Witch and Wizard Fear
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Fear
One of the most terrifying things in the world you can never hope to see is your parents, wide-eyed, helpless, and truly scared out of their wits. (5.1)
At this point, Wisty seems more confused than afraid. But seeing how upset her parents are helps her understand the gravity of her situation.
"Sometimes people are afraid of those who are different. Being afraid makes them angry and unreasonable." (5.5)
This is important: The New Order makes people live in fear. But the reason it does so is because the N.O. itself is afraid of difference.
After a not-so-tender good-bye from the Matron came a fast ride in a grungy van that had the coppery smell of blood, and maybe the scent of something that very scared animals do. (39.2)
The New Order functions by keeping people in a constant state of fear. After all, if they're afraid, they can't rebel.
I wiped my damp palms on my jumpsuit. We were going to, like, "cross over" to the other side now, right? Wasn't that sort of like dying? (51.13)
While Whit's dead girlfriend, Celia, doesn't seem to freak him out, he's a wee bit nervous about going into the Underworld. Seems reasonable.
One of them loomed up and, with the most horrible, ravenous, yellow eyes, seemed to see me. And then I did something even more stupid: I stopped and screamed. (56.16-56.17)
Even after everything she's been through, Wisty is totally incapacitated by her fear of the Lost Ones. To be fair, they do eat human flesh. Gulp.
The deer-in-the-headlights awareness that something really, really bad's coming, but not being able to do anything about it, is probably the world's best (or should I say worst?) recipe for ultimate, deluxe, supersize terror. (83.1)
You know what also wants to eat Wisty's flesh? This huge pile of rats she's about to fall into. No wonder she's freaking out.
I choked back my vertigo—I'm so bad about heights I usually turn around and face upward on down escalators. (83.17)
Wisty is a powerful witch who's afraid of almost nothing. Well, except flesh-eating creatures and escalators. But hey, we all have our weak spots.
"Don't cry. Remember, they're doing all this because they're scared. They're afraid of you. They're afraid of all of us." (91.4)
These words are spoken by a young girl who's a prisoner at the Hospital. She understands an important power dynamic: The guards are afraid of their prisoners.
"The guards are afraid of you. They're afraid of me. They're afraid of everything!" (94.3)
Whit has the same realization—the guards are afraid. Once he's tuned into their fear, the guards don't seem nearly as scary.
Then he saw me, and alarm flashed in his eyes. Fear—like I'd never seen on his face before, not even the time he fell out of our tree and broke his leg in two places. (94.18)
At this point, Wisty's been on fire for about, oh, the entire prison escape. Whit doesn't feel any fear for himself, but he's afraid for his sister.
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