Do not continue reading if you have qualms about spoilers on a 23 year old book (that wants you to please stop asking it to hold babies at church; they're children, not an infectious disease).
Chapter 8 begins with what should be a pleasant scene: in a nice soft bed with a fluffy white cat sitting at the foot. The first discomfiting fact is that Sabriel is naked (violation/vulnerability) and that the cat is really an imprisoned being of unimaginable power and malignancy. Things get creepier when the cat speaks and asks Sabriel to remove its collar. Mogget, for that is who the cat is, is unscrupulous as well as clever. In a larger sense, Mogget highlights the moral ambiguity of the Abhorsen: why would the good guys keep an evil spirit as a servant? That sounds more like Dr. Faustus than Gandalf the Grey. In fact, Nix uses the moral ambiguity of the Abhorsens to keep up the pervading sense of uneasiness that keeps us flipping pages. It also plays into his sense of Realism. Nix's protagonists get shaky nerves, bloody noses, and have to change and poop. They have qualms and scruples. Case in point, Sabriel has the same aversion most of us do about being stripped, scrubbed, and dressed by servants -even magical servants. Add to that, however, that the incident highlights Sabriel's status as a loner. Have you noticed that yet? Sabriel will spend a good portion of this book alone, or alone in a small group. As a liminal character, she doesn't belong anywhere. The climax of the chapter highlights this as Mogger affirms that Abhorsen is as good as dead. Sabriel no longer has a family.
Chapter 9 highlights that Sabriel's problems will be bigger than finding her father. Hitherto, her resources have been up to her tasks -even if just barely. Having arrived at Abhorsen's house, Sabriel has a host of magical resources at her command to meet new challenges -if she can figure out how to use them. In order to keep up the pressure, we find that the Dead have discovered a means of bridging the gap between the river bank and Abhorsen's house. Sabriel has a day or so to figure out a plan before they burst into her new refuge.
Chapter 10 is a nice borrowing from Tolkien as the river rises to defend Abhorsen's house. Unlike The Fellowship of the Ring, though much like its sequels, there is considerable collateral damage. This is Nix's way of showing us that he intends to play far. Not everyone can be saved in the Old Kingdom and innocent people can die as a the result of an 18 year old girl's decision (think of Pipin looking into the Palantir and triggering Sauron's all-out attack on Minas Tirith). The flood also serves on the metaphorical level as Sabriel's Baptism. She will arise from the waters, no longer the school girl, but the new minted Abhorsen. As a final note, it should bother us how much Sabriel has to rely on Mogget. It's easy to be charmed by his feline qualities and to forget that he is not what he seems. That will become important as we pass on to chapters 11 and 12. ...which will have to wait until our next installment.
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