’s family one year of immunity from being gleaned.

Citra hails a publicar and instructs it to drive south. Scythe Curie is teaching Citra how to drive, and Citra has grown to resent riding in publicars. Citra calls Scythe Curie and tells her that she won’t be coming home tonight, and although Citra was once intimidated by Scythe Curie, she has “come to enjoy her time with Scythe Curie—both down time, and gleaning” (41). The publicar takes Citra to a rest stop, where she changes out of her turquoise Scythe robes into regular clothes. The publicar then takes her to the Mortality Memorial in Pittsburgh, where she meets with Rowan in secret. Citra asks Rowan about his decision to kill scythes, and he points out that he is simply “ending the lives of scythes who don’t deserve to be scythes” (46). Citra remembers how the last time she and Rowan saw each other they said they loved each other. Rowan wanted to meet with Citra one last time because he is sure that his capture is imminent and the scythedom will glean him. Citra warns him to stay hidden and watch out for Scythe Constantine, who is determined to catch Rowan. Rowan tells her that the Thunderhead isn’t trying to stop him from killing corrupt scythes, and before they go their separate ways, Citra tells Rowan that when she was deadish (technically dead but able to be revived), the Thunderhead spoke to her and told her that she was important.

Rowan returns to his apartment, thinking about his conversation with Citra. He remembers his apprenticeship with Scythe Goddard, who inspired Rowan’s deep-seated desire to kill every corrupt scythe he can find. After all, all 13 of the scythes Rowan has killed were “an embarrassment to what the scythedom [stands] for” (52). Rowan begins to think about who he will kill next, but when he arrives at his apartment, he finds his old friend Tyger Salazar in his kitchen eating a sandwich. Tyger has come to let Rowan know that he has taken a job as a professional partier in the charter region of Texas, so he will be leaving soon. Tyger also brings sad news: Rowan’s dad was gleaned. Rowan is shocked, but he realizes this was no random act: His father’s death was “punishment” and “retribution for the acts of Scythe Lucifer” (57). Tyger knows nothing about Rowan’s vigilante killing spree, and he assumes that this was a random act, but Rowan knows that the rest of his family could be in danger too. Tyger believes the scythedom is fundamentally good, but Rowan knows how deep its corruption goes. The friends part ways, and Rowan leaves to find out who killed his father.

Tyger is excited about his new permanent job in Texas. He remembers the phone call he received from a scythe who saw Tyger at a party the year prior. The scythe tells him that they “liked [Tyger’s] style” (60), and they are willing to pay him double his regular rate. Tyger arrives in Texas and meets his new employer: Scythe Rand. She looks Tyger over and even instructs him to take off his shirt. She declares that although he is “scrawny,” his body “[has] potential” (61). Tyger assumes that he is going to be trained as a scythe’s apprentice, and Rand assures him that “[his] brains aren’t going to matter at all” (62) for this apprenticeship.