I didn’t close my eyes. Warden had vanished into the darkness, like a candle blown out by the wind.

I would never see him again.

But as I watched the tunnel race before my eyes, I was certain of one thing: I did trust him.

Now I had only to trust in myself.

Glossary

Glossary

The slang used by clairvoyants in The Bone Season is loosely based on words used in the criminal underworld of London in the nineteenth century, with some amendments to meaning or usage. Other words have been taken from modern colloquial English or reinterpreted. Terms specific to the Family—those humans who reside in Sheol I—are indicated with an asterisk*.

Æther: [noun] The spirit realm, accessible by clairvoyants. Also called the Source.

Amaurosis: [noun] The state of non-clairvoyance.

Amaurotic: [noun or adjective] Non-clairvoyant.

Barking irons: [noun] Guns. “To raise one’s barking irons” = to prepare for a struggle.

Bleached mort: [noun] A fair-haired woman. Mildly offensive.

Blow: [verb] Tattle; whistle-blow.

Bob: [noun] Slang term for a gold coin; one British pound.

Bone: [adjective] Good or prosperous.

Bone-grubber*: [noun] A derogatory term for a red-jacket.

Bones*: [adjective] Dead.

Brain plague: [noun] A slang term for phantasmagoria, a debilitating fever caused by Fluxion 14.

Breacher: [noun] A spirit that can cause an impact on the corporeal world due to its age or type. Includes poltergeists and archangels.

Broads: [noun] Cards used for clairvoyance, usually Tarot cards.

Broadsider: [noun] An outdated term for a cartomancer. Still recognized in conversation but rarely used in the citadel.

Buck cab: [noun] A rogue, unlicensed cab, generally frequented by clairvoyants.

Busking: [verb] Cash-in-hand clairvoyance. Most buskers offer to read fortunes for money. Not permitted within the clairvoyant crime syndicate.

Buzzers*: [noun] Emim.

Cokum: [adjective] Shrewd; cunning.

Cold spot: [noun] A small tear between the æther and the corporeal world. Manifests as a permanent patch of ice. Can be used, with ectoplasm, to open a conduit to the Netherworld. Corporeal matter (e.g., blood and flesh) cannot pass through a cold spot.

Courtier: [noun] Purple aster addict. The name comes from St. Anne’s Court, Soho, where the purple aster trade began in the early twenty-first century.

Crib: [noun] Place of residence.

Dethroned: [adjective] Being fully recovered from the influence of purple aster.

Dollymop: [noun] An affectionate, if condescending term for a young woman or girl (often shortened to dolly).

Donop: [noun] A pound; weight measurement. Used primarily within the ethereal drug community.

Dreamer: [noun] Shorthand for dreamwalker, typically used by Rephaim.

Dreamscape: [noun] The interior of the mind, where memories are stored. Split into five zones or “rings” of sanity: sunlight, twilight, midnight, lower midnight, and hadal. Clairvoyants can consciously access their own dreamscapes, while amaurotics may catch glimpses when they sleep.

Drifters: [noun] Spirits in the æther that have not been banished to the outer darkness or last light. They can still be controlled by clairvoyants.

Duckett: [noun] A vendor. Also the alias of Sheol I’s pawnbroker.