Chapter Five 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

At four in the morning, Grace lies awake staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling, thinking about the girl she married in Las Vegas — a girl with rosebud cheeks and traces of spell herbs clinging to her. She wears a gold ring on a necklace and keeps a calling card under her pillow. The dread she feels about her career and the gatekeepers she must face doesn't compare to the weight of these objects.

Grace decides she can't hold the secret any longer. She climbs out to the small balcony where Agnes sits wrapped in a comforter, legs swinging against the creaky metal. Agnes has been struggling with nightmares, and the two share a quiet moment. Grace confesses that she got married in Vegas. The world doesn't end.

Agnes, stunned, calls for Ximena. The three friends crowd onto the small balcony. Ximena, described as Grace's steady thing with roots like an orange grove tree, comforts Grace as she trembles. Ximena hums a lullaby and taps four times against Grace's pulse — a gesture that means