Chapter summaries Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil V. E. Schwab

Chapter 37 Summary & Analysis: Chapter II

⚠️ Spoiler Notice

This page contains detailed plot spoilers for Chapter II of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. For a spoiler-free reading experience, return to the book hub.

Summary

Alone in her room after dark, Alice ignores a group invitation to Colin’s vigil and instead uses her laptop to hunt for answers about what she’s becoming. An internet search for “vampire” first yields costume results, but adding “real” leads her to a network of forums and a crude Yelp-style list of underground clubs. She picks two Boston locations. The first, The Dark Side, is closed on Mondays; frustrated, she accidentally bends the steel door with a kick. Walking to the second club, she recalls the day her stepmother Eloise married her father—a memory centered on El giving Alice and her sister Catty gold pendants filled with their late mother’s grave dirt. Catty rages, throws the vial, and storms out, while Alice stays to comfort El and wears the pendant ever since. Arriving at the club, Alice attempts to compel the bouncer with her voice, saying “I’m old enough.” It works. He slaps a white “prey” wristband on her, and she enters.

Key Events

  • Alice ignores her friends’ texts and begins an online search for real vampires, uncovering a hidden network of Boston clubs.
  • She dresses in dark-wash jeans and a borrowed hoodie, takes a car ride with an overpowering driver, and reaches The Dark Side—only to find it locked.
  • In frustration, Alice kicks the door hard enough to leave a visible dent, then flees, aware of possible security cameras.
  • While walking to the second club, a memory surfaces of her stepmother El’s wedding: El presents Alice and Catty with pendants containing their mother’s grave dirt; Catty explodes in anger and tosses the vial, while Alice comforts El and chooses to wear her pendant.
  • At the second club, Alice attempts to assert mental compulsion on the bouncer to bypass the ID check.
  • The bouncer hesitates but ultimately lets her in, securing a white “prey” wristband on her wrist.

Character Development

Alice: This chapter solidifies her shift from passive to active. She no longer waits for answers but hunts for them, even if it means searching for monsters in the dark. Her physical strength manifests destructively, and she experiments with a new ability—something akin to mesmerism or persuasion—suggesting her powers are growing. The wedding flashback reveals her core trait of mediating family pain: she stays with El, accepts the gift, and hides the pendant from Catty’s rage, showing her deep desire to soothe grief and avoid conflict even at personal cost.

Catty (via memory): Shown as someone who “could never take anything without bending it”; her explosive rejection of the grave-dirt pendant underscores her unresolved grief and contempt for any attempt to replace her mother.

Eloise (via memory): Portrayed as a stepmother trying to create a bridge with a deeply meaningful gift, only to be hurt by Catty’s cruelty. Alice’s quiet acceptance highlights El’s vulnerability.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • The dual nature of night: Alice describes the night as “wild and welcoming,” a counterpoint to the daytime weakness she now feels. The setting reflects her own transformation into a creature of darkness.
  • The predator/prey dynamic: The bouncer’s wristbands—red for predator, white for prey—force a binary that Alice hasn’t yet chosen. Being tagged as prey without input mirrors her uncertain place in this hidden world.
  • Grave dirt and the pendant: The vial of earth from her mother’s grave becomes a physical anchor to the past. Alice brings it to her lips when homesick, suggesting it’s a talisman of memory and grief that she carries secretly, much like her new undead nature.
  • The search for information as a monster narrative: Alice sits in the dark, searching for clubs as if researching her own species. The language of “hiding in plain sight” and roleplay echoes the novel’s larger theme of monstrous identity concealed within the mundane.
  • Blue motif: The wedding flashback is saturated in blue—from dresses to the coin-like velvet boxes—tying the color to memory, familial love, and the day Alice chose to comfort El. It also echoes her earlier association of blue with summer days and wedding bells.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter II advances the plot from passive dread to active investigation. Alice moves from being a victim of her condition to a seeker of answers, using her emerging powers—both physical and mental—to navigate the human world. The chapter also plants key imagery (the dented door, the wristband) that suggests she’s leaving an increasingly visible trail. The wedding flashback enriches her motivation: the pendant she still wears reminds her of the family she’s now separated from and the grief she’s always tried to hold together. Allegiance and empathy, not just hunger, drive her forward. Additionally, by introducing a vampire subculture accessed through coded online spaces, the chapter hints that Alice is not alone—and that others may know what happened to Lottie.

Study Questions & Answers

1. What does Alice’s ability to dent the door and compel the bouncer reveal about her transformation, and how does it affect her sense of identity?

Answer: It shows her physical strength has crossed into the inhuman and that she may possess some form of vocal mesmerism. Alice internalizes this as a split between “Old Alice” (who would apologize and walk away) and “New Alice” (who takes initiative). The ease with which she uses these abilities unsettles her, but she also feels a thrill—marking a shift in self-perception from prey to something with agency.

2. Why does the wedding memory surface at this moment, and how does it connect to Alice’s current quest?

Answer: The memory is triggered by the color of the night sky, which reminds her of the blue of El’s wedding day. It surfaces while she walks alone, reaching for the pendant she still wears. The memory encapsulates her lifelong role as peacemaker and her willingness to accept comfort even when it’s messy. This parallels her current search: just as she accepted the grave-dirt pendant in secret to hold her family together, she now hunts for Lottie and answers covertly, still carrying the weight of love and loss.

3. What significance do the red and white wristbands have in this chapter, especially given the bouncer’s choice?

Answer: The bouncer assigns Alice a white “prey” band without asking her preference. In the club, the bands signify roleplay, but within the novel’s supernatural ecosystem, they may point to a literal predator/prey hierarchy. Alice is outwardly marked as prey just as she is beginning to explore her predatory side. The moment underscores her ambiguous status—she is a monster in a world that still sees her as a potential victim.

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