Well first it was immensely adorable to see Melody struggling to convey her feelings, there’s something about being so incredibly powerful yet still emotionally vulnerable that’s endearing.  I wonder how long Corey had been thinking about her in more than a friendly fashion since he didn’t seem surprised or need to think about it.

Now onto the not so cute stuff. 12? 12?! Wow, I mean I should have figured it was more than two, she liked killing the first one too much just settle at one. Even if she liked the one she considered her pet no way she could lay off in the meantime. It makes me wonder if Naomi or Stephanie were aware of this. Granted probably not Naomi, but Stephanie in her ‘don’t care about anything state’ I don’t know. On another note just why hasn’t Melody shared this information yet? Rehabilitation is right out the window now. She’s a serial killer, even if she made every effort to look like she had reformed, I’d never trust her in society at large.

Not to get lost in that reveal however, the word goddess gets thrown around a lot, but Kayla just might be the closest thing to one. The fact that she was able to read Marion’s mind is impressive enough, but she apparently did it from quite a distance away without ever coming into the contact with the girl. That’s horrifyingly impressive.  There seems to be a limit in that Kayla has to focus on a specific person separating it from true omniscience but it’s not much of a hindrance.

I don’t think this is necessarily an Omega ability since there’s no reason Claire couldn’t have done that at the start. Perhaps being the first Omega carries some additional perks.

Pkong:

Tyrant seems a bit much since we don’t know just how the current status quo came to be. For all we know the right to protect the rights of Betas was negotiated. Perhaps the Alphas were bribed with some of that Omega technology . Maybe Alphas leadership preemptively fearing what the Omegas might do agreed to their Beta protection demand without the Omegas actually having to do much. Maybe they really are tyrants and toppled Alpha government. At this point we just don’t know just how big a conflict there was or if there was a conflict at all.

Here I was thinking this chapter would solve some unanswered issues (and it did) but it managed to raise so many more! Alright what we learned, Corey and Claire’s mother was a beta originally. Kayla was an Alpha originally. So whatever event happened it didn’t depend on size. Given what was said about Beta rights Alexis’ family were likely Alphas before they ascended (and may have been the ones championing them as pets).

We also get an answer to omega age question. I guess at some point Omegas just stop aging as up until now Claire and Corey have grown up together. Must be weird knowing that Corey is biologically older than his step mom now…

Of course the opening created so many more! Something tells me we saw the ending to a much larger narrative play out there.

As for the three shillings my best bet would be someone like Dr. Manhattan (Watchman) who more or less became a god, though a less attentive god than Kayla. 

Really an amazing story arc all around. Can't say much more than that.

I think this whole sisters arc has been amazing so far. As I’ve said before Stephanie’s my favorite of the prisoners and her internal struggle is both painful and captivating. This new insight from Claire is intriguing since I’ve often felt it’s only an unfortunate twist that separated Claire and Stephanie, but that might not be the case. 

Excellent chapter especially following the previous chapter. Out of all the girls I feel for Stephanie the most, a combination of terrible luck and a terrible friend. The ball bounces a different way and she'd probably be working alongside Claire and the others.

@sketch

A helpless sympathetic girl....who left Jenna's friend a crippled heap on the ground because she could. :p

Really I'm joking though. I can fully understand from a reader's point of view why it's easier to sympathize with Naomi. We actually don't even know the full extent of the crime and Naomi's role in it till she's already been introduced. If the first chapter had been from Corey's point of view during the assault it probably would be the reverse.

Still me and team Jenna will fight the good fight. :D

A chapter than answers more questions that it raises? *gasp*

Seriously this did a great job of once again answering several questions, and building the world at large, without going into an exposition onslaught.

There’s really enough background material that could fill a few stories.  The ordeal/origin of course being one, but Corey’s father’s background seems quite interesting as well.

Not too many questions raised this time though I do wonder why there was such a gap between the rise of the Omegas (going by Marshall’s age, since Graham died before omegas ascended,  I’d say somewhere about 70 years ago) and Kayla allowing them to mate (seemingly around 20 years ago).  Given the Omegas are incredibly long lived I do wonder about potential overpopulation if they keep having kids. 

well they're either saved, or completely screwed.

I'm really interested to see where this goes, since I'd say in 99% of stories you see with scales to this extreme the tiny population is usually amazingly screwed. 

I felt it was a nice trade off between the bits lost and the bits added in this new part.

The ending does pile on Dave but it is realistic, hopefully it doesn't get much worse for him.