Jessi: Part I is the first issue of the fourth serial of Nathaniel J. Nelson's Seventh Circle, as well as the fourteenth issue of season one and the fourteenth issue overall. It was released to Patreon subscribers on September 6, 2024.[1]Jessi: Part I was followed by Jessi: Part II on September 13, 2024.
Intro[]
The sunny shores of Los Angeles beckon! Heeding the call of paraGhost, Vinny Howell travels across the country to track down the elusive Jessi Gibson, a survivor of the now-legendary Flight 888 disaster. But an experience such as that is bound to leave anyone on edge, and Vinny isn’t sure what to expect as he prepares to make contact with Jessi as the face of SEVENTH CIRCLE...
Plot[]
Vinny Howell wakes up early in Los Angeles and locates the church where Flight 888 survivor Jessi Gibson was spotted by the unnamed paraGhost user. After clocking Jessi entering the church, he calls Sasha, who is at work. Vinny then receives a call from Earl_Greene, manager of The Inferno Club, asking him to cover Ceceile's sick day. Vinny reluctantly tells Earl he's in California, and Earl rebukes him for not being available to cover, despite requesting the day off. Vinny bums a cigarette off Jessi and introduces himself as Jason, though Jessi is completely uninterested.
Earlier that morning, Sasha discovers that the hot water is broken in her apartment. She finds Greg researching paranormal cases, specifically the history of Friday the 13th. Greg attempts to have sex with Sasha, but she refuses, as she will be late for work. Unbeknownst to Greg, Sasha goes to buy cigarettes (a habit she picked up in Burlington), but she is carded and denied.
Vinny attends the paranormal survivor support group and listens as Jessi briefly describes her experience aboard Flight 888, appearing disinterested, but at the same time apparently desperate for someone to acknowledge how important the event was.
In Ticonderoga, Taul adds to a folder within his notes titled ParRes 2.3.7: research on his associates, including his father and the original Seventh Circle. He considers the theory of "paranormal residue", which holds that the paranormal attracts to itself, and those who are involved in the paranormal will be more likely to witness more paranormal activity, possibly explaining why Flight 888 originated from the same city as both incarnations of Seventh Circle. Taul files a packet on Greg, thinking that his only connection to the paranormal came through Sasha and/or Vinny; he files a packet on Sasha, wondering if she was driven to paranormal investigation out of a subconscious reaction against never knowing her true origins, or whether she had repressed a traumatic memory that her parents wanted to avoid revealing by messaging Vinny's and Greg's mothers; he files a packet on Vinny, noting that he had coincidentally moved from a different state to the same neighborhood as Seventh Circle: Taul believes that Vinny absolutely bears traces of paranormal residue, probably from a supernatural event in his childhood that he no longer remembers. Considering the legacy of Kurt Bachman and Mark Tenant, Taul wonders if Seventh Circle has been cursed since its beginnings.
Characters[]
- After being hinted at in Possession, Jessi Gibson makes her first appearance.
- Abraham Bennett, first mentioned in Possession: Part IV, is confirmed to be Taul's deceased father.
- Greg's mother is revealed to be named Maria Lopez.
- It is confirmed that the Dia de los Muertos mask noticed by Sasha's parents is the one Greg wore while posing as El Fantasma, and that Sasha discreetly asked Taul if she could keep it. It is suggested that Sasha continually makes Greg wear the mask when they have sex.
Continuity[]
- "Boston GP Robert Noran" and "YouTuber Delilah Arain" are mentioned as survivors of Flight 888. Delilah Arain was a major point of view character in Quantum Flight 888, while Robert Noran was a secondary character, and a minor character in Erogrendel. Like Mike McMann of The Yellow Door: Part II, Noran is tangentially related to the original Seventh Circle through Olivia Cambridge and Isaac Parry, a fact that is never discovered by the protagonists
- Greg mentions Martha Robbins and Erdos to Sasha.
- The scene of Jessi's paranormal support group is an identical, yet expanded, recreation of a late chapter in Quantum Flight 888, a flashforward depicting Jessi ten months after the events of the novel. In said scene, Jessi notes a "John-Constantine-looking guy who had introduced himself as Jason"; this individual was implied to be Jason Dufresne, an agent of the shadow government briefly appearing in Quantum Flight 888, but Jessi: Part I reveals that it is in fact Vinny Howell.
- Taul considers the concept of paranormal residue, first brought up in Erogrendel. Vinny imagines he can feel the paranormal residue radiating off Jessi.
Pop culture references[]
- Vinny chooses the pseudonym "Jason" when the image of Jason Voorhees is the first thing that pops into his mind. Coincidentally, Greg is learning about the real-life history of Friday the 13th that same day.
- Mentioned