Chapter 22: History, Tulpas, and the Disappearance of Luna
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Hannah jolts awake in her yurt, the cold of her dream about Ben still clinging to her skin. She concludes her desert hallucination of Waylon Barlow was drug‑induced and insists it was her mind processing Ben’s death. After apologising to Pax for her earlier accusation about Luna, she shares a tense conversation over mint tea. Pax mentions the Tibetan Buddhist concept of a tulpa—a manifested thought‑form—though he quickly deflects back to tea. Tess arrives with a note from Luna claiming she has left with Jared to an Airbnb. Hannah is immediately suspicious, but Tess and Miles dismiss her doubts. Pax reacts with visible tension, excusing himself. Kimi jokingly suggests Waylon Barlow scared them off. Hannah retreats to the small library, where she finds The Joshua Tree Gold Rush. She reads about Dead Man's Due Mine and learns that white colonisers enslaved the Chemehuevi people to dig for gold, and that many Indigenous workers died in the mines. A second book, Indigenous Life at the Oasis of Mara, describes sacred caves used for healing that were invaded by settlers. The entire valley, she realises, is effectively a graveyard. Overwhelmed by the weight of historical trauma, Hannah concludes that the only person who can help her understand what is really happening at Avidya is someone with deeper insight.
Key Events
- Hannah wakes from a vivid dream about Ben and reinterprets her desert vision as a drug‑induced hallucination.
- She awkwardly apologises to Pax, who introduces the idea of a tulpa but then redirects to a metaphor about tea and harmony.
- Tess brings a note saying Luna left with Jared to a nearby Airbnb; Hannah questions its authenticity.
- Pax reacts stiffly to the news and leaves the table; Kimi hints that Waylon Barlow might be responsible.
- Hannah searches the retreat’s library and reads historical accounts of Dead Man's Due Mine.
- She discovers that white colonisers enslaved the Chemehuevi, that many died in the mines, and that the valley is a burial ground.
- Feeling the presence of death and restless spirits, Hannah decides she needs to find someone with greater insight.
Character Development
Hannah shifts from dismissing her spiritual experience as a hallucination toward actively researching the land’s history. Her suspicion of the note shows a growing paranoia, while her library visit demonstrates her methodical, medical‑school approach to understanding the mystery. She begins to entertain the possibility that traumatic history can manifest as real, dangerous spirits.
Pax appears momentarily unsettled by Luna’s departure, but he quickly regains composure. His mention of the tulpa—and his swift deflection—hints that he may know more than he reveals. His behaviour teases a hidden agenda.
Tess and Miles remain skeptical of Hannah’s unease. Tess’s casual blame of Hannah for Luna’s departure deepens the interpersonal tension in the group.
Kimi adds a darkly comic note, but her mention of Waylon Barlow underscores that the legend remains a live presence in the narrative.
Themes, Symbols, and Motifs
Historical trauma and land as graveyard. The chapter explicitly links the violence of colonisation—enslavement of the Chemehuevi, destruction of sacred caves, mass death—to a lingering spiritual pall. The valley is described as one enormous burial ground, implying that the atrocities of the past are not truly dead.
The tulpa (thought‑form). Pax’s brief explanation introduces the idea that intense mental focus can make a thought materialise. This parallels Hannah’s earlier vision of Waylon Barlow and raises the question of whether her own fear or the collective belief of the group is conjuring these entities.
Tea as a symbol of resistance vs. harmony. Pax’s metaphor—that the body stops fighting heat when it accepts harmony—echoes Hannah’s internal struggle. She resists the spiritual reality of the retreat, but the chapter pushes her toward surrender and inquiry.
Written evidence and its reliability. Luna’s note is presented as ambiguous: the handwriting is real, but the motivation is suspect. The library books, by contrast, offer objective historical documentation, yet they feed Hannah’s subjective dread.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 22 deepens the novel’s central mystery by layering historical truth over the supernatural events. It moves Hannah from passive confusion to active investigation. The revelation that Dead Man's Due Mine was built on enslaved labour and mass death recasts Waylon Barlow as a symbol of colonial violence rather than just a local ghost story. This chapter also isolates Hannah further from the group, as her suspicions about Luna’s note are dismissed. Finally, it sets up the climax: Hannah’s determination to find the one person who can explain what is really happening at Avidya.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Hannah doubt the authenticity of Luna’s note?
Hannah points out that Jared had left the retreat earlier and that Luna wrote with a distinctive handwriting—the same handwriting Pax had commented on. She finds it implausible that Luna would leave without saying a word to anyone, especially given the tension she had created between them. The note’s convenience and the lack of direct contact raise her suspicion that something else may have happened.
2. How does the history of the Chemehuevi people change Hannah’s understanding of the retreat?
Learning that white colonisers enslaved the Chemehuevi to dig for gold, that sacred caves were desecrated, and that the entire valley is a graveyard of colonised people transforms Avidya from a wellness retreat into a site of profound historical trauma. Hannah begins to see the spirits she encountered not as random hallucinations but as manifestations of collective pain.
3. What is a tulpa, and why does Pax mention it here?
A tulpa is a being created through intense mental concentration, believed in Tibetan Buddhism to become a materialized thought‑form. Pax brings it up immediately after Hannah’s vision of Waylon Barlow, suggesting—without directly stating—that such a being could have been generated by focused fear or belief. The concept gives Hannah a framework to explain her encounter that does not rely on either pure hallucination or conventional ghost lore.