Chapter 25 Summary and Analysis

⚠️ 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

In 2005, three days after burying his wife Leota, Vincent packs a gym bag in the dark, determined to flee Clifford Island with his toddler daughter Lily before dawn. He moves quickly, grabbing socks and clothes, and pauses only when he hears a cry from Lily’s room. He checks on her; she stirs but settles back to sleep, and Vincent exhales in relief.

Back in the bedroom, he opens a suitcase and tosses in shirts, pants, and belts. He hesitates at his wife’s side of the closet, realizing he has never thought about which of her belongings he would take. The untouched clothes remind him of Rita and her vision for the island—God’s plan, as the pastor would say. Vincent grimaces at the irony: Rita likely hoped Leota’s death would bind him to Clifford forever, and here he is sneaking away in the night.

Then a voice calls his name. Vincent turns and sees Leota standing in the bedroom, wearing the same navy sweatpants and fleece pullover she wore when her car went off the cliff a week earlier. He stammers her name, reaches out to touch her, but she steps back gracefully, almost floating. She smiles and asks him to come with her, then walks into the hallway.

Vincent follows, his mind racing. He has heard the stories of dead things roaming the island—he is one of the believers, a keeper of the faith—but he has never seen one himself. Now his own wife is one of them. He curses himself for not packing earlier; if he had left thirty minutes sooner, he and Lily would already be on a boat.

Leota leads him to Lily’s room and stands over the crib, whispering that Lily is peaceful. Vincent freezes, knowing the dead things are unpredictable. He recalls parishioners’ accounts: a woman whose dead husband threatened her with a shovel, another whose dead son screamed all night until she tried to kill herself. Leota is calm now, but Vincent knows she could turn.

She begins humming a lullaby, and Vincent’s heart breaks. He never expected to hear his wife sing to their daughter again. He wants to embrace her, scoop up Lily, and stay like that forever. The lullaby stops, and Leota stares at him blankly. Vincent blurts out that they should have left long ago. She doesn’t respond.

Vincent reflects on their history. They met in college during his “Island Rumspringa,” the first time he had been off the island for more than a day. Leota, an army brat who had never had a real home, craved roots and belonging. She loved Vincent, so she agreed to settle on Clifford Island with him. She played the role of dutiful wife and mother well, but there was always a gap between them. She dismissed the island’s superstitions as silly, while Vincent grew up knowing evil skulked about the place.

Now, locking eyes with his dead wife, Vincent feels his worst fears realized. He tells her they are leaving, that Lily can’t stay here. Leota looks down at the crib and reaches in—Vincent can’t tell if she actually touches their daughter. Then she speaks softly: “Do you know how I wound up at the bottom of that cliff, Vinnie?”

Vincent has theories. Maybe Leota saw a dead thing on the road and swerved. That would be ironic—a nonbeliever seeing one of those things. But he has another theory he can’t think about for long. The islanders are his friends, his brothers and sisters. They look out for each other. There’s no way they would…

“They killed me,” Leota says.

Vincent insists it must be a lie. The dead things have a reputation for tormenting, for going for the jugular. But then he thinks: Leota was a threat to the islanders’ way of life. She traveled to the mainland frequently, felt like a caged bird, and everyone knew of her skepticism. She didn’t believe in dead things, didn’t believe in Clifford’s mission, thought her fellow islanders were crazy. She was, and always would be, an outsider.

Vincent knows this never sat well with some islanders. But murder? He tries to convince himself it was negligent driving, a simple accident. Or that Leota saw something in the road and swerved. She would have kept the secret, he thinks. All they had to do was ask. Why didn’t anyone just ask her?

He is starting to believe it. Murder.

The dead thing moves closer, and Vincent backs away. Her posture changes—she moves with purpose, with aggression. It’s just like the stories: the dead things start out peaceful, then they turn. Vincent finds himself against the wall in the hallway, eyes squeezed shut. “Go away, Lee,” he growls.

Leota’s voice turns sultry. She says she is staying right here, and so will he. “You will never, ever take my daughter away from me.” Then she whispers in his ear, “I’ll see you soon.” Vincent feels a compelling surge run through his body and fights the temptation to wrap his arms around her. The surge fades, and he knows she is gone.

He rushes into Lily’s room and puts his hand on her chest. She is still asleep, breathing gently. Vincent slumps with relief. Now he knows the stories are real—everything the islanders said is real. There is vindication here. For a moment, he thinks they must stay and fight. It’s the noble thing to do.

But then he stops himself. These people murdered his wife. He is supposed to take that on the chin and thank them? Stick around and fight alongside murderers? He looks around Lily’s room—the unicorn pictures, the nightlight from his own childhood, the stitched baptism sign from the church. Maybe stitched by the same person who ran Leota off the road.

He silently leaves Lily’s room and pulls the door closed, shuddering. He isn’t thinking of revenge, or of throwing Rita against a wall, or of when Leota might come back. No, it’s something else. Vincent is still too terrified to admit it, but he wants his wife to come back again. He remembers her dimples, the bridge of her nose, the freckles on her neck, the way she walked, her breathy voice.

I’ll see you soon.

He liked it.

Key Events

Vincent attempts to flee Clifford Island with Lily in the middle of the night, three days after Leota’s funeral.
Leota’s dead body appears in their bedroom, wearing the clothes from her fatal crash.
She leads Vincent to Lily’s crib, hums a lullaby, and then turns aggressive.
Leota claims the islanders murdered her; Vincent resists, then begins to believe it.
She threatens that Vincent will never take Lily away and whispers “I’ll see you soon” before vanishing.
Vincent confirms Lily is safe, briefly considers staying to fight, then rejects the idea of siding with murderers.
He privately admits he wants his wife to return.

Character Development

Vincent is torn between two identities in this chapter. He is a lifelong believer in the island’s dead things, yet he has never seen one until now. His grief over Leota is complicated by guilt—he feels responsible for bringing her to Clifford, where she never belonged. His decision to flee is driven by love for Lily, but Leota’s accusation of murder forces him to confront the community he has called his own. By the end, he rejects the islanders as murderers, yet his longing for Leota’s return reveals that grief can override even the most rational judgment.

Leota appears only as a dead thing, but her characterization is built through Vincent’s memories. She was an outsider, a skeptic, a woman who craved belonging but never found it on Clifford. Her transformation from gentle lullaby-singing mother to aggressive, threatening presence mirrors the pattern Vincent knows from the stories—the dead things start peaceful, then turn.

Lily remains asleep throughout, a silent symbol of what Vincent is fighting to protect.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Dead things returning: Leota’s appearance is the first time Vincent has witnessed the island’s supernatural reality firsthand, confirming the stories he has only heard.
Murder cover-up: Leota’s accusation reframes her death as a deliberate act by the islanders to protect their secret mission, not an accident.
Faith vs. skepticism: Vincent’s belief is vindicated, but the vindication comes at the cost of learning his community may have killed his wife.
Grief and longing: Vincent’s final admission—that he wants his wife to return—shows that even fear of the dead cannot overcome his desire to see her again.
Escape vs. entrapment: Vincent’s attempt to flee is interrupted by Leota’s appearance, trapping him on the island both physically and emotionally.
Outsider vs. insider: Leota’s status as an outsider is central to her murder; Vincent, an insider, must reckon with what his community has done.
Guilt and responsibility: Vincent blames himself for bringing Leota to Clifford, and his guilt fuels his conflicted response to her accusation.
Supernatural unpredictability: The chapter emphasizes that the dead things are unstable and can turn violent at any moment, creating constant tension.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a turning point in the novel. It confirms the supernatural premise—Vincent sees a dead thing with his own eyes—while simultaneously introducing the possibility that the islanders murdered Leota to protect their secret. Vincent’s decision to reject the community as murderers, despite his belief in their mission, sets up the central conflict of his arc. The chapter also deepens the emotional stakes: Vincent’s grief and longing for Leota complicate his desire to escape, suggesting that even if he leaves the island, he may not be able to leave her behind.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Vincent initially resist Leota’s claim that the islanders killed her?

Vincent resists because the islanders are his friends and community—he grew up among them and considers them his brothers and sisters. He tries to explain Leota’s death as an accident or as a swerve to avoid a dead thing on the road. He also believes Leota would have kept the island’s secret if asked, so murder would have been unnecessary.

2. How does Leota’s status as an outsider contribute to her fate?

Leota never believed in the island’s dead things or its mission, and she traveled to the mainland frequently, making her a potential threat to the islanders’ way of life. Her skepticism was well known, and Vincent acknowledges that this never sat well with some islanders. Her outsider status made her a liability the community may have decided to eliminate.

3. What does Vincent’s final admission—that he wants his wife to return—reveal about his state of mind?

It reveals that his grief overrides his fear and his moral judgment. Even though he now believes the islanders murdered Leota, and even though he knows the dead things are dangerous and unpredictable, he still longs to see her again. This admission shows that Vincent is not purely rational; his emotional attachment to Leota may ultimately trap him on the island.