The Ballad of Never After

This chapter is told from the perspective of the story curse that twists tales in the Magnificent North. It watches as Jacks screams with the pain of losing Evangeline and demands that the Valors bring her back. They refuse because trying to bring back Castor resulted in the vampire Chaos, and they will not make the same mistake again. Jacks uses the four stones to go back in time to before Evangeline and Chaos left for the arch. The Valors warn him not to do this because time will take something else of equal value, to which Jacks says, “There is nothing of equal value to me” (338).

This chapter begins from the same point as the previous Chapter 44, with Evangeline feeling desperately lost at the idea of losing Jacks forever. When Chaos comes to collect her, Jacks also arrives with a girl for Chaos to feed on after the helmet is removed. Chaos refuses, as does Evangeline, and Jacks looks at her with pained eyes that silently say that she’s “picking the wrong thing to be stubborn about” (341). As with the previous journey to the palace, it passes in a blink, but this time, Evangeline spends the time failing to work up the courage to talk to Jacks.