Nona the Ninth (Novel)

## Nona the Ninth

The Nona the Ninth Book Cover

**Nona the Ninth** is the third novel in The Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir, and was released September 13, 2022. The cover art was done by Tommy Arnold.

## **Announcement**

Discovered by Ethereal Academia on 29 July 2021, the Amazon "Look Inside" feature of the Harrow the Ninth paperback edition appeared to list "Nona the Ninth" as the third novel in "The Locked Tomb Series"—a departure from previous listings which had the series as a trilogy.

The following morning, 30 July 2021, Tor.Com officially announced the expansion of The Locked Tomb Series. Nona the Ninth was confirmed to be a full length novel, inserted as the third book in the series.

## **Synopsis**

*Her city is under siege.*

*The zombies are coming back.*

*And all Nona wants is a birthday party.*

*In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona's not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger's body, and she's afraid she might have to give it back.*

*The whole city is falling to pieces. A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the Emperor Undying to come calling. Their leaders want Nona to be the weapon that will save them from the Nine Houses. Nona would prefer to live an ordinary life with the people she loves, with Pyrrha and Camilla and Palamedes, but she also knows that nothing lasts forever.*

*And each night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull-painted face...*

## **Plot**

In a dream, John Gaius begins the story of how, in the waxing days of Earth, he and some fellow scientists begin a plan to move the entirety of the human race off-planet through the use of cryogenic storage. He is dimly aware of a competing plan to rescue individuals using faster-than-light (FTL) starships, but dismisses it as possibly unworkable and definitely unethical, as FTL cannot serve billions of individuals.

### Day One

Camilla Hect and Nona repeat their morning ritual, where Nona describes her dreams, as Camilla records the audio and takes notes. Nona dreamed of being pushed down into “safe water,” and a familiar face she has dreamed in the past.

Nona is an amnesiac inhabiting the body of Harrowhark Nonagesimus. Though Harrow is roughly nineteen, Nona has the mind and personality of a highly precocious child. She is cared for by Camilla Hect, Palamedes Sextus (now sharing the body of Camilla), and Pyrrha Dve (inhabiting the body of her late necromancer, Gideon the First). The seventh resurrection beast, known as Varun the Eater, has been approaching their planet for some time, bathing the world in blue light, and the city they live in is in a state of violent unrest over impending apocalypse.

Pyrrha, Camilla and Nona complete the rest of their morning routine, consisting of encouraging Nona to eat breakfast, and then rehearsing a number of secret phrases and safety precautions for surviving safely in the city.

Nona spends most her days as a teacher’s aide in a local public school, assisting a popular teacher known as The Angel, caring for a six-legged-dog named Noodle, and with a “gang” of friends: Honesty, Born in the Morning, Beautiful Ruby, Kevin, and their leader Hot Sauce. Hot Sauce is currently suspicious of an individual who appears to be spying on their class from a building across the street, and warns Nona to stay out of sight.

Back at home, Palamedes has Nona practice manipulating bones, in hopes that it may coax out Harrow’s personality or memories. Nona shows no signs of necromantic talent.

For a bedtime story, Camilla tells Nona about how she first found Nona and Pyrrha, and Palamedes first emerged in her body. They were taken in by the rebel group Blood of Eden, despite the fact that Pyrrha had killed their leader, Commander Wake.

Nona’s dream continues: John is experimenting on the preservation of corpses in cryotubes. Amidst economic downturn and frightened investors, the funding for his cryosleep project is abruptly pulled, and eventually the power in his laboratory is shut off. Most of the corpses immediately decompose, but much to his surprise, all of the bodies that he had personally handled remained pure and incorruptible.

#### Day Two

Nona has had a familiar dream, where she is sitting in water, and being touched by “her own hands.” She remembers a new detail, that she was being watched from every direction by red eyes. Also, in her dreams, she was hungry.

At school, Honesty tells the gang how he was injured in a botched robbery of a military convoy. One of Honesty’s partners claimed to have seen a roomful of blank-eyed zombies. Later, Hot Sauce — still wary of the stranger watching the school — instructs Nona to pretend to talk on a radio while taking the class dog for its daily walk. Nona does this, but then dozes off and dreams.

In Nona’s dreams, John and his cohorts grapple with the mysterious state of the corpses. They have all moved together into the lab facilities. John discovers that he is able to manipulate bodies remotely.

When she wakes, Hot Sauce informs her that the spy has left. The class participates in an active shooter drill, then Nona returns home with Camilla, where they engage in sword practice. Like Pal’s lessons with bones, Nona displays no aptitude for the sword, but the lessons continue in hopes that instead Gideon Nav’s memories or soul might be coaxed out.

Nona recalls one of her visits to the beach. Though the bay is infested with jellyfish, Nona is immune to their stings. On the particular visit, Camilla is held up by BOE Merv Wing soldiers while Nona bathes. Nona is shot while distracting them, but the wound immediately heals.

Pyrrha returns with news about violence in the city. Suspected necromancers are rounded up and burned at pyres, and rival militias are shooting in the streets. Pyrrha later warns Nona that she saw Hot Sauce in the park, engaged with dangerous people.

In Nona’s dreams, John continues to refine his abilities. His cohorts rob a graveyard, and discover that he can manipulate any bodies, regardless of how long they’ve been dead. They decide that the only way to continue their research is in public, and start streaming on the internet.

#### Day Three

Nona recalls a dream where she either holding — or being held by — someone with a painted face, under water. During breakfast, Nona, Camilla and Pyrrha are abducted by Blood of Eden Agents; though inconvenient, it is a regular fact of life for the household.

At the BOE safe house, Nona is greeted by Coronabeth Tridentarius, serving under the alias Crown. Nona is very fond of Crown, and quickly forgets about the discomfort of the abduction.

The BOE cell leader We Suffer informs Crown and Nona’s companions that a Cohort shuttle has entered orbit, likely carrying a negotiator of the Emperor. After discussing the events at Canaan House — where it is explicitly laid out that Cytherea, though self-motivated, was acting in conjunction with the goals of BOE — We Suffer demands for an update on “the Lyctor Project.” It is their hope that Harrowhark’s powers can be coaxed out of Nona, giving them a “pet Lyctor” to use against the Cohort.

Before leaving, Crown takes the household to visit Captain Judith Deuteros, who is recovering from injuries and mental trauma. She is a prisoner of BOE, being held for her ability to pilot stele-ships through the River. When she sees Nona, she becomes possessed by the approaching resurrection beast Varun the Eater. Varun recognizes Nona as Alecto, the resurrection beast of Earth, and begs her to come back to them. When Nona later asks, her friends are confused; they heard only screaming.

Crown accompanies Nona to school, and Nona exhibits her uncanny ability to interpret the body language of others. At class, Hot Sauce reveals that the spy is watching for their teacher, The Angel, who is now being delivered to the school by a driver. Hot Sauce speculates that The Angel might be under the protection of the spies. Hot Sauce reveals that she was at the park the night before, and is sympathetic with the anti-necromancer mobs. Nona takes a nap and dreams.

In her dreams, John’s “miracles” have begun to attract attention, and he learns that he is able to cure terminal illnesses. A friend of his partners warns him, that he is following the mistake of Jesus, drawing too much attention for his deeds. He learns that his compound is to be raided, and erects an impenetrable bone wall from the cattle and sheep living in the surrounding countryside.

Nona wakes to news that there will be an important broadcast in the park. As Camilla has not shown up to collect Nona, she and Hot Sauce instead steal away to see the broadcast.

The broadcast turns out to be demands for the cessation of hostilities from “Prince Ianthe Naberius the First, the Lyctor Prince, the Saint of Awe.” Alongside them is “Crown Prince Kiriona Gaia, heir to the First House, the Emperor’s only daughter.” Nona observes both as having “waxy” pale skin; in fact, both are dead, the former being Ianthe remotely puppeting the corpse of her cavalier Naberius Tern, and the latter being the corpse of Gideon Nav.

Nona and Hot Sauce are retrieved from the park by the Angel, and Nona is brought home, where she learns that Pyrrha was supposed to have picked her up from school, but has since disappeared.

In her dreams, John’s activities attract federal attention, and his crew learns more of the world’s elite's plans to escape the impending apocalypse and leave the bulk of humanity behind to perish.

#### Day Four

Camilla and Nona head out in search of Pyrrha. Though school is cancelled due to the danger of civil unrest, they encounter Nona’s friends and the Angel. The Angel is alarmed by the anatomical accuracy of Nona’s class drawings. Palamedes becomes suspicious of the Angel, and interrogates her. The Angel panics, and a hidden sniper attempts to assassinate both Nona and Palamedes/Camilla.

They both survive, thanks to their supernatural abilities; the Angel turns out to be a BOE agent, who knew of “the lyctor project,” but not that the subject was her own Nona. They are then ambushed, and Nona hides with Hot Sauce, who tries to convince herself that seeing Nona be shot was a hallucination. Later, when she comes to her senses, Hot Sauce sees blood where Nona was shot, and fires another bullet into Nona’s head.

In Nona’s dreams, John is dealing with the political fallout from his latest actions. His cohorts urge him to push forward from a position of strength. One political power approaches him with a proposal: their president is inconveniently deceased, and they desire his help in feigning his ongoing rule. John acquiesces, in exchange for a considerable sum of money, and a suitcase-sized nuclear bomb.

Nona awakens with her wrists and ankles bound to chairs, and throws a “tantrum.” She emits deafening screams, and flails about until her hands and feet are shattered, freed from their bounds, and are instantly necromantically repaired. She then beats down the door of the chamber In which she’s locked, and attacks the guards assembled outside. She is roughly bound and hooded, and hears a voice from her own throat say “Fool. You’re killing her.”

John’s cohorts revel in their newfound power, but learn more of the scheming of the FTL project, which they believe is an ultra-rich boondoggle. John’s cohorts decide to build power as a cult, and John proclaims himself as a “necromancer.”

#### Day Five

Nona awakens in an unfamiliar room, where Palamedes catches her up with the prior day’s events. He prods her regarding the imperial broadcast, and Nona admits that Prince Kiriona was the face from her dreams. Nona admits that she will die in only a few days. Palamades examines Nona, and concludes that her soul is trying to flee.

Camilla and We Suffer bicker over how to deal with the impending Cohort invasion, while Crown, wearing a bugged microphone, demands an audience with Ianthe. They meet, and Coronabeth is torn between the relief of being reunited with her sister, and her abhorrence over the possession of their deceased cavalier. Ianthe is shocked when Coronabeth requests her help in saving Judith Deuteros. Ianthe realizes that they’re being listened to, and demands that Harrowhark and Camilla be remitted. Pyrrha’s voice is heard.

We Suffer and Palamedes bargain to attempt to retrieve to body of Gideon in return for the location of the heads of the Sixth House. From a bug located on the body of Deuteros, they hear a tip that “None can enter the crypt,” interpreting “none” to mean Nona.

Nona dreams: John is struggling to understand a missing element of his understanding of necromantic arts: the soul. He learns that being in the presence of death creates a surge of energy, and when police kill five of his followers, he uses that power to kill everyone holding a weapon within the vicinity. John tells his followers it was an accident, but admits to the dreamer that he doesn’t make accidents.

Nona (now disguised as Harrowhark Nonagesimus), Camilla, and Passion go to the barracks to confront Ianthe. After some banter and argument, Nona panics and screams in the voice of a Resurrection Beast, momentarily incapacitating everyone. Ianthe wounds Hect, who then demands a conclusion to their unfinished duel from way back at Canaan House. In the duel, Hect succumbs to a mortal blow, but in the process touches Ianthe, allowing Palamedes to jump into the body of Naberius and subdue Ianthe.

Nona and Pyrrha go to retrieve Gideon’s body, but are confronted with a barrier that dissolves anything that passes through it. Nona is able to disable it due to her near-limitless ability to regenerate.

When Nona finds the corpse, she sees it peek at her, and then kisses it. When Pyrrha catches up, she finds the body prone again. Palamades attempts to draw her blood, and Gideon awakens from feigned sleep. Gideon tells the team that she knows they’re headed to the Ninth House and the Locked Tomb, and desires to come along.

The team moves to recover the hostages of the Sixth House. BOE has ascertained that they are moved around, and Nona deduces that this is the convoy that Honesty had raided some days before. Nona goes to Honesty to find the location of the convoy, and has a brief reunion with Hot Sauce.

While on their way to the convoy, the orbiting Resurrection Beast releases its heralds. Nona goes to the roof of the truck to confront the beast, and the body of Judith Deuteros follows her. Nona begs the Beast — through Judith  — to spare the lives of her friends, saying she might be different soon, and then passes out.

In her dreams, John’s team has determined that the FTL project truly is an escape hatch for the ultra-wealthy; there are no plans to rescue the remainder of humanity. G— is sent with the nuclear suitcase to serve as a deterrent for the launch.

John is still having trouble completing his knowledge of the soul. M—'s friend, a nun, kills herself before him, and he is finally able to “see” and “hold” a human soul.

Federal agents surrounding the compound panic upon learning of the nuke, and begin shooting inhabitants of the compound, including John’s acolytes. John remotely kills G—, initiating a nuclear war. John begins to absorb all of the dying souls of humanity, but finds it to be too much, and tears away bits of himself and the earth to create Alecto, who then contains the remaining souls of the planet. John then uses his powers to kill and absorb the soul of the sun and the remaining lives in the solar system, and attempts to chase down the escaping FTL vessel.

Nona awakens in the truck. Gideon prods Nona for information about Harrow. Pyrrha intercedes, and tries to console Nona. Pyrrha realizes Nona is Alecto, but Nona warns Pyrrha saying she doesn't want to remember. Regardless, Alecto’s voice emerges and scolds Pyrrha angrily before Nona regains control.

Camilla is failing. She and Palamedes begin a ritual, where Camilla consumes a white powder — the remains of Pal’s own deceased body that Harrow had attached his revenant to — and bursts into flames. The flames die out, and Camilla’s body is reborn as a “perfect” Lyctor, a new personality born from the merging of Camilla Hect and Palamedes Sextus. Ianthe wakes in Naberius' body, observes the transformation, then leaves, abandoning her dead Cavalier.

The new entity (known as Paul), Gideon, Coronabeth, Pyrrha, Pash, The Angel, and Nona all board the truck, with the Sixth House and Noodle in the back. Paul navigates the truck into The River.

Nona is revealed to be dreaming from the perspective of Harrowhark. She discusses the nature of divinity with John.

Nona, now feeling as if she is really three people squeezed into one body, demands to take over driving responsibilities from Paul. She is able to navigate the truck to the Ninth House. Nona briefly considers dying, letting the truck sink into the River, but is reminded that Noodle is in the back, and finishes the trip.

They find the Ninth House infested with the “Devils” who emerged from Colum back in Canaan House. They proceed and encounter a bunch of assholes. Nona is dying.

Ianthe — now in her own body — intercepts the team before they can reach the locked tomb, and captures them in a goo of mucus. Gideon surprises Ianthe by saying that she intends to open the tomb and destroy Alecto. Pyrrha shoots Ianthe with a Herald bullet, freeing the team.

They enter the tomb, and Nona, dying, tumbles into the frozen body.

Alecto awakens, and Harrowhark reawakens in her own body. Alecto recognizes Harrow as a descendent of Anastasia, and pledges her service to her. Harrow faints from thirst and hunger.

Alecto finds John, and stabs him through the heart with a sword. John awakens, and greets Alecto.

## **Characters**

* Nona
* Noodle
* Pyrrha Dve
* Camilla Hect
* Palamedes Sextus
* Hot Sauce
* Honesty
* Born in the Morning
* Beautiful Ruby
* Kevin
* The Angel
* Coronabeth Tridentarius
* We Suffer and Suffer
* Our Lady of the Passion

## **Trivia**

* Editor Carl Engle-Laird teases the novel as: *"Look forward to meeting Nona, as well as a pack of rabid children, a menacing blue sky-circle, and at least one extremely good dog."*

## **References**

1. ↑ "Nona the Ninth," Tor.com.
2. ↑ In place of a formal dramatis personae, the book begins with a cryptic wishlist for invitees to Nona’s upcoming birthday party.
3. ↑ "Announcing Nona the Ninth, a New Addition to The Locked Tomb Series From Tamsyn Muir!" Tor.com.