I smell story time.

Ominous! But let's not forget about Mort. :)

Looks like they have a better chance of staying as far as they can from Jeanne, while retrieving the device

Kat knows how to deal with devices; she'll help you.

Panel 5. It just got real.

Please let her wear that at some point later in the story when she REALLY needs to scare someone.

Now we're getting somewhere! Now we know there are at least two departments: the ROTD, and the Guides! Is there a Death and Taxes department, also? What about the Department of Cheesy props, or Etheric Power Department? Just sayin'.

OK, this guy is growing on me.

I was so hoping that she's try that mask on.

Just a thought, drain or block the river and see how her lover's body has fared. I doubt Jeanne is the ONLY one that device locked in that location. If so, it would explain her anger and ferocity.

Whoa, Annie! Didn't that receptionist guy tell you to keep your hands to yourself or something? You might do something unspeakable to that mask.

We already know that, if *anyone* can figure out what that thing is and how it works, it's Kat - working with Annie, for her innate understanding of the etheric world. Which implies that the next chapter may involve Annie and Kat searching for more of Diego's lab notes.

Really love the facial expressions in this one. Lots of cool stuff going on at once these past few chapters and it's impossible to drag my eyes away.

Looks like Kat gets something to play with.

'ead like a flippin orange!

"Set free"? Is that just a different way to look at it, or does it imply that there's something more to existing in the Ether than has previously been explored? It'll be interesting to see Annie's response. Very entertaining arc so far :V

So many doodads so little time

This stopped being about poor old Mort pretty quickly.

Wow, did not expect one on Easter friday!

So how do you kill Death? With a bigass sword, apparently.

Go Annie!

I am going to guess that they're going to need a combined effort. They will need Kat's ingenuity to defeat the device that Diego created; they will need Parley because she can relate to Jeanne as no one else (see http://gunnerkrigg.com/?p=779, where Jeanne says, "A fine strike, fille" as Parley kicks the blinker stone out of Jeanne's hand (look VERY closely), to http://gunnerkrigg.com/?p=783, where Parley says she knew what Jeanne was thinking. I can see Andrew involved as Parley's love interest, and Andrew & Annie involved as Mediators given the murder of Jeanne and her boyfriend by the Court. Very interesting, indeed....

He's using etheric energy to take his old form. As a result the ROTD in the vicinity is starting to look more like stage props. I wonder how the library is holding up. It might be far enough away to sustain the illusion of vast vaulted rooms. Or it shrank back down to a plain table, one bookcase and some old A/V equipment.

'O'

Yeah, know I'm really starting to like that scary masked dude without his mask. On a completely unrelated note, there you are Ankou!

Aaw, so there ARE people besides Annie who care!

And what if she DOESN'T want to be "set free"? Did you ever stop to think about THAT? Of course not.

I think I once had a Halloween mask like that.

First!

It's just a mask, right...?

As shitty as her situation is, what's going to happen when the ancient barrier falls? The forest and court aren't exactly buddies. They can't rely on Coyote to keep his people in check, we saw that there are plenty of nasty things that don't recognize his authority (everything that jumped Ysengrin and Antimony that day she learned to burninate, for starters). This could restart open conflict between the two sides, and I doubt either wants the arrow removed.

The mind must really be a plaything of the "body." Dracula talks much nicer when he looks alive.

The little ooh face she has while holding the mask. Priceless.

It is interesting that while Kat's reaction to seeing the cheesiness of the "smoke and mirrors" of the RotD was annoyance and boredom, Annie's reaction to the same seems to be curiosity. That might also pertain to how sensitive a person is to seeing the etherically "enhanced" version.

* poke poke poke * Huh, I guess none of this stuff is real after all.

I wonder if the death is also wearing a mask, or the way it looks is a natural appearance.

I love the super dramatic face in the last panel. There's something about a balding middle-aged man making those faces that is inherently funny to me. Maybe that's why I laughed at Breaking Bad so much.