Chapter 16 Summary, Analysis, and Study Notes

⚠️ 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

Chapter 16 opens in the aftermath of the pool party. Teddy goes upstairs for his Quiet Time, and Mallory stays in the den, deliberately avoiding him. She admits to herself that she may not want to know what he is doing up there, and that perhaps things would be easier if she stopped asking questions.

That afternoon, Mallory and Teddy take a long walk through the Enchanted Forest, following the Yellow Brick Road to Dragon Pass and down to Royal River. Mallory tries to spin a new story about Princess Mallory and Prince Teddy, but Teddy is fixated on spirit boards. He asks whether they need batteries, how they find dead people, whether they can find any dead person, and even whether they could find Abraham Lincoln. Mallory keeps answering that she does not know, hoping he will lose interest, but Teddy presses on, asking how much a spirit board costs and whether it is possible to make one.

When Caroline returns from work at her usual time, Mallory hurries out for a long run, eager to burn off stress. She runs nearly nine miles and returns around seven o'clock to find Ted and Caroline waiting on her front porch. She immediately knows that they know something. Ted tries to keep things light, complimenting her run, but Caroline cuts to the chase, asking if Mallory has anything to tell them. Caroline pushes a sheet of paper into Mallory's hands—a drawing Teddy tried to hide. It shows Mallory and an angry woman (clearly Mitzi) gathered around a rectangle covered in letters and numbers, a spirit board.

Mallory reacts with excitement, insisting the drawing proves Anya was at the séance and that Anya, not Mallory, was moving the planchette. Caroline is bewildered, and Ted tries to calm everyone down. Mallory invites them into her cottage and lays out the stack of drawings on her bed in a grid. She explains that she found the first three drawings on her porch, that more appeared on her refrigerator while her door was locked, and that she hid a baby monitor camera in Teddy's bedroom to watch him draw. She claims she watched him draw with his right hand, but insists that Teddy did not draw the pictures—Anya, the spirit of Annie Barrett, did, using Teddy like a puppet.

Caroline is skeptical, pointing out that Teddy is only five years old and that Mallory has a history of memory lapses and that a box of Teddy's pencils went missing. Mallory insists the drawings are proof, but Caroline's attention drifts to the blank sketch pad on Mallory's end table—the one Teddy gave her when she started working for the Maxwells. Caroline does not say it outright, but the implication is clear: she suspects Mallory drew the pictures herself.

Mallory suggests they ask Teddy directly, insisting he will not lie. They cross the yard and go upstairs to Teddy's bedroom, where he is building a Lincoln Log house and filling it with plastic farm animals. He immediately senses something is wrong. Caroline fans the drawings out on the floor and asks if he drew them. Teddy shakes his head and says no. Mallory explains that he does not remember because he goes into a trance, a kind of twilight sleep. Caroline kneels beside him and asks if Anya helped him make the drawings. Teddy looks at his parents and says, "I know Anya isn't real. Anya is just a make-believe friend. Anya could never draw real pictures." Caroline hugs him and agrees.

Mallory feels like she is going crazy, as if everyone is willfully ignoring the obvious. She points out the bad smell in the room—sulphur, ammonia, the smell of rot—and insists it is Anya's scent. But Ted and Caroline both say they smell nothing, and Ted tells Mallory to stop talking. Caroline sends Mallory away, saying Teddy needs to go to bed.

Mallory gathers the pictures and leaves. Ted follows her downstairs and reassures her that they will not fire her, suggesting they all take the night to cool off. Then he puts his arms around her, telling her she is safe and that he will never let anything bad happen to her. The embrace starts as comforting but quickly becomes uncomfortable—Mallory can feel his breath on her neck and his body pressed against hers. Caroline interrupts, and Mallory slips out the back door, unsure of what just happened but agreeing with Ted that someone needs a night to cool off.

Key Events

Teddy repeatedly asks Mallory about spirit boards during their walk in the Enchanted Forest.
Caroline confronts Mallory with a drawing Teddy tried to hide, showing Mallory and Mitzi around a spirit board.
Mallory reveals she hid a camera in Teddy's bedroom and watched him draw with his right hand.
Caroline implies Mallory may have drawn the pictures herself, citing her memory lapses and missing pencils.
Teddy denies drawing the pictures and insists Anya is make-believe, then bursts into tears.
Mallory claims the bedroom smells of sulphur and rot, but Ted and Caroline say they smell nothing.
Caroline sends Mallory away; Ted follows and gives her an uncomfortably intimate hug.
Mallory slips out the back door to avoid Caroline.

Character Development

Mallory becomes increasingly isolated and desperate. She is convinced of her theory about Anya and sees the drawings as irrefutable proof, but every attempt to convince the Maxwells pushes her further to the edge. Her insistence on the smell, which no one else can detect, makes her question her own sanity. The chapter shows her moving from confident investigator to a woman who feels like she is going crazy.

Teddy is caught between his own experience and the pressure from adults. He denies drawing the pictures and insists Anya is make-believe, but his refusal to look at Mallory and his sudden tears suggest he may be saying what his parents want to hear. Mallory reads his behavior as fear of getting into trouble, not genuine denial.

Caroline emerges as the most rational and suspicious figure. She is quick to question Mallory's story, notices the sketch pad on Mallory's end table, and connects Mallory's memory lapses and missing pencils to the possibility that Mallory drew the pictures herself. Her protective instincts toward Teddy override any openness to the supernatural.

Ted tries to play the mediator, urging calm and suggesting they all take a breath. But his physical embrace of Mallory crosses a boundary, turning from paternal comfort to something more unsettling. His behavior complicates the reader's view of him and adds a layer of tension to the chapter.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Gaslighting and the erosion of trust are central. Mallory presents physical evidence—the drawings, the camera footage—but the Maxwells dismiss it, and their refusal to acknowledge the smell makes Mallory doubt her own perceptions. The chapter dramatizes how a person can be made to feel crazy when their reality is denied.

Drawings as evidence take on new weight. Mallory treats the pictures as objective proof of Anya's existence, but Caroline reinterprets them as evidence of Mallory's instability. The same objects support two opposite conclusions, highlighting the theme of unreliable perception.

The imaginary friend versus the ghost is blurred. Teddy insists Anya is make-believe, but Mallory believes she is a real spirit. The chapter leaves the truth ambiguous, forcing the reader to weigh the testimony of a five-year-old against Mallory's increasingly desperate claims.

Boundary crossing appears both literally and figuratively. Ted's hug violates Mallory's personal space, and the confrontation in Teddy's bedroom crosses the line from parental concern into an interrogation. The chapter shows how fear and suspicion can erode the boundaries that normally protect people.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 16 is a turning point in the novel. It brings the conflict between Mallory and the Maxwells into the open, forcing Mallory to present her evidence and face direct skepticism. The chapter also deepens the mystery by leaving the truth about the drawings unresolved—Mallory's explanation is plausible, but so is Caroline's suspicion. The uncomfortable hug with Ted adds a new layer of tension, suggesting that Mallory's safety in this household is more precarious than she realizes. The chapter raises the stakes for the rest of the novel, as Mallory is left alone, doubting herself, with no one to turn to.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Mallory feel like she is going crazy in this chapter?

Mallory feels like she is going crazy because everyone around her denies what she perceives. She presents the drawings as proof of Anya's existence, but Caroline suggests Mallory drew them herself. She smells sulphur and rot in Teddy's bedroom, but Ted and Caroline insist the room smells fine. Teddy, whom she believed would confirm her story, instead denies Anya and cries. Every piece of evidence she offers is reinterpreted or dismissed, leaving her isolated and doubting her own sanity.

2. What evidence does Caroline use to suspect Mallory drew the pictures herself?

Caroline notices the blank sketch pad on Mallory's end table—the one Teddy gave her when she started working for the Maxwells. She also recalls Mallory's history of memory lapses and the fact that a box of Teddy's pencils went missing the previous week. These details, combined with the locked door of the cottage, make it plausible to Caroline that Mallory could have drawn the pictures without remembering or acknowledging it.

3. How does Teddy's behavior in the confrontation support both Mallory's and Caroline's interpretations?

Teddy's behavior is ambiguous. He denies drawing the pictures and insists Anya is make-believe, which supports Caroline's view that Mallory is imagining things. But he refuses to look at Mallory, bites his lip, and bursts into tears, which Mallory interprets as fear of getting into trouble—suggesting he is saying what his parents want to hear. The same behavior can be read as genuine denial or as a child trying to avoid punishment, leaving the truth unresolved.

Back to Chapter 15 | Back to Book Hub | Continue to Chapter 17