Chapter 9: Mixers & Chasers – A Psychic's Warning About Walking the Dead
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Kostya reluctantly attends a themed Seyoncé party in a Brooklyn warehouse, dressed as a fish and nursing a terrible cocktail. He recalls a traumatic high school party where peers forced him to drink Pine-Sol-laced punch. Now his roommate Frankie has abandoned him for a redhead, leaving Kostya stranded without keys. After experiencing a repeated aftertaste of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, he visits Madame Everleigh (Maura) for a tarot reading. He blurts out his ability to taste the dead. Maura identifies it as clairgustance, but warns him not to recreate the food because doing so can summon hungry spirits and disrupt the afterlife’s balance. Kostya bristles at her harsh assessment of his cowardice and leaves. Later, Frankie encourages him to experiment further, and Kostya decides to try a dish tied to a particular aftertaste—liver—hoping to contact his father.
Key Events
- Kostya arrives at the Seyoncé party and flashbacks to a high school prank where he was tricked into drinking a Pine-Sol cocktail.
- Frankie flirts with a woman dressed as Ariel and leaves Kostya alone.
- Kostya tastes the same Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup aftertaste twice in quick succession, suspecting a persistent ghost.
- He enters Maura’s tent expecting a romantic encounter, but explains his clairgustance instead.
- Maura names his ability and warns him that making the dead’s food can bring spirits back in a dangerous way.
- Kostya argues with Maura, who calls him a coward. He pays and leaves.
- Back at home, Kostya binge-eats with Frankie and confesses everything.
- Frankie encourages him to pursue his gift, and Kostya decides to experiment with a liver dish to try contacting his father.
Character Development
Konstantin (Kostya): For the first time, Kostya openly admits his power to a stranger and learns a formal term for it. He also confronts his own inertia—Maura’s accusation that he has wasted twenty years stings because it rings true. By the end of the chapter, he moves from wallowing in self-pity to a tentative willingness to act.
Madame Everleigh (Maura): Initially playful and flirty, Maura becomes serious and fierce when Kostya reveals his ability. Her personal stake (she seems to have her own tragedy involving the afterlife) makes her warning both protective and harsh. She reads him accurately and leaves an emotional bruise.
Frankie: Frankie continues to serve as Kostya’s foil—outgoing, lucky in love, and confident. His belief in mystical traditions (rooted in his Dominican and Irish upbringing) makes him open to Kostya’s story. He becomes the catalyst for Kostya to stop hiding.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Clairgustance and the Psychic Clairs: The term gives Kostya a framework for his lifelong ability. Taste is positioned as a rare clairvoyant sense, tying the novel’s central gimmick to broader spiritual tradition.
Peanut Butter Cup as a repeated aftertaste: A manufactured, mass-produced food becomes a signature. Its identical recurrence suggests a ghost that is particularly insistent or familiar with Kostya’s own memories.
The Tent as a liminal space: Maura’s tent at the party offers Kostya a temporary refuge where secrets are exposed. It is both a confessional and a confrontation zone.
Balance vs. Disruption: Maura’s warning about “balances” and “systems” introduces the idea that the afterlife has rules. Her personal regret hints that breaking these rules carries steep consequences.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter deepens the novel’s supernatural lore by naming clairgustance and warning of its dangers without fully explaining them. It introduces Maura, a character who will likely become either an ally or an antagonist. It also marks a turning point for Kostya: after years of passive suffering, he decides to actively explore his ability, setting the stage for the next phase of the plot. The confrontation with Maura forces him to acknowledge his fear and self-doubt, and Frankie’s encouragement gives him the push he needs to pursue the dish that might reach his father.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Maura react so strongly when Kostya mentions recreating a dead person’s food?
She believes the act can summon a spirit permanently and upset the natural balance of the Hereafter. Her own past experience (hinted at but not fully explained) makes her certain that such interference is dangerous.
2. How does the flashback to the high school party affect your understanding of Kostya’s character?
It shows that Kostya has a history of being socially humiliated and forced to ingest awful things. This backstory explains his self-protective cynicism, his avoidance of parties, and his deep-seated distrust of people—even as he craves connection.
3. What role does Frankie play in Kostya’s decision to try again?
Frankie validates Kostya’s experience through his own syncretic beliefs and frames the gift as a responsibility rather than a curse. He offers practical help (using Wolfpup’s kitchen) and counters Maura’s fear-based advice with a call to action, urging Kostya to avoid regretting inaction.