Chapter 27 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

Mallory wakes up in darkness, bound to a hard-backed chair in her cottage. Her wrists are twisted behind her back and tied fast; a strap around her head holds a gag in her mouth. She can't move, speak, or scream. She uses a breathing exercise from rehab to calm herself and considers her options: her legs are free, and she might be able to stand with the chair on her back like a turtle shell. She also knows Adrian is due back around midnight, but she doubts he'd enter without an answer at the door.

Before she can act, Caroline enters, wearing blue latex gloves and carrying a supermarket tote bag. She empties its contents onto the kitchen counter: a grill lighter, a metal spoon, and a syringe with a needle. Caroline removes Mallory's gag and explains her plan. She intends to stage Mallory's death as a drug overdose, claiming Mallory stole heroin from Mitzi's house, relapsed under the stress of losing her job, and died from fentanyl-laced product. Caroline describes the scene she'll stage: Mallory found in bed with a needle in her arm, Ted performing CPR, a 911 call, and a burial plot next to Mallory's sister.

Mallory accuses Caroline of murdering Anya and kidnapping her daughter. Caroline insists it was self-defense. Mallory presses her, mentioning the drawings and the white rabbit, and Caroline becomes rattled—her hands shake so badly she can't tie the tourniquet. She sits on the bed and, to steady herself, begins telling her side of the story.

Caroline reveals that she and Ted lived in Manhattan, where she worked at Mount Sinai and he had an IT job. After years of failed fertility treatments (IVI, IVF, Clomid cycles), they bought a cabin on Seneca Lake in upstate New York for a sabbatical. There, Caroline met Margit Baroth—Anya's real name—a Hungarian immigrant who painted landscapes in a park while her two-year-old daughter Flora sat on a blanket with a smartphone. Caroline grew furious at what she saw as neglect. After a confrontation that ended in a screaming match, Caroline kept returning to the park.

One Saturday during a hot-air balloon festival, Flora spotted a rabbit and wandered off into a valley. Caroline followed her, found her crying, and offered to bring her back—but instead led her into the woods. Margit caught up with them, and in the confrontation that followed, Caroline struck her with her Viper (a self-defense weapon). Margit collapsed with a seizure and died. Caroline covered the body with leaves, sent Ted to bury the body and belongings, and took Flora home. She cut the girl's hair, dressed her in boy clothes, and fled with Ted to Gilbert, West Virginia, telling friends they'd moved to Barcelona.

In West Virginia, Teddy (as she renamed Flora) refused to speak for six months, but Caroline says she worked with him patiently until he accepted her. After a year, Margit's spirit began appearing to Teddy—a woman in a white dress who only showed herself to the boy. Caroline says the spirit's powers are limited: she can work a Ouija board and move a pencil, but little else. The family moved to the current town in April, and by Mother's Day the spirit had followed.

Caroline explains her plan: hire a third party—Mallory—to compete with Anya for Teddy's attention. Mallory's history of drug abuse made her perfect, because she'd doubt her own judgment when she saw strange things. Caroline also admits to killing Mitzi: after the séance, Mitzi came to their door in a panic, saying her spirit board spelled out ovakodik (beware). Caroline convinced Ted to hold Mitzi down while she administered a fatal overdose, then staged the scene with needle caps and a tourniquet.

Caroline finishes her confession, ties the tourniquet around Mallory's arm, and injects her with two thousand micrograms of heroin and fentanyl. As Mallory loses consciousness, she sees Margit's spirit waiting in the shadows.

Key Events

Mallory wakes bound and gagged in her cottage, unable to free herself.
Caroline enters with a syringe, spoon, and lighter, and reveals her plan to stage Mallory's death as an overdose.
Caroline confesses to killing Margit (Anya) in a confrontation at Seneca Lake and kidnapping her daughter Flora.
Caroline describes how she disguised Flora as a boy, renamed her Teddy, and fled to West Virginia.
Caroline admits the spirit followed them, and that she killed Mitzi to cover up the haunting.
Caroline injects Mallory with a lethal dose of heroin and fentanyl; Mallory sees Margit's spirit as she loses consciousness.

Character Development

Caroline transforms in this chapter from a seemingly kind employer into a calculating murderer. Her confession reveals a woman who justifies every crime: she frames Margit's death as self-defense, the kidnapping as a rescue, and Mitzi's murder as necessary. Her trembling hands and panic attacks suggest genuine fear of the spirit, but her renewed confidence as she ties the tourniquet shows that fear doesn't translate into remorse.

Mallory demonstrates resourcefulness under extreme duress. Even bound and gagged, she works to buy time—encouraging Caroline to talk, checking the clock, and trying to manipulate her into drawing a confession. Her final plea for forgiveness and her vision of Margit suggest she may not die alone.

Ted remains offstage but is implicated as an accomplice: he buried Margit's body, helped stage Mitzi's death, and went along with the kidnapping.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The white rabbit recurs as a symbol of innocence and misdirection. In Anya's drawings, the rabbit leads Flora into danger; in Caroline's retelling, it's the excuse for her intervention. The rabbit is the hinge on which the entire tragedy turns.

Identity erasure is central: Flora becomes Teddy through a haircut and boy clothes, and Caroline erases her own past by telling friends she moved to Barcelona. The novel suggests that identity can be rewritten, but the spirit world refuses to forget.

Self-justification runs through Caroline's confession. She describes herself as a rescuer, a victim of circumstance, and a devoted mother—never as a kidnapper or murderer. Her language (