Connor has turned into a Horror, and the rest of the cast have to keep him away from them.
Tropes:
- Failure Is the Only Option: If Rowan gets busted for cheating, they can try to steal Jocelyn's phone before she can play the recording to the others, but ends up hitting the play button when attempting to do so, and they hear it anyway.
- Foreshadowing: A couple of cases of this pop up at the beginning of the chapter while dealing with Horror Connor.
- If Rowan pursued multiple love interests enough, Connor will call them a slut, saying that screwing with the people they're supposed to be caring about will end with them being all alone, and it will be all their fault. As horrible as this is, he's right; if Rowan does not heed this warning and refuses to choose a love interest at the tail end of the chapter, they will get busted for cheating, their friends will walk out on them, and they really will be all alone (that scene will replace the one where Rowan optionally becomes official with a love interest, locking Rowan out of all their routes for the rest of the book).
- One dialogue option has Rowan declare Connor Beyond Redemption, saying that nobody is going to believe his Nice Guy act anymore after what he said, and that once he's cured, Rowan is officially done with him. This also comes to fruition; even if Connor is cured in Chapter 21, and Rowan survives the events of the story and stays in Westchester to protect the Power (that is, they don't merge), the scene with them curing Connor is the last time they interact. Rowan is too busy to make it to the memorial, and Connor doesn't appear in the scene where Rowan meets Devon to discuss the Horror they caught. Even when Devon encourages Rowan to bid goodbye to everyone before they leave, Connor is not one of the people Rowan visits, with the last scene featuring Rowan meeting up with Luis and Sunny instead (if they're single).
- I Can Explain: One of Rowan's responses (the sarcastic one) to being found out cheating is this trope, trying to play it off as them and Luis discussing hypotheticals. It doesn't work, thanks to Jocelyn having heard and recorded the whole conversation they'd had and played it to all the others.
- Ironic Episode Title: The chapter, called "Three, Two, One, Fun", starts with a corrupted Connor effing and blinding at everyone, and ends with everyone at the carnival turning into Horrors.
- Jerkass: Horror Connor takes this trope and runs with it into a different timezone. He screams at everyone, mocks them for their problems, goes out of his way to try and hurt them (even Devon if he's in a relationship with them), and goes as far as to rub Jessica's death in Rowan's face (and this is with Rowan being a fully fledged Nice Guy who has been nothing but sweet and genuine the entire book).
- Never My Fault: If Rowan's personality is aggressive and they get busted for cheating, they will refuse to admit fault in playing with their love interests' feelings, on two occasions, saying that it's not their fault everyone wants to "jump [their] bones" and calling it "bullshit drama". Jocelyn and Amalia (respectively) quickly call Rowan out on this.Jocelyn: Wow, way to shift the blame, asshole!Amalia: Seriously, Rowan? You've hurt people who really care about you, and all you can do is call it "bullshit drama"?!
- No Indoor Voice: Once he became a Horror, Connor's indoor voice effectively took a one-way trip far, far away from Westchester.Horror Connor: YOU'RE ALL FUCKING TRAITORS! AFTER EVERYTHING I SACRIFICED TO KEEP US SAFE—Lincoln: Would you shut the hell up?! Christ!
- Oh, Crap!: Rowan has this reaction after admitting to Luis that they don't care about playing with their love interests' feelings, only for Jocelyn to group text everyone saying that they need to talk about Rowan (including Rowan themselves), and they realize too late that they're about to be found out, and since Jocelyn texted them to come to the ticket booth (which is where Rowan and Jocelyn are at the time), there's nothing they can do about it.
- Wham Episode: Rowan either becomes official with their love interest of choice (if they're romancing anyone) or gets busted for cheating (if they romanced multiple love interests and refused to choose one of them), resulting in all the love interests abandoning Rowan, preventing them from becoming official with any of them, and the carnivalgoers begin turning into Horrors, meaning that Rowan's plan to purify the Power failed.
- What the Hell, Hero?: If Rowan has been actively romancing multiple love interests (not counting Matthias) and refuses to admit fault in this, Jocelyn will record their confession and play it in front of everyone. They are not happy with Rowan at all.
