Chapter 23 Summary, Analysis, and Key Themes

⚠️ 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

After escaping the Halfway, Iris, Grey, and Vivi tumble out into Grey's burned-out kitchen, which is now covered in carrion flowers and soot. The return journey is brutal—Iris vomits from the pain of her broken ribs, and Vivi is barely conscious. Grey immediately searches through the scattered books and finds a hidden compartment containing herbs and a bottle of vinegar. She crushes anise, adds salt and wormwood, and shakes the mixture into a potion—the same one Agnes had used. She forces Vivi to drink it, and Vivi vomits out a slop of green dead things, expelling the Halfway from her body.

Iris confronts Grey about the children she killed. Grey admits that on New Year's Eve, she whispered to the Hollow sisters through a door, lured them to her hovel, cut their throats, and skinned them. She then helped Iris and Vivi slip into the girls' skins, stitching them at the throat, leaving only a small scar. Grey explains that this was necessary to escape the Halfway: to leave the liminal, they had to become liminal—neither alive nor dead, but something in between. She references changeling myths as evidence that others have done the same.

Iris asks why they are always hungry. Grey answers matter-of-factly: “Because you're dead and the dead are always starving.” Food can never fill the emptiness inside them. Iris then asks about the forgetting—how they forgot their true identities after returning to Scotland. Grey insists she cannot make anyone forget; her power only works on the living, not on the dead. She told them to forget, and they did because they wanted to.

Grey recounts how she learned to travel between worlds. After leaving home, she discovered that her blood allowed her to pass through doors, and she used runes from a book to bring her trapped roommate Yulia Vasylyk back. She explored the Halfway many times, sewing its secrets into her fashion designs. But about a year ago, Gabe Hollow noticed her coming and going. He tracked her, captured her in Paris, and dragged her back to the Halfway. She escaped, but not before he took her blood and learned to follow her. She hid a key in her old room to leave a message for Iris and Vivi, hoping they would come looking for her.

Grey admits that she killed Gabe by making a suggestion to him—she didn't intend to kill him, but she knew he was a threat. She also reveals that Cate knows the truth because Grey confessed to her the night Cate threw her out. Grey told Cate that she skinned her children and killed her husband.

Iris, horrified and disgusted, tells Grey she never wants to see her again. Grey responds that she has no regrets and would do everything again, one hundred times over. She says she will wait for Iris, because they are sisters “in this life, and in the last.”

Key Events

The sisters return from the Halfway into Grey's burned-out kitchen.
Grey prepares a potion from hidden herbs and vinegar that makes Vivi and Iris vomit out the Halfway.
Grey confesses to luring, killing, and skinning the Hollow sisters to disguise herself and her sisters.
Grey explains the liminal nature of their existence and the origin of changeling myths.
Grey reveals that the sisters are dead and perpetually hungry.
Grey recounts her discovery of blood magic and runes, and her failed attempt to save Yulia.
Grey describes how Gabe Hollow tracked and captured her, and how she escaped.
Grey admits to killing Gabe via a suggestion and to confessing everything to Cate.
Iris rejects Grey, but Grey insists she has no regrets and will wait for her.

Character Development

Iris – This chapter forces Iris to confront the monstrous truth of her own existence. She tears at the scar on her throat, desperate to rip off the skin that isn't hers, and sobs when Grey reminds her that Cate needs her. Iris's horror is visceral; she calls Grey a monster and declares she never wants to see her again. Yet she also asks probing questions, trying to understand the mechanics of their condition. Her final whispered “We deserve to die” reveals a deep self-loathing and guilt that will shape her choices going forward.

Grey – Grey is revealed as the architect of the sisters' fate. She is unrepentant, insisting she did what was necessary to give them a second chance. She shows moments of vulnerability—sniffling when she asks about Agnes, and pressing her lips together when Iris accuses her—but she ultimately stands by her actions. Her claim that she has no regrets and would do it all again underscores her ruthless pragmatism and her fierce, twisted love for her sisters.

Vivi – Vivi is physically weakened but emotionally hardened. She listens in cold silence, her expression stone-like, and she is the one to point out that Gabe was right and Grey punished him for it. Her question about why Cate would keep them if she knows the truth shows her trying to make sense of their family's lies.

Cate (off-page) – Though not present, Cate's knowledge of the truth is revealed. Grey's confession explains Cate's strange behavior throughout the novel—her distance, her fear, and her desperate need to keep Iris close.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Liminality – The central theme of the chapter. To escape the Halfway, the sisters had to become “halfway” themselves—neither alive nor dead. This liminal state allows them to pass between worlds, but it also makes them perpetual outsiders, unable to fully belong to either realm.

Identity and disguise – The sisters are literally wearing the skins of dead girls. Iris's scar is a constant reminder that her face is not her own. The chapter explores how identity can be constructed, stolen, and performed.

Death and rebirth – Grey frames their transformation as a second chance, a rebirth into a new life. But the cost is their humanity; they are now dead things that hunger endlessly.

Sisterhood and betrayal – Grey's actions are both a betrayal (she killed children to save her sisters) and an act of fierce loyalty. The bond between the sisters is described as “gruesome,” tied by blood, death, and magic.

The power of suggestion – Grey's ability to influence the living is shown to be both a tool and a curse. She used it to kill Gabe, but she cannot use it on the dead—including her own sisters.

Monstrosity vs. humanity – Grey insists she is not a monster, yet her actions—skinning children, killing a father—are monstrous. The chapter blurs the line between the two, asking whether survival justifies atrocity.

Why This Chapter Matters

This is the revelation chapter of the novel. It answers the central mystery of the Hollow sisters' origins and the true nature of their existence. Grey's confession recontextualizes every prior event: the carrion flowers, the hunger, the scars, and Cate's strange behavior. It also sets up the final act, as Iris must decide whether she can ever forgive Grey—or whether she will reject her sister and the monstrous legacy they share. The chapter deepens the horror by grounding it in the sisters' own bodies, making their alienation both physical and psychological.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Grey believe the potion works, and what does it reveal about the sisters' condition?

Grey explains that to escape the Halfway, they had to become liminal—neither alive nor dead. The potion, made from anise, vinegar, salt, and wormwood, forces them to vomit out the Halfway that has taken root inside them. This reveals that their bodies are now vessels for a dead place, and that they are permanently changed, unable to fully return to the living.

2. How does Grey justify killing the Hollow sisters, and does Iris accept that justification?

Grey argues that she did what was necessary to give herself and her sisters a second chance. She insists she is not a monster and that she only acted to save them. Iris does not accept this; she calls Grey a monster and says they deserve to die. The chapter leaves the moral question unresolved, forcing readers to weigh survival against atrocity.

3. What does Grey's confession about Cate reveal about Cate's character and motivations?

Grey told Cate the truth the night Cate threw her out. Cate knows that Grey skinned her children and killed her husband, yet she continues to keep Iris and Vivi as her daughters. Grey suggests that having something that resembles your children is better than having none at all, and that grief does strange things to people. This explains Cate's protective yet distant behavior throughout the novel, and her desperate need to keep Iris safe.

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